DQ General

I've been playing them in order (but plan on doing vii last because of length.) I'm about 20hrs into IX and I really like it. I think it might even be my favorite in the series, even just this far in.

The story isn't amazing, and it probably isn't even the best DQ at being a DQ game, but it's nailing something I've been wanting for almost a decade now: It's a single player game that REALLY feels like an MMO. Even more specifically, it feels a lot like FFXI, which I really enjoyed back in it's prime.

I mean, look at it? It has repeatable fetch quests, enemies on the map that you can kite and zone, no random encounters, a sprawling network of NPC side quests, a crafting system with map gathered resources, notorious monsters, a world map cut into smaller zones with hubs, skill points separate from job levels, job specific quests, quests with very specific prerequisites; You never run out of things to do, and not in a vast empty world sort of way like III or VI did. it constantly feels like lateral growth instead of purely vertical growth. I'm really sad I missed out on the multiplayer.

What am I really missing out on without wifi besides the multiplayer? A player economy, dlc items, dlc quests... Anything else? And how much can be added back in? I'm less interested in equipment and items and more interested in extra game content. This game is my jam and I'm probably going to replay it.

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Thoughts on DQXI?

>>3889008
I have the consoles necessary for both versions. I'm probably gonna get them both since they're so different looking, graphically. Still debating whether to go 2D or 3D on the 3DS version, though, since you can't just keep both on for the full game. That'd be rad, honestly.

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>>3889125
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Pu0fhJNfU

Seeing it in motion makes me really excited.

>>3888923
I thought IX just had local multiplayer, so I don't think there's any kind of online economy. And I'm pretty sure there are ways to hack in missing DLC content.

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I'm currently playing VI (DS), recently go the harp that let's you go underwater.

Underwater fucking sucks. The encounter rate is way higher, the enemies are more annoying, and I've basically given up on trying to find whatever dungeon I was supposed to find on my own after hours of aimless exploring and constantly fighting.

There are few thing I like more about VI, but overall it's been a major downgrade from V.

>>3889153
There was an online market to buy/sell things.

>>3889297
My bad. Been a while since I played IX and never got into the multiplayer side of things.

>>3889125
>>3889008
>>3889142
Is it coming out in the USA?

Final thoughts on DQ7 3DS version?

How about DQ8 3DS version?

>>3889638
Probably, but not until at least a year after the Japanese release

>>3889654
Oh somehow I thought it was already out in JP.

>>3889672
The release date hasn't even been announced yet for Japan, but it will be on April 11th.

>>3889639
DQ7 3DS has an encounter rate that will make you want to blow your fucking brains out
DQ8 is good

>>3890540
Didn't the original PSX version of DQ7 have a crazy encounter rate too?

>>3890540
The encounter rate is mitigated by the fact that you can avoid them, I suppose.

>>3891182
>you can avoid them
yeah you'd think that

>>3891553
Well, in the overworld at least.

>>3890540
>>3891553
I don't remember VII3DS being that bad. I mostly just fucked my way around everything, even in most dungeons.

>>3889230
I went straight for a guide for the underwater locations.
Also be sure to check on all the overland locations now available when you can dive under bridges and cliffs

So far I've finished IV (thought it was ok), V (loved it), and VIII (loved it). Currently working on III, which I'm enjoying more than IV but not as much as V/VIII. Any recommendations on which one I grab next?

>>3892225
>VIII (loved it)

My African American

Did you do all the postgame stuff and get the good ending?

>>3892225
I'd say give VII or IX a try.

Playing the SNES version of DQIII currently and trying to decide whether to make my fighter a mage or my priest into a warrior then swap roles with my current priest i fucked up and wanted a female warrior
>>3890574
i'd say it's much, much worse. it's the walk-three-steps-for-an encounter kind of deal. and you can never avoid your enemies because it's random

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>>3892185
Ended up using a map to find Gracos. Not the worst thing in the world, just annoying. Last time I needed helping finding stuff was DQIII.

>>3892225
Give the first game an honest try if you haven't yet. It's too archaic for some people's tastes, but I had a lot of fun playing it.

>>3892762
in dqiii you want everyone to be female
only the hero is okay as a male
make it a harem

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>>3892225
VII is my absolute favorite so try it. Though I seem to be in the minority as I didn't care for VIII.

>>3892878
I don't think it matters for every class actually. I know some classes like warrior can have like a 30-50 point difference in their stats between the female and male version but most aren't that huge.

I played several DQs but the only one I actually finished was 1, both the NES and SNES versions.
Funny how so many people complain about the grindyness of the first game, but it's so short and enjoyable that I don't care. You can optimize your exp gains by going further into the wilderness and sticking close to towns, anyway.

Figure I'll finally get around to beating 2. Got stuck in Rhone, unsurprisingly.

