Every so often you'll see news stories about Armor Project recruiting new scenario writers, can anyone speak to the specifics of this? Do they act as writers' assistants to Yuji Horii? Are there any notable scenario writers who graduated from Armor Project working on other games?
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Dragon Quest Community Thread: Come in! Would you like a Puff-Puff?
- Thread starter Jucksalbe
- Start date
You're not supposed to make a lot of money from that segment. That's the reason why Torneko sets off to begin with. However if someone sells a cautery sword to the shop, it gets added to the shop inventory and you can buy/sell for massive profit.
turnbuckle
Member
I loved Taloon/Torneko's chapter.
I need to do a replay soon.
I need to do a replay soon.
Yep, every time I play 4 I makes sure to stay at my job until someone sells me one. The first time it happened to me, my 12 year-old self thought it was the greatest thing ever.
You're not supposed to try and profit on on cautery sword. When someone tries to sell one, buybuybuy! Who cares how much it costs? It's the store's money, not yours. When customers try to buy it, tell them to screw off, it's not for sale. Then when you have enough money saved up, you buy it for yourself.
Edit: Also, sell your wife's handmade lunch if you're not going to eat it. You get a fresh one every day.
Huh? I'm talking about profiting by buying them from the store yourself and selling them for a markup to the south. And also stockpiling them to sell in chapter 5.
Lightning Lord
Banned
I love DQIV for having a unique spin on various elements, such as running a store as a merchant or having a princess who is a total powerhouse rather than your typical damsel in distress. One of the reasons why it's probably my favorite game in the series.
KiTA
Member
Not just a powerhouse, canonically isn't she the physically strongest character in DQ, period?
Mental Atrophy
Banned
Dragon Quest 7 left such a bitter taste it convinced me I hated Dragon Quest for a long time, even though I loved DQ4 and especially DQ3 before it. Having finished DQ8, I was certain it was a fluke in an otherwise poor series, and this sentiment wasn't fully dispelled until DQ9 and experiencing DQ5 for the first time on Nintendo DS. Now I know I just really hated DQ7, but because it was the only game in that gaping hole between 1992 and 2005 for us westerners, it was the only thing I ever thought about at the words "Dragon Quest.". I played DQ6 maybe a year ago and found it just okay. It has some really strong qualities, especially the way it opens up towards the end, but of the two SNES-era titles I much preferred DQ5.
turnbuckle
Member
I don't know if that's true or not but I'd believe it.
Is that some Battle Road Victory business? Or from a TCG?
Ah, okay. I though you meant the commission you can earn on it. It's bigger than the usual pittance.
Magicpaint
Member
She is a beast. I think of the individual chapters, hers is my favourite more often than not. Lengthy and dramatic. And her critical hits <3
Totally agree. Something about NPC interaction in DQ is so addictive. Like, talking to them adds a piece of a picture that eventually leads to something whole. It makes arriving at a new town a truly enjoyable process in and of itself, rather than a means to an end. It also plays to the strengths of the medium. Most JRPGs, I find talking to NPCs tedious, but not Dragon Quest.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
I keep visiting the same town three times just to hear little differences in dialogue. And then differences in character reactions when I get them. This party talk is gonna be the end of me.
So, out of curiosity, because this is my first time through DQ4 and this is only my 3rd non DQM game, 1) Can Torneko equip that ridiculously expensive sword? 2)What exactly is the point of this chapter?
Like, I went up, did an Indiana Jones segment and got a steel strong box, then I journeyed South and wound up in a fox village where I bought literal crap, then I went further South and I wound up in a town that wasn't selling weapons at all.
It's a sort of quirky chapter, I'll give it that. The previous two chapters were very straightforward RPG quests, but so far Torneko is just kinda rambling around, munching homemade sammies, stomping slimes and occasionally making cash.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
There's a cave somewhere in that chapter that holds some treasure that Torneko can sell for huge amounts of money. You go there once you get tired of playing item seller.
Purple Cheeto
Member
The point is to stock pile Cautery swords because they cast a spell when used as a battle item and that spell is better than most of the other characters attacks for a good portion of the game.
And also Cautery Swords can be sold for bank. If you do Torneko's chapter right you probably won't need money again for the rest of the game.
