Going back to Dragon's Dogma 1 has made me appreciate this more.

[Arthur Morrigan]

That game is rough, holy hell. Nearly every single change made in DD2 seems to be for the better. So many useless abilities, so many useless items clogging up my inventory, clunky menus, pawns that refuse to ever use any of their abilities (or do much in general), so many trash tier MMORPGs style filler quests.

I'm honestly shocked anyone could think DD2 is a downgrade in any way (besides story, that remains to be seen). I can only conclude that people simply don't remember what DD1 is actually like and have instead invented a game in their head.

DD2 has its issues, for sure, but DD1 seems to have all of those same issues so far, but now they're far worse, and there's more of them.

[Arthur Morrigan]

Guys what does "ending the cycle" even mean? How long is a cycle?

[Soul]

Origineel geplaatst door Screams of an Absolution:

I haven't been reading the gigantic manifestos people have been writing. Why does it seem like people are defending DD2's story? Guys, I'm not entirely sure DD2 has a story. It may not even have characters.

DD2's starts with the barest shred of setup and then immediately flies apart, before trailing off into nothing. Trying to describe DD2's plot is like trying to grab smoke. If I had to compare it to another game, I would say it's most like something Bethesda would write - vague, watery, and immediately stupid.

which is probably why you dont understand the story in the first place.... to know more you have to pay attention....

there is a lot of story in this game that is hidden throughout... the game isnt force feeding you all the details.... you gotta travel around and explore to find it...

its kinda like dark souls lore.... you can play the game normally and not really know whats going on.... you have to talk to the characters and read a lot to find out more about the history of the world...

[Lavian]

Origineel geplaatst door Damian Ramirez:

Origineel geplaatst door Lavian:

That's not what you said. You said
Which is objectively a load of bull, as we can see from the actual list of changes.

Furthermore, Magick had a variety of good skills. Sixfold Bolt, Explosive Rivet, and Hunter Bolt, for example, are completely fine, even without the upgraded versions of the former two. Magick Archer has always actually been quite strong.

Also, Ranger, Strider, and Assassin don't have the same ranged move set. Ranger has an explicitly different set thanks to longbows having a completely separate set of skills from short bows. Strider and Assassin had a variety of different skills of their short bows, such as Fracture Dart on the Strider and Lyncean Sight on the Assassin.

This actually carries over to the dagger skills. While I said they play the same, that's not entirely true. For example, Snake Bite is unique to Assassin, while Skull Splitter is unique to Strider, and Shadowshackle is unique to Magick Archer.

This isn't even getting into the fact that Assassin had swords and shields available, and Magick Archer had staves.


Meanwhile, in DD2, Archer just has 4 skills slots and one weapon, and same goes for Magick Archer. They're stuck in their lanes with very little versatility or variety from moment to moment, because you just have a single small kit that's entirely ranged, rather than having both potent ranged and potent close-range tools.

you still don't get the point at all , and you keep thinking im kind of a newbie on DD1 or whatever. Maybe you played too little DD1 and think these vocations differences are abysmal but they don't.
On late game you just use the same 2 or 3 skills over and over , these couple of exclusive skills become useless really fast , same with master skills.
Im so over these neatpicky ''4 skills slots'' argument , its so damn dumb. You can't kick on DD1 , you can't kick in the air and shoot either , slide on the floor? NOPE. Shooting autoaim for better fov and movement? NOPE. If those were on DD1 , all of them would be behind a stupid skill.

tzuno synthesized everything, because he clearly knew that there were many skills that absolutely no one used and were useless. That's why I only leave 4 skill slots and another 2 or 3 as passive skills.
And that's why the warfarer only allows you to equip only 4 of them. Obviously the developers know how people play with only the most OP skills and completely ignore the rest of the others.
It is what it is

Sure, being able to kick things is so game changing. I'll take daggers with dodge, Hundred Kisses, Snakebite, Cutting Wind and over being able to kick things any day. Or, better yet, a sword with Burst Strike, Dire Gouge, and Full Moon Slash.

