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Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King (3DS) |OT| Cor Blimey!

Linkura

Member
So I thought you could play Rank S in the Monster Arena whenever you got it in the original but I'm locked out of it right now. Is it because
Jessica is still evil?
Did this happen in the original and I just don't remember it?
 
So I thought you could play Rank S in the Monster Arena whenever you got it in the original but I'm locked out of it right now. Is it because
Jessica is still evil?
Did this happen in the original and I just don't remember it?
There's an awful lot of stuff that unlocks when you're done with that part of the game. I would not be surprised if that was one of them.
 

Linkura

Member
There's an awful lot of stuff that unlocks when you're done with that part of the game. I would not be surprised if that was one of them.

There's people on the PS2 version Gamefaqs board saying they were able to beat Rank S prior to this point, and the PS2 FAQ even mentions it. I guess they changed it so you can't beat Rank S until a certain point in this version.

At any rate, after a bunch of tries and a few close calls, I finally beat Rank S and got Morrie!!

giphy.gif
 
I'm not even that far into this game and I've already cried a couple of times. The game really knows how to tug at your heartstrings. And there sure is a lot of death in this game.

I just got through Ascantha.
 
I'm not even that far into this game and I've already cried a couple of times. The game really knows how to tug at your heartstrings. And there sure is a lot of death in this game.

I just got through Ascantha.

To quote the song,
"Oh baby, you ain't seen nothing yet"
.

I forgot how damn dark this game gets.
 

Weebos

Banned
Sorry if this has been asked to death, but if I got bored of 7 on 3DS should I still give this a look?

I enjoyed what I played of 7, but nothing really drew me in and I eventually put it down after 7-8 hours.

Edit: Literally in the FAQ

I didn't like (insert other DQ title here, but probably 7), will I like this?

That depends. Story wise, Dragon Quest 8 is more of a standard JRPG. It has a long, focused narrative compared to the variety of vignettes in entries like 7 or 9.
Before remakes, it was also the first Dragon Quest title to be developed fully in 3D so in that sense its comparatively "modern."
There isn't a class system present here either. Instead each character has predefined skills which you can spend points on.
 

Pancake Mix

Copied someone else's pancake recipe
Sorry if this has been asked to death, but if I got bored of 7 on 3DS should I still give this a look?

I enjoyed what I played of 7, but nothing really drew me in and I eventually put it down after 7-8 hours.

Edit: Literally in the FAQ

I'll add my piece also.

Yes, yes you should. If you're into amazing JRPG's, this is one of the best. It's quite a bit more modern in storytelling than even the remake of VII, and a lot more focused. DQVII was Dragon Quest unchained, essentially small non-linear story segmentation and repetition pushed to the limit. DQVIII, on the other hand, has a lot more mainstream appeal.
 

Hazmat

Member
Sorry if this has been asked to death, but if I got bored of 7 on 3DS should I still give this a look?

I enjoyed what I played of 7, but nothing really drew me in and I eventually put it down after 7-8 hours.

Edit: Literally in the FAQ

Yes. 7 is a weird case and in my book a pretty solid stumble for DQ. DQ8 will likely be more enjoyable if you found 7 to be a slow, repetitive chore.
 

aidan

Hugo Award Winning Author and Editor
Sorry if this has been asked to death, but if I got bored of 7 on 3DS should I still give this a look?

I enjoyed what I played of 7, but nothing really drew me in and I eventually put it down after 7-8 hours.

Edit: Literally in the FAQ

Yes. Go for it.

I'm a huge DQ fan and have been enjoying the series since first discovering it via DQ8 on the PS2. That said, I bailed out on DQ7 after about 30 hours. I was worried that my appreciation for the series was waning, but, nope, within minutes of booting up DQ8, I was enthralled and remembering all the things I loved so much about the other DQs I've played (1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9).
 

Cactus

Banned
As much as I love 7, I think it's a terrible introduction to the series. Whenever I recommend Dragon Quest to a friend, I always suggest that they play 8 first. It's probably the most accessible game for series newcomers, and super fun and charming.
 

Weebos

Banned
I'll add my piece also.

Yes, yes you should. If you're into amazing JRPG's, this is one of the best. It's quite a bit more modern in storytelling than even the remake of VII, and a lot more focused. DQVII was Dragon Quest unchained, essentially small non-linear story segmentation and repetition pushed to the limit. DQVIII, on the other hand, has a lot more mainstream appeal.

Yes. 7 is a weird case and in my book a pretty solid stumble for DQ. DQ8 will likely be more enjoyable if you found 7 to be a slow, repetitive chore.

