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[ghibli99]

Ugh... I can't believe

Spoiler

Gracos

is in this game too... I had to laugh and shake my head. And he's just as annoying as he is DQ7. Thankfully, I can spend time mastering classes first this time around, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Also got my

Spoiler

Ultimate Key

, so I've been doing the rounds, collecting my loot.

 

[ghibli99]

Edit: double post, sorry.

 

[Johnas]

Well, I just thought I'd be done. Got whooped by the final boss three times, that's enough for tonight. His difficulty seems to vary quite a bit, the first time he was really rough, second time a ton easier, and almost had him beaten (but realized one error I was making) and then the third time was just like the first.

 

[Edgeward]

I finally got my copy today, right as I'm playing Killzone 3 and Xenogears. And arrives the same day as Ys 1 and 2. Die in shit, Gamestop. When I had nothing but free time for this last week when it was out, I now have none this week.

 

[Oxx]

I don't think the music in IX is terrible, it's just that the tracks I hear most are the ones I like the least.

And I do prefer IV and V.

 

[Hyunkel6]

I'm getting destroyed in the underkeep. I keep using evac to go back to a church because one of my characters almost certainly dies if they spam it. I think my party gained 3-4 levels with all the back and forth. :lol

Also, I'm kinda stuck. I opened the 4 shutters to light the underground room, but the last section of the room is still in the dark. I see some stairs in the darkness, but I keep falling into invisible holes on my way to them. How do I open the last shutter?

Please tell me there's a save point or even a healing device before the boss.

 

[ElFly]

I'm getting destroyed in the underkeep. I keep using evac to go back to a church because one of my characters almost certainly dies if they spam it. I think my party gained 3-4 levels with all the back and forth. :lol

Also, I'm kinda stuck. I opened the 4 shutters to light the underground room, but the last section of the room is still in the dark. I see some stairs in the darkness, but I keep falling into invisible holes on my way to them. How do I open the last shutter?

Please tell me there's a save point or even a healing device before the boss.

The underkeep? No, no save, no nothing.

The shutters thing:

Spoiler

you open four, go to the partially illuminated room and go to the stair at the bottom/center of the room. From the door you enter the illuminated room, you have to go around the room. The stair is just to the right from the door, but you have to take the long way. It's dark, but if you approach from the right side of the room, there are no holes on the floor.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

Welp, screw the casino, I think I'll stick to how I tend to operate. It makes me feel grateful of Voltorb Flip.

 

[Hyunkel6]

The underkeep? No, no save, no nothing.

The shutters thing:

Spoiler

you open four, go to the partially illuminated room and go to the stair at the bottom/center of the room. From the door you enter the illuminated room, you have to go around the room. The stair is just to the right from the door, but you have to take the long way. It's dark, but if you approach from the right side of the room, there are no holes on the floor.

Gotcha. I did go around the room, but then tried to get to the stairs from the bottom of the room. Right side it is then.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Gotcha. I did go around the room, but then tried to get to the stairs from the bottom of the room. Right side it is then.

The part that messed me up is that

Spoiler

there are two stairs. I thought you had to weave your way to the one in the middle (that you see while you loop around) but totally missed the one on the bottom (actually pretty close to the bottom right side). :lol

Oh well, lots of job progress.

 

[Hyunkel6]

The part that messed me up is that

Spoiler

there are two stairs. I thought you had to weave your way to the one in the middle (that you see while you loop around) but totally missed the one on the bottom (actually pretty close to the bottom right side). :lol

Oh well, lots of job progress.

*facepalm* No wonder I couldn't get to the middle stairs. I don't think I would have found the other stairs if not for your post. Thanks a lot.

 

[Crazymoogle]

No prob. I think I fell down the pit a good dozen times before I started using systematic elimination and realized those weren't the stairs I was looking for.

 

[ghibli99]

Well, I just thought I'd be done. Got whooped by the final boss three times, that's enough for tonight. His difficulty seems to vary quite a bit, the first time he was really rough, second time a ton easier, and almost had him beaten (but realized one error I was making) and then the third time was just like the first.

Haha... I think I say this about every major boss in every DQ game. Aeana says they have consistent patterns, but I don't believe that. Maybe they do have patterns, but there's probably an RNG that determines what step they start at within that pattern. That usually means you're either in for an ass-whuppin' one time or a major break. Sometimes I like that, sometimes I don't. Priority on my party getting its buffs/debuffs/heals in at the right time can also either have me cheering or wanting to chuck my DS through the wall.

 

[Lindsay]

Also, don't visit the fortune teller, explore! Resist the hand-holding.

