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Video Games => Video Game Chat => Topic started by: WarpRattler on July 30, 2010, 09:15:39 PM

Title: Dragon Quest General
Post by: WarpRattler on July 30, 2010, 09:15:39 PM
Getting it out of the other thread.

Anyone aside from Weegee, LD, and myself buy/play it?
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Black Mage on July 30, 2010, 09:31:50 PM
Yup, I've got it and am a little ways into it.

Been fun so far.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Lizard Dude on July 31, 2010, 10:38:18 AM
I got off to an unhappy start because the character creator wouldn't let me have a beard, but then the first battle was against a giant walking cucumber so I was happy again. It's weird hearing all the musical cues that I strongly associatie with the wonderful Rocket Slime.

The localization writing is superb on this. I haven't seen such constant deft alliteration since Stan Lee.

What does DQVC stand for?
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on July 31, 2010, 11:35:26 AM
I don't think it actually stands for anything - more likely that they just went for an obvious reference. And thanks for reminding me that I need to set up WFC stuff.

I went to GameStop's site to see if either of the locations near me are participating in the map event today - turns out that unless one of them is doing it and just isn't in the online thing (which is a digital map instead of just being a list of participating locations, which is dumb), the closest is at least an hour's drive away.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on July 31, 2010, 04:11:23 PM
What does DQVC stand for?

Yeah, it's just a pun on the home shopping channel, QVC.

I'm not sure what to think of the visible enemy encounter system. The ability to avoid or hunt down certain monsters can be useful, but nothing is worse than being chased by a Great Troll while thinking to yourself, "oh [dukar] oh [dukar] oh [dukar] I'm gonna die oh [dukar]..."

Spoiler for those who haven't made considerable headway into the game: The Gittish Empire is the greatest meta-reference I've ever seen in a game. Everything is spot-on, from the generals' names to the archaic insults they use.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on July 31, 2010, 05:24:22 PM
nothing is worse than being chased
You could just hit X and cast Zoom (or Evac if you're indoors, though I'm guessing in your situation this would involve leaving a grotto). Or find an obstacle to get the monster to run into, since that stops any chasing enemy dead in its tracks. Or if you time it right, there's a way to make a chasing enemy fall far behind, but it only works if you have open space. Additionally, just having the menu open makes it impossible to activate an encounter...and there's a later ability for one of the classes that basically makes you invisible.

I do wish DQ9 had some sort of story log aside from the thing that comes up when you open the world map. I finished the quest at the academy, and it told me the item I recovered there was number six...but I went through the locations I had already finished, and they added up to seven. Turned out that though I had already done the quests at all of the locations, I had forgotten to save after one of them, and I'm guessing what happened was that since I was playing well into the morning hours that day, I ended up falling asleep with the system still on, and it was dead when I woke up. I'd guess the save I loaded later that day was in the same location, so I thought I had finished the quest, and went on to explore the world further.

At any rate, I quickly found out which one it was, and I'm finishing that up right now. But a story log would be really nice.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Lizard Dude on August 01, 2010, 12:44:26 AM
Is there any particular reason that this game is written in British? Defence?
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 01, 2010, 02:23:12 AM
I believe all the other Dragon Quest games that have come over here in recent memory have been the same way. And seeing "colour" and "defence" and so on goes along with the variety of European dialects you see throughout the game's world.

I'd guess Weegee feels right at home among his alternative-spelling brethren.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 01, 2010, 01:01:16 PM
Dragon Quest V also uses British English, so it can be assumed that most of the series does.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 02, 2010, 09:04:13 AM
This is the face of a killer:

(https://themushroomkingdom.net/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi39.servimg.com%2Fu%2Ff39%2F15%2F39%2F36%2F75%2Fdslime10.gif&hash=14bba0dc9ca334af50231f0391bc8cfc)

Fear the Darkonium Slime.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 02, 2010, 12:26:05 PM
[darnit], man, I'm still busy fearing Shogum. As well as the twisted being I'm going to have to fight when I reach the end of the final story area.

Also, I took down the Nemean yesterday for the quest that involves doing so with the weakest staff in the game. If post-game battles are going to make me actually have to think about what I'm doing like that battle did (and don't become "spam the most powerful move in the game" like Strange Journey's postgame eventually did), I'm going to be enjoying this game for a very long time.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 02, 2010, 06:06:47 PM
Shogum isn't terrible with a few Kabuffs and a well-equipped Warrior or Paladin.

"spam the most powerful move in the game"

It's not a necessity, but using Kafrizzle while your Mage's Coup de Grace is active really helps shorten boss encounters. Using the Channel Anger ability beforehand will let your Mage deal 300-400 damage per turn.

Speaking of which, what's everyone's usual team? Mine is Armamentalist/Priest/Mage/Paladin.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 02, 2010, 07:34:03 PM
Shogum probably isn't too bad when you're actually at an appropriate level to fight him, either.

Since I've got one of the maps for it, I attempted to fight one of the legacy bosses earlier. I got slaughtered, but it was great hearing "Dormaguez" playing when I fought it.

