A Dragon Quest Megathread draws near! Command?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > A Dragon Quest Megathread draws near! Command?

Zurai: Feb 13, 2012; Wait -- I haven't even voted in this game yet!

Doug Dinsdale posted:

DQ3 had these little touches that made it special.
Like the little kid that gives you Dad's helmet.
That kid just has to be the hero's half-brother. Too bad the helmet's piece of junk.

A piece of junk? It's the third-strongest non-cursed helmet in the game and grants key status resistances.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 04:21

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# ? May 24, 2024 16:27

Fenrir: Apr 26, 2005; I found my kendo stick, bitch!; Lipstick Apathy

Yeah, for when you get it, it's not bad by any stretch.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 11:29

Crimson Harvest: Jul 14, 2004; I'm a GENERAL, not some opera floozy!

SereneCrimson posted:

So earlier today I finished DQ3.
Aaaaand; Holy poo poo this game is fantastic.

I knew DQ3 is still many peoples favourite DQ, and I see why. It's so good.

After I beat Baramos, and went through the hole to the underworld, I just had the biggest smile.

Getting to travel around The entirity of Alefgard, with the same music as DQ1, and visiting all the locations while collecting the items was kinda fantastic.
It was great, the final boss rush was pretty fun too. I beat Zoma in such a clutch victory, with both my magic users only having 1 MP left each. It felt really good and felt like an actual fierce battle with a sense of accomplishment.

With that, I have now beaten DQ1-6 and 9.
I will probably take a bit of a break to play some other stuff first. But then I'll jump into DQ7 on the PS1! I don't know too much about it, just that it's long and kinda requires you to keep notes when shard hunting n' stuff.
After that, I get to play the (apparent) joy of DQ8. Heard soooooo many good things about this one! So I'm very exctied.

This is the position I'm in, too. I finished 4-6 in the last month, so I'm starting up 7 soon. I played 8 a lot when it came out but never finished, and I beat 9 when it was new.

Dragon Quest owns.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 13:26

BadAstronaut: Sep 15, 2004

I am about to finish DQV from the looks of things because I am in that new island/continent place and got the sage stone and I think I need a Dragon Questing break after this. I still feel IV was better and more engaging, with better characters, and also less moments of 'where the gently caress do I go now...?', which I experienced a bunch of in DQV. Still, good game.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 14:35

Sephiroth_IRA: Mar 31, 2010

Are there any cool challenges for DQ3? I had a blast with Final Fantasy 5's four jobs fiesta and I think it would be neat to do something like that with DQ3.

edit: It's been awhile since I played but if I remember correctly the game was still a challenge even if you used sages and had the best items, although I suppose I could say the same thing about ff5.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 14:54

Bongo Bill: Jan 17, 2012

Sephiroth_IRA posted:

Are there any cool challenges for DQ3? I had a blast with Final Fantasy 5's four jobs fiesta and I think it would be neat to do something like that with DQ3.

edit: It's been awhile since I played but if I remember correctly the game was still a challenge even if you used sages and had the best items, although I suppose I could say the same thing about ff5.

Three goof-offs. Or a goof-off, a merchant, and a thief. No Sages, obviously.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 14:59

Levantine: Feb 14, 2005; GUNDAM!!!

BadAstronaut posted:

I am about to finish DQV from the looks of things because I am in that new island/continent place and got the sage stone and I think I need a Dragon Questing break after this. I still feel IV was better and more engaging, with better characters, and also less moments of 'where the gently caress do I go now...?', which I experienced a bunch of in DQV. Still, good game.

I also think IV is an overall more fun game with better focus but V is super great. I did find myself meandering a bit more in V which isn't a bad thing in and of itself. But if you're playing it on the heels of IV I can see it being more noticeable.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 15:00

Crimson Harvest: Jul 14, 2004; I'm a GENERAL, not some opera floozy!

