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[BriareosGAF]

Just stumbled upon a cute reference to a certain Pavement album in the form of the title of a alchemy recipe book about enchanted items.

Has any translation ever been this good? It's so charming and fun, the only thing that gets slightly old is the British and Scottish slang they try to inject, but even as someone who normally tires of excessive puns I love all the monster names and everything. Meowgician? Sacksquatch? Tupping gold.

 

[Mejilan]

How do you get a priest to wield a bow? Aren't they only for Armamentalist, Ranger and Sage?

Max out ANY weapon skill (or the shield skill) by getting it to 100 points and it becomes omni-vocational. That is, the corresponding category of equipment can be equipped regardless of class.

 

[gblues]

Has any translation ever been this good? It's so charming and fun, the only thing that gets slightly old is the British and Scottish slang they try to inject, but even as someone who normally tires of excessive puns I love all the monster names and everything. Meowgician? Sacksquatch? Tupping gold.

It's hands-down the best localization of any DQ game to date. The British/Scottish slang isn't bad, really. It adds a lot of flavor without going overboard (learned their lesson on that in the DQ4 remake).

 

[Aeana]

It's hands-down the best localization of any DQ game to date. The British/Scottish slang isn't bad, really. It adds a lot of flavor without going overboard (learned their lesson on that in the DQ4 remake).

DQ8's is still the gold standard for DQ localization (and really, almost any other game besides those that Alex O. Smith has worked on perhaps), to me.

 

[colinp]

Max out ANY weapon skill (or the shield skill) by getting it to 100 points and it becomes omni-vocational. That is, the corresponding category of equipment can be equipped regardless of class.

Ah I see, so a Priest with a bow is a late game type of thing... Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Mejilan]

Ah I see, so a Priest with a bow is a late game type of thing... Thanks for the heads up!

Not necessarily. You can retain skill points even after switching vocations.
So you can easily "farm" a bunch of low level vocations for quick skill points, then choose to allocate them all however you wish (even on skills of other vocations!)

My point is that it need not be a late-game type thing.

 

[Ravidrath]

I highly recommend leveling Martial Artist, Thief and Ranger for all party member to get the Agility and Deftness boosting traits.

And then Warrior, Gladiator and Armamentalist for your main damage dealers, for the strength traits.

 

[Mejilan]

I'm insane and getting all vocational proficiencies maxed out for each of my 4 characters.
For the perma-stat boosts, of course.
They're each getting a handful of weapons proficiencies maxed as well, of course.
34 hours on the clock, and I haven't even finished the Zere Rock story arc yet! :lol

 

[colinp]

Not necessarily. You can retain skill points even after switching vocations.
So you can easily "farm" a bunch of low level vocations for quick skill points, then choose to allocate them all however you wish (even on skills of other vocations!)

My point is that it need not be a late-game type thing.

Hah I see, yeah that's a great idea. Good stuff- this game is aaaaaamazing.

Can't believe you haven't passed Zere Rock yet... :lol

 

[colinp]

Oh, what is the best way to pass the gladiator vocation quest?

 

[Mejilan]

Hah I see, yeah that's a great idea. Good stuff- this game is aaaaaamazing.

Can't believe you haven't passed Zere Rock yet... :lol

Yep, it's like a supercharged Dragon Quest III.
Only with crappier music and a much better customization system!
I love it!

 

[Reknoc]

Liquid Metal Slime farming is kinda addictive a sort of "well maybe oooone more..." thing, in a game that is already pretty much like that.

 

[Freyjadour]

Think I'm finally off this game for a while, been a few days since I last played now. Hopefully I have more patience for postgame at a later point.

 

[RiderKairuu]

Sorry if this has been asked here already but are any GAFers attending Otakon this weekend? Would be a great opportunity for canvassing/multiplayer.

 

[Regulus Tera]

So the Gamestop event's today, right?

The music is starting to grow on me (after 20-odd hours), but I don't think it compares to DQ5.

Hardly anything compares to DQV's OST.

