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[YourMaster]

But I do and no, I can't allocate them later. It doesn't work.

I figured it out the hard way.
If you 'cancel' skill point allocation you lose them. If you confirm without assigning them, you keep them.

 

[Mistwalker]

If I understand this right, you have a < 20 percent chance of making the 5 star ultimate weapons. The game forces you to save when making the combination, you need various rare orbs to even *try* the combination. If you fail you need to reset to the base equipment, then do two combinations to try again, using up more resources.

That has to be the worst grind I've seen in a console rpg... it seems easier to get the ultimate equipment in most mmorpgs. This method would be ok, if you could still get one of each ultimate weapon via side quests like most rpgs. As it stands now, this game is a completionist's worst nightmare.

You have it mostly right. Don't forget only

Spoiler

the game's optional super bosses

drop the orbs and raw materials for much of the 5-star stuff, and you have to

Spoiler

fight *each* of them *literally dozens* of times

before they will even begin dropping certain materials. Oh, and you need *multiple* orbs to attempt a single alchemical fusion, which has a 10% chance (for most items) to morph into its ultimate form per attempt.

Between this and White Knight Chronicles, Level 5 has proven capable of constructing grinds rivaling any MMORPG. Fought my way to one set of "ultimate" gear in DQIX, and will never, EVER do crap like that again.

The saving grace: as mentioned, you don't need this uber equipment for anything in the main story, or 99% of the post-story optional stuff.

(Completionists are screwed anyway, since one of the Nicknames/Titles requires

Spoiler

1000 Tag Mode hits

. Unless they changed it for the U.S. release, yeah--good luck with that...

 

[TurnipFritters]

I can't seem to find a helpful guide on the advanced vocations. I know how to unlock them, but as far as the best ones and what skill lines have the best moves I keep coming up empty.

My party right now is

Minstrel
Warrior
Mage
Priest

The vocations I'm interested in long term are gladiator, sage, and ranger (I'm not even sure what the paladin or armamentalist classes do so I don't know if I'd be interested in them)

I was thinking though Warrior->Gladiator, Mage->Ranger (maybe? If that would be a good transition) and Priest->Sage (for my main healer). But I'm still not sure which skill lines to focus on now (just got to Alltrade Abbey)

Any advice or links to places that might help me with? I know there is a japanese guide on gamefaqs but it isn't quite helpful enough

Gladiators are damage dealers. Their primary function is to kill things with physical attacks. They get a lot of HP bonuses, but can't equip shields.

Rangers are support characters. They're quick, have high deftness, and learn a lot of healing spells. In fact, it's entirely possible to have a Ranger for your primary healer for much of the game. They also learn Vanish (same effect as Holy Water) and Insulatle (reduces damage from breath attacks).

You're not going to get access to a Sage for a very long time, so you might as well not even think about it yet.

Armamentalists are also support units, but are also capable of bringing the pain. They mostly specialize in debuff magic, but also have the speed up spell and Oomph. Their Fource skills give your attacks an elemental property, can dramatically increase the damage your party is doing. I like mine because he looks cool in his class gear.

Paladins are primarily defending units. They learn a few healing spells and Buff/Kabuff. They can take damage for the whole party, which can be really helpful in a pinch (especially if combined with their Coup de Grace, which makes them invincible for a few turns). Paladins have a lot of Natural Resilience boosts in their skill set (I think it's like +100 if you max it out), so it's might be wise to have characters temporarily switch over so they can pick a few of those boosts up.

 

[Hobbun]

I figured it out the hard way.
If you 'cancel' skill point allocation you lose them. If you confirm without assigning them, you keep them.

That's not true, though. I have canceled multiple times and still keep them.

 

[Gravijah]

Holy shit treasure map bosses are hard. I was fighting

Spoiler

Equinox

before bed and he just destroyed my entire party. First time I ever wiped.

 

[Hobbun]

I haven't accumulated many, I refused to allocate the skill points after leveling-up once and afterward I tried to allocate the points via the misc menu, but it told me that I didn't have any skill points left. At that time I wasn't sure anymore whether or not I really didn't use them after I got the level up, so after I got another level up (which included skill points, I'm not stupid) I tried it again and ... well, I lost the points again. It didn't allocate them for me or anything, they just vanished.

