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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.
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Oct 31, 2014 03:47
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 18:23 |
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One benefit of playing Dragon Quest 8 on an emulator is that you can use save states to game the random number generator in order to first encounter more metal slimes than usual and then make sure they don't run away before you can kill them. I once did that for a few hours to get my characters up into the 80's and then completely trashed the bonus-bonus-post-game content.
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Oct 31, 2014 16:45
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Another good use for Axes is Axes of Evil, which gives Yangus the ability to hit a group of enemies with damage that scales with his weapon. He's not the best group-attacker in the party, but there are still certain kinds of enemy that you really want to hit all at once and not just one at a time. Also, the best thing about getting Swords up to 100 becomes better when you also get Courage up to 100, which is why I usually focus on both skills simultaneously in my runs. Boomerangs are nice, but Hero eventually gets some group-target spells on his own so they aren't necessary.
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Oct 31, 2014 20:59
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ultrafilter posted:How practical is it to max out everything for everyone? Under ordinary conditions, you will get enough points to max out two skills and maybe get partway through a third. If you grind to an absurd degree, you'll likely find enough points to max out the third skill and start into a fourth. Past that, your only recourse is to grind skill seeds from very rare drops off of very powerful monsters. So it's technically possible, but realistically it ain't happening.
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Nov 1, 2014 17:48
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:Man with a few buffs and some tension Whip Jessica cam outdamage almost everyone else. Plus she gets a skill in that tree which is really, really useful against singular enemies, like most bosses.
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Nov 1, 2014 18:33
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MechaCrash posted:When I played, I didn't branch out at all. I picked one weapon and dumped all of my points into that and the special attribute for all of my characters, and didn't even consider putting points elsewhere until both of those were at 100. It sounds like that was probably not the best idea, then. Swords, axes, whips, and bows in case you're curious. A mecha after my own heart.
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Nov 2, 2014 06:23
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Geostomp posted:Hey, I remember playing Blue Dragon for a bit. At a lot of points, you ended up with mobs made up of natural enemies. When that happened, the enemies would spend their first turn killing their designated prey before you could even move, saving you a lot of trouble. Does anything like that happen here? Nah, everyone on both sides always lines up in a neat little row and there are no actual random groups--the game always selects from a large but very specific list of enemy encounters when it's time to fight. And I'd like to echo Renoistic. It becomes easier to remember to check in with the party once you realize that they will say something new after virtually every single map change and cutscene.
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Nov 3, 2014 07:14
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:No, later we'll meet Android 18 and Trunks. And his brother Vegeta!
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Nov 4, 2014 08:45
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Geostomp posted:I guess so many writers decide to ratchet the threat level up to cosmic proportions in hopes of making up for any other shortcomings, but it's so difficult to fathom and so overdone that it tends to fall flat. From what people are hinting at, Dhoulmagus sounds like he'll hit just the right level of evil. Well, like I said before, the game basically marks off everything on the JRPG checklist, so it should come as no surprise that the world will be at stake by the end of things, but there is definitely some ratcheting of the threat level as time goes by. In fact, I'd say the game does a pretty good job of pacing both the stakes and the villain considering how long it is.
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Nov 5, 2014 04:33
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Fionordequester posted:Fun Fact about Eight's name. In Japanese, "eight" is "Hachi", which sounds much more like an actual name, to the point where it can even be used as an actual name. For example, the shop owner in Advance Wars is named this. And there's also a movie called "Hachi: A Dog's Tale" So in a way, "Eight" is an overly literal translation that sounds much better in Japanese. Oddly enough, "Hachi" would still seem out of place since everyone's names are pretty well Westernized.
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Nov 5, 2014 20:44
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:More or less weird than Dhoulmagus? Dhoulmagus is a corrupted mash-up of "ghoul" and "magus," so still more.
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Nov 5, 2014 22:46
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For reference, I'm pretty sure the combat with Bangerz and Mash will also end the moment you select "Fight" and before you can choose any abilities. And PS: Don't forget to bug your party members first!
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Nov 6, 2014 02:14
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Choco1980 posted:Something just occurred to me...if the horse is the princess under a spell, why are we making her pull the cart?! I believe this question is actively addressed either in a flashback and/or in a party dialog.
