You may get an error message if you click to open the screenshots of the spreadsheet for the list of quests. It says something about a bad url even though it should be a JPG file not a URL. Check the final chapter of this guide for two options to get the guide in a different format. I reported it to Steam and they said this in response:

"We have been able to reproduce the issue. We have forwarded the issue on to the appropriate developers to look into it further.

For now you can bypass the issue by clicking on the URL that appears in this pop up on while the Steam client, or by right clicking on the image and selecting open in a new tab while on an external web browser. Both of these options bring you to the correct image.

If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you."

So there you go. As a temporary fix, you'll need to open the image in a new window. Then you can resize it within that window... or take a screenshot of it (try using Windows Snipping Tool) and put it into Paint or Photoshop and resize the image to your liking that way.

When Steam's tech support team figures out (and fixes) the issue I'll delete this notice. Sorry for the inconvenience.

First off, I will NOT be covering the "love interest" escort quests that you get just by making someone like you enough that they put a request on the notice board for you to take them halfway around the world. Those quests are self explanatory. I will have a couple of notes about them (particularly the characters who leave the game at some point) in the walkthrough, but nothing in any real depth about them.

Secondly, I am not posting images of maps, screenshots, or videos of how to get places. Part of the fun of this game is learning to explore on your own. You just might think of a way to do things that is better than my way.

Third, I am not going into great depth about the "From a Different Sky" quests because the rewards are minimal and making a list of each location would just be tedious. I will have a small section with a few important notes about how those fit into the timeline of other quests though.

I am going to start out with a few notes about the "From a Different Sky" badge fetch quests. That will be followed by a brief section about how to give NPCs gifts and why you would want to do that. Then a few generic notes for "newbies" to help keep you alive until you get the hang of things. Then I will jump into a chronological run-down of where to go and what to do when you get there. I will cover the main story quest, all side quests (given by notice boards or by individual NPC) except the Escorts and From a Different Sky, the Bitterblack Isle quests, and the "post-game" quests that pop up only after you kill the boss dragon. After the timeline, I will discuss the concept of New Game + and how that works with this game.

There are a few points in the story where you must make a choice that has consequences that persist until you start a new game +. Fair warning there are a few spoilers here so you can make an informed decision.

"From a Different Sky" will have you running back and forth across the world trying to find and grab a bunch of items known as Badge of Vows. It is just a collectible gig, nothing fantastic. Still, completionists will get some satisfaction from finishing the entire list. Each of these quests will be listed only on the notice board in the basement of the Pawn Guild in Gran Soren City.

I am NOT covering the "From a Different Sky" badge locations here. I may post a separate guide for that later, but I think there are plenty of ways to get help with those if you need it so I probably won't bother with it. For example, try Youtube. I will, however, toss a couple of notes at you now about those badges.

There are 100 badges total for those quests, and three of them appear in the final dungeon and thus WILL NOT be posted on the notice board until you begin the final quest for "Deny Salvation." Also, those three badges MUST be obtained on your first run because that dungeon becomes inaccessible after you beat the boss dragon. Those badges, in the order they appear in the dungeon, are numbered 87, 39, and 40. So work around those numbers and obtain the other 97 badges until the very end of your main quest to get your heart back from the dragon.

The other badges can be obtained in any order you choose to accept the quests, and at any time because you can revisit every other area of the game. However, remember that the notice board can only hold five or six active quests at one time so you will have to collect a badge and then return to the board to complete that quest before another one will appear on the board. Also, the quests will only appear on the notice board once the area where the badge is located becomes open to you via a side quest or the main quest. And don't forget that the badges DO NOT EXIST in the real world until you accept the quest to obtain that specific badge, so you cannot run around and collect them all and then turn them all in at once. You can, however, collect all the badges and turn them in on your first play, then put them into storage so you have them ready on your new game + take them out of storage as you need them to avoid running all over the world again but still complete these quests. Or you could collect them, turn them in for the quest reward, then sell them... they are worth quite a bit of gold.

Some badges will require the double-jump ability of the ranger.
Some will require the glide ability of the mage.
Some will require you to shoot them with a bow.
There is even one that you need to demolish a wall to find it.
So if you are at the indicated location but just can't reach the thing, try changing your vocation or learning a new skill first.

If you accept a Badge of Vows quest, it will NEVER expire in your list (except those three that are in Greatwall Fortress) until you slay the dragon. They do NOT interact with story or Bitterblack Isle quest progression in any way except that a few areas of the game are closed to you until you reach a certain point and the badges in those places will not be available as quests until you unlock the location.

One thing you will probably notice really early in the game, is that when you talk to NPCs one of your options is to give them a gift. Now you might think that if you give them a gift, or enough gifts, then they will eventually reward you with something cool like a bigger sword or a healing potion or something. That's how this works in most RPGs, right? Not in this game. In this game, it is tied into the Affinity system.

Every human NPC in the game has a certain Affinity Level towards you. They usually start out neutral, let's call that zero affinity. This means they will talk to you, they will do business with you if they are a merchant, but mostly they don't really know you exist.

You can raise affinity in four basic ways. The easiest is just to talk to them. A lot. Like five or six times a day. Talking only raises affinity a small amount, but over time it will show. You could complete a side quest they give you, or one that they benefit from. That will give you a medium boost to affinity. You could impress their neighbors by doing heroic deeds (such as defeating the cyclops and hydra at the Encampment impresses the soldiers and villagers there and in Cassardis). You can give them a gift - most items will work as a general gift. A regular gift is a small boost to affinity, but better than just talking. And each NPC has a specific gift that they really love - that will raise affinity by quite a bit. Then there is one item, the Arisen's Bond, that essentially acts like an engagement ring. Giving that as a gift will instantly make the person fall in love with you.

