I feel pretty, oh so pretty! DQ IX Thread

[The Wandering God]

I want opinions on whether Dragon Quest IX: Sentinel of the Long Titles is worth my Earth monies.

Um, so as to not to be too spammy, videos!

2010 E3 Trailer. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhUwK4JicUM&feature=related)
Battle Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN6Phj4CmIo)

[Roland]

Picked it up over my family's vacation about a week ago, and I've got to say it's... Dragon Quest.

If you find Dragon Quest to be fun, you will like this game. If you don't, well, at least that translation's pretty good. I like a game that doesn't shy away from groan-inducing puns like Meowgician (A cat mage) or the Wight Knight (guess).

So, I started up my file as a girl named Lydia, because I can. She's now wearing some kind of dress that is better defense-wise than a big suit of iron armor. Huh.

[Drownball-Champ]

As Roland said, if you like Dragon Quest then you'll like this game. I'm about 40 hours in and loving it. Especially my hero sporting blue jeans, a black shirt with pink crossbones, and a muskateer hat.

[Kim]

I have it but I haven't started playing yet. I already know I'll be playing as Vegeta though.

[Drownball-Champ]

I have it but I haven't started playing yet. I already know I'll be playing as Vegeta though.

My martial artist is very Vegito-like. Shame he has something on his head most of the time so I can't see his hair.

[Yumil]

It's worth it. If you want the tag mode stuff but dont know 30 people nearby to do it with, I've been translating a save editor.

You can go and find out about it here (http://gbatemp.net/t239740-dragon-quest-ix-save-editor?)

Overall, even though I'm translating it, I've only used it for names(they have a weird filter), the inn, and a treasure map or two:)

EDIT: Theres a few haircuts and faces you can't access without the save editor too, so yeah it's good for appearance changes too.

[Azisien]

It's fairly enjoyable overall. My first DQ game ever. Definitely a good pile of nitpicks, but three of my friends have it and we were rocking up the multiplayer.

[The Wandering God]

Well, I'm level 15 and just ditched two of my companions in favor of 2 martial artists. I now plan on eventually having a full party of martial artists, each specializing in one of the weapon skills.

It's pretty fun so far. The only annoyance is it seems like the alchemy pot is stuck in one place and I don't have it at hand.

[Malek]

If you have Chimaera wings, you can use those to teleport back to any town you've visited before.

[Magus]

So can you play this game on your own or do you have to do the multiplayer stuff? Is it as good as Dragon Quest VIII?

[Drownball-Champ]

Multiplayer is only needed to upgrade the Inn. Other than that absolutely everything can be done on your own.
Story is weak. Especially since your characters don't talk. You have a little fairy thing that basically does all the talking. Loved DQ8 and I'm enjoying this, jus tbeat it a few nights ago and I'm working on post game now.

[Azisien]

It's worth mentioning that multiplayer is good for farming gold and xp, especially gold.

I dunno, the game has a whole lot of weak points, but I still find myself playing it. It's solid.

[Regulus Tera]

Thank God for Sages and the ability to change vocations on the road.
Also, toot toot I got a flying train! Fucking finally. It only took me the entire fucking game.

[Drownball-Champ]

How is multiplayer a good way to get XP and gold? Playing alone without any party members should be the best way. At least until you're able to get a Grotto with Metal Slime Kings or Platinum King Jewels.

[Regulus Tera]

You get XP and Gold bonuses for playing multiplayer.

[Azisien]

Gold is the main bonus. Normally if you got 500 gold coins in a battle in singleplayer, every single person in multiplayer gets those 500 gold coins (same goes for loot). I guess individually its the same, but with multiplayer you're a) playing with friends and b) gaining gold for....socialist revolutions?

[Drownball-Champ]

Is experience still split between the characters or does each person gain 100% of the XP?

[Azisien]

Experience is still split, though Tera says there's a bonus I'm not sure what it is exactly. let's just say my main is currently level 35 and my single player dudes are 24!

[Regulus Tera]

It's something like +5% XP and Gold or some shit when you play with other people.

[Kim]

Apparently this game doesn't allow multiple saves? Fuck that shit. I have to delete my little brother's file, he's almost at the final boss of the main story, to start playing and that pisses me off quite a bit. Gonna put off playing this game until he beats the single player mode.

[Regulus Tera]

You could save his file, upload it to his PC, and then use the cartridge for yourself.

I don't know how exactly you do that but I know it's feasible.

