~ Dragon Quest Series ~

[ViolenceJack]

Picked up on the 16th, been playing it for a while it's really good. I'm at the point where you're about to change generations for the first time, but I want to gain a couple levels first.

[Master Zombots]

^ I'm picking it up, really liked 4. Won't play it for a while tho, lots of games are go atm. It's basically the same for me. I have so many new games that I haven't opened yet and no time to play them. :|

[RayFoxSith]

I've been playing it for sometime myself. Really love it.

[Foryth]

I already played a chunk of the snes version, but I picked this up yesterday. Still early in the game though.

[Flußkönig]

I am probably going to end up waiting till DQ V hits $20.00 just like I did with DQ IV.

It isn't like I don't want to play it, but with all the other games I want that are coming out soon (and that I haven't already played) and the so-so economy $40.00 DS enhanced ports just end up getting kicked to the curb.

[ViolenceJack]

Thought I'd point out something.
While you run around as a kid the Overworld will always remain in daytime, and if you run into battles in Hills or Forest, the Background will remain as Plains.

When you grow up a little the Daylight / Nighttime effect will take place, and the battle backgrounds for Fortests and Hills will now show up.

So you just have to wait a lil' before you can walk around at night and visit towns in their Nighttime state.

[ViolenceJack]

Some new stuff: This is a list (though not complete) of Monsters you can recruit, so you dont spend hours trying to recuit the 'unrecruitable'.


Slime - Easy
Dracky - Easy
Bad Apple - Easy
Fat Rat - Easy
Jailcat - Occasional
Prestidigator - Easy
Ghost - Easy
Wax Murderer - Occasional
Heal Slime - Occasional
Fandangow - Occasional
Slime Knight - Easy
Brownie - Easy
Rotten Apple - Easy
Ticking Timeburrm - Occasional
Metal Slime - Hard
Funghoul - Occasional
Walking Corpse - Occasional
Powie Wowie - Occasional
Small Fry - Occasional
Grudgerigar - Occasional
Hulagan - Occasional
Cross Eye - Occasional
Restless Armour - Hard
Mudraker - Easy
Pocus Poppet - Occasional
Magic Marionette - Occasional
Chimera - Occasional
Rockbomb - Hard
Goodybag - Occasional
Flamethrower - Hard
Pip Fighter - Occasional
Battle Pip - Occasional
Epipany - Occasional
Wiz Pip - Occasional

Slimes Gain a Ton of HP and Level really Fast, but they are very weak. They can equip Boomerangs as well.

Mudrakers start with Really High STR, they gain Lots of HP and STR, but their DEF is kep Moderate and their Agility and Luck is very low, so they end up acting last every round.

Slime Knights are a good All-Arounder, They boast High DEF, Moderate Attack (same as the Hero), Great Magic DEF, they can Heal, they learn good Support Spells, ect ect.

Unfortunately you cannot recruit Metal Slime Knights :(

[RayFoxSith]

Dragon Quest IX not only gets a perfect score from Famitsu, but manages to sell over 2 million units in Japan. IN IT'S FIRST WEEK. That's almost more than what Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G sold throughout last year.

http://kotaku.com/5316282/see-how-easily-dragon-quest-ix-outsold-the-competition

http://kotaku.com/5316657/how-do-dragon-quests-famitsu-scores-stack-up

[DamageCity]

There are new slime touch pens out now. I must have them.

[Constraint]

Dragon Quest IX not only gets a perfect score from Famitsu, but manages to sell over 2 million units in Japan. IN IT'S FIRST WEEK. That's almost more than what Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G sold throughout last year.

http://kotaku.com/5316282/see-how-easily-dragon-quest-ix-outsold-the-competition

http://kotaku.com/5316657/how-do-dragon-quests-famitsu-scores-stack-up

Thus the reason why Level 5 should develop the Dragon Quest games from now on.

[Fatney]

I can't wait for this game to be localized. I loved V and VIII.

[ViolenceJack]

Wonder when the DS port of 6'll come out.

[RayFoxSith]

^It should be coming soon, but I haven't seen a thing on it in a loooooooooong time.

