From Capcom-unity.com:

The Ur-Dragon encounter in Dragon's Dogma will take the form of an asynchronous, ongoing online encounter, where players and their parties from around the world can compete online to take down the Ur-Dragon. The effect and damage done by of each of these parties will be combined until the creature is defeated. This will take multiple encounters, but all players who inflict damage on the Ur-Dragon will receive great spoils. The person who inflicts the final blow will receive the greatest reward of all, and all slayers of the Ur-Dragon will have their names and play times recorded in the hall of fame for bragging rights. Meanwhile, offline players will still be able to take on the Ur-Dragon alone, but will receive different rewards at the end.

Looks pretty damn fun, although I imagine it'll come down to mostly luck to beat out hundreds of players for the final strike on it. Still, pretty interesting way to implement more asynchronous multiplayer stuff.

wow... that actually sounds kind of cool.

Very cool.

Excellent!

Pretty damn inventive, though like you said it'll primarily be based on luck for whoever can snag the killing blow, but a cool concept all the same. Honestly the more and more I learn about Dragon's Dogma, the more I think it may turn out to be one of the most surprising new IPs of the year. A lot of great ideas being poured into the mixing bowl; a wonder if the game itself will manage to match its ambitions.

I shall slay this beast dragon from the nether depths of hell. I will cleave its breast with my Fallen Sword +7 agni enchantment. Never again shall this demon sully the world of men. Generations after me shall pass on odes of this legendary battle. Warriors shall see themselves only through my reflection.

I'm not so hot on the game itself but that's a legitimately cool thing.

Unless this isn't activated until after release server side, I bet it'll be slain before the game even hits release. But if they're going to do seasonal hunts/events like this, kind of like how they did in MH, that'd be pretty neat.

@WilltheMagicAsian: It's going to be constantly respawning, it's clearly not a one-time thing.

is it just me or was the frame rate really bad for the ps3 demo?

That's awesome.

Do any of you know if the pawn system and the Ur-Dragon will be synced across the PS3 and 360? For instance, if I am playing on the PS3, am I capable of borrowing a pawn from someone who is playing on the 360?

@BraveToaster:PS3 to 360 cross platform data sharing.... Can't see that being a thing.

In related news I heard the servers were actually region locked, so European players will only share between themselves.

Read about that really and that's really cool. I really hope Capcom does a lot of these things for the game.

I love it.

@FourWude said:

@BraveToaster:

PS3 to 360 cross platform data sharing.... Can't see that being a thing. I heard the servers were actually region locked, so European players will only share between themselves.

Lame. But I guess since there is no real co-op it doesn't really matter. But it would be nice to share Pawns world wide.

That is really goddamn weird.

What is stopping it by being killed at a really fast rate and you never even being able to encounter him by the time you find his lair. Will he just be respawning over and over?

Also seeing how it will take a cumulative damage from all players aren't you basically fucked when fighting him? Seeing as how your damage will be so insignificant that you will just eventually run out of health/potions/etc, this will be basically a "do some damage untill you die" encounter on an individual level (who are online). This is if he dies too slow having a lot of HP for everyone. If he just gets fucked over quickly see above.

Is it based on damage contribution? If not what's stopping the people from just wacking him with a sword once and running away (or just dieing and moving on)?

There are so many potential ways to fuck this up.

@Tennmuerti:

What is stopping it by being killed at a really fast rate and you never even being able to encounter him by the time you find his lair. Will he just be respawning over and over?

It will presumably have a shitload of health, as well as be on some sort of timer to respawn every X days or X hours or whatever they decide.

Also seeing how it will take a cumulative damage from all players aren't you basically fucked when fighting him? Seeing as how your damage will be so insignificant that you will just eventually run out of health/potions/etc, this will be basically a "do some damage untill you die" encounter on an individual level (who are online). This is if he dies too slow having a lot of HP for everyone.

The point's not to fight and defeat him by yourself. It's like you said, most likely it'll be "do some damage until you die" or "do some damage then run away". The incentive for chipping away at it is, like the article mentioned, that you get a reward just for damaging it, not just for being the one who gets the final blow on it.

Is it based on damage contribution? If not what's stopping the people from just wacking him with a sword once and running away (or just dieing and moving on)?

Nothing? There will presumably be at least a small damage threshold that you'll have to reach in order to get a reward, but even if there isn't then how do the things that you described impact anyone else's game besides that player's?

There are so many potential ways to fuck this up.

There really aren't (not including technical reasons like health not tracking right or rewards not being distributed or something). This is a pretty simple and interesting idea, I'm not sure why you seem to be so confused/frustrated with it. It's just an optional boss. If you do some damage to it you'll get a reward. If you happen to kill it, you get your name on a leaderboard and a bigger reward. What is there to fuck up?