Have you maxed out the Sage skill track on your Mage? It gets you a 25% reduction on MP costs. And some of the Sage skills are very useful - Jack's Knack, for example, lets you change your characters' vocations anywhere.

Also, I usually have multiple Paladins, because their Coup de Grâce is absurdly good, and the more chances at it, the better. Furthermore, I'm currently trying to max out everyone's Paladin track before I worry about switching them to other classes (I have everyone's except the main character's done) because I've heard resilience and HP are pretty much the most useful boosts you can get.

(Also, I'm sure the most powerful move I was referring to in Strange Journey is more absurd than anything in Dragon Quest IX, since it hits all enemies for massive Almighty damage (a special damage type that isn't affected by the various elemental and physical resistances) and docks all their stats one level. And since all my demons had a special ability that made them return to full HP and MP after every battle, we were basically unstoppable.)
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 03, 2010, 04:48:52 PM
105 hours in, I've only finished about half of the sidequests (not counting downloadable weekly quests), completed 75% of the Bestiary, obtained 24% of the equipment, found 62% of the consumable items, and cooked up 6% of the Alchenomicon.
Bringing this up because I just finished the story, and a bit over 87 hours in, I'm at 73% bestiary completion, 18% wardrobe completion, 57% item completion, and 7% Alchenomicon completion. And 49 quests done.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: bobman37 on August 03, 2010, 10:46:29 PM
Man... I felt bad about putting 27 hours into Red Dead Redemption. Not anymore though because 80 is a sick nasty amount of hours for one story, let alone one game.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 03, 2010, 11:08:55 PM
Part of that was me going around exploring everything I could, doing some of the more intricate sidequests that are really supposed to be postgame stuff, doing a few of the treasure map dungeons, and playing around with the different classes as I unlocked them. It's not at all indicative of a regular clear time, which is probably forty to fifty hours - and I've seen a twenty-eight-hour clear time before, though that may very well have involved the multiplayer modes.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: bobman37 on August 03, 2010, 11:16:56 PM
Yeah, those 27 hours in RDR were for 100% completion. Story clear time was probably closer to 20 hours.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Chupperson Weird on August 03, 2010, 11:42:47 PM
I spent 80 hours on FFXII. But these days I feel bad spending time on games at all.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 03, 2010, 11:43:23 PM
Between the genre differences and Dragon Quest IX most likely exceeding Red Dead Redemption in sheer amount of stuff to do, comparing their length doesn't really work.

And I'd guess I'm also more willing to sit down and play a single game for extended lengths of time than bobman and Lizard Dude are. Not quite to the extent of some of those Monster Hunter fans, but still.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: bobman37 on August 04, 2010, 12:09:17 AM
That's not the point. The point is, that is a lot of real time hours to invest in a game.

I'm not saying I don't have the dedication to play a single game for 80 hours, I just straight up don't have time. Plus my personal gaming interests don't tend to involve super long games. Coincidence is the wrong word but something like that.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 04, 2010, 01:00:56 AM
Disregarding the fact that I have far more real-life time than I should, being a DS game, Dragon Quest IX is portable, so you can put in fifteen minutes here and half an hour there a lot more easily than with a console game. And that adds up.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 05, 2010, 10:08:35 PM
Warp, do you remember who gives you the quest that involves killing Nemean? I can remember turning it down because I hadn't encountered said enemy at that point. Now that I can tackle Neamean with relative ease, I must re-find the appropriate NPC to initiate the quest...
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 05, 2010, 11:02:24 PM
Joy. She's in the academy; talk to Paulo and she'll appear.

In other news, at least one of the downloadable quests requires you to defeat at least one darkonium slime. I'm scared. I'm also scared of the quest I'm currently doing, which requires that I defeat the boss of a dungeon with "silver" in its name - I have one that fits the criterion, but it's level 58. I made it to the boss floor, then swiftly cast Evac due to there being no chance of survival with my party's HP and MP where they were (thanks to God[darn]ed slugly betsies and metal king slimes).
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 06, 2010, 03:51:08 PM
Joy. She's in the academy; talk to Paulo and she'll appear.

Thanks.

I haven't come across any grottoes tougher than a pair of level 49 ones. I've mainly been grinding on that lovely little plateau just east of Angel Falls.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 06, 2010, 05:14:34 PM
There's another downloadable quest that involves beating down metal slimes on that plateau.

