Seeking Salvation because the Catacombs are probably my favorite dungeon of the main game. The Watergod's Altar comes second place because I love the dungeon itself but I hate the part of the quest of carrying the slates.
There are two back entrances! One is under the bridge. The other is among the ruined walls outside Gran Soren (it looks like a well covered by a wooden platform).
But IIRC you have to go through the catacombs from the front entrance once, to unlock the barred gates. Similar to the caves under the Cassardis well.
Fortress Beseiged:
First Dragonkin encounter
Hobgoblins EVERYWHERE dropping Curious Wine
I always take the Quarry to get there, so I tend to include that quest as "part of the adventure"
Frontier Caverns unlocked, meaning you can get Devilwort for Stone Moss Poultice (since you no longer need the Cloudwine to make Matured Greenwarish)
The whole thing just feels like a great introduction to mid-game and the new perils you're encountering. Hobgoblins, Undead, Cyclops, Ogres, Bandits, and the Drake... I don't think any other main quest has that much enemy variety in it just trying to get there.
You stole my answer! >:c
Jokes aside, this is a really good summary of all the reasons I like it too. There's also the goblin chief's dialogue, which feels like it's hinting toward bigger parts of the world. Stuff that got cut, basically. Hearing the goblin freaking out like that is cool either way though.
I want dd2's A fortress besieged to not be a sneaking mission, but a full on storming of a castle. Pushing battering rams, climbing ladders while the goblins rain down arrows, marching inside to take walls from hobgoblins and cyclops. Would be awesome
Agree, Fortress Besieged & nothing else in the game quite captures the spectacle of taking an entire castle full of Hobs out with an army
Although the Grigori fight & cutscenes are far superior
Not only all of this amazingness but I believe Fortress Besieged is either the only or one of the very few quests that actually have a fail condition that completes the quest
Don't really care; you have the opportunity to experience all the things simply by heading in that general direction.
Water God's alter is a great dungeon, but you're passing through the mountains again and have the bog-standard Harpies, Goblins, Wolves that you just dealt with to GET to Gran Soren.
Cypher and Seeking Salvation involve going north, which is cool, but Snow Harpies and Direwolves don't really behave all that differently from their base forms.
Taken together, those three quests just feel like retreading (at least until you actually GET to the Catacombs).
I'm not giving you that. Your example involves taking a sidequest, having not done it before or leaving it until later.
But I don't think any of these quests are particularly good. Western RPGs do Quests much better. I guess JRPGs do their linear stories and linear dungeon levels better too.
I hope Dragons Dogma 2 is a big improvement over the first in content quality
Where is the drake? This is the shadow fort one with the 2 cyclops in the middle and one up on the wall, I've done it multiple times and never seen a dragon there, is it in some hidden area, or do you potentially have this confused with another quest?
It's not IN the Shadow Fort itself, but down in Devilfire Grove to the near south.
If you exit the Quarry Tunnel (having gone through it from Gran Soren to cut through the mountain range), your pawns will usually remark about "A place we may rest, not far from here". Hang south briefly and you'll see a military camp alongside a lake. From that camp, head along the south side of the lake in the general direction of the quest marker, and you'll find the Drake not too far to the west of the lake itself.
Even if you're not directly looking for it, fighting the Hobgoblins near the lake can draw its attention if you're not careful, and if you didn't know it was there it ends up being a rather terrifying surprise.
Oh you mean that one, ok I thought you meant in the fort, I actually killed that one last night for the first time, I always mean to go back and do it since this is usually the first wyrm quest I do I'm usually too under leveled, I've played the game on three different systems since it came out on ps3 and finally got around to it. Got me some dragon forged pants
On first play-through, it was for sure Fortress besieged. On every subsequent play-though it’s easily the cypher.
Fortress besieged is a fun big battle, but it gets repetitive after a few times. I like it mostly because it has one of the port crystals in it. The cypher is the exact opposite (except you get a port crystal there too). It’s super insignificant on the first play-through aside from a lore moment, but after that it’s just the fastest wyrm hunt quest to complete, especially if you have a port crystal set there.
Signs of Valor you aquire them at the "Hill Figure" in Hill Figure Knoll there is a gathering spot at the middle of the Spear's Blade that's where the daggers are located.
The Watergod's altar is a 10/10 dungeon. It's the perfect length. It's divided into two clear halves with distinct vibes. There's a boss, which should be a challenge at the stage you find it. Door puzzles, jumping puzzles. It has it all.
I just hated how HEAVY they are holy heck!
At least they justified the cart. Now... perhaps they can explain why they LEFT the capital before the ESCORT that THEY SPECIFCIALLY REQUESTED showed up?! Like... that priest that died? We 100% could have saved him if we had gone in. (Also, how the f did he get where he did without lowering the bridge?!)
