A Blog with a purpose to discuss important things in life, like politics on multiple levels (mostly swedish), music, movies and video games together with the challenges in my personal life (that is none actually, it's just a smooth ride, or is it?).
Well, they are (or have as of release) remaking Dragon Quest VII, this time for modern console, including Switch and Switch 2. I've only played the first remake for the 3DS (Damn, almost 10 years ago... I'm getting old) and I recall that being a great time, although a bit long, but I've heard everyone else speaking about finish some of the early games like in 25 hours where I spend 100 hours so I might just be really slow. There's some buzz about changes like the casino being gone since that would net it an immediate 18 rating and that they changed how the class system works.
The demo then, it starts from the beginning and ends before you can get to the second island, which feels like a logical end point. You get to try out some of the combat, how the story progression works and still leaves you with the mystery of why the world is what it is and leaves you on a cliff hanger. Pretty wise move. I don't recall how the 3DS version began, but I suspect that they threw in a battle a bit earlier with some spirits just so that people would get faster to a fight cause that is both a praise and complaint I've heard about the game, taking to long to get to the meat of the game with something like running around on fetch quest for 2 hours while other finds it interesting. I can find it rather ballsy.
Nothing much else to say. Beside the set up I provided for the 3DS version the first island's story is about a village of cowardly men where all women have been kidnapped and you try to figure it out. You met the warrior woman Maeve that was the younger sister of the town hero that was left to die hoping the townspeople would come and save him as he led the charge alone against the monsters of the island, but they didn't due to cowardice. And in turn Maeve turned into a vengeful spirit, but pretty much turns around when she helps this little kid that tried to protect his father. I guess feeling sympathy for him since he did pretty much what she did. And as the party storm the enemy the kid rallies the townspeople so that they actually show up for the final confrontation. It's short, it's sweet, it's a tear jerker... a great short story with tragedy. And that is what I recall from playing it all those years ago. As of writing it should arrive in four days. Can't wait.
Well, it was just continue with the second game. Still have PTSD for the end-game with the kamikaze monkeys. The story is pretty much the same with some exceptions. For example, you get a fourth party member, the princess of Cannock. She first helps you looking for the prince of Cannock that elevated the early games and then when he gets poisoned she joins again, and more permanently after that, making the rest of the game a bit easier with another character carrying things and using magic. They also added an underwater section with mermaids and hidden depths. Hadn't I played it I wouldn't have noticed that all that was an add-on for the remake since it fits right in the world... granted, Dragon Quest-games tends to be rather easy to do this with since eventhough each game has an overarching story, it has a lot of small moments.
Is there more? Yes, they tie all three games together here, referencing each other and explaining better the relationship between, Hargon, the Dragonlord and Rubiss. There's also a hint of another adventure after beating Hargon. But to get that you gotta defeat the boss Octavian or whatever it's name was which roam the ocean in the ghost ship and let me tell you, that's a bitch to fight. Negating magic and attacks, healing a high rate every turn and dealing a lot of damage. I tried several times and then gave up... I could of course have used the lower setting to finish it off, should have thought about that before. Don't know if it's the big bad from the third game, but I'm quite content. And I got other games to play so I better get a move on.
So overall, it's a fun game, get a lot of backtracking and such to get every treasure chest after each key upgrade so I would have preferred a guide to diminish the amount of hours. But it's fun just roaming around, but after seeing the same towns and dungeons for the third game they can get a little stale, especially when there's a lot of empty treasure chests that I opened in the earlier games. As I saw someone writing, probably contender for the best upgrade on any game. Even the kamikaze monkeys aren't that problematic anymore. And 7 is on it's way as well, and then 12... wonder if we will see 4,5,6,8 and 9 as well. Although to much time seems to go RPG.
And here the sequel... original... whatever it is, Dragon Quest I, but now in 2D-HD. I was a bit worried about playing this game again since it would be going back in progress compared to Dragon Quest III when you go solo against the dragonlord. But it worked rather well. Could be due to me using the qualities of life they added to the game, like allowing you to see hidden areas and chests on the maps so that it would cut down on running around. Yeah, searching every part of the world for some hidden area and then not be able to see it, but have to find it again afterward with improved abilities was a hassle. Much easier this way,
Took me around 24 hours and the story is basically the same. The evil dragonlord have kidnapped the princess of Tentagel so a scion of Erdrick appears and rescue her, defeat the dragonlord and brings peace to the land before leaving an settle a new kingdom for himself and his princess. I say basically since they've added a lot of cut-scenes. We get to see the princess fight of the dragonlord with the help of Rubiss and that the dragonlord kidnapped her to get the sphere of light that was given to Erdrick and then the king of Tentagel. You have actual characters like the three soldiers that hunt for the princess that you rescue, Robbin 'ood, Zalen the descendent of Galen the Bard and an adventuring party that you compete with in the beginning. So it actually feels like a post-Dragon Quest III-game. They've even added the mini-medals.
