Dragon Quest 7

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>>386094346
Just started playing it, I'm liking it, DQ is an amazing franchise.

Have already finished 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9.

Started playing 1 on my phone too but I have absolutely no idea where to go so I just grind mindlessly.

>>386094346
its really good but it also has a slow start. like twenty hours before you unlock the jobs in a job based rpg slow start.
game is also mega long, like 80 hours.

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>This would be my first DQ

anon no, it's too long. Start with 5.

It's nice and short and literally everyone likes it.

>>386094505
You can also start with 8, which is what I did.

I love that game so much, and Jessica's boobs are a wonder of the world.

DQ gives me such a feeling of adventure, I just love it.

>>386094505
This
DQ7 is not a good introductory game to the series, it's only for fans who've played the others

>>386094346
VII is my favorite, but definitely go for V or VIII for a far more comfortable entry to the series. Particularly V.

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>>386094803

8 is also too long

5 is safe.

and then 4.

>>386094346
It's like 100 hours long man, are you sure? You don't even get the Job system until like 20 hours in.

>>386095024
4 is actually my least favourite, I wouldn't suggest it that much.

>>386095105
It's my least favorite outside of the unholy trinity of 2, 6 and 9 as well, what a coincidence.

>>386094346
7 is great but it's a slow burn. It's experimental in weird ways but also very much a dragon quest game in terms of combat and gameplay. It also hits hard, like, REALLY hard, in a lot of good ways. It's also got good waifus.

Damn, 7 is a good game, but man do you have to be willing to dive into it. This is a game where there's a 3 hour prologue where you have to fuck around an island with no fights and nothing to do because you're a bunch of bored as fuck kids fucking around.

>>386094346
Don't listen to >>386094505 OP. DQ VII is my first since OG Dragon Warrior and I'm loving it. Knowing how long it s was a huge draw for me, I never have that sinking feeling of "it'll be done soon".

I agree the start is slow, it's not unfun before jobs because the discovery of the story is interesting enough to carry it and it's not too hard in the beginning. Fuck the opening tho, it's a slog.

100 hour game with 4 songs in the OST. They're all shit.

The story is awful, the battles are boring, the characters ironically have no character.

Don't waste your time DQ is a meme

>>386095487
The 3DS version makes it SO much worse. You end up wasting nearly the same amount of time doing FUCKING NOTHING instead of solving puzzles.

>>386094346
tons of filler
tons of backtracking
20 hours to unlock vocatiions

if you want to play a better DQ play 8

Is there any reason to get the 3DS version of VIII over emulating the PS2 version?

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>>386094346
My favorite DQ game but is pretty long at 100 hours. Maybe try III or V first. VIII is good if you aren't familar with jrpgs, if you are then VIII will feel boring.

>>386095243
2 is probably the worst mainline DQ, 6 is just too middle of the road to be memorable, but 9 is great. It's the first DQ to do an expansive post game right. Plus I love making characters and role playing with them via the job system. It's pretty fun. One of my favs and the first DQ I put more than 200 hours into.

>>386095743
Bonus content like two new party members and extra postgame content. Also a new ending where you marry jessica but that just makes the ending worse.

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>>386095880

Would you like a fun DQXI fact?

>>386095743
More content and portability. That pretty much it. The PS2 does everything else better. That being said, I prefer the 3DS version for that extra content and that portability. Those are both a huge plus for me.

>>386095971
Of course, but only if you answer one question. How are you in almost every DQ thread. You've been in them for years now.

>>386095880
Problem is that everything before the post-game aside from a few small bits is sub-6 in quality.

>>386095243
>Insulting 9
It's like you didn't want to sail around in a flying train with a gyaru fairy fighting past bosses or something.

>>386094346
7's alright, not my favorite or least favorite. Didn't like the characters as much as those in other entries, but still likable (though they can be grating early on). Job system can be a hell of a grind if you want to min/max, but otherwise it works well and is fun to mess around with. Once you hit jobs however, I'd suggest looking up what combos lead to what higher tier jobs, especially if you have someone going down monster classes. As others have said, 5 and 8 are likely better entry points, but 7 is still solid.

9 is probably the most accessible to new players, as it's not super long, or too grind heavy, and since you make all the characters, you can really immerse yourself in the story.

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>>386096092

The loli has a Stella costume.

>>386096601
Alright Chen now time for the real questions.

Is there a cute shota character/party member?

>>386096425
Eh I would say it's the same quality as 6 or a little bit better, but I guess that's just opinions.