I'm not using a guide isn't that enough? Using in-game mechanics is banned to? No equipment upgrading! Final destination!!!

Okays fine whatever but could someone at least tell me where alltrades abbey is? Right now I've got

Spoiler

a boat/island, flying bed, and now I'm gonna start some quest to free some princess in a mirror

! I know ya all said job changing opens up late into the game and maybe I'm not there yet but I wanna be able ta find it when the time comes!

 

[Johnas]

Haha... I think I say this about every major boss in every DQ game. Aeana says they have consistent patterns, but I don't believe that. Maybe they do have patterns, but there's probably an RNG that determines what step they start at within that pattern. That usually means you're either in for an ass-whuppin' one time or a major break. Sometimes I like that, sometimes I don't. Priority on my party getting its buffs/debuffs/heals in at the right time can also either have me cheering or wanting to chuck my DS through the wall.

Yeah, each version of a boss has its standard set of moves, but there can definitely be some significant variation between battles. My rounds last night proved that to myself. In VII I had this perfect plan laid out for who got what jobs/skills, and I never could really decide on anything really optimal for this game, so I kind of winged it, and that may be causing me a little trouble.

I'm not using a guide isn't that enough? Using in-game mechanics is banned to? No equipment upgrading! Final destination!!!

I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but you're robbing yourself of part of the experience if you go straight to the fortune teller each time you finish off part of the story. The game is designed with exploration in mind, and it's very satisfying to get a new mode of travel and think "hmm, OK, now I have this, let's see what I can find with it." Going to Madame Luca is meant to be a last resort if you get totally stuck and frustrated. I could really go into an old dude rant here about games back in the day, but I won't.

Okays fine whatever but could someone at least tell me where alltrades abbey is? Right now I've got

Spoiler

a boat/island, flying bed, and now I'm gonna start some quest to free some princess in a mirror

! I know ya all said job changing opens up late into the game and maybe I'm not there yet but I wanna be able ta find it when the time comes!

For job changing,

Spoiler

go to Alltrades Abbey in the Dream World (the restored Alltrades Abbey). It's on the far right side of the world map, about 1/3 or so from the top. If you got the Switch Worlds spell from Madame Luca, just use it and you'll always end up at Alltrades

.

I want to say I started changing jobs around hour 5 or 6, it was pretty early. I was surprised at how early it was. I was really flying through the game though for the first 3/4 of it or so, then I hit a wall where I did a ton of job building/switching and spent a few hours working on the

Spoiler

style rankings

.

 

[Raw64life]

When you guys said the difficulty spikes after you get the boat you weren't kidding. Got to Murdaw on level 15 and got my ass kicked. Got to level 17 and got my ass kicked again. Got to level 19 and was finally able to beat

Spoiler

his first form but then got destroyed very quickly by his second form

. So I guess I'm in for even more grinding. This is pre-Hargon/Malroth levels of tedious grinding. And what's worse is every time I have to go get all the treasure in the castle again since you can't save once you're past the cave portion. What a pain in the ass.

 

[thebagofsand]

Just picked this up from Gamestop. Can't wait to try it out.

 

[aidan]

When you guys said the difficulty spikes after you get the boat you weren't kidding. Got to Murdaw on level 15 and got my ass kicked. Got to level 17 and got my ass kicked again. Got to level 19 and was finally able to beat

Spoiler

his first form but then got destroyed very quickly by his second form

. So I guess I'm in for even more grinding. This is pre-Hargon/Malroth levels of tedious grinding. And what's worse is every time I have to go get all the treasure in the castle again since you can't save once you're past the cave portion. What a pain in the ass.

I'm level 21 and still having trouble with that battle. I feel like such a wuss.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

It's all about utilizing Kabuff and using the Fire Claws.

And Staff of Ghent healing. And Healing.

 

[aidan]

It's all about utilizing Kabuff and using the Fire Claws.

And Staff of Ghent healing. And Healing.

I'll give that a shot. I haven't been able to keep up with healing. That fucking breath attack.

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

I'll give that a shot. I haven't been able to keep up with healing. That fucking breath attack.

And then there's luck for the attacks I guess.

 

[Lindsay]

I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but you're robbing yourself of part of the experience if you go straight to the fortune teller each time you finish off part of the story. The game is designed with exploration in mind, and it's very satisfying to get a new mode of travel and think "hmm, OK, now I have this, let's see what I can find with it." Going to Madame Luca is meant to be a last resort if you get totally stuck and frustrated. I could really go into an old dude rant here about games back in the day, but I won't.