As far as my experience with the game, I've got hundreds of hours across multiple platforms. On PC alone I have over 100 hours, entirely played on hard mode, with my level being in the 170s or so (I know, not 200, but whatever).

No, those exclusive skills were not useless. Skull Splitter was good, and I loved Snakebite for taking down fast enemies, like Hellhounds. Furthermore, as was mentioned earlier in this thread, those master skills actually contributed to making the Magick Archer not just strong, but actually incredibly strong.

[Migromul]

Origineel geplaatst door Damian Ramirez:

Origineel geplaatst door Migromul:

regarding the quests:
the side-quests (not blackboard.) are much more important in DDDA. If you don't do them, you will miss a lot of opportunities, items and even areas.
Although the quest-lines in DD II are all interesting, if you don't give up, they're relative irrelevant. The only good thing you get are the stories.
You won't get special items (like ne'er-do-part) unlocked areas (like that in the wich-wood) or opportunity-quests which will give you good weapons (like the defeat-metal-golem-quest in the expanded area of the wich-wood.)
That doesn't mean that the side-quests in DD II aren't at least as interesting as in DDDA, however. And there also might be more. (I doubt, that I found all side-quests in DD II...)

But the only noticable side-questline in DDDA is that of Quina. (Fornival is iimportant and will provide you a realy important item, if you do it correctly. but is none the less not realy interesting. ) There are some easy-to-miss opportunities in DDDA. But they're not realy interesting. (like the quest, which will provide you the melorian armore-set.)
Perhaps, the side-quests in DDDA are just more memorizable, because you will get better rewards and open several things up. Even an additional shop... So although, most side-quests in DDDA aren't more intersting story-wise, they're definitly much more important.

About the main story: I must say, that I find the main story in DD II much more interesting than in DDDA. They're both short. (and no, the main story alone isn't longer that that in DD II. The rewards are better, but the stories aren't.

I must admit, though, that I'm not through the main story in DD II, yet. I got the old godsway, but didn't give it to Ambrosious, yet. (that's the next step I need to do accordingt to the quest, so I don't know - and don't want to know yet - how Phiasous is involved with that.)

the only relevant sidequest on DD1 its the one of the gold idol , and it has a lot of rng. That's all. All the rest : witchwood storyline , valmiro , mountain pass cave , both bandit camps, etc etc. don't give you anything special , and plot wise are completely forgettable. Those doesnt even tell you anything about the main plot.

"Fornival" is the quest I meant with the gold idol as important item. (BTW, he can provide you with two additional good items: the cloak which transferes healing to your party and the one-shot-arrow (forget the name.) )
But there is no rng at all with the quest of the gold-idol. All things on that quest are scripted, including the fall over at the start.
But Quina is also important, and much more interesting. She will give you a realy good buff item, which you can forge. The first one is a quest-iitem and only given one-time. But it's extremly good. Better as the ne'er-do-parts, you'll get later.
The wich wood is also important: Only there will you be able to get the arisens bond. And you will only get there, if you start the quina-questline.
If you don't react to Alinor, after meeting the duke, you will miss a whole dungeon.
And btw. the gold idol isn't that important. All things sold by Caxton or Madeleine can be found... And the silver-idol will also provide a lot of additional things. (And for that you need only to kill a cyclops, by accepting a blackboard-quest at the pawns guild.)
You won't get Madeleins shop in the first place, btw. If you don't do the quest for Mason after getting to Gran Soren. But loot (regardless if found or bought) tisn't all, you know...