[Yet Another Tim]

Is it just I, or IX's artwork is more in league with Blue Dragon? Well, basing this idea on IX's cover artwork, none of the characters look like DBZ characters, a Toriyama trademark.

[DamageCity]

So the girlfriend and I hit up the Dragon Quest bar in Roppongi last weekend.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/DeadByDawn/P1000036.jpg

Pretty much what I thought it would be like but I imagine the music gets pretty jarring for the staff.

[Dead to Rights]

^ Ballin' meat bun, IMO. =9

Now describe its taste in vivid detail, DC.

[DamageCity]

^ Ballin' meat bun, IMO. =9

Now describe its taste in vivid detail, DC.

Well the meat bun was tasty enough but the meat was fairly crumbly and messy. The other bun was a curry bun which I thought was delicious but my girlfriend said it was ordinary. All-in-all I thought there was way too much dough and not enough contents.

As far as the bar itself it's quite small and max. capacity is 24 people. It's filled with displays for all the games post snes and play plays songs from each soundtrack. The main hostess for the bar is dressed in Luida (http://member.square-enix.com/jp/special/dq/luidas_bar/)'s garb and speaks in the nasely shrill voice that most women catering to the "Otaku" crowd use, although the rest of the staff are dressed in regular upscale bar clothing. There are around 3 HD TVs playing commercials for the latest DQ game. You are only allowed to go into the bar for 1 hour time spans and since we just casually went there we only had 35 minutes in the bar. They gave me a point card at the end, a DQ slime fan and a cookie.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

Is it just I, or IX's artwork is more in league with Blue Dragon? Well, basing this idea on IX's cover artwork, none of the characters look like DBZ characters, a Toriyama trademark.

They didn't in DQVII either. In fact, the first time I saw Blue Dragon, I thought the characters resembled Dragon Quest VII characters.

A Dragon Quest bar, wow. But why do they use a nasally shrill voice to talk to the otaku crowd? Isn't that annoying?

[DamageCity]

A Dragon Quest bar, wow. But why do they use a nasally shrill voice to talk to the otaku crowd? Isn't that annoying?


It's considered cute here.

[Karkarov]

A Dragon Quest bar, wow. But why do they use a nasally shrill voice to talk to the otaku crowd? Isn't that annoying?


It's considered cute here.

For some reason I feel like knowing that would only make it even more annoying though. I will admit that edrick branded drumbstick I saw on one of your links looked tasty though.

[littlefuzzy1]

I think I got my Dragon Warrior game from the Nintendo Power subscription, back in the day I really enjoyed it and DW II. I never got III, and of course IV-VI never came out over here until the DS days (I need to get those sometime.)

Within the past year or two, I played Dragon Warrior VII, I can't recall if I actually beat it or not. I put in over 100 hours on it. Maybe I fought the final boss, but didn't complete all of the quests yet.

I haven't played VIII yet except for the demo disc, or any of the other games, but I own DW (NES), DW II (NES), DQ VII, DQ VIII, DQ Heroes: Rocket Slime, DQ Monsters: Joker, the Wii game, DW Monsters (GBC), and the Torneko PS1 game.

I really wish 1, 2, and 3 would come out (maybe on the DS, or in a compilation.) I know I can track down the GBC version of 3, but I'd like to see something like the Super Famicom versions.

[EvilHero]

I think I got my Dragon Warrior game from the Nintendo Power subscription, back in the day I really enjoyed it and DW II. I never got III, and of course IV-VI never came out over here until the DS days (I need to get those sometime.)


IV actually did make it stateside under the DW title. If you never got into III, it's understandable how you missed it though. IV was one of my favorites, I think it was the first RPG I ever played that didn't make you start as the main protagonist. That really confused me at the start when I named my character and started as Ragnar. :P

I just picked up IX and i'm thoroughly enjoying it. Hopefully I can unlock tag mode before Saturday, it looks like I may have to run that DQIX Best Buy Event, and it would look kind of embarrassing if I didn't know how to use tag mode.

[ViolenceJack]

You should get it after finishing the Stornway quest. If I recall.

Also EH, at the Stornway Inn you can Recruit a Friend to make another custom character, you can have up to 3 others maxing the party out at 4, but this seems to also divide the Exp. earned from battles.

