Dragon Quest VIII

It comes with a Final Fantasy 12 demo that I'm going to fuck with after Top Model tonight.

So how are the green slimes looking in the '05? Daunting? Quivering? Green? What kind of money are they walking around with these days? Where'd they get it? Who's bankrolling them?

I'm really enjoying this game, by the way. I spent like 2 hours wandering the countryside around the first town making sure I got every treasure chest and killed every flavor of monster. Only two slime varieties so far (blue and bubble). Eagerly awaiting the next slime upgrade.

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx_assets/product_images/257521.jpg

This comment only has mileage because Squenixto/Atlus/Sega have been so up their own ass since they started developing in earnest for Sony.co.jp and giving up on the US market. Nintendo's Intelligent Systems still know how to do high fantasy right, and I think Level 5 has been (apparently, since I don't actually have the time) developing decent material sort of quietly in the background.

But otherwise I wholeheartedly agree. "Story" doth not make grinding a rewarding experience. Which reminds me of my actual question: What, exactly, is so fun about this game?

[I still have the blue slime controller on my wishlist]

Skill plateaus and improvement schemas are hidden, in a way--you can talk to an NPC who'll hint around about how many points you need to upgrade an ability etc--so there's this joy-of-discovery thing going on when the scrolly text tells you that character X has learned spell Y. There's an alchemy system that I've haven't fucked with much yet. Voice acting in the cutscenes isn't as bad as I feared.

(DQ8 is Level 5)

Also, the female lead has some of the most lovingly rendered boob jiggle I've seen outside of DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball.

I think I would like this game! I just don't think I have 50 hrs to spend on it. :(

I wish I was actually getting a real christmas or some time off
seriously need to go update the resume and find something more cushy than this bullshit

A hipster points at Angelo.
Angelo is cursed!

I had a serious console rpg jones the other night and started playing Wild Arms 4 (picked up at super cheap Circuit City sale). It's decent but definitely no DQ8.

Also, when I finished the Mage Guild quest and became the ARCH MAGE OF TAMRIEL and no one seemed to notice, I got annoyed. Like, the guards around the guild were all "Oh, hey stranger, do you have business here?" Fuck you dude, I'm your boss.

http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/dragon_quest_viii_g_1.txt

I quite enjoyed the fact that casting Zoom in a dungeon resulted in hitting my head on the ceiling. That, and despite myself, all of Yangus' exclamations.

lol

somebody convince me I should not Buy this Now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170012658588&category=21188

The graphics have become my favorite graphics in any game ever. This game has me ready to finally admit that RPGs can be great in 3D. (emphasis on CAN BE). I'm consistently impressed with the number of frames in literally every animation (except for the boobs on Witches. I'm kinda disturbed by that actually. There is absolutely no good reason for a monster to have massive cleavage that jiggles around every time you damage them. FFS).
The music is somewhere in the top 10, but I'm not about to go buy the double CD set or anything.

If I were Square/Enix, I'd be looking at the engine on this thing, and drawing up some numbers on how much it would cost to update DQ3-DQ7 for this level of quality and localization. Because that, to me, would be free fucking money.

Last thought - having the Maps be relatively uninformative and undetailed is really nice, because you don't grind just to grind - you wind up doing all the grinding you need to do just because you're exploring big blank areas looking for goodies and people to talk to.

:(

there's some flash/anim demo out there of the chick running.

1. The oceans are rife with peril.
2. Alchemy is hard.
3. Great Sabrecats are not the easiest thing to steer.
4. The text explanation of why the Siren's Puff-Puff technique does not work on Jessica is the cherry on top of what is so far the best localization I have ever seen in a JRPG bar none.
5. If you have a PS2, but do not have this, you are wasting your time.

I'll get a new copy when it drops down to ten or fifteen bucks. - It's $19.99 on Amazon now.

Red Scarlet's FAQ goes into a lot more detail (and is the best overall FAQ for anything you need to know, dude played through the game over 10 times) - I've read part of this faq and it's terrible. this would be the reason I avoid walkthroughs; dude literally eschews fun completely and he tells you as much multiple times. It's like he's training you for a speed run. Ugh.