Once you get a NPC to affinity level 2, where they like you but they still don't quite love you, they will greet you as soon as they see you in the streets. And if the timing is right, they will leave a note for you on the local notice board (Cassardis inn or Gran Soren inn) asking you to escort them to some far-away location. Completing the escort mission will further increase their affinity for you. At affinity level 3, they will visibly blush when you talk to them. A handful of NPCs need to be at affinity level 3 before you see their escort quest on the board, and a few of them have strict timing requirements and are unavailable during certain parts of the main story.

At affinity level 4, they get a pink halo when you approach them. This means they LOVE you. Each merchant has a list of items for sale that determines what they sell at each stage of the main quest as you progress. That list also specifies a few items that they only offer for sale if they reach affinity level four. So the extra goodies for sale is a good reason to give merchant NPCs a lot of gifts.

The real reason to raise someone's affinity though, is to make them your spouse (unofficially of course). Spoiler! Whoever you are engaged to at the end of the main quest, will be kidnapped by the dragon and you will be given a choice to save that person or save yourself. After you defeat the dragon, your fiancee will live at your house in Cassardis instead of wherever they were before. And then after the final post-game quest, you get a special end-game scene with that person. Note that it is possible for several people to love you at the same time. The one chosen for this story-related role is the one who MOST RECENTLY got that pink halo at affinity level 4. If there is a specific NPC you want to get with at the end of the game, you can arrange it by lowering the affinity of all the other NPCs who love you.

You can lower that affinity in several ways. You could pick that person up and gently set them down. They do not like to be man-handled. You could draw your weapon and then try to talk to them, it makes them nervous so their affinity drops even if you do not actually use the weapon. You could run into them at full speed so they have to get out of the way. You could give them a certain item (Liquid Effluvium) found only at the shop in Bitterblack Isle to reset their affinity to zero if you accidentally raised it, or if you raised it on purpose but now you want to reset it.

You can also lower affinity by punching, shooting, casting painful magic on, picking up and THROWING, or otherwise injuring a person. However, that is a crime and if you do it inside the city you will be arrested and tossed in prison. There is also a danger that you might actually kill the person by trying to do it that way. Pawns count as people in this case, so if you want to toss your pawn off a high place, do it outside the city walls.

You can reduce affinity to a negative state. In this state, the character will be generally upset with you, afraid of you, and if they are a merchant then they will not do business with you. You also will not be able to accept any side quests they might offer.

When it comes to choosing "the right gift" most NPCs have an item in mind that they prefer. For 95% of them, it depends only on their location and whether they are a man or woman. But there are a few who have individual tastes that differ from everyone else in their neighborhood. Here is a picture of a list I made, showing everyone's favorite things:

One final note about Affinity: it will DECAY over time, back to neutral zero. In order to maintain a high affinity with any NPC, you must talk to them twice or give them one gift on each of at least two days out of every seven (rough estimate). Basically, if you ignore people they will eventually forget why they ever liked you.

READ THIS if you plan to do some escort missions. These tips just might be the difference between life and death for you and your NPC friend.

Once you get a NPC to affinity level 2, where they like you but they still don't quite love you, they will greet you as soon as they see you in the streets. And if the timing is right, they will leave a note for you on the local notice board (Cassardis inn or Gran Soren inn) asking you to escort them to some far-away location. Completing the escort mission will further increase their affinity for you. At affinity level 3, they will visibly blush when you talk to them. A handful of NPCs need to be at affinity level 3 before you see their escort quest on the board, and a few of them have strict timing requirements and are unavailable during certain parts of the main story.

In addition to the "romance" story element, some of the escort quests have decent rewards (gold, weapons, rare items). Some of them have pretty stupid rewards. I am currently attempting to compile a complete list of escort quests... but it is taking FOREVER to finish. And if it ever does get done that will be a separate guide. Here I will just give you some tips to get you started.

When you are a newbie Arisen, probably right after you kill that half-dead cyclops outside the Encampment, you will see your first two or three Escort jobs on the Cassardis notice board. Be very picky about which jobs you take, and when! When you are still just a baby, you can take Escort quests to Warrior's Departure because it is right outside the Encampment. Once you reach Gran Soren City, you can take trips to Cape Pactforge (right outside the city, near the ocean), Stones of Courage (still very close to the city - but beware of goblins and hobgoblins), and Prayer Falls (travel there ONLY by day - at night there is an army of undead and several ogres). For all other destinations, wait until you are harder to kill.

Bring TWO Wakestones (not shards) just in case you need to revive your NPC friend.
Jobs only stay active on the board for about seven days. Then you have to find that NPC and raise their affinity level a little to get the job back.
Only six jobs can be shown on the board at any one time. Finish one job to make the seventh one appear.
Place a Portcrystal at your escort destination BEFORE you accept the mission - the easy way.
Later in the game there will be a griffin in the fields just west of Gran Soren, and another in the fields northeast from the western bandit fort. Griffins like to grab your NPC friend, fly him a mile high, and then drop him to his instant death. But griffins take about a week to respawn, so kill the griffins before you accept those escort missions that travel those areas.
If you are going to Shadowfort, do NOT go north through Devilfire Grove or you will encounter the Drake. He will swipe, claw, chew, and breathe fire until your NPC friend is dead. Avoid this by taking the path to the east by the little rest camp and going around the lake to the Shadowfort.
Chimera appear in several places: west of Prayer Falls, in the woods en route to Bloodwater Beach, and a few others. Like the griffin, they love to eat NPCs and they take a few days to respawn, so kill them before you take the mission.