Maybe DQIV's, but that's it.

I think the music is okay, I just wish there were more than a few key tracks(seriously, I can probably count the tracks in this game on both hands).

Welcome to Koichi Sugiyama.

 

[Koomaster]

Somehow put another 11 hours into the game today o___O

It's mostly me going around with my 9 girls and leveling them up, distributing skill points, trying to understand/compete quests, and plundering grottos of their delicious delicious treasures.

Found one today that had a crazy boss called I think

Spoiler

Shogum? Giant Red slime knight dude.

who I thought was pretty easy to deal with, till he call for back-up in the form of a giant King Healslime. Watching that thing heal the boss of 1,000HP on the following turn was heartbreaking.

All my hard works... gone, like so many blue slimes down the drain. ;____;

Took me a while to finish the whole affair off, and it was a furious back and forth, all our lives hanging on the line every turn. Felt relieved when he finally went down.

Post game is a wonderful thing.

 

[Regulus Tera]

I'm at the sixty hour mark. I am about to storm the endgame dungeon, but don't wanna.

I was already on my way to the Lord of the Dragovians at this point in DQVIII.

 

[Lost Fragment]

So I'm about to pick up

Spoiler

the 5th dragonball

. Does this shit start getting any harder at any point?

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

So I'm about to pick up

Spoiler

the 5th dragonball

. Does this shit start getting any harder at any point?

There are a couple of somewhat challenging bosses, but I would say the main quest of the game isn't very hard. They saved it for the post-game.

 

[BooJoh]

My state only has 3 participating Best buy stores, and the closest one is like 150 miles away.


Are the tag mode maps different in any way from the maps you get when you clear a grotto?

Also still wondering if anyone knows how long the guests stay at Quester's Rest. Will they be there permanently once downloaded or will they leave at some point?

 

[Melhisedek]

I'm insane and getting all vocational proficiencies maxed out for each of my 4 characters.
For the perma-stat boosts, of course.
They're each getting a handful of weapons proficiencies maxed as well, of course.
34 hours on the clock, and I haven't even finished the Zere Rock story arc yet! :lol

Where are you farming?
Also did cheat for infinite treasure maps come out yet?

 

[Grampasso]

Yay, finally got my hands on this *_* A stupid Gamestop employee had opened my reserved copy friday so I refused to buy it and waited for an unopened one yesterday... but I still have to start... need to catch up with you.
Just an advise, at the moment I don't have any access point available for my DS since the encryption is always WPA which is not supported and I can't change it. Any advise on how to solve this?

 

[Shoogoo]

Yay, finally got my hands on this *_* A stupid Gamestop employee had opened my reserved copy friday so I refused to buy it and waited for an unopened one yesterday... but I still have to start... need to catch up with you.
Just an advise, at the moment I don't have any access point available for my DS since the encryption is always WPA which is not supported and I can't change it. Any advise on how to solve this?

maybe you can change your routeur (if you have any) to WEP

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

I'm insane and getting all vocational proficiencies maxed out for each of my 4 characters.
For the perma-stat boosts, of course.
They're each getting a handful of weapons proficiencies maxed as well, of course.
34 hours on the clock, and I haven't even finished the Zere Rock story arc yet! :lol

Wait the vocational skills are permanent across classes? This changes everything.

 

[Oxx]

The Marion vignette is pretty sad.

 

[Link Man]

Somehow put another 11 hours into the game today o___O

It's mostly me going around with my 9 girls and leveling them up, distributing skill points, trying to understand/compete quests, and plundering grottos of their delicious delicious treasures.

Found one today that had a crazy boss called I think

Spoiler

Shogum? Giant Red slime knight dude.

who I thought was pretty easy to deal with, till he call for back-up in the form of a giant King Healslime. Watching that thing heal the boss of 1,000HP on the following turn was heartbreaking.

All my hard works... gone, like so many blue slimes down the drain. ;____;

Took me a while to finish the whole affair off, and it was a furious back and forth, all our lives hanging on the line every turn. Felt relieved when he finally went down.

