well, i was to a HUGE fan of dark souls, and i will be honest here, no they cant be compared, it no way near as hard as dark souls, in fact its a walk in the park compared to dark souls, and no you cant build up your char like on dark souls ( there is no allocate point system on dragons dogma stats auto themselves as you lvl which does suck) BUT and dam big BUT. dragons dogma is still a dam awesome game, i almost stopped playin after 5 mins when i realize the lvl up system didnt have an allocate point system, BUT i tell you now, im so gald i stuck with it, because despite a few major flaws, this IS the rpg sleeper of the year so far. no its not as big and in depth as elderscrolls, no its not as hard or have a good lvl/craft system as dark souls but someting about this game has got me completly addicted to it, seriously, since day i bought it i have not touched any other game, i just couldnt go back to elderscrolls or ds now. i just really hope the next game in this series has an improved lvl system, crafting system (a ds lvl/craft system clone would amazing) and larger map and more variety in quests, ie guilds/factions etc..

ps. there is plenty of customization in terms of equipment, clothes and augments though.

my advice to any rpg fan = BUY THIS GAME

to be honest i dont know why i dont like KAO..it has a bigger map, tons of content and quests, combat is ok, crafting is good on it, lvl system ok to..its just, i dont know, lacking someting. (and its not graphics, i dont mind bad graphics if a game is good) as for dragons dogma, i havent stopped playin since i bought it, it does have a few major flaws (small map, no crafting, bad lvl system, to much blocked game content for DLC), but its still my top rpg at the moment, the combat especially is just fantastic, all rpgs in future should aim to achieve this kind of quality combat. ''now for me, if elderscrolls had combat like this with a lvling/craftying system like dark souls it would be a dream come true for me'' XD

PS. yes there is a jail sytem in DD but its not that great to be honest with you.

i put off buying this game for a while and tried KOA first...... biggest mistake i ever made.

the reason your defences will be lower is because as you level up with a certain vocation it raises certain attributes more, so lets say you started as a mage, as you level up it will raise magi def more than pyshical def, and vice verser if you started as fighter. if you start with strider it tends to raise stamina more etc etc.. but once you switch from mage to fighter each level up will then start to raise your pyshical def more (so basically each vocation raises certain attributes more tha others)

as for skill points, it does not matter how many you have saved because once you pick a new vocation you start that vocation at rank 1, so only rank 1 skills are available until you level up your rank, its rank level that determines what skills are avaialable not player level. (when you switch back to a previous vocation however it will still be the same rank level it was when you left it, so when you switch back to mage, it will will still be rank10)

and finally i ''think'' only gear you need to change when switching from mage to sorc is your staff.

once you max rank a vocation then no, there is no more skills. BUT you can change vocation and core skills and augments from previous vocations will stay so you can mix up your play by experimenting with augments and also you then have to rank up and learn all the new skills of your new vocation. so then after maxing a few diff vocations and then switching back to mage/sorc you wont have new skills but u will have new augs and core skills for him/her to use.

how far into the game are you? at some point he will have a quest for you to complete and that will open up more and better gear.

lololol a warrior with a bow XD nooooooo. thats what strider/ranger/assassin/magic archer are for -.- i do agree though that only having 3 skills on warrior does suck big time.

most players tend to give the gold idol to caxton and silver to madeline, as for meeting the duke, you WILL loose all current unfinished wyrm hunt quests and escort quest so i tend to do these before i speak with him, you wont loose any other notice board quests (kill 25 of this or that)

i have not got the game yet, and from what i have read so far it defo sounds liike my kind of rpg, but one thing im curious about is modding weps and armour, is there a crafting system or refining system here? just how much wep/armour modding is there and exactly how good is it??i actually like having to farm materials etc for gear and am hopin something like the refining system in dark souls here would be awesome (ie farming mats to + your gear and usiing boss material for uber gear etc etc). this would be the final box ticked and will make it a must buy for me. any info much appreciated , thanks in advance =)