Warrior's Departure: east of Encampment, a gravestone on a peninsula
Cape Pactforge: exit Gran Soren by the south gate and turn left at the end of the bridge. Walk past the cows to a small grassy hill overlooking the ocean, with some crates on it.
Stones of Courage: exit Gran Soren from the south gate. Move up the path towards the mountain waycastle, but take your first left and wade through a small army of goblins and hobgoblins until you find the strange stones standing on a cliff by the sea.
Prayer Falls: walk west from Gran Soren's northern exit. Follow the river's southern bank through the fields and forests. It is on the rock just east of the abbey in the woods. BEWARE of undead army and ogres at night, only go there in daylight.
Shadowfort: On the western side of the world, from the southern exit of Ancient Quarry, turn right and follow the rock wall until you reach the fortress gate. BEWARE of the Drake to the south.
Bloodwater Beach: From the western bandit fort, follow the coastline north until you reach a total dead-end. It is at the back side of a small rock formation on that final beach. There are two cyclops in a sort of pit at the other end of the tunnel that connects to the beach.
Hilligure Knoll: North and across the river from Gran Soren, then turn right and follow the path past the army fort. Just north from that is a hill with a drawing of a warrior on it. You want to be on the left side of the drawing, right on his foot.
Healing Spring: Go north from Gran Soren, cross the river, go northeast past the army fort, past Hillfigure Knoll, go uphill and keep going northeast until you reach a healing spring.
Greatwall: follow the mountain pass NORTH of Gran Soren, past the female bandit fort, then go northeast. It is right in front of the camp at the Greatwall fortress.
Miasmic Haunt: stand on a canoe on the western side of the swamp that is northwest from the female bandit fort. The canoe is between a small island and the shore. DO NOT go there at night, there is a rather nasty wight in the vicinity.

From almost the beginning of the game, Bitterblack Isle is accessible by speaking with Olra (the creepy blonde lady) who stands at the pier in Cassardis village at night. By all means, go there to get the place active on your Ferrystone travel map. You can even explore the small exterior area of the island near the docks. There is some good stuff to mine and you can find some decent crate loot there. If you are a mage/sorceror you can also do some creative jumping to reach some of the higher rock platforms for more free stuff. To the right of the big doors you will find a portcrystal to mark this place on your map, and a Rift Stone where you can go to summon pawns. Behind Olra is a notice board with special jobs unique to this place. There is also a bed in front of Olra. You can also speak with Olra and she offers a few services for you. Feel free, too, to go into that first big set of doors - there are no enemies in the FIRST room but there are a few crates and jugs you can smash that might have some little trinkets inside. SAVE YOUR GAME before you go through that second door though. If you are still level 10, which a lot of people are because they just want to "see how hard it really is" then you should turn back now. As Dumbledore said, "the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."


My advice: wait until you are level 45 at least before you go through that second door. And make sure you have some decent gear - preferably "Dragonforged" by the Drake in Devilfire Grove. When you do make your attempt, check the message board first because it has some jobs for you to do while you're in there. Also keep an eye out for "Macabre Statue" items that are hidden all over the place. You will want to find ALL of them to complete the job board quests related to them. Check Youtube for their locations if you think you missed some. After a couple of hallways you will come to a courtyard with goblins and hobgoblins and cyclops (Oh, my!)... and... wait for it... DEATH HIMSELF!!! Keep going and you will find a man named Barroch who will do a few interesting things for you. If you have Dragonforged gear, some crazy rare items, and a TON of riftcrystals, he can improve your gear beyond Dragonforged to the Rarefied level. But wait on that because first you need to turn in the job that had you go find him, then rarefying an item is another job from the notice board. To get it you will need to turn in some quests (remember the boards only hold 5 or 6 quests at a time). Finding him is a quest, find 10/20/30 macabre statues is a series of quests. Have Olra identify a cursed "Bitterblack X" item is another quest. Go clear your quest board to get a new batch.

The room where you find Barroch is interesting. There are no enemies, only fluffy cute animals. Explore the crap out of this place... but take note: the doors that open using the crystal keys, you CANNOT find enough crystals to open all of them in a single game, so choose wisely. The door on the top, straight across from Barroch, is guarded by spiders and snakes. That door leads to the Room of Pain and Suffering. Every time you enter, you will be greeted by a different "super ultra badass" type of enemy. Seriously, that room will make you cry. But there is a ton of good loot hidden all over that room. On the ground floor, the room to the right of the staircase leads you to a prison that holds a gorecyclops. Don't mess with him yet just ignore him. At the top of the room you will find some skeleton sorcerors (kill them quickly) and a GARGOYLE who likes to petrify people. Get all the free stuff, and be sure to get the key from the very top of the room. Then explore the tunnels behind that room, there is more free stuff there. Just beware the water is poison/blind soup and the Leapworms come at you in numbers and inflict a bunch of status effects. Then, back in the furry critter room, the door on the first floor with the key-hole leads you deeper into this hell. Open the door so you don't have to remember to bring the key with you next time. Now it is up to you whether to continue on, or head back and save this place for later. I recommend waiting until level 55-60 before you move on here.

Beyond that door you will meet a few enemies that become quests on the notice board, but I think you have to meet one before the quest pops up. Garm (big evil dog monster), elder ogre (like an ogre but tougher), and Gazer (big grey eye with tentacles). Really the quest does not say "go kill a gazer" it says "obtain an Abyssal Eye" but the way to do that is to kill the Gazer. It is the only one in the regular game and it does not respawn so save your game before you fight it, and reload if it does not drop that Abyssal Eye.

Once you reach the Warrior's Respite room, Barroch will travel between I think four locations on the island. There is a job board in the Warrior's Respite. Here you can obtain/turn in your Macabre Statue jobs (remember you need to carry ALL statues to turn in the quest). You can also get two jobs to go slay some monsters in the main game world. One will take you to Soulflayer Canyon to fight a Gorecyclops - and good luck with that! Another will send you back to Gran Soren, in the Everfall under the Pawn Guild, to fight a pair of knights.