You get nothing like that, for completing side-quests in DD II... Except access to the brothel, maybe, but that's not even a side-quest...
Although, you still can miss it, if you don't do the regarding quests like it is suppost to be, or even at all, which is possible, I think.
For example. I missed meeting Wilhelmina the first time in my second start, because I got catched by guards. But instead of letting them put me into jail, I outright just killed all that opposed me... Playing a thief at that moment, and therefore completing the quest without meeting Wilhelmina. And I believe it's not even nessecary to do the quest, where you will meet Wilhelmina the second time... But both are main story-quests, not side-quests.

So my statement stands: side-quests in DDDA are not more interesting than those in DD II, but much more important.

[1CMF]

Origineel geplaatst door Lavian:

Here's a list of some issues:

• Why do the leaders of Batthal know who you are? The Sovran of Vermund has been crowned, and the Sovran is supposed to be the Arisen. You're not the Sovran.
  
• Once you've made friends with the Queen of Batthal, why are those connections not used against Phaseus? He works in a royal laboratory in Batthal.
  
• What's with the Pawn slavery in Batthal when the Queen is supposedly trying to widen Pawn acceptance?
  
• Why the hell am I handing the Dulled Godsbane over to some dude in the Forbidden Magick Research Laboratory knowing he's working under Phaseus, a man who is explicitly our enemy?
  
• Why the hell is the main story quest to bring the Empowered Godsbane, once we have it, to Phaseus even though he's explicitly our enemy?
  
• Why do none of the Arisen rapidly age when the dragon is defeated?
  
• How does the cycle even work without killing the Seneschal? They're just making you the king of Vermund in the normal ending.
  
• Why does stabbing yourself with Godsbane while resonating with the dragon stop the cycle?
  
• What does the Brine even have to do with the cycle? Why was it not a bigger deal before?
  
• Why was the False Sovran in Phaseus' party at the excavation site? What was the purpose? He's officially the king of Vermund and he's just off with some researcher of a neighboring nation that has tense relations with Vermund, deep in the territory of that nation?
  
• There was no fanfare for the fight against the False Sovran. Phaseus just tells him "go fight". We don't even get a showdown dialogue with the man. He doesn't have any lines when he dies.
  
• What was the point of the Caged Magistrate? You save him from the prison and then... nothing. He's just the source of a side quest item.
  
• What even happened with the quest to take back the throne in the first place? You were supposed to find a way to counteract Godsway (and you do, in the form of the Empowered Godsbane) and then you do nothing with that ability in relation to taking back the throne. They don't even explicitly call out the fact that it counteracts Godsway. You just may notice it in gameplay if you had run into the impacts of Godsway out in the open world before getting the blade.
  
• What was Phaseus' plan in the first place? Summon a pet Lesser Dragon? Why did he think that was going to stop the cycle?
  
• Why does anyone, other than the Seneschal throwing a fit over not being the real god, even want to end the cycle? It's literally there to stop the apocalypse!

Actually good list of issues. While the game poorly explains them, this is the best I can extrapolate.

1. Beren is supposedly working with outside contacts to prevent war between the two countries, as the Queen and Pheasus have been working in the background. That is why Ser Menella meets you at the entrance. This is still a poor connection as the queen supposedly knows what the secret magic research lab is doing, as it is connected to her palace....
   
   
2. Again to the point above, the Queen's connections are poorly communicated, but there is a faction trying to assassinate her and make the people of Bakbattahl invigorated and rise up against the opposition (Vernworth??). So there is supposed to be a power struggle in Bakbattah as well as Vernworth.
   
   
3. The pawns are in the way of the Queen keeping control of Vernworth with a new arisen. If they are controlled by a true arisen, her plot is exposed. Phaesus is researching how to save the world from the dragon by controling it, thus he is aligned with the Queen who does not want the Arisen to exist at all. One wants power, the other does not want to rely on another's power and believes anyone should have the power. Pawns are just an extension of the Arisen and the cycle that Phaesus wants to break and be free of a god.
   