@VDay: That guy is just cranky about everything.

But how do I make boy stretch if I want to make girl grow?

Amazing. Another reason why this game will be spectacular.

@VDay said:

@Tennmuerti:

Also seeing how it will take a cumulative damage from all players aren't you basically fucked when fighting him? Seeing as how your damage will be so insignificant that you will just eventually run out of health/potions/etc, this will be basically a "do some damage untill you die" encounter on an individual level (who are online). This is if he dies too slow having a lot of HP for everyone.

The point's not to fight and defeat him by yourself. It's like you said, most likely it'll be "do some damage until you die" or "do some damage then run away". The incentive for chipping away at it is, like the article mentioned, that you get a reward just for damaging it, not just for being the one who gets the final blow on it.

That's exactly the issue. "do some damage untill you die/run away" is a shit unfun boss design.

Is it based on damage contribution? If not what's stopping the people from just wacking him with a sword once and running away (or just dieing and moving on)?

Nothing? There will presumably be at least a small damage threshold that you'll have to reach in order to get a reward, but even if there isn't then how do the things that you described impact anyone else's game besides that player's?

It affects that player. What fun is it to just hit him on the noggin and die/run away?

@Tennmuerti: So you are pretty excited for this game. Right?

@TentPole said:

@VDay: That guy is just cranky about everything.

I criticize stuff as i see it.

There is just as much shit I am excited about or looking forward to. Including many aspects of this game by the way.

@TentPole said:

@Tennmuerti: So you are pretty excited for this game. Right?

Yep, see my comments in the Demo Discussion thread.

@Tennmuerti: I think the fun comes from seeing how much you can do before you die. There's also something really fun about going up against seemingly impossible odds, but maybe, just maybe, you can win. Whether or not the gameplay will allow you to take down the dragon in one go if you're good enough, I can't say, but if it is possible, then I love it.

Edit - this probably looks a lot different than what you saw in the PM, I added something and removed the douchey part.

@YI_Orange said:

@Tennmuerti: I think the fun comes from seeing how much you can do before you die.

Doesn't seem like fun at all to me. If it is for you good on ya mate.

Then again, I'm one of those seemingly rare types that likes to enjoy themselves when they play videogames, so don't take my word for it.

Boy I really hope that isn't some subtle dig at me insinuating that i don't enjoy playing games, couse if it is it's pretty goddamn funny :D

@YI_Orange: Sorry I replied before you did the edit and it's cool, i don't mind the douchey part, happens sometimes to me too on the forums.

Whether or not the gameplay will allow you to take down the dragon in one go if you're good enough, I can't say, but if it is possible, then I love it.

That's part of my beef with this. If it allows such I can see it being taken down just way too quickly when a lot of people are palying. It's a no win scenario. Either he is soloable, and will get creamed before you can contribute or he is so tough that you are pretty much insignificant in your contribution and will just die (if you aren't there when the last blow is struck)

They do provide the offline option, but the rewards are different :/

@Tennmuerti said:

That is really goddamn weird.

What is stopping it by being killed at a really fast rate and you never even being able to encounter him by the time you find his lair. Will he just be respawning over and over?

Also seeing how it will take a cumulative damage from all players aren't you basically fucked when fighting him? Seeing as how your damage will be so insignificant that you will just eventually run out of health/potions/etc, this will be basically a "do some damage untill you die" encounter on an individual level (who are online). This is if he dies too slow having a lot of HP for everyone. If he just gets fucked over quickly see above.

Is it based on damage contribution? If not what's stopping the people from just wacking him with a sword once and running away (or just dieing and moving on)?

There are so many potential ways to fuck this up.

Yeah that is pretty much exactly what I said on the official capcom blog announcing this too. Good thing you can fight him solo in offline mode and there it is actually winnable with just you.

@Tennmuerti said:

That's exactly the issue. "do some damage untill you die/run away" is a shit unfun boss design.

It affects that player. What fun is it to just hit him on the noggin and die/run away?

To see how much damage you can actually do to him and to feel like you've contributed to taking down this giant super dragon, which I'll grant you might not be everyone's cup of tea. Like I said earlier though it's just an optional boss fight, so I think your criticism/concern over the issue doesn't really match the importance of this feature of the game, if that makes sense.

@Tennmuerti: I can see the complaint I guess. The way I imagine it is this is going to be some end-game shit so by that point the rewards are the extra bonus and the real fun comes from fighting it. If that's the case(which I hope it is), then I wouldn't mind switching to offline mode to fight him if they fuck up the gating/allow you to grind him so one dude could essentially "solo" him/there's too many people doing it so he's dead+the respawn is too long.

I'm looking at this game a lot like I look at Dark Souls. I just want to take down all the biggest and baddest monsters.

@VDay: That's how Tennmuertis roll, hate first ask questions later.