That's pretty weird. Would be interesting to see if others have experienced the same. I am not that far into the game at all, and like you, have held off allocating skill points, so far I haven't lost any.

And to clarify, I never thought you were 'stupid', but I know the first time I was puzzled when I didn't get skill points. I pressed 'A' quickly after leveling and didn't realize I 'didn't' receive the skill points. I was still whisked to the allocation skill screen (as I had existing skill points) and noticed I still only had 6, which is what I had before leveling. So I was a bit confused and finally found out you don't get skill points every level.

 

[Koomaster]

Oh, finally see why I couldn't name my main character

Spoiler

Serena.

I was wondering why that name was unusable.

Oh yeah, losing skill points guy. I can at least confirm on my own cart that I have banked skill points, from multiple job paths, and then was able to allocate them under the Misc. menu. If you are really losing skill points, there might be something wrong with your cart sure enough. Maybe other Europeans can test it out if it works the same in their game too. Although I can't imagine why they would change that around for the European release. :/

 

[rpmurphy]

Late, but finally took pics of my party so far. Spent too much time on alchemy! :lol

Especially

Spoiler

Meteorite Bracer

.

 

[Regulus Tera]

The Gladiator Quest is easy peasy. Just make sure you have a Warrior or a Paladin learn War Cry so that he/she's the one to use it in the last turn of the round. Then attack immediately after with an Oomphed-up Martial Artist and bam, there goes the Scarewolf.

 

[rpmurphy]

So when doing a treasure map, I explore the whole map, defeat the boss, and get the drop. How come the map stats have the item drop as 10%, and the 3rd stat is still obscured?

 

[Kinitari]

I am trying to decide what class to have my main guy 'sit' in. He's going to be sword and shield, and they are both going to be maxed/multivocational. I already have nearly maxed paladin specific skills, and he has a lot of the good gladiator skills. Can't decide where to 'leave' him though, I think I'll leave him in whatever class will give him the best attack and speed.

 

[Freyjadour]

So when doing a treasure map, I explore the whole map, defeat the boss, and get the drop. How come the map stats have the item drop as 10%, and the 3rd stat is still obscured?

I think it's:

100% Drop (Usually a map)
10% Drop
5% Drop

So if you haven't seen the 5% drop yet it wouldn't show there. I've killed Equi like 10 times and I only get maps, so neither of the bottom two show for me.

 

[rpmurphy]

I think it's:

100% Drop (Usually a map)
10% Drop
5% Drop

So if you haven't seen the 5% drop yet it wouldn't show there. I've killed Equi like 10 times and I only get maps, so neither of the bottom two show for me.

I see, thanks. Assuming that the 5% and 10% drops are the ones shown in the bestiary, the 5% drop doesn't seem as good as the 10% one. Unless it's something not shown.

 

[Foxix Von]

Holy shit treasure map bosses are hard. I was fighting

Spoiler

Equinox

before bed and he just destroyed my entire party. First time I ever wiped.

EXACT same thing happened to me last night. I was just thinking "MAN! This dungeon's easy, I heard the boss was hard but there's just no wa- FUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

 

[Jeels]

Challenge != luck.
Being dependent on luck really hasn't anything to do with "challenge".

Exactly. This man speaks the truth. RPG developer's especially need to create real challenge's in their games, not this "lol you have a ten percent chance". You can call it a challenge of patience, to see how long you can go in frustration until you are damned lucky enough, but that's about it. It has nothing to do with skill or strategy.

 

[Instro]

So does anyone know what a metal slime on the loading screen does for you? Apparently a red slime increases your drop rate and also gives you a 100% chance to get the better versions of alchemized items, but I havent heard anything about what a metal slime does for you.

 

[Gravijah]

So does anyone know what a metal slime on the loading screen does for you? Apparently a red slime increases your drop rate and also gives you a 100% chance to get the better versions of alchemized items, but I havent heard anything about what a metal slime does for you.

What?

