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Alacron posted:I'm positive that 8 has a bank, though I can't remember exactly where it is off the top of my head. There are two. They're a bit of a ways away.
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Nov 11, 2014 05:02
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If you are at all interested in the series, I absolutely recommend III. It's got a nice slow build up, and you have a lot of freedom in how you want your party to be. On the other hand, since all of your party members are blank slates, it loses a lot of the charm of later entries. V and VI are also really good. And V has hands down the best protagonist. 
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Nov 11, 2014 05:13
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:There are two. They're a bit of a ways away. There are three branches, actually. I'm really curious which one you're forgetting.
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Nov 11, 2014 05:20
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Reading this thread just gives me some warm nostalgic feelings about this game. I had a blast playing it, but an attempt at a replay didn't go so well.. maybe it would now, since it's been a couple of years. One of my fondest memories is getting the ship (hoping that's not a terrible spoiler since I believe people have mentioned before that we will eventually get one) and having NO idea where to go. I ended up stumbling into something close to the right place and having a blast trying to fight my way to civilization and continue the story. It's been a long time since I've been that lost in a game, and it was a really great experience.
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Nov 11, 2014 05:24
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RickVoid posted:If you are at all interested in the series, I absolutely recommend III. It's got a nice slow build up, and you have a lot of freedom in how you want your party to be. On the other hand, since all of your party members are blank slates, it loses a lot of the charm of later entries. Apparently S-E's been releasing the DQ games on iOS and Android, so I'm kinda hoping DQIII pops up there. Don't have anything that'll run a GBC cart these days. DQV is probably my favorite of the four I played, the party chat is just great fun there. Although given the story involved it does kinda make me wish it was in another series, as a game with more dialogue focus it could have been an all time great rather than just pretty good.
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Nov 11, 2014 05:26
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ddegenha posted:Reading this thread just gives me some warm nostalgic feelings about this game. I had a blast playing it, but an attempt at a replay didn't go so well.. It's funny; I kind of had the opposite experience. I played it the first time and really struggled to finish it (mostly since I'd made lousy decisions with skills), then played it again ~2 years later and enjoyed it so much I did the entire postgame, plus all the miscellaneous stuff related to the named monsters OFS pointed out. ...haven't played it since, though.  And yeah, I hear you about the ship. Really, my favorite part of the gameplay of old-school JRPGs is getting to the areas just above where you're supposed to be, so you really struggle to win but you still can (as opposed to just being steamrolled by impossibly high numbers). I think if somebody made an Etrian Odyssey that was more DQ and less Wizardry it'd be gold, heh.
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Nov 11, 2014 06:18
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Some Numbers posted:There are three branches, actually. I'm really curious which one you're forgetting. likely endgame place instead of the mid game places. I didn't even remember that last one until you said there were 3.
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Nov 11, 2014 06:23
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ddegenha posted:Reading this thread just gives me some warm nostalgic feelings about this game. I had a blast playing it, but an attempt at a replay didn't go so well.. maybe it would now, since it's been a couple of years. Yeah. That this game is so large is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. You get a grand adventure and a lot of playtime, but it doesn't encourage replaying it due to the fact that it takes so long to beat. I've played this game three times over the years; once in 2004 when I randomly bought it in Gamestop since I thought it looked cool, once ~5 years ago that I abandoned a good bit through, and my current playthrough I've started cause of the LP. One thing that is nice if you replay it is the character customization; there's just enough variety to have made each of these playthroughs a bit interesting. I'm upset at myself that I never tried Thin Air before, it's such a good skill. quote:One of my fondest memories is getting the ship (hoping that's not a terrible spoiler since I believe people have mentioned before that we will eventually get one) and having NO idea where to go. I ended up stumbling into something close to the right place and having a blast trying to fight my way to civilization and continue the story. It's been a long time since I've been that lost in a game, and it was a really great experience. This is one of the things I love about the DQ series. Overall the games are about as linear as most JRPGs, but they all have the point where you get your first big vehicle and the game just lets you explore. You can immediately continue on with the plot, or explore the world for goodies and optional areas.
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Nov 11, 2014 06:30
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CmdrKing posted:Apparently S-E's been releasing the DQ games on iOS and Android, so I'm kinda hoping DQIII pops up there. Don't have anything that'll run a GBC cart these days. DQV is probably my favorite of the four I played, the party chat is just great fun there. Although given the story involved it does kinda make me wish it was in another series, as a game with more dialogue focus it could have been an all time great rather than just pretty good. For anyone else that was curious, iTunes has DQ 1, 2, 4, and 8 for some reason.