And also Cautery Swords can be sold for bank. If you do Torneko's chapter right you probably won't need money again for the rest of the game.
Here's what Yuji Horii said in an interview from CVG:
If you take a look at Dragon Quest VI's design docs here, you can see that every NPC and their dialogues are meticulously planned out, even under arbitrary system limitations:
A random fact: Yuji Horii graduated from the same department and school (Waseda University literature) as Haruki Murakami, a top bet for winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in the past few years. Since Murakami stayed back a few years to finish school, it's possible that he and Horii attended the same classes as well.
Omegasquash
Member
Oh, a new favorite thread on the gaming side! Wonderful!
Now I can have somewhere to go as a support group whenever I get my DQ VII hopes up.
Now I can have somewhere to go as a support group whenever I get my DQ VII hopes up.
The point of the chapter is to amass as much money as you can, finance the tunnel to the next area, and move on. You get loads and loads of ways to make money in that chapter. Even regular enemies drop equipment that sells for way more than what you can get in other chapters. The fox village was a fairy tale reference that I guess doesn't mean much to people who aren't familiar with it.
And yes, he can equip the sword.
terrisus
Member
I have to be honest with regards to the Chapters system in Dragon Quest IV - I didn't really care for it.
I mean, in RPGs I generally don't feel like things "get going" until I have my full party of people - at which point I spend a whole bunch of time grinding and such. Grinding before I have my full party of people always feels like a waste, and that I just want to move things along until I have my full party of people.
With Dragon Quest IV, it's like, you get started, get going, advance your way up... And then go back to the beginning of another group. And do that repeated over. And I just don't feel like the game actually gets "started" until you're done with all that stuff and everyone comes together.
I mean, I get why it's a neat idea - it really gives you a sense of where all your party members are coming from, and their backstories and all of that, much more than them just running into you at some point and just being like "Oh, hey, this is what I've been up to." But, it just makes the game feel really, really slow and annoying to get started.
I mean, in RPGs I generally don't feel like things "get going" until I have my full party of people - at which point I spend a whole bunch of time grinding and such. Grinding before I have my full party of people always feels like a waste, and that I just want to move things along until I have my full party of people.
With Dragon Quest IV, it's like, you get started, get going, advance your way up... And then go back to the beginning of another group. And do that repeated over. And I just don't feel like the game actually gets "started" until you're done with all that stuff and everyone comes together.
I mean, I get why it's a neat idea - it really gives you a sense of where all your party members are coming from, and their backstories and all of that, much more than them just running into you at some point and just being like "Oh, hey, this is what I've been up to." But, it just makes the game feel really, really slow and annoying to get started.
I can't imagine doing that. World map battles don't drop double digit gold.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
I just got the Flying Bed. Flying on it is so much fun, and the xylophone only makes it even better.
Sparrowhawk
Member
Just ordered Dragon Quest VIII from Amazon with expedited shipping. I'm so excited.
Now I want to replay IV and see how long the first 4 chapters take, I'm thinking about 12 hours.
Lightning Lord
Banned
You'd only spend 12 hours if you grind in like, every chapter. If you know what you're doing and don't waste time you can get them all done really fast.
I just started up IV for the first time (playing on DS) and just got to the end of the the first 4 chapters recently. Took me about 5-6 hours I believe? Don't have the DS on me to double check.
terrisus
Member
It's not that it necessarily takes all that long (especially if one doesn't spend time grinding), just, for me, it felt more like a dragged-out prologue, and makes for a rather mucky (for lack of a better word coming to mind at the moment) beginning to the game before things get started.
I haven't played IV in several years so I was just going off memory of how long the chapters were.
I kind of agree, I don't actually like it in Mother 3 (to name a more modern example) where it does that there as well, even if it does it in a well paced fashion with some interesting gameplay elements. It's a bit different from a typical JRPG where it takes around 5-10 hours to get things started but without the character driven chapters since it has to "reset" each chapter for the new party.
I don't mind it on first playthroughs, but yeah I'm not the biggest fan of this story telling mechanic since from a gameplay perspective it can feel like you're playing a prologue over and over, haha. Not sure how I'll feel about it in DQ4 the next time I play it.
terrisus
Member
Yeah, that's another game which was even more dramatic with how long the opening chapters took, where I just didn't feel like the game actually got started until things came together.
