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Dragon Quest Community Thread: Come in! Would you like a Puff-Puff?

AmyS

Member
GamePro:

B3OEiWC.jpg
 

AmyS

Member
I don't know, it's GamePro.

I just think it's interesting they covered the Super Famicom remakes of DQ I and II. The graphics looked nice for the time, although not on the level of DQ VI. Maybe DQ V level.
 
I don't know, it's GamePro.

I just think it's interesting they covered the Super Famicom remakes of DQ I and II. The graphics looked nice for the time, although not on the level of DQ VI. Maybe DQ V level.

Thanks for posting that, really cool little article and I just love seeing old '90s game magazine scans. Gamepro may not have been perfect but they had a decent import info section.
 

lewisgone

Member
All the extra stuff is unlocked through your save file as far as I know. It seems someone wrote a special save editor for Dragon Quest IX. But you'd need a way to dump your save from the game and put it back into the game for that. Not sure if there's any other way.

You can also use an action replay to unlock most of it.

Sorry for late reply, I've been away. Thanks for the help though. I'm a real newbie with stuff like this though - is there any action replay that's considered the "go-to" product for this stuff? I'm looking at this one but they always have such dodgy packaging, haha. That one in particular since it connects to the computer which is what I need to do, I guess?

If anyone has done this for themselves and could let me know what they used to do it I'd appreciate it.
 

1upsuper

Member
The rest of my DQ related Japan pics.

First half is the Square-Enix cafe in Shinjuku. Second half in Akihabara.

http://imgur.com/a/mgiZA

If only my country could embrace DQ in such a way :

Nice pictures! I visted Artnia during my trip to Japan a couple of years ago and I was in heaven. Seeing all this DQ stuff front and center with FF mostly tucked into the statue room felt like such sweet, sweet justice. I basically bought one of everything.

And I feel exactly the same about my country as well.
 

Foofaraw

Member
I recently finished DQ1. Woof. That game has not aged well. I played the iPad version, which I believe is a port of the SNES version? The music and sprite work is great. The game itself, not so much. The story is super barebones, and the advancement and gameplay is pretty brain dead. I probably need a better idea of the context of its release to understand how this started such a beloved franchise. Blood of the ancestral hero, perserverence and hard work paying off to fulfill your destiny? Maybe that resonated a lot even without much actually being said, and very little characterization. I did really enjoy that there is essentially multiple endings, and puff puff dances was amusing. I jumped right into DQ2.

DQ2 is already a big improvement. Multiple enemies per battle, multiple party members with what appear to be classes, some personality to the characters (though very very limited). This is certainly much better so far, but I still have a lot of hours ahead of me. Well, a lot for me. I know this is still a shorter game, but I've yet to get the third character. I'm enjoying the larger array of enemies, and I like that this is a continuation of the first game.


I think I'm going to try to play all the DQ mainline games? I remember playing some of 7 and 8, certainly did not finish them. I still have 8 on PS2, so I'll need to dig back into that when the time comes. Maybe this will help make Dragon Quest Heroes a bit more nostalgic for me.
 

Jucksalbe

Banned
I probably need a better idea of the context of its release to understand how this started such a beloved franchise.

DQ1 was an attempt to simplify RPGs to make them easier to understand and easier to play. Remember that this predates almost all of the bigger Japanese RPG franchises people are so fond of today (except for the Dragon Slayer series). Final Fantasy 1, for example, released only two months before Dragon Quest III.
Look at stuff like the first few Ultima games if you want to get a very general look at how Dragon Quest fits in in all this.
 
The idea was to combine the enjoyable gameplay of Wizardry with the world exploration of Ultima into one user friendly package that anyone could enjoy.

Horii has actually stated in an interview that since RPGs were basically unknown in Japan at the time, Dragon Quest 1 was purposely made as basic as possible because they didn't want to turn anyone off to the series. He gradually started making things more complex as the series went on so they didn't scare anyone off.

Of course, NES capacity played a role as well. At the time of DQ1's release 64KB was the highest capacity cart at the time. Another big reason for the evolution of the series through the NES was simply the increase in cart size. The series went from 64 kilobytes in 1, to 128 kilobytes in 2, to 256 kilobytes in 3, and finally 512 kilobytes in 4.

