Oh yeah, the DQ series is better than Four Heroes - I thought you and Lemming42 were in the same FF-only camp and was throwing that out for the both of you as a kind of gateway drug.
Sounds good, thanks for the recommendation.
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The Dragon Quest Thread
- Thread starter Beautiful Clown Painting
- Start date
Oh yeah, the DQ series is better than Four Heroes - I thought you and Lemming42 were in the same FF-only camp and was throwing that out for the both of you as a kind of gateway drug.
Sounds good, thanks for the recommendation.
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2007
- Messages
- 11,158
The best IMO are DQV and VI. Since you enjoyed V you should try the translated DQVI for the snes. I couldn't get into DQVII, too damn slow + horrible 3d with 2d sprites. DQIII remake is also good, pretty simple story-wise, but you get a huge world to explore.
Clockwork Knight
Arcane
It was also a backtracking simulator. I like it myself, but most of the playing time is spent going to the next town and back again.
Felipepepe roped me in to try DQVIII a while back.
The only nice thing I have to say about it is that the art was pretty good.
I liked the music too, but damn, there is so little variety, I've probably had that lone battle and overworld theme blaring for the better part of 50 hours.
The only nice thing I have to say about it is that the art was pretty good.
I liked the music too, but damn, there is so little variety, I've probably had that lone battle and overworld theme blaring for the better part of 50 hours.
At first, I was genuinely enjoying it, story and game mechanics wise. It didn't really start to fall apart until I traveled to the second continent.
Firstly, the game really punishes you for exploring ahead of time, in the sense that you're going to outlevel all the encounters and it's going to turn into a banal shit boring grind.
It doesn't help that your overland movement speed is really slow (get the tiger first before you go exploring), and that the encounter rate is abso-fucking-lutely ridiculously high... It is so high, I'm almost offended that the first ability Yangus learns is "whistle," the ability to initiate an encounter anywhere, any time.
Let me compare it to FFX-2, since it's still relatively fresh in my mind... if I was to run around with a lure bracer equipped (magic item to boost encounter rate), I wouldn't run into even half as many encounters as I did in DQVIII; if I was unlucky, I might hit a quarter.
So with that encounter rate, their general lack of difficulty and the obscene amount of time they took up, progressing just became an absolute chore.
So I thought I would see it through for the plot; that was a huge mistake.
The plot started off well enough, a relatively personal story of a king who wanted his curse and stuffies undone.
The cutscene paralysis is really annoying, but it wasn't a complete deal breaker, but holy shit, is this game awful in regards to player agency, bioware could do better, I kid you not!
And the game really should've ended after they beat up dhoulmagus, because everything that happens after that moment is just completely and utterly retarded.
A staff that possesses the wielder? why yes, I think I'll just pick that up!
We just beat Jessica senseless, should we secure the staff? no, let's make sure she's okay first.
The bad guy's about to kill someone? I guess I'll just stand here gawping.
The current villain puts us under arrest? I guess I'll just go along with it...
And those are just the biggest examples
As for the straw that broke the camel's back?
It's when they lock you in that underground dungeon, it's just by far the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
Earlier, as in a few hours ago, you received the ultimate key, this key has among other abilities, the ability to OPEN ANY LOCK IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD.
As is usual for JRPGs, they lock you up in a relatively unsecured cell WITH A REGULAR LOCK AND WITHOUT CONFISCATING ANY OF YOUR EQUIPMENT.
Put 2 and 2 together and you should logically be able to deduce that said key can open that lock - You're not even given the option.
So months pass, and they get a bright idea to escape: have the priest who got locked up with them pretend he fell ill from swallowing a golden rosary.
I quickly realised that I had no reason to continue playing except to say I finished it, so I just quit.
I wasn't enjoying the gameplay, the music was downright irksome by being loud, utterly devoid of variety, and looped to death, and the plot went full retard and had nothing about it was slightly redeemable.