Well it took nearly two hours but I finally managed to fight a slime in DQ7!

This is gonna be a really long game, isn't it? Is there anything I need to know beforehand, so I can either not gently caress stuff up or make my life easier/more convenient?

# ? Aug 12, 2014 16:45

JustJeff88: Jan 15, 2008; I AM
CONSISTENTLY
ANNOYING
...
JUST TERRIBLE

THIS BADGE OF SHAME IS WORTH 0.45 DOUBLE DRAGON ADVANCES

of SA-Mart forever

SereneCrimson posted:

It was great, the final boss rush was pretty fun too. I beat Zoma in such a clutch victory, with both my magic users only having 1 MP left each. It felt really good and felt like an actual fierce battle with a sense of accomplishment.

While his buddies were trivial, I tried to fight Zoma in the NES version without using the Sphere of Light. Even with a somewhat over-levelled party and 3 guys with every spell in the game (plus Hero), I couldn't do it. I lasted a long time, but I couldn't keep up with his regeneration because I had to waste too many turns healing, and even my Pilgrim using the Sage's Stone every round and my Sage tossing in HealAll wasn't enough - his drat breath does too much damage and even with a Magic Hat she eventually ran out of magic points. Toss in his 100HP/round regeneration and I never really made any progress.

Fought him after using the spoilered macguffin and it was cake. I guess that I don't have the patience for things like that, challenge runs and the like. I saw some guy on a forum somewhere who was trying to beat Zoma with just the Hero, no Sphere... after much discussion and numerous failures they determined that it was probably impossible.

Some people have too much free time.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 17:35

DACK FAYDEN: Feb 25, 2013; Bear Witness

Crimson Harvest posted:

Well it took nearly two hours but I finally managed to fight a slime in DQ7!

This is gonna be a really long game, isn't it? Is there anything I need to know beforehand, so I can either not gently caress stuff up or make my life easier/more convenient?

Once you get the job system (in another fifteen hours or whatever) you may want to look up how to get to Godhand or whatever it's called, since it takes like... I want to say 750? battles at best, with an optimized path, but it's so powerful that it is definitely worth it.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 20:37

Evil Fluffy: Jul 13, 2009; Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Sephiroth_IRA posted:

Are there any cool challenges for DQ3? I had a blast with Final Fantasy 5's four jobs fiesta and I think it would be neat to do something like that with DQ3.

edit: It's been awhile since I played but if I remember correctly the game was still a challenge even if you used sages and had the best items, although I suppose I could say the same thing about ff5.

You could try a single character challenge run but I recall seeing someone else try this once and IIRC they got to Baramos and simply couldn't out DPS his passive regen. Orochi would be a chore to deal with as well because he has a stupidly high HP regen each round. This was on the NES version so maybe the SNES or GBC version would give you a better chance though.

Crimson Harvest posted:

Well it took nearly two hours but I finally managed to fight a slime in DQ7!

This is gonna be a really long game, isn't it? Is there anything I need to know beforehand, so I can either not gently caress stuff up or make my life easier/more convenient?

DQ7 was the first non-Wizardry game I ever put 100 hours in to without beating it. Focus on sending the hero and Gabo down the path to godhand, and Marbel to Sage. If you want to grind out some jobs, the enemies around Dharma count towards class progress until lvl 22-23.

I have no idea if the other expert(?) classes (summoner and superstar?) are any good since I only got to Godhand before beating the game, and my magic users just stayed as sages since they mastered it so late. You don't really *need* those super classes but they do make life much easier. I never bothered with stuff like pirate or ranger though.

DQ7 is a crazy long game though and that's probably part of what made western audiences dislike it in addition to the scouring for shards.

# ? Aug 12, 2014 21:47

Shugojin: Sep 6, 2007; THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...

Yeah 7 is really long and really grindy.