   
4. This one I didn't want to do either, but the Ghost guy (pathfinder? worldforged? seneschal? watcher?) is working with you and tells you to help the magic research lab, which he then controls them to give you the godsbane...still does not make sense, since that is the key to defeating the ghost guy and the cycle as well, so why would he help you do that. Ultimately the ghost guy wants you to fight the dragon and be the strongest and then start a new story with a new hero for his entertainment.
   
   
5. Again, this is the worst part of the story with a lot of plot holes. Who exactly is the Worldforged, Pathfinder, Seneschal, Watcher is a point of contention. You bring the Empowered Godsbane to Phaseus so that the dragon can be summoned in essence. Only so that you are forced to fight the dragon.
   
   
6. The other Arisen aging is a plot hole/retcon from the first one, as you said nothing happens to them, but supposedly they all had different dragons, what ever that means.
   
   
7. The idea of the seneschal has changed in this one. Apparently no one ever kills "the watcher" and he just keeps tricking people into being heroes. Even at the end, do you actually win? The cycle starts over and new adventures/heroes are made. But this time the ghost guy can't watch? The normal ending he is there to watch and he will reboot the cycle as he sees fit. The cycle being a new dragon and a new arisen, not necessarily a new world.
   
   
8. The dragon has "your heart" so "you are the dragon". So killing yourself also kills the dragon.
   
   
9. The brine apparently is the world forged/ghostguy/seneschal or at least an extension of his power. There is a theory that the unmaking arrow has white tentacles, while the brine is red...so maybe there are two "gods" controlling the world?
   
   
10. The false sovereign was at the excavation site for political deception. If he kills the dragon, no one can say he isn't the true thing. Phaesus thinks he can control the dragon, to make it an easy kill for the false sovereign.
    
    
11. Yah, the story of the False Sovereign is anticlimactic, can't argue there.
    
    
12. The Caged Magistrate is a source of knowledge for maybe 2 quests, that's about it. They could have leaned on him more in the story.
    
    
13. Taking back the throne and proving the false sovereign is a fake gets rolled into fighting the dragon and then it becomes a back burner thing, because well. ther eis a dragon destroying the world. You were going to prove it during the coronation, but they had a godsway, so controlling pawns isn't unique to the arisen. Which forces you to find out more about the godsway/godsbane/etc. Both story lines quickly converge and then conclude.
    
    
14. Phaesus' plan was to negate the need of an arisen ruleing humanity and that humanity should rule itself. He hates gods and destiny and believes in "science" (magic) and self empowerment. He summoned the dragon to dethrone the true arisen and put one of his own choosing in there to control with the queen.
    
    
15. The cycle is supposedly just a closed world that keeps spawning dragons and arisen and people are forced to exist on that island/continent and can never go out into the ocean and see the rest of the world because they are trapped by the brine (is there even more to the world if that is all that existence is supposed to be made by the god???). There are supposedly many realities/universes that the watcher/pathfinder what ever is entertained with beyond the rift.
    
    So this world not being "fun" anymore because we went off script is the worldforged/watcher/pathfinder saying, screw this show, I'm getting rid of it. We apparently stop the destruction and happilly ever after...or is that part of the entertainment and we are playing back into the hands of "the cycle"?

Not perfect at all, and a lot of plot holes, but the game tries to explain them a little if you dig. It's trying to be like dark souls elusive, but just not quite there.

[Soul]

Origineel geplaatst door Screams of an Absolution:

Guys what does "ending the cycle" even mean? How long is a cycle?

the cycle refers to the Dragon and the Arisen cycle....

where the dragon shows up and causes destruction.... and finds someone worthy to become an Arisen... and the Arisen has to defeat the dragon.... there are break periods in between when the next dragon shows up....

like in the first game the ruler of the kingdom then was a former Arisen that made a deal with the dragon instead of killing it.... and he was still on the throne when the next Arisen showed up... but a few decades past I believe at least.... since the former Arisen was still immortal cause the dragon had his heart still.... when dragon died though he got his heart back and aged super fast to how old he should have been....

