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Dragon Quest 9 |OT| Last chance* to shine
- Thread starter Aeana
- Start date
Nice haul!Johnas said:
I did the item alchemy/sell grind a few weeks ago. Took quite a while to get up to a half-million. I'm now down to 150k after the last few DQVC visits, and will have to go at it again. Damn alchemy pot and its 9 item limit! At this point, though, I guess it would make more sense to do some high-level Thunder Thrust/Hatchet Man grotto hunts for Gem Slimes... and maybe get some good chest/boss drops while I'm at it.
I haven't run the Greygnarl map yet... hopefully today at lunch!
So after playing my Greygnarl map and trying about 8 times to get him to drop the Legacy Boss map (and getting nothing but Yggdrasil Leaves), I decided to try the Hoimi Table. It worked, and I now have the
map! I actually got really excited knowing that I can do this now... the way I see it, if this can cut down my monotonous boss grinding and random hopes for Alchemiracles, I'm OK with that. It still takes a decent amount of planning and effort to get this to work, and it's easy to make a small mistake that will yield you nothing... and you still have to grind Legacy Bosses up, which is no walk in the park once they start gaining more abilities and extra turns per round.
Now if only I could get that damn 100cm+ drop for quest #044. Yes, still working on that one, can you believe it?
Dragonlord
Now if only I could get that damn 100cm+ drop for quest #044. Yes, still working on that one, can you believe it?
Scythesurge
Member
I think I'm finally really close to beating this game after starting it on its release date. It's been a pretty awesome ride, been loving some of the late game stuff!
Oxx said:
I read somewhere that each guest has 4 items: 1 for initially engaging them in conversation, 1 for being a certain job while talking to them, 1 for talking to them on your birthday, and 1 for talking to them after you have canvassed 30 guests and opened the other floors of the inn.
For the birthday, just change it in-game in the menu (Miscellaneous -> Profile Settings), that's all you need to do. It doesn't matter what day is set on the DS itself.
If you keep a close eye on DQVC, I think sooner or later you'll see some of those items there. I'm sure you've seen different characters' footwear through the course of this week.
I haven't run across anything specifying what job pertains to which character.
Apart from Hero level and times revocated, is the level (just the number, not first three parts of its name) of a grotto the only other variable that influences the next map's quality (including all parts of its title)? I've only ever found one MKS map so far, and it's something like Gold Waterway of Dread 58. My highest level map is 71, so should I just keep redoing that one until I get a higher level one?
DarthWoo said:
That is correct. Just keep in mind that the number of times revocated is only the highest number of revocations within one job, if you have Hero a +7 Gladiator and a +3 Minstrel for example, the number used to calculate the next dungeon will be 7, not 10. It's not the total, just the highest stand-alone number of revocations.
You probably know all that, but I thought I'd clarify anyway.
You might do well to keep finishing that one until you get a map with Metal King Slimes that also has a lot of open space. I had a water grotto with quite a bit of wide open space that was helpful in dodging Slugly Betsies while I waited for a MKS to appear.
I never did get a map with all MKS on a single floor.
I got a level 57 water map with quite a few MKS relatively early on and about 150 hours and 200 grottoes later it's still my best option for grinding.
I'm kinda disappointed with the quality of maps I have been getting at +3, but I suppose they're not really gonna give up the good stuff when there's another bunch of times to revocate.
I should probably get focussed and get my Hoimi on. I'm sure it makes sense after you have done it a couple of times.
I'm kinda disappointed with the quality of maps I have been getting at +3, but I suppose they're not really gonna give up the good stuff when there's another bunch of times to revocate.
I should probably get focussed and get my Hoimi on. I'm sure it makes sense after you have done it a couple of times.
Little Green Yoda
Member
Okay, judging from the Zoom list and the Defeated Monster List, I think I'm nearing the end of the main story. But I'm getting my ass handed to me by the 3rd of the triumvirate of lieutenants. That dude does a crapton of damage to my characters and the flinching doesn't help. My party is in the low 30s to mid 30s. Am I just under-leveled? Or was keeping my main character a minstrel a big mistake? My guy does pathetic damage with his sword :lol
Reason I ask is because so far in the game, I haven't really done much level grinding. Mostly because I did a few sidequests between each new area. But now, the only sidequests available to me are of the non-battling variety. Equipment-wise, my party has stuff on par with or just below the level of stuff you get from the Upover stores.
Should I just grind out a bunch of levels or go crazy with alchemising better equipment? I'll probably have to use a guide for finding materials if I choose the latter route.
