A look back at: Dragon Quest VIII

 

My goodness, I really do spend a good chunk of free time actually playing these games. Maybe cause I knew this would be a long one? In any case, here's one of the better Dragon Quests, and despite many things remaining more or less the same the subtle differences make things a bit better. Psyche ups, alchemy pot, an expansive 3D world map that feels never-ending as you wander it for days. All this while keeping true to form. Whereas Final Fantasy does loads of changes that detract from classic formulas, the Dragon Quest formula remains throughout each successive game.

In the case of VIII, I gotta say the overall feel is quite classic for a Playstation 2 RPG. Only four party members, standard skills and magic, standardized enemy patterns, the usual medieval cliches in place. Arguably I do complain about some gameplay nuances, such as semi-randomized speed values or the alchemy pot taking FOREVER for it to finish on that item that I look up to get great weapons and armor. Hey speaking of which, scouring the area for recipes and such is quite a drag too. Good thing Zoom spells and Holy Protection are available early. The day/night mechanic returns as well for some interesting variation.

Plot-wise, the whole thing boils down to "don't touch that freaking scepter" since an evil being empowers you if you touch it. To think that even a dog would become possessed at one point is just, wow. I may not get into the post-game stuff, much like other Dragon Quest games, because overall, their longevity leaves me exhausted. But this is another Dragon Quest game that thankfully doesn't disappoint. The series really does get better. Given that this is a more 3D game, the Akira Toriyama style of graphics really prevails in each character model too.

A look back at: Dragon Warrior VII

A game that has been repeatedly said to last over a hundred hours for just its main story alone took me about 80 of those hours to beat. Hmm, I'm getting to be an expert if I can finish this game at such a time. Regardless this still clocks as one of the ones that took me the overall longest time, next to Final Fantasy Tactics, Suikoden III (this one is long due to the multiple paths I took) and Lufia: The Legend Returns. Dragon Quest VI is already long too, but this one takes it and then some.

Arguably the series is getting better still, as well as much more refined. No longer do I need to worry about incessant grinding despite the level gaps being huge, thanks to the class system from VI making a return, the one thing I must worry about are the battles I fight and the level threshold that prevents me from getting more job levels. Not to mention the hybrid skills, cause there's specific skills that outshine the rest (a lot of these are redundant as hell). Basically, I'll grind job classes until I get the threshold level for one character then continue with the plot, eventually I'll get to the top classes and then get their epic skills. I never really bothered with the monster classes though.

But before any class changing can be done I'd say Dragon Quest VII suffers from early game hell. The entire first half of the game can be miles tougher than the rest, because once you get those good skills like SwordDanc and Lightning and Vacuum and such, most random encounters are cake. But before that your characters will gain only a select few skills then stop after certain levels are gained altogether, which sucks. Even worse as Kiefer is the main fighter, he leaves just before the games HARDEST segment, the Dharma Temple part where you actually LOSE your skills, are forced into a prison with delusionals, and actually have to fight your way out old-school style, with two hopeless fights thrown in as well as a stupid arena. For this I was rather low-level, but this was to my advantage later as the level threshold around the temple was 24 and I could grind until I got plenty of desirable classes and as a result my characters were much stronger.

So, plot. Lots and lots of it, time-traveling from present to past, unlocking the mysteries and all for the lost continents, some crazy moments where despaired citizens either don't last or grow crazy. The demon lord, basic equivalent of Satan as far as Dragon Quest villains go, is perhaps the best villain to date, not only sealing off continents once, but twice, the second time portraying himself as a god and trying to get the world to worship him alone and taking their weapons. Freedom isn't to limit everything, which is a nice philosophy this game portrays.

A look back at: Dragon Quest VI

Hooray! First RPG done of 2020. And it's a Dragon Quest game that is generally enjoyable in spades and somewhat annoying in other spades. And wouldn't you believe it, I played a DS remake of the original game, perhaps because the SNES fan translation had poor dialogue transitions that were glitched. Opting for the remake was my option, and my experience with it went generally well. But I gotta say, this took longer than I expected. I am well aware of how long Dragon Quest VII is, according to a lot of people even if you don't do the sidequests you'll be spending about 80 or so in-game hours. This game I played on and off for approximately a month (about thirty days), and there's quite a lot to it.

So the first game was super simple, second upped the party size, enemy numbers, and difficulty. Third went with the class approach, fourth went with the multi-branched story and gave us the wagon, fifth made a good effort with the story. So for the sixth one, I believe it did offer what it could well, giving interchangeable classes (called vocations) allowing them to level up and gain newer abilities, and gave interesting subquests and minigames to handle. Dragon Quest is ready for the big leagues! The game's storyline can easily be forgotten while doing sidequests or grinding for experience/money/tokens. The new stuff blends in with the old to make things neat.

