Dragon's Dogma

[Alisha]

just started the game and i now think its very over rated. the amount of times ive died so far is just unacceptable to me. first it was the bandits on the way to the witch. then i got to grand soren and switched to mystic knight then went in some basement with a tentacle boss and had to die about 10 times before i realized you cant win and are supppsed to run away. and even that was a chore since i had to be a dick to my pawns and frequently hit select to restore my stamina.

The amount of times you die is directly proportional to your skill at the game, much like in Dark Souls.  If you don't like dying, then you need to ask yourself WHY you are dying all the time and address it appropriately.  As for the tentacle boss, your pawns tell you to flee and are even scripted to start running up the stairs out of the room.  If you decide to hang around and fight, ignoring the advice given, then the problem is you, not the game.

There are definite problems with Dragon's Dogma (the menu system is worse than Mass Effect 1, especially the unsearchable, unfiltered, unsortable menu for item forgeries, good god), but what you've said so far is all your doing.

a lot of times i was dying because i was being overly aggressive. especially versus the swarms of bandits where they can come at you from a blind spot. i didnt pick strider because i wanted to be strictly melee and felt id be gimping myself by not using the bow. i chose mystic knight thinking it would give me a reason to want to block. also my pawns made no attempt to run away until i did. lastly early on i was overly dependant on the default pawn for healing because i hate going into a menu everytime i want to heal.

[D-Rider]

I'm pretty sure you're supposed to run from those bandits anyway.  They certainly seemed too difficult for me to kill in a straight up fight that early in the game. :P

[Darilon]

a lot of times i was dying because i was being overly aggressive. especially versus the swarms of bandits where they can come at you from a blind spot. i didnt pick strider because i wanted to be strictly melee and felt id be gimping myself by not using the bow. i chose mystic knight thinking it would give me a reason to want to block. also my pawns made no attempt to run away until i did. lastly early on i was overly dependant on the default pawn for healing because i hate going into a menu everytime i want to heal.

I could be wrong but from what I remember, the bandits do not show up there at night but are rather replaced by the weaker wolves.

What is the inclination of your pawn? Some can be quite good while others such as Guardian kind of suck. It does depend on your class however. Guardian made my pawn hang around me all the time during battle drawing all the enemies to my mage. Can't imagine it would be good for a mage to have guardian either. I went to the knowledge chair to change it so he is doing a lot better now.

[Agent D.]

Another recommendation, make use of the fact that pawns can be raised immediately upon death, so you can sit back and let them pick on stuff.

You said you wanted to be melee...so why'd you pick mystic knight? They're not terribly awesome for melee use. You'd have better luck ignoring the bow and using a strider, or better yet a warrior or fighter if you must have a shield. Mystic knights are great when maxed out, but only after picking up a substantial amount of dp for upgrades to their spells. Otherwise, warriors hit way harder and get clout and bastion (20% to offense and defense respectively). Mystic Knight is more mdef oriented. If anything, level as a sorcerer for a while to build some magic attack.

I still say try assassin. It's arguably the best class as far as melee is considered.

[kofvscapcom]

got this game since it was free for ps plus and just finished it. Curious to see how many finished the game, the final twist and ending was really beyond my expectations, like evangelion and the matrix mixed together. Onto new game plus and bitterblack isle but curious to see what people thought of the ending.