I had been on a really strong trajectory like... a year ago of playing 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 back to back to back after finishing up Builders 2. I stalled on 6 even though I was really enjoying the plot, but I did what I always do in those games, I spent too much time watching TV and grinding jobs and now the combat is boring. I always jump at any chance to over-power myself and then I get bored. I did the same in FF3 and 5. Oh well, some day I'll return and finish it... my DS is sitting right there, waiting for me.
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Dragon Quest - Like a Dargon
- Thread starter WildcatJF
- Start date
Tomm Guycot
(he/him)
My slow, years-long journey through XI S continues. I got to the part where you get the boat (again) and can now freely explore (again) so I'm taking a Cybershadow break.
Isrieri
My father told me this would happen
Regarding DQII, on the old forums I remember someone linked an interview where I learned that the princess of Cannock, the cousin that was left behind, was to play a bigger role in a scrapped ending. An earlier draft had the prince of cannock use the Sacrifice spell to defeat Malroth and not survive the battle. After returning home, I think the princess would have shown up to blame the hero for not being able to save his life. It was probably a better choice to move for the happier ending but I always had an inkling that there was something unique about the princess, since they have her off in a small room on her own with even a little dialogue between her and the prince: They never did that too lightly in NES era.
Its always lovely when you learn something revelatory about a game you've known for such a long time.
Its always lovely when you learn something revelatory about a game you've known for such a long time.
I started replaying Dragon Quest II (Mobile) back when Dragon Quest Tact was in beta, and now that Dragon Quest Tact is live I went back and finished my DraQue II replay.
There's a lot I like about the game (exploration and new keys are always a fun time), but man, I just do not like combat too much in this game. Fights often tended to drag on longer than I wanted, with a frequent worry of my squishy mages running out of MP before I finished a dungeon and praying that whatever prayer rings I may have won't crumble into dust. Also the random encounter rate always felt too high to me, especially in dungeons where I can't use holy water or Holy Protection.
That said, I did utilize much more of the magic moveset this go-around. Fizzle is extremely useful throughout the game, and near the end Thwack is more or less a win button against a few of the nastier groups. I'm not thrilled that this was the game that introduced monsters randomly no selling magical attacks to the series, but even with less buffing spells than its follow-up I could usually find something for Cannock and Moonbrooke to do.
Welp, on to Dragon Quest III!
There's a lot I like about the game (exploration and new keys are always a fun time), but man, I just do not like combat too much in this game. Fights often tended to drag on longer than I wanted, with a frequent worry of my squishy mages running out of MP before I finished a dungeon and praying that whatever prayer rings I may have won't crumble into dust. Also the random encounter rate always felt too high to me, especially in dungeons where I can't use holy water or Holy Protection.
That said, I did utilize much more of the magic moveset this go-around. Fizzle is extremely useful throughout the game, and near the end Thwack is more or less a win button against a few of the nastier groups. I'm not thrilled that this was the game that introduced monsters randomly no selling magical attacks to the series, but even with less buffing spells than its follow-up I could usually find something for Cannock and Moonbrooke to do.
Welp, on to Dragon Quest III!
I've been playing a ton of Dragon Quest Tact since it came out about 2 weeks ago. One of my biggest DQ holes, though, is playing the Monsters spin-offs, despite loving the heck out of those guys. I'm not sure the best way of playing them in English though. There's translations for: Caravan Heart on the GBA, Terry's Wonderland 3D on 3DS (a remake of the 1st game), the 3DS remake of DQM2, and Joker 3 on 3DS. But there's also the option of playing the Game Boy Color originals! So, I guess I'm wondering if anyone has any strong feelings about playing the originals on GBC vs the fan-translated remakes on 3DS?
Personally, if I played these games again, I would most likely go for the 3DS fan translations. Not a big fan of the worlds most DraQueMon games have to explore (even when they ditch random generation the map designs are usually pretty bad compared to a regular DraQue game), but things like more open maps and symbol encounters would likely make the games more palatable than the original Game Boy Color titles.
Speaking to the earlier conversation on Dragon Quest II: I'm replaying it on Switch. I just completed the cave to Rendarak. Even though there's a lot to like about the game, this ending stretch still kinda sucks. The encounter rate in dungeons in general is extremely high, which I think made me overleveled at this point because the cave wasn't actually that hard, it just took me a long time to get through because there were so many battles and the cave was complex to navigate. For reference my levels are 38/36/32 and I see people earlier in this thread talking about getting to Rendarak proper almost 10 levels below mine. Also I looked up how to get Midenhall's final weapon from the cave and I don't see how I could've stumbled onto it naturally, because no way in hell was I going to walk around all the corners of a gigantic empty room with how high the encounter rate was (there was discussion about this earlier in the thread).