Death can be killed (no more respawns) in his home in the final sewer level. Be sure you have the active quest to kill him first! Just beyond Death is a ruined city where Daimon awaits. Be sure to have the quest to kill him before you enter the room! Killing Daimon changes the dungeon a bit, new/different loot etc. plus you will have to start from the top and work down again to kill Daimon's true form this time. And there are new/harder enemies to fight. Plus a few new job board quests from time to time as you encounter new enemies. Make sure you have the quest to kill Daimon's final form before you enter his city area!

Also, once you are level 60 and have some sort of CURSE/PETRIFY protection, you can fight a Cursed Dragon for a decent chance to Dragonforge your gear. "Easiest" place to find cursed dragon is to drop a rancid bait meat item into the room with the prisoner cyclops, then run up and kill all the mages and the gargoyle, then go kill a bunch of leapworms. You might also need to free the big cyclops by jumping on his head and hitting the chain on his mask. Anyway, a cursed dragon will usually drop down into the room and fight the cyclops. If you want the XP, make sure that YOU deliver the deathblow, but otherwise you can just watch as the dragon destroys the cyclops. Then you can fight the dragon.

Basically there are five areas to this place.
The exterior you can do anytime because there are no enemies.
Second door to the fuzzy critter room: be level 35+.
Fuzzy critters to the Gazer: be level 45+. There is a shortcut staircase just after Gazer.
Shortcut one to the Bishop: be level 70+ (90 is better). There is another shortcut after Bishop.
Shortcut two to Death/Daimon: be level 100+
Round Two... GOOD LUCK!!

Remember that finishing the main game after stepping into Quince's portal will reset everything, including this dungeon! Certain Bitterblack Isle items (Macabre Statues) will not carry over to New Game +.

Shortly after the prologue/tutorial, you will be able to create your own Arisen character. Soon after that, you will be asked to build your own Pawn sidekick. The process for both is basically the same. The main difference is that Pawns cannot use some of the advanced job classes, but you will not have to worry about that until you reach the big city (in Walkthrough 2) anyway.

Your character's basic looks are up to you, based on your personal preference. The three things that have real effects on the game are the sex, height, and weight.

For the sexes, the only difference is that there are a few pieces of armor and clothing that are only able to be worn by women and a couple that are only for men. There is a set of lady's clothes that can make your man dress like a woman though, so it's not such a big deal really. As for the story and the romance options, the sex does not matter at all. I prefer to play as a female simply because the female-exclusive armor has slightly better status resistances and defensive statistics than anything of comparalbe quality for the men.

Your height is affected by your selection of torso, legs, and head. Taller people walk faster and have longer reach with weapons. Jump height is the same for all characters. Taller people are slightly harder to knock back or knock down, but that really does not matter much in this game because if an enemy is strong enough to knock you down, then it will knock you down regardless of your height. Taller people have an easier time climbing on the bigger enemies and can throw smaller enemies and items slightly farther than short people. On the other hand, short people can run between the legs of cyclops and ogres. Short people can also fit into the tunnels below the Shadowfort's inner courtyard... but there is really nothing special in those holes.

Weight is the one that really matters. The heavier you are, the more stuff you can carry in your backpack. Heavy people use stamina slower than light people, but heavy people reover stamina much slower, too. There is a point in the game where you must walk through a canyon with very strong winds. Light characters will have trouble moving forward there and you need to RUN in order to move at all. Heavy characters will have no problem just walking there. Heavy characters have an easier time lifting and holding enemies or objects. Lighter people find it easier to climb or cling to enemies, climb up ledges, etc. There are two or three places in the game where a lighter person can grab a harpy and be flown up to a secret platform with some loot on it - one is a Badge of Vows but otherwise it's nothing special. The main thing is, you are going to find quite a bit of stuff in your travels. A lot of it will not be immediately useful, and some of it will only be useful to sell. So if you are heavy and can carry more stuff, then you can travel farther before you have to return and drop off your stuff.

After you build your character, there is a scene with the dragon and then you are forced to choose a vocation. You can switch to another vocation of these three initial choices (fighter, mage, ranger) at any time by visiting Olra on BBI or Asalam in Gran Soren City. After you reach level 10, the other vocations are available to you. Each new vocation will cost you 1000 discipline points to unlock though. If you follow my walkthrough, you will probably be level 20-ish when you first reach Gran Soren.

The different vocations each have different stat upgrades at levelup time. This means it is wise to change vocations every now and then to balance some of those stats that your main vocation choice ignores. I will not go into much detail on that stuff here; there are plenty of character build examples out there and the wiki [dragonsdogma.wikia.com] has a stat calculator to show you what your character would look like after a certain number of levels with each vocation.

I will say that i start as a ranger every time. That bow is handy for killing birds, which is necessary for a side quest or two and also for finding eggs that become golden eggs. It is also useful for hitting enemies before they get close enough to kill me. Until you hit level 12 or so, even those goblins are a real danger to you. The daggers provide very quick attacks, which are nice for the weaker enemies you will face during the first part of your journey. And you find decent daggers earlier than any of the other weapons. The fighter will be stuck with his poor initial equipment for a longer time, and the mage is easy prey for everything unless you boost your defense a bit before you choose to be a mage.

Now with that stuff out of the way, here are a few things you need to know before you really get rolling.

• Falling from a high place will kill you.
  
• Deep water will kill you - and not by drowning. In certain places you just take a little damage and wash up on shore, in other places you die.
  
• Watch for herbs, flowers, and fruits as you travel. They can be useful.
  
• Sometimes you will see a blue glow in a bush, or in the shallow water. These are gather points where you might find some herbs, weapons, potions, or fish. Most of them can be used a few times before they shut down.
  
• Most enemies respawn after a couple of days. Big enemies might need a week or so.
  
• Bitterblack Isle, accessed first by talking to Olra on the Cassardis pier at night, is DANGEROUS.
  
