Dragon's Dogma/First Steps and Cassardis

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

"'A vast army formed to slay a dragon, the ultimate incarnation of evil. But against such fearsome

resistance, the army was crushed.

The people's hopes fell upon a chosen one,

and with those who followed this gifted soul...'"

Start a new game and choose your preferred difficulty. The game was created with Normal Mode in mind. The Easy Mode came with the introduction of Dark Arisen. You can change the difficulty later.

The End at the Beginning
This is the obligatory tutorial area. Get aquaintanced with the controls and follow the dungeon to its end. Don't forget to talk to the upcoming Riftstone twice to get two more allies. You play as Savan, who is a Fighter. Try out to execute a heavy attack, while jumping. This results in a very powerful knockback for small enemies. Also try to block an attack by pressing the block button in the moment, where the enemy attack would connect. This will result in a Perfect Block, that drains zero stamina and has a powerful knockback.

Miniboss: Chimera
This is your first strong enemy. Your allies know what to do. Each of the Chimera's heads can be killed off seperately. In theory the chimera could also keep living with all three heads dead. Cling to the snake and chop it off first. If the chimera targets you, try to perfect block the attacks. Keep in mind, that the lion's head is weak to magic, while the goat's head is weak to physical damage.

Create your Main Character
Create any kind of character you like. Your options are vast, but keep the following things in mind:


 * Your gender matters little, but there are a few differences. One particular questgiver is a misandrist and will attack men. This can be bypassed by dressing males in drag. There's also a type of enemy, that attacks women first and foremost.
 * Smaller characters can walk under Ogre's and Cyclops' feet and use Goblin Tunnels in the Shadow Fort. Taller characters can wade deeper into shallow water without the lantern getting wet. Also the hitbox and weapon reach directly relates to the character height.
 * Character weight influences both the stamina regeneration, climbing speed, knockback resistance and the weight limit for the personal inventory:

Keep in mind, that you will get allies, that you can use as additional inventory space. Also a character dependant on climbing and fast movement is better being small and lightweight. If you get the Fighter to rank 5, you can learn Sinew, which enables you to carry 20 KG more.

Cassardis
Start the game, watch the cutscene and meet your new Nemesis. Once you wake up you are urged to pick up arms. Whatever you pick can be changed later.

Leave the house and you can explore Cassardis. Loot the houses at your heart's content it has no negative impact on any relationship with an NPC. You can accept three Side Quests, that should be completed for the The Hero achievement.

Cassardis Side Quests

 * Floral Delivery: Found at the destroyed house near the village center. You have to collect two types of flower, that will be completed later.
 * Lost Faith: At the other side of the village enter the church and talk to the priest. He lost his scriptures. Head outside and walk to the rooftops. Marking the quest in the Questlog makes it easier to see the location of the item. Head back and hand over the scriptures.
 * Grim Tidings: From the center walk north and enter the last house to the right and talk to Elvar. He asks to deliver some news to Merin. He is either found at his home (north of your house) or at the beach. Either way marking the quest reveals his location quick enough.

After you are done, you can do some shopping and finally head for the village gate.

Merchants

 * Aestella: She is found near the village center. She has some basic stuff, some curatives and basic tools. Consider buying a Pickaxe. You can also replace your starter weapons, but don't sell your Rusted Bow if you picked the strider. Fighters can pick a better shield, which will allow them to block without staggering.
 * Iola: Found north of Aestella's shop on the left side. You can find some generic undergarments, worn beneath the armor. There are better to be found quite early. Faishon victims might still wanna look at these, for they are quite cheap. You can buy her entire stock of Berries, Twigbeans and Carrots. After a few days in your inventory, every time sensitive item will turn sour or moldy (sleep at the Inn for 1 or 2 days). It increases in value then. You can then sell it for some quick cash. This cannot be exploited, hoewever, as Iola only stacks 99 of each. Be sure to sell it quick, after it becomes moldy, or else it turns rotten and drops in value.

Pablos' Inn
Resting at this place for 50 Gold, restores all health, removes debilitations for the entire party. It also creates a checkpoint, that you can return to from your menu. You can also empty your inventory and put basically anything in there. It won't fill up that easily.

You can also find the Knowledge Chair where you can sit down your pawn and tell him how to talk in certain situations. Its quite random what aspect of your pawn's aesthetical behavior can be changed.

Lastly you will find Pablos' Notice-board here. Quests found here, are not required for the The Hero achievement. They are, however, a good source for money and experience. Pick up: Goblin Raid, He Should Be So Lucky, Rat Catcher, Reclaim the Roads and Burden of Proof.

For now you are done in Cassardis. Head out towards the village gate and you get introduced to your first pawn.