Yes. Go for it.

I'm a huge DQ fan and have been enjoying the series since first discovering it via DQ8 on the PS2. That said, I bailed out on DQ7 after about 30 hours. I was worried that my appreciation for the series was waning, but, nope, within minutes of booting up DQ8, I was enthralled and remembering all the things I loved so much about the other DQs I've played (1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9).

As much as I love 7, I think it's a terrible introduction to the series. Whenever I recommend Dragon Quest to a friend, I always suggest that they play 8 first. It's probably the most accessible game for series newcomers, and super fun and charming.

Thanks guys, I might try it out tonight then. I have some eshop credit lying around.
 

brerwolfe

Member
Pretty slimy of Nintendo, but this is what we've unfortunately been trained to accept concerning DQ.
I mean, it's not the best news but "slimy" is a bit of an exaggeration. You didn't buy this game based on insignificant dlc item releases. At least I hope you didn't.
 

Chesskid1

Banned
i'm in an area where metal slimes constantly spawn, usually 8 in one battle

i also had an item that doubled xp for 10 battles

i was getting 10k xp per battle

i went from like lvl 28 to 33

wtf? felt like i was cheating. also, kinda breaks the game, why would i grind anywhere else?
 

Arkeband

Banned
I mean, it's not the best news but "slimy" is a bit of an exaggeration. You didn't buy this game based on insignificant dlc item releases. At least I hope you didn't.

It was part of their marketing materials and instead of communicating with their customers, they're removing mentions to it. That's not just slimy, that's king slimey.
 

brerwolfe

Member
Are you saying you wouldn't have purchased the game if this were never mentioned?

The DLC isn't significant at all, let alone worth swaying a purchase one way or the other. We're talking about a 13 year old game, let's be real for a second. Come back from your ledge and think about this. Or go play the game a little more to soothe your soul.
 

Arkeband

Banned
Are you saying you wouldn't have purchased the game if this were never mentioned?

The DLC isn't significant at all, let alone worth swaying a purchase one way or the other. We're talking about a 13 year old game, let's be real for a second. Come back from your ledge and think about this. Or go play the game a little more to soothe your soul.

It's still a marketed feature, which makes it false and deceptive advertising. Is there a specific reason you're handwaving an immoral and shady practice other than defending Nintendo's honor?

Whether you personally care about it or not doesn't actually matter, and trying to minimize it by quoting the length of time since the game's previous release is equally absurd.
 

brerwolfe

Member
I guess we'll have to choose to disagree.

Things change in a game's development, features are made and then cancelled for a plethora of reasons. This was never going to be the type of feature that would make or break the game, so if you want to make it your life's work to call Square Enix out from the rooftops then go nuts. Talk about absurd..
 

OuterLimits

Member
Quick question.

I'm still early in the game at Port Prospect. Are skill points awarded randomly or is it a set amount for each level up?

Reason I ask is because Yangus is getting a crazy amount of points at level ups(often 6-9) while the main character is getting a pathetic amount.(2-4).

Also is the boomerang a decent choice? I really love it but the skills on swords seems better.
 
i'm in an area where metal slimes constantly spawn, usually 8 in one battle

i also had an item that doubled xp for 10 battles

i was getting 10k xp per battle

i went from like lvl 28 to 33

wtf? felt like i was cheating. also, kinda breaks the game, why would i grind anywhere else?

Which area is this?
 

Arkeband

Banned
I guess we'll have to choose to disagree.

Things change in a game's development, features are made and then cancelled for a plethora of reasons. This was never going to be the type of feature that would make or break the game, so if you want to make it your life's work to call Square Enix out from the rooftops then go nuts. Talk about absurd..

You can pooh-pooh it all you want, dude, but if you bought a blender that said it was blue and you take it out of the box and it's pink, it doesn't matter if you bought it for its four speeds and not its color, or that the manufacturer ran out of blue paint, none of that is your concern as a customer. And me calling out retroactive wiping of features from promotional material is not "making it my life's work". Don't be a dick.
 

brerwolfe

Member
Terrible analogy. It's more like the blender advertised sending me a free recipe every week for 8 months but then decided not to. I didn't buy the blender for the hope they'd tell me how to make a delicious tropical smoothie, I bought it because it blends.

You can replace a blender if the wrong color was in the box, just like you could replace the game if there was a different Square game in the box.

What we're talking about is an arbitrary feature of an overall product. Compare apples to apples.
 
