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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.
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Oct 31, 2014 07:08
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I'll be interested to see how you develop your skills here. I always found levels and Skill points to be two sparse to really focus on more than two trees, which is a shame. Aw man, I loving love this game's world map, though. More games should have to-scale world maps rather than the old tropes of making the character the size of a city. Makes the grinding way more tolerable - most regions of the world have tons and tons and tons of poo poo to find, and going out looking for it all will typically get you into enough fights to get most of your leveling done. Plus it just looks fantastic.
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Oct 31, 2014 20:47
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CmdrKing posted:I picked up the game much later when it hit bargain bins, but only played a couple hours (like basically went out and fought Rogue Tomato, then saved outside Rabanastre). My biggest issues from the demo were still there (ATB being tortuously slow, enemies respawning too fast) so I shelved it. I've considered going back to it and employing degenerate power leveling tactics to speed through the game better, but so much to play, so little time, you know. Been a while since I played 12, but I'm pretty sure there's an option to adjust the ATB speed somewhere in there. Look into it if you ever feel like giving 12 another shot. I really enjoyed it - gameplay-to-story ratio gets skewed in a few places (towards gameplay, of all things! There's a few points in the game where you have to hike halfway across the world with only a handful of cutscenes to remind you where exactly you're going) and I found the battles hit or miss, but I found the story and world to be really neat. Very different from the archetypical FF.
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Oct 31, 2014 21:39
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ManlyGrunting posted:But the support skills, those play dividends consistently throughout the entire game. Oh yeah. Managing buffs and debuffs quickly becomes non-loving-optional as they become available.
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Nov 2, 2014 06:21
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drat. Would have preferred fisticuffs, barely seen those...but then, I've barely seen boomerangs either, so this is okay.
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Nov 2, 2014 23:20
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Zurai posted:DQ8 is such an incredibly well-done game on pretty much every level. Well-written (it's a fairly simple story but it's still very well done IMO), beautifully animated, excellent voice acting, a great mixture of silly and serious, and it's not nearly as grindy as many other Enix games. Oh yeah. You can pretty much spell out most of the game's plot points about 3 moves in advance and it never really diverges from archetype, but you never give a gently caress because the writing's light-hearted and clever, and the voice acting's great and charming, and it's all delivered with masterful polish.
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Nov 5, 2014 03:26
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BottledBodhisvata posted:It's early to say, but I really like Dhoulmagus as a villain. In a way, I like him better than...well, no, let's just say, I like Dhoulmagus. I have a lot to say about him once we have more to actually say, he's a character who I both wish had more development and also praise the development he does have. He's a really excellent antagonist--which, come to think of it, is something the DQ series has always been pretty good about. He's a gently caress. And he's having a great time doing it.
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Nov 5, 2014 03:53
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The checkpoint there is a nice little setpiece. Your first piece of evidence that Dhoulmagus is bad news, you just walk up and uh, drat, someone turned these doors to splinters. They don't make a cutscene out of it either - they just let you take from it what you will.
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Nov 6, 2014 02:17
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Zurai posted:Yeah, I believe they've shown up in tiny pixelated sprite form before. They're one of the standard Random NPC Types in this game, so we'll be seeing dozens of them (or just one, with a knack for accents and beating us to where we're going). Nah, they're cousins. Like Nurse Joy, but bound by a love of bodybuilding and cattle more than a specific profession.
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Nov 6, 2014 05:50
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Minor nitpick - but I'm pretty sure that helm-splitter can't crit, which would at least discourage you from using it on an enemy whose defense won't go any lower.
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Nov 7, 2014 06:06
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:Yeah, and that's why this is so confusing. Is it because this one is longer and has dialogue? I bet the first one was pre-rendered, but the last one was definitely in-engine.
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Nov 10, 2014 18:39
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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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So anyone else want to hear the thrilling tale of how Eight turned Yangus straight?  Also, I'd forgotten how good Trode's voice actor is. "PUT A SOCK IN-!?!" is delightfully huffy and indignant. Also also, Alchemy is great. It won't quite break the game wide open on its own, at least not for the entire game, since levels and key spells/abilities still matter a whole lot, but when you know what recipes to go for you can both generate way better equipment than you can buy and synthesize stuff that will either let you heal for cheap or sell off for profit. Weapon shops become better for Alchemy materials than for raw equipment.