I ended up going into that level 58 dungeon again, sneaking my way through most of it, smashing Elusid at the bottom, and taking down three metal king slimes along the way (the last floor before the boss was all metal kings); the reward for the quest was rather pitiful (just a party trick), but it was well worth it for the experience and the shoes the boss dropped.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 06, 2010, 06:53:20 PM
(the last floor before the boss was all metal kings)

(https://themushroomkingdom.net/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_SO_JYKtl9A8%2FSXVlJfEJguI%2FAAAAAAAAElw%2FK0PcieMI1Wo%2Fs320%2Fhillary-OFACE.jpg&hash=037a79393698cde4cbb125afa89fd440)

Edit: LOOOOORL, I dealt 1396 damage on Shogum by using my Gladiator's Coup de Grace in conjuction with Oomph.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 06, 2010, 11:00:56 PM
I haven't gotten around to training any of my characters extensively as Gladiators (Paladins already do a far better job of filling the tank role) or Armamentalists (though I expect that'll change very quickly once I get to a point where I need a proper support character; for now, Paladins have both Kabuff and Magic Barrier for defensive buffs).

Also, regarding metal slime hunting: the (über) falcon blade in conjunction with Metal Slash is wonderful, since more often than not the skill will do four damage thanks to the double hits from the sword, and more hits also means more chances at one of them being a crit (I'd say Falcon Slash instead for the potential four hits, but it's not as good against metal slimes as the move designed for fighting them).

Have you unlocked the Luminary vocation yet? I have yet to find the person who gives the quest for it, and it's the only one I haven't unlocked.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 06, 2010, 11:15:40 PM
The person who assigns the Luminary quest appears in Gleeba's dance hall after beating the game. Note that the quest involves killing a Moai Minstrel, which can only be found in high-level grottoes. I haven't encountered any yet, so no Luminary for me.

Using Multithrust with a Demon Spear is also effective against metals. I once insta-killed two Liquid Metal Slimes in one attack with it.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 06, 2010, 11:57:49 PM
Oh yeah, instant-kill weapons are nice. I got a couple of metal medleys that way earlier in the game when using an assassin's dagger.

Moai minstrels are tough, and I'm sure that quest involves killing one a specific way, so I'll pass on that for now.

EDIT: I have stared death in the face. It laughed.

Darkonium slimes are nothing. Pandora's box, though, will murder you and anyone you've ever held dear without a second thought.

My only consolation is that I managed to steal a gold bar from it before it made me lose fifteen thousand gold pieces and my progress in that grotto.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 07, 2010, 02:01:25 PM
The Luminary quest requires you to kill a Moai Minstrel with Hot Lick. Have fun. :3

Do these Pandora's Boxes masquerade as treasure chests and spam Kathwack like they did in DQV, or have their tactics changed?
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 07, 2010, 09:24:36 PM
No Kathwack, thank God. But they share their weaker counterparts' tendency to crit (and hit like Atlas normally), have absurdly high physical defense (and decent magic defense), and get two moves a turn.

Speaking of Atlas, I finished the level forty Sage quest earlier. The skill you get for it, Twocus Pocus, makes me wonder why you would ever not have a Sage in your party during the postgame.

And unlocking the Luminary vocation sounds like more trouble than it's worth until I gain another twenty levels or so.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 07, 2010, 10:20:56 PM
I updated the DQVC earlier today, but Sellma is still only displaying last week's items despite announcing an updated inventory. This week is supposed to be the "Slime Sale", but the new items aren't appearing. What gives?



To my fellow Action Replay-owning Dragon Quest IX players who have no hope of ever tagging 30 guests:

All Stornway Inn upgrades:
94000130 FFFB0000
120FD764 000003E8
220FD76C 00000006
D2000000 00000000

Viewing the guestbook after activating the above code causes the game to freeze. Use the following code to remedy that:
94000130 FFFB0000
220FD768 00000000
D2000000 00000000

Needless to say, use these at your own risk. I've tried both with no ill effects, though.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 09, 2010, 12:16:43 AM
Beat a Pandora's box earlier (no item drop and not particularly good experience gains ;_;), but I got raped on floor ten of that dungeon (a level 81 dungeon I got through tagging) by a cannibelle spamming that stupid darkness eye move that does ~80 damage to each party member and has a high chance of inflicting paralysis. Was annoying, since before I died I defeated a gem slime (which thankfully is not a more powerful version of the darkonium slime despite being a recolor of that monster) that also appeared in that battle, and it didn't get credited for the monster list or this quest involving them.

EDIT: Beat a gem slime; turns out it's one of the numerous slimes I misremembered as being part of that quest. But HOLY CRAP THAT GOLD.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 09, 2010, 02:46:51 PM
I unlocked the Luminary vocation yesterday, and it's really nothing special. Its skills are gimmicky, and its spells and stats make it a caricature of the Minstrel. Ah well.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 09, 2010, 06:21:18 PM
What kind of stat bonuses does it get from the vocation-specific track, though? If there's anything involving resilience, it's automatically a must-have.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 09, 2010, 07:02:10 PM
Charm +10, Agility +20, max HP +20, Charm +20, Charm +30. Unless you're really reliant on stunning/infatuating/confusing/paralyzing foes, you probably won't be training Luminaries past the point where their Skill Point well runs dry. Similarly, as previously mentioned, the most of the vocation's skills are rarely useful... but are immensely entertaining to watch: Disco Stew is the greatest waste of 15 MP you'll ever see; I guarantee it.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 09, 2010, 07:16:51 PM
You mean twelve MP. Sage, man! Second vocation that needs to be maxed out, after the Paladin.