As far as the DLC items go, they sounded fun. However, the thing I'm worried about is this: do they count for item list completion? Because as you know (if you played VIII before), King Trode makes unique comments which you can only see if you look at the Battle Records after achieving certain milestones. Like hitting the level cap with each character, maxing out a Skill Tree, completing the Alchemy List, and presumably completing the item list.

And I know that one of the DLC items can be Alchemized. So there goes that one, too.

Yeah. It is a small, vanity thing. I hate being effectively locked out of being able to 100% complete a game, and for such an arbitrary reason as being in a different region? It grinds my gears.
 

mjc

Member
Am I screwed if I allocate points to the wrong weapons for characters? Right now I have sword/spear points for the hero, and club/axe for yangus.
 
Am I screwed if I allocate points to the wrong weapons for characters? Right now I have sword/spear points for the hero, and club/axe for yangus.
Nah. You'll have 350 points naturally at 99, enough for three and a half mastered skills.
Don't worry about it too much as long as you intend to get to a decent level and don't hop around between EVERY skill type.
 
Am I screwed if I allocate points to the wrong weapons for characters? Right now I have sword/spear points for the hero, and club/axe for yangus.

Nope. You get 350 points at level cap, and there are always Seeds of Skill and Super Seeds of Skill from various locations. I think the former gives you 4 points and the latter gives you 10, and I have about 50 points worth in my bag just from the goofy and lackadaisical way I play. And I'm not in the post-game, where "farming" them becomes viable.

Spear is good, as is Axe. Clubs is situational, and combining Swords and Courage on the Hero gets you access to a nice attack. It is also possible to stop putting points into Spears and Axes at Lightning Thrust and Executioner if you want them for Metal Hunting.
 

NolbertoS

Member
to the left of the royal hunting ground, there is an indent up of green forest area and slimes constantly spawn, usually 8 at a time

Metal Slimes are OK but fightinf Metal Babbles or Metal King Slime gets you more experience points. Still remember where to find then abd grind levels :D
 
Metal Slimes are OK but fightinf Metal Babbles or Metal King Slime gets you more experience points. Still remember where to find then abd grind levels :D
Liquid Metal Slime -
Castle Trodain, Unnamed Island (island in the southwest corner of the map), Slime Hill
Metal King Slime -
Dragon Graveyard, area around Tryan Gulley, Slime Hill, post-game dungeon

(ETA: this was for those that are curious, sorry if it seemed like I was calling you out!)
 
Terrible analogy. It's more like the blender advertised sending me a free recipe every week for 8 months but then decided not to. I didn't buy the blender for the hope they'd tell me how to make a delicious tropical smoothie, I bought it because it blends.

You can replace a blender if the wrong color was in the box, just like you could replace the game if there was a different Square game in the box.

What we're talking about is an arbitrary feature of an overall product. Compare apples to apples.
The poster never said the game wasn't worth buying because the DLC has been cancelled - that was your straw man to embolden your corporate apologism.

So this game is excellent and worth buying, but it is totally slimey that apparently Nintendo/Square Enix are silently dropping a feature that was featured in the marketing and quite visibly featured within the game menus themselves.

They should at least make an announcement of it's current and future status and if it's dead in the water - apologise.
 

brerwolfe

Member
It's not slimy and it's awful that people resort to name calling over a simple feature being given up. They didn't deliver half a game, that would be slimy. They didn't deliver a broken game, that would also be slimy. There's nothing "slimy" about this, nothing deceptive, nothing tricky.

It's a feature that may or may not show up and you guys are calling the company the same name you'd call a 50 year old man staring at your 13 year old niece.
 

Arkeband

Banned
It's not slimy and it's awful that people resort to name calling over a simple feature being given up. They didn't deliver half a game, that would be slimy. They didn't deliver a broken game, that would also be slimy. There's nothing "slimy" about this, nothing deceptive, nothing tricky.

It's a feature that may or may not show up and you guys are calling the company the same name you'd call a 50 year old man staring at your 13 year old niece.

It wasn't advertised as a feature that may or may not show up. You're now moving goalposts, just stop, it's embarrassing, you don't need to be offended on Nintendo's behalf.
 

brerwolfe

Member
It wasn't advertised as a feature that may or may not show up. You're now moving goalposts, just stop, it's embarrassing, you don't need to be offended on Nintendo's behalf.
I'm actually embarrassed on your behalf.

And you don't even know if it's not showing up, it just hasn't shown up yet.
 