So it feels like a modern game. I will say that if I replay the series it won't be the old games I got since the game feels so much easier to play. And since they feel like a coherent story it is better to play III-I-II it seems and they even mention things after III like Erdricks longing to return home, but not being able to. Characters he meet on his journey that affected this game and so on. It feels like it should. Some people will probably complain that it feels bloated compared to the original with all side-quest and going back and forth on the map compared to the circle around on the original I believe, but since that was single enemy encounters this feels a bit more dynamic with several enemies at once. And you got Golden Golems, Metal Slimes and Liquid Metal Slimes that fastens the grinding process a lot. Especially when you get the metal boomerang for 38 Mini-Medal right before entering the Dragonlords keep where Liquid Metal Slimes can appear, meaning I got something like 3 levels right before fighting the dragonlord facing him at level 47. He was no pushover either, I had to rematch him 4 times before beating him. At least gather all of Erdricks equipment changed the look of the hero while equipped.
What I gather, beating the final boss and saving pretty much only opens up two more hidden areas so that you can find the final two Mini-Medals. No other post-game, but the hero spoke at least. Got all monsters, missed 10 things to get, but the 100 000 gold in my bank account will probably clear that if I was so inclined. So that leaves the second game.
Got the sequel to the game Star Ocean I played something like 3-5 years ago. That one was a remaster of a PSP remake of a SNES game. This one is apparently a remake of a PS1 game. So first choice is choosing between Claude C. Kenny or Rena Lanford. I choose Claude first since he was a melee fighter. We begin in space as the space ship Calnus is investigating a planet where they found an energy signal, but the planet is abandoned. The landing party has the Admiral Ronyx J. Kenny (one of the heroes of the first game) and Claude C. Kenny. Claude gets too close to a machine that teleports him to another part of the galaxy where he lands in a forest and rescues a woman named Rena Lanford on the planet Expel. She mistakes him for the Hero of Light that with his sword of light is gonna rescue the world.
Apparently the world is having an increase in monsters and earthquakes the last 3 months since the Sorcery Globe landed on the continent of Ell. Rena was kidnapped by a suitor under the control of a stone that seems to be linked to the Globe so Claude rescue her and both of them set out to solve the mystery of the globe. On their travels they meet the wizard Selene, the unlucky warrior Ashton that is cursed with two dragon heads, the inventor Presis, the... student (?) Welch, the kid genius Leon and the zoologist Noel... I find it rather fun that the characters Leon and Noel is the names backwards.
After travelling across two continents the gang arrive at Ell and finds a tower. Climbing it Claude finally is contacted by the Calnus that beams him up. He wants to go back, but an alarm sounds as the planet is drifting toward an energy wave that is about to pass by. Claude asks to say goodbye to his friends and back in the tower he drops his communicator and continues up the tower. There they meet the Ten Wise Men, ten individuals that seemed to be trapped in the globe and are using it now to enter the energy field in order to return to their home. Your team is dragged into the energy and find yourself on the planet Energy Nede after destroying Expel. Here you learn that the Wise Men was genetically engineered people to rule the galaxy, but defeated 100 million years ago they were trapped in space until this moment though. You get help in order to prepare against the battle and charges the Wise Men. In the confrontation they use a weapon to rule the galaxy that destroys the Calnus that hovers over the energy cloud, seemingly killing everyone aboard, including Ronyx.
Enraged Claude climbs this tower as well killing all the Wise Men, but the last one, Gabriel are preparing the Symbol of Annihilation in order to destroy the universe since he can't rule it for himself. But our heroes uses a symbol of their own that redirects the power toward Energy Nede and they are transported back to Expel as it is brought back together with its people. Endings dependent on your relationships status between characters, no hint if the Calnus was brought back as well (but I found a reference that the writer let it be up to the players to decide... so of course it came back, they didn't do anything wrong).
Overall, I liked it better than the first game. Didn't get destroyed in battles so either I'm better or I actually understood the level ups and stats progressions on the skills. 40 hours of gameplay and then it allows you to replay it again on a New Game+. Fun to start over with over 100 levels. The graphics are really nice, especially liked the water effects. And lastly, the music is made my Motoi Sakurabi, you know, the Golden Sun-composer! How can it be bad? But I start to hear the similarities between Tales of-games and this soundtrack, but you gotta love the prog synth in the dungeons.
