entremet
Member
In what way?
-
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Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King (3DS) |OT| Cor Blimey!
- Thread starter Dandy Crocodile
- Start date
The game is not very clear.
For the Pirates Cove they just tell you a generic "east" and the first thought after you get Empy's son is to check the High Priest's residence. The game doesn't hint you need the leaf to find evil.
entremet
Member
It's been so long, but I remembered most of it luckily. It was a pain in the PS2 days tho lol.
SciencePilot
Member
I thought I would post my final thoughts on the game. Haven't quite beaten it, but I'm pretty sure I'm near the end
and I figure this thread will get lost in Switch hype pretty soon.
For context, about me: I'm a pretty big fan of JRPGs, but haven't played any Dragon Quest games before. My other favorite JRPGs are Mother 3, Xenoblade, and The World Ends With You.
TL;DR I fell in love with this game. What a great adventure. I just got really, really hooked into it. I'd say this game makes my top 4 favorite JRPGs, though I don't know which exact place it would go in.
Some things the game does really well:
- The world is really explorable, and the game gives you lots of incentives to explore the world. Finding monsters for the arena, taking photographs, getting mini medals, collecting equipment and money to use and for alchemy, etc. I always felt excited to look around new areas when I got there, and I felt I was always rewarded well.
- Making you care about the world and characters. The overall plot is nothing to write home about, but the game is really smart about getting you invested in the characters and their relationships. A couple of examples that really stood out to me:
- The voice acting. Actually, a lot of the voice acting is oddly slow and annunciated at times, which is a bit of a drag. However, there are a few characters who nail their voices so much it more than makes up for that (King Trode and Yangus, to call out two). Actually King Trode probably has my favorite voice acting I've ever heard in game. It's just so great.
- The battle system is simple but fun. The tension system makes you feel powerful but not too powerful. Character skill trees are simple but fun, and they make you feel like you can really personalize your characters. The fact that you can switch equipment during battle is an excellent detail, too. I really appreciate the battle system fast mode in 3DS version. I played with it on 100% of the time.
- Music is great. The theme that plays at various sad/tragic moments is a big favorite of mine.
- I don't feel like the game held my hand too much. Though maybe that's just a product of it being an older game, and I'm too used to modern games.
- The art style and character designs are surprising hits. I'm normally not a fan of the Toriyama look, but I think it works well here. Not really sure why I feel that way, but I do. Maybe I think Toriyama style just fits better in the more restrained look of game, compared to the crazy space alien look of Dragon Ball Z. Actually the art style and the voice acting combined give this game a kind of old-timey cartoon feel, which I really like.
Some things the game does not do so well:
- The details of the battle system are not explained at all. How do attack / strength / defense / wisdom interact? I still don't fully understand this. And there were lots of surprising things I learned by reading online that I wouldn't have expected, like the fact that fire/ice breath attacks don't count as spells, and frizz/sizz/crack don't count as fire/ice attacks. Also, various bosses are immune to various status effects, but it varies by boss and is never made clear at all. So when you use certain status moves and they fail, you're not sure if the boss was immune or you just happened to miss that turn. I think it's fine for the game not to explain things if you can experiment to figure things out, but the fact that so much of the battle system involves randomness makes experimentation very difficult.
- The difficulty curve of the game is wonky. It's pretty easy up until
, who is a significant difficulty spike. Then the game is hard for a while, but eventually your party starts learning powerful spells (and you recruit two extra party members), and the game becomes easy again. So there's this awkward difficulty hump in the middle of the game.
- About the story of the game,
(just beat Marcello)
For context, about me: I'm a pretty big fan of JRPGs, but haven't played any Dragon Quest games before. My other favorite JRPGs are Mother 3, Xenoblade, and The World Ends With You.
TL;DR I fell in love with this game. What a great adventure. I just got really, really hooked into it. I'd say this game makes my top 4 favorite JRPGs, though I don't know which exact place it would go in.
Some things the game does really well:
- The world is really explorable, and the game gives you lots of incentives to explore the world. Finding monsters for the arena, taking photographs, getting mini medals, collecting equipment and money to use and for alchemy, etc. I always felt excited to look around new areas when I got there, and I felt I was always rewarded well.