Also, uh, the skill point well doesn't run dry for any class until after ten revocations. But you only need one or two revocations after maxing out every vocation's level once to have enough skill points for everything, so it doesn't matter.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 09, 2010, 08:09:28 PM
By "runs dry", I meant the point around level 50 where you only get two SP every couple levels.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 09, 2010, 08:56:18 PM
Don't view the following image if you would rather not see DQIX characters decked out in unlockable cameo gear or if your name is otherwise Matthew "Ihatespoilers" Welch.

http://alkaplantestsite.webs.com/dq9/DQcoplayparty.jpg
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 10, 2010, 04:32:58 PM
Finished a level 99 dungeon earlier, and completed three quests in the progress (plus finding another slime for the quest I need to kill those for, meaning all I have left to kill now are a slionheart and a platinum king jewel). One of those quests was the one to unlock the Luminary vocation, which I haven't tried yet.

Also defeated Dhoulmagus.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 10, 2010, 08:16:50 PM
I feel genuinely retarded. Not until today did I find out that the ship has a basement which contains a Falcon Blade.

From where do you start this Slime-killing quest? I've completed almost every quest (save for some of the weapon-related tasks at Swinedimples), but I've found no mention of the one you're describing.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 10, 2010, 10:39:27 PM
It's Extra Quest 165. I have all but six of the downloadable quests on my card from doing multiplayer with someone who had them (probably hacked, bleh; the game updates them automatically if you do multiplayer with someone who has access to quests you don't), which is why I still haven't gotten around to setting up stuff for DQVC. Need to do that so I can finish the quests that require items from it.

And I didn't find out for a while that the ship even had an accessible inside, since the game makes no indication of it. But I've been using the (über) falcon blade ever since I found out it doubles the hits from sword skills, which has been very useful for fighting metal slimes, and will remain so until I get the demon spear and/or the fan that always successfully hits metal monsters.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 11, 2010, 03:31:08 PM
Alright, that explains things.

You know, the Demon Spear can be purchased in Stornway.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 11, 2010, 06:01:37 PM
Yeah, but it isn't much of a concern after all; I've had good luck with Thunder Thrust using the hero spear I already have, and still have two characters wielding (über) falcon blades for double hits on Metal Slash.

Annoying thing: I had almost 100,000 gold when I reached the bottom of a dungeon (there was a floor where only gem slimes spawned, and they each drop 10,080 gold upon defeat), and then the boss (whose name I won't mention) ended up being like twice as powerful as a first-time legacy boss. WTD?!
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 11, 2010, 06:41:24 PM
That's why I bank my earnings every time it exceeds 10,000. Sucks, mang.

The Luminary's level 40 quest is proving to be a nuisance. In it, you must defeat 10 more Moai Minstrels after using Extreme Makeover (which boosts Charm) and Eyes On Me (which enrages all enemies). What makes it so tough is that whoever used the aforementioned moves must deliver the killing blow each time. Hence, Murphy's law dictates that most Moais will use Kamikazee just before you can finish them off.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 11, 2010, 08:14:43 PM
No, see, I went in with next to nothing like I usually do. I earned almost 100,000 gold within that dungeon. And lost half of it being slaughtered by an ultra-spoiler boss.

And that quest would sound slightly worse than the level 15 Paladin quest if not for the fact that Fizzle exists. Still disproportionately harder than either Sage quest, though.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 17, 2010, 11:52:47 PM
Dragon Quest IX in a nutshell:

(https://themushroomkingdom.net/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages3.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20100814125330%2Fvsrecommendedgames%2Fimages%2F9%2F94%2FDQIX_9958.jpg&hash=0228f20bf9bf74ae7b7447cefd1f75cd)

I would also like to take this moment to say that I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHER****ING GROTTOES IN THIS MOTHER****ING GAME. It seems as though just about every post-game and DLC quest involves finding something in a grotto, and I'm sick of it. Eaugh.

EDIT: Also, here's an alchemy ingredient map (http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100817202958/vsrecommendedgames/images/d/d9/Materials2.jpg).
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 18, 2010, 06:57:02 AM
I've had that map for some time, actually. One of two indispensable resources (the other being this (http://dq9.ffsky.cn/maplocation.htm)).

I put one of my characters in the maid dress at one point. He even had (still has) the metal slime spear the guy in that image is wielding! (Speaking of which, any weapon with "metal slime" in the name is automatically worth using; in particular, any weapon whose corresponding skill tree includes a multi-hit skill is God tier. I've done eight damage to a single metal king slime with Multithrust on multiple occasions.)

And regarding postgame quests involving dungeons, aside from a few that have required a dungeon meeting very specific criteria (one with "dolour" in its name, one that's at least eight floors deep with "fear" in its name), I haven't had a problem with the quests that require you to visit them (and it's not really that many, at any rate). I'm more annoyed by quests that require you to alchemize high-level equipment with ingredients like magic beast horns, as well as the downloadable quests that require items purchased from DQVC for completion (I can't get my Wi-Fi USB thing working, or else I'd already have one of the two I'm speaking of completed).

