Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
It is time to experience this game. <Caution, series spoilers>
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And possible spoilers for other series as well. You've been warned. Dragon Quest IX marks the end of a journey for me, as it's the last in the main series I've yet to absorb into my being. It is very likely the last new Dragon Quest I will play, as I've become cynical towards newer gameplay systems of all types. Does the journey ends in failure, or success? Will I encounter a grand game that honors the memories of its predecessors while championing new strengths, or will I find a weak game that can't quite manage to pull together a complete gaming experience? This topic endeavors to record the road to the end, and the answer to my questions. You shall all be witness to the conclusion, my feelings at that very moment when it's all over and the curtains fall. Fresh, raw, like the energized artist on the stage. Further, being that this is equally a new and deeply nostalgic experience for me, I'd like there to be a discussion. I will inevitably compare Dragon Quest IX to and mention other games. This topic is an opportunity, I think, to talk about the video games we love and enjoy the "feelies". --- "If you're going to be a mod, you should work harder to get rid of your humanity. It's creepy." ~ Monker to The Paragon | |
I should tell a little about myself before I begin - hopefully knowledge will prevent ignorant, repetitive, banal questions and comments. 1: I know nothing of the game outside of these: Its name and pedigree, it involves some angelic symbolism, and there's a very big post-game with treasure maps and classic Dragon Warrior bosses. Anything I say that is not in standing with the actualities of the game is done in ignorance; please correct me. 2: Spoilers rarely bother me, but try to keep them to a minimal unless I ask something that requires them. 3: I will interchangeably use Dragon Warrior and Dragon Quest. Don't worry about it. 4: I don't like forced grinding in a game. I will define grinding as any repetitive action requiring an hour or more out of my time for the sole reason as padding the game experience. Forced grinding will also be assumed if I am forced to do something many dozens of times over for no apparent reason. Imagine fights every few steps, with the rewards from them being piddly. I am fine with sidequests* and the post-game involving grinding. I love Nippon Iichi Software games, after all. *: As long as the game isn't completely composed of sidequests. I have no idea if it is or not. I will harshly judge the game if it features forced grinding. This is absolutely the biggest killer of the game experience I've encountered over the years. There is absolutely no excuse to have forced grinding. 5: I HATE minigames that are stupid and insipid. Imagine the ones from Kingdom Hearts 1 ("Hero" training) or Breath of Fire III (Vinegar Well). Pointless, difficult, and you MUST attain a "100%" score in order to proceed. Oh and good luck getting the vinegar out of the well if you're deaf. Thanks, Capcom! Not as big a problem as 4, depending on how many and how annoying. 6: If I criticize an element of the gameplay, do not defend it with "It's a game made in the old skool style". Please. Don't humiliate yourself. I'm tired of beating you people like baby seals. It's boring now. (My counter in a nutshell: A game doesn't magically escape having flaws because it's old or is designed after one that is.) I will NOT respond to anyone making an argument like this. 7: I'm not using a walkthrough until, at minimum, the post-game. I do not believe a complete, satisfying game experience requires that I suckle the teat of a FAQ. The FAQ is there to help me enhance the portrait after I have painted it, not do the job for me. 8: I despise missables. I refuse to play Final Fantasy X and X-2 because they have so many missables. See Moogle Suit guy on 3rd playable screen in X-2 for an example. Final Fantasy V's ridiculous number of missables is one of the many, many reasons I do not like the game. I will be pissed if I miss something really good because I didn't fulfill some deranged series of actions or decided not to check random pot number #3 in a boat that decides to become inaccessible. I'M LOOKING AT YOU, TALOON. (Note: I consider X and X-2 to be masterpieces with excellent gameplay; the missables are that bad. Well, there's also the Tidus problem, but let's leave that for another day...) --- "If you're going to be a mod, you should work harder to get rid of your humanity. It's creepy." ~ Monker to The Paragon | |
9: I respond politely and reasonably to all polite and reasonable arguments, criticisms, pieces of advice, comments, etc. I have no patience for anything that's not, and am unlikely to respond unless it's to my own personal benefit (Read: Amusement). 10: Last and probably the most important for judging what elements of IX I am likely to enjoy and not: III and IV are my favorite games in the series. They feature excellent, solid gameplay, and don't drown themselves in complexities. The music is great, and the general weakness of the storylines doesn't particularly bother me because they still do what they set out to do (Frame the game's strengths: Gameplay). The post-game of Chapters of the Chosen is worth mentioning: You get to right the wrongs of the main game. The execution is amazing, which makes it all the more satisfying. V is a weak game because of a questionable battle system (3 characters only?) and a storyline that kinda sorta tries to be deep and inspiring while failing at both tasks (Inspires no empathy). Games like Breath of Fire II and Lufia 2 have done the evil church and marriage angles better. I've not played the remake. VI a bad game because of insanely excessive grinding and bad storyline. Level grinding, class grinding, encounters every few steps with small rewards. The storyline is INCREDIBLE in the beginning and then gives up and dies after the first major boss is killed. Chat system made the characters worse; they babble incessantly about what generic NPC #345 said. They're one-dimension and painfully predictable. If I want one-dimensional and painfully predictable, I'd watch a Disney movie. And what's up with the post-game content? Nothing new or improved from the original game? Wasted potential (Like the rest of the experience). VII is a long, boring game, with great gameplay and an epic scope. I am torn, as it has lots of grinding, but a deeply enjoyable world. There's so much to see and do. I love the city-making sidequest and the tremendous amount of post-game content. VIII is decent. Gameplay is good, but not what I've come to expect from the series. Storyline is good, too. Not as good as what VI started out with, but I digress. Good post-game. --- With that all said, hopefully you have a better idea of how I approach gaming and how you should expected to be approached. Now, let us begin our walk... 1: The corporate logo screens are too many and too long. This has been a problem in the remakes of IV and VI, and it continues here. The Published by Nintendo logo can't let the bottom screen have the Levels logo? You can't hasten any screen but the Levels logo? Why? Completely nonsensical. 