- Making you care about the world and characters. The overall plot is nothing to write home about, but the game is really smart about getting you invested in the characters and their relationships. A couple of examples that really stood out to me:
- The Abbot Francisco, you hardly know him before he is killed, so why should you care? But right before you go up to his room, you can spend some time reading the books in his library, and you'll discover that he's a great lover of puns. That little character detail makes him endearing, like you know him more as a person, so it feels tragic when he dies.
- Medea and King Trode, the main plot of the game is about saving them, so the story would be quite a drag if you didn't care about them as characters. But the game gives you optional talking scenes with Medea so you get to know her and get invested in her relationship with the hero.
- Medea and King Trode, the main plot of the game is about saving them, so the story would be quite a drag if you didn't care about them as characters. But the game gives you optional talking scenes with Medea so you get to know her and get invested in her relationship with the hero.
- The voice acting. Actually, a lot of the voice acting is oddly slow and annunciated at times, which is a bit of a drag. However, there are a few characters who nail their voices so much it more than makes up for that (King Trode and Yangus, to call out two). Actually King Trode probably has my favorite voice acting I've ever heard in game. It's just so great.
- The battle system is simple but fun. The tension system makes you feel powerful but not too powerful. Character skill trees are simple but fun, and they make you feel like you can really personalize your characters. The fact that you can switch equipment during battle is an excellent detail, too. I really appreciate the battle system fast mode in 3DS version. I played with it on 100% of the time.
- Music is great. The theme that plays at various sad/tragic moments is a big favorite of mine.
- I don't feel like the game held my hand too much. Though maybe that's just a product of it being an older game, and I'm too used to modern games.
- The art style and character designs are surprising hits. I'm normally not a fan of the Toriyama look, but I think it works well here. Not really sure why I feel that way, but I do. Maybe I think Toriyama style just fits better in the more restrained look of game, compared to the crazy space alien look of Dragon Ball Z. Actually the art style and the voice acting combined give this game a kind of old-timey cartoon feel, which I really like.
Some things the game does not do so well:
- The details of the battle system are not explained at all. How do attack / strength / defense / wisdom interact? I still don't fully understand this. And there were lots of surprising things I learned by reading online that I wouldn't have expected, like the fact that fire/ice breath attacks don't count as spells, and frizz/sizz/crack don't count as fire/ice attacks. Also, various bosses are immune to various status effects, but it varies by boss and is never made clear at all. So when you use certain status moves and they fail, you're not sure if the boss was immune or you just happened to miss that turn. I think it's fine for the game not to explain things if you can experiment to figure things out, but the fact that so much of the battle system involves randomness makes experimentation very difficult.
- The difficulty curve of the game is wonky. It's pretty easy up until
Dholmagus
- About the story of the game,
the party repeatedly chokes so hard. So many people die when we're right there to save them. The party basically can't do anything right and keeps screwing up over and over again. I understand that these mistakes move the plot of the game forward, but it's kind of frustrating.
Pancake Mix
Copied someone else's pancake recipe
Edit: OOPS, crisis averted.
The n00b Avenger
Member
You can't even get that ending without doing the post-game
Pancake Mix
Copied someone else's pancake recipe
Ghostoflies
Neo Member
what level should i be at for the squid boss?
Red Liquorice
Member
I'm at the Argonian Bazaar and remember that it's a limited time thing. Is there anything there you really need, i.e. that can't be found, bought or made easily with alchemy later in the game?
I'm kind of in to doing side quests and farming at the moment, and also itching to get Baccarat Casino up and running, so I don't want to trot on with the rest of the game and then come back and have missed some one-time super awesome item from the bazaar.
I'm kind of in to doing side quests and farming at the moment, and also itching to get Baccarat Casino up and running, so I don't want to trot on with the rest of the game and then come back and have missed some one-time super awesome item from the bazaar.
Red Liquorice
Member
Oh.... I don't know why I remembered it as so then, I just had it in my head it was.
Good news then, thanks
Well, I forgot about acceleratle this playthrough up until past
.
Over-leveled for
, as a result, so that is sort of disappointing to me.
Still on
, but I put the game down to play some other games. I'm feeling I should finally abandon the original four for that fight and use Red because of
Haven't geared Red up, though.
memory Leopold
Over-leveled for
darksteel dragon +
Still on
memory Jessica
her sexy pose move.