When you change classes you will reset to Lv1, likely so that you have an opportunity to max out skill point spending.

Also here's some Hidden Classes (C&P'd off GameFAQs)

Gladiator- Need someone with dragon slash and ability to get super high tension (quest giver in in basement of alltrades abby}

Armamamentalist- Ability to cast wizard ward (quest giver is the guy in red near jack of alltrades)

Ranger- A thief with toxic dagger ability (quest giver is at the base of Zere rocks)

Paladin- A warrior with whippingboy ability (quest giver is the lady on the roof of Gleeba castle behind the fountian)

[Karkarov]

Gladiator- Need someone with dragon slash and ability to get super high tension (quest giver in in basement of alltrades abby}

To clarify that you need two separate someones. A minstral to get the second character into super high tension (minstrals can't rally themselves main character fits this bill though) and another character 2 with dragon slash who could be either another mistral or a warrior.

I honestly really don't like how they did the advanced classes, they are cheap as hell. Use Wizard Ward than kill two metal slimes? Most of the metal slimes I find run on round one immediately, forget about the 6-7 hits it takes to kill them.

You are right about the level 1 thing though. It sounds sucky but it isn't. You can re level pretty decent, can switch back to the high level other class any time, and keep all your current skill point abilities. With enough effort you can have a flat disgusting party.

[ViolenceJack]

Info. on the Best Buy Event:
http://sharkme.net/ds/dq9/bestbuy.html
Locations were all on a PDF file, I put the 11 pages on there for easy viewing.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

Info. on the Best Buy Event:
http://sharkme.net/ds/dq9/bestbuy.html
Locations were all on a PDF file, I put the 11 pages on there for easy viewing.

Of course the nearest location is a two hour drive.

Oh well, have fun, those of you who get to go.

[Wingzer001]

I dont get it

[EvilHero]

You should get it after finishing the Stornway quest. If I recall.

Also EH, at the Stornway Inn you can Recruit a Friend to make another custom character, you can have up to 3 others maxing the party out at 4, but this seems to also divide the Exp. earned from battles.

When you change classes you will reset to Lv1, likely so that you have an opportunity to max out skill point spending.

Also here's some Hidden Classes (C&P'd off GameFAQs)

Gladiator- Need someone with dragon slash and ability to get super high tension (quest giver in in basement of alltrades abby}

Armamamentalist- Ability to cast wizard ward (quest giver is the guy in red near jack of alltrades)

Ranger- A thief with toxic dagger ability (quest giver is at the base of Zere rocks)

Paladin- A warrior with whippingboy ability (quest giver is the lady on the roof of Gleeba castle behind the fountian)

Thanks for the info, VJ. I bought the guide with it though, so i'm pretty much good to go on everything. Only question though, how long does it take to reach the point where you can unlock tag mode?

I'm feeling a big DQIII vibe from this game, i'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. Flipping through the guide, I got to see all the cool stuff you can get on your characters.

Info. on the Best Buy Event:
http://sharkme.net/ds/dq9/bestbuy.html
Locations were all on a PDF file, I put the 11 pages on there for easy viewing.

Of course the nearest location is a two hour drive.

Oh well, have fun, those of you who get to go.

I wouldn't be too bummed out if I were you. I ran our Best Buy UFC event last year and nobody showed up. I basically just got paid to play UFC 2009 by myself for 3 hours, lol.

I'm almost positive this is how the DQ event is going to end up. Maybe it will be different for other locations?

[Fatney]

I loved the Bad Caves, I met a lot of Metal Medleys and leveled up a good deal. I love it when games manages to make grinding fun.

Current party consists of male Thief, female Warrior, male Monk and male Priest. My team is ballin'

[Karkarov]

Thanks for the info, VJ. I bought the guide with it though, so i'm pretty much good to go on everything. Only question though, how long does it take to reach the point where you can unlock tag mode?

I'm feeling a big DQIII vibe from this game, i'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. Flipping through the guide, I got to see all the cool stuff you can get on your characters.


I agree this game copies alot of DQIII's set up. Create your party, class changing, restarting at level 1 when you do, etc etc. Which to me isn't a bad thing because DQIII is one of my personal favorite DQ games.