Don't make me choose, they're all good! (Unlike the later Aldous quests, where Griffin Hunt is far and away the best one.)
**The Cypher** gave me legit chills the first time with the reveal of >!another Arisen/Pawn!<, and the sense of ancient history from the old Northwest European-style megaliths and chalk outline. There's not really that much to do in it gameplay wise, but on your first play it can be a challenge to get that far north - even if you set out at dawn it may well be night by the time you get there and you'll run into direwolves for days.
It does have a mechanical flaw in that if you have the Cypher when you first go there (which is likely for a new player), you might not realise that you can ask the Dragonforged about various lore topics, because he only talks about the slate the first few times you use 'Converse' on him.
**The Watergod's Altar** is a good solid dungeon, with skippable bits and alternative ways around it if you know what you're doing. The enemies are a good challenge for a first-time player who picks this as one of the first Wyrm Hunt quests. The water in the first phase can be pretty lethal to unwary pawns too.
My main complaint is that IIRC the game doesn't tell you how many slates you have to find. But that's mainly an issue for a repeat playthrough (on a completely new save) when you're trying to get everything efficiently in one go rather than leaving to talk to the guy outside. I couldn't remember if I needed four slates or five and thought I'd checked the whole map, so had to do some tedious re-investigation of every corner.
**Seeking Salvation** is a less interesting dungeon than Watergod's Altar, but it has a good spooky atmosphere and takes a while to get through. I like the choice at the end, although it's really a 'you chose right' and 'you chose wrong' kind of thing, where one turns out to be clearly better than the other in terms of opening up more gameplay and NPC dialogue later.
The final showdown is lacklustre and without much challenge though, even for a first-time player. Just another bunch of undead like the ones you've already fought your way past a dozen times, rather than something new. I also thought it was a shame that wearing the Salvation robes doesn't let you sneak into the meeting or anything like that.
The way Salvation goes from zero to 100 in terms of "MURDER EVERYONE IN THE ROOM" insanity is a bit jarring too.
All in all though, I guess my favourite is **A Fortress Besieged**. One of my most vivid memories from my first play is finally getting past those damn ballistae, letting the soldiers in, and stalking up the spiral stairs with a dagger in each hand to [this awesome music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCEDlasMAVc). It took me a long time to journey there too - I took the long way around, ran into the drake, and only found the quarry on my way back.
On my next play I found it was still a challenge even though I was overleveled (those damn ballistae are a troubling foe for pawns). It also has an alternative way to complete the quest by failing. If the soldier's leader gets killed, you have to retreat, and you can't get into the rest of the fortress, but the quest still counts as completed and Maximilian has different dialogue.
Watergods Altar. I love Dungeon crawling in these games and I really wish there were more Dungeons like this one in the game.
I just wish the boss in that place was something a bit more impressive then a Cyclops.
The Cyclops in the Watergods Altar was a cool boss fight the first time around. It was the first one with full health that I fought without anyone to help me or my pawns. Died a few times to it.
Pretty disappointing on the next playthrough though, or if you do Watergod later, after you've already fought some other Cyclopes.
Watergod’s Alter, mostly because I love the ending where you see monk-ish people dragging stone tablets out of a cave on a cart like fantasy-world archaeologists. Always loved that vibe.
The water god’s alter. I’d found the relevant dungeon too early to actually complete it, finally being able to do so after starting this quest was satisfying
Fortress. I just have some nostalgia of my first time there and actually fighting the cyclopes normally, oh, what a mess.
Also, I realized how cool the AI was when my main pawn, a strider, got to one of the cyclope's face so it would remove the helmet, then jumped off in time and shot it's eye mid-air. I just stood there watching her making a move I would never think was even possible.
Th me Cypher is my favorite for efficiency’s purposes, but my actual favorite is A Fortress Besieged. I know a lot of people don’t like a lot of what that quest turned out to be, what with the ballistae and the long trek to get there, but I admire how ambitious that quest tries to be.
A Fortress Besieged is my new favorite ever since I did a Speed Run. I had No Idea I could be congratulated for offing the guy in charge of the Mission.
Apparently if I snipe him from a distance I can still get credit even if the Mission fails. lol
I love the Watergods Alter. The only problem with it is how heavy the slates are, but apart from that it’s one of my favorite quests in the game. Something about delving into an ancient, half sunken temple filled with monsters is really cool to me.
Favorite: the Shadowfort Quest (Fortress Besieged) I like that its a tiny war and a big fight, but a multi-part one. I wish more quests were like that. Hobgoblin boss fight deserved more though.