Another SNES classic and another 16-bit Gem recommended game. This game comes from Enix with music from the same creator that made all the Dragon Quest music until he died, Koichi Sugiyama. So that at least is good. Honestly, not that impressed by the game after playing through it, but the music was good.
So it starts with the sun tasking Gaia to... I don't really know. She tasks you, the player, to help her with the evolution of the species of the earth. So you start of as an eel at the beginning of life on earth in the sea, and from there you gotta eat other animals in order to get EVO-point in order to evolve different parts of your body. I assume if I had an instruction manual I might have gotten a better idea out of this system, but I didn't get one.
But evolution is tied up by bosses at each section that you have to defeat to get through. I got to the shark boss and got trounced. It's not easy. I might think that me not understanding the evolution system is the thing that made me loose the fight. I got the most expensive upgrades and I don't know if I should have gone for high damage and speed instead of the slower but more robust fish. But guess what? I got this for my Retron-5 and you know what that means? Yes, cheats. Infinity HP. Still, the boss takes forever to get through and that's when I understood that I won't enjoy this if I play it as intended.
The game doesn't have that much to offer actually since it's basically eat for EVO-points, upgrade your character to an appropriate creature and defeat the enemies and in reality, the only enemies you have to defeat is the bosses, you can skip every enemy in the normal stages, but you need the EVO-points since every evolution change needs it, meaning it's a real grind to get enough points to upgrade. Doesn't help that you loose half of your points if you are defeated. So to avoid the grind what do you do? Infinite EVO-points! Evolve how ever you want trying to get optimal creatures... doesn't help me since the stats still seems to be very low compared to what you have to accomplish in later part of the game.
So after crawling out of the sea you begin walking with amphibians and dinosaurs until the asteroid hits. Defeat some mammoths in the ice age and suddenly you have a flying fortress with sky people that evolved with the help of some crystals they got. The insects in prior age also mentioned having been given crystals so Gaia believes someone is tampering with Earths evolution... like we are doing I assume? You enter the final age right before mankind and fights several crystal bearing enemies, like the Rogan in the sea that are killing of the whales and the lizard people... beside the conspiracy theories, I get flashbacks to Ys VIII and the different extinction events they showed.
Right before Eden, the final area where the lizard people live you gotta defeat Cro-Maine which I believe is a pun on Cro-Magnon, the name for the early human race. Glad my biology and history knowledge from school still recall these facts. You fight through the lizard people and face of against the big boss, a one-cell abomination called Bolbox that have taken every crystal and evolved to the thing it is.
Kill it with fire!
After a very long fight (I had evolved into a human at this point, and that had somehow locked me into continue being a human for the rest of the game) trying to fight of Bolbox and the harder minions he spit out I stand triumphant looking out over Eden as Sol, the sun, grants me intelligence and the start of human civilisation. And then we see the ones handling out crystals to try to speed up the evolution of Earth.... martians. Damn aliens. Overall, it's an interesting game, but the grind and difficulty over a, in reality, very shallow game makes it to much to stomach for my taste.
Got Actraiser Renaissance for the Switch. A remake from the original SNES which I got on the virtual console for Wii. I played it and got to the final boss, but couldn't defeat him, even though my character was maxed out. Funny enough also a Clan of the Grey Wolf-review. Always better to play a remake then.
Story is that you as the lord of light have awakened and must purge the lands from the darkness of Tanzra. You begin by being awakened in a forest in the land of Filmore where you have to defeat the Centaur and from there people begins gathering at your temple and you can begin terraform the earth in order to create a civilisation. Gameplay loop is rescue an area, create a civilisation, close all monster lairs and then fight off the big bad and then head to the next area.
Added additions for this game is monster sieges. Monsters will attack and by building forts and palisads you gotta use the angels powers and heroes to fight them off. To get more story they also introduced heroes from each area. Also some of the monsters got a bit more backstory like the Arctic Wyvern and the Werewolf. They also changed the level system. The old game you got health by how many believers existed so you wanted to max the number which was determined on your score on the monster stages that set how many residents you could have in the simulation levels. Magic was limited by scrolls that you had to find our get due to some quests. Now they added HP and MP and decides on level which you level up by finishing quests. MP can also be upgraded by finding scrolls in the levels that +10 MP for each which I guess is a reference to the original mana scrolls. Which make magic more usable and not as limited. The final boss rush was a lot easier. Overall the game was easier. They also added a new area beyond Deathheim with a new boss. A grand final where all 6 heroes joins you to protect the new area from monsters and its hinted at a former lord of light or something akin to that which killed all humans.