How many times have you revocated so far? I'm up to one on each character; unfortunately, you don't receive an award for a particular vocation more than once, which means revocating two Paladins was a waste.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 18, 2010, 03:14:10 PM
this (http://dq9.ffsky.cn/maplocation.htm)

I LOVE YOU

I haven't revocated with anyone yet. Rather, I've been hoarding Skill Points by levelling everyone to about  40 in at least eight vocations each. My mage is at level 92, though.

Have you gotten the Simple Simon accolade yet?
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 18, 2010, 03:48:56 PM
Yeah, but I used a guide for it. There's no way a player would feasibly be able to figure out the equipment combination for it on their own, especially since it's vastly different depending on which gender the main character is.

Also, though the game is designed such that every vocation and weapon type is viable, I still say Sages are better than Mages. Naturally less squishy, able to deal darkness damage, healing...and the last bonus on their skill track is a 25% reduction to MP usage, which is why, as I said before, they're the second vocation you should max out for every character, after the Paladin (because the massive resilience and HP bonuses are immensely valuable no matter what).

And regarding revocation, keep in mind that the formula for generating treasure maps is partially based on your main character's current most-revocated vocation, so if you need to encounter monsters that you aren't finding in low-level dungeons, revocation will help. (Plus, you have to either revocate a couple of times or use a lot of seeds of skill to max out every skill track.)
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 20, 2010, 09:09:57 PM
I feel that the Sage outclasses the Priest, but not the Mage. My one Sage uses almost exclusively white/defensive magic, so my other magician is free to take advantage of the Mage's superior offensive spell selection.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 21, 2010, 02:13:35 AM
The Sage is the only vocation capable of naturally utilizing darkness damage, which a good number of endgame foes are weak to; the only other ways to deal darkness damage are to reflect it with Bounce/mirror armor/Magic Mirror or to use an expensive spear-only skill that only one character can use at any given time. And, again, the Sage's base physical stats are better than those of the Mage, as they're closer to that of the physically-oriented Priest, but without a significant trade-off for magic ability; a max-level Sage with every skill tree maxed out and the best possible equipment is naturally going to take less damage (and deal more from regular attacks) than a Mage with the same, while dealing about the same amount of damage with spells.

The Sage is the only vocation capable of throwing double Kazammle (under the effects of Twocus Pocus) at a boss one turn, healing the party to full health the next (double Multiheal, still under the effects of Twocus Pocus), rebuilding the party's worn-off Kabuff to full strength in a single turn (still Twocus Pocus), and then smacking the boss for a nice bit of damage with a regular attack (to build the multiplier up for your super-high-tension-and-boosted-attack Gladiator to do max damage with every hit of a multi-hit weapon).

The Sage does require a bit of building up (fully half of the vocations' skill tracks maxed out or almost maxed out), but once you get him there, he can pretty much single-handedly demolish anything that isn't a boss or a metal slime (and I don't even know yet if there's a metal slime wand or not - if there is, that goes out the window as well). The Mage isn't worthless (again, every vocation is viable), but I'd say there's more room for a Priest in a Sage's party than there is for a Mage.



Meanwhile, over in Thief land, I got three mini medals from a single mimic the other day. Stole one + Itemised Kill ensured one dropped + the Thief book skill activated = a happy WarpRattler.

Also, don't know if you've seen it or not, but you may find the information contained within this (http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/937281-dragon-quest-ix-sentinels-of-the-starry-skies/55674123) post of great use.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 21, 2010, 03:15:27 PM
It's a matter of taste, I suppose. I would probably be using a Priest and a Sage, if Priests could learn Kazing. My whole party has maxed out the Sage's skill track, by the way... Not to mention the Warrior's, the Paladin's, the Martial Artist's, and the Thief's.

Meanwhile, over in Thief land, I got three mini medals from a single mimic the other day.

Lucky goose. It once took me 14 attempts to steal a single one.

this (http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/937281-dragon-quest-ix-sentinels-of-the-starry-skies/55674123)

Seen it. Thanks anyway, though. I'll see your grotto guide and raise you a grotto calculator (http://www.woodus.com/den/games/dq9ds/dq9_grotto.html), which you're equally likely to have already seen.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 21, 2010, 04:49:48 PM
The Thief track actually isn't that useful beyond Half-Inch, since agility boosts don't do much, and the only important thing deftness really affects is Half-Inch's success rate (and you get a lot more deftness from maxing out the Ranger track anyway).

Since you said you have the Warrior and Paladin maxed out already, you would do well to spend some skill points maxing out the Gladiator track, for +40 strength and +60 HP.