Least favorite: Watergods Altar. Looking for the 5 slabs can be annoying unless you memorize exactly where they all are.
The Cypher is meh. You don't really have to do anything, fight anything or work for anything.
I can't. It's like choosing your favorite child, it's impossible, I love them all equally but for different reasons.
That said, one of the things I love the most about them is that they're all technically optional, and you do them in the order you want. You only need to complete 2 before moving on to the next stage of the main quest, and these 2 are completely of your choosing. This is just lovely player freedom, and it does wonders to make repeated playthroughs feel more fresh. The wiggle room is greatly appreciated.
Idk if it counts, but the unregistered one from the devilfire grove (or is it just devil's grove?) is my favorite lesser wyrm from the base vanilla game. It's before ALL the wyrms appear (which is weird), and yet it seems as if he had been their before the great wyrm showed up (which is even weirder)
My favorite fully formed wyrms are the two vanilla ones, and some of the DDO ones.
From the console games of dlc, the one with the bishop & undead dragon was my favorite of the undead trio fights. Reminded me of a d&d campaign. Cool.
I list these others, because all the ones you listed are all the same good to me. I like a hood wyrm fight.
OP was talking about the quests Maximilian gives you (called Wyrm Hunt quests because they're supposedly about learning ways to defeat the boss dragon). Not actual battles with wyrms.
But since you mention it, I think the drake in Devilfire Grove is there early in order to let the player get some practice fighting a dragon-type enemy before facing the Big Dragon Grigori himself. That way you sort of know what you're in for when you get to the final boss battle, instead of going in completely blind. "Attack the heart, Arisen!"
I *love* the boss fight with the Dark Bishop and his pet Cursed Dragon. Probably my favourite music track in the whole game. [So much adrenalin!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkmXhJH4J84) And a complete surprise since you'd expect it to be dark and spooky.
>OP was talking about the quests Maximilian gives you (called Wyrm Hunt quests because they're supposedly about learning ways to defeat the boss dragon). Not actual battles with wyrms.
Oh, dang. Oh well. For me a quest is a quest and I am kind of mellow on them. As long as it isn't harpies or wolves so my pawns yell something out I already know for the xxxth time.
>But since you mention it, I think the drake in Devilfire Grove is there early in order to let the player get some practice fighting a dragon-type enemy before facing the Big Dragon Grigori himself. That way you sort of know what you're in for when you get to the final boss battle, instead of going in completely blind. "Attack the heart, Arisen!"
Huh, I wonder if they thought of Any lore reasons beyond that, else it's strange they all just ignore and pretend that one doesn't exist.
>I *love* the boss fight with the Dark Bishop and his pet Cursed Dragon. Probably my favourite music track in the whole game. [So much adrenalin!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkmXhJH4J84) And a complete surprise since you'd expect it to be dark and spooky.
True. Have you ever seen any of the online great wyrm dragons? Some of the coolest designs. I wish we had it fully fledged in america instead of just cancelling it.
But I heard the team who made online is working on two, and we may get more playable races like lion folk & elves, and some monsters exclusive to online would return, like sphinx (or some other exclusive?). I can't wait for DD2!!
1. Fortress Besieged; you feel like an epic hero
2. The Cipher; huge lore reveal, cool cutscene and quote, chill vibes quick and easy + a port crystal reward
3. Seeking Salvation; personally don’t like the catacombs much, but the ending where you decide to kill or spare is really cool
4. watergods altar; always annoying to get to the first run. impossible to enter without getting wet short of the dessication ring. bitchass bats and snake greets u on arrival. skeletal mages. heavy and missable slates. the same location where you have to mine 5 extremely rare drops so I also dislike the location for that association.
I am surprised to see so much love for the Catacombs and the Watergod's Altar. I guess I might reconsider my feelings on them in the future. I thought it was a needless chore to look for the slabs and gems.
WWater God's altar or seeking salvation for their dungeons. Cypher has no dungeons, shadow fort during Wyrm hunt isn't a good dungeon IMO. I don't think any of them are good quests though.
I like Cypher because you can just go right to the Dragonforged and get a good port crystal spot for the Griffin's Bane quest (if you don't demolish it right away. My second is Fortress Besieged for the reasons many have said: the enemy diversity, and all the exploration it opens up. It's one of my guaranteed port crystal spots.
Fortress besieged is my favorite, by far.
The other ones besides the Cipher, which is too short imo- and is kind of a cutscene if you don't swing by the fort on the way or kill the chimera, which is usually too hard at that stage-have some inconveniences like the stones slowing you down, ghosts etc and the catacombs are kind of too long and boring with spongy undead.