My party is in the low 30s to mid 30s. Am I just under-leveled? Or was keeping my main character a minstrel a big mistake? My guy does pathetic damage with his sword :lol Reason I ask is because so far in the game, I haven't really done much level grinding. Mostly because I did a few sidequests between each new area. But now, the only sidequests available to me are of the non-battling variety. Equipment-wise, my party has stuff on par with or just below the level of stuff you get from the Upover stores.
Should I just grind out a bunch of levels or go crazy with alchemising better equipment? I'll probably have to use a guide for finding materials if I choose the latter route.
I was definitely one of the 'skill/job grinding' school, so I did kinda brute-force my way through most of the game. I think Minstrel might be one of the weaker vocations, but grinding a new job up to 30 might take a while.
...
- No new guests this week
- DQVC is items from your friends in the game (Woo hoo! Lucky pendant! lol @ the price of Mailicite)
- Just 1 new quest (153)
...
- No new guests this week
- DQVC is items from your friends in the game (Woo hoo! Lucky pendant! lol @ the price of Mailicite)
- Just 1 new quest (153)
Giolon
Member
Little Green Yoda said:Okay, judging from the Zoom list and the Defeated Monster List, I think I'm nearing the end of the main story. But I'm getting my ass handed to me by the 3rd of the triumvirate of lieutenants. That dude does a crapton of damage to my characters and the flinching doesn't help.
<snip>
Should I just grind out a bunch of levels or go crazy with alchemising better equipment? I'll probably have to use a guide for finding materials if I choose the latter route.
My party for 95% of the game was Minstrel, Warrior, Ranger, Mage. Only once I was able to unlock Sage did I swap to Mage, Warrior, Ranger, Sage (and it made the game like an order of magnitude easier once I leveled two replacements up).
So, that being said, IMO, you'll want to be in your high 30s to low 40s. If you're having trouble with that guy, you'll have trouble with the boss after. DQIX is very good about grinding in that every level you gain is a significant boost in power. The most efficient way to grind levels pre-endgame is Liquid Metal Slimes in the Bowhole. Google Liquid Metal Slime Farming for Youtube videos on the best spot. I was able to level up my newly chosen classes from 1-40 in about 3 hours.
Minstrel is a fairly bad class, IMO, b/c it doesn't do anything particularly well, and it really starts to show in these late game battles. It doesn't hit hard, it doesn't heal super well, it can't buff or debuff, and it doesn't have very good abilities. I stuck through it by mostly using my Minstrel to Egg On other party members (not dependant on being a Minstrel since it's main char only and available no matter your class) and teaming with my Ranger to play healer. I let my Warrior alternate between playing tank and heavy damage dealer, while my Mage did what debuffs and damage she could.
I don't have any specific tips for the boss but keep your health high, try to get debuffs on the boss, and hope he doesn't get any lucky crits
I saw you mentioned the Hoimi Table a few posts above. After a couple days of messing with it, I have it down to a science now, and although it takes a bit of practice, it's really easy. The only inconvenience is that you need to have access to the internet for the website when you're filling out the numbers. A notepad (either paper or on your computer/phone) is also key in keeping track of things. However, after that, you're home free.Oxx said:
The nice side effect of this is that your Treasure Map will now show either the common or rare drop on the top screen, so you'll be able to know what bosses are at the bottom of each grotto easily from that point forward for when you need certain drops later.
Thanks to the Hoimi, I have 8 pieces of rare gear ready for future Alchemiracles, and I also now have 8 more chunks of Orichalcum thanks to Greygnarl's common drop. This is a *huge* time saver!
Got an orichalcum and a piece of metal slime gear for the first time from grotto chests, although now I forgot which grotto it was in. I'd been getting tons of mini medals to buy oris with regardless. After finally getting my hero to 99 for the first time, I'm just going to blitz through more grottoes for a while before revocating, since apparently 99/0 is better than 1/+1 for getting better maps.
^^^ That's interesting about the revocation piece. Thanks for the tip!
The grotto I mentioned has been dropping a good number of Ethereal Stones (10% ain't bad!) and tons of Astral Plumes and Lucida Shards from this and other ones. I'm hoping for a Rank S grotto soon so that I start getting Sainted Soma drops as well (also 10%). With that, I won't even have to alchemize those anymore unless I want to. This will minimize the amount of collecting crap on the world map and waiting/canvassing for the respawns, which is such a big waste of time. Only thing that sucks is buying all the Chronocrystals, but Gem Slimes make gold farming for those relatively painless.Oxx said:
Ice crystals are the main problem at the moment.
