Dragon Quest 9

[mrz84]

Didn't see a thread so I start one. I also checked back a few pages to make sure. Anyways...


Anybody else buy or at the very least try this game yet? Its been toted as the hardest game in the series to date and there are a few areas that I'd have to agree with them. Mostly the Grotto bosses though. Especially Atlas and Nemean. :banghead:

[AtmaWeapon]

Argh, I was going to start one soon because I had a fairly epic "Dragon Quest VIII is a super-grindy piece of garbage" rant in the past, but I like this one much better.

The first thing I noticed about the game is it has the best translation work I have ever seen. Seriously. Puns have been either translated in such a way that they work or simply inserted. Literary devices dominate discussions with everyone, and overall it's a joy to read the text. +5 good points.

The music is pretty standard DQ; I find it kind of forgettable for the most part but since we're talking about a handheld system I'll withhold some harshness. +1 good point.

The artwork is where the game kind of falters. It's not Squeenix's fault; the DS just isn't powerful enough for a decent 3D game and they've done a marvelous job considering its weaknesses. The landscapes look good, and key NPC characters look really great. The monster art is great. But the whole "create a hero" aspect seems like it's taken the personality of the PCs.

RE: the difficulty, I'm not sure how it gets counted as the hardest in the series, but to that end I beat the game on Sunday and I'm only now approaching the 50s. So far my toughest grotto had Shogum at the end and he was a little more boss than I expected. Unfortunately it looks like I've got a lot of grinding to do before I get the tougher grottoes; not sure if my interest will last until then. I can definitely say the difficulty is inconsistent. Some bosses were pushovers when I was underleveled; others seemed to get lucky and would land criticals on my mages every. single. turn.

I'd call this game much less difficult than DQ 8, if only because the story quest didn't require anything that felt like extra grinding. DQ 8 required a ton of it, and I really don't enjoy being forced to grind.

I can say that what I like about Dragon Quest vs. Final Fantasy is that buffs really matter. In FF the only buff spell I consistently used was Haste. Usually a black mage could do more good with a damage spell than a buff and a white mage could do more with healing. In DQ, you are pretty much expected to buff the heck out of yourself and debuff the boss. Oomph feels like it adds about 30 levels worth of power to my physical fighters. A double Buff makes me shrug off damage like I was 15-20 levels stronger. Hitting a boss twice with Sap adds 5-10 levels worth of damage, and if a double-Blunted boss hits a double-buffed character the damage is laughable. It's a bit annoying that most bosses can Disruptive Wave your buffs away, but sometimes that's a plus since you might rather have the boss steal your buffs with their turn than pull out a high-damage multi-hit attack.

The class system is interesting but I have a bad feeling it's broken. Near the end of the game, I had a level 40 Paladin with Forbearance, an ability that directs all combat damage to the Paladin. Paladins have *sick* defense and high HP already, and in many fights it was well worth sacrificing a little damage output to ensure a wounded Priest didn't get KO'd by a random attack.

One thing that bugs me is how Tag mode/multiplayer is so fun but just isn't a good match for the US. The only time I've had a chance to do multiplayer was at the GameStop event last Saturday. It was *really* fun, but no one was interested in setting up a regular playtime so now I don't have anyone to play with. It's a crying shame that it can't be played over WiFi.

All in all I'd say this game's a gem unless you really don't like the DQ style of combat.

[mrz84]

I beat the game several days ago before I made this thread too. Final boss was a cakewalk at Lv 50. I felt overleveled. I only use buffs when they can't be stripped from me. Of the Grotto bosses I've fought so far, Shogum, and Nemean are the only two to my knowledge that use it. Baramos, for some reason, doesn't. Which makes trying for least turns taken easier. So far I can't get it under 4 turns, but meh. Anyways, it is a good game.

The hardest game thingy came from an interview with the game's creator. I've one irk with this game now though. The damnable download events. Most of the places for them are AT LEAST and hours drive from where I live. If anyone here plays the game and went to one of those events, I've got a Grotto map with Metal King Slimes (on its 13th floor, but they're still there) if you wanna tag sometime. PM me if you're interested. :kitty:

[Anthus]

This game sounds interesting... maybe I'll give it a shot. I haven't been following ti very closely though.

[AtmaWeapon]

The hardest game thingy came from an interview with the game's creator. I've one irk with this game now though. The damnable download events. Most of the places for them are AT LEAST and hours drive from where I live. If anyone here plays the game and went to one of those events, I've got a Grotto map with Metal King Slimes (on its 13th floor, but they're still there) if you wanna tag sometime. PM me if you're interested. :kitty:
I'm interested and don't have any decent grotto maps, but I think the odds that we are geographically close are slim. I don't live anywhere near Randomness.

[mrz84]

I'm interested and don't have any decent grotto maps, but I think the odds that we are geographically close are slim. I don't live anywhere near Randomness.

Actually Randomness is closer than you think. Try NW Missouri. Any further details I don't wanna give out except through pm/email. Also, I found another Metal King Slime map with them appearing on the 5th floor. :kitty: Makes lving up easier now. Also if you don't have any decent maps, that's ok too. :kitty:

[AtmaWeapon]

Ahhhh I'm still trying to grind for MKS grottoes. I've got a useless 15-floor Lv. 66 dungeon that only has about a 10% chance of producing an MKS-possible dungeon :/ I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed.

I doubt we'll be map trading any time soon; NW Missouri looks 12+ hours away. I guess I'll just keep grinding!

BTW, I found Atlas to be one of the easiest of the grotto bosses. Right now the grottoes aren't throwing anything I can't handle at me, but Sir Sanginus is the most trouble. Anything with Disruptive Wave is more tedious and difficult since it makes it difficult to run buffs.

[Anthus]

does this game have random encounters? Kind of a dumb question, given how "traditional" everyone says it is, but I want to know for sure.

[AtmaWeapon]

It depends on how you define "has random encounters".

On land, enemies appear on the map, kind of like in Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and the catchable monsters from DQ8. Enemies will try to chase you or run away from you like in Earthbound. Unfortunately, since most of the game consists of narrow corridors, their claim that "encounters are avoidable" falls flat.

When you're on your boat, random encounters happen more like in traditional DQ games: you don't see the enemy, you don't get any warning. I spent maybe 10 minutes of the entire game on my boat.

[mrz84]

Ahhhh I'm still trying to grind for MKS grottoes. I've got a useless 15-floor Lv. 66 dungeon that only has about a 10% chance of producing an MKS-possible dungeon :/ I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed.

I doubt we'll be map trading any time soon; NW Missouri looks 12+ hours away. I guess I'll just keep grinding!

BTW, I found Atlas to be one of the easiest of the grotto bosses. Right now the grottoes aren't throwing anything I can't handle at me, but Sir Sanginus is the most trouble. Anything with Disruptive Wave is more tedious and difficult since it makes it difficult to run buffs.

That sucks. Maybe sometime at a Con or something we can trade maps or whatever. FYI, I've got AT LEAST one map for every Grotto boss now. Hammibal and Greygnarl were a pain to find. :banghead:

I also find Atlas to be easy, especially since I have a Paladin with 700+ Def and 900+ HP to cover everyone from his attacks. And Sis Sanguinus is a pain, but mostly for his Multithrust attack (at least for me)