>>386096601
I now need this game. Going around with a little Stella sounds great.

You have to be a saint of patience to squeeze any enjoyment out of DQ7. You go 20 hours without a job system, then when you think you're about to unlock it the game blueballs you and you have to go 3 hours more without it in one of the worst series of dungeons I've ever had the misfortune to trudge through in all my 23 years of gaming. Then when you finally do unlock it, the game's difficulty curve goes out of whack. Most of the time the game is too easy, but then you suddenly come across these brick walls of difficulty with no warning, and you're afraid to grind to beat them because you remember how easy the game usually is.

If you want to try the DQ series, start with 3, 5, or a Monsters game. For the Monsters series the Joker games have smoother mechanics, but the GBC games have more charm.

>>386097130
JOKER A SHIT
A SHIT

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>>386096951

No, just Camus, Silvia, Grandpa Row, and Greigor

>>386097121

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUQwZ9GGQBM

>>386097130
It didn't take me 20 hours, but I get your point. Also the game doesn't really spike in difficulty at all after that. Once you get jobs, it's smooth sailing to the end.

If I'm playing VIII for the first time should I even worry about min maxing skill allocation or optimal builds? I've got my team at 11, 13, 14 and only put points in Jessica for the puff puff skill tree.

I actually like voice acting because it makes the accents bareable because I couldn't stand them in IV but V wasn't as bad about them.

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>>386094346

I wouldn't recommend it as your first DQ game. That being said, there are plenty of people who played it first and liked it. All the DQ games are good. Just some are gooderer than others.

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>>386098246

Just max one passive and one weapon tree for each character. You can beat the game with any weapon as long as you max it. On my first playthrough, I went the 'worst' build possible (boomerangs, sythes, knives and staves) and still finished the game just fine.

You'll hate the voices later on when guys like Marcello, Trode and the elf are talking a lot.

DQ7 was my first DQ, 3DS version.

the game is fucking terrible, but the npc plotlines were basic and enjoyable. when they started intertwining it was even better so i put up with the awful gameplay. use the auto-battle and make a beeline for the super vocations, have one person on monster vocations.

Is anyone playing 11?

How do you dual wield?

Thanks for the info guys. Gonna see if I can't get a copy of 5 instead, though I'll probably end up getting this anyways lol

I'm liking 7 more than 8, so far at least.
Played 8 on the PS2 back then but my disc was scratched so I couldnt continue past the abbey.

Now I'm playing the 3DS version. It lacks the sense of mystery DQ7 had which was established right from the start. The stories in the villages arent as good either, but maybe they'll get better later.
So far it seems like a Sephiroth where in the world is Carmen Sandiego deal to me.

Also the party chat is fucking garbage compared to 7.

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hoes before bros

>>386099085
I like Trode...

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>>386104000
Trips of truth.

VIII is boring compared to VII, VII is the best game in the series in my opinion.

>>386104000
>also the party chat is fucking garbage compared to 7
THIS, even in execution. What was wrong with simply pressing a button? The party doesn't say anything after every NPC discussion, new location or happening.

>>386104000
I played both and I like 8 more, but the stories in the villages in 8 don't hold a candle to 7. 7 is one of the best games I've played that does that kind of story telling. Each village in 7 is a mystery itself and it's so great.

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>>386104000

Both games are good. You just want different things. I prefer VIII because of the open exploration and more hands off story. I also think the towns in DQVIII are on a whole other level compared to towns in previous DQ games because of how many new things you could explore with the 3D graphics. The real triumph of Dragon Quest VIII was being one of the best examples of a series transitioning from 2D to 3D.

The only real flaws in Dragon Quest VIII is the lack of development for Jessica and the lack of parcheesi. You could also add the lack of classes if you prefer classes, but I prefer the skill system myself. I think Dragon Quest VII would have been a better game if it has skills so you didn't have to return to the abbey dozens of times.

>>386106249
people always talk about exploration but I'm not seeing it in DQ8.
barely any sidequests, and at best you find a chest with some crap inside if you decide to get off the beaten path.

the towns are absolutely nothing special. structurally they arent doing anything new.

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>>386106249
I found the skills shallow. It could be a good system but they are imbalanced leading some skills nearly useless.

>>386106402
>the towns are absolutely nothing special
They're in fucking 3d, man. It's 1000% better than other DQs' shitty 2d towns or 7's pseudo 3d towns.

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>>386106402
DQVIII was most Western fans' first DQ game, for that reason it is special to a lot of people I played it as my fifth DQ game and found incredibly lacking.