As for tag mode it should only be a few hours honestly, I wish I could mess around with the online components myself but Nintendo and my network don't get along.

[Fatney]

I want to ask something I've asked tons of times but never gotten a clear answer on, so I'll be more specific here: Is multiplayer all about sidequests? Do you invite people into your world, do a quest together and then the session ends? Are everyone you invited to your world forced to follow you in the usual line, or can they roam freely around the area?

[ViolenceJack]

I dunno I havent been able to try it yet, maybe I'll be able to on Sat.

[Andy]

I want to ask something I've asked tons of times but never gotten a clear answer on, so I'll be more specific here: Is multiplayer all about sidequests? Do you invite people into your world, do a quest together and then the session ends? Are everyone you invited to your world forced to follow you in the usual line, or can they roam freely around the area?

The multiplayer session lasts as long as you want it to. It's based on whoever the host player is. You can do that person's story for as long as you want. My friend beat the game already, and I had him visit my town, and he can wander around on his own anywhere in my world. He can't use Zoom and go to places I haven't been to, though. He's limited to the places I've discovered. If he's on the other side of the world, and I want him to get to my side, I just use a call to arms feature in game and he can choose yes and teleport to me. You both see the story cutscenes if you're doing story missions and all that.

I visited his world and bought myself some really expensive armor that's been helping me out a lot. Oh, and when the person who's visiting in your world wants to leave, they can just use an item they get when they arrive to your world, and they're teleported back to their own game.

It's a really great multiplayer mode, just a shame you can only do it locally.

[Andy]

Just got in from the Best Buy Map Quest event. It was really cool. Two guys from Nintendo flew in and were giving away stickers and posters along with the maps. I was the only one that was there for a while, so we did some multiplayer and got to explore their tricked out worlds. Super friendly guys.

Oh, and they had the map from the Gamestop event, so I got that one from them, too.

Great day.

http://i33.tinypic.com/28i5g9f.jpg

[ViolenceJack]

I got a couple T-Shirts, they had the sticker sheet, but I'm not really into Stickers.

[Andy]

I really wanted a shirt, but they said they didn't give their team any.

:very_sad:

[Karkarov]

Grats Andy looks like you made off with some nice stuff.

[ViolenceJack]

I heard that other Best Buys wouldnt give out T-Shirts unless you Bought the game there.

Anyways, Here's the shirt:

Its gray with some slimes on it. They only had them in Large though.
I should of grabbed the rest cause there was only 4 of us and one guy left b4 the goodies came out.

http://www.arlus.net/DQShirt.jpg

And no I didnt go to the store like that I just took a pic for my facebook page >.>

[Andy]

Grats Andy looks like you made off with some nice stuff.

Thanks man. I'm really happy with the whole experience. The two reps could not have been nicer. I've read on other forums that some of the reps that showed up for the event were really clueless, or just didn't show up at all.

I heard that other Best Buys wouldnt give out T-Shirts unless you Bought the game there.

Anyways, Here's the shirt:

Its gray with some slimes on it. They only had them in Large though.
I should of grabbed the rest cause there was only 4 of us and one guy left b4 the goodies came out.

[]http://www.arlus.net/DQShirt.jpg[/img]

And no I didnt go to the store like that I just took a pic for my facebook page >.>

Man, that's awesome. I'm trying to find anyone who somehow came into multiple shirts to pass one over my way.

Oh, and I've never really understood the appeal for the DSi XL, but after playing this game on their demo unit, I totally want one. I know the 3DS is just around the corner, but I can't deny how awesome the device is. It just looks and feels great. Plus that new midnight blue color is crazy nice.

[ViolenceJack]

The DSL makes me think if you took two PSP's and put a hindge on them.. It looked like it'd be a less of a strain on the eyes at least. My DS makes my hands cramp up if I play it for too long.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

The DSL makes me think if you took two PSP's and put a hindge on them.. It looked like it'd be a less of a strain on the eyes at least. My DS makes my hands cramp up if I play it for too long.

Seriously. I realize my hands are larger than average, so tiny Japanese gaming devices aren't exactly designed for me, but still. I miss the Dreamcast controller.

