Dragon Quest XI

[aweigh]

I'm really glad I paused my initial playthrough of DQ11 and waited until I had upgraded my GPU. I upgraded to a gtx 1060 6gb, from previously a gtx 1050 2gb, and my suspicions proved correct:

- 95% of all "stuttering" or "hitching" that I had been experiencing in DQ11 (and in all other games) was due to the low VRAM of the previous card.

According to Afterburner OSD the game (DQ11) takes up an average of 2.5gb of VRAM or a few hundred MB's higher depending on the location/scene, which is way more than the previous maximum VRAM I had been running (which was 2gb on the previous card). I suspected this all along but it's nice to know I was correct.

 

[aweigh]

So I took off Strong Monsters option... I died to the stupid spider boss in the Octagonia Caverns right after the MMA tournament and I'd forgotten to save before winning it, so I had to re-do the tournament fights + the octagonia caverns and its spider-boss, and I just felt so goddamn sick I just decided to turn off stronger monsters.

Will I regret this? It doesn't seem that much easier, enemies just do about 40% less damage. For example in stronger enemies the spider-boss's missile attack would do 70-75 points of damage to the party, whereas when I just finished fighting him now in Normal difficulty his missile attack would do 40-50 points of damage.

Just enough of a difference to not force me to heal every turn which, in turn, allowed me to deal more damage to him every turn as I could use Hero and Erik to attack instead of having to use only the Hero and have Erik help heal in the previous fight with Stronger Monsters enabled.

Am I going to regret this? Will the game become too much of a cakewalk?

 

[Jinn]

Am I going to regret this? Will the game become too much of a cakewalk?

Probably, particularly in the second half of the game. Luckily having it on PC probably means there's a way to mess with the game's files in order to turn it back on.

Stronger monsters is great because it really makes you have to approach battles thoughtfully and carefully. I can see how much stomping would go on once your characters are more developed without it being on.

 

[Abu Antar]

You will regret this.

 

[Viata]

Of all those draconian quest, the stronger monsters is the only one that really matters. The rest is pretty much challenges, but stronger monsters is the only way to play this game. Without it, the game turns into a cakewalk.

 

[aweigh]

alright, i'll turn it on again using cheat engine.

 

[aweigh]

Phew, one of the few times actually buying the game worked out in "extra" ways. The CE table that lets you toggle Draconian flags only works with the current game build and is keyed to the Steam version as well, which thankfulyl, is the version I have. (Also... get rekt GOG, I guess?)

I re-enabled stronger enemies; but at least now I know I can toggle it on/off whenever I want. Next time I won't let any boss get me down!!!11

 

[Viata]

Well, if you man up and don't use cheat, that wouldn't happens.

 

[Vorark]

My only beef with stronger enemies is the Dora encounter, no other boss gave me that much trouble.

Don't turn it off aweigh, the normal mode is way too easy. I did it for the aforementioned fight, regreted it and loaded an older save with stronger enemies still on.

 

[aweigh]

Yeah I put it back on. I was just stressing at having to redo fights earlier, but I'll just make sure to come prepared for next bosses.

 

[Jinn]

Yeah I put it back on. I was just stressing at having to redo fights earlier, but I'll just make sure to come prepared for next bosses.

Sometimes you just have to be prepared to die your first time fighting a boss to understand what they're going to be throwing your way. It's something that I love about the stronger monsters mode. Really reminds me of the likes of SMT in terms of challenge and tactics.

 

[Viata]

Yeah, usually the first fight I always use it to see what spells, move, buff, debuff and related better works on the boss. Some bosses you can put to sleep and others not, so it's always good to know which can. Also to see which is the best "first" party for the battle. That was a good thing on SMT, because you are going to use some spells that the boss can reflect/drain and that can fuck you turn easily.

 

[Curratum]

Just got the ship and disembarked on the shores of Zwaardsrust. How far in the game am I, roughly?

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Just got the ship and disembarked on the shores of Zwaardsrust. How far in the game am I, roughly?

Not very far. Are you going for the true ending?

 

[HoboForEternity]

Just got the ship and disembarked on the shores of Zwaardsrust. How far in the game am I, roughly?

iirc about 20 %

 

[Doktor Best]

Yeah I put it back on. I was just stressing at having to redo fights earlier, but I'll just make sure to come prepared for next bosses.

Sometimes you just have to be prepared to die your first time fighting a boss to understand what they're going to be throwing your way. It's something that I love about the stronger monsters mode. Really reminds me of the likes of SMT in terms of challenge and tactics.

I always see a bossfight that i manage to beat on first try as a bit disappointing.

 

[Curratum]

Just got the ship and disembarked on the shores of Zwaardsrust. How far in the game am I, roughly?

Not very far. Are you going for the true ending?

Depends on how much grind vs story payoff is in the true ending, I suppose... I dunno...

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Just got the ship and disembarked on the shores of Zwaardsrust. How far in the game am I, roughly?

Not very far. Are you going for the true ending?

Depends on how much grind vs story payoff is in the true ending, I suppose... I dunno...

There isn't more grind to be honest. Think of the true ending parts like this. Main game is 3/4 of the game. Truth ending the other 1/4. The 2 endings are 2 different time lines. Where the true ending is the correct one. And very satisfying. But you will want to get the true ending. Because the true ending isn't just end game stuff. It basically picks up right after the game ends.

Basically if you don't get the true ending then you haven't actually completed the game. The true ending path was awesome.

 

[Curratum]

Can I fail to achieve it by messing up before? Or is there a clear-cut point where the game kinda says "Ok, this was that, but hey, if you want to..."?

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Can I fail to achieve it by messing up before? Or is there a clear-cut point where the game kinda says "Ok, this was that, but hey, if you want to..."?

No you can't fail at getting the true ending. Basically what happens is that the game ends with an ending. And then you get to continue the story further and there are a lot of awesome reveals etc. They did it very poorly because a lot of people thought to get the true ending it's actually just post game stuff etc. Where the true ending path is actually part of the main story. It's really stupid how they went about it.

 

[Viata]

DQVIII for 3DS also had that. DQ fans are always expecting cool things post ending game, so it's not like they did something stupid. After all, DQ are made for DQ fans.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

DQVIII for 3DS also had that. DQ fans are always expecting cool things post ending game, so it's not like they did something stupid. After all, DQ are made for DQ fans.

Yes but DQVIII had a slightly different ending. DQXI literally has an ending and people think that's it. When you've actually just completed 1 possibility "timeline". So there is a difference between how DQ8 and 11 does it.

Last time I played and finished DQ8 was on PS2. So my memory about everything post game isn't all that great. But there is a huge difference between how it's handled with VIII and XI. XI literally changes everything if you go for the true ending.

 

[Viata]

It's not a slightly different ending, as that explain everything about your character and whatnot. I can't say how different it is from XI as I have not finished XI yet.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

It's not a slightly different ending, as that explain everything about your character and whatnot. I can't say how different it is from XI as I have not finished XI yet.

So rather finish XI first before you tell me "it's not like they did something stupid". You'll see what they did in XI isn't remotely the same with the endings

 

[Curratum]

After all, DQ are made for DQ fans.

I've always been interested in playing a DQ game but never owned a console that can play any of them, so I'm not a "fan" per se. The game has risen to my top JRPG spot, though, dethroning Ni No Kuni 2.