Anyone else pick this game up?
I just got started into it last night, so far it has been a blast. I've got several friends who grabbed copies too and we are all aquiver for the multiplayer.
Yes.
HUGE thumbs-down on the multiplayer side for me (it should never have been included and no time/resources should ever have been spent on it, AFAIC) - and not really one of the better DQs, but it's still a pretty darn good game... I do love the DQ series.
Would've been better if developed for the consoles (PS3).
See my friends and I are the exact opposite. We purchased it because of the multiplayer. The single player RPG aspect is great but it's not what sold 5 copies of the game to my group. We wanted the multiplayer dungeon/boss grinds for better gear. Having it on the DS only makes it all the sweeter. We can get together wherever and join up, or at each others houses.
It'll soon be 6 people. Sadly I am only level 11. Haven't had a lot of time to really make some progress like some of my buddies currently on their days off > _ >
I'm thinking about picking up a used DS and another copy so my wife can play as well.
Though she is enjoying Little Big Planet for the PSP right now.
I've been looking forward to this one, but don't have it yet.
I enjoyed VIII on the PS2, but felt like it just took too long to get anything done. It's been a long time since I played an RPG that made me feel like I had to run around and level for an hour before fighting the boss.
DQ IV on the DS absolutely hooked me. I could hardly put it down once I started playing it. Mostly because the story felt just as involved and epic as in VIII, but you could just get right to it. Fights moved faster, traveling took less time, etc.
Have you played IV and do you feel it compares favorably to IX?
IX will actually by my first full fledge attempt at the series. I watched my friends play quite a bit of VIII for most of a summer so I know that game takes forever.
So far I'm enjoying the pace of the game. I tend to hit a few extra random encounters while I travel but I haven't had to grind for a couple hours just to be where the story bosses needed me to be. This is supposed to be the toughest Dragon Quest game so far, though being able to have your friends help should make that less so.
I tend to hit a few extra random encounters while I travel but I haven't had to grind for a couple hours just to be where the story bosses needed me to be. This is supposed to be the toughest Dragon Quest game so far, though being able to have your friends help should make that less so.
If they follow the mold set in DQ8 (which was outstanding, IMO), you shouldn't really have to grind levels if you don't want to. In the earlier DQs, you did, but DQ8 at the same time made it entirely feasible to progress at a more or less natural pace and still be capable of beating the game, while still making the boss fights and dungeons challenging. I think I had to grind up for the very first boss, but that's it. The other big change they made in DQ8 compared to others in the series is that they really reduced the lengths of the dungeons. In some of the earlier DQs, you could spend hours and hours in the same dungeon with no opportunity to save. Almost all of the dungeons in DQ8 were doable in half an hour to an hour, which was a wonderful change frankly.
If I manage to scrape together enough money, I'm definitely going to pick up DQ9, even though I have no one to use the multiplayer functionality with. DQ8 had that big of an impression on me.
Have you played IV and do you feel it compares favorably to IX?
IV (and V and VIII) are the best in the series - by far.
IX doesn't compare favorably, IMO.
One thing I really like is how the random encounters will begin to run away from you when you've outleveled the area you're in during the story. It's a nice way of telling when to move on.
I'll also say they do an amazing job with town/building/dungeon design. There's a lot of creativity put into the layout of these places. It's refreshing to not play a game where every inn looks the same and every mansion has the same floor plan.
Have you played IV and do you feel it compares favorably to IX?IV (and V and VIII) are the best in the series - by far.
IX doesn't compare favorably, IMO.
4 will forever be the best. Just like 8 will forever have the chest! ;-D
One thing I really like is how the random encounters will begin to run away from you when you've outleveled the area you're in during the story. It's a nice way of telling when to move on.
I'll also say they do an amazing job with town/building/dungeon design. There's a lot of creativity put into the layout of these places. It's refreshing to not play a game where every inn looks the same and every mansion has the same floor plan.
I think there was an old jrpg from several years ago where you could get a list in game of monsters that began to actually FEAR you in-game and you would almost never get a random encounter against such creatures unless they were of the "hero" archetype or something like that. If you ever lost or ran away from a "hero" archetype of these monsters you'd start to get random encounters again, but if you ever beat a "hero" archetype afterwards you'd start not seeing them in random encounters again.
In Breath of Fire 2, monsters started to run away from you after a while.
4 will forever be the best.Bah. Dragon Warrior is the best of the series.
Dragon Warrior was my first video game RPG. I've been naming all my Dragon Quest characters Erdrick ever since.
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I love this game. I've already put in 30 hours.
The best part of the game is that you can change professions and that is a good thing. Changing professions and putting skill points into skills that raise attributes is great. You can rais HP, MP, Agility, etc. by 10, 20, and 30 points. You can then change back to your origional profession where you left off and most of the skills cross over.
When you change professions have all party members change and start back at first level. Start at the second town and start dealing damage. In 30-45 minutes you can be level 15. Remembering where the metalic slime is and fighting it can raise you even faster.