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Nov 11, 2014 06:33
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It bears mentioning that the iOS version of DQ8 lacks both voice acting and an orchestral soundtrack, and is reportedly buggy and crashy besides.
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Nov 11, 2014 07:49
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Genocyber posted:This is one of the things I love about the DQ series. Overall the games are about as linear as most JRPGs, but they all have the point where you get your first big vehicle and the game just lets you explore. You can immediately continue on with the plot, or explore the world for goodies and optional areas. I dunno that I'd agree with your linearity comment. Now granted I haven't played the whole series, not quite half of them in fact, but it seems like a hallmark of the series is actually how not clear-cut your path is. It seems like the general rule of thumb is for the front half of the game or so you only really have enemy strength to gauge whether you should be somewhere or not, and by the back half that kinda gets muddled, especially as you usually have some form of transportation by then broadening your directions. And while talking to townspeople gives you all sorts of world building information, there's usually only at most one or two people that will tell you any clues about your next heading. Compare all that to Final Fantasy where the geography itself usually railroads you to the next town or dungeon, and going out of your way is usually a side quest that can be completely avoided and have no bearing on the plot. And each and every villager can't shut up about the next place you're supposed to go, regardless of if there's a reason for them to have any of that knowledge. DQ very much encourages exploration, but it lets you do all the hard work yourself. I've lost track of how many times I've found myself entering dungeons in a DQ game and thinking to myself "Wait, am I supposed to be here yet?".
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Nov 11, 2014 15:52
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They aren't open world in a sense of say, Fallout 3 - you get to explore to find stuff and buy stuff in some cases, but you don't get access to 'quests' without following the plot along. DQ8 is even more linear than the earlier incarnations since you simply can't get into most dungeons ahead of the plot. I can't actually think of any dungeons in this that you are not gated by plot. Sloober fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Nov 11, 2014 |
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Nov 11, 2014 16:13
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Choco1980 posted:I dunno that I'd agree with your linearity comment. Now granted I haven't played the whole series, not quite half of them in fact, but it seems like a hallmark of the series is actually how not clear-cut your path is. It seems like the general rule of thumb is for the front half of the game or so you only really have enemy strength to gauge whether you should be somewhere or not, and by the back half that kinda gets muddled, especially as you usually have some form of transportation by then broadening your directions. And while talking to townspeople gives you all sorts of world building information, there's usually only at most one or two people that will tell you any clues about your next heading. Compare all that to Final Fantasy where the geography itself usually railroads you to the next town or dungeon, and going out of your way is usually a side quest that can be completely avoided and have no bearing on the plot. And each and every villager can't shut up about the next place you're supposed to go, regardless of if there's a reason for them to have any of that knowledge. DQ very much encourages exploration, but it lets you do all the hard work yourself. I've lost track of how many times I've found myself entering dungeons in a DQ game and thinking to myself "Wait, am I supposed to be here yet?". What the above guy said. It doesn't have the true open-ness that a good CRPG like the Fallout or Wasteland games have, where you really can go pretty much anywhere if you know what you're doing. It's still linear like most JRPGs in that you gotta go along a path to progress the main plot and to unlock more optional areas. It is more open that something like most FF games and does a good job disguising that it's linear by not straight up telling you "go here" most of the time, but overall it is still fairly linear.
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Nov 11, 2014 17:05
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JRPGs are more like movies (specifically anime) -- they have linear plots and adventuring parties full of defined characters who interact with each other in set ways to tell a very specific story. Western RPGs are more like D&D -- you create your character from scratch, your character represents you, the player, and you choose everything about him/her from personality to skills to moral code. Party members are "NPCs" and tend to be AI-controlled.
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Nov 11, 2014 17:20
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2 & 3 were kind of open-world at a few points - there were a few quests that could be done in any order, but ultimately all had to be done before the game could be completed. There were a few side-quests, but not many. 4 just went full story, and with 5 and on most sidequest stuff was just pushed to the post-game.
