Dragon Quest

So, I've been wondering. As someone who's never played Dragon Quest, what is Party chat, and why was IV DS Ruined Forever because of it's absense?

You could get party members to talk to each other, like in Fire Emblem. The lack of party chat didn't impact the gameplay as far as I know, but I imagine that people where angry about the removal of the main engine of characterization.

Also, if Dragon Quest V is any indication, Party Chat was a bit less than half the dialogue in the game.

Helpful Scripts and Stylesheets here.

I don't remember using the party chat in VII much.

The thing I like about Party Chat in VDS is that all the human party members have comments about almost every NPC you can encounter. Some of them are pretty funny too.

Parry: Codswallop? I can wallop fish as well as he can, I'll bet!

And the fact that it gives them so many lines means their Personality really has a chance to shine through.

Like how Madchen is a Friend to All Living Things, Parry takes pride in not wetting the bed, and Tuppence has a lecherous streak.

And you should see how they react to the rematch with Ladja. You really should.

It's a plot! ...Quite a well written one too.

Party Chat in Dragon Quest VII is interesting in that it was usable during battle. Most notably, at the beginning of the game, when you first encounter monsters your characters are noticably freaked out at it. I thought it was very interesting and made the characters feel much more human.

Helpful Scripts and Stylesheets here.

I didn't find myself missing Party Chat in DQIV...until I played through DQV with it there. Like people said before, that's gotta be at least a quarter of the games dialouge, plus, once a character joins the party, you almost never hear them talk again without it.

Taking a break from FE1, for the FE8 draft instead

Yeah, there was no gameplay impact, but I fell in love with these characters back on the NES, and I was really looking forward to seeing Ragnar and Healie chatting with each other, or how Alena, Cristo Kiryl and Brey Borya treated each other during their quest — especially looking for hints of Alena/Kiryl — or how the sisters interacted... So finding out it had all been cut out was a pretty big disappointment.

I really enjoyed it when it first showed up in VII, too. As others mentioned, it made the cast more interesting and helped flesh them out. Especially since you could talk to them after almost anything happened — chat up an NPC and chances were somebody on your team would have some comment to make about it.

And in V — oh, gosh. Talking to your wife, and your kids... It just really helps in forming an attachment to them. Again, all the little details — like Madchen's fear of heights, or her asking you to hold her hand, and Parry wanting to protect you, and Sancho...

What can I say? I'm a sucker for details.

I still haven't played the fifth game. I didn't really miss the party chat. Hell I didn't even know it had been in the Japanese release. I was too busy making up interactions in my head like I always do when I play Dragon Quest...

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah

I think Dragon Quest handles the theme of family a lot. Your hero is almost always the descendant of a great hero, and the game is about the character fulfilling that legacy.

"Wait, it's IV. Of course they are. They'd make IV for Dreamcast." - Enlong, on yet another FFIV remake

So how do the Dragon Quests handle most standard RPG mechanics? I kinda wanna get in to this, but I also wanna know about the combat. Is it just a basic turn based combat system like the earlier Final Fantasys? Does it have some sort of skill or class system? I wish to know.

One of my few regrets about being born female is the inability to grow a handlebar mustache. -Landstander

Yeah, it's your basic, classic turn-based combat system. Whether or not it has a Job System depends on the game, though. Dragon Quest III was the first one to use it, and it showed up again in Dragon Quest VI, Dragon Quest VII and now Dragon Quest IX.

Dragon Quest VIII and eventually Dragon Quest IX and Dragon Quest Monsters Joker had a skill tree based system where you could designate what you wanted your party members to be able to do in battle.

For example, you could have resident Squishy Wizard Jessica from VIII be able to Whip It Good or you could have her focus on making her magic. And if you wanted a challenge, you could let your entire party be a Bare-Fisted Monk in battle.

What's the best Monsters game for a newbie?

edited 18th Aug '10 1:09:22 AM by Schitzo

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

I'm playing DQIII for the GBC.

I'm liking it so far. I'm at that tower in the first part of the game trying to get the thief's key.

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

Dragon Quest III is great, and the GBC version is the best version in my opinion.

Something I'm interested in hearing is: what's your party makeup?

Helpful Scripts and Stylesheets here.

My party towards getting the Thief Key was F Warrior, M Cleric and F Mage.

I swapped the Warrior for a M Dealer, because I like that his luck with money reduces grinding and if i don't know what an item does, he can tell me.

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

In my first playthrough of Dragon Quest Monsters II, Tara's Adventure, my party was a Gigadraco, a Rainhawk, and the Madcondor from the sky world that I never bred with anything ever.

Now it's three Rainhawks. I've taken out 3 Goldslimes with them! :D

edited 15th Sep '10 5:49:02 AM by lalalei2001

The Protomen enhanced my life.

I personally prefer the SNES version of DQ 3. Did the GBC version add anything?

Taking a break from FE1, for the FE8 draft instead

Haven't played that version yet, so i wouldn't know.

Ok, frustration talk time: If you can help it, NEVER EVER RUN FROM BATTLE. RUN FROM BATTLE AND IT IS RAPE IN ALL DIRECTIONS FOR YOU. FUCK!!

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

I played the SNES remake of Dragon Quest 1 and 2 via emulator, but a strange glitch in DQ 2 caused me to be unable to proceed. So I got the DS remake of DQ 4 and played it all the way through. Now I've been playing Dragon Quest IX. I'm 30 hours in and I'm at the Tyrantula. It's seeming like a really long game so far. I wonder if it goes on even longer?

After getting a basic understanding of how the class system in DQIX works, I decided to stick to just 4 characters using 3 jobs each. I've got a Minstrel/Paladin/Luminary, a Warrior/Monk/Gladiator, a Thief/Ranger/Armamentalist, and a Mage/Priest/Sage. Actually, I haven't unlocked the Paladin, Luminary, or Sage classes yet. Am I able to at the point where I am currently at?

They added the monster medals and some post-game dungeons, but the reason I prefer the GBC version is that I like the music better. I think the bit-tunes style works better than the more orchestral-style for Dragon Quest III music.Paladin is unlockable after the Bloomingdale events. Sage is unlockable around the end of the game, while Luminary is strictly post-game.

Helpful Scripts and Stylesheets here.

Yeah, in most of the early RPGs, 'run' was basically a 'let the enemy kick your ass until you taste it when you shit' button.

edited 15th Sep '10 7:19:23 PM by Hankage

Can you tell me more about monster medals and the post-game dungeon pieces? Because YMMV with the music, I LOVE the orchestral style music in DQ 3 snes vs what I've heard of the nes and gbc versions. The battle song and map song are especially awesome.

Taking a break from FE1, for the FE8 draft instead

The monster medals are random drops you can get monsters. Each monster has three medal drops: bronze, silver, and gold. Monster won't drop silver medals until they drop their bronze medal and won't drop their gold medals until they drop their silver medals. Medals can be traded between games.

From what I heard, an extra dungeon is unlocked after you beat the game. You can only go through the first part of the dungeon at first, but the next parts unlock as you get all of the bronze medals, then silver medals, then gold medals. Bosses also drop medals so you'll need to farm them as well.

From what I hear, the extra content isn't really all that great.

In any case, I just prefer the GBC music over the SNES one. Particularly the battle music of the SNES one just feels... "soft" to me. Doesn't quite sound right. I'm fine with other people having different opinions than me though.

Helpful Scripts and Stylesheets here.