All in all,
Complete Waste of Time/10
Firstly, the game really punishes you for exploring ahead of time, in the sense that you're going to outlevel all the encounters and it's going to turn into a banal shit boring grind.
It doesn't help that your overland movement speed is really slow (get the tiger first before you go exploring), and that the encounter rate is abso-fucking-lutely ridiculously high... It is so high, I'm almost offended that the first ability Yangus learns is "whistle," the ability to initiate an encounter anywhere, any time.
Let me compare it to FFX-2, since it's still relatively fresh in my mind... if I was to run around with a lure bracer equipped (magic item to boost encounter rate), I wouldn't run into even half as many encounters as I did in DQVIII; if I was unlucky, I might hit a quarter.
So with that encounter rate, their general lack of difficulty and the obscene amount of time they took up, progressing just became an absolute chore.
So I thought I would see it through for the plot; that was a huge mistake.
The plot started off well enough, a relatively personal story of a king who wanted his curse and stuffies undone.
The cutscene paralysis is really annoying, but it wasn't a complete deal breaker, but holy shit, is this game awful in regards to player agency, bioware could do better, I kid you not!
And the game really should've ended after they beat up dhoulmagus, because everything that happens after that moment is just completely and utterly retarded.
A staff that possesses the wielder? why yes, I think I'll just pick that up!
We just beat Jessica senseless, should we secure the staff? no, let's make sure she's okay first.
The bad guy's about to kill someone? I guess I'll just stand here gawping.
The current villain puts us under arrest? I guess I'll just go along with it...
And those are just the biggest examples
As for the straw that broke the camel's back?
It's when they lock you in that underground dungeon, it's just by far the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
Earlier, as in a few hours ago, you received the ultimate key, this key has among other abilities, the ability to OPEN ANY LOCK IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD.
As is usual for JRPGs, they lock you up in a relatively unsecured cell WITH A REGULAR LOCK AND WITHOUT CONFISCATING ANY OF YOUR EQUIPMENT.
Put 2 and 2 together and you should logically be able to deduce that said key can open that lock - You're not even given the option.
So months pass, and they get a bright idea to escape: have the priest who got locked up with them pretend he fell ill from swallowing a golden rosary.
I quickly realised that I had no reason to continue playing except to say I finished it, so I just quit.
I wasn't enjoying the gameplay, the music was downright irksome by being loud, utterly devoid of variety, and looped to death, and the plot went full retard and had nothing about it was slightly redeemable.
All in all,
Complete Waste of Time/10
I could never get into any DQ game.
Damned Registrations
Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2007
- Messages
- 15,867
I vastly prefer 2 myself, but 1 definitely had some features that were a lot cooler. I forget the specifics, but there were battle mechanics, the way the dragon forms worked, and the hunting and I think a couple characters?
Dragon Quest I could never really get into. It just plays so slowly and is so predictable in terms of character advancement. In 6 (I think it's 6, the one with all the classes right?) caught my attention for a while, but most of the abilities are just awful so it doesn't feel worth the effort of trying all the new classes the way it is in say, FF5 or FFT, where like every class has at least one ability that is potentially super overpowered.
Clockwork Knight
Arcane
The dragons in 1 were definitely better, for one they were actually forms and not just summons. It doesn't help that those summons were bugged in BoF2 and the badass grown dragons with a six-pack belly caused the same damage as the cartoonish baby ones. They later went back to 1's system and never looked back. I like the characters in 2 more, though. Maybe because it's so hard to understand what the hell everyone is saying so you fill in the blanks with whatever personality you like. 
You're probably thinking of DQ3. 6 has a bunch of classes as well, but the characters are predetermined and you initially don't have access to job changing.
You're probably thinking of DQ3. 6 has a bunch of classes as well, but the characters are predetermined and you initially don't have access to job changing.
Beautiful Clown Painting
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2009
- Messages
- 1,494
T'es Gucci +CV bah
Edit: What the hell is this message? I must have slept on my phone and it wrote this with the auto-correction.