Post game is a wonderful thing.

Did you try Fizzle?

 

[Grampasso]

maybe you can change your routeur (if you have any) to WEP

That's the point, I can't =)

 

[botticus]

My state only has 3 participating Best buy stores, and the closest one is like 150 miles away.


Are the tag mode maps different in any way from the maps you get when you clear a grotto?

Also still wondering if anyone knows how long the guests stay at Quester's Rest. Will they be there permanently once downloaded or will they leave at some point?

When you go into tag mode, you can choose to bring a map with you. So most likely, you're just going to be getting maps other people have gotten from their grottos, unless you find someone who has the Comic-Con or GameStop maps. The maps you get from the events are usually special maps, though hopefully not actually exclusive.

I'm pretty excited that I've found a map that I would actually like to share with someone, but have no one to share with! I would actually be able to attend the Best Buy event... except the closest one is 45 minutes away. What the hell.

 

[Synless]

Spoiler

Baramos?

My characters were lvl 50-54 and got my ass kicked. His regular attacks did around 80-90 damage each time but his critical attack killed in 1 hit every time and he did it fairly often.

80ish damage at the level you were at is insane. At lvl. 28 he only hits me for 40ish damage. The only thing that really destroys me are his group hits, they are deadly and I can't recover in time.

 

[Kad5]

Ok so so far my party consists of an armamentalist (my main), a paladin, a mage, and a priest.

The only thing about the armamentalist is that its coup de grace kinda sucks.

 

[Mejilan]

Wait the vocational skills are permanent across classes? This changes everything.

If you max out a weapon or shield proficiency, it becomes omni-vocational and all related equipment can be used by that character regardless of his/her current vocation. That's how you would build a bow-wielding (great MP drain and insta-kill capabilities) priest or mage, for example.

Most if not all of the class-specific (very last set for each vocation) skill sets include permanent stat/HP/MP boosts which are built right into the character, regardless of vocation. As an example, it's a great idea to take a thief that has learned his looting and agility boosting skills and switch to a ranger. High agility will allow him to go before others in combat, but the ranger's deftness stat boosts will greatly increase lootinng!

Extrapolate this a bit out and you can easily see the benefits. You can have a tank type class put a few dozen points into the priest and/or mage proficiencies in order to perma-boost his/her base MP totals before switching back to their melée classes. Or give your weaker whip/boomerang wielders a few dozen points into those vocations that boost strength to make thei multi-target physical attacks more effective.

One thing to keep in mind is that stat boosts tied to weapon skills are only in effect when that type of weapon is actually equipped. But the stat boosters tied to class proficiency category of skills are applied directly to that character's base stats!

Man, I love this game!

 

[Synless]

If you max out a weapon or shield proficiency, it becomes omni-vocational and all related equipment can be used by that character regardless of his/her current vocation. That's how you would build a bow-wielding (great MP drain and insta-kill capabilities) priest or mage, for example.

Most if not all of the class-specific (very last set for each vocation) skill sets include permanent stat/HP/MP boosts which are built right into the character, regardless of vocation. As an example, it's a great idea to take a thief that has learned his looting and agility boosting skills and switch to a ranger. High agility will allow him to go before others in combat, but the ranger's deftness stat boosts will greatly increase lootinng!

Extrapolate this a bit out and you can easily see the benefits. You can have a tank type class put a few dozen points into the priest and/or mage proficiencies in order to perma-boost his/her base MP totals before switching back to their melée classes. Or give your weaker whip/boomerang wielders a few dozen points into those vocations that boost strength to make thei multi-target physical attacks more effective.

One thing to keep in mind is that stat boosts tied to weapon skills are only in effect when that type of weapon is actually equipped. But the stat boosters tied to class proficiency category of skills are applied directly to that character's base stats!

Man, I love this game!

I never thought of learning a bow for my mage, I've been wasting points on all that shitty staff stuff when I could have been learning something more useful.....