I liked it much more years later on an emulator with the magic power of turbospeed. Also for whatever reason, my inner however old I was when I got a PlayStation felt vindicated as gently caress that a computer's optical drive finally played a PlayStation disc. :v:

# ? Aug 13, 2014 00:38

Fenrir: Apr 26, 2005; I found my kendo stick, bitch!; Lipstick Apathy

Bongo Bill posted:

Three goof-offs. Or a goof-off, a merchant, and a thief. No Sages, obviously.

Just solo it with the Hero. Totally doable. You'll still need that one merchant otherwise you can't get that orb... but you can just recruit him, run him straight to the new town, and drop him off.

Shugojin posted:

Yeah 7 is really long and really grindy.

I liked it much more years later on an emulator with the magic power of turbospeed. Also for whatever reason, my inner however old I was when I got a PlayStation felt vindicated as gently caress that a computer's optical drive finally played a PlayStation disc.

Sounds like someone never put Symphony of the Night in a CD player or computer :colbert:

Fenrir fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Aug 13, 2014

# ? Aug 13, 2014 00:41

Bongo Bill: Jan 17, 2012

My one attempt at a solo run ended as soon as I ran into monsters that have a paralyze attack, which happens surprisingly early. However, I did once run through with a party of two, Hero and a Merchant.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 01:52

Die Sexmonster!: Nov 30, 2005

DQ4 is really reminding me why I quit it with the Maya/Meena chapter. Here's two characters this time, and they're both terrible.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 09:50

Nickoten: Oct 16, 2005; Now there'll be some quiet in this town.

SereneCrimson posted:

So I'm enjoying the helllll out of Dragon Quest 3.
It's just so drat fun. It really helped that when you start the game you can have a full party, and the spell casters actually start with spells and the MP to make use of them. So I never felt tied down in areas grinding at the beginning.

Holy poo poo is the ability to remember what the last couple NPCs said and read the text anytime you need it helpful as all hell. Easily one of the best additions. I really wish more games had something like it.
I'm playing the GBC version and god, it's been great. Sure the lack of backgrounds in battles is lame. But everything else looks really nice! And the music is still good.

I recently got my boat, so I'm very much at that part in a DQ game where the world has opened up and I feel just ever so overwhelmed with what I need to do.
So far I have Gotten the Final Key, and gotten one orb from the "Navel of Eden" where you have to take your hero in alone.

I know I have to return to the town where everyone is dead at night but alive in the day. Since there's an orb in the jail cell I need the final key for. I'm pretty sure I know how to get some other ones too.

I'm usually not too keen on the "MacGuffin Hunt". Getting all the doo-dads in DQ2 was a bit more of a slog. But it's not too bad in DQ3, there's a lot more enhancements to it that make it less of a chore.

I, too, love Dragon Quest III. I also love that, unlike in other Macguffin hunts, the game straight up gives you a Macguffin detector rather than pointing to parts of the world. Which means you could just explore and the game will tell you when you're close to one. I just love how in general DQ3 expects you to adventure, but it also gives you all of the tools to do so without using a guide, like the Thief, the Moon Flute, helpful NPCs, etc. That game just really makes the adventure feel like your own.

Nickoten fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Aug 13, 2014

# ? Aug 13, 2014 13:47

Levantine: Feb 14, 2005; GUNDAM!!!

Pyroxene Stigma posted:

DQ4 is really reminding me why I quit it with the Maya/Meena chapter. Here's two characters this time, and they're both terrible.

If I recall they only start kind of terrible. One gets decent at fighting once you can afford some gear and the other is a pretty powerful caster after a few levels. Their chapter does throw fairly difficult battles at you though, so I can see how you might get burned out quickly.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 14:02

Taran_Wanderer: Nov 4, 2013

Levantine posted:

If I recall they only start kind of terrible. One gets decent at fighting once you can afford some gear and the other is a pretty powerful caster after a few levels. Their chapter does throw fairly difficult battles at you though, so I can see how you might get burned out quickly.