And I hadn't seen the calculator. Looks to be pretty useful, if only because now I know what to look for so I can fight certain monsters and bosses for quests.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 21, 2010, 06:50:23 PM
On the contrary, I find agility bonuses to be quite useful: My entire team now moves before practically everything, rendering the once-essential Acceleratle unnecessary. I agree that the Thief's advanced abilities suck, though.

Which regular quests do you have yet to finish? I'm down to #34: "A Simple Task", #42: "Letter Getter", #59: "Runny Bunny", and the Swinedimples quests for the staff, whip, claws, fan, and boomerang.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Toad on August 21, 2010, 07:27:18 PM
I wish I knew what you were talking about, but it makes me think of a question: I have never played a Dragon Quest game before, but have been thinking of getting into the series. Is there any specific game that would be a good one to start with? I have a PS2 and all Nintendo systems if that means anything..
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 21, 2010, 07:52:34 PM
If you want to feel the series' continuity and development, start off as early as possible. Remakes of Dragon Quest IV and V are available for DS, and a DS port of VI has been released in Japan. Dragon Quest VIII came out for PS2 in 2005. IX is exclusively for DS, and X is currently in development for Wii.

Of the above games, I own IV, V and IX. I would suggest that you play them in roughly chronological order, but none of them are direct sequels of each other.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 21, 2010, 07:59:01 PM
I'm pretty sure I could count the number of times I've cast Accelerate/Acceleratle on one hand. My team is naturally pretty fast anyway, so I don't have to worry about agility bonuses (and if I did, you get +100 agility from maxing out the Martial Artist track, so I'd just do that). Also, Eye for Trouble would be pretty useful if it was a passive.

I've still got a large number of regular quests to do, since I've been doing more of the extra quests. Of those, I have twenty-five remaining; of those twenty-five, six are in progress, five can't be accepted at this time, six just outright aren't available to me, and two can't be completed because I don't have DQVC access.



Dragon Quest VIII is graphically and aurally the best in the series (the latter, in terms of audio quality; your mileage may vary with regards to the compositions themselves), and is probably the least expensive (aside from the NES original) if price is a concern. There are also a bunch of spinoffs that may serve as better entry points to the series due to their relative similarity to other games you've played; of the ones that have been released here, the Dragon Quest Monsters games, which apply Dragon Quest's combat to Pokémon-style monster-battling, can be fun for a while (and Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart, a Japan-only GBA title, has been fan-translated, if you're willing to emulate), and Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is a wonderful game that plays more like a 2D Zelda entry than a Dragon Quest game. (Also, it involves awesome giant tank robot battles.)
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 21, 2010, 10:26:08 PM
Eye for Trouble is only very useful for locating the stairs in grottoes, really.

The only currently-available extra quest I haven't done is "Risque Respects". That Dangerous Bustier is being a ***** to find.

I've been thinking about looking into Rocket Slime, but I've heard that the gameplay gets pretty repetitive. Would you agree?
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 21, 2010, 11:35:58 PM
I actually found a dangerous bustier before I started that quest, both so I could just hand it to her and so I didn't have it tying up one of my quest slots like Runny Bunny did for so long.

You know how Zelda dungeons might seem repetitive if each one didn't feature a different gimmick weapon/tool? That's how it is with Rocket Slime, because that game doesn't do those gimmicks like Zelda does. And Zelda games don't have awesome giant tank robot battles.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 23, 2010, 06:59:15 PM
From over twelve hours of treasure-hunting in Steel Moor of Fear lv. 47, I've obtained four Demon Whips, three Oh-No Bows, three Fuddle Bows, two Thug's Mugs, two Divine Dresses, at least twenty Hephaetus' Flames, well over thirty Mini Medals, about 15 phials each of Fitnessence/Agressence/Magic Water, five or six phials of Saint's Ashes, both pieces of maid equipment, a Brouhaha Boomstick, and one of pretty much everything in the Dangerous Bustier's chest rank except for the bustier itself. DEAUGHUAUGHH
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 23, 2010, 07:10:21 PM
Reminds me of my days playing MapleStory and trying to get a pair of weighted earrings to drop from the only enemies I could fight that dropped them. Never got them...

Clearly Dragon Quest IX needs wands of polymorph.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Lizard Dude on August 24, 2010, 06:10:06 AM
I've been thinking about looking into Rocket Slime, but I've heard that the gameplay gets pretty repetitive. Would you agree?
Rocket Slime is a 800x (approx.) better game than DQIX.

And, having seen this thread and others discussing what games you, WeeGee, play and how you play them, you're inquiring in fear of repetitive gameplay. Are you ****ING joking me.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 24, 2010, 04:56:56 PM
I find monotony for the sake of story advancement to be much more tolerable in an RPG than in an action/adventure game.

Anyway, I finally acquired that Simple Simon accolade, but with a different clothing combination than suggested by any online guides. Go figure.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 25, 2010, 07:35:15 PM
Thank God for Action Replay. (http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/937281-dragon-quest-ix-sentinels-of-the-starry-skies/55790574) I normally only use AR for things which are otherwise unobtainable to me, but some of these items might be an exception.