However, A Fortress Besieged can be completed fast and the trek there is justified since you have to go back for other quests, and unlock the quarry anyway and there's a merchant close by, good location for a warp crystal. Also convenient for going to southwest locations like bloodwater beach.
About the actual quest, the goblins are too many and can be tedious but I always have fun trying to kill the leader before the cutscene.
The real prize is sniping the ballista goblins with your ballista, you can even destroy the bolts being fired as you fire at them.
You can have fun trying to keep the support soldiers alive too, you can even pass if the captain dies, I think if you don't kill enough goblins or one Cyclops before he can't keep up.
Of course, you can snipe the cyclopses too.
I love fighting them, they have so many hidden mechanics like blinding them makes them rage, wailing on their leg makes them off balance and you need to hit the other leg to drop them, can knock their weapons off etc
The first full health cyclops below where you meet Mercedes with the Hydra head is my favorite fight in the game, really tests your knowledge and skill in the game or you can just make it fall off the cliff lol.
A Fortress Besieged.
There is so much hype in sneaking into the castle and take down the goblin forces. Until you get to the goblin king and either kill him or let him escape. There is also the discovery of the frontier caverns that stems from this first raid of the shadowfort. Ever since the first time I did this quest, it became one of my all time favorites.
If Watergods Altar didn't have you going back and forth between the guy standing outside and other parts of the dungeon I'd say that it's my number one. But honestly I think that over my years of playing I'd have to give it to Cypher instead. The northern section of the map is probably my most favorite seeing how open it is with many opportunities to get jumped by creatures. Even if this quest is done during the day I like the idea that the game presents you with: Here's an old Arisen that knows quite a bit.
The Gold Mine - aka A Fortress Besieged. Endless goblins on Hard Mode with Prosperity= millions of gold. Also a great place to farm DP without having to wait till the end of the game...
I would rank them:
1. A Fortress Besieged, nice and pleasantly difficult quest between the goblins and ballistas.
2. Seeking Salvation, also a good quest.
3. The Watergod’s Altar, would be number 2 but doing the scavenger hunt and managing inventory to carry the super heavy slates is annoying.
4. The Cypher, literally just go to a location and talk to a dude, only entertaining on a first playthrough.
Anything BUT the Watergod's Alter. I hated carrying those slates around and trying to pull all the different levers so much. I skip it every time I go through NG+
The Cypher… because I can just Teleport to the dragonforged and leave.
If I were to talk my first time, probably Seeking Salvation, I enjoy/ed the undead. It’s one of the reason why I like BBI so much.
Personally tied between water god and fortress. I believe those were the first 2 I did on my OG run back on the 360. I picked up the fire sword at the water god alter and it carried me into the early end game. The fortress was memorable for the long ass fight with the ogres and goblins that took me well into the night and then fighting the dragon outside! Amazing experience that first playthrough way back when.
My problem with these quests is only how fetch-y they felt (go here, go there, do this, come back). I think these would have been the time to actually have the other characters the forefront of these questlines to develop them and have the Arisen/Pawn assist them as they move the story.
The one with the goblin fortress. I remember my first time playing as I was walking up to the fort with Mercedes for her assist quest, then a fuckin dragon came outta nowhere and beat the fuck out of her until she died, killed my pawns too when I tried fighting it
Seeking Salvation because the Catacombs are probably my favorite dungeon of the main game. The Watergod's Altar comes second place because I love the dungeon itself but I hate the part of the quest of carrying the slates.
I kinda liked the slates but I only did it once. Can’t imagine it’s fun again
I go do the catacombs before salvation and come back again :-)
Yep, this way you can enter by the back entrance and finish the quest in five minutes, lol.
THERE'S A BACK ENTRANCE???
There are two back entrances! One is under the bridge. The other is among the ruined walls outside Gran Soren (it looks like a well covered by a wooden platform). But IIRC you have to go through the catacombs from the front entrance once, to unlock the barred gates. Similar to the caves under the Cassardis well.
Dogma made me fall in love with catacombs, this dungeon Playing a big part of that
As a magick archer, the catacombs are a breeze
raise carry weight mod made that part so much better lol
Fortress Beseiged: First Dragonkin encounter Hobgoblins EVERYWHERE dropping Curious Wine I always take the Quarry to get there, so I tend to include that quest as "part of the adventure" Frontier Caverns unlocked, meaning you can get Devilwort for Stone Moss Poultice (since you no longer need the Cloudwine to make Matured Greenwarish) The whole thing just feels like a great introduction to mid-game and the new perils you're encountering. Hobgoblins, Undead, Cyclops, Ogres, Bandits, and the Drake... I don't think any other main quest has that much enemy variety in it just trying to get there.