[Yumil]

You could save his file, upload it to his PC, and then use the cartridge for yourself.

I don't know how exactly you do that but I know it's feasible.

Get an AR and a micro sd card, it backs up saves.

They only let one save because they needed room for 4 saves a game(a quick and a confession, along with backups for both).

[Magus]

Man, one save? What is this, 1988? Do you have to hold reset while powering off, too? Do they even know there's no reset button the DS?!

I like that there's a class system but I'm feeling weird about getting this game, it seems like it suffers from way too many minor things. Maybe I'll look at some Youtube videos to see what's going on in it. I dunno, I have yet to run into a Dragon Quest I didn't spend a hundred hours on, is it more than possible to do that in this one too?

[Azisien]

Honestly, the class system is pretty crap. I guess it's better than no class system at all.

...Maybe. I spend most of my time thinking about cool class combos but then I remember there's nothing much cool in any of the classes. The weapon skill sets are also pretty badly balanced (many having strong attacks with no mana cost, while another has the same attacks but a mana cost).

Still having fun though! Beat Equinox in the first treasure map, and then got pwned by Nemean.

[Regulus Tera]

The class system really shines after you get the sage class, which lets you change vocations on the road.


Yeah, pretty late though.

[Magus]

I hear that instead of keeping the awesome version of this from Dragon Quest VII, now your characters go back to level 1 when you switch classes, what's up with that and is it as lame as I think it is? Do they at least get to keep all the same abilities they learned?

[Azisien]

I hear that instead of keeping the awesome version of this from Dragon Quest VII, now your characters go back to level 1 when you switch classes, what's up with that and is it as lame as I think it is? Do they at least get to keep all the same abilities they learned?

I guess it's somewhat lame but the game is also built around it. I didn't class change my main until level 40 and the game was TOO EASY. I was wiping the floor with everything except the aforementioned treasure map bosses and they're optional.

And after a class change they keep related skills between two classes. So if you switch from one dude with Sword skill to another dude with Sword skill, you keep whatever skill points you had in Sword. As far as I am concerned though, getting set back to level 1 is there to let you farm skill points for those few skill sets you really want on a character.

The class system really shines after you get the sage class, which lets you change vocations on the road.

I don't see how being able to change vocations on the road fixes what I see as, while perhaps not an out and out bad, quite lackluster class system at its very core. Especially considering Evac+Zoom means you can change vocations in...about 20 seconds anyway if you actually wanted to.

[Magus]

So like it's not really weird if you have your Knight train as a Paladin once he reaches level 40, but it wouldn't make any sense to have your Thief train as a Mage?

[Yumil]

The save data is extremely large, they keep a lot of info in it, trust me.

Anywho, classes are fine, the main reason you swap em in field(treasure map) is for specific spells and possibly access to weapon skills you havent fully leveled up yet(have a metal king slime map and want to use crit moves with chars...). It's also good for changing classes once you get to your level up spot to level up each class for more skill points. I have to go down 11 floors on a treasure map to hit mine and if I was using underleveled classes it'd be hell.

Each class has a skill line that is just their own. These stat increases and abilities travel between the classes. So, if you get a monk's Psyche Up, you keep it as a warrior. The stats are especially helpful in fixing classes bad base stats, like my warrior is currently the highest agi in my team since she fully trained monk. Im now working on tweaking her MP since non magic classes get shit for it.

The weapon(and shield skills) only apply when you have said weapon(or shield) equipped. You can swap weapons in battle for specific skills, but it's best to level up each characters chosen weapon skill to 100 so that they can be consistent. At 100 skill they get omnivocational, meaning that they can equip the weapon(or shield) even if their class isn't able to. So, you can have a gladiator use a fan and a shield with the right amount of points. The skills stay on as long as you equip what it needs regardless of class.

Skill points you earn aren't stuck with the class that you earned them with. You can swap classes and allocate them to skills anytime. Powerleveling skills is pretty easy this way.

The skill system is simple, but navigating what you want is somewhat deep. For the most part it is balanced, just some weapons are better at things than others(Wands are omg awesome at MP recovery, Swords are versatile, Fans have a lot of support uses, etc). My mage has turned into more of a support character having the spells mages get(accel, oomph, sap, etc) along with the buff skills of the armamentalist(basically gives elements to the characters for more defense and offense), so it can be somewhat deep, but all characters are the same in the late late end game. I think you only need one revocation to get enough skill points to fully train everything(though youd want to revocate all classes for the final skill books).