I ended up going into that level 58 dungeon again, sneaking my way through most of it, smashing Elusid at the bottom, and taking down three metal king slimes along the way (the last floor before the boss was all metal kings)

What type of grotto was this?
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 25, 2010, 07:42:54 PM
I, uh...I'm really glad I wasn't going for 100% completion. And now I know Turtlekid would hate this game so much.

Also, it's a Silver Marsh of Bane.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 25, 2010, 08:41:03 PM
This game would be any completionist's worst nightmare. For starters, maxing out the hero's revocation track in every class would require gaining a total of 11880 levels. :3
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Turtlekid1 on August 25, 2010, 08:55:05 PM
I, uh...I'm really glad I wasn't going for 100% completion. And now I know Turtlekid would hate this game so much.
I dislike the random drops and limited-chance bestiary in FFXIII, and those seem to be relatively simple.  I shudder to think of the crap I would have to put up with here because of my compulsion to 100% a game.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 27, 2010, 07:04:58 PM
What's the point of Clap Trap? The damage difference between it and a regular attack is negligible, so it seems like nothing more than a waste of 1 MP.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on August 27, 2010, 08:33:50 PM
I believe skills in general have a higher base chance of hitting than regular attacks, so it's useful against monsters with high evasion. And I haven't checked yet, but it may turn out that it ensures a hit on a metal monster if the user has metal slime gauntlets equipped.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on August 30, 2010, 06:44:24 PM
Warp, did you unlock any of the Quester's Rest cameo guests by tagging with your friend? If so, you can do quest #122 by setting your in-game birthday to the current date and talking to one of the famous guests.

EDIT: Regarding Clap Trap, it can apparently break the regular 1999-point damage cap, making it useful for Gladiators whose Coup de Grace has been activated.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on September 03, 2010, 07:12:46 PM
Grottoes are turning this game into a full-time job. Of the 59 I've completed, not one has contained a Bling Badger, and almost every one above level 80 has been ruins-type with ****ing Greygnarl as the boss. I just revocated my hero for the third time, meaning that I'll have to grind back up to level 99 before I start getting worthwhile maps again.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on September 09, 2010, 04:59:08 PM
941 Metal Kings down, and counting.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: WarpRattler on September 09, 2010, 05:29:54 PM
I haven't played in a while because I currently don't have access to a DS with a fully-working top screen. Also because I'd rather experience other games than an eternity of metal king slime-grinding.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on September 09, 2010, 05:52:54 PM
I'm getting tired of it too; interesting new games just have yet to come along. Rocket Slime might be worth looking into sooner rather than later...

Coincidentally, my DS might be on its last legs as well. To be specific, the X, Y and B buttons have been occasionally "pressing" themselves, causing menus to open or commands to be cancelled unexpectedly. It hasn't seriously interfered with gameplay yet, but I'm concerned that it eventually will.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Turtlekid1 on September 09, 2010, 06:16:59 PM
It's like Nintendo planned them to start malfunctioning now so you'd be forced to buy a 3DS.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Lizard Dude on September 09, 2010, 09:06:11 PM
Iwata: "Reggie, activate the KILL SWITCH!"
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on September 26, 2010, 07:09:06 PM
Grottoes hate me. 94 completed, 13 of which are above Lv. 80, and not one has contained a Bling Badger.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on October 02, 2010, 11:23:48 PM
Every regular quest completed. Nifty.

Fun fact: 100%-ing this game requires you to spend over 1000 hours in both single player and multiplayer, revocate ten times in each each job (which in turn involves gaining nearly 12000 levels in total), tag over 1000 different players IRL, win 10000 battles, perform alchemy at least 2000 times, pay to have a party member resurrected 100 times, and defeat each legacy boss at their maximum level. (http://www.woodus.com/den/games/dq9ds/accolades_list.php) :3
Title: Re: Dragon Quest IX General
Post by: Weegee on December 29, 2010, 07:13:51 PM
It's a pretty good game and all, but this is ridiculous. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest_IX#Cultural_impact)
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: WarpRattler on January 18, 2011, 05:15:40 AM
Are you getting Dragon Quest VI, Weegee? I'm tempted to preorder it for that Slime plush, but I won't have regular access to a working DS again until I buy a 3DS (who knows when that'll be), and I already preordered Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, which comes out the same week.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on January 18, 2011, 04:59:16 PM
GameStop is exclusive to the States, so no plush for me. I ordered it from Amazon earlier this month, though.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: WarpRattler on March 16, 2011, 03:01:30 AM
I swear, if this (http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/03/16/dragon_quest_rocket_slime_3ds/) doesn't come out in the US...
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on March 31, 2011, 06:05:06 PM
...at least we'll have this (http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=154637).
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on April 13, 2011, 10:37:18 PM
I'm thinking about buying a second, used copy of DQIX because I really really really really don't want to erase my good file in order to replay the story. Say your worst, Lizard Dude.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Lizard Dude on April 13, 2011, 11:31:12 PM
Because of the unique nature of DQIX's tradeable characters and dungeons, deleting a DQIX save could be a valid concern, even in my book.

