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Orange Fluffy Sheep
Jul 26, 2008

Bad EXP received



Overture


Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a lot of firsts for the series. The first Playstation 2 entry, the first fully 3D entry, the first to feature voice acting, and the first to actually be localized under the name "Dragon Quest". It's also an incredible game. It's beautiful to see, the scoring is excellent, and the gameplay itself surprisingly deep. It is easily one of the finest, most charming RPGs around, and I hope to show you why.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17

Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21

Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26

Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35

Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43

Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49

Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54

Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64

Orange Fluffy Sheep fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Oct 10, 2017

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Orange Fluffy Sheep
Jul 26, 2008

Bad EXP received
BONUS CONTENT:
Chapter 47? (April Fools)

Orange Fluffy Sheep fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Apr 2, 2016

Orange Fluffy Sheep
Jul 26, 2008

Bad EXP received



Intermezzo


This is the closest to an official name DQ8's hero has. The game's voice acting will brush right past it.


Your quest has begun!



The game proper opens with this mouse witnessing a plume of smoke from the town in the distance.


He decides it is high time to go back.


Go Topo Go!!



Once in the clearing, he encounters this... strange troll... thing?


Regardless, it regards the mouse with annoyance.


And he snuggles right into the hero's pocket, right as one of our travelling companions speaks up.


"Let's 'ead inta town. There's better places than this to spend an evenin'! Shake a leg, guv!"

Meet Yangus, the most obvious evidence this game was localized in England.


The only real kink with the controls is that triangle is cancel and circle is the menu, which is the reverse of a lot of other playstation JRPGs.


X is still the general "do thing" button, though.


Such as pointlessly smashing barrels. 83% of this LP by volume will be smashing barrels.

The remaining is split between smashing pots and the rest of the video game.




Video covered in screenshots!





"What would you know? A lowlife like you wouldn't recognize nobility if it came up and bit you on the... arrrgh!"


Trode and Yangus stare angrily until...






The search turns up nothing until...


Suddenly, slimes!




War Cry


Slimes are Enix's mascot, and serve as early-game fodder in every Dragon Quest game. VIII is no different. They possess a weak 10 attack and no spells or special abilities to help. 0 evasion, drop Medicinal Herb at 1/32 rates and Amor Seco Essence at 1/64 rates.


In short they're no match and usually die in one hit.


Enemies seem to have slightly fluctuating HP, which doesn't usually matter. Slimes having 6-7 HP when you're hitting for 6-7 is one of three places you'll really ever see it.


Attacking is our only option, since we lack spells or abilities and every other option would just prolong the fight.


When attacking a target with just too much defense, the attack deals 0 or 1. You can theoretically chip away or get chipped.


1 experience point and 1 gold each.


How fortunate! Medicinal Herbs recover 30 HP to one character.


Back to business, looking for the princess.


Suddenly, a horse with a beautiful white coat walks in.




So uh apparently this horse is the princess.


"I say we make a move now, before it gets dark."

Video ends here.


Opening credits. Video covered in screenshots.



We're treated to the opening credits during the trip to town. You may know Akira Toriyama from Dragonball Z, and you can tell there seems to be only so many hairstyles the guy knows.

Well, once we see characters who aren't wearing hats, are bald, or are horses.


The group enters the town of Farebury.


Two guys and a goblin thing come riding in this small town?


You know that's going to cause quite the stir.

Video ends here.


"This is the town where Master Rylus lives."
"Hold your 'orses, grandad! I thought it was Dhoulmagus we was after."


"But that dastardly magician can't hide from us forever! We must track him down, and lift this confounded curse! Oh, just look at my poor Medea! And we'd only just settled on her engagement to the prince of Argonia... Oh, that dispicable Dhoulmagus!"


Nah.


"There's every chance Rylus will be able to give us a clue as to Dhoulmagus's whereabouts. That's why you must find him. I'll be waiting for you here."


A Peaceful Town



DQ8 is stuck in having very limited save options, but the only penalty for a game over is losing half of your money, so it's a wash.


Farebury has two points of interest- lens flares everywhere as it's evening, and this burnt-down building. This is where that plume of smoke the mouse saw came from.


Let's go shopping! Armor shops are denoted by this red-and-white shield icon.