I still haven't got around to beating the Ultimate Dragon. I beat all the other ones and got all the prizes (the dragovian armor + helmet makes Hero look pretty cool, it's like a samurai outfit), but the only point to beating him is if you're going for 100% monsters and items, which I'm not even close to yet. There are other games, and that shit is tedious.

Nine hours?!?!? You ain't even got properly puff-puffed at nine hours.

1. axes instead of clubs
2. better distribution of skill points instead of just racing to 100 in a couple of them to see what happens
3. spears instead of swords
4. whips instead of staves
5. sabers instead of bows
6. more cheese
7. monster arena, as noted
8. more fastidious/obsessive-compulsive use of "nose for treasure"
9. actually follow through with minnie and dodgy dave

Finally playing this. Great soundtrack. Turns out the music composer is supposedly some rightwing japanese schmuck. I doodled blue slimes while having to sit thru cpr class today.

I want a slime controller. It's still only like $20 + shipping.

Does it still have the optional/compulsory free-roaming plains around the towns with nothing to do but fight piss-takingly lame baddies, through darkness or grass and on and on and on for no reward but some pittance of experience or gold? Is it all bad guys and levels and dungeons that are impossible to beat until you engage those endless tedious battles and up your levels? Is it all "you have encountered 3 GREEN SLIME. Do you attack, defend, run? You have defeated 3 GREEN SLIME. You gain 3 GOLD 3 EXP.) for hours and hours and hours?

DUEDS this is what I LOVE about Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior!

Tho admittedly VII has much better shit in it.

uh...VIII

shoulda gone w/Arabic numbers, they're hard to misspell

OMG I am loving this game. Just up to the DARK RUINS and have died at the hands of DHOULEMAGUESYUS.

I broke this out because I broke my collarbone and need to not move around much and boy howdy did it work. Only problem is via roomy seeing me play it he's decided he wants to REplay it and is on the fucking thing like 10 hours a day and I am not getting any playtime and I have to constantly remind him that I'm the one with the broken fucking collarbone and dude please just be fair.

I love ALCHEMY and MAKING GNARLY SHIT. For the longest time also I was certain Trode's voice was the guy who was Hoggle in Labyrinth. Alas.

Also BOUNCY BOOBS! This is the best game.

I've been trying to spread out my skill points between a variety of things but now I'm wishing I had dropped them all into one weapon each.

I'd be playing it right now instead of digging up old threads about it on ILX if I had my way.

Okay I am going to go lay a guilt trip on a motherfucker again.

Have fun with alchemy but be careful with the Slime Crowns, there's only like 2 in the game.

Also BOUNCY BOOBS!

you're talking about slimes, right?

I'm not even about to alchemyize the one slimecrown I've got; in fact I'm completely resisting the urges to get massive alchemy & skill lists online because I am enjoying so much doing it myself.

ALSO: I had been making crazy cheeses in the alchemy pot for like 10 hours of gametime before I realized exactly what to DO with them...and NOW I am REALLY enjoying the CHEESE IN BATTLE OPTION.

Also where are the best monsters for my team? Right now my best 3 are the goldman guy, an orc guy and a chicken guy with a sword.

I'm playing this again from scratch. It's still a blast.

important discovery: axes better than clubs

Scythes better than both, though.

I like the boomerang.

is the scythe really the best weapon for yangus? even in the endgame?

what should I do with the templar this time around? last time I had him with the bow & arrow, I dunno what should be his steez.

For scythes its only 70 points to Stainless Steel and 80 points to Attack +25. I can't remember what the modifier is for the ss attack (+30% maybe) but that's still a really good increase for an attack with 0 cost. With an axe you only get an Attack +20 boost that requires 82 points + the special moves cost 2/3 sp. Also, you can get the second-best scythe relatively early via the Monster Arena.

I think the best weapon for Yangus in the end game is the flail you get from Minnie but that takes a v. long time to get and you can stop leveling scythes after 80 points anyway.