Its okies I was just overexagerating alil bit! I'm like totally sticking to the plan of being completely directionless an not knowing what ta do.

For job changing,

Spoiler

go to Alltrades Abbey in the Dream World (the restored Alltrades Abbey). It's on the far right side of the world map, about 1/3 or so from the top. If you got the Switch Worlds spell from Madame Luca, just use it and you'll always end up at Alltrades

.

I want to say I started changing jobs around hour 5 or 6, it was pretty early. I was surprised at how early it was. I was really flying through the game though for the first 3/4 of it or so, then I hit a wall where I did a ton of job building/switching and spent a few hours working on the

Spoiler

style rankings

.

Awww what? I coulda been there that long ago?? I never went in it cause I thought that was somewhere I'd already been x_x Nuts! I wonder if its even worth doing the vocation things at this point with my team around L30 and all. iirc most DQs can be finished in the 30~40 level range. No sense in making my stats go down if I'm nearing the end?

 

[thebagofsand]

Just now started to play only to find out that my R button isn't responding.

 

[Johnas]

Awww what? I coulda been there that long ago?? I never went in it cause I thought that was somewhere I'd already been x_x Nuts! I wonder if its even worth doing the vocation things at this point with my team around L30 and all. iirc most DQs can be finished in the 30~40 level range. No sense in making my stats go down if I'm nearing the end?

Hmm, I'd say you have some catching up to do. What you might consider doing is making someone a gadabout (I believe that's the one) and get the whistle ability, which lets you instantly instigate battle on the field. I had Ashlynn do the Dancer-Gadabout-Luminary path, I'm not 100% sure which class taught her that skill. With that ability, you can play catch-up, but it'll be repetitious.

I finished DQIX's main game without changing classes, but I think that would be a lot harder in this game.

 

[Ellis Kim]

Is it safe to assume that everyone already knows about the best buy event thing?

 

[KirbYuuYuu]

Is it safe to assume that everyone already knows about the best buy event thing?

The what now?

 

[aidan]

Is it safe to assume that everyone already knows about the best buy event thing?

No.

 

[Risible]

Is it safe to assume that everyone already knows about the best buy event thing?

Just in case....

 

[Johnas]

Finished! Final boss was difficult, but doable, as one should be.

This game complements DQIV and DQV extremely well. I'm a little surprised at how much I enjoyed this particular installment, generally it seems like this is the least spoken of entry in the franchise, but that's probably due to the fact that it only previously released in Japan, and only had one version up to this point.

The pacing in general was just about perfect. I say just about because, like with VII and IX, I ended up doing a little job grinding at one point near the end that interrupted the flow of the game, and wavered on exactly how to train my characters at given points. I do like the relative simplicity of the job system here, though, and that the game spelled most of it out for you instead of leaving so much of the job/skill information vague (DQVII).

What a beautiful soundtrack. Sugiyama rarely disappoints, but I can't think of a single track in this game that didn't instantly impress. Like with DQV, the music takes me back to the 16-bit era, even though I didn't play either of those games until the DS remakes. Every tune fits perfectly into its place, be it the village tune, the ship music, final boss, ending theme, whatever.

The graphics are similar to IV and V, naturally, but I was struck at the impressive use of color in this game. Several of the dungeons had a really beautiful atmospheric look to them, one that comes to mind is the early one with the logs you ride.

The dual world system was also executed far better than I imagined. I had seen the world maps prior to playing the game, and wondered exactly how the game was designed with two maps. It's a clever take when compared to the cliched dark world/light world contrasts you see in other games. I was also pleasantly surprised at all the different modes of travel. Lots of incentive to explore, and lots to find.

I don't place a high emphasis on story in most games, but I found DQVI's pretty intriguing (definitely more than IX), especially given the way the game begins. You can't help but wonder what's going when you start the game the way VI does. There's enough character development to be interesting without feeling intrusive (that is to say, not much).

An excellent wrap-up to the Zenithian Trilogy, and one that I look forward to replaying many times in the future. It's not the very best DQ I've played, but it's definitely in the upper half, up there with III, V, and VIII.

john tv (and all of 8-4): Congrats on the excellent localization, cool to see your name in the credits. Thanks for all the hard work.

 

[Johnas]

Ah, just found

Spoiler

the bonus dungeon

.

I was also thinking, it's interesting to see how inspired DQVII was by this game:

Spoiler

The job system
The style rankings
A particular boss Gracos
The dual world mechanic (VII had the past/present setup)
The events in Loomin (very similar to the Amos scenario in Scrimsley)
The villages turned to stone (similar to Mt. Snowhere)

Probably some more minor consistencies I didn't catch or forgot.