2: The new theme music. The new addition to the beginning is meh and longwinded. 3: I like the character customization options. I'm a sucker for these things. Not complex or particularly deep, but adds that right proper pinch of customization. 4: Graphical style appears to be a blend between the remakes and VIII... 5: "Cruelcumber". I suppose I should surrender myself to an orgy of puns now. Not sure how I like animating everyone's movements...this slows down the pace of battle a bit. Although I'm fairly sure I'll get used to it. Perhaps, grow to love it. 6: Not a fan of how one must transition to a brand new screen to equip/view attributes. Load times and all that. Although I do like how one's character has an actual run animation. Not a bad first impression, but I never accept first impressions... --- "If you're going to be a mod, you should work harder to get rid of your humanity. It's creepy." ~ Monker to The Paragon | |
This board is way too dead for you to have a good time doing this. --- Ben D Straw 6/29/08 | |
Time_Hero posted... This board is way too dead for you to have a good time doing this. Not so. My self, Rpg-wizard, Yab, Liamland, Ignasia7, and a few others who's name escape me. All pay relativly frequent visits to this board. Hence how most of the topics posted here get answered within two days at least. I would be interested to read through your adventure through the game. Hopefully you can get a nice fun addicitive writing style going and i should have fun reading it and recounting my own travels through the game. So yeah i'd go for it. Just be aware the board is quiet. Its not in its prime any longer so visitors are relativly sparse. --- Author of the Starfox Story on the Starfox Assault board. Check it out! Don't Fear the Reaper | |
I prefer a quieter setting. I strongly dislike leaving for a few days, then coming back and seeing two dozen posts to stroll through. It's also more meaningful when a few people interact with each other than a larger crowd. More...memorable, even. Question: Are there items/skills/classes/anything besides interaction that you can only get through multi-player? --- "If you're going to be a mod, you should work harder to get rid of your humanity. It's creepy." ~ Monker to The Paragon | |
Aha. Someone I know on this board, now. SK, the game doesn't require forced grinding... until you beat the final storyline boss. Yes, there are a lot of quests, but grottoes are where you're going to be obtaining most of your endgame gear from, and in order to get better grottoes, you'll need to raise your level, revocate back to level 1, rinse, repeat ad nauseum until you get sick of it. Thankfully, there are two spots pre-game and one spot post-game that speed it up a little bit at least. The dungeon linked to the storyline in Coffinwell provides Metal Slimes, which will give your party about 1000 xp each, and the Bowhole 3rd floor (about 3/4 through the main storyline) provides Liquid Metal Slimes. These are good to bring your level up to about 38, without excessive required battles. The system is nothing like DQVII's "Oh dear gods I have to fight every 5 steps" system, though, since enemies will flee from your presence on the map when you become too high level for their liking. Yes, monsters do chase you to initiate battles a lot, but only a limited amount of them will actually follow your every step until they engage. Many of the monsters will simply run in a straight line toward where you were standing when they noticed you. This makes dodging enemies easier, especially if there's a place where you can use terrain to avoid them. Outside of that, I'm not planning on spoiling much. Like you, I've played all of the Dragon Quest series. This one's not the best, but it's also not the worst (like DQVIII was, imho). --- And that's how two people who love each other very very much make a welfare check... I mean baby. | |
Woo! Hey, Starry. Looks like I picked a good time to return to this board. (And glad to see that yab and some other familiar names are still here.) --- "As the good archmage often admonishes me, I ought not to let my mind wander, as it's too small to go off by itself." -Danilo Thann | |
shadowreaper7 posted... Time_Hero posted...This board is way too dead for you to have a good time doing this. I'm not going to be commenting on this one. I read the DQVI topic, and I'm perfectly happy leaving this one well enough alone. --- *Casts Doom on everything* You all must now feel the pain that I have felt...DIE! | |
Angel Falls is cleared. Three and a half hours, 105 encounters. >_> 7: Battle system is growing on me. I like the improvements done to the skill point system. I do NOT like being forced into the skill point selection screen whenever I gain skill points. It takes time to go through this screen if I have no interest in putting points into anything. Time that could be used for killing other things. Does this stop happening when/if I master every skill tree? Or will I keep getting the skill select screen when I've mastered everything? Atelier Iris did this, and it was just plain annoying after 60+ hours of it... 8: Encounter system is delightful. It's like a more refined version of Lufia II's. I can see enemies, there's room to maneuver, AND they don't immediately start working towards me. This is very good. I can choose whether to fight lots of battles or not. Difficulty is non-existant so far, quite possibly because I am grossly overleveled at the moment. <3 9: Most of the monsters I've encountered so far have premiered in earlier games. I find this a tremendous bonus due to nostalgia factor. I haven't seen the Spirit enemy since Dragon Warrior II. 10: Story is predictable and will continue to be predictable, but isn't bad. NPCs are likable so far. 11: I like the day-night cycles, missed these quite a bit in V, VI, and VII. And GOOD day-night transitions, not the >very< disruptive ones present in VIII. 12: Crossing bridges is still a dangerous activity. <3 13: I just found a mini-medal. It begins. --- "If you're going to be a mod, you should work harder to get rid of your humanity. It's creepy." ~ Monker to The Paragon |
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