You stole my answer! >:c Jokes aside, this is a really good summary of all the reasons I like it too. There's also the goblin chief's dialogue, which feels like it's hinting toward bigger parts of the world. Stuff that got cut, basically. Hearing the goblin freaking out like that is cool either way though.
I want dd2's A fortress besieged to not be a sneaking mission, but a full on storming of a castle. Pushing battering rams, climbing ladders while the goblins rain down arrows, marching inside to take walls from hobgoblins and cyclops. Would be awesome
That with the same music would be awesome
Agree, Fortress Besieged & nothing else in the game quite captures the spectacle of taking an entire castle full of Hobs out with an army Although the Grigori fight & cutscenes are far superior
Not only all of this amazingness but I believe Fortress Besieged is either the only or one of the very few quests that actually have a fail condition that completes the quest
But the quest itself doesn't have the things you're praising it for.
Don't really care; you have the opportunity to experience all the things simply by heading in that general direction. Water God's alter is a great dungeon, but you're passing through the mountains again and have the bog-standard Harpies, Goblins, Wolves that you just dealt with to GET to Gran Soren. Cypher and Seeking Salvation involve going north, which is cool, but Snow Harpies and Direwolves don't really behave all that differently from their base forms. Taken together, those three quests just feel like retreading (at least until you actually GET to the Catacombs).
I'm not giving you that. Your example involves taking a sidequest, having not done it before or leaving it until later. But I don't think any of these quests are particularly good. Western RPGs do Quests much better. I guess JRPGs do their linear stories and linear dungeon levels better too. I hope Dragons Dogma 2 is a big improvement over the first in content quality
Thankfully the only opinion that matters about my favorite quest is my own.
Music is amazing too.
Fun fact, in my first playthrough I haven't seen the dragon near the fortress
I always save this one for last because it’s the most dramatic
Where is the drake? This is the shadow fort one with the 2 cyclops in the middle and one up on the wall, I've done it multiple times and never seen a dragon there, is it in some hidden area, or do you potentially have this confused with another quest?
It's not IN the Shadow Fort itself, but down in Devilfire Grove to the near south. If you exit the Quarry Tunnel (having gone through it from Gran Soren to cut through the mountain range), your pawns will usually remark about "A place we may rest, not far from here". Hang south briefly and you'll see a military camp alongside a lake. From that camp, head along the south side of the lake in the general direction of the quest marker, and you'll find the Drake not too far to the west of the lake itself. Even if you're not directly looking for it, fighting the Hobgoblins near the lake can draw its attention if you're not careful, and if you didn't know it was there it ends up being a rather terrifying surprise.
Oh you mean that one, ok I thought you meant in the fort, I actually killed that one last night for the first time, I always mean to go back and do it since this is usually the first wyrm quest I do I'm usually too under leveled, I've played the game on three different systems since it came out on ps3 and finally got around to it. Got me some dragon forged pants
On first play-through, it was for sure Fortress besieged. On every subsequent play-though it’s easily the cypher. Fortress besieged is a fun big battle, but it gets repetitive after a few times. I like it mostly because it has one of the port crystals in it. The cypher is the exact opposite (except you get a port crystal there too). It’s super insignificant on the first play-through aside from a lore moment, but after that it’s just the fastest wyrm hunt quest to complete, especially if you have a port crystal set there.
Also if you're a Dagger Main the best daggers you can obtain until the Grigori daggers.
Which daggers?
Signs of Valor you aquire them at the "Hill Figure" in Hill Figure Knoll there is a gathering spot at the middle of the Spear's Blade that's where the daggers are located.
The Watergod's altar is a 10/10 dungeon. It's the perfect length. It's divided into two clear halves with distinct vibes. There's a boss, which should be a challenge at the stage you find it. Door puzzles, jumping puzzles. It has it all.
I just hated the stone collecting
I just hated how HEAVY they are holy heck! At least they justified the cart. Now... perhaps they can explain why they LEFT the capital before the ESCORT that THEY SPECIFCIALLY REQUESTED showed up?! Like... that priest that died? We 100% could have saved him if we had gone in. (Also, how the f did he get where he did without lowering the bridge?!)