It seems our budget is nothing at all.


And none of the stuff we have on us except for weapons sells for much.


The answer, then, is ransacking. You find so many useful items by pilfering in every corner of every town.


The inn's gotta have a lot of stuff to plunder!


Well that's disappointing. Usually any time there's a group of breakable things like this at least one has an item.


Upstairs, a man complains about a local fortune-teller being really bad at his job.


Hey maybe you should just accept it and stop blaming him for telling the truth.

I think.


Bookcases don't have swag in them, but they sometimes have information. Sometimes.


Holy Water decreases the random encounter rate temporarily when used. Useful if you need to make a hasty getaway when low on resources, or just when you get tired of random encounters.


Not exactly useful since it's what Eight has equipped already and Yangus's starting armor is 1 point better, but it still sells for 15 gold.


Chimera Wings, when used, transport the party to any previously-visited town. They can only be used outside, and right now the only place we have is Farebury.


Eight always picks out the green leaning book on the second row and flips a few pages. He's good at picking out the juicy stuff.




I think I'll make it a point to get these chests, especially since guides on the internet exist for finding them.


It ain't Dragon Quest without finding a stick, though Eight's default sword is slightly stronger.


Even sacks on the wall aren't safe from our rummaging.


B-but Yangus is missing a hit point! Oh well, we'll have to see about that missing HP later.


Item shops have this feather icon. They're worth seeing just to make sure you have adequate restoratives.


In this case, yeah, yeah we do. Antidotal Herbs restore Poison. We'll find a few from plundering.


We can sell the spare set of clothes to bolster the war chest, though.


Apparently a jester came and went before we got here. The townspeople were more creeped out by him than amused.


Churches are the aforementioned save points.


Healing Power of the Psalms


The music is great too.


Confesssion labels itself as the save option. Divination tells you how much EXP until the next level, which isn't a very handy feature that often. It does tell us that Yangus requires a bit less experience than Eight to level up, though.


The priest is in back. We ask him about our man.


Apparently, something's happened with Rylus, though it's put everyone on edge.


'The great wizard finally reached Farebury after a long and arduous journey. Welcoming such a great sage into our town is a truly unparalleled honour. Long may the sage and his descendants stay in the town of Farebury! Huzzah!'


One item in the church is rummage-proof. I only feel mildly bad about taking everything not nailed down from a church.


For example, this pot lid. It may not seem like it's much, because it isn't. But it's a shield for Yangus where he has none so it'll do.

This update is long enough, so that's it for now. Next time is more Farebury.

Orange Fluffy Sheep fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Oct 31, 2014

ultrafilter
Aug 23, 2007

It's okay if you have any questions.


I'm excited for this one.

MelvinBison
Nov 17, 2012

"Is this the ideal world that you envisioned?"
"I guess you could say that."

Pillbug
Yangus' voice is higher pitched than I remember. I need to play this again.

idonotlikepeas
May 29, 2010

This reasoning is possible for forums user idonotlikepeas!
I love this game, every cheesy bit of it.

Rabbi Raccoon
Mar 31, 2009

I stabbed you dude!
I have a tendency to play halfway through Dragon Quest games and lose interest once it starts taking hours to get a single level or get a new piece of equipment, and this one is no exception. So let's see where this goes.

mateo360
Mar 20, 2012

TOO MANY PEOPLE MERLOCK!
ONLY ONE DIJON!

Rabbi Raccoon posted:

I have a tendency to play halfway through Dragon Quest games and lose interest once it starts taking hours to get a single level or get a new piece of equipment, and this one is no exception. So let's see where this goes.

I ended up stopping because the encounter rate drove me nuts where it was taking an hour to do one floor of a dungeon.

Nihilarian
Oct 2, 2013


quote:

Slimes when attacking a target with just too much defense, the attack deals 0 or 1.
Sorry if this is kinda :spergin:, but is this supposed to be something like "When slimes attack a target with too much defense, the attack does 0 or 1 damage"? Does that mean mean no other enemies deal 0 or 1 damage when you have too much defense?

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

MelvinBison posted:

Yangus' voice is higher pitched than I remember. I need to play this again.