I level staves for Angelo but maybe not actually the best? Level whatever you want him for e.g. I use him mostly for healing/defence so Staff of Antimagic (which you can get pre-Trodian) + the MP +20 skill works for me until after Baccart at least. If you need him for attack then swords is best since you can get an A+ rapier v. quickly as well. Bows are a good compromise of the other two esp. if you're leveling knives w/Jessica and thus cannot get Liquid Metal Swords for both.

I beat it a few weeks back and it took me close to 80 hours. If I do the whole trials thing at the end, about how much longer should it take?

20-40 more?

Re-reading my post above made me realise that even if I start a Chaos Wars thread I can't look like any more of loser than I already do. Still... update?

I was planning to move ahead this week but drinking and lurve got in the way. also a little bit of work, but eh.

real definition of loser = dude who is disappointed in himself, even for just a moment, because he let fucking and drinking get in the way of pre-planned video game progress

Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance: therefore, much drink
may be said to be an equivocator with lechery:
it makes him, and it mars him; it sets
him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him,
and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and
not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him
in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.

Alternate post: My girlfriend accused me of continuing to play videogames while she talking to me. It's true. Now we're not drinking or fucking. What do I do?

yeah jessica has some bazooms

tell her your frequent erections are for her to do with as she pleases and if she wants more than that then good fuckin' luck on the circuit

I heard those were Pavan's last, heartbroken words to Sasha in the Japanese version of the game.

about 40 hours in on playthrough #2 (this time it's for keeps!) and a few thoughts

1. the knowledge to build and operate an alchemy pot has got to be some close-hold black helicopter shit because there's no way you could let people play with these things willy-nilly and expect a barter economy to survive - clearly king trode, despite his ignorance of the scepter's significance, has been keeping good notes on THIS (and who can blame him, it basically prints money, or should I say moon's mercy)

1a. interestingly, however, the fortune-teller's trade is a common one, and valued at jack of all shit in the epoch our adventure occupies; compare and contrast with the 21st century where the "knowledge worker" and "creative" class rule the roost and people who make things are regarded as either the globe's poo-poo or at best a troop of rustic craftsmen who just couldn't deal with a real career; in the age of equities trading it's the motherfuckers with the crystal balls who run the show and not some lil' dude with a pot in his wagon

2. the party structure, even given the addition of the monster team (Donkey Force Alpha, if you must ask, maxed out the 18 character limit, that's right) argues for small elite units in military operations and takes a very clear stance against conscription; sure the world is full of tough guys and bad-asses and all manner of talented privateers, but any mission worth doing demands a far more discriminate bunch of revenge-bent lunatics highly motivated individuals

2a. in contrast to 1a, we see this actually playing out in modern times, where asymmetric warfare has become the rule and laggardly divisions of draftees are the exception

3. I'm certainly not the first to point this out but it is quite disappointing that the simple switch from fishnet stockings to the much more effective ruby of protection as an accessory means having to give up the bunny girl costume altogether. That shit doesn't even make any sense.

4. Man I'm happy I read the gameFAQs this time around, jesus

oh and 5. is Jessica adopted or is it just me

or perhaps she has the same problem as Angelo/Marcello, right place, wrong parent? Actually that goes for the Hero as well I suppose, man these kids are all fucked up

this shit is so much more enjoyable to think about than my job or the economy, unfortunately it keeps me up just as late (but less drunk)

That is the best thing I've ever read, Tombot.

5. Marcello's speech to the gathered boojwahzee on Neos is great; the whole game's plotline (bloodline? lol!) is rooted in the business of family descent, and then he just stands in front of everyone and goes off on how meritocracy is the way of the future also PS. fuk u if u disagree

5a. Sounds vaguely acceptable at first but then you realize he's actually a proto-fascist or a pretty boy bolshevik, especially the part where he calls out the Goddess as just another false idol. It's a nicely done moment because at this point you've been to Tyran Gully and dealt with all sorts of discrimination yourselves, this fuckwit up on the dais may be ahead of the curve on a couple of points but one more putsch and he's going to be gassing the fatties and belt-sanding the nuts off every male who doesn't enlist in the Templars. Compared to Marcello that Charmles looks harmless, amirite.