What can I really say, the series is making improvements that make them much more fun. Of course, the pains of grinding get in the way, and while the new skills make things easier (new skills for taking out pesky metal slimes and such) the level thresholds are high in many cases. I relied a lot on both old and new equipment to get through many areas. Plenty to do, plenty to experience. I guess it did what it did well.

A look back at: Dragon Quest V

Plot of Dragon Quest I: Save a princess from a dragon and kill a dragonlord
Plot of Dragon Quest II: Find your cousins and fight off a demonic wizard
Plot of Dragon Quest III: Explore the real world until you find and defeat another demonic wizard
Plot of Dragon Quest IV: Join several protagonists on multiple journeys until your "chosen one/legendary hero" comes to the light, then make everyone unite against a demon king.

So far these plots have been cliche and likely the series is just gonna be this the whole way, with medieval settings and mountains and forests and monsters. DQ5 decides to improve on the plot, but not necessarily the gameplay since it's sort of the same deal, apart from taming monsters and joining them. I mean, that's the only really new aspect. Why did they shrink the party size down from 4 to 3? And I'll tell you, slow walking speed really does bother me. Not to forget all the grinding I have to do, especially for the main hero who tends to gain levels the slowest.

The plot rollercoasters quite a lot with hope spots, and it's so far the best plot in the series, but it leaves a load of speculation. How does the hero, during his time as a slave, manage to learn how to read? Did Henry help him with that? Also no matter who the hero marries, it still means that his son will always be the legendary hero? Not to mention the son always looks the same. And when he and the wife are turned to stone, years have passed, the son and daughter rescue the hero at their age of 8, this makes me wonder exactly when the hero and the wife marry (I mean what age and all), because they pretty much keep whatever age they were when restored. Moreso for the little kid that gets kidnapped during that sequence, since he's shown as a mindless slave later and looks no different from the other male slaves. Considering when he was kidnapped, and it takes about two years for the hero to reach that great temple destination, there's certainly something to ponder. And what on earth is the Master Dragon doing not only in human form, but apparently stuck in a mine cart that goes in circles and just HOW LONG was he in that thing for? The plot certainly has its memorable moments, and then it has the weird stuff that is all plot-holey and needs addressing.

A look back at: Dragon Quest IV

Who had done more, the Dragon Quest or the Final Fantasy?

Oh Dragon Quest, you certainly provide the same sort of cliche fantasy RPG style that you've been doing for the past three games. Only now you decide to make things chapter-based, have different protagonists, bring them all together, and include travel wagons, casinos, and, what is this? An AI-based battle system?

Maybe it's the experience of playing so many RPGs that my interest may be waning thin. That's not good, I want to see each of these games for myself to see just how good each and every one of them are. Dragon Warrior IV pulls its punches, managing not to be as tough as its predecessors, but still grindy enough that it's not gonna be a breeze. The idea of the tactics system causes quite some randomness, when you have one character consistently attempting a spell that won't work (like Cristo using an instakill spell on a boss in Offensive tactics), you're in for it. On the other hand I'm of course glad things are easier to handle overall, and there still are always those interesting tidbits.

Poker in a casino? Not a fan of that usually, but then again, the double-or-nothing minigame was quite a lucky one to allow me to get some fantastic prizes. Also Taloon's chapter allows you to go behind a store counter early on and buy and sell weapons from customers, which predates what you can do in Breath of Fire 1 with Gobi. The whole "cave of betrayal" which makes you fight off impostors of Mara and Nara is also splendid. Not to mention the separation of characters from the wagon, limiting experience gains. Money also isn't a problem at all, for the most part.

Of course, I said this series is full of cliches. The standard classes do exist here. We also get to know that this game's main villain becomes lovestruck, then the girl dies, then the guy goes mad and wants to resurrect an even greater scope villain, one who we just sort of catch in the middle of resurrection (and one who could start his battle asleep!). I will also say that Necrosaro's main battle is pretty rad, take his arms off, watch him transform numerous times, it gets easier, then harder with each.

Yeah, I would've loved to play the remakes of this game too, especially considering that Saro or Psaro as he's known in the remakes gets better and really wants to right his wrongs. At least that's what I've heard. But that's for another time.

A look back at: Dragon Quest III

Imagine that you're in an actual RPG with enemies all around the real world. Yes, the real world. That's Dragon Quest III. Okay, things aren't to actual size, scale, and name, but whatever. Dragon Quest III's world is like that, adding a new continent between Australia and South America while incorporating real-world geography like the Andes or the Himalayas to make it seem authentic. These guys seem to know their geography pretty well.