Horii has stated that there were actually more things he wanted in both 2 and 3 but had to give up on them due to space constraints. Dragon Quest 3 in particular had to fight against space constraints so hard that they ended up having to cut the title screen out of it(in the Japanese version of course.) Some of the things added in 3's remake, such as an exclusive BGM for Baramos and small medals were actually originally planned for the NES but simply wouldn't fit.
 

AmyS

Member
So it's been a year since Dragon Quest XI was announced (July 28th) for PS4, 3DS and for NX (sort of).

Thoughts?
 

Aeana

Member
There's not much to say that hasn't been said, other than "new info please."
But I assume it'll be a couple of months still before we hear anything.
 

Lynx_7

Member
Man, Dragon Quest III is seriously impressive for a NES game, I was not expecting it to be as good as it is. The sheer sense of adventure and relative freedom is probably the best out of the DQ games I've played, which is all but three of them. From a purely gameplay perspective, I'd say it's a better game than IV (and I, II, probably V and VIII too), though it's too soon to tell where it'll end up in my personal ranking.

Also, there's a really unfortunate name for a kingdom in light of recent events.
 

Aters

Member
So it's been a year since Dragon Quest XI was announced (July 28th) for PS4, 3DS and for NX (sort of).

Thoughts?

Typical Square Enix announcement. They love to make you wait. I naively thought this one wouldn't keep me waiting for too long since we got gameplay footage.
 

KtSlime

Member
So it's been a year since Dragon Quest XI was announced (July 28th) for PS4, 3DS and for NX (sort of).

Thoughts?

Typical Square Enix announcement. They love to make you wait. I naively thought this one wouldn't keep me waiting for too long since we got gameplay footage.

There‘s not much waiting, there are a lot of Dragon Quest events going on right now, the Live Spectical, the Museum that just opened up this past week. Fans have their plates full ATM.

Nothing is going to be said about the game until the finish FF15.
 
There‘s not much waiting, there are a lot of Dragon Quest events going on right now, the Live Spectical, the Museum that just opened up this past week. Fans have their plates full ATM.

Nothing is going to be said about the game until the finish FF15.

Agreed. DQ news will come. In December is my guess.
 

Lynx_7

Member
Is there really not a better way to take the
Golden Claw
other than to trudge along the entire
pyramid basement
before you can cast zoom?
I can't even make it out of the room you get it before my medical herbs completely deplete.
 
Is there really not a better way to take the
Golden Claw
other than to trudge along the entire
pyramid basement
before you can cast zoom?
I can't even make it out of the room you get it before my medical herbs completely deplete.

There might be some way I'm not aware of, but usually I just try running as much as possible, you'll take less damage that way.
 

Lynx_7

Member
I eventually got the
Golden Claws
by equipping the hero with a boomerang and my Priestess with a Morning Star which made it much easier to brute force my way through most encounters.

Finally got the boat
and my father's helmet
, so I started exploring some areas of the world map. Just got to Jipang and
defeated Orochi
, probably my favorite part of the game so far. I just loved the aesthetic and backstory of the place. Boss was pretty tough though, easier strategy I found to beat
her
at my level was to just focus on keeping the Hero and Priestess alive and let the other teammates die (after using some kabuffs with the wizzard). Then again I probably made the battle harder for myself by forgetting to equip
Orochi's Sword.

I can definetely see why this entry still ranks so highly among japanese fans, I can't imagine how mindblowing a game of this scope and depth must've felt like back at 1988. Even more than 20 years later I'd still say this easily ranks among the best of the genre.
Honestly, they should've just skipped I and II on the US and introduced people to DQ with this game. It probably would've been more successful back then, or at least enough to justify translating V and VI a few years later.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
got my first smart phone so i'm probably going to play some dragon quest on it eventually

amazing to think that between my phone and n3DS i'll be able to play dragon quest 1-9 pretty soon
 

hainesdogg

Neo Member
So I've been enjoying the original Dragon Quest on iOS. It's been a while since I played the original Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) on the NES. After finishing it earlier today, it was a nice trip down memory lane. It's short romp but a solid experience overall. Maybe I'm just having nostalgia but it definitely takes me back to my summers as kid playing through it

I've just started Dragon Quest II on the iOS. I'm hoping to play through the series before the launch of DQ VII in September.
 

Lynx_7

Member
So, all of my party members are around levels 22-24. A Wizard, Priest and a Warrior to be more precise. Is it worth it to reclass them on alltrade abbey? If so, which ones should I reclass to which class?