That's everyone in general. Like they weren't sure if they should take their lines seriously or not at first, but once they settle into it shortly thereafter they get great. Yangus and Trode in particular sound way different later on than they do at the start. Even going back to the beginning shortly, or even immediately after beating it, the difference is super noticable. Heck, could just start a new game after a few hours and it stands out immensely.

Orange Fluffy Sheep
Jul 26, 2008

Bad EXP received

Nihilarian posted:

Sorry if this is kinda :spergin:, but is this supposed to be something like "When slimes attack a target with too much defense, the attack does 0 or 1 damage"? Does that mean mean no other enemies deal 0 or 1 damage when you have too much defense?

I swear to god when I was reviewing the update for mistakes I noticed this and thought "okay need to take out the word 'slimes'" and then somehow forgot it instantly.

Bobbin Threadbare
Jan 2, 2009

I'm looking for a flock of urbanmechs.

The thing I really like about Dragon Quest 8 is how it follows the most clichéd possible JRPG plot, but it's actually smart about it. The main character always has the most important quest in mind even as he gets forcefully dragged into all the local quests you have to complete before moving on, everyone's motivations make sense, and game always has a perfectly reasonable answer to the eternal question of, "Why doesn't the big bad just up and kill the heroes while he can?"

I also have a couple of things to add to the LP. First, OFS, I imagine you were planning to do this anyway, but make sure you always check in with the party whenever the plot advances even by a little bit. Second, the Holy Water doesn't exactly lower the encounter rate so much as skips encounters whose level is lower than that of the party. That means that encounters will have their normal rate in higher-level areas, will stop completely in lower-level areas, and will sporadically disappear in even-level areas since the game will skip low-powered monster groups whenever they get rolled.

Yapping Eevee
Nov 12, 2011

STAND TOGETHER.
FIGHT WITH HONOR.
RESTORE BALANCE.

Eevees play for free.
I believe my reaction to seeing the test post for this was 'yesyesyesYESyessss'. Or something to that effect.

DQVIII was my entryway into the series, and got me interested enough to go back and play the original four, as well as IX when it came out. (Still need to get to V-VII.) It's a very solid game even before you consider Level-5 developed it.

Sadly, my copy somehow got damaged and freezes when you try to leave the starting town. So I'll definitely be following this LP. :)

YggiDee
Sep 12, 2007

WASP CREW
Oh man I remember playing DQ VIII a decade ago but I never made it to the end, I am excited to see this :)

Rabbi Raccoon
Mar 31, 2009

I stabbed you dude!

YggiDee posted:

Oh man I remember playing DQ VIII a decade ago but I never made it to the end, I am excited to see this :)

It just hit me that I'm not 18 anymore. You bastard.

Rabbi Raccoon fucked around with this message at 04:34 on Oct 31, 2014

theshim
May 1, 2012

You think you can defeat ME, Ephraimcopter?!?

You couldn't even beat Assassincopter!!!
Man, I haven't played any of the DQ games. But hell, another OFS LP? I'm following with gusto :)

Major_JF
Oct 17, 2008
I just played this game for the first time this year. In fact I just finished it last week with... 162 hours on the save file. To be fair, 40-50 of those hours were likely from just leaving the game paused while doing something else due to the nature of the save system.

Tuxedo Ted
Apr 24, 2007

So, show of hands, who here got this for the game and not the final fantasy demo CD?


Something about this game really scratched an itch I didn't know even existed. Each new weapon or armor was an exciting find to look forward to, it was a ton of fun to play.


A lot of the flaws stood out sharper in subsequent playthroughs, though, so I'm glad for this LP. I was actually thinking about starting up again, wondering how well the hero would do using a different weapon set.

Edit: I don't mean for this to be a smuggo "I'm not one of those sheeple, HEH!" posts, I just remembered it being a major selling point for the game back in the day that there was that FF12 demo CD packaged with it. I think it even went on to the box art.

Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Oct 31, 2014

Charlett
Apr 2, 2011
I had played Dragon Quest 5 at an old expo a long while back and I was instantly hooked despite having very little idea what was going on. When 8 was released and I actually had the platform to play it, I wanted it so badly my parents got it for my birthday. It was the best gift I received that year.