• Meat, fruit, veggies, and certain other items will decay in a few days. Most things have three states: fresh, moldy/sour/rank, and rotten/wilted.
  
• The second decay state heals you the most. The rotten/wilted state will usually poison you or something.
  
• if an item seems useless, it is probably used for an alchemy combination or else for upgrading some piece of equipment.
  
• Equipment must be upgraded at least to one-star level before it can become dragonforged. Three-star level is better and has a better chance of becoming dragonforged.
  
• Dragonforging only happens when your Arisen wears that piece of equipment to deal the deathblow to a dragon-type enemy.
  
• Save OFTEN.
  
• Be willing to explore, but be cautious.
  
• Don't let Pawns carry anything that they can eat, drink, or throw... unless you want them to eat it, drink it, or throw it. Because they will do so very often.

I found it easier to work in Microsoft Excel to prepare my timeline for the quests. So my list of tasks is a series of screenshots from my spreadsheet. Not the prettiest thing ever, I know, but hopefully you can understand well enough what I am trying to do with it. Basically, start from the top line and work your way down. The left column shows the name of the mission. Then it shows, from left to right: what type of quest it is (main story, side, job board, or Bitterblack Isle), what you have to do to start or accept the quest, and then a step by step guide to working through the quest. Note that some quests are started early but completed in stages, and sometimes you can finish several quests at the same time. So, here we go...


There is a little prologue that acts like baby's first training mission, to get you accustomed to the controls and the basics of combat. Then you get to build your own character and get your first taste of the story and the journey you are about to undertake. During this phase, ignore any escort type quests you see.

Prologue and some startup newbie advice:

This next stage of the walkthrough is entirely confined to the southern region of the world map. You cannot yet enter the city of Gran Soren (where most of the game's action will take place) because the mountain pass is closed and even if you try to go around the long way the city gates are shut. During this phase, continue to ignore any escort requests you see on the job board... unless it says they are going to Warrior's Departure. You can do that one, but if you try any of the other destinations right now then your NPC friend will end up dead... and you may get killed, too.

Your first real quest, up to your leading a caravan to the big city:

Now you are in the big city, there are a couple of things you need to know.

1. The Market Square around the fountain will be your main activity hub. There is an inn, a barber, two shops, and two notice boards for job quests.
   
2. Going right from the fountain will take you across a bridge into the old town. Over there, you will find a bunch of hidden treasure (explore the rooftops), eventually Madeleine will open a shop out there, and ther is also the Black Cat shop. At the Black Cat, you can buy special items, weapons, and armor. You can also make "forgeries" which are basically copies of most items in the game. You cannot forge weapons, shields, armor, clothing, or anything else that you can equip. Forgeries of "magical" special items like portcrystals, wakestones, and ferry stones will NOT work like the originals and will be marked "forgery" in the item description. Most documents, food, potions, metal ores, etc. can be forged and the forgery will be a perfect functional copy. Forgeries tend to be expensive to create. Also of interest in this part of town: there is a sewer system that leads to the dungeon, and beside the sewers is the back (east) exit out of the city.
   
3. Going left from the fountain will put you in the blacksmith village, and beyond that is the city farm, then the north gate out of the city. The Pawn Guild is to the left as you enter the smith's village. Across the road is a house with the front door wide open. This is the home of Wilhelm, whose son just died. DO NOT enter this house until you are good and ready; his quest is on a timer once you start it. I will tell you when to do it, in the timeline list.
   
4. Going straight past the fountain, past the inn and weapon shop, leads to the Noble Quarter, where the rich folks live. There is also a cathedral in that part of town. On the other side of that you should see the entrance to the palace area, which is currently locked.
   
5. Within the city, it is a crime to harm another person (including Pawns). You will be tossed in prison for doing so. Theft is not a crime though, so feel free to smash all the boxes and take whatever is not bolted to the floor.
   
6. Mercedes is gone for a while. You will see her again once you have access to the palace.
   
7. Free beef! Every time you exit the city, the fields to the south and west are full of cattle. They frequently drop beast steak and occasionally ambrosial meat. They are easy kills, too... but watch out because griffins like to hunt those cattle, too. I mention the beef because the beast steak is the favorite gift item for most of the men in Cassardis Village.
   
   

So you made it to the big city of Gran Soren. Good for you.

Remember that you can use the Rift Stone inside the Pawn Guild to hire new Pawns. You can also hire directly by talking to the Pawns that hang out in and around the building. You cannot hire Barnaby.

So now we've dealt with some rent issues, we've done some babysitting, we've met Barnaby the Pawn pimp. Now we need to head back to Cassardis to check those job boards and do a few more side quests that will expire if we forget about them. Also check the board at the Encampment for new jobs.


Yeah, we're going to be running back and forth between Cassardis and Gran Soren rather a lot. Particularly if you want to do a lot of escort quests. Thankfully, you should have your Ferrystones to zip between any Portcrystal locations in the blink of an eye. There are permanent Portcrystals outside Cassardis Village gate, next to the Pawn Guild in Gran Soren, and on Bitterblack Isle. As you progress, you will also find a few Portcrystals that you can pick up and move wherever you want them to go. And now we're going to do some running around outside the city, in order to befriend some bandits. Be sure to buy the women's dress outfit from the Black Cat shop for each man in your group, or else only have a group of women, before you leave the city.


That should be all the sidequests available for the moment, so we are going to continue with the next part of the main story quest next. It would be a good idea to have someone with fire magic, someone with holy magic, and for your arisen to be using a vocation with either double jump or glide ability for the next mission. Also, put all wakestones and wakestone shards into storage before you continue. Doing this will get you a free wakestone (three shards anyway). Also, when you get to the bottom of the Lure of the Abyss chambers, if you jump up to the balcony around that bottom room you will find a ton of gold just lying around the floor there.