Edit: What the hell is this message? I must have slept on my phone and it wrote this with the auto-correction.
Last edited:
Riskbreaker
Guest
So, this
http://gematsu.com/2015/11/dragon-quest-heroes-coming-pc-steam
is apparently coming to Steam.
Pretty weird choice for a first DQ Steam release, don't ya think?
http://gematsu.com/2015/11/dragon-quest-heroes-coming-pc-steam
is apparently coming to Steam.
Pretty weird choice for a first DQ Steam release, don't ya think?
Is this any gud?
Keldryn
Arcane
Fucking finally... Dragon Quest VII 3DS will be released in North America early Summer 2016, with Dragon Quest VIII 3DS to follow later in the year.
LESS T_T
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
- Messages
- 13,582
Yuji Horii shared his old design notes for the first Dragon Quest: https://twitter.com/YujiHorii/status/687985676399198209
DQ 5 is probably the pinnacle of the series mechanically and plot/story-wise. It contains the best mixture of story, NPC characters and "job" system.
DQ 4 is the pinnacle of the series in terms of story. One of the chosen heroes is even a shop-keeper and your quests consists of finding gear to sell back at your shop!
DQ 6 is... skip it. This is where the decline started. They wanted to grab the audience that was leaving DQ in favor of FF (both dq 6 and ff 6 came out in similar time frames) so they decided to make DQ 6 all about the drama. The story is boring, the characters are boring, and the character developments is even more simplified than in any other DQ game.
DQ 7 is my personal favorite of the series although i acknowledge that it is inferior to DQ 3/4/5's. the biggest problems with this one is that it was the first (and only) DQ released for the ps1 console and not only is the beginning of the game the longest, most drawn-out beginning to any rpg you will ever find (i'm not kidding here) but the shitty ps1 technology makes everything ugly and slow with constant load times and horrendous mixture of 2d sprites on top of polygonal backgrounds. all that being said i consider it my favorite as it is basically a remake of the DQ 5 blueprint except stretched out and fleshed out a bit more. I'm not kidding when i saw this game is drawn out: the first time i finished the game i had clocked out 135 hours and i never bothered doing any of the side-quests.
the slow burn and pacing of the story slowly begins to work in the game's favor as all the investment you start putting into the characters pays off with fantastic storytelling involving time travel and alternate dimensions and it features the most mature and cohesive conslusion to an rpg story i've ever played through. it's the only rpg whose ending has made cry ;_;
dq 8 is... skip it. bland characters, and further decline with enix abandoning first-person battle system and a major step down in story and plot. compared to dq 7 and its more mature themes dq 8 feels like its pandering to children.
dq 9 is alright. although the tone is even less "mature" than dq 8 somehow the writing is much, much better and its simple character dramas are kept to a minimum and the game is all the better for it. it feels like an rpg made by people who really love the franchise. the game gets more serious around the halfway mark as you basically have to go and beat up God who decided humans are trash and not worthy of living on the earth. oops spoilers. mechanics-wise it is a simplified version of the job systems in dq 3, 5 and 7. not a very challenging game either. ironically for a DQ that focuses so much on its character class system i'd say that's the weakest part of it, and that its simple but endearing story and characters are the real reason to enjoy it.
long and short of it: best dq 5, second best is dq 4 but it is also the most linear one and very different from dq 5. once you finish dq 5 if you want more of the same but in a grander scale and a slower pace then play dq 7.
DQ 4 is the pinnacle of the series in terms of story. One of the chosen heroes is even a shop-keeper and your quests consists of finding gear to sell back at your shop!
DQ 6 is... skip it. This is where the decline started. They wanted to grab the audience that was leaving DQ in favor of FF (both dq 6 and ff 6 came out in similar time frames) so they decided to make DQ 6 all about the drama. The story is boring, the characters are boring, and the character developments is even more simplified than in any other DQ game.