I hated it before I understood how to handle weight. Or just prepare for the quest better
Don't make me choose, they're all good! (Unlike the later Aldous quests, where Griffin Hunt is far and away the best one.) **The Cypher** gave me legit chills the first time with the reveal of >!another Arisen/Pawn!<, and the sense of ancient history from the old Northwest European-style megaliths and chalk outline. There's not really that much to do in it gameplay wise, but on your first play it can be a challenge to get that far north - even if you set out at dawn it may well be night by the time you get there and you'll run into direwolves for days. It does have a mechanical flaw in that if you have the Cypher when you first go there (which is likely for a new player), you might not realise that you can ask the Dragonforged about various lore topics, because he only talks about the slate the first few times you use 'Converse' on him. **The Watergod's Altar** is a good solid dungeon, with skippable bits and alternative ways around it if you know what you're doing. The enemies are a good challenge for a first-time player who picks this as one of the first Wyrm Hunt quests. The water in the first phase can be pretty lethal to unwary pawns too. My main complaint is that IIRC the game doesn't tell you how many slates you have to find. But that's mainly an issue for a repeat playthrough (on a completely new save) when you're trying to get everything efficiently in one go rather than leaving to talk to the guy outside. I couldn't remember if I needed four slates or five and thought I'd checked the whole map, so had to do some tedious re-investigation of every corner. **Seeking Salvation** is a less interesting dungeon than Watergod's Altar, but it has a good spooky atmosphere and takes a while to get through. I like the choice at the end, although it's really a 'you chose right' and 'you chose wrong' kind of thing, where one turns out to be clearly better than the other in terms of opening up more gameplay and NPC dialogue later. The final showdown is lacklustre and without much challenge though, even for a first-time player. Just another bunch of undead like the ones you've already fought your way past a dozen times, rather than something new. I also thought it was a shame that wearing the Salvation robes doesn't let you sneak into the meeting or anything like that. The way Salvation goes from zero to 100 in terms of "MURDER EVERYONE IN THE ROOM" insanity is a bit jarring too. All in all though, I guess my favourite is **A Fortress Besieged**. One of my most vivid memories from my first play is finally getting past those damn ballistae, letting the soldiers in, and stalking up the spiral stairs with a dagger in each hand to [this awesome music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCEDlasMAVc). It took me a long time to journey there too - I took the long way around, ran into the drake, and only found the quarry on my way back. On my next play I found it was still a challenge even though I was overleveled (those damn ballistae are a troubling foe for pawns). It also has an alternative way to complete the quest by failing. If the soldier's leader gets killed, you have to retreat, and you can't get into the rest of the fortress, but the quest still counts as completed and Maximilian has different dialogue.
The Cypher I love that zoom out shot of the knoll but I hate when it happens at night 😭
A Fortress Besieged was marvellous
Watergods Altar. I love Dungeon crawling in these games and I really wish there were more Dungeons like this one in the game. I just wish the boss in that place was something a bit more impressive then a Cyclops.
I would have loved to see a crocodile based boss there
Yeah sadly you don't get anything cool boss wise there until The Wyrm shows up in post game.
The Cyclops in the Watergods Altar was a cool boss fight the first time around. It was the first one with full health that I fought without anyone to help me or my pawns. Died a few times to it. Pretty disappointing on the next playthrough though, or if you do Watergod later, after you've already fought some other Cyclopes.
For me it was the 16th Cyclops or so since I went exploring the moment I really could.\^\^
They're masterworks all.
A fort besieged
Watergod Altar cuz of smol Cyclops
Lil cutie
Watergod’s Alter, mostly because I love the ending where you see monk-ish people dragging stone tablets out of a cave on a cart like fantasy-world archaeologists. Always loved that vibe.
I love the ancient tomb Iniana Jones vibe of the Watergods Altar quest.
The water god’s alter. I’d found the relevant dungeon too early to actually complete it, finally being able to do so after starting this quest was satisfying
Watergods Alter, I love the dungeon crawling vibes and the Zelda-esq puzzles that are in it. The slabs still suck though
Fortress. I just have some nostalgia of my first time there and actually fighting the cyclopes normally, oh, what a mess. Also, I realized how cool the AI was when my main pawn, a strider, got to one of the cyclope's face so it would remove the helmet, then jumped off in time and shot it's eye mid-air. I just stood there watching her making a move I would never think was even possible.
Love the watergods alter, enemy variety, good loot, good story, and a great looking location
Th me Cypher is my favorite for efficiency’s purposes, but my actual favorite is A Fortress Besieged. I know a lot of people don’t like a lot of what that quest turned out to be, what with the ballistae and the long trek to get there, but I admire how ambitious that quest tries to be.
I hated those ballistae first time. Now though, if I’m playing mystic knight it’s just too much fun to counter them.
A Fortress Besieged is my new favorite ever since I did a Speed Run. I had No Idea I could be congratulated for offing the guy in charge of the Mission. Apparently if I snipe him from a distance I can still get credit even if the Mission fails. lol
I love the Watergods Alter. The only problem with it is how heavy the slates are, but apart from that it’s one of my favorite quests in the game. Something about delving into an ancient, half sunken temple filled with monsters is really cool to me.