At this point, you are likely to be somewhere around level 35. Once you hit 35, you can try some of the tougher escort destinations, but still be careful.

First off, make another lap from Cassardis, through the Encampment, and back to Gran Soren. Check all of the job notice boards to see what jobs are available. Accept them all (not counting Escort Quests or From a Different Sky badge hunts). Now go through your list of open quests and FINISH THEM. Most of them will expire or fail as soon as you start this next story mission. The one that asks you to go get a King Bay Leaf is still ok though, since that area is still locked all through this phase of the walkthrough. Also, any unfinished Bitterblack Isle quests such as the one to kill the Gazer and the one to collect 10 Macabre Statues will stay active so don't worry about finishing those yet. All other quests that I have listed thus far in the walkthrough, should be finished. Seriously, don't yell at me if any of your open quests automatically fails if you ignore this warning.


So much for the first of the Duke's missions. Only one more is mandatory (any of them will do) but I am going to list all of them anyway. Just remember to avoid choosing "hear the Duke's directive" with Maximillian until you are sure you are finished with these missions and all of this next batch of side quests.



WAIT! At this point, make sure you have several items to restore health to your entire party. Some of Selene's ales will do that, or Spring Water, ... see my other guide for recovery items and pick a few that work on the whole party. The army is considered part of your party for the duration of this mission, and those soldiers are not as tough as you are. You will benefit from some group health potion items. In the inner courtyard, you must fight some cyclops and a whole lot of goblins in order to reach the actual fortress keep. So also be prepared with lightning and either fire or ice magics. There are some Badge of Vows here; having double jump will help you reach those, but you can come back for them later. The important thing for now is to prevent any of the soldiers from dying. The secondary objective is to avoid letting the goblin boss escape down his tunnel before you kill him. That's the one who jumps out the window when he's almost dead and he's really fast so good luck catching him.


Well, that concludes Maximillian's missions, also often called the "Wyrmhunt." If you want to keep a copy of your Wyrmhunt License (it offers a discount at Gran Soren shops) then go make a forged copy of it to keep in storage now because Maximillian will collect it from you next time you speak to him. Also, make sure you have no more open quests - except Bitterblack Isle, the King Bay Leaf quest, and maybe some escorts. Entering the palace is another cut-off where lots of old side quests will expire.

There are several quests that I completely forgot to include in the walkthrough. These are optional side quests, nothing really significant EXCEPT "A Bookkeeper's Bind" leads to opening up a few new side tunnels in the Ancient Quarry with additional mining and treasures for you.

After "COME TO COURT" is finished, these quests all become available. They remain active until you start the mission "PRIDE BEFORE A FALL." Possibly a bit longer, but I don't recommend waiting to see if they automatically fail or not. Keep an eye out for these on the job boards as you go through the next chapter of this walkthrough.

For "A Bookkeeper's Bind" quest, you have to have completed the quest to get Alon to open his shop in the Ancient Quarry first, by killing all the bandits and ogres inside and opening the gate in the middle. Then you need to have already finished the mission Come To Court and so you met the Duke. Then if you go into the Ancient Quarry again, visit Alon's shop and he will sell the item "Promissory Note." You will need I think three of these from him (or forged copies). Bring one to the notice board at the Gran Soren alehouse. Then later, you return to the mine and find some miners looking for their fortunes. Talk to them with the Promissory Notes in your inventory and they should... eventually... open new areas of the mine with more mining spots and treasures for you.

For "A Hero's Worth" you get a quest off of the Encampment notice board, to go slay some bandits. No real trick to this one... except you probably don't want to mess with the bandits who live INSIDE the castle because they are "real people" who you can use for escort quests later, plus Maul himself offers a couple of quests for you. So only attack the unnamed bandits outside the castle and along the trail back to the Encampment. They respawn in a few days if you've already killed them all.

For "A Fabled Dram" you just have to collect five King Bay Leaf from the area behind Selene's hut, near the gravestone, after the mission Witch Hunt is completed. Unlike the similar mission A Taste To Be Acquired, this one just needs five leaves, you don't need to turn them into ale first.

"Winged Reaver" is a quest from the Cassardis Inn job board, after you meet the Duke... and assuming it isn't already full of escort quests. You may need to clear some of those escort missions first to make this one appear; remember a job board can only hold five or six quests at a time. This is a quest to slay a griffin. Best to complete this during the main story quest Griffin's Bane, since that one griffin can satisfy this quest at the same time. Otherwise, you'll have to go hunting for another griffin. They respawn every week or two, and can be found flying between the plains near Maul's bandit fort, the plains near Gran Soren city, and the plains near Hillfigure Knoll (though outside Gran Soren is the most common place to find it).

"Head Count" is a mission off of the Gran Soren alehouse job board after you meet the Duke. Somebody wants you to find and deliver 66 skulls to them. Don't ask why they want them. Skulls can be found all over the place, particularly in caves and tombs. Bring them back to Arsmith when you have all 66 of them.

"Deliver the Goods" is also available from the Gran Soren alehouse board after meeting the Duke. Somebody wants a Leaden Globe. Find Alluvial Yore Ore - either on BBI or in the Bluemoon Tower - then find Ancient Ore from the Ancient Quarry or Water God's Altar. Combine the two to produce the Leaden Globe. Funny side note, this item is only useful if you want to commit suicide because using it causes you to petrify yourself.

"Blood and Thunder" is available after meeting the Duke, in the Pawn Guild's job board. Just go kill seven phantasms, commonly found at barta crags or miasmic haunt (near the Greatwall) at night.

"Swamp Things" should be available alongside "Blood and Thunder." Kill 10 Sulfur Saurians. The easiest place to find them is start from the Abbey and go north into and across the river where there is a little beach. During the day you should find the sulfur saurians. At night... you'll find something much nastier there. (It is worth noting that the snakeskin purse needed for A Lost Cause is located in the river near the sulfur saurians for this quest.)