It moves indoors and is off the map, after a certain point.Oh.... I don't know why I remembered it as so then, I just had it in my head it was.
Good news then, thanks
Andyliini
Member
I finally got all the characters for this game. I read some impressions here about how difficult the final rank of Monster Arena is, but I just breezed through it in a single try. Maybe I was just lucky, as none of the enemies used any healing moves until they were alone in the battlefield.
I tried Red, but didn't like her style, but Morrie's cool. I switched him with Yangus. By the way, who in this game can learn Scorch? I remember it being an OP move in DQVII along with Thin Air, but none of the Skillsets seem to include it.
I tried Red, but didn't like her style, but Morrie's cool. I switched him with Yangus. By the way, who in this game can learn Scorch? I remember it being an OP move in DQVII along with Thin Air, but none of the Skillsets seem to include it.
Alright, started the post-game.
It does make for an excellent post-game, however.
Now I'll probably try to do the
, I do remember trying them in the PS2 but I can't remember how far I got, probably not very far. I really like DQVIII's post game, it is grindy, but not too grindy. The skill system is very straight forward and the equipment system has depth, but it doesn't feel too bloated. In comparison VII's is a nightmare, with all the monster classes and whatnot.
Now I have 4 Orichalcums left, I don't know what do with them:
I really wish the Dragovians had been in the main game, it always felt weird to have such a crucial plot point hidden behind the ending, they even explain the Hero's immunity to curses!
Now I'll probably try to do the
Dragovian Trial
Now I have 4 Orichalcums left, I don't know what do with them:
Morrie uses Dragonlord Claw, Jester's Outfit, Silver Shield, Sun crow an Mighty Armet. He also a has a Dragon Robe in his inventory.
Red has a LMS/Kaleidoscope, Saintless Shield, Divine Bustier, Golden Tiara and Mighty Armlet. Mandain Dress is 3 medals away.
Angelo is pretty much settled, Samurai outfit and Phantom Mask, Silver Shield and... Holy Talisman lol.
Red has a LMS/Kaleidoscope, Saintless Shield, Divine Bustier, Golden Tiara and Mighty Armlet. Mandain Dress is 3 medals away.
Angelo is pretty much settled, Samurai outfit and Phantom Mask, Silver Shield and... Holy Talisman lol.
Munchie can use scorch.
Pancake Mix
Copied someone else's pancake recipe
Eh, I like the concept,
in order to get what I consider the true rather than alternate endings (marry Medea or even better, Jessica) you need to see that plot point. You don't need to do the trials, however, just find out the truth about Munchie and at that point you might as well beat the boss too. I think that's pretty reasonable.
I consider the first part, through to where you get the Argon ring and defeat the Lord of the Dragovians (bringing her back to normal) at the Heavenly Dias, simply as part of the main game. Having the hero marry one of his two interested companions just feels right as a true ending. The Jessica option (and additional scene at Alexandria) in this version is great.
I consider the first part, through to where you get the Argon ring and defeat the Lord of the Dragovians (bringing her back to normal) at the Heavenly Dias, simply as part of the main game. Having the hero marry one of his two interested companions just feels right as a true ending. The Jessica option (and additional scene at Alexandria) in this version is great.
I think they handled it really well.
Choppymushroom
Neo Member
Part of me loves this game and part of me hates it. For the most part the game is easy, and then there insane difficulty spikes. I am at the final boss of the main story and it is just utter nonsense. Full healed party in the 400hp range and then he will just annihilate me in one turn using the same attacks he has been using all along but doing way more damage than before for no reason that I can tell. Frustrated to the point I am thinking of abandoning it.
What level are you? You can grind levels easy peasy in this version since you can see MKS on the map.
SciencePilot
Member
Maybe it got a critical hit?
I guess I would recommend you go around and alchemize some better gear. Go look up some recommended gear and how to make it. And maybe optimize your skills/gear for dodging rather than defense. And maybe use defending champion. You can do it!
Full disclosure, I'm right before the final boss but haven't fought it yet. I'm just going around preparing myself.