If you have members switch to each other's profession you can use their gear without having to buy new. This is good as you have high level weapons that can kill a creature in one blow instead of the 2 or 3 that it took earlier.
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Update: I just received a Treasure Map. This was a Level 1 Map and my characters are all 25th level. Got my ____ kicked by the boss. My mage died twice and my hero died once. Both were still dead when the boss was finally defeated. My priest was unable to raise them with Zing. The fourth character carried the battle at the end.
The problem was the the boss cast Kasap and Kabuff while I could only cast Sap and Buff. Plus his spells did high damage and Midheal wasn't enough.
If Level 1 was this hard, what will the Level 8 Map I got as a reward be like? I recomend higher levels before going after Treasure Maps.
The Treasure Maps are totally insane. Especially when the bosses get multiple actions. A lot of fun though. We are really enjoying the challenges that face even our leveled up characters.
I was able to defeat my level 1 treasure map boss without any real difficulty; no deaths or anything. It was a looooong fight, though, because my characters were doing a total of like 40 damage per round. My party was something on the order of Warrior-Martial Artist-Mage-Priest, and the Mage and Priest were pretty much devoted entirely to Sapping the boss, Accelerattling the party, and Buffing the party, plus spot healing (yay Caduceus!), while the two fighter-types just beat their heads against it. I was actually almost out of mana on my Priest when I beat him because I didn't have auto-regen on her yet.
That said, I still havn't ventured into the level 11 map I got for beating him, and it's some 20 hours later at this point. I should probably give it a shot.
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I was able to defeat my level 1 treasure map boss without any real difficulty; no deaths or anything. It was a looooong fight, though, because my characters were doing a total of like 40 damage per round. My party was something on the order of Warrior-Martial Artist-Mage-Priest, and the Mage and Priest were pretty much devoted entirely to Sapping the boss, Accelerattling the party, and Buffing the party, plus spot healing (yay Caduceus!), while the two fighter-types just beat their heads against it. I was actually almost out of mana on my Priest when I beat him because I didn't have auto-regen on her yet.
Where did you find the Caduceus?
I was able to defeat my level 1 treasure map boss without any real difficulty; no deaths or anything. It was a looooong fight, though, because my characters were doing a total of like 40 damage per round. My party was something on the order of Warrior-Martial Artist-Mage-Priest, and the Mage and Priest were pretty much devoted entirely to Sapping the boss, Accelerattling the party, and Buffing the party, plus spot healing (yay Caduceus!), while the two fighter-types just beat their heads against it. I was actually almost out of mana on my Priest when I beat him because I didn't have auto-regen on her yet.
That said, I still havn't ventured into the level 11 map I got for beating him, and it's some 20 hours later at this point. I should probably give it a shot.
We just had a Nintendo Event at our local GameStop and one of my friends (who turns out to be the highest level person there) was distributing a Basalt Cave of Grevious Harm Lvl 83.
Where did you find the Caduceus?
Caduceus is an ability you get for putting a certain number of points into the Wands skill and equipping a Wand. It heals about as much as a baseline Midheal for only 2 mp and can be used by any class, as long as they have a Wand equipped. It's really helpful in the earlier part of the game.
Later on, if you have a character skilled with Fans, you have the opportunity to get an ability that heals the entire party for 70-90 hp, which is enough to beat the story mode without needing another healer, as long as you're cautious.
We just had a Nintendo Event at our local GameStop and one of my friends (who turns out to be the highest level person there) was distributing a Basalt Cave of Grevious Harm Lvl 83.
Yeah, I havn't gotten anything that high yet. My party is in the mid 40's to early 50's in their primary class now and the highest treasure map I've found is a level 29, IIRC.
We just had a Nintendo Event at our local GameStop and one of my friends (who turns out to be the highest level person there) was distributing a Basalt Cave of Grevious Harm Lvl 83.
It was the steel moor of woe lvl 55 actually, cause it spawns metal king slimes and I figured people would want to run into those (120k exp each). Don't think people want me to be giving out my highest level map (emerald world of evil lvl 94) since there is nothing amazing about it except the treasure drops are decent.
I found the most useful classes to put points into were paladin and sage, it required some grinding to get sage up there before the boss, but the right as rain ability they learn heals 20-30 HP for the entire party every turn so it can really help take the edge off attacks. Sage also easily replaces priest because sage learns kazing and priests do not. Plus sage can cast some offesnive magic and the level 40 sage quest gives you twocus pocus which allows you to double cast spells.
Paladin skills just give such a huge boost to resiliance and HP that they make a great choice for your mage/priest/sage since they have a lower resiliance from their actual class.
I would also reccomend getting the ranger skill vanish since it allows you to sneak up on metal enemies easier.
Actually the Lvl 83 one was from Cyle. Remember I got like a level 14 one from you and can't get the awesome metal slime map.