5b. The bit after DQ9/11 happens and Angelo saves him almost out of spite is money. "You know I REALLY don't care," in the Jude Law voice and everything. I basically never gave two shits about Angelo outside of casting Multiheal until he said that.

6. Pickham is an interesting social experiment, a bit sci-fi really. Why does every city have to have its own accompanying slums? Why not just have one city that's all the slums at once? The dregs of every major area wind up sleeping on the dusty floors in a den of thieves and fighting over scraps. Plus you put it just far enough out of the way that they don't bother anyone else, except to consume the occasional gambling addict who can't afford to sail to Baccarat anymore. The whole Swordsman's Labyrinth fetch-quest could practically be a John Carpenter film by way of Sam Raimi.

7. Are Slimes the Jews of monsterdom?

Angelo is kind of dreamy.

Oh my god to what new lows can a lady sink?

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/ELEmblem/puff/102206057.jpg

Oh right. :(

Wikipedia, re 'Dragon Warrior': Regarding the Japanese version, in the town that the hero first buys keys, a woman offers to provide "puff-puff" to the Hero. This was changed in the American release as the woman asks if the hero would like to purchase tomatoes.

1. Tomatoes!
2. So puff-puffs have been around a while.

How many times have you played this thing through, Tombot?

Also DQ IV redo coming out for DS soon, wootles.

I feel diminished and saddened that I spent all my time playing considering the stastical ramifications of an extra point of attack power and )not joking( calculating damage modifiers instead of wondering at the larger philosophical and sociological ramifications of DQ8.

Corollary: I spent hours trying to gauge what monster team was most effective in the S-level battle only to find that, to my chagrin, my team looked exactly like the one in the GameFAQs FAQ.

this is only my second playthrough, and much improved from my first. I've been going through it like butter this time, aided in no small part by bothering to follow up on the side quests.

My FIRST go at the S Rank, one of My Three Golems stuck the liquid metal slime with a critical hit coming right out of the gate, after that it was mop-up by Mazin.

Yeah, I used the Golems to beat S as well. Best team may actually be the two metal slimes + cureslime.

two metal slimes + cureslime aren't going to put 1200+ damage up in a single round, though, are they

I dropped off playing this not too long after Tittys McGee's heelturn and started playing Rogue Galaxy instead. I wonder what Level 5's been up to, aside from the Prof Layton series.

Pretty sure Magic Burst does 1000+ damage. Not the best for the arena but they're hard to kill and Hev has 999 defence.

Wasn't someone on another thread asking about this?

Hero = Jim Thorpe

I'm done for now, on to FF12.

I figure slimes are cute to make up for their lack of strength. They are cute enough that adventurers like me don't want to kill them. It's an evolutionary advantage.

I have, I think, an hour left on this game, from like a year ago, and I've never finished it. (Last I battled was some weird vadge/flame boss?)

Should I go finish this up? Somehow I'm scared to!

yeah you have to finish it so you can start over again and give everybody different skills

or did you get pretty much everything on the first play-through? (my three golems, jessica's best gear, the underpants dance, etc)

dude wtf

huh?

started playing DQIV today, first DQ I've played

surprised by the scots accents in the first area : )

abbott did you fire it back up and end this thing or what, is what I was dude wtf abt

No, but I think about doing that every couple of hours.

I thought you were "dude wtf" about the username switching from El Tomboto to TOMBOT. I thought you had been hacked by psychotic teens.

Abbott, you have to beat it. If you don't, you'll regret it the rest of your life.

In 2005 I got to the very end of Xenogears, but I didn't finish. I forget what happened. There was some sort of bullshit problem where I had saved but I was near death with no possibility of recovery, or I was missing some item, or something. Either way, it stung. And to this day, when I hear the word Xenogears - and trust me, it's every day, every day - I cringe. Now go beat Dragon Quest VIII, NOW!

i feel bad about signing you up for that xenogears e-bulletin now

Well, I did go and beat the game last night. I had, seriously, just the one final boss battle to go (with hideous morbidly obese purple demon Rhapthorne). And I realize now why I let it languish so long – I didn't want it to end. I didn't want to say goodbye to that good friend.