Edit: Grrr, just realized only Thief/Martial Artist can naturally use claws... Gonna have to grind other jobs up to get points to make my life easier.

 

[Instro]

:lol You know when you load your save and those 3 little slimes appear at the bottom right? Normally they are all blue but sometimes they are different colors which apparently effects your game until you turn it off again.

 

[rpmurphy]

Oh lord, loading screen slime grinding. :lol

 

[Gravijah]

:lol You know when you load your save and those 3 little slimes appear at the bottom right? Normally they are all blue but sometimes they are different colors which apparently effects your game until you turn it off again.

...Time to re-load a bunch.

 

[Revolutionary]

Is this load screen slime stuff fact or pure conjecture at this point?

 

[PataHikari]

Sounds like one of those silly internet rumors.

 

[ScrabbleDude]

I'm reading that blue blue red means you are much luckier. You get more rare drops, etc. And that three red slimes means you cannot fail when trying to create the ultimate alchemy items.

This thread explains the whole thing: http://www.gamespot.com/ds/rpg/dragonquestix/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-55603529&pid=937281

I guess it's referred to as a hoimi table.

This is kinda how it works: imagine there are 100 squares and 2 of the squares are Red. You start on square 1 and every time you use Heal, you move 1 square. When you are on standing on a red square, that's when you will successfully get a 2% rare drop from a treasure map boss and also your ultimate 5-star equipment alchemy will be successful.

ALL CREDITS GO TO THE JAPANESE GAMERS. I DID NOT DISCOVER THIS. if this is alreayd posted elsewhere, ignore me.

How you do this:

1. Have a character really low on health.

2. Get to the boss floor of the treasure map boss, then use quick save.

3. After quick save, TURN OFF THE SYSTEM. This is a must.

4. Turn on the DS again, and then load the save.

5. Now you are in front of the boss again. Now go check your healer's stat and write down his Heal Magic stat. Go to the Hoimi Table calculator below and type it into the first blank then click the button next to it:

http://dq9.bex.jp/test/hoimi.cgi

For example, if your healer has a 200 recovery magic stat, you will see the number 49 pop up below. That's the average amount of HP your healer will recover using the standard Heal spell.

6. Now, proceed to use the basic heal spell on your character really low on health. Use a calcuator and write down how much HP he recovered by. Do this 5 times, and type in the 5 numbers in order on the hoimi calculator. You only need 5 numbers, you can leave 6-10 blank.

7. Now click the button at the bottom of the page.

8. This should bring you to the result page where you might see a few links with random numbers and the words JAVASCRIPT / CGI next to it.

9. Click on the Green link (either java or cgi is fine) and ignore all red links. If you do not see a green link, that means you did something wrong.

10. Now you will see a Hoimi table. Right now, you are on the 5th square since you used heal 5 times. Your goal here is to find the next available Red square AND GET TO THE SQUARE **BEFORE** IT. For example, if the next red square is square 18, that means you need to use Heal 12 more times to get to square 17. Note: when you Heal, the character does not actually need to be healed anymore. Even if you get the message "Hero does not need healing" or whatever, THAT IS STILL FINE. All you need to do is click on Heal. Heal All (recover 100HP for all 4 members) will move you 4 squares so you can get to the red square quicker. The upgraded Heal All (priest move where you recover all HP of all 4 members) will even move you 8 squares.

11. When you finally get to the square BEFORE the red square, exit the menu and go fight the boss. DO NOT USE A SPECIAL MOVE in the fight if you happen to get one. That will move you to the next square and mess up the trick. You can do everything else during the fight INCLUDING HEAL, magic spells, weapon-specific moves, etc.

12. When you defeat the boss, you will get the 2% rare drop.

13. If you are using this trick to do the ultimate weapon/equipment alchemy, you do the same thing. Get to the 1 square BEFORE the red square, then go do your alchemy immediately. Even if it says you will only get 10% chance of success, you will actually have a 100% chance of succeeding.

 

[Instro]

Is this load screen slime stuff fact or pure conjecture at this point?