>>386106457
The best compromise is the skill/class system in DQ9. That was damn near perfect. I loved it and I want it to return.

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>>386106492
Its just a different fucking camera angle/controls. You are acting as if it was a jump like 2D Mario to 3D Mario, but its really not.

>>386106582
I think the game is alright but some of the stuff people talk about when they praise it makes little sense to me.

Games strenghts are the voice acting and how pretty it is. I think thats more or less it.

>>386104426
Kiefer did nothing wrong.

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>>386106402

>people always talk about exploration but I'm not seeing it in DQ8.
Go out and actually walk around the overworld beyond just heading to the next story event. Exploring caves and towns also counts as exploration. And there's just a lot more in DQVIII than most games. You can spend hours exploring some of the towns. Admittedly some games that have come out since DQVIII have had better exploration. But not many. Certainly not Dragon Quest IX.

>barely any sidequests, and at best you find a chest with some crap inside if you decide to get off the beaten path.
Which is still more than other DQ games have on the overworld. But there's more than you are letting on. It's also how the game lets you find stuff without directing you to it. For example, you can find Morrie's Monster Pit on the way to Pickham on your own, with zero guidance. Or you can walk to Arcadia, Bacarrat or Chataeu Felix before going to the church which is the first story event on that continent. The story will eventually point you to these places, but only if you completely ignore exploration. It's not so much that the game has tons of extra stuff, but that it allows you the freedom to find stuff on your own. Without an NPC or icon telling you to go there.

Dragon Quest VII on the other hand is very linear as it just dumps you on an island full of only the locations you need to find. There isn't ever an extra dungeon or random house or extra town to explore. Always the exact locations the story needs on every island. Which isn't bad. It just makes DQVII seem like it lacks the free roaming exploration other DQ games have.

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>>386106402

>the towns are absolutely nothing special. structurally they arent doing anything new.
I highly disagree. But I'm not gonna go into a big description about how castles have more depth or how Pickham is an amazingly well designed maze or how Arcadia gets the player to explore it without an NPC or story trigger telling you to. The point is that with the added 3D, it drasticlaly changed the way you explore towns. You no longer explore them from an overview (god view). You explore them from the view of the character itself. Which you may think doesn't change much, but it makes things a lot more immersive. The Dragon Quest VII remake on 3DS also was vastly improved by doing this. The biggest problem on the PS1 version of Dragon Quest VII was spending hours talking to NPCs but just looking at sprites. The added level of detail simply seeing your characters have reactions to events and exploring a town/castle from their perspective made it a whole new game.

The towns in Dragon Quest VIII also clearly do new things that the 2D DQ games can't. Be it a simple mechanic like searching hanging baskets (why didn't the remake of DQVII fucking do this? There's baskets in your own house!) to multi-layered towns and castles. Only a couple towns in the previous games were multi-layered, because it was a pain to navigate. Think zoomville in Dragon Quest V or the town with the winged people in Dragon Quest VII. Again, something that seems so small is actually a huge difference in an RPG. Especially since the big thing in DQVIII was going 3D.

Which is also one of the reasons Yuji Horii was so adamant Dragon Quest XI needed to be on consoles. The 3DS version just won't be the same experience as the PS4 one.

>>386107921
Dude I think you might just be nostalgiafagging.

>>386107921
Structurally the overworld in DQ8 isnt all that much different from DQ7, its just laid out in a way that the illusion of something bigger exists.

When you get to Pickham Morries Pit is literally right in front of Pickham, I dont even know how you can miss that. Aside from that the only other places in that general area you can find are Reds hideout and the dungeon for that gem.
The general Pickham area is literally as big as your average island in DQ7 with about as many hotspots, its just that instead of getting sent from island to island the game funnels you towards the next area of the game after finishing story part x or y.

There really isnt much of a difference. You dont really get to progress the story out of order anyways.

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I wish the 7 remake didn't add a bottom screen minimap. It makes the dungeons way too easy. It's my only real complaint.

>>386107921
>Certainly not Dragon Quest IX
Not him, but DQ IX has as much exploration as VIII, if not more. It just feels like there weren't much because IX was in 2d. The rewards are also better. In IX you can find alchemy ingredients and grottos scattered around the world, in VIII, the most you can find are chests, which vanishes after you take it on the first time.

>>386108269
None of the cities and castles wouldnt be possible in 2D.
The game is essentially a 2D game, the vertical element of 3D doesnt matter for shit.

Multi layered places have also never truly been a problem in 2D games, actual action games like Zelda used them to great extent and nobody ever had an issue.

