A full expansion to Dragon's Dogma, entitled Dark Arisen, was released for PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on April 23, 2013. Dark Arisen is not considered a DLC, but rather an enhanced version of the original game with new features, and the Bitterblack Isle zone to quest. You do not need to own the original game to play Dark Arisen, the original game is included on both physical and digital versions. Dark Arisen includes a new fast travel system, as well as new items, weapons and armor. Dragon's Dogma was my personal favorite game of 2012. And when they announced the expansion for this game, I was ecstatic.
For those unfamiliar with the original game, the story is that you are a normal villager until a dragon attacks your village. You try to fend off the attacking dragon, only to be defeated, and your heart is stolen by the beast. In miraculous way you live, and become known as The Arisen. You later learn you are connected to these beings called Pawns. They are loyal servants who look like humans, but are not. They live to serve you, and only you. You then go on an adventure to learn more about yourself, get stronger, and eventually meet up with the dragon for the final battle.
This game is an unique RPG. You can freely fight your enemies, and one thing that is rare, you can jump onto monsters you are fighting, climb them, and attack them from wherever you are on their body. Pawns are also essential to fighting these monsters. You create your own unique pawn, and you may also borrow pawns from The Rift, the pawns' dimension. If your friends also play the game, you can use their pawns as well.
u get your choice of class. You can start off with Fighter, a melee fighter who uses shields and swords, Strider, who uses bows and daggers, or Mage, who specializes in magic. Once you reach a higher level you can further develop these vocations with one another for advanced classes such as Warrior, who uses two handed weapons, Ranger, that use Longbows, or Sorcerer, who uses advanced magic. You can also mix two of these classes for the hybrid classes. These classes include Mystic Knight, Assassin, or Magick Archer.
There are stores in which you can buy and sell items. Blacksmiths can forge weapons and armor for you, as well as upgrade items. This game has high re-playability. Once you beat the Dragon you reach the "Endgame" where you can fight all the bosses you want to farm equipment, and items. Alternately, you can restart the story on Hard mode, or Speedrun mode. You will keep all your weapons and armor as well as your pawn.
For Dark Arisen, the update has critical gameplay changes. For example, enemy A.I is much more intelligent. They will change up attack patterns, and strategies. Also the new location, Bitterblack Isle, will be a challenge to both newcomers and veteran players. As you traverse down the isle you will find opponents, but one thing that sets this location from the rest is that the further down you go, the harder it gets. During big fights, as you fight off multiple opponents at once, the isle will summon stronger foes to attack you. This can result in on a few different gameplay changes. Now not only will you be taking on a group of enemies, you will now fight a stronger sub-boss, or potentially boss character.
Many new monsters appear in this expansion such as the Cursed Dragon, Eliminator, Death, The Gazer, Garm, and the new final boss of Bitter Black Isle, Daimon. These monster have unique play-styles, so learning each one of their fighting styles will be a challenge considering how strong they are. With the original game on disc, and all the gameplay changes and updates, it is really worth to pick this game up.
Another great thing about this game is that the community for this game that developed on the official Facebook page has to be the most active video game community I have ever seen. It seems that everyone loves this game, and you will easily find people to help you play this game by giving tips, tricks, and even lending you their pawns to use. If you are a fan of RPGs but looking for something different than the norm, I suggest you give this game a shot (especially at a price point of $40.) I highly recommend it and give Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen 5 out of 5.
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