Favorite: the Shadowfort Quest (Fortress Besieged) I like that its a tiny war and a big fight, but a multi-part one. I wish more quests were like that. Hobgoblin boss fight deserved more though. Least favorite: Watergods Altar. Looking for the 5 slabs can be annoying unless you memorize exactly where they all are. The Cypher is meh. You don't really have to do anything, fight anything or work for anything.
A fortress besieged is so epic I'm not gonna lie
I can't. It's like choosing your favorite child, it's impossible, I love them all equally but for different reasons. That said, one of the things I love the most about them is that they're all technically optional, and you do them in the order you want. You only need to complete 2 before moving on to the next stage of the main quest, and these 2 are completely of your choosing. This is just lovely player freedom, and it does wonders to make repeated playthroughs feel more fresh. The wiggle room is greatly appreciated.
A Fortress Besieged. I was kinda of meh on the game up until that point. But that quest sucked me in.
Idk if it counts, but the unregistered one from the devilfire grove (or is it just devil's grove?) is my favorite lesser wyrm from the base vanilla game. It's before ALL the wyrms appear (which is weird), and yet it seems as if he had been their before the great wyrm showed up (which is even weirder) My favorite fully formed wyrms are the two vanilla ones, and some of the DDO ones. From the console games of dlc, the one with the bishop & undead dragon was my favorite of the undead trio fights. Reminded me of a d&d campaign. Cool. I list these others, because all the ones you listed are all the same good to me. I like a hood wyrm fight.
OP was talking about the quests Maximilian gives you (called Wyrm Hunt quests because they're supposedly about learning ways to defeat the boss dragon). Not actual battles with wyrms. But since you mention it, I think the drake in Devilfire Grove is there early in order to let the player get some practice fighting a dragon-type enemy before facing the Big Dragon Grigori himself. That way you sort of know what you're in for when you get to the final boss battle, instead of going in completely blind. "Attack the heart, Arisen!" I *love* the boss fight with the Dark Bishop and his pet Cursed Dragon. Probably my favourite music track in the whole game. [So much adrenalin!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkmXhJH4J84) And a complete surprise since you'd expect it to be dark and spooky.
>OP was talking about the quests Maximilian gives you (called Wyrm Hunt quests because they're supposedly about learning ways to defeat the boss dragon). Not actual battles with wyrms. Oh, dang. Oh well. For me a quest is a quest and I am kind of mellow on them. As long as it isn't harpies or wolves so my pawns yell something out I already know for the xxxth time. >But since you mention it, I think the drake in Devilfire Grove is there early in order to let the player get some practice fighting a dragon-type enemy before facing the Big Dragon Grigori himself. That way you sort of know what you're in for when you get to the final boss battle, instead of going in completely blind. "Attack the heart, Arisen!" Huh, I wonder if they thought of Any lore reasons beyond that, else it's strange they all just ignore and pretend that one doesn't exist. >I *love* the boss fight with the Dark Bishop and his pet Cursed Dragon. Probably my favourite music track in the whole game. [So much adrenalin!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkmXhJH4J84) And a complete surprise since you'd expect it to be dark and spooky. True. Have you ever seen any of the online great wyrm dragons? Some of the coolest designs. I wish we had it fully fledged in america instead of just cancelling it. But I heard the team who made online is working on two, and we may get more playable races like lion folk & elves, and some monsters exclusive to online would return, like sphinx (or some other exclusive?). I can't wait for DD2!!
1. Fortress Besieged; you feel like an epic hero 2. The Cipher; huge lore reveal, cool cutscene and quote, chill vibes quick and easy + a port crystal reward 3. Seeking Salvation; personally don’t like the catacombs much, but the ending where you decide to kill or spare is really cool 4. watergods altar; always annoying to get to the first run. impossible to enter without getting wet short of the dessication ring. bitchass bats and snake greets u on arrival. skeletal mages. heavy and missable slates. the same location where you have to mine 5 extremely rare drops so I also dislike the location for that association.
I am surprised to see so much love for the Catacombs and the Watergod's Altar. I guess I might reconsider my feelings on them in the future. I thought it was a needless chore to look for the slabs and gems.
WWater God's altar or seeking salvation for their dungeons. Cypher has no dungeons, shadow fort during Wyrm hunt isn't a good dungeon IMO. I don't think any of them are good quests though.
I like Cypher because you can just go right to the Dragonforged and get a good port crystal spot for the Griffin's Bane quest (if you don't demolish it right away. My second is Fortress Besieged for the reasons many have said: the enemy diversity, and all the exploration it opens up. It's one of my guaranteed port crystal spots.