Even Mom had high praise for the music in that it actually *sounded* good; she never did enjoy the midi beeps and boops and cartoony music of Nintendo, so this was the first time she heard something that was actually orchestrally done.

Afterwards when the DS had many releases and re-releases, I picked all of them up because 8 made me fall in love with Dragon Quest. The fact that a game can include religion and not make it immediately evil or antagonistic, but also not glaringly obvious or "shove down your throat" about it made it some of the best RPGs around.

When I saw this thread I smiled really bright, and the fact that it's OFS doing it is just icing on the cake. I can't wait to see how this turns out! :D

CmdrKing
Oct 14, 2012

Maybe if I called it 'Interpretive Stabbing'...

Tuxedo Ted posted:

So, show of hands, who here got this for the game and not the final fantasy demo CD?


I'd played DQIV, so I picked it up for its own sake and the FFXII demo was just a nifty bonus. As it turned out, that demo convinced me to not buy FFXII! Meanwhile DQVIII convinced me to buy the DS versions of IV and V. Funny really.

Meaty Ore
Dec 17, 2011

My God, it's full of cat pictures!

Funny, I just finished playing through this game for the second time a few days ago(first time was some years back) and was wondering if anyone would get around to doing an LP of it. I especially can't wait to see you handle the post-game content once you finally get there. It's such marvelous bullshit, and even if you are decently leveled success comes partly down to good luck.

I'd also like to say that this game is probably one of the best jumping-on points for gamers new to the series. The more modern presentation(actually being able to see your characters act in battle! 3D environments! Fluid animations!) and liberal application of humor make things considerably more accessible to those who aren't hardcore JRPG nerds.

Wayne
Oct 18, 2014

He who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself

Tuxedo Ted posted:

So, show of hands, who here got this for the game and not the final fantasy demo CD?

:ocelot:

But then I started playing DQ games with the original on the NES. I am... also not 18 anymore. :sweatdrop:

Charlett posted:

The fact that a game can include religion and not make it immediately evil or antagonistic, but also not glaringly obvious or "shove down your throat" about it made it some of the best RPGs around.

Ditto. I'm a Christian, and play a lot of RPGs; and I'm pretty sure the one before DQ8 was Grandia 2. Quite the contrast, heh. Of course, DQ games are weird in that the church is always the same, but they change who God is.

Anyway, definitely following this one, OFS. How are you recording it? There're a couple of PS2 games on the list I was thinking about LPing, but wrote it off after our backwards-compatible fat PS3 got the YLOD last year and we had to replace it with a slim.

ManlyGrunting
May 29, 2014

CmdrKing posted:

I'd played DQIV, so I picked it up for its own sake and the FFXII demo was just a nifty bonus. As it turned out, that demo convinced me to not buy FFXII! Meanwhile DQVIII convinced me to buy the DS versions of IV and V. Funny really.

:hfive: Same here. This is seriously one of my favourite JRPGs of the PS2 era, and I've been wanting to see an LP of it for some time. The problem with Dragon Quest games is that they're so huge that it's hard to replay them.

e: You sure about naming the protagonist Eight? I remember that a lot of numbers are written alphabetically in this game and that might be a bit confusing. Still, I'm sure I'll get used to it quickly enough.

ManlyGrunting fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Oct 31, 2014

BottledBodhisvata
Jul 26, 2013

by Lowtax
I felt so very proud when I beat this game and promptly got my rear end handed to me in the bonus content 'cause I focused on Spears over Swords or some poo poo like that.

This game is amazing. I love the world map, I love the music, it has one of my favorite Dragon Quest plots, and I really dig how skill-based it is. You need to be good at RPGs to get far in this game, and it won't hold your hand basically ever. The graphics are gorgeous and god drat can this get an HD port? Can it be on the Wii U?

OneDeadman
Oct 16, 2010

[SUPERBIA]

Tuxedo Ted posted:

So, show of hands, who here got this for the game and not the final fantasy demo CD?

I bought this game because I spent like an entire 4 hours after class playing through the demo of this game. That demo was crazy long for a RPG demo as I'm pretty sure it covered this entire intro update to the end of the first dungeon. It also didn't have a time limit attached to it, so I naturally drew it out by grinding way crazy because I just wanted to explore some more.

