Dragon's Dogma/Main Quests of Part 1

"The delightful and ever-novel pleasure of a useless occupation." -Henri de Régnier

The End at the Beginning
Follow the obligatory tutorial. Once you start a completly New Game, it is always playing out and can't be skipped. Once you have done it, however, you don't need to play it for as long as the save file exists.

You follow the steps of Savan an Arisen. Use the Tutorial to get aquaintanced with your controls. Try out your Abilities and use any item at your heart's content. You will not take them with you to your main game.

Boss: Chimera
The Chimera consists of three Enemies. Jump and grapple the snake. Then hit it, until its HP are gone. The snake will be cut of. Watch your stamina. If it drops to zero, you will drop instantly. If Morrigan enchanted your Sword with a Fire Boon (the sword will glow orange), you can attack the lion's head, that is suspectible to magic damage. If not, cling to the goat's head and strike it, until it's dead. It is suspectible to physical damage.

The tutorial ends and you are thrown into the Character Creation-screen.

Create your Arisen
Use the tools to create an Arisen of your desire. Create everything from a little obese child to a frail old woman. Your character is not final and can be altered much later in the game. But for now you will be stuck with it.

Things to consider
Your character's gender matters little. There is one misandristic questgiver in the game, who can be tricked by dressing in drag. One particular enemy will attack women first and its big brother in the expansion will first and foremost go for men. In battle or during quests, your gender will, however, not matter at all.

Your character's height and weight will play a bigger role. The lighter the character is, the better his stamina-regeneration will be. If your character is heavier, he can carry more things, before being encumbered and be more resistant to staggering effects. A small character can walk between the legs of a Cyclops and a really small character can use Goblin tunnels.

Harbinger of Destruction
Finish your character and watch the opening cinematic and meet your Nemesis, the Dragon.

Newly Arisen
You will wake up in a room and are urged to pick up arms. Walk over to the table and choose your starting vocation. You can choose between the Fighter, the Strider and the Mage. Make your pick and head out.

Upon a Pawn
This is the first time, where you can do as you please. Explore the village, take on some sidequests, talk to the locals and loot their homes. Once you are ready, move towards the exit. After the sequence move out of the village and follow the path.

Getting Sidetracked
You meet a peddler, being attacked by three goblins. Dispatch them and talk to the peddler, who gifts you a Leather Cape.

Rook will suggest a detour to the beach. Walk down the path and head left until you find the cliff. Between two rocks you find a Seeker's Token. Climb up to your right, loot the chest, then follow the trail to your right. Climb up to find another chest and a second Seeker's Token. You can have a look around the beach, but there is nothing more of interest.

On the west side of the track, you will find a few goblins, some chests and Sunbright flowers under two big trees. You need five for a sidequest.

Once you are done, countinue north, until you hit the Encampment.

Call of the Arisen
Head to the tent, where the voice is coming from and speak to the stone inside. Head outside, then left and go outside.

You find a cyclops and several goblins. The cyclops is already very weak and will focus on the Gransys soldiers. After dispatched a cutscene plays. Head back in, go to the stone and talk to it. It urges you now to create your Main Pawn. This pawn will never leave your side. If it dies and isn't ressurrected, you can call it forth at a rift stone. Create whatever pawn you like and choose its vocation. It will also start with one of the starting vocations. After that you are asked to answer four questions, to determine its personality. You can also watch the bars to the left to determine the outcoming personality, for it will only be affected in combat. The dialogues can be changed at the Knowledge Chair.

Complete the scene and a cutscene plays. If you want some additional dialogue, head back to Cassardis now. After that, return to the encampment and search for Mercedes.

Rude Awakening
After a cutscene, the encampment is attacked by a hydra. Despite the multiple health bars you only have to chop of one of its heads. Use fire damage, or enchant a melee weapon with fire. You have a much easier time with the latter method, as these heads are suspectible to slashing damage (i.e. daggers and swords). If you have no means to chop of a head, simply wait until the hydra presses to the other side of the encampment, where another cutscene plays, showing you another method of killing a hydra. Attack the swallowed barrel and the battle is over.

After that, Mercedes suggests presenting the head to the Duke. Follow the route to north to further your main quest line. But now is the perfect opportunity to finish unfinished quests.

Quests, that fail upon completion of Off With Its Head

 * Floral Delivery
 * Grim Tidings
 * Lost Faith
 * Strength In Numbers
 * Guard Duty

Off With Its Head
Once you reach the waycastle, start the escort. It will take several minutes and there are harpies, goblins, wolves and bandits coming. You can speed up the ox by kicking it. This will deplete a small amount on its health. When they hit zero, the cart won't stop and the quest won't fail but it will walk veeery sloooow. If you are a mage you can put down an Anodyne in its path, but pawns won't do it. If you sustain damage, you can place yourself in front of the path, so that the ox will walk through the anodyne, too. There are also healing items, that heal the entire area, but for a new game they aren't available.

Take your time. Shoot the harpies with projectiles out of the sky before rushing them. The soldiers will do their part in distracting and attacking enemies. Always watch out for the draft animal. Once you reach the second waycastle, pull the lever to open the gate and dispatch the goblins. You can throw explosive barrels to kill goblins instantly. The explosion won't hurt you. If its already night, prepare for a couple of undead. They are highly resistant to all kinds of damage, but are suspectible to fire. The bandits shouldn't be as much of a problem as other groups, as you have several NPC's for distraction.

Once you reach the gate of the city, Stage 1 is over and the entire world is open for you to explore.