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Nov 11, 2014 17:39
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loquacius posted:JRPGs are more like movies (specifically anime) -- they have linear plots and adventuring parties full of defined characters who interact with each other in set ways to tell a very specific story. The extra credits guys did a mini-series on this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_rvM6hubs8
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Nov 11, 2014 18:45
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loquacius posted:JRPGs are more like movies (specifically anime) -- they have linear plots and adventuring parties full of defined characters who interact with each other in set ways to tell a very specific story. My argument is that many of the DQ games sit somewhere in-between these two goal-posts. Of course, the only ones I'm really familiar with are 1-4, and what we've seen of this one (I think the spin-offs like Monsters can count as their own separate series for this debate) so as I said, I'm not the best person to be making it, but that still is half the official series right there. And of those, only one of them, part IV, has strong railroading (and I would argue that the final act is negotiable anyways). I mentioned how I often wonder when playing and I stumble onto a dungeon if I got there earlier than I was supposed to--and the answer is that around 1/3rd of the time I have. All the way back in Dragon Warrior 1, the Marsh Cave and the Rainbow Bridge are really the only spots of forced pathing the game puts you through, and they even put in an alternate ending for if you just concentrate on beating the big bad and don't put any effort into saving the princess, like you're supposed to be doing from the start. In fact, there are SEVERAL dungeons in the game that are completely skippable, even though I wouldn't advise it. Already in this LP we've started one sub-quest that a commentator has said they didn't even know was in the game (I'm talking about the old man and the tool bag by the red tree). Compare that to say how the Final Fantasy games have evolved, with XIII having the lion's share of the gameplay involve very rigid and formally shaped maps, near unavoidable specific fights, and experience that's shared by playable characters you don't even have in your party yet, pushing you from one story point to the next rather forcibly. I mean, yeah DQ/W have very singular direction to their plots, but they are still very open world, and spend very little time giving you signposts to where you should go and what you should next do, and I would argue that's by design.
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Nov 11, 2014 22:05
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Choco1980 posted:
DW7 is incredibly railroaded. There is no way to do any of the dungeons out of order, though there are several collectibles that can be grabbed at any point. 6 was also pretty bad about that, but had better pacing.
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Nov 11, 2014 22:12
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MaskedHuzzah posted:DW7 is incredibly railroaded. There is no way to do any of the dungeons out of order, though there are several collectibles that can be grabbed at any point. 6 was also pretty bad about that, but had better pacing. This is a real drat shame, because DQ7 had the opportunity to really break free of the railroading shackles. If those fragments had only been categorized by their element instead of being fragments of very specific maps, it would have made things much less linear. Imagine if it was just "the first 4 wind frags unlock place A, another 5 wind frags unlocks place B, another 6 unlocks place C". You could go round-robin'ing the elements, or carve your way through all the Water places first - which would also give you the ability to carve an easy path through the earlier content of an element you've skipped, now that you've survived a much further one. You'd also still have reason to go back through, because there could be either extra fragments, badass equipment, or even off-color (Black or White or Pink or something, a secret set of maps) fragments that are locked behind specific key item or ability gates, which gives you a reason to go back and explore places you've already 'cleared'; let's say a Chartreuse Fragment would be in Wind Region 2, but requires the Pig's Foot Key found in Earth Region 5 (and that key requires some ability you can only learn from a class that unlocks via a quest in Water Region 3). This can be as simple or as convoluted as you drat well please. MISSED OPPORTUNITIES 
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Nov 11, 2014 22:44
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 The next morning, we're off to the Albert mansion to... be apologized to. Look, Jessica's clearly our third party member and she's probably pumped about finding the same guy we're after so she should be joining us!   "Oh! Are you here to see Miss Jessica, too? She's otherwise engaged at the moment. I should leave her to it if I were you.Let's bug them anyway.  Have a nice life!  Lorenzo is voiced just this once. It really adds to his foppishness.   : "Are you entirely bereft of compassion!? Will you not mourn your own brother's death!?"  "But all you can think of is tradition and family obligations! I'm talking about avenging his murder!": "Avenging...? You will stop this foolishness this instant! You are a young lady, not a warrior!" "Our family's way? Who cares about our family's way!?" "That's why my mind is made up. I don't care about the consequences. I'm going to make Alistair's murderer pay.": "..."   