Ive seen a few thread on GFAQS about it, red slime combinations such as blue blue red increases your drop luck. other combination of red do other things. There doesnt seem to be much on metal slimes though, there are others who have gotten different combos of it, a few people have seen a blue metal blue on an emulator but they dont know what it does. Doesnt really help the rest of the people like myself who have seen other combos of metal and blue slime at the load screen on normal game carts.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/937281-dragon-quest-ix-sentinels-of-the-starry-skies/55660495

 

[Gravijah]

I'm sort of afraid to keep reloading, I don't want my save file to get corrupted. I have bad luck with that. :lol

 

[Instro]

I'm reading that blue blue red means you are much luckier. You get more rare drops, etc. And that three red slimes means you cannot fail when trying to create the ultimate alchemy items.

This thread explains the whole thing: http://www.gamespot.com/ds/rpg/dragonquestix/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-55603529&pid=937281

I guess it's referred to as a hoimi table.

I think the hoimi table is something else entirely. Shit is confusing :lol

 

[Bentendo]

Hello, I'm able to change my vocations now. I want to change the main character (minstrel)'s vocation, but I'm not sure what to change it to. Here's what I have so far:

*Warrior
*Mage
*Priest

Are martial artists any good????

 

[ScrabbleDude]

I think the hoimi table is something else entirely. Shit is confusing :lol

Could be, but I imagine if there are "red squares and blue squares" then they might relate to the red and blue slimes displayed.

 

[Gravijah]

Could be, but I imagine if there are "red squares and blue squares" then they might relate to the red and blue slimes displayed.

No, I think he was just giving you an example. You're trying to get to one of the two "spots" where the item drops 100%. The items have a 2% drop rate... I'm not good at explaining this stuff.

 

[Instro]

Could be, but I imagine if there are "red squares and blue squares" then they might relate to the red and blue slimes displayed.

From what I understand the hoimi table is a way of mathematically making sure you get a specific drop, this slime thing affects the whole game in that things that require luck are more likely to happen. In any case it seems like the people over at Gfaqs are referring to them as two separate things.

 

[Forkball]

So after reading about rangers being a good healing unit with some attack power, is it a good idea to go from Priest to Ranger?

And the saving slime color thing has blown my mind. This game has so many little touches.

 

[Instro]

Hello, I'm able to change my vocations now. I want to change the main character (minstrel)'s vocation, but I'm not sure what to change it to. Here's what I have so far:

*Warrior
*Mage
*Priest

Are martial artists any good????

Thief might be useful until you start getting the better vocations. What have you been putting your skill points into so far?

 

[Bentendo]

Thief might be useful until you start getting the better vocations. What have you been putting your skill points into so far?

Well, for the main character I've been putting them into swords, a little bit into shield, and some in the last category too (can't remember the name).

 

[Freyjadour]

That table stuff is pokemon level transparency.

I do not like it

 

[gblues]

Martial Artists are good if only to get the Psyche Up ability which lets you build tension DQ8 style.

 

[Aeana]

That table stuff is pokemon level transparency.

I do not like it

Looks like standard random number generator exploitation to me. That sort of stuff is in all kinds of games, and it's rarely actually intentional. It's just a product of how computers generate random numbers.

 

[Gravijah]

That table stuff is pokemon level transparency.

I do not like it

PAGING SIXFORTYFIVE

 

[Freyjadour]

Looks like standard random number generator exploitation to me. That sort of stuff is in all kinds of games, and it's rarely actually intentional. It's just a product of how computers generate random numbers.

I understand it, what I don't like is when it becomes transparent enough that the hardcore live by it (EVs/IVs).

 

[ScrabbleDude]

I understand it, what I don't like is when it becomes transparent enough that the hardcore live by it (EVs/IVs).

I'm with you. I think it's neat, but it's not the experience I want to have.

 

[Aeana]

I used to use an RNG exploit with the SFC version of DQ5 to win the slime races at the casino every time. But it was pretty easy to do... You just had to load a save, walk to the casino taking a specific route, bet on any monster race, cancel out, and then go to the slime races and bet on a specific slime.

 

[Freyjadour]

I'm with you. I think it's neat, but it's not the experience I want to have.