[Damian Ramirez]

Origineel geplaatst door Lavian:

Origineel geplaatst door Damian Ramirez:

you still don't get the point at all , and you keep thinking im kind of a newbie on DD1 or whatever. Maybe you played too little DD1 and think these vocations differences are abysmal but they don't.
On late game you just use the same 2 or 3 skills over and over , these couple of exclusive skills become useless really fast , same with master skills.
Im so over these neatpicky ''4 skills slots'' argument , its so damn dumb. You can't kick on DD1 , you can't kick in the air and shoot either , slide on the floor? NOPE. Shooting autoaim for better fov and movement? NOPE. If those were on DD1 , all of them would be behind a stupid skill.

tzuno synthesized everything, because he clearly knew that there were many skills that absolutely no one used and were useless. That's why I only leave 4 skill slots and another 2 or 3 as passive skills.
And that's why the warfarer only allows you to equip only 4 of them. Obviously the developers know how people play with only the most OP skills and completely ignore the rest of the others.
It is what it is

Sure, being able to kick things is so game changing. I'll take daggers with dodge, Hundred Kisses, Snakebite, Cutting Wind and over being able to kick things any day. Or, better yet, a sword with Burst Strike, Dire Gouge, and Full Moon Slash.

As far as my experience with the game, I've got hundreds of hours across multiple platforms. On PC alone I have over 100 hours, entirely played on hard mode, with my level being in the 170s or so (I know, not 200, but whatever).

No, those exclusive skills were not useless. Skull Splitter was good, and I loved Snakebite for taking down fast enemies, like Hellhounds. Furthermore, as was mentioned earlier in this thread, those master skills actually contributed to making the Magick Archer not just strong, but actually incredibly strong.

it actually IS a gamechanger , but whatever since you're way too biased on your opinion only you won't see it.
And play a little more DD1 before doing any statement , 100 hours +/- its too little to understand why devs took the decitions they took.
You should have to play the game on normal then hard , then a ng+ on hard for base game. And 2 runs for DLC on normal and 2 on hard , and get to ∞ level. Testing every vocation very deeply at least to really know of what you're talking about.

[Lavian]

Origineel geplaatst door Butcher:

Origineel geplaatst door Lavian:

Such as?

You see the issue? The storytelling is actually just incoherent and pretty obviously incomplete. It just makes no sense once you leave Vermund, and rushes along to the final showdown with pretty much no fanfare whatsoever.

While DD1's story wasn't high art, it wasn't downright incoherent.

When you chase them in the tower pretender asks something like "it is safe?" and Phaseus answers something like "yep u totally safe". So that indicates pretender was needed for something at least.

Phaseus tries to mind control dragon. We can conclude that he would perform something with pretender if he was successful. What can you do with dragon? Idk, but making actual arisen is first thing that comes to my mind. And then since stopping the cycle is the goal Phaseus would stab pretender for some kind of profit.

Phaseus doesn't even have a Godsbane. We don't know his plan. It's never really explained. We can't really conclude anything with the information we have. We just know he wants to stop the cycle, we don't even really know why, and we don't know what he thought he was going to do to stop it.

[Arthur Morrigan]

Origineel geplaatst door Soul:

which is probably why you dont understand the story in the first place.... to know more you have to pay attention....

there is a lot of story in this game that is hidden throughout... the game isnt force feeding you all the details.... you gotta travel around and explore to find it...

Been playing Fromsoft games since the early 2000's. It's easier to internalize what's happening/what happened at any point in their games than it is in DD2. The story in DD2 seeming to almost immediately contradict its internal logic before rapidly evaporating before your vary eyes.

