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Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

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Appearance

By
Nathan Garvin

Being an action-RPG, character creation is, of course, an important part of the game. This section should, perhaps, be called ‘party creation’, as you not only need to worry about creating your protagonist - the Arisen - but you’ll need to create your Main Pawn. For the most part,the same rules that apply to one apply to the other. Just keep in mind that the goal of this section will not just be the creation of one character on their own merits, but two characters, who will be joined by two other characters. Your gameplay preferences will determine how you should build your Arisen and Main Pawn.

Appearance

Before you get to any of the numbers, vocations, or other immensely important gameplay issues, you’ll have to create your character’s appearance. This actually matters somewhat in Dragon’s Dogma, unlike in most RPGs.

Gender

Your gender will not change too much throughout the game, everybody refers to you as “Arisen” or “Ser”, and what “romances” exist in this game are largely blind to gender. Pick whatever you prefer aesthetically. There are a few slight benefits towards playing a female, however. First, there’s a quest that either requires you to be female… or dress in drag to complete. Not a big deal either way. Second, there are many female-only clothes and pieces of armor in the game, which cannot be worn by male characters. Many of them are quite strong… especially considering how early you can get some of them. There are compartively few male-only pieces of equipment in the game. On the other hand, your armor/clothing isn’t a big deal, so don’t feel compelled to play a female based upon item considerations.

Size Matters (Kind Of…)

Another, much more important aspect of your apperance is your height and weight. According to the manual:

“How a Character’s Body Type & Gender Affects Gamplay: The bigger the body, the heavier the character. Although this increases the amount the character can hold, it decreases the speed at which Stamina is restored. In addition, although the character will have a wider attack range, there is increased susceptibility to enemy attacks. The opposite holds true for characters with smaller body types. There are also instances where gender affects in-game elements as battles and storylines.”

A few things that your height may affect includes your jumping distance, how easy it is for your character to get soaked, and a few areas can only be accessed by very small characters… leading to inconsequential loot. As for Stamina drain/recovery the difference between the time it took two characters - a female character with a height/weight of 186/73, and a male with a height/weight of 197.9/99 - to fully regenerate their Stamina bar was about 18 seconds. The heavier (male) character took 2:04:12 to recover his stamina meter fully, while the lighter (female) character needed only 1:46:88. Stamina consumption, however, seemed higher on the lighter character than the heavier. Either way, Stamina is easy enough to recover with items.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Capcom
  • Platforms,
    PC, PS3, PS4, XB 360, XB One
  • Genre
    Action RPG
  • Guide Release
    18 January 2016
  • Last Updated
    12 March 2021
  • Guide Author
    Nathan Garvin

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You live the tranquil life of a fisherman in the small, quiet village of Cassardis, at the edge of the sleepy duchy of Gran Soren. This peaceful life of mundane obscurity is shattered one morning with the Dragon, Grigori, a beast of legend, attacks your town and you fall in its defense. Now reborn as an Arisen, you must lead the Pawn Legion into battle as you deal with court politics, combat apocalyptic cultists, and chase down the enigmatic Dragon. But beware, there could be more to the Dragon’s challenge than it originally seems…

  • Full sequential walkthrough of all main quests, side quests and notice board quests.
  • Each area painstakingly described, including enemy encounters and notable loot drops.
  • How to get the best gear out of the Everfall and Bitterblack Isle.
  • Descriptions and tactics of every beast, large and small, that you’ll face in the game.
  • Character creation information, so you can build the mightiest Arisen and Pawn possible.
  • New Game +, Hard Mode and Speed Run Mode fully explained.
  • Portcrystal and fast-travel system fully explained.
  • Romance information and affection-boosting guide: never accidentally romance the wrong NPC again!

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