Choppymushroom
Neo Member
All characters are 43and the best alchemy gear I could with the materials I had. I will try again sometime, probably put it down for a few days though. Maybe grind some more and hunt down materials for more hear. It is just disheartening to have the fight play out the same way 5 separate times. I will succeed eventually, just need to step away for a few days to cool down and look up more information and strategies.
43 is quite enough. Sounds more like bad luck. Did you get the Orichalcum from Neos/
the Black Cittadel
I was level 50-60 when I did that and he still hit me very hard. (all enemies do as a matter of fact, even with top tier equipment I noticed you often get hit for 100+)
Choppymushroom
Neo Member
Both Yangus and Jessica have a sage stone to help with healing. Didn't make a staff though. I will keep plugging away at it though, wish me luck. For now I am off to work.
Elaugaufein
Member
So has Nintendo done any kind of schedule announcement for when they are putting up items other than consumables ?
SciencePilot
Member
As far as I can tell, no one really knows what's going on.
Can someone help me out here? I'm not quite sure I understand this boss?
Just facing the Dragonian Lord to get the bonus endings, but it seems all he is doing in the fight is using his bite attack that usually crits if it hits but isn't a big deal because almost all of my characters can tank one of the crits.
My issue is that when I looked online for guides it looks totally confusing because I'm seeing things saying he can use breath moves and and other moves, but all he was doing when I fought him was the bite attack. How the hell does this boss work?
My issue is that when I looked online for guides it looks totally confusing because I'm seeing things saying he can use breath moves and and other moves, but all he was doing when I fought him was the bite attack. How the hell does this boss work?
I'm not sure if I want to finish the quest, it's such a stupid game mechanic.
I think you're right, I never did beat him when I played PS2 version so I had no clue about the extra stuff. Regardless I just made a strategy based on him doing nothing but attacking over and over and he was easy.
I gave up on it. Never did find one.
I just got "Ye Olde Sword of Erdrick" but apparently some people are just getting regular items instead. ¯\_(ツ
_/¯Ye Olde Sword of Erdrick + Orichalcum + Liquid Metal Sword = Sword of Erdrick, but it doesn't seem worth it and only Hero can equip it.
Elaugaufein
Member
I just got "Ye Olde Sword of Erdrick" but apparently some people are just getting regular items instead. ¯\_(ツ
Ye Olde Sword of Erdrick + Orichalcum + Liquid Metal Sword = Sword of Erdrick, but it doesn't seem worth it and only Hero can equip it.
Yeah, I just got regular stuff yesterday and today. Weird.
SciencePilot
Member
Just beat the main quest! Came in at 75 hours.
By the way, I went and watched the alternate endings on youtube, and
By the way, I went and watched the alternate endings on youtube, and
I actually think the first ending is by far the best. I don't think hero and Medea should only get married because they're now miraculously allowed to... it's way better if it's something they fight to choose themselves. And it's a more satisfying ending for King Trode's character that he fights for you. Yeah yeah the hero doesn't explicitly marry Medea in the first ending but the implication is pretty obvious that it's going to happen, so I don't think that makes it a lesser ending.
Alright, done with the
That was... pretty easy actually. The hardest part getting tension to 100 because of Disruptive Wave.
Once I'm done with the monster arena, I'll consider this DQVIII finished. The Twinkles quest is horseshiet and
requires you to grind to 90+ to beat some of the last bosses. LOL nope.
Ultimate Dragon.
Once I'm done with the monster arena, I'll consider this DQVIII finished. The Twinkles quest is horseshiet and
the Memory Lane
The n00b Avenger
Member
Eh, that's an exaggeration. It's simple enough at level 70 and the bosses themselves give enough EXP for everyone to level up once if you use a double bubble. You can start the gauntlet under level 60 and be high enough level by the end and 60 isn't too difficult to reach.
I just got "Ye Olde Sword of Erdrick" but apparently some people are just getting regular items instead. ¯\_(ツ
Ye Olde Sword of Erdrick + Orichalcum + Liquid Metal Sword = Sword of Erdrick, but it doesn't seem worth it and only Hero can equip it.
I tried yesterday and got a regular item, but today I obtained Ye Olde Sword of Erdrick. Thanks for the heads up!
That seems to confirm the 2-week schedule, so the next unique item should be March 10th/11th.
CharminUltra
Member
Wish I had the time to play this. Loved it on PS2, probably my most played game on that system (300 hours I think?)