Regardless, if you ever play this game, go ahead with the GBC version. It's probably the best you can afford for this particular game. It's not the best, but it sure was a better playthrough than the first two games, rest assured. More fun spells like Transform and BeDragon, as well as the opportunities for class changes and customization, and there's even a segment where you can let a Dealer build a new town (basically where Jamestown, VA would be in the real world)! And there's a bit of non-linearness, whether or not you're in the real world or the dark world (Alefgard). The Pachisi tracks invite loads of potential save-scumming to get everything, and getting all the TinyMedals is quite the fetch quest.

The grinding aspect of Dragon Warrior 3 is thankfully reduced to something that is okay enough. Sure, sometimes it's gonna take a while to reach the next level, and the enemies still can be rough. And of course, trying to get those pesky Metalys (metal slimes) or Metabbles (metal babbles) seems to be the hardest thing to do. Really though, if there's grinding for anything, it's random drops, namely the Monster Medals. Yeah, have fun spending years getting every single bronze medal, then every single silver medal, then if you really don't have a life, every single gold medal. I tried to bypass this using the game's debug mode to enter the unique Ice Cave dungeon (requires both silver and bronze medals of all kinds) to no avail. All you get is the best sword in the game, but why bother when you already beat this game anyways? Yeesh. I've heard that later installments in Dragon Quest just so happen to take as long as this one, namely VII. Color me shocked when I get to those when I see how long they can take.

A look back at: Dragon Quest II

Oh god why did I do this.

For the fourth time in a row, I played a really hard RPG. Can you actually believe that despite adding more enemies and three party members they somehow made the game harder? Well they did. Still, it's not entirely what I would say is balanced. I guess it makes sense to have one character without magic ability in the hero, then the prince and princess are better suited for those roles while still being competent fighters (well, the prince is anyways). Awkward that they are all cousins, even moreso when the Princess was turned into an actual dog.

So yeah, this game is considerably harder somehow. What is it with second games in a series and being hard all the time. Speed seems to be completely randomized as are some monster stats, which really pisses me off. I also really hate how it's possible that enemies can take no damage from magic attacks. They don't even make an excuse for it evading a magic attack like The 7th Saga did. And then let's not get into the group-attack things like the Sleep spell, or the dreaded Sacrifice that those Gold Batboons or whatever they're called can actually open up the battle with.* And then, oh of course, the grinding still returns. I tried to enjoy what I can out of this game's improvements over its predecessor, but then I remembered where I was and actually enjoyed the game much less.

Well it does improve somewhat on the plot. I already mentioned the two companions already, and although it's been miniaturized, I can accept the fanservice-like return of Alefgard. Also I can admire the fact that the Dragonlord's grandson is a decent fellow and not some moron who wants to avenge his granddad. Hargon and his ultimate form Malroth are really nothing. Well, let's hope that me playing the GBC version of Dragon Quest III isn't gonna make me turn my head all over the place.

*This spell has a 100% of instakilling targets at the cost of the caster's life. The fact that an enemy can cast this causing a total party kill is NOT fun. Yeah, so these are endgame enemies, and you do respawn close to that area, but grinding is a real pain because of them.

A look back at: Dragon Quest

This was a long time coming for me to play this thing. What do I get?

Well, color me shocked. You know how I said that Phantasy Star was big into some grinding for money so you can get the equipment you need? You also know how I mentioned early Final Fantasy games as grindy for the experience needed? Well, this game has both of those beat by making it almost necessary to grind for both money and experience. And to make matters, worse, the prices are extremely high right from the get-go and the leveling up in this game is a huge pain in the ass! No really, you are only controlling one character the entire time and you are fighting only one enemy the entire time. If I'm not getting annoyed by strong enemies and their abilities I'm getting incredibly bored.

Seriously though, the Goldman enemy is tough on his own. But even getting 200 gold tops isn't hardly gonna be enough for a lot of the equipment I'm trying to get. And then the elusive Metal Slime is the best as far as experience goes, but 115 isn't gonna cut it for some of these levels. Just so you know, the level cap is 30, and the amount of experience needed tends to shoot up from the hundreds into the ten thousands. Meaning I'm gonna have to get really lucky with metal slime killing and to do it more than one hundred times to get the extremely high levels that believe it or not, I actually need to fight the final boss. When you spend days grinding, that's not a good sign. And I'm not gonna forgive the fact that this is an NES game either, for the record, Final Fantasy III was a grindy NES game and I didn't nearly feel as bored with it then.

There's really no plot to this game whatsoever either. You're the son of a legendary knight, gotta get his armor, gotta slay a dragon to rescue a princess, gotta defeat an evil wizard. Alright, there is a plot, and this is one of the first games to have this incredibly cliche plot. But all that grinding is gonna make me forget there ever was a plot in the first place. And much of the grinding will be done in specific areas too. You can't just sit outside the home castle all the time since the weakest of the weak is there. And then you don't want to go too overboard or you're hitting the ones that can totally wreck you. So yeah, don't pick this game up unless you are one of those guys who doesn't mind spending days on extreme grinding.