Plus not being able to earn money (DP) until then either, which made things feel even more like a waste before then
Of course, it's still an absolutely amazing game, but I'm just not a fan of those types of opening processes.
If you compare the game to its peers (recall that the game came out in 1990 in Japan), the amount of character development that the chapter setup provided was really unprecedented. It was really something special at the time. In this era, that sort of thing is the norm so I guess it doesn't impress much, but I really appreciate that setup personally.
Well, it's making a statement in Mother 3.
Mother 3 is a game about a simple society being corrupted by outside influences. You don't NEED money at the start of the game. Everything in the shop is free! It isn't until Fassad comes around and convinces the people that money is something they need that it actually becomes something you do need.
terrisus
Member
As I touched on earlier, I do think that the huge plus to it is the character development that it allowed. It's much more meaningful to actually play through a character's backstory, as opposed to them just running into you and being like "Oh, hey, this is what I've been up to for the past couple of years - and now I'm joining you!"
So, from a story perspective, it's wonderful.
Just from a gameplay perspective, I don't enjoy it as much.
Well yeah, I love it from a literary standpoint, but from a gameplay standpoint, they're not my favorite chapters to go through on repeat playthroughs.
Still in my top 5 favorite RPGs regardless how I feel about it.Pretty much this ^. I still enjoy it gameplay wise for the most part, but I can see why you'd consider it a bit of a slog since I think I'll feel similar once I replay DQ4 (we'll see!). And yeah, considering when it came out I can see why it was pretty revolutionary so I admire it so far for that as well.
Are you even supposed to buy most of the weapons and armor in Dragon Quest VII? I'm now in the Hamelia region and I can't even afford one thing, when ideally I should get five or six.
I'm also slowly remembering some of the later scenarios. Completely forgot the one in this region, but as soon as they started talking about the musician it all came back to me. But I should be getting close to where I stopped on my first playthrough.
I'm also slowly remembering some of the later scenarios. Completely forgot the one in this region, but as soon as they started talking about the musician it all came back to me. But I should be getting close to where I stopped on my first playthrough.
Magicpaint
Member
Wow. Thanks for digging up such a goldmine. Damn, it sounds like a painstaking process. But it's all worth it. NPC interactions is a big reason to why DQVI is my favourite title in the series. The added party chat in the DS remake was just icing on the cake.
DQ games rarely give you an opportunity to buy everything when you get to a weapon/armor shop. I love that because it forces you to make decisions on what to buy, who to buy for, and what to focus on.
Winnie the Pimp
Member
I just noticed i still have the first DQM in my backlog sealed.. is it worth playing it at this point? Is the second one better? Thes are essentially just Pokemon games in DQ dress or is there more to it?
The DS game or the GBC game?
Winnie the Pimp
Member
DS one
I played that a few years ago. It holds up. They made the switch to 3d a gen before Pokemon, and it looks decent. Like a lower quality DQ8. I've always preferred the breeding system in the DQ monsters games to Pokemon because you get new monsters from the combination, and they're stronger than they otherwise would be. It's probably closer to shin megami tensei games.
Yeah, I'm used to skip some here and there. But right now I'm about a whole set behind on anyone and that makes me feel....uncomfortable. Oh well, I moved on by now anyway and didn't have problems.
Thanks, Aeana, for the Sword Dance tip by the way, that skill helps a lot.
So I found out that I can buy armor in my home town and sell it for a marked up price through some haggling to the warmongers down south. On the one hand, this means that Torneko is DEFINITELY a war profiteer now, but on the other hand, at least it's armor.
So where do I go to sell my weapons at a higher price than market price? And how many of these cautery swords do I need to buy?
So where do I go to sell my weapons at a higher price than market price? And how many of these cautery swords do I need to buy?
You won't be selling cautery swords for a profit until you
open your own shop in Endor
Does inventory carry over from chapter to chapter, then? I hadn't noticed.
Not from chapter to chapter, but all into chapter 5 when everyone comes together. Everybody brings with them what they had.
So I still have to go through the chapter after this scraping stones together for cash, then.
bagandscalpel
Member
Funny, when I think back on it how little it meant to me back on the NES when Torneko's stated goal was to become the greatest arms merchant of all.
But war profiteer is pretty much the alternate meaning of that job title, isn't it.