DQ 7 is my personal favorite of the series although i acknowledge that it is inferior to DQ 3/4/5's. the biggest problems with this one is that it was the first (and only) DQ released for the ps1 console and not only is the beginning of the game the longest, most drawn-out beginning to any rpg you will ever find (i'm not kidding here) but the shitty ps1 technology makes everything ugly and slow with constant load times and horrendous mixture of 2d sprites on top of polygonal backgrounds. all that being said i consider it my favorite as it is basically a remake of the DQ 5 blueprint except stretched out and fleshed out a bit more. I'm not kidding when i saw this game is drawn out: the first time i finished the game i had clocked out 135 hours and i never bothered doing any of the side-quests.
the slow burn and pacing of the story slowly begins to work in the game's favor as all the investment you start putting into the characters pays off with fantastic storytelling involving time travel and alternate dimensions and it features the most mature and cohesive conslusion to an rpg story i've ever played through. it's the only rpg whose ending has made cry ;_;
dq 8 is... skip it. bland characters, and further decline with enix abandoning first-person battle system and a major step down in story and plot. compared to dq 7 and its more mature themes dq 8 feels like its pandering to children.
dq 9 is alright. although the tone is even less "mature" than dq 8 somehow the writing is much, much better and its simple character dramas are kept to a minimum and the game is all the better for it. it feels like an rpg made by people who really love the franchise. the game gets more serious around the halfway mark as you basically have to go and beat up God who decided humans are trash and not worthy of living on the earth. oops spoilers. mechanics-wise it is a simplified version of the job systems in dq 3, 5 and 7. not a very challenging game either. ironically for a DQ that focuses so much on its character class system i'd say that's the weakest part of it, and that its simple but endearing story and characters are the real reason to enjoy it.
long and short of it: best dq 5, second best is dq 4 but it is also the most linear one and very different from dq 5. once you finish dq 5 if you want more of the same but in a grander scale and a slower pace then play dq 7.
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2014
- Messages
- 14,199
Dragon Quest Heroes II
Info at the link: http://gematsu.com/2016/01/dragon-quest-heroes-ii-introduces-new-protagonists
Info at the link: http://gematsu.com/2016/01/dragon-quest-heroes-ii-introduces-new-protagonists
e-mailio estevez
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2012
- Messages
- 1,795
Didn't finish the first one. Missions didn't throw enough interesting objectives or put enough pressure on you. And it wasn't very much fun to grind. Hyrule Warriors was much, much better.
If they do a better job with the overall gameplay I'm on board, because I really wanted to like the DQH.
If they do a better job with the overall gameplay I'm on board, because I really wanted to like the DQH.
Damned Registrations
Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2007
- Messages
- 15,867
How far did you play? I thought it got pretty interesting in the end, especially the dungeonish levels with movable walls and teleporters and such. I still intend to go back to it and try beat the post game stuff too at some point, those were difficult as hell.
Also, why were you grinding if there wasn't enough pressure on you? Wtf?
Also, why were you grinding if there wasn't enough pressure on you? Wtf?
e-mailio estevez
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2012
- Messages
- 1,795
How far did I get? I think I got all party members except for the secret one, and killed a dragon as part of some mystic trial.
Most sidequests had you killing X number of monsters or getting X number of material drops, so revisiting maps and grinding them out was the only way to accomplish that. You can skip them, sure... but some of them were mandatory if you wanted to increase your backpack size, for instance. The problem being that when you revisit locations, all of the objectives are removed from them. So you're left with an open map with nothing but hordes of easy enemies you just mindlessly slaughter until you get what you need.
Missions in DQH had some variety, but I generally just didn't find them very hard. Usually you only had 1 objective to protect and otherwise most missions were just linear dungeon crawls with an occasional boss battle thrown in.