Basically I think you're full of shit. No, I know that you are full of shit because your dumb fanboy ass is plaguing all DQ threads.

>>386108345
well I like it because it allows me to go to dead ends first because those usually have chests.
fuck this getting to an exit but then backtracking because there was another clear deadend with some loot maybe shit.

>>386108535
That's part of the charm of rpgs! I may be broken.

>>386108440
9 is in 3D, but the camera is more aerial than 8.

>>386108653
You know what I mean, you can't compare 9's 3d to 8's.

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>>386108282

>Structurally the overworld in DQ8 isnt all that much different from DQ7, its just laid out in a way that the illusion of something bigger exists.
Well, aside from the overworld in DQVIII not being fractured into smaller islands and allowing you to visit locations out of order, even after you unlock the whole world, the way to explore the overworld in DQVII isn't at all like in VIII.

>When you get to Pickham Morries Pit is literally right in front of Pickham, I dont even know how you can miss that.
After leaving Ascantha, Yangus tells you to follow the beach to get to Pickham. If you take his directions literally, you will walk on the beach and avoid Morrie's Pit. You have to backtrack on the path for a few minutes to go to Morrie's Pit (or ignore Yangus' instructions and walk directly south, avoiding the beach). You can also look at the map and notice a building there and go explore it. The point is, the game lets you as the player go find Morrie's Pit on your own. There's clues guiding you there, but still enough freedom that it makes you think you find it on your own. Since there isn't an icon or NPC directly telling you to go there.

The secret developers don't want you to know about open world is, the best ones are planned out and guide you to the locations. They just make the player feel like they found it themselves. But this exploration isn't even an option in Dragon Quest VII. It doesn't have an open world. You explore every part of the overworld in predetermined stages. Which again isn't bad and I'm sure many people like it. But you can't say it's the same as Dragon Quest VIII at all.

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>>386108282

>The general Pickham area is literally as big as your average island in DQ7 with about as many hotspots, its just that instead of getting sent from island to island the game funnels you towards the next area of the game after finishing story part x or y.
Yes, but like I said above, Dragon Quest VII doesn't allow you to find things on your own. You go to an island and it has one town, a lone house on the far left and a cave on the far right. Even before you leave the platform, you can already tell what needs to be done and in what order. After 20 Islands, this becomes rather tedious. And at least I wanted them to throw a curve ball where you could explore something freely. Only two islands I can think of did this, because they were large enough to have more than one town.

>>386108440

>Not him, but DQ IX has as much exploration as VIII, if not more
Not by a long shot. As someone already pointed out. DQIX returned to the overhead view. Which means towns couldn't be explored as in depth. But Dragon Quest IX also split up the overworld into squares. And there weren't any NPCs/events on the overworld. Just monsters and chests. And the occasional animal which just gave you dung or milk.

>>386109402
DQ7 has plenty of optional things on the islands too. Many places dont become relevant until much later in the game or in the present versions.

>You explore every part of the overworld in predetermined stages.
Which the majority of JRPGs adhere to. You cant go to pickham instantly after you boot up the game. The game world is fractured anyways, its just done by the sea, mountain ranges or story roadblocks.
Ultimately its all the same.

>>386109586
>confirmed for never playing the game aside from the main story
Even excluding exploration for alchemy materials, grotto hunting is definitely more exploration than VIII. The definition of Grotto hunting itself is exploring. You are given a piece of map which shows you a section of a zoomed in map which you won't be able to find unless you EXPLORE the world. The rewards are also much more rewarding. Compare it to VIII's one-time-exploration which gives you one piece of equipment, and then, nothing. Not even one incentive to go back there once you open all the chests.

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>>386109626

>DQ7 has plenty of optional things on the islands too.
Like what? I can't think of any in the whole games. There's an occasional area you can visit that doesn't have a story relevance at the time. But it always gets used later on by a later story event. Like how you can visit the shack with the mech feeding soup to the dead guy long before the story event guiding you there. But when you first go there, the mech just blocks you from coming in. You're not really 'exploring' it.

>Which the majority of JRPGs adhere to.
And Dragon Quest VIII changed this up. See why it was kind of a big deal when it came out?

>You cant go to pickham instantly after you boot up the game.
Of course not. But you can visit it way earlier than you need to. You can walk all the way from the Abbey to Pickham if you want, before even getting Angelo. And when you go to the second continent, you have the freedom to go to any place you want, even though the first story event is at the church. A lot of people end up going to Arcadia first and actually complain about not finding the next story trigger. The game gives so enough freedom to explore and seek out the next event yourself.