Everything leading up to this part is great and what I expect from a Dragon Quest game, but man the encounter rate suuuuucks and drags out what could be a nice brisk experience like its predecessor. I never finished this game when I first played through the series long ago, but that time was on NES and I vaguely remember stopping at this same point and never trying the game again until now, and it became the only main entry I haven't finished. I'm definitely ready for it to be over, but since I do seem to be overleveled I'll at least give the final dungeon a shot.
Everything leading up to this part is great and what I expect from a Dragon Quest game, but man the encounter rate suuuuucks and drags out what could be a nice brisk experience like its predecessor. I never finished this game when I first played through the series long ago, but that time was on NES and I vaguely remember stopping at this same point and never trying the game again until now, and it became the only main entry I haven't finished. I'm definitely ready for it to be over, but since I do seem to be overleveled I'll at least give the final dungeon a shot.
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And I finished it. It turns out the last dungeon is not nearly as grueling as the previous one. Poor Prince Cannock died 3 times in the winning fight -- gotta love a breath attack that does 80% of his Max HP. I still think it's my least favorite of the NES entries, but the only reasons for that are combat/gameplay balance nitpicks, so it's like a B- grade instead of B, you know?
Yeah, I'd say you're overleveled. I don't remember what my final levels were in the NES game, but those levels will get you through pretty much anything. I assume the Switch version has been rebalanced from the NES game, though.
I haven't checked for verification, but I feel like the remakes added more levels but made most of them give out less stats; there were plenty of stretches where I'd get a handful of level ups only doling out 1 or 2 of a stat, and then all of a sudden there's a level that gives out major stat ups in everything.
If you didn't have magic armour on Cannock, you would be better off having that on him than one of the higher defense upgrading armors. Magic defense is pretty important for that fight, and both Midenhall and Moonbrooke have some with their best armor options (Erdrick's armor for Midenhall and the flowing dress* for Moonbrooke).
* Cannock can equip it too, but you can only get one in the non-NES/Famicom versions.
This is correct, at least for the Princess and for Prince Jack of All Trades.
It used to only be that Prince Tank could reach level 50, but now they all can. (The old level caps were 50/45/35.)
I have always found the final battle in 2 to be incredibly difficult (the most difficult in all of the NES games). That's probably why I think I only ever played through 2 once or twice.
Also, doesn't the NES (and maybe famicom) version of 2 have some kind of glitch related to level ups at higher levels?
Also, doesn't the NES (and maybe famicom) version of 2 have some kind of glitch related to level ups at higher levels?
Been playin’ DQ6 when I’m not too busy deleting my save files.
Carver’s absurd. Also it keep catching me when I see him act; given that my name is Carver but I named The Hero Destil, I keep thinking it’s the hero acting and dealing absurd damage. Happens like every 5 minutes.
Anyway now I have to play a stealth minigame with the awful touch controls and I hate life.
Carver’s absurd. Also it keep catching me when I see him act; given that my name is Carver but I named The Hero Destil, I keep thinking it’s the hero acting and dealing absurd damage. Happens like every 5 minutes.
Anyway now I have to play a stealth minigame with the awful touch controls and I hate life.
I have the same problem every time I play Earthbound
I was named after my grandfather, Giygas
I like Dragon Quest 2. It’s a pretty big step up from the first game in terms of mechanics and world map. There are some fun puzzles. Minor plot twists, nothing out of the ordinary, but the beginnings of the character the later games develop.
The last dungeon is a challenge, but if you grind for just 20 minutes in the final world area you can earn a few levels and make it a fair fight.
I’d happily perform 20 minutes of grinding in snappy fun challenging combat over the dozens of hours of story padding some of the later games have.
The last dungeon is a challenge, but if you grind for just 20 minutes in the final world area you can earn a few levels and make it a fair fight.
I’d happily perform 20 minutes of grinding in snappy fun challenging combat over the dozens of hours of story padding some of the later games have.
It helps that the Switch/Mobile port tweaked enough to hugely reduce the slog of the game; moved it from being the hardest DQ to recommend to one of my favourites
I probably wouldn't mind the battles in Dragon Quest II too much if holy water and the Holy Protection spell worked in dungeons instead of only on the world map. It wasn't too big a problem in Dragon Quest I 'cuz every fight was 1v1, and even before the later versions that gave you a thief who could lessen the encounter rate at will Dragon Quest III gave you a fourth slot and more options for how to approach combat.
Ah okay, I figured it out.
The part where you get set to 1 HP and 0 MP is very short if you know how to solve it, but I didn't and I wandered around doing other things like that for a while.
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I've been playing the SFC version of Dragon Quest V and just got to the farm village on the Western Continent being terrorized by a monster.
I love how it's more a series of vignettes set against the backdrop of the Legendary Hero story. It keeps me hooked, wondering what I'll be getting up to next.
I love how it's more a series of vignettes set against the backdrop of the Legendary Hero story. It keeps me hooked, wondering what I'll be getting up to next.