Hyrule Warriors is the only reference point I really have, being the only other Musou game I've played. But I thought it did a much better job with its mission design. They'd throw a bunch of objectives at you all at once with very little margin for error. For instance, you might have 3 bases to protect on opposite ends of the map, with bombchus that would destroy any of them if you don't intercept all of them in time. There were always multiple generals and bosses on the field that you needed to manage before they started capturing your bases, killing your troops and lowering their morale. Meanwhile, messangers are being sent out that can summon reinforcements, standard-bearers are running amok who could lower your troops morale while improving their own, item convoys that you could attack to get bonus power-ups, and skulltulas and heart pieces that you would only have a limited time to search for when the game finally gave you a chance to breathe. Some bonus missions made you only able to survive a couple of hits, or only let you proceed if you could answer trivia questions correctly. The game had its share of problems but it still gave you a lot to do beyond mashing A.
Whereas in HW time management and juggling 2-3 important objectives was the norm, DQH just tells you to guard a Yggdrasil root and opens a couple of portals every mission. It all just felt very samey. I know that's to be expected in a Musou game, but aside from killing stuff I didn't feel like there was much there in DQH. The mechanics were all there, the characters are fun to play and the game had decent itemization as well... but the missions just weren't very interesting.
Looking forward to the sequel either way. Co-op alone will probably ensure a purchase. Hopefully they do something interesting with the Map system, I thought it was a little underused.
Most sidequests had you killing X number of monsters or getting X number of material drops, so revisiting maps and grinding them out was the only way to accomplish that. You can skip them, sure... but some of them were mandatory if you wanted to increase your backpack size, for instance. The problem being that when you revisit locations, all of the objectives are removed from them. So you're left with an open map with nothing but hordes of easy enemies you just mindlessly slaughter until you get what you need.
Missions in DQH had some variety, but I generally just didn't find them very hard. Usually you only had 1 objective to protect and otherwise most missions were just linear dungeon crawls with an occasional boss battle thrown in.
Hyrule Warriors is the only reference point I really have, being the only other Musou game I've played. But I thought it did a much better job with its mission design. They'd throw a bunch of objectives at you all at once with very little margin for error. For instance, you might have 3 bases to protect on opposite ends of the map, with bombchus that would destroy any of them if you don't intercept all of them in time. There were always multiple generals and bosses on the field that you needed to manage before they started capturing your bases, killing your troops and lowering their morale. Meanwhile, messangers are being sent out that can summon reinforcements, standard-bearers are running amok who could lower your troops morale while improving their own, item convoys that you could attack to get bonus power-ups, and skulltulas and heart pieces that you would only have a limited time to search for when the game finally gave you a chance to breathe. Some bonus missions made you only able to survive a couple of hits, or only let you proceed if you could answer trivia questions correctly. The game had its share of problems but it still gave you a lot to do beyond mashing A.
Whereas in HW time management and juggling 2-3 important objectives was the norm, DQH just tells you to guard a Yggdrasil root and opens a couple of portals every mission. It all just felt very samey. I know that's to be expected in a Musou game, but aside from killing stuff I didn't feel like there was much there in DQH. The mechanics were all there, the characters are fun to play and the game had decent itemization as well... but the missions just weren't very interesting.
Looking forward to the sequel either way. Co-op alone will probably ensure a purchase. Hopefully they do something interesting with the Map system, I thought it was a little underused.
Machocruz
Arcane
Am I the only fag one who is excited for Dragon Quest Builders? Of course I'm looking forward to 11, but the traditional JRPG thing isn't really my thing anymore. But I still like the Toriyama character designs, the light hearted charm of the series, and I did enjoy a fair bit of Minecraft.
Stabwound
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2008
- Messages
- 3,240
DQ is my favorite JRPG series overall, but really, fuck the DS remakes. They're good for one playthrough, but the NES/SNES versions are really the best. What I really hate about the 3D remakes is that they're way easier, the most egregious example being that you have unlimited inventory space whereas in the originals you could only carry maybe 4-5 consumable items per character, period.
aweigh did you never play DQ3 or did you just leave it out? It's one of my favorites easily, I'm torn between saying 3 or 4 is my favorite.