 

[john tv]

john tv (and all of 8-4): Congrats on the excellent localization, cool to see your name in the credits. Thanks for all the hard work.

Thank you! Glad you liked it.

 

[Oxx]

11 days since VG+ "shipped" my order.

Spoiler

25 days since Gamebasement "shipped" Inazuma 11...

 

[ElFly]

Graphically this game is kind of a sideway step from the original SNES game. While it's true that it has a great use of color that manages to distinguish it from IV and V DS, DQVI SNES was simply too beautiful. I think one early example is the cave where you get the Dream Dew so Luca can make you visible. It is a good translation to the DS engine, but the original 2d art was prettier.

Still, a great thing to have an official translation, which is much, much better than the merely functional fan translations of V and VI.

I am a little sad that they cut off party chat from IV, cause, along with the lame extra chapter, made IV inferior to the original game, IMHO.

 

[AbsentMindedProf]

Would some one mind giving me a run down of the plus and minus of VI compared to IX. I'm going to be doing some traveling in a few weeks, and would like to have some dragon questing to occupy my time.

 

[Almyn]

11 days since VG+ "shipped" my order.

Spoiler

25 days since Gamebasement "shipped" Inazuma 11...

I just went the ebay route with DQVI and Radiant Historia. I am paying slightly more but I got my hands on DQVI the Thurs after release and will hopefully have Radiant Historia tomorrow.

The postage times from VG+ in Canada have been getting longer and longer each time. The last game I got from them took 2 weeks to arrive. DHL is an option but an expensive one if i'm only ordering one game at a time.

VG+ is fantastic, The postal service (To the UK at least) is not.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

The postage times from VG+ in Canada have been getting longer and longer each time. The last game I got from them took 2 weeks to arrive. DHL is an option but an expensive one if i'm only ordering one game at a time.

VG+ is fantastic, The postal service (To the UK at least) is not.

A shame to hear. Back when I last used VG+ in 2006/2007 it always took 4 working days. (Monday despatch arrived Friday and Tuesday despatch arrived Monday) plus the shipping seemed to be cheaper then too

 

[meltingparappa]

So I just beat the final boss, but how is the post-game in this? Worth grinding for?

Obviously, if I liked the game, I'll like the post game, but I wonder what the "interesting stuff to see" versus "grinding metal king slimes" (which is shockingly easy in this game compared to every other DQ I've played) ratio is.

But for instance, I appreciated all the new stuff to see in the DQ4 post-game dungeon that wasn't too hard to go through, whereas beating all of the dragons in DQ8 was very satisfying but also required ten repetitive hours or so on slime hill.

Also in DQ9 versus DQ6, here's my very subjective take

DQ9
-Much more content overall
-Crafting system gives you items all the time
-More balanced job system
-Turns into a zillion hour dungeon crawler post-game
-Generally ok main story, slightly better side stories

DQ6
-LIGHTNING fast in comparison
-Don't need to lug around a spreadsheet/guide to get the best equipment
-Lets you keep skills between jobs, meaning you won't put as much thought into it but its satisfying to have pages and pages of skills for every single character
-Less "work" required to master a job class
-30 hours or so to see the entire main game (minus all the arena-type stuff)
-Generally ok main story, side stories still generally strong.
-Uses super satisfying "barrel/pot explodes upon touch" engine
-You can talk to all of your party members after every single conversation, which gives them much more personality than the player-created ones in DQ9. The downside is that none of them are incredibly interesting.

I had more fun with DQ9 than DQ6, but there are probably plenty who feel the opposite.

Basically, if you're hankering for more Dragon Quest and only have a DS, pay whatever horrible expense it requires to get DQ5 if you haven't played it, as its easily my favorite of these DS remakes. Otherwise, I would pick this over DQ4 during a long trip, if only because this one is SLIGHTLY clearer on your world objectives than DQ4. Though getting that

Spoiler

legendary shield

is an arduous exercise in memory/faq-using.

 

[Oxx]

I just went the ebay route with DQVI and Radiant Historia. I am paying slightly more but I got my hands on DQVI the Thurs after release and will hopefully have Radiant Historia tomorrow.

The postage times from VG+ in Canada have been getting longer and longer each time. The last game I got from them took 2 weeks to arrive. DHL is an option but an expensive one if i'm only ordering one game at a time.

VG+ is fantastic, The postal service (To the UK at least) is not.

Well, that's slightly reassuring. It sucks, but at least it isn't just me.

Every one of my orders is going to turn up the day Pokemon is released, I can tell.