I ended up not going past the first dungeon when I bought it :negative:

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Aw man, you know I'm following the poo poo out of this. It's been a long, long time since I played Dragon Quest VIII, but I remember it being nigh-on-perfection. I love the art, I love the writing, I love the gameplay (save the grinding), I love the voice acting, I love the music. It's classical RPG nirvana. Unfortunately, it also seems to emulate like rear end and my PS2 is dead as poo poo.

Logicblade
Aug 13, 2014

Festival with your real* little sister!
Looking forward to this. I got stuck somehwere in the postgame content, but the game was a blast to play through and a fun adventure all around.

Mega64
May 23, 2008

I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.
Interested in seeing how this turns out, since I never really played a DQ game besides a little bit of 5 and 9.

The game looks great, at any rate. Probably one of the best-looking PS2 games I've seen due to the graphic style they went with.

George
Nov 27, 2004

No love for your made-up things.

CmdrKing posted:

I'd played DQIV, so I picked it up for its own sake and the FFXII demo was just a nifty bonus. As it turned out, that demo convinced me to not buy FFXII! Meanwhile DQVIII convinced me to buy the DS versions of IV and V. Funny really.

You missed out. The demo for FFXII was execrable, and the full game was brilliant.

I loved how DQVIII had a great world map with beautiful places to explore. The art assets go a long way to making this a masterpiece, but it's also just so refreshingly old-school without ever beating you over the head with it and without being afraid to take a risk now and then.

AndwhatIseeisme
Mar 30, 2010

Being alive is pretty much a constant stream of embarrassment.
Fun Shoe
It' been years since I played this game all the way through. I've tried a few more times, but every time I get distracted by other games before I can finish it. This game is big, and there is a lot to find and explore. Despite only finishing it once, I still think it's one of the best PS2 RPGs, and am really looking forward to seeing OFS play it.

Orange Fluffy Sheep
Jul 26, 2008

Bad EXP received

A lot of shops have two doors or some other way of getting behind the counter. This is usually so you can chat with the shopkeeper. Outdoor stalls like the rest of Farebury's merchants usually don't do this, but the weapon shop...


Let's say sure, we are.


Whenever you buy equipment, the shopkeeper lets you equip it right there. Still, stuff you find, like that Pot Lid, doesn't.

What if we say no?


Intimidating monsters does have its applications sometimes, but it's a risky move unless you outlevel the enemies. Both because you need to be higher level for it to work, and because more likely than not you'll just get punched in the face for it.


Eight can't pillage everything. Like this thing. What is this thing? He can't steal from it!


Well, this is the front door to the weapon shop. Crossed swords in front of a blue shield.


Equipment in Dragon Quest is usually expensive. DQ8 is no exception. If we sold everything we had, we might be able to afford the Copper Sword. We don't need to, though. Our starting weapons, though janky as they are, can carry us far enough.

That Boomerang, though, is looking handsome. Eight can use it, along with his default swords and spears. Yangus gets hammers, scythes, and axes. The difference in weapon category matters a lot, but more on that later.


The strange jester had a catchphrase. He's got several people in town parroting it.


When all other leads fail, watering hole.


Boogie Woogie in the Bar


The bar music is great. Click it. I also think it's one of the few songs not orchestrated in the NA soundtrack. See, the Japanese version had synthesized music, and the orchestrated soundtrack, like the voice acting, was added for overseas releases.


This random shirtless guy in a bull mask (does he drink through the holes?) tells us about tension.


The major change to the DQ formula 8 introduced is the tension mechanic. Characters can spend turns to make an action super-strong.


Aw yeah hittin' on bunny girls. I think Toriyama has a thing for bunny girls.


"Tee hee hee! Munchie? A cute name for a cute little fellow! Well, Munchie, enjoy your stay! ♪"

Dammit, when she asks about the thing in your pocket you don't tell her about the mouse!


The old man tells us more about Kalderasha, the town's fortune-teller. Apparently he's fallen on hard times.


...So, uh, I think our mission here is... uh... let's eavesdrop.


Kalderasha. Video covered in screenshots.



"I'm sorry but I've got a business to run. This, er, haphazard fortune-telling of yours is costing me a fortune in free drinks!"