My point there is (I guess) that I don't think players should be able to play with data like that without the use of cheatcodes because that kind of info should:

a) Never be visible to the player.

b) If it is game relevant (ala EVs), find some way to make this stuff more transparent.

 

[Instro]

I used to use an RNG exploit with the SFC version of DQ5 to win the slime races at the casino every time. But it was pretty easy to do... You just had to load a save, walk to the casino taking a specific route, bet on any monster race, cancel out, and then go to the slime races and bet on a specific slime.

Real men played the slots, specifically the one that has better jackpot chances

 

[Aeana]

Real men played the slots, specifically the one that has better jackpot chances

Guess I'm safe then, not being a man.

I don't tend to mess with slots if I can avoid it. In the DS and PS2 versions of the game, the chances at the slots are much better, though.

 

[Gravijah]

Real men played the slots, specifically the one that has better jackpot chances

Good thing Aeana isn't a... well. :lol

 

[Vamphuntr]

Almost done. I think I am at the final boss (I'm level 40). I was destroyed because I had no items on my characters to cure paralysis. It seems that if everyone is asleep or paralyzed he uses a super mega move that pretty much wipes out everyone. Time to equip stuff that prevents that.

 

[Johnlenham]

Why is it that when you change jobs to say a level one type you get really crappy XP compared to the rest of your group? My warrior is only level 8

 

[JKTrix]

This is like a week old so it might have been posted already, but this guy plays Dragon Quest 3, sound effects and all, with his violin. I thought it was nice.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm11391375 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2r2Eb_My1w

Why is it that when you change jobs to say a level one type you get really crappy XP compared to the rest of your group? My warrior is only level 8

New jobbers will still catch up pretty quick to your old ones. They gain less XP, but they also need less XP to gain levels. It makes the leveling a little less broken, but not by much.

 

[Vamphuntr]

Why is it that when you change jobs to say a level one type you get really crappy XP compared to the rest of your group? My warrior is only level 8

XP is somewhat scaled to your level so it will always take a lot of time to level up jobs. It was made to prevent you from switching jobs, going into a high level area and gaining 20 levels in no time.

 

[Koomaster]

Changed one of my girls to an Armamentalist and decided to wander around the latest boss' dungeon to check things out, help her level up, get some treasure chests. Somehow made it all the way to the boss, and figured I'd give it a shot as I'd only lose 5,000 gold when he wiped me out. Wanted to see what tricks he had up his sleeve and practice a bit.

Had a Gladiator, Thief, Paladin, Armamentalist. Only my Thief and Paladin had any healing spells (the basic Heal spell only). Plus I spent about 80% of my MP before even reaching the boss.

It ended up being the closest and luckiest boss fight I have ever had. So many coup de graces, so many critical strikes.

The boss' very first attack took my main girl from 222HP to 36HP. I kind of thought I was screwed just based on that. Then the next round he kills my Armamentalist outright.

The rest of the fight my group was barely hanging on, but I was pulling off lots of coups and critical strikes with my main girl, so I was sort of hopeful that we could hang on while I whittled down his health... till both my Thief and Paladin ran out of MP. No more healing for us!

My main girl has a coup (critical strike) ready to go, but she's almost dead. So since my thief goes first every turn, I have her use Whipping boy on my main. Basically just in case the boss attacks her, my thief will jump in the way and sacrifice herself.

Sure enough, boss goes to attack my main, thief jumps in the way... and survives... but with 2HP left. I pull off the coup next, and the boss is still standing. At this point, I figure I will just let my thief attack, and hopefully the boss goes after her next round since she only has 2HP anyway.

Start of the next round, thief goes - critical strike - BAM, boss goes DOWN.

My mouth was hanging open. :lol

Final stats...
Main Girl - 16HP/0MP
Thief - 2HP/0MP
Paladin - 10HP/0MP
Armamentalist - Dead

Luckily I had an evac-u-bell so I wouldn't have to trek through the dungeon and potentially wind up dead. So I used that and then zoomed to town on the wings of victory.

 

[Gravijah]

Been taking a break from the game, but in

Spoiler

Bloomingdale

there's a lot of class specific items. Is that what it's like from here on out? I prefer items I can equip among multiple characters. :/