[Arthur Morrigan]

Origineel geplaatst door Soul:

Origineel geplaatst door Screams of an Absolution:

Guys what does "ending the cycle" even mean? How long is a cycle?

the cycle refers to the Dragon and the Arisen cycle....

where the dragon shows up and causes destruction.... and finds someone worthy to become an Arisen... and the Arisen has to defeat the dragon.... there are break periods in between when the next dragon shows up....

like in the first game the ruler of the kingdom then was a former Arisen that made a deal with the dragon instead of killing it.... and he was still on the throne when the next Arisen showed up... but a few decades past I believe at least.... since the former Arisen was still immortal cause the dragon had his heart still.... when dragon died though he got his heart back and aged super fast to how old he should have been....

See, this would've been helpful to actually have explained at any point in the game, rather than hinging the climax of your mostly unrelated story on knowledge from a game from 12 years ago.

[Sham!]

Origineel geplaatst door Screams of an Absolution:

Origineel geplaatst door Sham!:

chief it's expected for the second game to improve on the existing formula
it's literally the bare minimum

and they maybe delivered that, the actual bare minimum, with all the new issues on top of it and a 70$ price tag

There's so much snark on this post, yet I don't know what point you're trying to make.

"Yeah they did the bare minimum of improving on its predecessor yet the game isn't completely flawless but they're still selling the game for industry standard"

Like no ♥♥♥♥ the game isn't flawless; and if the bare minimum of being better than the prior game in the series isn't good enough, I don't know why you'd pay full price for it?

the point is very simple, the game achieves -arguably mind you- the bare minimum for a second installation of an existing ip

nobody is asking for perfection but relesing an rpg without a "new game" option in 2024, just to name one of the issues, it's pretty indicative of how half baked this game was on release, and still is after 1 month

[Damian Ramirez]

Origineel geplaatst door Migromul:

Origineel geplaatst door Damian Ramirez:

the only relevant sidequest on DD1 its the one of the gold idol , and it has a lot of rng. That's all. All the rest : witchwood storyline , valmiro , mountain pass cave , both bandit camps, etc etc. don't give you anything special , and plot wise are completely forgettable. Those doesnt even tell you anything about the main plot.

"Fornival" is the quest I meant with the gold idol as important item. (BTW, he can provide you with two additional good items: the cloak which transferes healing to your party and the one-shot-arrow (forget the name.) )
But there is no rng at all with the quest of the gold-idol. All things on that quest are scripted, including the fall over at the start.
But Quina is also important, and much more interesting. She will give you a realy good buff item, which you can forge. The first one is a quest-iitem and only given one-time. But it's extremly good. Better as the ne'er-do-parts, you'll get later.
The wich wood is also important: Only there will you be able to get the arisens bond. And you will only get there, if you start the quina-questline.
If you don't react to Alinor, after meeting the duke, you will miss a whole dungeon.
And btw. the gold idol isn't that important. All things sold by Caxton or Madeleine can be found... And the silver-idol will also provide a lot of additional things. (And for that you need only to kill a cyclops, by accepting a blackboard-quest at the pawns guild.)
You won't get Madeleins shop in the first place, btw. If you don't do the quest for Mason after getting to Gran Soren. But loot (regardless if found or bought) tisn't all, you know...

You get nothing like that, for completing side-quests in DD II... Except access to the brothel, maybe, but that's not even a side-quest...
Although, you still can miss it, if you don't do the regarding quests like it is suppost to be, or even at all, which is possible, I think.
For example. I missed meeting Wilhelmina the first time in my second start, because I got catched by guards. But instead of letting them put me into jail, I outright just killed all that opposed me... Playing a thief at that moment. And I believe it's not even nessecary to do the quest, where you will meet Wilhelmina the second time... But both are main story-quests, not side-quests.

So my statement stands: side-quests in DDDA are not more interesting than those in DD II, but much more important.

what about the dwarf selling you OP equipment and a new form of Upgrade to weapon and armors?
The sphinx??
the maister skills???
the medusa hint on the griffind side mission?
The unique equipment around the unmoored world?
the list can go on and on since almost every sidemission have something important

[Lavian]

Origineel geplaatst door 1CMF:

Not perfect at all, and a lot of plot holes, but the game tries to explain them a little if you dig. It's trying to be like dark souls elusive, but just not quite there.