MikeE21286
Member
At about 44.5 hours and just finished the fight with
. Now looking for
I went in cold, and I was expecting the game to end much sooner than this. I think I'm over the hump though. Getting through some of the mid-game in
was somewhat of a slog.
I feel like I may be under-levelend compared to where others may be at. I'm at 28-30 on the entire party. I'm not having much difficulty though, outside of the fight with
in the
Evil Jessica
Sir Leopold
I went in cold, and I was expecting the game to end much sooner than this. I think I'm over the hump though. Getting through some of the mid-game in
Baccarat
I feel like I may be under-levelend compared to where others may be at. I'm at 28-30 on the entire party. I'm not having much difficulty though, outside of the fight with
Dhoulmagus
Dark Ruins
Adam Prime
hates soccer, is Mexican
Holy moly random battles while on the boat are the worst!
I've been spoiled rotten by Bravely Default. I instinctively opened the menu and started wondering where was the options to set random battles to OFF.
The roaming monsters make this great, I can avoid battles when I'm trying like 90% of the time, it's wonderful. Getting to battles while sailing makes it a drag, I just want to get from point to point....
I've been spoiled rotten by Bravely Default. I instinctively opened the menu and started wondering where was the options to set random battles to OFF.
The roaming monsters make this great, I can avoid battles when I'm trying like 90% of the time, it's wonderful. Getting to battles while sailing makes it a drag, I just want to get from point to point....
Easystride
Member
Any suggestions on where to level up before the first
? I am getting my ass handed to me.
fight with Dhoulmagus at the Dark Ruins
entremet
Member
Sailing sucks in this game. It's slow, it takes forever to find places to land.
So I'm wonderinf how long it took for yoh guys to get alot of tokens in the casino?? After playing Bingo at Baccarat for 2 hours, I got about 500K tokens. Won 200K in one lucky move and now bought most of the expensive items for all my characters. Feels like I'm cheating now, and over powered but we'll see. What are the odds of winning big that quickly.
You can generally get about a million in an hour playing roulette.
Red Liquorice
Member
There's a small island in the bottom south-west corner of the map that has a high spawn of Liquid Metal Slimes. I usually set out from Neos and go around the big island to the left and you can see it from the bottom left corner of that island. It doesn't appear on the map.
Red Liquorice
Member
Just got the
so going to settle in for some MKS farming. ^_^
How did I ever do this on the PS2, it's SO much easier with visible enemies!
Dragon Graveyard
How did I ever do this on the PS2, it's SO much easier with visible enemies!
Red Liquorice
Member
Hate to double post, but it is on a different point - I'm having trouble deciding where to invest my stat points with Angelo. I have Staves and Swords at 100, so are Bows worth investing in or should I dump everything in to Charisma? I'm sitting on about 75-80 points with him!
On a similar note, what's the deal with Yangus and stat points. I went for Fisticuffs and Sythes and then decided I wanted Axes for Executioner and somewhere after lvl50 or so he started to only get 1 point per level compared to everyone else who was still getting 2. Why do they slow his progression down specifically?
On a similar note, what's the deal with Yangus and stat points. I went for Fisticuffs and Sythes and then decided I wanted Axes for Executioner and somewhere after lvl50 or so he started to only get 1 point per level compared to everyone else who was still getting 2. Why do they slow his progression down specifically?
I used Angelo for all game up to the ultimate boss, and quite honestly it doesn't matter. 90% of the time he should be without weapon healing or using the Timbrel of tension. Bows are good to get MP back during the game and they have a nice AOE attack for random encounters, but I doubt you'll notice a difference at this point (Actually, swords may be better for Metal slimes hunting). Charisma is largely useless except for Sarcastic Snigger (Which I never needed cause Morrie). I think I had like 50 unspent points at the end of the game because I just couldn't decide what to get lulz.
As for Yangus, I noticed he actually levels faster than the Hero (I'm pretty sure he was 1-2 levels over him in my game) but he will stop getting a lot of points after a certain level, Jessica is the same. Definitely get Executioner, even if you need to waste skill seeds because it makes hunting King Metal Slimes easier. Yang's best skills are in Axes and Humanity, but alas he's just can't compete with what Morrie and Red offer.