I'd go so far as to say their chapter is the most difficult of the lot. Still, once you get your third guy in that chapter, things are much easier.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 14:05

RadicalR: Jan 20, 2008; "Businessmen are the symbol of a free society
---
the symbol of America."

So what would you guys consider to be the best version of each DQ game?

# ? Aug 13, 2014 15:20

Levantine: Feb 14, 2005; GUNDAM!!!

RadicalR posted:

So what would you guys consider to be the best version of each DQ game?

For my vote, I think the DS versions of VI-VI pretty much cover that, though I like the PS2 version of DQV simply because I can play it on my TV. My old eyes don't handle the small screens as well anymore. SNES for I-III. PS2 for VIII no question. VII on 3DS looks to be much improved over the PSX version, but I haven't played it so I can't say.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 15:22

Sherry Bahm: Jul 30, 2003; filled with dolphins

So I just got the boat in DQ9, and after a bit of exploring spent a good amount of time swapping and grinding classes to the point where most of my guys have 3-4 of them in the 20-30 range each. I sunk a bunch of points into weapon skills and am pretty much steamrolling over everything.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 17:55

RadicalR: Jan 20, 2008; "Businessmen are the symbol of a free society
---
the symbol of America."

Levantine posted:

For my vote, I think the DS versions of VI-VI pretty much cover that, though I like the PS2 version of DQV simply because I can play it on my TV. My old eyes don't handle the small screens as well anymore. SNES for I-III. PS2 for VIII no question. VII on 3DS looks to be much improved over the PSX version, but I haven't played it so I can't say.

I think you mean IV to IX?

# ? Aug 13, 2014 17:59

Levantine: Feb 14, 2005; GUNDAM!!!

RadicalR posted:

I think you mean IV to IX?

VII and VIII weren't on the DS and the DS version of 9 was the only version that exists so I didn't include them in my "best version" count.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 18:01

RadicalR: Jan 20, 2008; "Businessmen are the symbol of a free society
---
the symbol of America."

Levantine posted:

VII and VIII weren't on the DS and the DS version of 9 was the only version that exists so I didn't include them in my "best version" count.

I asked because you said VI-VI.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 18:02

Levantine: Feb 14, 2005; GUNDAM!!!

RadicalR posted:

I asked because you said VI-VI.

Oh, I see, I did! I meant 4-6.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 18:04

RadicalR: Jan 20, 2008; "Businessmen are the symbol of a free society
---
the symbol of America."

I did see that Dragon Quest 8 got released on Android. Any opinion on that?

# ? Aug 13, 2014 18:06

Levantine: Feb 14, 2005; GUNDAM!!!

RadicalR posted:

I did see that Dragon Quest 8 got released on Android. Any opinion on that?

It runs as well as your device allows so performance varies and it only runs in portrait orientation. It's not terrible if you really want 8 on a handheld device but I'd sure wait til it was on sale. It's decent but not great.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 18:09

Shugojin: Sep 6, 2007; THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...

RadicalR posted:

I did see that Dragon Quest 8 got released on Android. Any opinion on that?

It's pretty wonky apparently. I wouldn't.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 18:10

RadicalR: Jan 20, 2008; "Businessmen are the symbol of a free society
---
the symbol of America."

Levantine posted:

It runs as well as your device allows so performance varies.

Well, I have an NVidia Shield, so it should run okay...

Levantine posted:

and it only runs in portrait orientation.

gently caress.

Seriously? They didn't program an option to make it landscape? What the gently caress were they thinking? And let me guess, no controller support. (This isn't as big of a deal. The Shield has a gizmo built in that allows you to "program" the touchscreen to push the buttons for you.)

# ? Aug 13, 2014 18:13

Levantine: Feb 14, 2005; GUNDAM!!!

RadicalR posted:

Well, I have an NVidia Shield, so it should run okay...

gently caress.