To be clear, the Pathfinder is more likely a manifestation of the Greater Will. The thing that put the cycle in place to prevent the apocalypse in the first place.

The Seneschal was the first king of Vernworth. The Mad Sovran, who abandoned his duties to reign as a man in the world, and who lost his mind after finding out he wasn't at the apex of the world, and instead just a cog in the machine that is the cycle. He proceeds to try to destroy everything around him, and kills every Arisen who attempts to challenge him using the Godsbane, which shatters their souls in the process.

It's possible that the Greater Will can override the authority of the Seneschal and force a world renewal to some extent, but that doesn't explain where the current iteration of the Dragon and Arisen actually fit into the cycle.

The best I can come up with is that the Pathfinder and the Dragon are pretty clearly trying to goad you into breaking the cycle, and then preventing the apocalypse that follows that action, but that doesn't explain how the normal ending fits into things (other than the fact that the Pathfinder is there to be like, " Are you sure you wanted to do things this way?").

[Damian Ramirez]

Origineel geplaatst door Sham!:

Origineel geplaatst door Screams of an Absolution:

There's so much snark on this post, yet I don't know what point you're trying to make.

"Yeah they did the bare minimum of improving on its predecessor yet the game isn't completely flawless but they're still selling the game for industry standard"

Like no ♥♥♥♥ the game isn't flawless; and if the bare minimum of being better than the prior game in the series isn't good enough, I don't know why you'd pay full price for it?

the point is very simple, the game achieves -arguably mind you- the bare minimum for a second installation of an existing ip

nobody is asking for perfection but relesing an rpg without a "new game" option in 2024, just to name one of the issues, it's pretty indicative of how half baked this game was on release, and still is after 1 month

well if the DLC release on november , you gonna see the reason behind the game is '''''half-baked''' or why the game seems to be pretty vague on the plot if DLC have anything related to it

[Lavian]

Origineel geplaatst door Damian Ramirez:

Origineel geplaatst door Lavian:

Sure, being able to kick things is so game changing. I'll take daggers with dodge, Hundred Kisses, Snakebite, Cutting Wind and over being able to kick things any day. Or, better yet, a sword with Burst Strike, Dire Gouge, and Full Moon Slash.

As far as my experience with the game, I've got hundreds of hours across multiple platforms. On PC alone I have over 100 hours, entirely played on hard mode, with my level being in the 170s or so (I know, not 200, but whatever).

No, those exclusive skills were not useless. Skull Splitter was good, and I loved Snakebite for taking down fast enemies, like Hellhounds. Furthermore, as was mentioned earlier in this thread, those master skills actually contributed to making the Magick Archer not just strong, but actually incredibly strong.

it actually IS a gamechanger , but whatever since you're way too biased on your opinion only you won't see it.
And play a little more DD1 before doing any statement , 100 hours +/- its too little to understand why devs took the decitions they took.
You should have to play the game on normal then hard , then a ng+ on hard for base game. And 2 runs for DLC on normal and 2 on hard , and get to ∞ level. Testing every vocation very deeply at least to really know of what you're talking about.

I said 100 hours on PC. I've played through the game multiple times on both PS3 and PS4. I have it on Switch as well, but I don't recall finishing a run there.

The reason I started on hard mode on PC is because I had plenty of experience going in from my play on console beforehand.

I did play the game on normal originally, because hard mode didn't even exist when the original Dragon's Dogma came out, which I played through multiple times before Dark Arisen was released. Which is also why I'm able to confidently call ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on people claiming Dark Arisen was some big deal that completely changed the game and made it amazing, while the original release was bad. Dark Arisen didn't change much. I know, because I played the hell out of the original release and Dark Arisen later.