 

[Dandy]

What would be a good level to fight the

Spoiler

gargoyle?

My party currently consists of:

Matthew ~ Minstrel (level 18)
Tabatha ~ Priest (level 16)
Sheila ~ Mage (level 16)
Aves ~ Warriors (level 17)

I keep getting wiped out, too. Any advice?

By the time I reached that boss my team (same as yours but with a Monk instead of Warrior) was in the mid 20s...
You can Super-high tension your warrior and just keep healing with your Priest and Minstrel and attack with your Mage's strongest magic as well. Or just over-level like me!

 

[Mejilan]

Where are you farming?
Also did cheat for infinite treasure maps come out yet?

I don't think so, but I haven't been paying too much attention to the newest codes because the ones I have now are sufficient. That, and despite approaching the 40 hour mark, I have yet to unlock any treasure maps! I may be too early into the game (2 fyggs.)

There is a code to guarantee drops for treasure map bosses though, and if I'm not mistaken, that's a fairly significant method of getting more treasure maps, no?

I think overleveling skills may have finally bit me in the ass. My weakest character set to the weakest vocation and equipped with the weakest knife can one shot a hocus chimera with the toxic dagger skill. This will prove to make the ranger unlocking quest a little tricky. I think I'll need to roll a dummy character for the purposes of this quest. Lame.

 

[Mejilan]

I never thought of learning a bow for my mage, I've been wasting points on all that shitty staff stuff when I could have been learning something more useful.....

I prefer wands to staves, honestly. My two primary spellcasters both have wands and bows maxed out! Also keep in mind that unspent skill points accrued in one vocation DO persist after a class change and can be spent later, on another vocation's skills. Ther's really no reason to be arbitrarily wasting points on skills that you won't be using.

 

[DarkKyo]

I prefer wands to staves, honestly. My two primary spellcasters both have wands and bows maxed out!

I love the combat aspects of the staff though! Like the move where you can knock a group of enemies over in one move!

 

[ccbfan]

Boo had my first death at the

Spoiler

mongolian gypsy lady

.

Was almost playing a no skill challenge at that point. Like every game I play with stat/skill points I refuse to use them until I have a problem or need a skill for something. At this point all I've had was one character with wizard ward and metal slash to get pally and one with steal. My other two characters had used 0 skill points at this point. (all have like 7x skill points)

Put all my points in Martial art passive for my steal character, put all my points in pally passive for my healer, put all my point in sword for my warrior/mistrel/gladiator, and put all my points in pally passive for my misc character.

Destroyed the boss and now the game is way too easy. My characters with pally passive are ridicules takes like 1 damage most of the time.

 

[Mejilan]

I love the combat aspects of the staff though! Like the move where you can knock a group of enemies over in one move!

I prefer to maximize damage output instead of dicking around with status changing abilities. If I'm not healing or buffing, then I'm killing.
For spellcasters, I find that the MP draining attacks and MP boosting passives are preferable. Thus, wands. When I need to use those characters more physically aggressively, I can switch to bows or whips, depending on circumstances. Bows can also help out a lot against metals.

When I do decide to give some staff skills, it'll probably be a more physically orientated character, like my thief/martial artist.

But that's what I love about this game. We're free to to pursue very different and specialized character builds, and we'd be hardpressed to find build combinations that are truly useless! Excellent balance.

 

[botticus]

There is a code to guarantee drops for treasure map bosses though, and if I'm not mistaken, that's a fairly significant method of getting more treasure maps, no?

Treasure map bosses always leave behind a new treasure map. I assume that the code would be guaranteeing their rare drops, which are items other than maps.

And after about 25 maps (during which I got all of one rare drop), I've finally unlocked Luminary in the level 54 Gold Nest of Regret. My 95 hour journey is complete.

 

[Kad5]

How and when do you unlock luminary and sage?


I've got every vocation except those two.

Also, is armamentalist ok for my main character or does it not really matter?