I currently have only one Words of Wisdom and I'm not sure on whom I should use it. Leaning towards the Wizard right now since having one more healer would be of great help.
 

Psxphile

Member
Ideally you'd want to make at least one of your magic users (preferably Wizard) into a Sage: they keep the spells they already learned but can learn all Priest and Wizard spells too, making them a good back-up healer/mage for your party. They also have a better equipment pool which will make them sturdier in battle.
 

Cheerilee

Member
So, all of my party members are around levels 22-24. A Wizard, Priest and a Warrior to be more precise. Is it worth it to reclass them on alltrade abbey? If so, which ones should I reclass to which class?

I currently have only one Words of Wisdom and I'm not sure on whom I should use it. Leaning towards the Wizard right now since having one more healer would be of great help.

You could turn your Warrior into a Sage and then turn your Wizard and Priest into a Warrior and Martial Artist (or vice-versa). Four powerhouses (one Hero, two fighters, and one Warrior-turned-Sage), one dedicated healer/wizard (the Sage), as well as two makeshift healers (the Hero and the former Priest) and two makeshift wizards (the Hero and the former Wizard).

Or you could have the Priest and Wizard trade jobs and switch the Warrior for a Martial Artist. Your mages would be more magically-powerful than a Sage (who is more of a Hero-style jack of all trades) and you could save your single-use Sage transformation until closer to the end of the game. Or pick one mage to swap places with your muscle.

That's the fun of DQ3's class system, you get to decide on a new team, and also decide which pieces of your new team should inherit 1/2 of your old team's stats.


Edit: Oh and, yeah, it's worth it, if you can handle a bit of babysitting time after the change, bringing your team back up to speed.
 

Chase17

Member
So it's been a bit since I've finished DQ2 and am now starting DQ4 on mobile. Decided to skip 3 for now since building your own characters is something that stresses me out. Will probably go back to it after 4 though.

Prologue caught me off guard with how quick it was/how little happened. I think I heard that this was new to the remake so I was expecting something more I guess.
 

Aeana

Member
So it's been a bit since I've finished DQ2 and am now starting DQ4 on mobile. Decided to skip 3 for now since building your own characters is something that stresses me out. Will probably go back to it after 4 though.

Prologue caught me off guard with how quick it was/how little happened. I think I heard that this was new to the remake so I was expecting something more I guess.

The point of the prologue is just to introduce you to the hero. Originally, you never met them at all until way later in the game.
 

Lothar

Banned
So it's been a bit since I've finished DQ2 and am now starting DQ4 on mobile. Decided to skip 3 for now since building your own characters is something that stresses me out. Will probably go back to it after 4 though.

Prologue caught me off guard with how quick it was/how little happened. I think I heard that this was new to the remake so I was expecting something more I guess.

Mobile is the best way to play DQ4 because of the party chat. You won't be able to experience it at the start, but in chapter 2, if you click the talk command after you speak to each person in every town, your party will have something different to say. It adds a lot.

Hint for Ragnar concerning what to spend money on: Don't spend any money on a
weapon more expensive than the Copper Sword because you'll find the best weapon in a chest in the tower. Just buy armor and make do until you get to that chest .
 

Chase17

Member
The point of the prologue is just to introduce you to the hero. Originally, you never met them at all until way later in the game.
Ahh, that makes sense then.

Mobile is the best way to play DQ4 because of the party chat. You won't be able to experience it at the start, but in chapter 2, if you click the talk command after you speak to each person in every town, your party will have something different to say. It adds a lot.

Hint for Ragnar concerning what to spend money on: Don't spend any money on a
weapon more expensive than the Copper Sword because you'll find the best weapon in a chest in the tower. Just buy armor and make do until you get to that chest .
Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely be spamming party chat as soon as possible.
 
I actually prefer the feeling of finally controlling the protagonist for the first time after that long wait rather than just having him appear pointlessly at the beginning for like 2 minutes. The prologue was unnecessary.
 
I actually prefer the feeling of finally controlling the protagonist for the first time after that long wait rather than just having him appear pointlessly at the beginning for like 2 minutes. The prologue was unnecessary.

It's aight. Nothing spectacular. I think I do prefer the NES version since the build up to the hero is kind of cool. Like, you're not even sure he's real until he appears in chapter 5. But that said, it is kind of weird naming a character and then not seeing him.

Best addition to a remake is the personality test in 3. A shame the mobile version cut one of the best songs in the franchise.
 
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