"Let me tell you someting for free. All fortune-telling is 'haphazard'! What do you expect!?"


"It would only have led to another disaster, that's what!
"I'm sorry, Mr. Kalderasha, sir. I don't follow... If you're saying you knew about the fire, shouldn't you at least have warned Master Rylus?"
"Yes... Poor Rylus... How many times I argued with the old man... I cannot believe he is gone..."

We have to bother Kalderasha personally in order to advance the story. Seems like a mean thing to do.


He then notices... something about Eight.


Before he can inquire further, something happens!



Hurry! We Are in Danger



Several people run outside. Let's linger!

End of video.


"Yessss! I was just getting to the 'yes, yeeesss" bit. But now iwth all the noise, I have lost interest. You do not understand, do you? That is how I do business! Can you not feel the curiosity stirring in you when hear me say the words!? 'Yes, yeeesss!' It makes you want me to tell your fortune, no?"


This guy is blocking our path to the courtyard. We'll have to go the long way around. Incidentally, the music up there has the most ridiculous breakdown in it.


The NPCs still around have bits of jibber-jabber.


Monster in the courtyard. Video covered by screenshots.





An angry mob has gathered to confront the monster, which is...


Apparently, just Trode. He does look rather gross frankly.




The mob starts pelting him with stones until...


Medea steps in their way! That is one angry horse.


Eight and Yangus step in to defuse the situation and get Trode out.


The party exits to the jeers of the crowd...


"Don't they realize who I am!? Hmph! Judging a book by its cover! Don't they know it's what's inside that counts!?"
"Yeah! You can say that again!"


Well, we did, in a sense.


"Well... I suppose there's no point crying over spilt milk. It's Dhoulmagus we're after! He's the one who cursed the Princess and I, after all. He's the one who made us look so ridiculous! I had hoped Rylus might be able to help us locate him. But it seems we'll just have to track Dhoulmagus down by ourselves. With Rylus gone, we have nothing further to gain from staying here. Let's be on our way!"


Suddenly...


"Are you not afraid of me, young lady?"
"I dreamt about you... I dreamt that some people came to town with a strange creature. It was... sort of halfway between a human and a monster... And I dreamt that they could make wishes come true..."


"Are you referring to me?"
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be rude!"


"Anyway, you say you had a dream about me? Most peculiar..."


"If you could just come to my house, I'll explain everything there. It's by the well, at the far end of town. I'll be waiting for you!"

Valentina leaves.

"Wot was she rabbitin' on about? Come round my 'ouse, she says..."
"Magnificent! She wasn't afraid to look at me at all! Not one bit! Ah, she reminds me of my Medea! We must give this young girl a helping hand!"



End of video.


A Peaceful Community ~ Night



This is the house by the well, like she said.


Let's hop right in then!


Wells usually have some sort of swag hiding at the bottom. It's always worth it to check by diving in.

This Leather Shield goes to Eight, because his defense is lower and because he can't even use the Pot Lid.


We find Valentina has dozed off while waiting.


Perfect time to ransack for minor goodies! :toot:



Valentina's Request




"I wanted to ask you a favour about this crystal ball."


"Of course. Let me explain. My father, Kalderasha, was once a really famous fortune-teller. Lost treasure, missing people... There was nothing the Great Kalderasha couldn't help people with."








Oh great, Kalderasha's here.

"How many times have I told you not to touch my crystal ball?"



"What? Aren't you that boy from the pub!? What brings you here? ...Never mind! I do not know what my daughter has asked you, but you can forget it! I do not need your help! I am fine as I am.


He does exactly as he says.



"But whatever he says, he's the one who's really suffering since he lost his powers."


How could we say no to a face like this? It's a good thing to do, so we do it!



Okay how she closes those giant eyes makes her forehead seem utterly immense.



"I suppose only the daughter of the Great Kalderasha could know a thing like that!"

End of video.

With this information, we report back to Trode.




He responds rather strongly.

"Such devotion to her father! I'm impressed! Just how a daughter should be! And if this Kalderasha gets his powers back, there's nothing he can't find, am I right? Then we'll kill two birds with one stone! If everything goes according to plan, we'll find out where that hateful Dhoulmagus is. But time's getting on. Medea and I will stay outside. That's the last time we set foot in a barbaric town like this. But you should spend the night at the inn and rest well so that you're ready to take on the world tomorrow!"