Jessica takes disowning rather well.   Several seconds pass...  Enough time for Jessica to put on an enitrely new outfit.   "Are you really leavin', Jessica?" "Yeah. I am. And I want you two to watch over the village while I'm gone."  "(Sob, sob...! Sniff...)" "Come on. Chin up. Your mission guarding my room is over. I want you to patrol outside from now on!" "Yes, sir!" The kids run off.  Jessica storms off after this line.  Since the kids aren't guarding her room, it's open for pillaging now.  The only item of note in here though is the outfit Jessica was just wearing. She can equip it to...  Wait where is she she should be in my party now wait she's probably downstairs or at the town gates or something yeah that must be it  No she's not there. Uh.  Oh goddammit Jessica why won't you just join the team?   The tower gave enough gold to finally complete armor upgrades, and not a moment too soon.   Trode is still on Dhoulmagus. Oh, right, theoretically we're still chasing him.  Yangus has like fifteen different things to say about Jessica in the span of five minutes.  The way to Port Prospect is the prong of this fork that doesn't lead to the tower. Or is it branch? It's a fork in the road and forks have prongs, but that just sounds so silly... Thread challenge: What should I call the different parts of a fork in the road?  To the south is the ocean. Unlike around Farebury, it's not sheer cliff either.  Perfect for exploring! Port What-spect?  Man o' wars have paralyzing attacks, despite sharing a model with healslimes.  A chest on the beach!  Wait it's one of the two seeds I can't just use willy nilly for Reasons.  I forget if See Urchins have tricks because  Yabbies are goddamn brutal. And they act twice a round.  They very quickly disembowel Eight.  TACTICAL RETREAT! Eight's guts are already missing so what's the problem with leaving the rest of him there?  Luckily having a few Chimera Wings in the bag means we aren't totally boned!  My friend is loving dead can't you just put it on a tab?  Gee, we're lacking someone who can handle magic attacks. It's almost like there was a character who was introduced by flinging magical fireballs who has yet to join.  Near the port are the two new enemies. They're pallete swaps.  Spiked Hares just psyche up.  Jailcats are wizards somehow.  Crack hurts this early on. Jailcats are the most threatening things here. Besides Yabbies. But we don't want to talk about Yabbies.   Seventeen points at level 10. Just keep this in mind for a bit.  The other chest is the other seed I can't use for Reasons. Bloody hell.  Finally, we get to Port Prospect.  Wisdom relates to the damage of magical attacks. I could explain it if anyone in the team had a magical attack.  Well #3, you got gold?   "Why don't I go back to the sea? Well, it's not that simple. That's why I'm so confused! It's the boss... He's the greatest boss in the whole ocean, but he's been acting all weird lately. He always used to be so nice, but now he's angry all the time. He's scaring the scales off everyone! He even chased me away just because I was salivating a bit over his food!" This lady tells us about skills. As in, she vaguely describes what they do and tells us how many points we are away from the next bonus, like how I'm one from Power Throw.   So the ferry had one really really weird trip and has not moved since.  'One night, weak and weary, as I trod through wasteland dreary, I chanced upon the ruins of an ancient ship. Why was it abandoned so far from the sea? I was never able to determine a satisfactory answer, and in fact ponder the question to this very day. Could ancient ships sail on land as well as sea? My wonder at this fateful and mysterious discovery will never cease.'  The weapon shop has the first spear and scythe. Buying the spear here is a bad idea, and the scythe costs a fucktillion gold. I need three.  I wonder how they afford this entire place?  This old lady sighs wistfully about some weirdo.  The main form of transport from two major landmasses is owned by the Alberts. No wonder they're rich.   You already look shady as hell so what could the problem be?  The main form of transport from two major landmasses, one of which has a major religious establishment. This is what we call recognizing a niche.  Half a brain "My apologies, Miss Jessica, but the waters are simply too dangerous at the moment..." "Haven't you been listening? I TOLD you I'd take care of that!" "Please forgive me, Lady Jessica! There'd be hell to pay from the Albert family if we put you in danger!" She looks around for a second before...  "Ah! Speak of the devil!" "I wanted to properly apologize to you! Well, whatever. I'm glad you're here now. Actually, I have a favour to ask. Would you mind comnig over here for a minute?" "Well, yes, but... But, I mean..." S-sturdy? "Er... Oh, well... Actually, we've been looking for someone to take on that very job ourselves!" I don't think the game's going to go anywhere if we don't. "I knew I could count on you. I still cn't get what we saw in the tower out of my mind. Who is this Dhoulmagus, and what does he want? And why did he murder my brother? I'll track him to the ends of the earth. But first, we've got to make the waters safe for ships to sail." "I'll be waiting here. Come back as soon as you're ready." You have no idea, Yangus. You have no idea.
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Nov 11, 2014 23:18
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Hopefully she'll join the party to fight that sea monster. Also Ctrl F for a few errors: "cn't" and "comnig".