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Nov 17, 2014 21:45
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^ - Invalid recipes just immediately spit your items back out at you, no cooking required.Sloober posted:Alchemy doesn't quite smash it to pieces, because there are still things you cannot get without having access to certain areas or monsters. There's things that make it easier and things that are very convenient but nothing that is outright "This game is now my bitch" mode. It's a nice system you can flat out ignore the first play through if you want, although it'll be a bit harder it is perfectly doable. Yeah - although I would say it's possible to synthesize more stuff than it seems like the game really expects you to. It feels like if you synthesize nothing at all then the game is balanced to be brutally difficult (without overlevelling), if you pick up a few key items/weapons it gets easier, and if you go hog wild with guides and detours to get yourself as decked out as you can be, you can make things relatively straight forward - though not quite a pushover.
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Nov 17, 2014 21:59
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Sloober posted:You don't really have to grind in this game if you aren't doing a speedrun or really, really want a walk in the park - the only thing where it would be useful on is postgame content, up to that point just not running and exploring is enough to keep you up with the difficulty Meh. I remember having to go a bit out of my way to get up to 30ish and get Eight's multiheal to give myself a managable bout with Dhoulmagus.
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Nov 19, 2014 22:35
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Oh man I forgot how much that scene owned.  Angelo's fantastic in this scene as well. He's got these missable reaction gags every time he's in the background of a shot in the bar fight, and then it comes out that he actually was cheating and he's so delightfully  . It's been said before, but they really nailed the character expressions in this game.
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Nov 25, 2014 05:29
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Deceitful Penguin posted:Can you actually cook food in the alchemy pot? Will there be cake? Cheese, definitely, and I'd like to say there's some other food-related items you can brew up as well. It's definitely not nearly as much as Ni-No-Kuni, though - one of the best things about that game was having your Alchemy Genie mass produce cheeseburgers and milkshakes to keep your party fit.
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Dec 3, 2014 04:40
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Also, I'm pretty sure Angelo doesn't punch- I think he roundhouses people like a show off.
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Dec 4, 2014 17:50
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Makes sense - drawing the bowstring should be a much larger motion than adjusting your aim.
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Dec 4, 2014 18:50
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Waffleman_ posted:So we've got Gohan, Yajirobe, and Trunks. Which character is Jessica? Dunno, but Dhoulmagus is rather Freeza. God, Dhoulmagus is such a gently caress. I love him. His voice actor's great, and laying that performance atop a fantastic ambient piece like Stalked By Fear just lends Dhoulmagus such a sense of menace, I loving love it.
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Feb 5, 2015 06:17
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mauman posted:Angelo might be a bit of a perv.... Keep in mind, he's saying this poo poo with his daughter right there.
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Feb 9, 2015 08:55
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Mraagvpeine posted:Hmm, boh, boe, and jum. I don't get the "jumbo" pun. All will be made clear soon enough.
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Feb 15, 2015 08:39
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Yeah, Dragon Quest really embraces being a fairy tale. It gives it a really timeless quality.
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Feb 22, 2015 01:54
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Geostomp posted:Come to think of it, this is the first concrete "victory" the party has achieved. Up until now, it's been little more the skirmishes with monsters while being completely helpless in the face of the real villain. Helping this town, even if it was basically finding someone to get the king to stop wallowing in self-pity, was good for morale. Sure, it probably wasn't all that important on the large scale (at least not until much later, I'm guessing) and had nothing to do with your goal, it was a nice change to make you more motivated to keep going. That's probably the main reason the sequence is here, come to think of it.