I'm gonna have to try and steal them from Brreathenwarriors, but it took about 20 attempts to get one the first time I tried.
I think the lesson here is that I really need to pay attention to what's in my grottoes and how best to exploit them.
I'm gonna have to try and steal them from Brreathenwarriors, but it took about 20 attempts to get one the first time I tried.
I think the lesson here is that I really need to pay attention to what's in my grottoes and how best to exploit them.
http://www.woodus.com/den/games/dq9ds/special_guests.phpOxx said:
Alena - 2010/07/30
Shirt - Talk to her
Hat - Talk to her on your birthday
Pants - Talk to her as a Martial Artist
Gloves - Fully expanded inn
Shoes - Post game quest
Angelo - 2010/08/06
Shirt - Talk to him
Wig - Talk to him on your birthday
Pants - Talk to him as a Priest
Gloves - Fully expanded inn
Shoes - Post game quest
Ashlynn - 2010/08/20
Hair - Talk to her on your birthday
Clothes - Talk to her
Gloves - Talk to her with a full Inn
Shoes - Talk to her as a Mage
Kiryl - 2010/09/03
Shirt - Talk to him
Hat - Talk to him on your birthday
Pants - Talk to him with a fully expanded Inn
Shoes - Talk to him as a Priest
Nera - 2010/09/17
Shirt - Talk to her
Hat - Talk to her on your birthday
Shoes - Talk to her as Luminary
Gloves - Talk to her with a full expanded Inn
Prince Princeton of Cannock - 2010/10/01
Shirt - Talk to him
Wig - Talk to him on your birthday
Pants - Fully expanded inn
Gloves - Post game quest
Shoes - Talk to him as Armamentalist
Deborah - 2010/10/15
Robe - Talk to her
Wig - Talk to her on your birthday
Highness Heels - Fully expanded inn
Trode - 2010/10/29
Shirt - Talk to him
Wig - Talk to him on your birthday
Shoes - Fully expanded inn
Maribel - 2010/11/12
Shirt - Talk to her
Wig - Talk to her on your birthday
Shoes - Fully expanded inn
Milly - 2010/11/26
Shirt - Talk to her
Hair - Talk to her on your birthday
Pants - Talk to her as a Sage
Gloves - Fully expanded inn
Shoes - Post game quest
Oxx said:
If you can somehow get access to a second copy of the game and a way to transfer out saves, you can load up a save with the special Lvl. 86 map that has mapped out all the high-level treasure chests. There's a timing solution to guarantee getting the materials for Agates (minus the Chronocrystals, but you can time it to get Metal Slime Swords. Selling two of those is about enough for one Chronocrystal.) from the high level chests. Like the Hoimi table, it takes practice and a bit of work, but it's a near-guaranteed method of getting the ingredients needed.
*Finally* got those Treevil and Bling Badger drops. I hate that you can get lucky and get the drops after a few battles or it can take forever... I killed at least 75 Treevils and then 40 some-odd Bling Badgers. Kind of a pain, but thankfully I got them.
I'm going to look into this... thanks!donny2112 said:
Okay, I've come this far with the Hoimi table, so I don't really wanna mess it up:
I wanna be one space ahead of the pink square, right? What bearing do the different rows have? All the tutorials show things happening on the top row...
Heal 40 times? (Or Multiheal 10 times?)
Edit: It works!
I wanna be one space ahead of the pink square, right? What bearing do the different rows have? All the tutorials show things happening on the top row...
Heal 40 times? (Or Multiheal 10 times?)
Edit: It works!
ghibli99 said:
Emerald World of Gloom lvl 86. Also known as the Kawasaki Map. Here's the link talking about how to use it.
Oxx said:
After you've healed six times, you're on square six. To get a red square, be one space ahead. To get a blue square, be two spaces ahead. (That means you can guarantee a double drop by having a red followed by a blue and stopping on the square before the red.) Heal = 1 square. Multiheal = 4 squares. Actually having wounds to heal doesn't make a difference. You can also change the percentages to match the drop you're actually trying to get. I use this site to see who drops what at what percentage.
Oh, different rows are just increasing the number of squares to go through. You had the right idea (as you saw) with the 40 heals or 10 multi-heals.
Yeah, seems like I have got things working pretty smoothly now.
But once again, my failure to record where I can find each boss is an annoyance. Still, at least I know where 5 of them are.
