I know... i beaten the last boss, took the door, and then all the shortcuts were locked and I had to start again with now much tougher ennemies... I got to the giant evil floating eye... but lost all my panws because of DEATH's encounter just before... so I wapred back out to the entrance... I'm at level 117... its friggin' hard.

Yup I confirm that Death's HP remains the same as you encounter it... so far I've taken it about 3 lifebars... but I'm at the 2nd run of the bitterblack isle... beaten the isle's demon boss and it reseted all the doors and everything locked and I have to start again and now the isl is like 5times harder dammit...

Never go on a killing spree for nothing... Do quests, take em all, every quests you see, take them, all, some quests asks to kill XX number of trols, you never know when youll meet one on tne road and itll count in your quests log even if its not active... Do any quests, main or side...

well when I boot the game, there's always "updates messages" like usually it was the new stuff for DLC... lately there's 2 messages, and I remember one of them is about some armor DLC that are borken in Dark Arisen... that they are working on a fix... not much else info is given...

A) Yes rooms comes back often... it is specially noticable in the early rooms of the Isle... BUT in its defence, the whole island is supposed to be a giant labyrinth confusing the player. I was lost at first come into a room I already seen... already knowing that at the end of that hall there's a lion statue, rumbles on its left, and 2 doors on the right, one door leads to a balcony, the other will take you down under the balcony... but later you do get new environment and the feeling of "deaj vue" is less present.

B) Sorry no idea about PSN, im on xbox360

C) TOTALLY WORTH IT! if you already beaten the game (like me several times over) the new island brings a whole new level of challenges, great new enemies, epic fights, even if I'm at level 110+ and the island is recommended for 50+ levels... I still get my ass kick. Boss fight are awesome... but it's the sub mini bosses that really kicks my asses most of the time, not the big area bosses... lol

I also think it's a bit useless to make us buy the whole game just for that island alone... I beaten the game several times already, I could've just bought the island as a DLC... but its not at full price at least... the DD original is now selling for about 20$... Dark Arisen is 40... so you technicaly pay the expansion 20$... I really would've liked it as a 20$ DLC instead... But at least it comes with the extra disc of HD textures and *** voices (nothing that couldnt come as a patch though)

Still... Yes it's a buy... I got about 10h in the island and I'm loving it... not feeling to be at the end soon... 

booting the game TELLS you there's a problem with the DLCs and the Dark Arisen... 

I'm with that one... I'm melee and GEEZ I'm getting my ass kicked 5 ways to sunday... gotta learn them path, paterns, and everything before I jump any boss... cant wait to finish mastering my vocation so I can switch.

The new game is the original + extra content... unfortunately, that extra content cannot be DLC'd.

You wont lose anything if you get the new one... the new one imports the save and you resume exacly where you were.

I'll likely link an in-depth review as soon as I'm done with it, but until then I figured I would provide anyone interested with a look at the gameplay, creatures, and features that can be found within Dark Arisen. It's complete with timestamps for certain events, such as the appearance and complete annihilation at the hands of Death. Feel free to check it out here if you would like...

http://youtu.be/xBrIca4JgzM

Also, anyone else enjoying it as much as I am? Dark Arisen feels a bit more challenging, but doesn't feel stupidly difficult (aside from one-shot death). I've made it a decent amount down, but hope it doesn't end anytime soon.

SketchPanic

Same with me, I love it, kinda feels like Dark Soul, but less stupid death (beside the one-shot kills). This feels great... good challenge, great new monsters, great epic fights...

I sold my Dragon Dogma original copy long ago... bought Dark Arisen yesterday, you dont need the original copy... the new Dark arisen contains the whole DD... booting Dark Arisen, it detected my old save, imported it, and told me since it imported the save it also gave me 100 000 rift coins, new outfits, and an Eternal FerryStone.Loaded my save, I was exactly where I last saved... all was fine.