 

[ghibli99]

I was also thinking, it's interesting to see how inspired DQVII was by this game:

Spoiler

The job system
The style rankings
A particular boss Gracos
The dual world mechanic (VII had the past/present setup)
The events in Loomin (very similar to the Amos scenario in Scrimsley)
The villages turned to stone (similar to Mt. Snowhere)

Probably some more minor consistencies I didn't catch or forgot.

Same here. I just spent the last few days on the job system, and it felt almost identical to 7's, minus the extra Tier 3 and Monster classes. I think it would've been neat to have some unique jobs for the

Spoiler

recruitable slimes

, but oh well, I'm perfectly fine with having a few backup Sages.

Aeana was right... this game really set the stage for DQ7, although overall, I think I prefer DQ6 in terms of how much better paced it feels, and I like DQ6's characters a lot more.

 

[Notorious_Roy]

11 days since VG+ "shipped" my order.

Spoiler

25 days since Gamebasement "shipped" Inazuma 11...

Same here... What's going on with VG+ shipments these days?

 

[Lindsay]

4-5 hours of job grinding later an I've hit the 20 hour mark! Everyone but stupid Carver has mastered at least one vocation which is all well an good by me. What isn't good is still seeing places I can't get to! I need something that can go over mountains! Just finished a stealth mission and they turn around and give me an escort mission right away! Sheesh! Am I ever gonna find out what happened to Ella the maid or get backstory on the runaway teen?

 

[ghibli99]

What isn't good is still seeing places I can't get to! I need something that can go over mountains!

Haha! I love that part about DQ games... same with the various keys to goodies you can't get to early on.

 

[Johnas]

So I just fought

Spoiler

the bonus dungeon boss, Nokturnus

, I got completely and totally decimated. Yikes.

This might take longer than I thought.

 

[Lindsay]

More playing! Marathon mode! Yeaaaahh! I'm still hopelessly lost and apparently doing stuff outta order given the way places on my zoom list are adding up but w/e! I now got me

Spoiler

1 fully restored hero, a legendary shield, helmet, and rusted sword in the process of being restored, the ability to go underwater in the real world, an ultimate key

andddd 113,000 gold in the bank (I wish you could earn interest...)! Just wish I knew where to go next. Guess I should stop putting off the

Spoiler

underwater search, even if the mermaids directions are vague as heck

an hope to find stuff there.

Haha! I love that part about DQ games... same with the various keys to goodies you can't get to early on.

And then the goodies turn out to be boxer shorts and cowpats...

 

[Slime]

A little over 20 hours in and I'm getting kind of frustrated. I always accidentally over-level in RPGs, which usually isn't too much of a problem, but in this game that means I am making absolutely no progress with my jobs. So I'm being forced to grind a bit, which is taking way longer than it should, and I am no longer having fun.

Had the same problem with DQVII. I think I'm going to take this opportunity to play some more Tactics Ogre.

 

[ghibli99]

What level are you? My party was around 38~39, and I had no problem progressing my classes when fighting

Spoiler

underwater

. Mastered everything this way.

And then the goodies turn out to be boxer shorts and cowpats...

Hey, don't forget about all those mini medals!

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

So what level was everyone when fighting the final boss? Looks like my party will be in the40-42 range when I get there, with 2 fully developed gladiators, a full sage and a full paladin. Will I have troubles? Any supplementary jobs I should beef these guys up with?

 

[JustAnotherOtaku]

11 days since VG+ "shipped" my order.

My postman has just been and gone and thought I'd check in here to see if anyone else who ordered from VG+ had had theirs yet. Quite odd for them to take this long. Been using them for 5 or 6 years and every time I've had my order in 4-7 days.

Glad to see it's not just me though.

Spoiler

Crazy that you don't have your Inazuma yet though

 

[Oxx]

My postman has just been and gone and thought I'd check in here to see if anyone else who ordered from VG+ had had theirs yet. Quite odd for them to take this long. Been using them for 5 or 6 years and every time I've had my order in 4-7 days.

Glad to see it's not just me though.

Spoiler

Crazy that you don't have your Inazuma yet though

Yeah, it's all pretty crazy.

It's starting to put me off importing a US 3DS if I'd be waiting 3 weeks for every single game.

Which I'm sure Nintendo Europe would be delighted to hear.

 

[Kid Marin]

11 days since VG+ "shipped" my order.

Same here... What's going on with VG+ shipments these days?

My postman has just been and gone and thought I'd check in here to see if anyone else who ordered from VG+ had had theirs yet.

I got mine today (France).