I'd like to say we do this next time but really we need to grind up a bit so we don't die painfully and alone in the waterfall cave. Stay tuned for that, I guess?

MelvinBison
Nov 17, 2012

"Is this the ideal world that you envisioned?"
"I guess you could say that."

Pillbug
It was me. I bought DQ8 for the demo. I am so sorry, everyone.

Can we get a screencap of Eight's reaction to Trode at the end? That was probably the best part of that scene.

BottledBodhisvata
Jul 26, 2013

by Lowtax
As first dungeons go, this game kicks you in the teeth. It's ridiculously challenging, primarily because of the boss. It basically forces you to grind, but at least the world map has lots of cool places to find out of the way to make it easier.

MaskedHuzzah
Mar 26, 2009

Come now! Look me in the eye and tell me - isn't this the face of a guy you can trust?
Lipstick Apathy
I was lucky - I was able to split the cost of this with a friend due to the FF12 demo. He got the demo, and I got the game. Looking forward to this LP, since its been a long while.

GilliamYaeger
Jan 10, 2012

Call Gespenst!
This has to be my favorite PS2 game of all time, and it was the game that got me to seriously delve into the Dragon Quest series as a whole, something I'm really glad I did to this very day. I'm seriously looking forward to you making it scream, OFS :allears:

Dante Logos
Dec 31, 2010

MelvinBison posted:

It was me. I bought DQ8 for the demo. I am so sorry, everyone.

Can we get a screencap of Eight's reaction to Trode at the end? That was probably the best part of that scene.

I got the DQ8 demo for the slime keychain. I got the demo but not the keychain. Which was very, very sad.

YamiNoSenshi
Jan 19, 2010
I love this game. I bought it on a whim and it turned out to be one of my favorite PS2 games. I'm really looking forward to it getting the OFS treatment.

loquacius
Oct 21, 2008

I've been thinking about this game a lot lately but can't replay it because these days I don't have the time for an old-school JRPG. An OFS playthrough is just what I needed to see :allears:

Also I always thought Kalderasha looked a lot like a down-on-his-luck Frank Zappa.

BottledBodhisvata posted:

As first dungeons go, this game kicks you in the teeth. It's ridiculously challenging, primarily because of the boss. It basically forces you to grind, but at least the world map has lots of cool places to find out of the way to make it easier.

Despite being released during a time period when RPGs in general were getting more user-friendly and streamlining themselves a lot, DQ8 does not gently caress around. You will grind. You will hover around save points and town gates killing poo poo for hours, and you will like it because sometimes you get a level and it plays some happy music and some numbers go up and you get a little dopamine rush :feelsgood: (also because otherwise you will die horribly)

Yangus gets a skill eventually that just triggers a random battle immediately, and it saw a lot of use with me because I was grinding so much.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

MelvinBison posted:

It was me. I bought DQ8 for the demo. I am so sorry, everyone.

Fun fact about that. Buying DQ8 for the FF12 demo was only possible in America, since the European versions didn't have it. :v:

I was very confused when once I was reading a thing on GameFAQs for this and it had an entire section devoted to the demo because gently caress it why not?

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Sloober
Apr 1, 2011

loquacius posted:

I've been thinking about this game a lot lately but can't replay it because these days I don't have the time for an old-school JRPG. An OFS playthrough is just what I needed to see :allears:

Also I always thought Kalderasha looked a lot like a down-on-his-luck Frank Zappa.


Despite being released during a time period when RPGs in general were getting more user-friendly and streamlining themselves a lot, DQ8 does not gently caress around. You will grind. You will hover around save points and town gates killing poo poo for hours, and you will like it because sometimes you get a level and it plays some happy music and some numbers go up and you get a little dopamine rush :feelsgood: (also because otherwise you will die horribly)

Yangus gets a skill eventually that just triggers a random battle immediately, and it saw a lot of use with me because I was grinding so much.

The only point I ever felt you really had to grind in this was for post game content and the initial couple of starter dungeons. After that as long as you do the requisite exploration the levels come at a decent pace to keep up with the game.

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