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Feb 22, 2015 02:10
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Zurai posted:I love, love, love this little quest. It's just a perfect fairy tale, it gives excellent characterization to both the King and his Queen by showing, not telling, and it also explains why his people didn't rise up in arms against him. Everybody loved Queen Sasha because she was wise and beautiful and an absolutely perfect companion to their King. The nation didn't mourn because the King told them to, they mourned with him because she was their Queen, too, and they loved her. Then the heroes come along and venture through a shadow window into the land of moonlight to speak to a fairy elf harpist person, who shows the King carefully selected memories of the past to help him move along from his grief and grow into an even better King for his people. It helps that the music is sublime. Dragon Quest doesn't pack too many hummable melodies like you'd get from Kaijura or Uematsu, but they evoke the spirit of the scene perfectly. Mazed posted:Did Jessica or Trode get any commentary throughout this sequence, or was it just Yangus and Angelo? Trode doesn't go into Towns or Dungeons, so you can't talk to him at all through most of this sequence. You can talk to Jessica, but I assume OFS just didn't find it interesting enough to bring up.
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Feb 22, 2015 06:59
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Yeah - DQ and Final Fantasy have set out to do very different things for a long time. I certainly think there's a place in the industry for both franchises, when they're on form.
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Feb 23, 2015 19:44
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Morrie is the best character in this game and he allows you access to some of the best features in this game. He is the best thing in this game.
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Feb 26, 2015 08:20
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Jesus. I didn't know the game described anyone killed by Kamikaze as getting blown to bits. Poor Eight. 
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Apr 5, 2015 07:20
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Gotta be Memento Morrie.
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Apr 6, 2015 18:13
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God, I loving adore the Monster arena in this game. Building a sickass team of dragons or a team with a cool gimmick is so satisfying, especially with some of the perks available to those who get deep into the arena.
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Apr 10, 2015 02:15
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Yeah, call team is fantastic, especially because (minor mechanical spoilers - I can edit these out if OFS asks) when you call a monster team out in the field, if a monster uses any kind of group heal or buff, it also applies to Eight and company when your team is dismissed. As such, a monster with multiheal can potentially reset your party's health by healing while the monsters are the only ones out on the frontline taking damage. Plus, come on, you're siccing dragons and golems and poo poo on your foes. That's just fun.
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Apr 15, 2015 23:09
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Man, I know I've said before, but Dhoulmagus' voice actor really knocks him out of the park. He's smarmy and hammy, but he's got a great evil laugh and can dial up the menace when he wants to (although Stalked By Fear could make reading the phone book sound menacing, to be fair). Trodain in general is a great sequence. The music's great, it's a satisfyingly challenging dungeon crawl, and for a relatively upbeat game like this it's easily the most shocking and grisly thing we've seen.
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Apr 25, 2015 18:24
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I mostly like how thoroughly sad this whole area makes Trode. It's a nice way to round him out, keep him from just being the entitled ponce in the wagon.
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Apr 27, 2015 18:44
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Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for that unfortunate interruption, we now resume our regularly scheduled good game. Edit: poo poo, update late last page. Spiritus Nox fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Jun 3, 2015 |
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Jun 3, 2015 03:33
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Well, there's still a fair amount of places you're physically blocked from going - mostly because they're landlocked and/or surrounded by mountains you can't dock with. But yeah, there's lots of diversions at sea, especially if you're willing to flee from a few random encounters like a filthy coward. Minor Islands, unique monsters, sidequests like the Mini Medal Island, places that'll be important later but are still worth a look now...
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Jun 21, 2015 05:36
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Awww yeah, Talos is one of my favorites, second only to a very special monster you don't actually capture...
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Aug 3, 2015 19:12
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dude789 posted:I must have missed this attack when I played through because surely I would have remembered a pun of this quality Pun? What pu-oh. Oh. OH GODDAMMIT
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Aug 18, 2015 02:02
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Welp, we found the bad guy's hideout! Time for the final dungeon, right?
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Oct 19, 2015 01:23
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Shugojin posted:Yeah the biggest issue with using daggers on Jessica is that you're not just brutally whipping things to death. Twin Dragon Lash is just too loving good. There's almost zero reason to have Jessica ever actually equip anything that doesn't let her use it.
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Jan 19, 2016 03:48
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Sigh....
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Apr 1, 2016 20:40
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