I don't know if you've done any of that though...

You should play a different DS game that's not a JRPG. I recommend Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. It's my favorite game of 2011 so far!
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Black Mage on April 14, 2011, 12:09:52 AM
Seconding Ghost Trick. So good.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on June 28, 2011, 08:11:24 PM
Posterboy for Asperger's syndrome and/or obsessive-complulsive disorder finishes "perfect" run through Dragon Quest V, only to have all his games stolen two weeks later (http://www.gamespot.com/ds/rpg/dragonquestv/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-57619173&pid=942423&tag=topics%3Btitle)
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Black Mage on June 29, 2011, 10:34:04 PM
More like anonymous forum goer lies about "perfect" run of Dragon Quest V, only to be called out and claim to be robbed.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Lizard Dude on June 29, 2011, 11:46:59 PM
One time my friend told me he had gotten Gold medals on every mission of Rogue Squadron. I went to his house the next day and he only had scattered Bronzes and Silvers because his data had been corrupted and he had had to restart.

Some people have terrible luck.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on June 30, 2011, 12:12:11 AM
More like anonymous forum goer lies about "perfect" run of Dragon Quest V, only to be called out and claim to be robbed.

Pretty much, yeah. But describing the link as such would be like advertising Fungi Forums as "a bunch of cranky neckbeards who argue about everything but Mario".
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Lizard Dude on September 06, 2011, 11:37:44 PM
I'm sitting here cackling at the news that DQX is a Wii U online-only subscription-based MMO. WeeGee schadenfreude is delicious.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: TEM on September 07, 2011, 01:59:26 PM
Has anyone ever actually uncontrollably laughed and pointed at someone? It's the greatest feeling in the world.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on September 07, 2011, 05:09:15 PM
It looks like ****ing World of Warcraft.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on September 07, 2011, 05:12:30 PM
It looks like ****ing World of Warcraft.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on September 07, 2011, 05:15:05 PM
It looks like ****ing World of Warcraft.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on September 07, 2011, 05:17:58 PM
It looks like ****ing World of Warcraft.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on September 07, 2011, 05:21:39 PM
>2011
>Looking like ****ing World of Warcraft

I seriously hope you guys don't do this.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Lizard Dude on September 07, 2011, 07:29:38 PM
(https://themushroomkingdom.net/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi53.tinypic.com%2F5nurud.jpg&hash=7b34cc7386ce78532a639cfc497d51f8)
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: TEM on September 07, 2011, 07:55:08 PM
(https://themushroomkingdom.net/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftem.kontek.net%2FPictures%2FDealWithItUltimate.gif&hash=8d42c82a58e4ad8ad488fed41bfe543b)
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Turtlekid1 on September 07, 2011, 08:20:59 PM
(https://themushroomkingdom.net/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FBFZ6I.gif&hash=447edf73b9fde22d89869cb44d6090e8)
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: WarpRattler on September 07, 2011, 10:49:51 PM
It doesn't look like World of WarCraft, unless Blizzard hired Akira Toriyama at some point and I hadn't heard about it.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on September 07, 2011, 11:18:32 PM
(https://themushroomkingdom.net/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.1up.com%2Fmedia%2F03%2F9%2F1%2F6%2Flg%2F871.jpg&hash=e0fba0808d5ef1708165527dd45de022)

I'll be [darn]ed if that doesn't look like a retextured WoW screenshot.

Anyways, these revelations regarding DQX's gameplay do indeed have me quite perturbed. Let me quote a post I made on Dragon's Den:

Quote from: Mario
I'll only buy this game in the unlikely circumstance that it supports offline gameplay that doesn't omit any inherent online benefits. No DLC-exclusive content, no "online-only" areas, no tagging/canvassing system, no added benefits for using multiplayer.

Video games should offer the same experience to all gamers, whether they're playing in downtown Tokyo or in the uninhabited Siberian tundra. Restricting certain gameplay elements doesn't benefit anyone, all it does is make the game seem more expansive than it really is. Gaming in the age of social media sucks.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Lizard Dude on September 07, 2011, 11:48:15 PM
If it doesn't "omit any online benefits"? I don't think you understand. It's an MMO. Online-ONLY and recurring subscription-fee required.

The Japanese FAQ does note that you can play the intro tutorial area offline, but that's it.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on September 07, 2011, 11:51:40 PM
I wasn't sure if that had all been confirmed. Alrighty then.

I'm expecting this game to be a runaway hit in Japan, but a relative flop in North America.
Title: Re: Dragon Quest General
Post by: Weegee on October 30, 2012, 01:29:42 PM
(https://themushroomkingdom.net/board/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.woodus.com%2Fden%2Fgallery%2Fgraphics%2Fdq73ds%2Fscan%2Fdq73ds_scan_001.jpg&hash=9b85fc6f173a8eb75de25b37e4a17dcf)

DQVII has been announced as a 3DS port.