I'm glad I did it, though.

Now you can finally move on with the rest of your life. Though, you don't have to say goodbye to that good friend. You could say hello to that good friend in a new way, a la Tom, by beating it in a more complete and exhaustive manner.

so this came out a week or two ago on iphone/ipad, and i'm finally going to play it (ipad style)! it's supposed to be a decent port (http://toucharcade.com/2014/05/29/dragon-quest-viii-review/).

if anyone else wants to join me on this epic quest it would be cool! please note that i am really slow and will not be beating this in 2 weeks or anything close to it.

I'm still waiting for this to be ported to a DS system or to HD more or less

from that review:

As for the iOS port, it's not quite as good as you might hope. Since this is just a translated version of the Japanese release, the orchestrated music and voice acting found only in the western PS2 release are out. The orchestrated music, I can live without, since it was recorded at low quality and bloated the game's loading times, but losing the voice acting hurts. Reading Yangus say "Cor Blimey!" just isn't the same as hearing it, and some of the jokes have a lot less punch in text, like the gags around Prince Charmles' name. Tailored for the train-faring Japanese population the game is played in portrait mode, which is going to seem like an odd choice for some people. I actually like being able to play one-handed, but there's no doubt the lack of horizontal space cuts down on the feeling of grandness in some of the game's environments. The controls themselves take a little getting used to, but after an adjustment period, I didn't have any problems with them. It's certainly a unique interface, but it ends up working out fine.

don't really care about the music because i'm usually playing ipad games on silent mode while my gf sleeps, and same with the voice acting. and actually i wouldn't care about the voice acting even if i had the sound on. i almost always hate voice acting in video games. bah humbug.

fuck this ipad shit hook yr PS2 up already and play it legit

i'm lazy man, so lazy

i never bought a ps2

i had a ps1 but haven't had a sony device since

i'm apparently about 10 hours in, although i don't trust the game clock. i don't think i've spent ten HOURS already (have i? oh god). i think i'm about to get angelo to join the party, except i'm embarrassingly having trouble finding the secret underground entrance to the sanctuary or whatever. they gave me clear instructions - head toward Simpleton but stay close to the river until you get to the ruins - but somehow, even though i see the little dot on the map where the ruins are, it's blocked off by the landscape and every 8 seconds i have to deal with a random encounter. maybe i should cast padfoot so i have some more time to explore. on the other hand i'm getting some much needed leveling up in while i wander. i fear that i spent too much time in simpleton village at the tavern and now i too am a true Simpleton.

my hero is named DIRKBURT.

the game itself is a lot of fun, and i like the characters. i feel like i probably don't exploit the tension system enough, and i probably rely on 'fight wisely' tactic way too much. part of that has to do with the menu system, and i'm not sure if it's in the original or if it's an iPad modification. but basically, any deviation from the fight wisely tactic results in several button presses. and it's especially cumbersome when switching weapons in the middle of a battle (which is often necessary to use certain abilities):

- tap DIRKBURT's options pane
- tap "items"
- tap the new weapon to select it
- tap the new weapon to equip it
- tap to close out of the options pane

it's not really a huge deal in isolation, it's that you have to do it so often. it would have been really cool to add a quick weapons switch button to streamline the process.

i especially enjoy how every village has a burly S&M guy wearing a horned mask.

Tailored for the train-faring Japanese population the game is played in portrait mode, which is going to seem like an odd choice for some people. I actually like being able to play one-handed, but there's no doubt the lack of horizontal space cuts down on the feeling of grandness in some of the game's environments.

bummer. this game is so pleasant and mainly because of the big, colorful environments.

I know the olympics are bad but pretty awesome to see all the teams march out to Dragon Quest music lol

I hope someone puts up a video of this

stopped watching but apparently they played some Sonic too!