>tfw we will never ever get an Elf or Hobbit party member

>>3892902
VII is probably the best game for that really hard to achieve feeling of ambiance and comfiness that eludes so many JRPGs. The characters are great, develop a decent amount, the world has a lot of character, there's always something to do, and it's FUN. It's like FFIX in those regards.

The problem is that at 100+ hours, most people lack the attention span to make it through the whole game, especially since we're all in our 30s or 40s now and have much less free time. It doesn't help that there's a moderately sized lull in the plot for 10 or so hours in the middle, right where most other DQs start to pick up at a furious rate.

I'm with you though. I prefer it over VIII, but I might be biased since I honestly feel like 5th gen JRPGs were at the height of their aesthetics.

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>>3893475
For me I just love how connected it feels. The different islands are all quite interesting and seeing my characters change class as they slowly are becoming closer to my planned final class for them just feels satisfying. It feels like a saturday morning cartoon, and that is how DQ should be to me. I honestly never had problems with the length or pacing, both felt fine to me.

I only got into the series around 2 years ago and I started by emulating the snes version of V. For me VIII just felt kind of inferior to the others. The skill tree is kind of dull since the difference between what is good and what is shit will basically mean you always go the same path and doesn't encourage being creative in your how you allocate your skills. Tension also feels like a unbalanced addition often rewarding just building tension with characters and having someone heal for boss battles. Outside of boss battles it seems pointless as well as it is faster to just attack. Speaking of attack while the battles becoming 3d is a nice addition they made them pointlessly slow. Watching my characters run up, attack, then run back and never being able to speed it up really bothered me. I hate to seem like I'm trying to shit on VIII just because its the most popular but I really don't mean to sound that way. It still is a great game and miles ahead other jrpgs but it still felt a bit off from the great quality that DQ is known for for me.

>>3893475
>especially since we're all in our 30s or 40s now and have much less free time
I'm not even in my 20s yet, mate.

>>3893593
You're definitely in the minority around here.

>>3893519
> For me I just love how connected it feels. The different islands are all quite interesting and seeing my characters change class as they slowly are becoming closer to my planned final class for them just feels satisfying. It feels like a saturday morning cartoon, and that is how DQ should be to me. I honestly never had problems with the length or pacing, both felt fine to me.

That pretty much sums it up perfectly. DQ excels at that Saturday morning cartoon feeling, and V + VII easily do it best. Each location you go to and sub plot you complete in a DQ game should feel like a self contained new episode in a TV show, while also slowly adding to the overall growing story arc. V does this very well, VII does it better.

>>3893621
I only come to /vr/ for these threads anyway.

I've played 1 through 6 and I want to play 7
Should I play 7 on my 3DS or on my PS3?

>>3893859
3DS. PS1 version doesn't hold up very well for numerous reasons.

>>3893831
Oh, that's actually pretty rad. Good taste.

How did you get into DQ, what was your first game in the series, and which is your favorite?

I assume you look forward to XI. Looks fucking awesome and legit makes me want to consider buying one of the consoles it's on (my newest console is a first gen X360 my wife and I use solely for GH/RB.)

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>>3893879
My first Dragon Quest was VIII, and my favorite is still VIII. It's the exploration aspect and atmosphere of that game that really hooked me in, something that I'm hoping can be replicated with XI. V is still a very close second for me though.

As to how I got into Dragon Quest? Long story, but I think I'll share it because it's pretty amusing looking back. It was about twelve years ago, when I was seven. My parents took me shopping at the local Walmart and I saw there was a demo for Dragon Quest VIII. The thing that actually attracted me to the demo was the demo reel which showed the characters fighting was I thought was a giant blueberry monster. I later learned that was actually a King Slime. It was a horrible demo because it was a demo of the very beginning of the game after you get to Farebury, so all I did was talk to NPCs without any fighting before I had to leave the demo. Still, it was interesting enough to me that I bought the game, and I'm glad I did. It was my first actual RPG, and is still one of the best games I've ever played.

I switched over to playing Japanese games only in Japanese sometime in 2015 because I think the language is interesting and I love Japanese games and because of localization issues that we've already argued enough about in these threads and since July 2016 (which is when I started joining these threads) I've started trying to complete all the Dragon Quest games and the Dragon Quest Monsters games in Japanese before Dragon Quest XI comes out, starting with the Famicom version of I. Right now I'm playing IV DS, so I think I'm making pretty good progress. I will definitely be buying a PS4 for Dragon Quest XI, and I plan to play it on its Japanese release date if possible.

>>3893942
Wow, all of that is fucking awesome. I totally understand why people love VIII, it's DQ's FFIX, in that it tidily sums up everything that made the previous games so great, while simultaneously being DQ's FFVII because it was most people's first exposure to the series (in the west.)

I don't think you'll be beating VII before XI comes out. You could completionist beat VIII twice in the time it takes to finish VII. If you do plan on playing it, save it for last or you won't enjoy it because you'll be trying to rush through it and it's fucking HUUUUUUUUUUGE.