Sorry if my questions seem dumb.

 

[botticus]

How and when do you unlock luminary and sage?


I've got every vocation except those two.

Also, is armamentalist ok for my main character or does it not really matter?

Sorry if my questions seem dumb.

Sage is in one of the last dungeons, and Luminary is in the post-game (unless you are really into grinding and side content).

Since your MC starts out as a Minstrel, Armamentalist is a nice upgrade. As long as you're already working on a fighter class with someone else.

 

[Kad5]

Sage is in one of the last dungeons, and Luminary is in the post-game (unless you are really into grinding and side content).

Since your MC starts out as a Minstrel, Armamentalist is a nice upgrade. As long as you're already working on a fighter class with someone else.

Yeah I also have a paladin.

 

[ExtraKr1spy]

aarrrgghhh

Have lots of side quests still to do but I'm kinda burnt out for now and feel like getting Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar since you can go visit and help with other peoples farm through wifi.

Spoiler

F*ck you Baramos. Bullshit ass boss. Starts of attack only once per turn but after some damage he attacks twice and every time he does his critical attack. Seems like he gets faster also, he used to attack afte all my characters have attacked but when he starts attacking twice he usually attacks after my MA(who has 400+ agility)

btw wheres slime hill?

 

[Mejilan]

Treasure map bosses always leave behind a new treasure map. I assume that the code would be guaranteeing their rare drops, which are items other than maps.

And after about 25 maps (during which I got all of one rare drop), I've finally unlocked Luminary in the level 54 Gold Nest of Regret. My 95 hour journey is complete.

Actually, the regular enemies drop code bumps both the rare and common drops to 100%. The game has no problem giving you multiple chests per enemy group. I wouldn't be surprised if the treasure boss chest code works the same way!

 

[Ravidrath]

Armamentalist isn't great, really, until you complete the level 40 quest - making all the the Fource abilities affect the whole party is pretty great.

Why does Armamentalist get Magical Might, BTW? Is it used as a mod for the Fource spells, or something?

 

[Yaweee]

After some help from Mejilan, I bought an Action Replay so I could crank up the text speed. So far, it has brought DQ9 from a low POS that I was probably going to trade in today for SC2, to something I'm really enjoying. Honestly, that one code feels like it speeds up everything. Battles, interface, and town all flow much better with instant text.

 

[GeekyDad]

Armamentalist isn't great, really, until you complete the level 40 quest - making all the the Fource abilities affect the whole party is pretty great.

Why does Armamentalist get Magical Might, BTW? Is it used as a mod for the Fource spells, or something?

Yeah, I wondered the same thing, actually. At first I was under the impression that armamentalist would make a good upgrade vocation for my mage, but after 20 or so levels, she still just had support/statis magic. Maybe the magical-might stat increases the effectiveness of those spells.

 

[Oxx]

I think I'm starting to wrap my head around all this vocation-switching. It seems that you can't really do anything 'wrong', you just might waste a bit of time going down an unsuitable path.

I'm not sure what to do with my level 30 thief with nothing but knife-skills, though.

 

[Mejilan]

After some help from Mejilan, I bought an Action Replay so I could crank up the text speed. So far, it has brought DQ9 from a low POS that I was probably going to trade in today for SC2, to something I'm really enjoying. Honestly, that one code feels like it speeds up everything. Battles, interface, and town all flow much better with instant text.

EXCELLENT!
Now dig up a code to eliminate the on-screen character avatars for party members 2-4 and watch as your framerate while exploring even the biggest towns climbs back to the high and smooth levels you enjoyed before you filled in your party!

 

[Mejilan]

I think I'm starting to wrap my head around all this vocation-switching. It seems that you can't really do anything 'wrong', you just might waste a bit of time going down an unsuitable path.

I'm not sure what to do with my level 30 thief with nothing but knife-skills, though.

If you have the Ranger class unlocked, it's a great upgrade to the thief. If not, then turning him into a fist or claw martial artist is a nice change of pace, IMHO.