EDIT: OH GOD! I have to heal 179 time for this next drop...
EDIT 2: Aaaannnnndddd I seem to have miscounted somewhere along the line. Balls.
EDIT 3: I even know where I went wrong. I forgot to start from 6...
But once again, my failure to record where I can find each boss is an annoyance. Still, at least I know where 5 of them are.
EDIT: OH GOD! I have to heal 179 time for this next drop...
EDIT 2: Aaaannnnndddd I seem to have miscounted somewhere along the line. Balls.
EDIT 3: I even know where I went wrong. I forgot to start from 6...
Didn't do too much this weekend (we just got a new dog, so she's been keeping us busy most of the time), but am gonna hop back into revocations and such. I was shocked that I had amassed over 100 mini medals through all of my grotto hunts this past week and like $50k worth of the various Gleeban coins. Got a couple new pieces of 3-star gear from DQVC this morning as well.
I'm actually getting to the point where I just want to get the rare gear/Alchemiracles, get the other boss maps, do some quests, and I might finally be ready to step away from it. Too many other games have sat by the wayside while I played this. I also broke the 200 hour mark late last week, so that was a sign that I've put more than enough time into this one. It's been fun, but quests like the Treevils and Bling Badgers just leave a really sour taste in my mouth!
Edit: Wow, looks like that will take some practice...
I'm actually getting to the point where I just want to get the rare gear/Alchemiracles, get the other boss maps, do some quests, and I might finally be ready to step away from it. Too many other games have sat by the wayside while I played this. I also broke the 200 hour mark late last week, so that was a sign that I've put more than enough time into this one. It's been fun, but quests like the Treevils and Bling Badgers just leave a really sour taste in my mouth!
Awesome, thanks! Got everything I need; gonna give it a shot tonight.donny2112 said:Emerald World of Gloom lvl 86. Also known as the Kawasaki Map. Here's the link talking about how to use it.
Edit: Wow, looks like that will take some practice...
ghibli99 said:
Yep, it took me a bit to figure out how to use it to work for me. Had to start waiting half a beat after the item came up before exiting out to open the chest. Exiting as soon as it came up seemed to get me the item before most of the time. Just keep at it until you find a timing that works for you.
I took your advice above and tried it a few times before work this morning, and after initially getting a Pandora's Box, I got some really great gear. So cool!donny2112 said:Yep, it took me a bit to figure out how to use it to work for me. Had to start waiting half a beat after the item came up before exiting out to open the chest. Exiting as soon as it came up seemed to get me the item before most of the time. Just keep at it until you find a timing that works for you.
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.Had three Hoimi attempts fail in a row (in that no links came up after entering heal numbers). Something must be going wrong somewhere.
And I got all the birthday items and my wardrobe percentage didn't change at all.
This is probably just an indication that I should slow down. I'm in this for the long haul.
And I got all the birthday items and my wardrobe percentage didn't change at all.
This is probably just an indication that I should slow down. I'm in this for the long haul.
Oxx said:
Did you Quicksave and completely turn off the system (or reboot to main menu for DSi) each time?
It's usually only failed for me when I forgot one or both of those.
ghibli99 said:
No problem. Glad it started working for you.
If you get comfortable with it, you can go from chest to chest without restarting the system. As long as you don't get into a battle and still go to the Stella screen (select) before exiting at the right time, you can do multiple chests with a single restart.
Woah, that's cool that you can do that! I looked earlier and wow, you need 8 Orbs and 8 Agates if you want both 4 and 5 star ultimate gear. That could take some time to farm all the orbs especially, but Agates have all of a sudden become so much more accessible! I might reobtain some Lv. 1 legacy boss maps again just for quick orb grinding... might as well make it easy on myself.donny2112 said:No problem. Glad it started working for you.
If you get comfortable with it, you can go from chest to chest without restarting the system. As long as you don't get into a battle and still go to the Stella screen (select) before exiting at the right time, you can do multiple chests with a single restart.
I'm excited about this game again... I was starting to fade a bit, but with rewards this awesome, I can't help but feel giddy about diving back in.
Edit: LOL... 25 Silver Orbs for all the gear that needs it (including the Sage's Stone), and I have - wait for it - *one*.
Oxx said:
You don't need to abandon the grotto. If it doesn't work out once, then you can go to another level to lower your HP, go back to the boss level, quicksave, turn off system (or reboot to main menu on DSi), and try again. The restart resets the RNG value (probably why all DQs make you turn off the system when you save and don't continue).