Seriously? They didn't program an option to make it landscape? What the gently caress were they thinking? And let me guess, no controller support. (This isn't as big of a deal. The Shield has a gizmo built in that allows you to "program" the touchscreen to push the buttons for you.)

I think it was touched on by another poster in this thread but apparently the Japanese just loving looooove portrait for some reason. I don't really get it myself. Toucharcade did a pretty long review if you want to see if it's for you: http://toucharcade.com/2014/05/29/dragon-quest-viii-review/

# ? Aug 13, 2014 18:28

Skeezy: Jul 3, 2007

Also the Android version is based on the Japanese version of DQVIII so no voice acting and no orchestrated music.

Dragon Quest IV on the other hand is wonderful on Android. But it is also in portrait mode.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 20:50

psychoJ: Feb 24, 2011; Smart and cool, handsome, wealthy and so sexy

Skeezy posted:

Dragon Quest IV on the other hand is wonderful on Android. But it is also in portrait mode.

Yeah, but I honestly feel like it works in its favor. The controls are laid out in a way that you can play the whole game one-handed and it's pretty awesome.

Honestly, with that in consideration along with party chat added back in, I think the mobile version of DQIV is pretty much the best version. Never thought I'd say that about any mobile port ever, but here we are!

# ? Aug 13, 2014 20:57

Evil Fluffy: Jul 13, 2009; Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Pyroxene Stigma posted:

DQ4 is really reminding me why I quit it with the Maya/Meena chapter. Here's two characters this time, and they're both terrible.

Nara and Mara aren't bad (eventually) but yeah early on their chapter just sucks. Once you find the NPC and he joins you then things get a bit better since he can beat poo poo to death until you're able to afford better gear like a morning star.

It's a given that their chapter's the hardest of the four. They pretty much go in order of difficulty, though chatper 3 can be cheesed easily enough and since the remake includes the bag it's easier than ever to use that chapter to ensure you have more money than you'll ever possibly need in chapter 5. A giant pile of Swords of Malice are always handy.

# ? Aug 13, 2014 21:26

Terpfen: Jul 27, 2006; Objection!

Crimson Harvest posted:

Well it took nearly two hours but I finally managed to fight a slime in DQ7!

This is gonna be a really long game, isn't it? Is there anything I need to know beforehand, so I can either not gently caress stuff up or make my life easier/more convenient?

I'm currently on a DQ7 playthrough as well. I've never played it before, so this is a brand new experience to me.

So far it doesn't feel longer than any other DQ game, and seems to be about on the same pace as VI. I just got to Mezar.

# ? Aug 14, 2014 02:12

Gaius Marius: Oct 9, 2012

Pyroxene Stigma posted:

DQ4 is really reminding me why I quit it with the Maya/Meena chapter. Here's two characters this time, and they're both terrible.

The lovely french accent on all the characters in the remkae makes it the worst chapter by far.

# ? Aug 14, 2014 03:37

Fenrir: Apr 26, 2005; I found my kendo stick, bitch!; Lipstick Apathy

Wow, really? Chapter 4? I always thought that was easy. You get spells right off the bat and you can get an ungodly overpowered NPC who will kill drat near everything for you very early on. If any of the early chapters in DQ4 were tough, it was 2. You start broke with three level 1 weaklings and you get a lot more monsters per encounter because of the party size, and Brey's icebolt is the only thing that can one-shot anything until you get Alena a drat weapon.

# ? Aug 14, 2014 04:08

Evil Fluffy: Jul 13, 2009; Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Fenrir posted:

Wow, really? Chapter 4? I always thought that was easy. You get spells right off the bat and you can get an ungodly overpowered NPC who will kill drat near everything for you very early on. If any of the early chapters in DQ4 were tough, it was 2. You start broke with three level 1 weaklings and you get a lot more monsters per encounter because of the party size, and Brey's icebolt is the only thing that can one-shot anything until you get Alena a drat weapon.