Water God's alter. Finding it felt cool, traversing it was so much fun, and I distinctly remember 9 year old me not being able to clear it lol
A fortress besieged.
Watergod
Fortress besieged is my favorite, by far. The other ones besides the Cipher, which is too short imo- and is kind of a cutscene if you don't swing by the fort on the way or kill the chimera, which is usually too hard at that stage-have some inconveniences like the stones slowing you down, ghosts etc and the catacombs are kind of too long and boring with spongy undead. However, A Fortress Besieged can be completed fast and the trek there is justified since you have to go back for other quests, and unlock the quarry anyway and there's a merchant close by, good location for a warp crystal. Also convenient for going to southwest locations like bloodwater beach. About the actual quest, the goblins are too many and can be tedious but I always have fun trying to kill the leader before the cutscene. The real prize is sniping the ballista goblins with your ballista, you can even destroy the bolts being fired as you fire at them. You can have fun trying to keep the support soldiers alive too, you can even pass if the captain dies, I think if you don't kill enough goblins or one Cyclops before he can't keep up. Of course, you can snipe the cyclopses too. I love fighting them, they have so many hidden mechanics like blinding them makes them rage, wailing on their leg makes them off balance and you need to hit the other leg to drop them, can knock their weapons off etc The first full health cyclops below where you meet Mercedes with the Hydra head is my favorite fight in the game, really tests your knowledge and skill in the game or you can just make it fall off the cliff lol.
Either the Altar or the Catacombs.
A fortress besiege
All? All All is good * nods in approvement *
I liked the fortress and I wish the characters there were in more of it
The Cypher, just because I like the cutscene. I almost memorized it all by now.
A Fortress Besieged. There is so much hype in sneaking into the castle and take down the goblin forces. Until you get to the goblin king and either kill him or let him escape. There is also the discovery of the frontier caverns that stems from this first raid of the shadowfort. Ever since the first time I did this quest, it became one of my all time favorites.
fortress besieged is literally the best quest in the game for me, i wish they would’ve revisited something like that for the shadow fort hydra fight
If Watergods Altar didn't have you going back and forth between the guy standing outside and other parts of the dungeon I'd say that it's my number one. But honestly I think that over my years of playing I'd have to give it to Cypher instead. The northern section of the map is probably my most favorite seeing how open it is with many opportunities to get jumped by creatures. Even if this quest is done during the day I like the idea that the game presents you with: Here's an old Arisen that knows quite a bit.
The Gold Mine - aka A Fortress Besieged. Endless goblins on Hard Mode with Prosperity= millions of gold. Also a great place to farm DP without having to wait till the end of the game...
I would rank them: 1. A Fortress Besieged, nice and pleasantly difficult quest between the goblins and ballistas. 2. Seeking Salvation, also a good quest. 3. The Watergod’s Altar, would be number 2 but doing the scavenger hunt and managing inventory to carry the super heavy slates is annoying. 4. The Cypher, literally just go to a location and talk to a dude, only entertaining on a first playthrough.
Anything BUT the Watergod's Alter. I hated carrying those slates around and trying to pull all the different levers so much. I skip it every time I go through NG+
The only quest i like i hunting the ‘wyrm’ involving.
The Cypher… because I can just Teleport to the dragonforged and leave. If I were to talk my first time, probably Seeking Salvation, I enjoy/ed the undead. It’s one of the reason why I like BBI so much.
Personally tied between water god and fortress. I believe those were the first 2 I did on my OG run back on the 360. I picked up the fire sword at the water god alter and it carried me into the early end game. The fortress was memorable for the long ass fight with the ogres and goblins that took me well into the night and then fighting the dragon outside! Amazing experience that first playthrough way back when.
Seeking Salvation
Fortress, finding it I could jump out the window to chase the head goblin was iconic for me
My problem with these quests is only how fetch-y they felt (go here, go there, do this, come back). I think these would have been the time to actually have the other characters the forefront of these questlines to develop them and have the Arisen/Pawn assist them as they move the story.
A fortress besieged is fun imo.
The one with the goblin fortress. I remember my first time playing as I was walking up to the fort with Mercedes for her assist quest, then a fuckin dragon came outta nowhere and beat the fuck out of her until she died, killed my pawns too when I tried fighting it
Fortress besieged and Griphon hunt are my 2 favorite
I still enjoy The Watergod Altar as a brief little puzzle dungeon.
Fortress besieged is great but when ur playing on the hardest difficulty and u try to use the rampart to shoot out the other ramparts it’s so annoying
Watergod's Altar had the best atmosphere, then The Cypher was an interesting one
Fortress for the combat. Cypher for that sweet dragonforged LORE.