>The game world is fractured anyways, its just done by the sea, mountain ranges or story roadblocks.
Way less than VII is. Your access to the world is basically broken up into 4 stages. Getting past the initial gate, getting the boat and getting the bird soul. Each one of these dramatically opens up the game. Dragon Quest VII on the other hand keeps you from going somewhere until after you complete an island. And even then, it blocks you from exploring huge areas of the world in the present since your carpet can't go over mountains. You'll be 80+ hours into the game and still blocked from exploring parts of an island you completed 60 hours ago by extremely well placed mountains and bridges.

>>386110216

I did all the grottoes. Which was very frustrating because you'd have to wait until near the end of the game to do a lot of them. You'd recognize a grotto map from the island you just unlocked. So you rush over to that area in the present, only to find that the area is blocked off by mountains. And you don't get access to that area until 80+ hours into the game.

I'm sorry but I'll take Dragon Quest VIII over that any day. Once you unlock the boat, you know exactly what parts of the world you have access to. Then again when you get the godbird soul. There's only two 'gates' to your progress and they are abundantly clear. There's not only a gate for each island, but also five different gates in the present in DQVII. This is the opposite of exploration. It's forcing you to stop exploring until the game lets you.

>>386110469
What the fuck? I'm talking about 9's grotto. Did you even read my post? DQVII doesn't even have alchemy, ffs.

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>>386094346
Yes, it's one of the best

>>386111183
>II in Patrician
>III in contrarian
>II in fucking PATRICIAN
The rest is decently accurate though

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>>386111786
2 isn't a game for brainlets
It's for enthusiasts

>>386111183

All the DQ games are good. Don't turn this into a shitty "my favorite game is best and the others suck" fight like every Final Fantasy thread turns into.

>>386111786
I don't get people's beef against DQII. I didn't remember having any difficulties playing it when I was doing I-III marathon.

>>386094346

Backtracking: The Game

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>>386112139

It does have a lot of flow problems. Even in the beginning, you have to stop and grind 5-6 levels for every character. Then after you get the boat, there's another difficulty spike where you have to grind. But the game is so short that I don't really mind it. I also don't mind grinding when there's a payoff for doing it. And in DQII, the payoff is the exact same as in DQI. You get strong enough to move into the next area. It feels like a challenge. And is very satisfying when you surpass that challenge. So I ended up really enjoying it.

That being said, I wouldn't want an 80 hour DQ game with that kind of progression. Dragon Quest III was so amazing because it pretty much fixed every problem DQII had while adding in a world 5x bigger and a class system.

>>386112545
I feel bad for the prince. Having to drag two Cannocks.

I've now finished I, II and III. I'm excited to play IV, just taking a little break, is the phone version really the definitive one?

>>386112313

That's not Metroid Prime.

>>386113209

There's really no definitive version. You can play the original NES version without gameplay improvements, the DS game with gameplay improvements but shitty dialects and no party chat or the phone version which is the DS version with party chat added back in and horrible touch controls.

The west really got screwed on DQIV.

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>>386113209
Basically. It has the party chats. It does have some text wrapping problems though. The party chat really adds a lot of life to the party.

>>386111183
I can't comment on this, because this could be accurate assuming you had played the whole series

but in reality you start with 8, its the 'modern one that is also good'

after that you play 5 or 4

if you actually make it that far, no one needs to tell you what to play next

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>>386113374
>>386113351
The touch controls really aren't that bad for DQ4. For RPGS, touch controls aren't that bad. I would've liked the party chat in the DS version though.

>>386112086
FF>DQ tho

DQ 7 3DS was my first. I did try 8 on PS2 before that but I never got very far in it. Honestly I think people exaggerate how long it is, even if the intro is longer on psx.

>>386094346
People sing praises about it but i ran out of patience with it.

>>386114376
It was my first too, the intro is a bit long and boring, but everything after is amazing.

>>386114376
>>386114473
I'm so jealous you guys could do this. Having autism is horrible.

>>386112545
>>>386112139
>It does have a lot of flow problems. Even in the beginning, you have to stop and grind 5-6 levels for every character.
Not really, they just need to defend often and get healed a lot. I never grinded in 2.

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>>386115774

I tried that and cannock/moonbrooke just died in one hit. Especially Moonbrooke because the area you get her, your other characters will be level 10-12.with.

>>386094346
Get 8 instead if you have a 3DS, 7's pacing is glacial.

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>>386116557