You can get levels pretty easily around the starting area and if you're impatient for a weapon you can get a feather hat in her room and then sell it in town to buy a thorn whip or whatever. By level 4 you can ride the litter and kill that miniboss fight. It's better than chapter 3, where you can leave town immediately and struggle, or spend an hour running the shop and buy some leather armor and a weapon. An hour in to chapter 2 you're probably level 5 at the least and in fairly good shape.

# ? Aug 14, 2014 04:12

Nekrews: Sep 14, 2007

Streaming a little of Dragon Quest 8 if anyone wants to come chat while I grind!

http://www.twitch.tv/thekrus

cheers!

Nekrews fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Aug 14, 2014

# ? Aug 14, 2014 06:55

That Fucking Sned: Oct 28, 2010

RadicalR posted:

So what would you guys consider to be the best version of each DQ game?

Here's how I'd rank them:

Dragon Quest: The SNES version has bland graphics, but great quality music. The GBC version is good too, and has a more streamlined interface.
Dragon Quest II: Same as above.
Dragon Quest III: SNES, definitely. Both the SNES and GBC versions look great for their platforms, and the GBC version even keeps all the monster animations.
Dragon Quest IV: DS, but it's very similar to the Japan-only PS1 version. I haven't tried the mobile version, but it's probably the same as the DS version.
Dragon Quest V: The PS2 remake doesn't look anywhere near as good as Dragon Quest VIII, and I prefer the hand-drawn monster animations in the DS version.
Dragon Quest VI: Both the SNES and DS versions are good options, since visually it hasn't aged as much. On the SNES it was the first to include monster animations, but they're more impressive in the DS version. However, I prefer the sprite artwork outside of battle to the DS' 3D graphics.
Dragon Quest VII: The PS1 version is alright, but I'm going to try the 3DS version at some point. It's hard to beat the 2D monster animations, though.
Dragon Quest VIII: The PS2 version had voice acting, an orchestral score, and a new menu system added to the US and EU versions. These aren't included in the mobile version, and it's portrait only while the PS2 game supports 4:3 and 16:9.
Dragon Quest IX: DS only.
Dragon Quest X: It's on the Wii and Wii U, and although the Wii U version is definitely going to be better, I'm not sure how easy it is to get running outside of Japan, much less on a non-Japanese console.

To give a little background on why the series shifted styles, I'll list which companies developed them.

Chunsoft: Very primitive graphics which consisted of repeating tiles for mountains or forests, although this was done to make the most of the cartridge space available.

NES Dragon Quest
NES Dragon Quest II
NES Dragon Quest III
NES Dragon Quest IV
SNES Dragon Quest V
SNES Dragon Quest I + II

Heartbeat (later named ArtePiazza): Their 2D games on the SNES are gorgeous, but their 3D games look a bit basic. The PS1 and DS games use 3D locations with 2D character and enemy sprites, but it's a shame that their focus on amazing enemy animation doesn't carry over to the characters and NPCs.

SNES Dragon Quest VI
SNES Dragon Quest III
PS1 Dragon Quest VII
PS1 Dragon Quest IV
PS2 Dragon Quest V
DS Dragon Quest IV
DS Dragon Quest V
DS Dragon Quest VI
3DS Dragon Quest VII

Level-5: Great at working with 3D graphics and environments, even on the DS' limited hardware. Hopefully they will be developing Dragon Quest XI, since SE confirmed it would be on a console.

PS2 Dragon Quest VIII
DS Dragon Quest IX

Armor Project

Wii & Wii U Dragon Quest X

# ? Aug 14, 2014 15:04

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# ? May 24, 2024 16:27

kirbysuperstar: Nov 11, 2012; Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess.

DQX is on PC and will be on 3DS (as the weird streamed game that it is on phones) also.

# ? Aug 14, 2014 15:21

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > A Dragon Quest Megathread draws near! Command?

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