New to DQ8. What recommended skill sets for each char can you recommend?
Hero: combo either Swords + Courage or Spears + Boomerangs.
Yangus: Axes + either Fisticuffs or Humanity
Jessica: No bad builds really. Swords + Whips for physical damage, Staves + Sex Appeal for a pure caster. I have never found Thin Air to be better than the Gringham Whip, but Fisticuffs is supposed to be good on her as well.
Angelo: Either Swords or Bows + Staves, he's your main healer and a nice trash sweeper with high MP and an item with MP regen.

Red & Morrie I have not used yet, despite obtaining them.

Note this only covers the first 200 points, each character gets 350 through leveling alone, so don't feel bad about "wasting" points. There are also items that can give extra skill points, so you can theoretically learn everything if you have the patience.
 
Man the speed difference really is paramount. I'm 15 hours in, level 30 at
Argonia about to acquire the Magic Mirror
, which according to the guide I'm using is about 50-60% towards completion.

Compare that to 15 hours in Dragon Quest VII where you wouldn't even make it to Alltrades Abbey (DIdn't get there until 18-20 hours).
 

Linkura

Member
Anyone else addicted to fighting metal slimes? Just got the ability to fly and some of the areas you are now able to access have up to 6-8 LMS per battle. Way easier to get EXP than fighting Kings. It's addicting as hell but I'm totally ruining the challenge.
 
Anyone else addicted to fighting metal slimes? Just got the ability to fly and some of the areas you are now able to access have up to 6-8 LMS per battle. Way easier to get EXP than fighting Kings. It's addicting as hell but I'm totally ruining the challenge.
Yep. There was an area in the PS2 version where you could get in a fight with a MKS and 3 fly enemies that cast Kerplunk. I'm trying to remember where, may have been the
Dragon Graveyard
. Anyway, you got full EXP for killing the MKS each time it was revived. It was sickening.

I always overlevel in areas with Metals. I can't resist their shininess.
 

Linkura

Member
Yep. There was an area in the PS2 version where you could get in a fight with 2 MKS and 3 fly enemies that cast Kerplunk. I'm trying to remember where, may have been the
Dragon Graveyard
. Anyway, you got full EXP for killing the MKS each time they were revived. It was sickening.

I always overlevel in areas with Metals. I can't resist their shininess.

Probably is the place you mentioned, I ran into those enemies there. Hmmm. Wonder if it's a better deal than what I got now. Probably not considering the Kings are a lot rarer in that area than the LMS in this area, at least in this version.
 
Did they switch the femme fatal witch monster from her original location? She use to be notthwest of red's house.
A lot of the Arena Monsters have multiple spawn locations that randomize under various factors, including using Zoom, leaving a town, and Day/Night cycles triggering. In addition to that, many have extra unlock or access conditions, such as story progress or Monster Arena ranking.
 

NolbertoS

Member
Man, seeing so many people down on 7 is killing me.

7 sold poorly during rhe PSX era too. Doesn't surprise it also sold poorly in the 3DS and people got bored of it. Unless you're a truly hardcore DQ fan moreso than just a JRPG fan, DQVII won't be accepted by the masses sadly :(
 

Pancake Mix

Copied someone else's pancake recipe
7 sold poorly during rhe PSX era too. Doesn't surprise it also sold poorly in the 3DS and people got bored of it. Unless you're a truly hardcore DQ fan moreso than just a JRPG fan, DQVII won't be accepted by the masses sadly :(

I hope this comparison makes sense to someone.

Metallica albums as a comparison:

Dragon Quest VII = ...And Justice For All
Dragon Quest VIII = Metallica (The Black Album) - But I mean it in a really, really good way

Alternatively:

Dragon Quest VII = Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Dragon Quest VIII = Metroid Prime
 
It's not slimy and it's awful that people resort to name calling over a simple feature being given up. They didn't deliver half a game, that would be slimy. They didn't deliver a broken game, that would also be slimy. There's nothing "slimy" about this, nothing deceptive, nothing tricky.

It's a feature that may or may not show up and you guys are calling the company the same name you'd call a 50 year old man staring at your 13 year old niece.

It's totally slimy to advertise a feature and then to erase all existence of that feature after you've released the game. You're the only one who doesn't seem to get this. The game is still good, I still bought, but it's super weak for Nintendo to advertise this feature and then just take it away with no explanation.
 
Man, seeing so many people down on 7 is killing me.

For me, it's not so much about being down on it as it is about the difference in speed in VII and many other games within the series (granted, after finishing VII and VIII I still need to play VI, I-III, maybe IX but I hear a lot of mixed things about the game).

Never thought I would ever say this about a game, but I really appreciate VIII being far more snappy with its pacing.
 
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