I've played these games since DQ1 came out on the NES for reference.
1: Great for its time, unplayable to me today.
2: Still unplayable to me, I don't really like it that much.
3: Easily one of the best in the series, but I guess people don't like it because you create all your characters and they don't have ~personalities~.
4: This was my favorite as a kid on the NES. I like the whole mini-story thing where everyone comes together at the end.
5: Here's where the series really starts to try to appeal to the Final Fantasy kids. It's more good than bad but not one of my favorites.
6: I'm not crazy about this one. Way too Final Fantasy-ish but it's okay for what it is.
7: I never have finished this one, after putting in 80+ hours into it twice over the years. I always just give up after the beginning of the second disc. I do like it however, but the job system is hopelessly shitty but apparently the recent Japan-only remake fixes a lot of it.
8: Really great game but it kind of loses a lot of the DQ feeling. I understand not liking the style though.
9: A game made for aspies and 10 year olds. I did go through the main storyline
but no way could I do all of the side quests.
aweigh did you never play DQ3 or did you just leave it out? It's one of my favorites easily, I'm torn between saying 3 or 4 is my favorite.
I've played these games since DQ1 came out on the NES for reference.
1: Great for its time, unplayable to me today.
2: Still unplayable to me, I don't really like it that much.
3: Easily one of the best in the series, but I guess people don't like it because you create all your characters and they don't have ~personalities~.
4: This was my favorite as a kid on the NES. I like the whole mini-story thing where everyone comes together at the end.
5: Here's where the series really starts to try to appeal to the Final Fantasy kids. It's more good than bad but not one of my favorites.
6: I'm not crazy about this one. Way too Final Fantasy-ish but it's okay for what it is.
7: I never have finished this one, after putting in 80+ hours into it twice over the years. I always just give up after the beginning of the second disc. I do like it however, but the job system is hopelessly shitty but apparently the recent Japan-only remake fixes a lot of it.
8: Really great game but it kind of loses a lot of the DQ feeling. I understand not liking the style though.
9: A game made for aspies and 10 year olds. I did go through the main storyline
but no way could I do all of the side quests.yeah i've actually not played DQ 3 to completion. I only played the NES version on release when I was a child but that was so long ago I don't count it as a legitimate playing experience. I'm planning on playing the SNES remake version soon; currently using my free time to play through various dungeon crawlers (a.t.m. playing Wizardry Empire 3 on PSP emulator), but it's definitely on my list.
I also still have DQ 9 left unfinished but I don't think I ever will finish it. The game wore out its welcome for me.
EDIT: I agree about the declined nature of the NDS remakes. I recently finished the DQ 4 NDS remake and the entire experience was good but only for emotional reasons and because of nostalgia; one specific example was the gladiator tournament in chapter 2: I had fond memories of overcoming it and how hard it was beating it in the NES version and I blew through it with no danger whatsoever in the NDS version. It definitely made me reconsider playing any future NDS remakes.
I also still have DQ 9 left unfinished but I don't think I ever will finish it. The game wore out its welcome for me.
EDIT: I agree about the declined nature of the NDS remakes. I recently finished the DQ 4 NDS remake and the entire experience was good but only for emotional reasons and because of nostalgia; one specific example was the gladiator tournament in chapter 2: I had fond memories of overcoming it and how hard it was beating it in the NES version and I blew through it with no danger whatsoever in the NDS version. It definitely made me reconsider playing any future NDS remakes.
Hobo Elf
Arcane
How are the Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker games? I played the original DWM game for the GBC and remember it being one of the best monster collecting games and I've been jonesing for something like that for a while. I completely missed out on Joker 1 & 2 and was thinking of getting one of those as they are dirt cheap these days.
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