Mraagvpeine fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Nov 12, 2014 |
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Nov 11, 2014 23:38
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Forks have tines.
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Nov 11, 2014 23:57
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:You have no idea, Yangus. Yeah, the sea monster took me a few tries my first time, too. It's one of the big roadblocks that teaches you to grind a whole bunch. Also, you should make a note to revisit Alexandria between major plot points. As time passes, Rosalind gradually softens on her position and comes to accept Jessica's decision to join the quest.
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Nov 12, 2014 00:01
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Yeah, the sea monster took me a few tries my first time, too. It's one of the big roadblocks that teaches you to grind a whole bunch. On my current playthrough I managed to beat it w/o grinding. Only just barely though. Thankfully it's pretty much the last boss where grinding is the only option if you can't beat it.
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Nov 12, 2014 00:12
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George posted:Forks have tines. I figure it's kind of like sheep. You can have a left fork and a right fork, just like you can have a sheep and a sheep and that still constitutes sheep.
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Nov 12, 2014 00:13
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I'm not surprised the church charges people for the miracle of conquering death. I'm surprised that they managed to figure that poo poo out and then only charge fifty bucks to do it.
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Nov 12, 2014 00:40
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George posted:Forks have tines. That was it. For some reason I was thinking of prongs.
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Nov 12, 2014 00:52
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Did...did jessica grow a cup size when changing outfits? Then again, she could have just been wearing a Corset.
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Nov 12, 2014 01:52
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They probably did. I hope you're fond of Jessica's breasts, because you're going to be seeing a lot of them for the next few dozen hours. e: Jessica has the most alternate outfits in the game, and they range from awkward to full on cringe-inducing. ManlyGrunting fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Nov 12, 2014 |
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Nov 12, 2014 01:55
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ddegenha posted:I figure it's kind of like sheep. You can have a left fork and a right fork, just like you can have a sheep and a sheep and that still constitutes sheep. And yeah, tines.
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Nov 12, 2014 02:39
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Sexism is over.
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Nov 12, 2014 02:47
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ddegenha posted:I figure it's kind of like sheep. You can have a left fork and a right fork, just like you can have a sheep and a sheep and that still constitutes sheep. A salad fork and a dinner fork, perhaps.
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Nov 12, 2014 03:09
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ManlyGrunting posted:e: Jessica has the most alternate outfits in the game, and they range from awkward to full on cringe-inducing. I obtained all of them and I never felt they were cringe-worthy or had any kind of problem with them. There's a youtube video showcasing all of them, but you'll have to look it up yourself because of location spoilers. If it's wrong having a fireball throwing,dragon hide whip wielding redhead detonating enemies left and right while wearing a fashionable bikini is wrong, I don't want to be right. For those wondering if she'll join for the upcoming boss fight you might want to get some level grinding done beforehand. I'm just saying...
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Nov 12, 2014 03:28
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Yeah, the sea monster took me a few tries my first time, too. It's one of the big roadblocks that teaches you to grind a whole bunch. What's kinda neat is that the DQ games have been having random NPCs that change their dialogue to react to your accomplishments since part two! Pretty impressive for the NES! In the first game, they only have the two event triggers that make everyone change their dialogue: Saving the princess and beating the big bad.
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Nov 12, 2014 03:30
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I'll probably get a few of Jessica's alternate outfits but besides the Dancer's Costume none of them will see significant use as they range from Not the Princess Robe to Not the Princess Robe, Goddammit.
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Nov 12, 2014 03:40
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:grind a whole bunch. man you people are really bad at these games
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Nov 12, 2014 03:56
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George posted:Sexism is over. sexyism just beginning though fake edit: sexy babes aren't sexist
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Nov 12, 2014 04:18
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Jessica knew she wasn't far from becoming a JRPG party member, so she had to change into an outfit with cleavage. Them's the rules, I didn't write 'em.
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Nov 12, 2014 04:23
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Then why hasn't she joined the drat party yet 
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Nov 12, 2014 04:41
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:I'll probably get a few of Jessica's alternate outfits but besides the Dancer's Costume none of them will see significant use as they range from Not the Princess Robe to Not the Princess Robe, Goddammit. I don't know, OFS. I think the game's trying to tell you something with those two 1/256 drops.  It really is odd that Jessica hasn't joined the party yet. Especially since, as noted, it's pretty drat obvious she's going to.
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Nov 12, 2014 04:48
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