I think that is all of them now. If you see any more that I forgot or just missed, please mention them in the comments section.

Well, that concludes Maximillian's missions, also often called the "Wyrmhunt." If you want to keep a copy of your Wyrmhunt License (it offers a discount at Gran Soren shops) then go make a forged copy of it to keep in storage now because Maximillian will collect it from you next time you speak to him. Also, make sure you have no more open quests - except Bitterblack Isle, the King Bay Leaf quest, and maybe some escorts. Entering the palace is another cut-off where lots of old side quests will expire.





If you managed to defeat the Drake and if you were lucky enough to get something Dragonforged by it, then you can return to Bitterblack Isle and see the blacksmith Barroch there. He will add extra upgrades (at the cost of Rift Crystals and some ultra-rare items) to your Dragonforged gear, called "Rarefy" levels. To Rarefy, you must use the silver level before you are allowed to select the gold level. Rarefying one item will satisfy one of your Bitterblack Isle side quests. You can do this now, if you feel like it, or you can just remember to do this later when you are ready for the next few levels of the Bitterblack Isle dungeons.

If you decided to save Fournival from the courts, and if you were successful in finding him innocent, make sure to visit him to see what cool new stuff he has for sale. If you let him be executed, then the whole thing where you help his daughter is entirely optional, there is no real reward for it besides having her like you a little better.

Well, we are quickly running out of side quests! On with the story then.


In this next part, after you get the ring you need to finish ALL side quests except for Bitterblack Isle, From a Different Sky, and Reynard's Search Party quest. You should also have done all the escort quests that you plan to do, except maybe Julien's. (I have heard that Duke Edmun has no escort quest, but I am still trying to verify that for myself. Those darned Large/Giant Fish are pretty scarce.) Turning in the result from the ring quest and starting the mission Pride Before a Fall is a major point where any other old side quests will expire and fail.


So at this point lots of our old friends have left the game. Quina, Valmiro, Mercedes, Madeleine, and also Julien - if you killed him or let him win the duel, and also Fournival if the court found him guilty. All gone. Only Madeleine will be back before you kill the dragon boss. Two more are going to leave soon: the Duchess Aelinore and her best friend are about to be either killed, or escape the continent.

Before you turn in the results from that last mission, PREPARE YOURSELF to fight a Cockatrice. Once you exit the city to see about this "message" that is waiting for you, you cannot reenter the city without instantly getting into a fight with the thing. That means you will want protection and cures for petrify status, curse status, etc. plus some thunder magic. If possible, use a big sword to chop at the point where its head meets its neck.


Yep, you should definitely go back to Bitterblack Isle now. You should be level 60 at least, assuming you've been keeping up with all the side quests AND scouring the world for some of those rare items for weapon and armor upgrades. You will essentially be doing the rest of the BBI dungeon, except the final three areas: the hall where Death lives, the dead city, and the main boss room. So if you see the grim reaper show up in a sewer-like area, stop and retreat to the surface... for now. And remember, if you have enough Rift Crystals, you can purify those "cursed" items listed as Bitterblack Armor, Bitterblack Gear, or Bitterblack Novelty. You can also rarefy any equipment that you have Dragonforged already. So when you come out of that place you should be well prepared to handle the rest of the game.

Make sure ALL of your side quests are DONE, except the final three From a Different Sky quests. This is the breaking point where anything left unfinished stays unfinished.


Now you will be making your first visit to the real Everfall (that place that was originally below the Pawn Guild). Be afraid of this place. You will face monsters here who are unlike anything you've seen anywhere else in the main game: evil eyes, succubi, gorechimera, gorecyclops, and even the Ur Dragon. You will also be exposed to all new status effects - this is why you found so many recovery items throughout the game. If you are in ONLINE MODE, you will face the Ur Dragon with your pawn and everyone else who is currently playing online. You will all be invisible to each other, but the damage done by one person will show up on everyone's screen. Everyone who participates will be rewarded when the Ur Dragon dies; the biggest rewards go to the one who dealt the killing blow. In OFFLINE MODE, you will fight the Ur Dragon alone. It is not as strong, but the rewards are less. So yeah, you should be very careful and very prepared when you enter that big hole in the middle of the city.


No joke. Entering the portal after giving Quince those stones is it. No coming back.
So, be sure you are FINISHED with all quests you want to finish in this playthough. Make sure you got as far as you intend with Bitterblack Isle. Make sure you have explored the world and its new post-dragon monsters to your heart's content. Because now you are going to the great beyond... and after that, the entire game resets for your New Game +.


And so, that is it. Next section I will explain some of the options available in New Game +.

After you stab yourself with the Godsbane, it will give you the option to save your game, or it may do it automatically - I do not honestly remember which. Whatever, the game saves. After that, if you choose the option to "Start a New Game" it will overwrite your save file and it will NOT be a New Game + but just a regular new game. Everything gets deleted and you start from scratch.

To start a New Game +, you need to choose the option to load a cleared game save.

Here is a list of what you KEEP for New Game +.

• Arisen XP level, stats, vocation levels, and unlocked skills
  
• Pawn XP level, stats, vocation levels, and unlocked skills
  
• ALL items your party had; they are available in the inn's storage box.
  
• NPC Affinity levels are kept, but they can still decay over time.
  
• Merchant shopping lists are kept at their highest unlocked level.
  
• Gold and Rift Crystal currency is still in your wallet.
  
• Pawn knowledge of quests, areas, and enemies is kept intact
  
• Portcrystals are still located wherever you put them, and still accessible by Ferrystone travel

Here are some changes

• main story quest is reset to the beginning, all quests marked as not started yet
  
• skip the original prologue from before you created your Arisen.
  