[Karkarov]

Oh, and I've never really understood the appeal for the DSi XL, but after playing this game on their demo unit, I totally want one. I know the 3DS is just around the corner, but I can't deny how awesome the device is. It just looks and feels great. Plus that new midnight blue color is crazy nice.

Oh dude you aint kidding. I recently bought a DSXL to replace my old 1st gen DS Lite that was starting to crap out on me. It was a major upgrade. Screen is clearer, much larger than you might think, the sound is better, and it even has a nice non finger print/grit magnet case for all but the very top. The camera thing I don't really care about too much but it can be fun to screw around with, and it works with my wireless network at least for internet stuff though for some reason games still wont support it.

PS: nice hat Jack.

[ViolenceJack]

I dunno about the Party Slime shirts, but ebay does have some blue shirts with a slime on them that were at comic con. Some of them are going for too much but some are only $2 (last I checked).

[RayFoxSith]

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/12/20/dragon-quest-vi-realms-of-revelation-slimes-north-america-in-february/

IT'S FINALLY COMING!!!

[Juliki]

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/12/20/dragon-quest-vi-realms-of-revelation-slimes-north-america-in-february/

IT'S FINALLY COMING!!!

OMFG!!!

FINALLY!!!

:D

[ViolenceJack]

Another game for me to look forward to in 2011.

[Flußkönig]

Amazing news. S-E just needs to announce SaGa 2 & 3 for NA and I would love them forever (or until they don't release the next game I am really looking forward to over here).

[Fuyukaze]

Thankfully Nintendo didn't let this one sit in Japan either. A shame SquareEnix isn't releasing the DQ series these days. Perhaps the big N will release SaGa as well?

[Flußkönig]

I didn't realize that Nintendo was the one bringing this over. Kind of explains why it is coming out the same week as TO:LUCT.

Nintendo has indicated that it is looking into localizing previously Japanese only DS games. It would be pretty sweet if they decided to bring over those SaGa titles.

[Kakizaki]

I didn't realize that Nintendo was the one bringing this over. Kind of explains why it is coming out the same week as TO:LUCT.

Nintendo has indicated that it is looking into localizing previously Japanese only DS games. It would be pretty sweet if they decided to bring over those SaGa titles.


Yes, I agree. Don't see it happening, but wish it would. ;)

[Rednusander]

Thankfully Nintendo didn't let this one sit in Japan either. A shame SquareEnix isn't releasing the DQ series these days. Perhaps the big N will release SaGa as well?

Hardly a shame. You don't think SE is coming out of this with nothing to gain, do you? Even a company as big as SE doesn't have the marketing engine and the universal reach of Nintendo's hands. Suddenly the series is exposed to first party promotions, first party retailer support, first party advertising... It will pull down much bigger numbers with Nintendo at the helm than SE could have hoped for with all its power behind it.

[Fuyukaze]

Thankfully Nintendo didn't let this one sit in Japan either. A shame SquareEnix isn't releasing the DQ series these days. Perhaps the big N will release SaGa as well?

Hardly a shame. You don't think SE is coming out of this with nothing to gain, do you? Even a company as big as SE doesn't have the marketing engine and the universal reach of Nintendo's hands. Suddenly the series is exposed to first party promotions, first party retailer support, first party advertising... It will pull down much bigger numbers with Nintendo at the helm than SE could have hoped for with all its power behind it.

I believe they have the most to gain with Nintendo releasing it. Much like the original release of Dragon Warrior, Nintendo's taking all the risks. Only difference is this time there's no free game with subscription to Nintendo Power. The only thing they have to loose with this move is the percentage they themselves would have got. After costs of advertising it and such, it very well could end up costing them more. From the little I've seen, DQV didn't exactly set sales records to any degree either. I do see your point. Nintendo is more likely to invest more heavy into promoting it then Square. Having said that, I still wish square would release more of their stuff that isn't Final Fantasy re-makes. They may sell but what I wouldn't give for some of their other games.

[Master Zombots]

A bit late... but I got 2 T-shirts from the Dragon Quest IX events. If I had enough time to play enough to get the coins to buy some of the Holidayesque items in the online shop now, I'd do it. :|