>>3893981
I've already played the PS1 version of VII, and it took me about two months. I was expecting the postgame to be a lot harder, but I beat it in less than a day. I think I'll be able to play the 3DS version of VII too before XI comes out.

>>3893983
Man, I miss being young. I remember I had logged in just over 300 days worth of play time over 3 years at the time I decided to quit playing FFXI back when I was 21. That means I had spent an average of 8 hours a day (half a normal person's waking hours) over the course of 3 years playing that one game (and I beat several other RPGs in that time span, while holding a full time job as well.)

Fast forward to now where it's taken me 5 weeks to log in 22hrs of play time on DQIX. And that's with wholeheartedly trying to make time for it. A full time job, a wife, kids, errands to run, housework to do, social obligations; life eats up all my time now.

I can't wait until my kids are all old enough to have their own interests so I can go back to having time for my own as well. I love my children, but fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck I miss having time to do stuff I enjoy.

>>3889230
>The 'VI is bad' meme.

>>3892225
>which I'm enjoying more than IV
Strange, because your pattern here is that you enjoy the games focused more in the plot/characters, which IV did beter than III.

VII is the next you should try.

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>>3890540
Dude I'm playing it now, you can just avoid them. There is no random encounters. Every now and then one will block a narrow corridor but that shits rare.

I'm pretty far in the game too, just got Aishe, I know what I'm talking about.

>>3894894
>but that shits rare.
Unless you're in a dungeon

>>3894897
Still a better encounter rate than the PSX version. I don't understand why people are complaining.

>>3894885
Never called it bad, just venting some frustration. I'm playing the series in order, enjoyed every game, and it's progressively gotten better up until this point. Well, DQII being "better" than DQI is debatable.

But so far, V has been more enjoyable than VI. Not calling VI "bad," only saying that in comparison I was hooked with V from start to finish, and VI hasn't been like that (though it's still fun to play). The class system is the only addition that sets it apart for me.

>>3894894
>but that shits rare.
no it's not
this game would be 100x better if it retained dqix's menu trick, and the vanish spell

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Party chat was a mistake.

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>>3894958
You know, you could split the series into two kind of games: the ones that favor (slightly) plot and character development and the ones that favor exploration and independent adventures. There is usually a mix between then too.

People don't like VI despite of being the spiritual successor of III because it returned to its roots, to be a game more focused into exploration and little adventures. It is fantastic at that, the best to the date.

But after IV and V (and with the shadow of VII) VI achieves little recognition. I guess a parallel can be drawn with psx - snes FF.

>>3896080
Maya is easily the worst part about IV.

>>3896382
VI is just a shittier VII, thoughI find VII the best so its still decent. It mostly just has a lot of boring parts.

>>3888923
If you meet someone with the dlc unlocked it'll unlock for you. Some forums youbcan mail youe game in to fet it unlocked. There are also save editors. The Co op is local only so you just have to trick someone into playing with you.

>>3896382
That's true, and I especially noticed that difference when I played III and IV. I can appreciate both approaches, but at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference, and I've found myself getting into the games that focus more on the overall plot (at least for DQ).

>>3894958
I played them in order as well, and I felt the same about VI after V. The way the story begins to unfold in VI is actually really fun and intriguing, but right about after you defeat Mudo/Murdaw for the second time the story starts tossing you loose ends faster than it ties up old ones. I can't speak for everyone, but to me it felt like the writing in Lost or Heroes (and that kind of writing is groan worthy.)

The class system is pretty good in VI, though. Its like a heavily upgraded version of what you see in III. If you stick through VI, the story eventually picks up again, but it's unfortunate that it drops off so badly right when the game needs it most; during the first open world map exploration segment when you get the ship. For comparison's sake, III's quest line ramped up really well when it hit the same area, and the story in that one is almost nonexistent to begin with.

>>3896893
I'm emulating on my phone. I guess I'm kinda outta luck then, eh?

Thred's ded, wee barines

i beat NOT FUCKING RETRO dragon quest 8. that's pretty cool i guess. thinking of playing 3 now, maybe.

>>3899510
Did you do the postgame stuff and get the best ending?

>>3896842
>manipulate the Gardenburg plot so that she's the one who gets taken prisoner
>grab the heavenly shield and intentionally avoid rescuing her
>she's back in my party anyway
It's not fair. I just wanted this bitch out of my life.

>>3896080
>>3896842
>>3899879
I've only played the NES version of IV, what did they fuck up?

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>>3901356
She's an absolutely despicable human being who gushes over how much she wants to marry single old rich men so that she can use them for their money.

In other words, she's a gold digger and she never shuts the fuck up about it. It's painful for me to keep her in my party because 90% of her party chat is just her being a bitch. And not even in the likable tsundere Maribel kind of way. She's just a total bitch.

Thread's dead again.
I think it would be best to let it simmer doon for a bit before we make a new one.