• side quests, escort quests, and other job board quests are reset as not yet started
  
• Bitterblack Isle will be as if you never visited it yet
  
• Any doors that you unlocked will be reset to their locked position.
  
• Pawn Guild notice board has some NEW QUESTS to kill some of the bigger and nastier monsters such as chmeras, ogres, succubi, etc.
  
• One of the shops in Gran Soren will sell Portcrystals. You will want to buy about six of them in addition to the ones you already found, to makd running around the world a little less tedious.
  
• After killing the dragon again, you will fight your original Arisen and Pawn in place of the original Seneschal and his pawn. On further NG++... you may get the latest version of your Arisen and Pawn, or else you may get one from another player who beat the game with Online Mode turned ON.

There are also a couple of new options available to you: Speed Run and Hard Mode. My advice is to play through a NORMAL new game + until you reach Gran Soren and the Pawn Guild. Then do some shopping and go buy a bunch of Portcrystals. Now take a lap around the world and put a Portcrystal at each of these locations:

• mountain Waycastle near the Encampment
  
• Shadowfort front gate
  
• the western bandit fort
  
• the northern bandit fort
  
• entrance to the Greatwall camp
  
• entrance to the griffin's tower
  
• Hillfigure Knoll
  
• the army fort north of Gran Soren
  
• front entrance to the Duke's Manse in the far north

Remember you still have permanent portcrystals on Bitterblack Isle, in front of Cassardis, and at the Pawn Guild in Gran Soren. With this setup, you can get anywhere in the world with a minimum amount of actual walking. If you are planning to do some more escort quests, you might also consider putting Portcrystals at Bloodwater Beach, the northern Healing Spring, Stones of Courage, and the Miasmic Haunt near that little canoe.

One option is to play SPEED RUN MODE. You start from whatever your most recent save was (items, XP levels, gold, etc.) except the story resets to the beginning. Plus your Portcrystals will remain right where you left them. You can use your items and gold without worrying because speed run will not affect your original saved game. Nothing carries over from speed run back to your regular game - no items, no XP, no job levels, no new skills. The only thing you get as a permanent reward is a pair of new outfits that go into your storage box if you finish the whole speed run game. So go ahead and see how fast you are. The timer will run all the time, EXCEPT when you are in your inventory screen, inside a Rift Stone, cutscenes, or in the pause screen. There is no time limit on a speed run, but there is also NO saving during a speed run. You can sleep at the inn, but it will not save. It is done entirely in OFFLINE mode, so you cannot hire any pawns from the internet; only your main pawn and those included with the game as made by the developers. Also be aware that the speed run is set to NORMAL difficulty no matter what your game was originally at - so when you return from speed run your game will be set to normal even if you were on hard mode. Setting it back to hard mode then will reset the game to the beginning again. For the quickest time, SKIP all the escort quests, all the monster-slay notice board quests, the From a Different Sky quests, and any other side quest. You won't get to keep the rewards from them anyway. When you get to Maximillian's quests, do the one to decipher the tablet and then the one to storm the fortress at Shadowfort. Then skip the other two and "hear the duke's directive." Basically, just stick to the main story missions and stay away from Bitterblack Isle.

The second new option is to play on HARD MODE. This doubles damage done to your Arisen (but not your pawn). It makes you burn stamina faster than normal (but not your pawn). Enemies are harder to knock down. You get a ton more XP, vocation points, and Gold from monsters. Rift Crystal drops happen less often though, so I hope you got everything you wanted with Rfit Crystals on your last run. Defeating the dragon and then beating the real end-game will unlock two new outfits that will show up in your storage box on your next NG+ cycle. To get to hard mode, you must select that option from the Options menu. Wherever you are in the game, switching from easy or normal TO hard will reset all your quests and start the story over from the beginning. You can downgrade from hard to normal at any time with no serious consequences though. If you can beat the Speed Run in less than an hour, then you are probably strong enough to try Hard Mode. Good luck.

There are two options to get the guide if you are having problems viewing my images here.
First is to download a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file, provided by me. this is the guide I made IN ITS ENTIRETY. Second option is from a Steam user "Woodsy" who got the spreadsheet, decided to reformat it as a Google Document because it's easier to look at. I'll provide links for both options...


Due to popular demand, I am putting the Excel spreadsheet online for downloading. I cannot figure out how to post it on Steam so I placed it on my google drive folder, anyone can view it with or without signing in to google first so you don't even need a google account.

Dragon's Dogma quest timeline Excel spreadsheet[drive.google.com]

When you view the file you should see three tabs. The first is basic info about player and pawn weight and carrying capacity, and a little chart to show which stats levelup for which vocation class. The second is a list of HP and Stamina healing items (on the left) as well as some status effect cure items and a list of Selene's ales (on the right). The third tab is the actual walkthru as seen in this guide, but all in one single piece. A color key is on the top to tell you what the different color text is for.

Woodsy was kind enough to reformat the spreadsheet into a Google Docs version, and has posted it here for gamers to use: Woodsy's Google Docs Version[docs.google.com]. Fair warning: I didn't go through the entire document, just glanced over it quickly, so I can't guarantee that it is 100% true to the original... but it looks like Woodsy did a pretty good job.

And for those who want some additional in-depth information about each quest, or item, or character or whatever... I recommend you visit the Dragon's Dogma Wiki page[dragonsdogma.wikia.com]. Good stuff on there. It is not 100% complete or 100% accurate but it should have most of what you're looking for if my guide isn't enough for you.

I am working on a full listing of Escort missions as well: which characters want to go where, when you can start taking them there, and what the rewards are. It is VERY SLOW GOING (partly because my computer is broken and needs to be replaced, and partly because I'm working 60 hours/week these days) but I will post it here as a separate guide and also in the Google Drive with this file if I ever finish the thing.

Thanks for the positive feedback, and happy gaming to you all.