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Nov 7, 2014 05:45
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:Okay, the emergency fix© worked, but it cripples the framerate. If I had more time to experiment I might've been able to find a workaround that didn't involve the game running at half speed, but I didn't have the luxury. So, no video for this part, my apologies. If you're using PCSX2, then you can enable HW Hacks and set Skipdraw to 1 or 2. This will kill the sepia filter, but it won't tank the framerate--it's sort of give-and-take.
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Nov 10, 2014 02:52
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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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loquacius posted:Then why hasn't she joined the drat party yet She thought she was going to be the protagonist.
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Nov 12, 2014 05:37
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DjinnAndTonic posted:Flipside, I also wouldn't mind seeing Yangus as the protagonist. Silent protagonists are the worst. Sigh. I guess Eight could be worse, but mute heroes just rub me the wrong way in general. I'm with you there, generally speaking--something they taught me back in writing class is that audiences connect better to characters with traits than to characters without traits because while the former would not be mistaken for oneself, which is the point of the latter, characters with traits can be identified as humans instead of as cardboard, and generally speaking people prefer other people to cardboard. I'm willing to make an exception in Eight's case, though, because there secretly is a character underneath his muteness. He does enough explaining that it's obvious he talks plenty in-game, and the way other characters react to him builds a personality in its own way, particularly those characters who have known him the longest. He's still a bit bland, mind you, but then it's usually the protagonist's job to be the straight man.
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Nov 12, 2014 17:48
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:
It's really more like two-thirds considering Gramps and the 'Orse Princess.
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Nov 13, 2014 16:17
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:I can deal with that because alchemy can also make you horribly rich. For alchemy sessions I turned the music off, leaned on the controller, and watched episodes of MST3k until I heard that special ding. Turns out PCSX2 accepts controller commands while running in the background.
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Nov 17, 2014 17:27
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Word on the Wind posted:I basically never used Alchemy as I'm not especially fond of that kind of experimentation. This LP however has been seriously giving me the inclination to do some rectifying. Me neither, but that's why I keep two tabs open when I play DQ8: one's got the walkthrough while the other switches between the item list and the alchemy recipes.
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Nov 19, 2014 05:40
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Panic! at Nabisco posted:FFXII-FFXIII wars are hilarious (especially back when they would summon our old friend Azure Horizon) because they're essentially different flavors of "automating the small poo poo so you can concentrate on the big picture," but everyone likes one and is offended by the other because they automate different things that people find fun. For me the FF12-13 wars are hilarious because y'all should be playing Dragon Quest 8 instead.
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Nov 21, 2014 04:50
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I personally got really bored of FFXII and liked FFXIII's combat, but to each their own.
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RareAcumen posted:Wow, I never really pegged Yangus for a smart fighter. Using a dude's face as a shield during that was something I didn't see coming. Also, wow can bullmask take a lotta punishment. What, you didn't expect that Yangus would know his way around a bar fight? I don't think that's the first chair-with-patron he's ever thrown.
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Nov 25, 2014 06:21
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By the way, OFS, you should go back to Farebury and speak with the armor merchant behind his stall. It turns out he's got some...alternate items for sale (although you don't actually have to buy anything).
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Nov 26, 2014 17:03
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Zurai posted:Not if you knew what it's made from. What, a little mold and certain...animal byproducts so dangerous that they never stop smoking? It's still not the most disgusting cheese ever devised.
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Dec 3, 2014 09:11
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So I got inspired to play through Dragon Quest 8 for about the fourth or fifth time now--the third since I started using an emulator. Each time I play I always top myself, but, well...    ...I doubt I'll be able to manage that next time.
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Dec 3, 2014 20:16
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Petiso posted:The truly remarkable thing is that you managed that with that awful aspect ratio. There's a setting to switch the game to widescreen. The game itself looks just fine, and while the menus look stretched, you can get used to that.
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Dec 3, 2014 20:49
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LAY-ZX posted:It's not like that scene in the last update was very subtle about it either. Yeah, but I figured it's better safe than sorry. Same reason I erased all of Hero's high-level armor.
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Dec 4, 2014 01:16
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You know something I like about Angelo? He's left-handed. And the developers are always on the ball about that fact.
