Games you are playing

[beekee]

Okay, normally I find it irksome when people brag about stuff like this, but I didn't find it too bad to complete the Armamentalist quest. There's so much luck when it comes to dealing with metals, and the more turns that are taken, the more luck is involved. So good luck isn't really much to brag about anyway.

This quest requires at least two turns for each slime. My MVP? Flailing Nails has been my basic metal-hoser, and it gets the slime close enough to defeat that a single hit should do it. That expedited it somewhat. In addition, I was already planning on putting points into Spellcraft for my main, so that helped.

I found the Sage unlock quest to be more frustrating, which I suppose is only fitting. Luminary was the real bugger, though. Oy.

And yay, Alena. I'm looking forward to Maya and Meena, after whom my character is loosely styled.

[noodles]

So am I going to buy Dragon Quest 9 tomorrow? Probably

[scy]

[Wolkenritter]

[scy]

Honestly, they're all super easy besides Armamentalist and Luminary and only due to those having luck involved (fleeing and drops). The rest are pretty straight forward. Ranger is a third since they can Heal to offset the Poison damage I guess but since you can Sleep/Silence them, they're not that bad.

Compared to many of the other quests though (fuck you Spear 30 Quest still), they're really nothing. But that's probably just due to my godawful luck with the insta-gib from Pressure Pointer >> I actually haven't done any other weapon quests since then just out of not caring after that one.

Anyway, finally got around to beating the game:
[spoiler]Started with 30/30/30/30 (and ended at 36/37/37/36) on:
Spear Paladin
Axe Gladiator
Claws MA
Bow Sage

And ... well ... it was pretty easy. Kabuff x 2 per fight nudged damage to ~1 across everyone (even the Sage who didn't even have +Resilience like the others) and any spell damage was Multiheal coverable after 2-3 hits of it. Kind of disappointing but I suppose DQ games have never really been about difficulty.

Well, that's what the Treasure Map bosses are for I suppose. Now to spend forever and ever trying for a PKS Map I guess. Oh fucking god /wrists.[/spoiler]

In retrospect, I'm glad that Starcraft II and BlazBlue Continuum Shift are releasing soon so I don't spend forever perfecting DQIX.

[CD-Man2021]

Started up the Wind Waker a bit ago. Just beat Dragon Roost, heading over to Forest Haven now.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Picking up Cabal again after being a way for a few months. <3

[scy]

StarCraft 2.

Goodbye forever.

[Centurion_Beta]

[theo]

[Centurion_Beta]

[Benkyo]

I've always felt that way about traditional JRPGs to be honest, no matter how many of them I try and start.

[Riseatrance]

[theo]

[scy]

The DQ9 EXP distribution thing isn't terrible. It's works very well for what it intends to do and DQ has always been about "I FUCKING HATE MY LIFE" grinding. Sure, it'd be neat to quickly level characters but DQ's system promotes keeping your levels equal. I never had an issue with this system but all class changes were done simultaenously and the few cases of bringing up a lower level class (like, when I decided to use an MA in my main group instead of Ranger/Armamentalist), they still level faster than the others and catch up. Or, in the case of MA's lower EXP requirements, overtake everyone else.

Edit: Incidentally, if you're leveling on anything besides Metal Slimes of some kind, you're pretty much not playing DQ right. Regular encounters aren't how you should be grinding. 3-5 Metal Slime fights when you get the option to change vocations should be enough to get everyone to 14+.

To me, DQ9 is a very well done game. But bland. Very, very bland. It's a rather uninteresting story, very easy difficulty, and the quest system is borderline retarded. At the very least, it's mechanically sound and is a pretty typical DQ entry.

And holy fuck the goddamn text going so slow is mind numbing. Holy shit, that was probably the worst part of the game.