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Dec 4, 2014 04:21
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MelvinBison posted:e. Probably the joke you're all getting at. But may as well explain it. Actually, I used that screenshot because it's the first one in the update where he specifically gestures with his left hand, but I like the way you think.
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Dec 4, 2014 05:22
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Some Numbers posted:An archer holds the bow with their off hand and draws the arrow with their dominant. Being a leftie who's used a bow in the past, I can confirm that Angelo is a left-handed archer. My only complaint about how the game depicts it is that Angelo always holds the arrow on the left side of the bow; the arrow always has to be on the other side from the drawing hand or else it'll slip off when you release. That fact was pretty annoying for me since it meant I could never use the composite bows on the campsite archery range.
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Dec 4, 2014 17:59
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Let me drop some knowledge on y'all. First of all, there is a certain opportunity cost to using Helm Splitter and Steal Sickle all the time: unless they're designed around critical hits, special abilities can never critical. Second, from my experience it seems like reaching 100 tension is a matter of practice rather than anything else, and it is practice that each character needs to put in separately. While walking to the next location after this one, I had everyone raise tension on trash random encounters and after doing that around five times everyone managed to reach 100 tension. I've heard that character level may also be a factor, so I don't know whether practicing earlier would have had the same effect. I suspect it would, though. Finally, OFS, do you plan on abusing save states to farm metal slimes or at the very least ensure that you can kill the ones who appear? They're usually good for a free level or two the first time you encounter them.
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Jan 2, 2015 05:30
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And so here we learn the first reason why the villain doesn't just kill the heroes: it's because for once he's the one collecting plot coupons and he doesn't want to waste any time on people who can't even stop him.
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Feb 5, 2015 04:53
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loquacius posted:same Since he's using an emulator, OFS can simply abuse save states in order to 1) find the biggest metal slime available and 2) reload the combat round until an auto-critical skill hits. That's how I did it.
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Feb 5, 2015 18:47
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Pastry of the Year posted:Are you talking about that little island in the southwest corner of the map? I've just relatively recently reached the point in my playthrough where I can go there, and I had an absolutely terrible Metal encounter rate, i.e. none at all until I finally gave up and went to the forest just before the Royal Hunting Grounds. The best place is The Dragon Graveyard. Just spam Whistle by the entrance and you'll see plenty of metal king slimes. Alternately, if you've gotten far enough, warp to the Dragovian Sanctuary and turn around to enter the last section of the Dragovian Path. You can find metal king slimes in pairs in that area.
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Feb 6, 2015 17:41
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You know what I like about Jessica and Angelo's relationship? At no point does she ever accept his advances and after a while he gives up on her and sticks to chasing other women instead (this still pisses off Jessica, but in more of a "keep it in your pants" kind of way rather than the usual "secretly jealous").
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Feb 8, 2015 21:16
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I like how the game handle's Angelo's backstory. He doesn't get all angsty and he doesn't let it define his personality, but at the same time you get the sense that it's painful enough that he doesn't like talking about it. He's a hedonist because it lets him escape from his bad memories and his overbearing brother, but at the same time he does genuinely enjoy his lifestyle and he's not exactly going to break down in tears and change his ways anytime soon.
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Feb 15, 2015 08:33
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CmdrKing posted:Well you gotta remember, cheese is by nature moldy milk. So presumably certain kinds of poo attract a type of mold that creates a distinct and flavorful cheese. Not quite; bleu cheese is moldy cheese, but normal cheese is just curdled milk.
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Feb 16, 2015 08:49
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So we just journeyed to the realm of the Moon Shadow so that a magical elf-type person could play a harp and bring the memories of stone and wood to life for the sake of a broken king. As a sidequest.
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Feb 22, 2015 00:23
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I highly recommend using both turbo mode and save states when gambling on an emulator. That slime takes for loving ever to grab the bingo balls.
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Mar 8, 2015 23:00
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 18:23 |
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:
My preferred tactic is to find a corner with a decent framerate, turn on Turbo mode, turn off the background music, and then hold down the left analog stick while I do something else until I hear that lovely ding. Also, I love the use of thieves' cant in this section.
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Mar 27, 2015 02:32
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