Overall found it rather enjoying. The different gameplay styles is still fun and the added moments helps a lot to flesh out the games. The music is fantastically remastered with some new compositions as well. You can also chose to play the old versions of the songs (and the emulated sound for the new songs). Interestingly enough, Clan of the Grey Wolf spoke very highly of the music, but I can't help but hear that it at times sound like it's a bit inspired from Star Wars: A New Hope. Especially the world tree music sounds a bit like the run at the death star at the ending of the movie, or that might just be me.
Yet another of the 16-bit Gems games that I could get a hold off. This one I had to get from a german seller through Amazon and then use the emulation capabilities of the Retron 5 and get a german to english translation patch. And still it went for something like € 80, and it was just the cartridge. Wish I could go back in time and hit my stupid self in the head for choosing the Mega Drive (on the other hand, don't think I would have picked up this game anyway). So this is Terranigma, released at the final days of the SNES before the N64 and interesting enough wasn't released in the US. Which probably explains why there is only german versions to get since the english copies have been picked up by the Americans.
So it begins in the village of Crysta as Ark is awakened by Elle, his childhood friend. He walks around and opens the door the elder told the village to never open. Inside lies Pandora's Box containing... Yomi... a creature I guess? Then the whole village turns to crystal beside Ark and the elder. The elder tells him to climb the 5 towers around the village in order to awaken the world above since, shocker, we are in the underworld. Climb the towers, rescue the villagers and as you awakened the surface world the elder tasks you to resurrect all life. And the first thing I do is run over to Elle, who has locked her inside her workshop since she cries over the thought of Ark leaving... nice sending me away game. So you jump through a hole in the ground and ends up in the Amazon, on our earth. No plants so you enter the dead tree Ra to destroy the parasite within the tree so that the flowers can grow again. You also can speak to the plants and they guide you to Colorado North America where monster birds have taken over the skies. Fight them off and you released the birds from their captivity. And they in their turn fly you to the African Savannah where you gotta fight off a storm god, resurrect all living beast and then rescue a lion cub. The last task is climbing Himalaya and defeat some shapeshifter in order to awaken humanity from its slumber as the animals builds a bridge over the Indus river.
The battle leaves you sleeping for three years (no worry, the animal bridge still stands) in Lhasa where the Dalia Lama watches over you. So you set out making sure that towns and villages expand and progress as within the span of the game they go from medieval technology to 20th century. Most important is probably Loire, a french town where the princess looks like Elle and is named that as well. The king of Loire is looking for a fiancé for the princess and if one can make her speak again one can marry her. Turns out that the king actually stole Elle from the Scandinavian town of Stockton (a play on Stockholm I assume) after slaughtering the other villagers. As Ark helps the princess regain her ability to speak, and the memories of the destruction of Stocktorn, the princess in the night kills the king and escapes with her loyal knight to the Americas. Now, the thing with Stockton is that it's also a replica of Crysta, the village Ark grew up in. How can that be?
In the Americas you rescue an airplane inventor so that you can travel to Moscow where an evil cult worshipping the mad scientist Berluga lives. Apparently a Nobel Peace Price winner for his work in immortality....??? Why didn't he get the Nobel Price in medicine or chemistry? Why Peace? Still, turns out that he created a virus called Asmodeus that works more like a chemical weapon... I assume. He put himself in cryo and Ark awakens him, which causes city of Neotokio to be attacked by Berluga, killing all living humans there. Once again Ark is saved by the Dalai Lama and sets you on course of finding five starstones and take them to the end of the world which is Antarctica. The ritual forces Ark to be reborn (?) and taken care of by Elle who have returned to Stockton (time is really lenient here), but he is kidnapped by the underwolrd Elle together with Yomi who was sent by the elder to kill Ark, but Elle can't do it since she loves Ark and sacrifices herself. Returning to the world Ark joins with the friends he made during the adventure on an attack on Berlugas tower in Siberia where they assault his flying ship and crashes it, after Berluga ends skewered by a propeller. And so Ark descends back into the underworld to fight against the elder who is none other than Dark Gaia, satan himself. Defeating the big crystal butterfly allows Ark to see his village one last time, before going to sleep and the whole underworld disappearing.
I was amazed by this game, describing the story doesn't make it justice. Playing it I felt spiritual. The music and the graphics are fantastic. The resurrection scenes works of art and the philosophical themes behind them moved me. Best parts are the two first chapters, after resurrecting humanity it got a bit boring as the game slowed down with the progression of the towns. Could also be due to right before the humans are awakened the game hits you with an avalanche and you gotta spend the night talking to a mountain goat that just lost her husband and tells you to eat him to survive and then when she is able to break through a wall it just allows you to escape and the goat has to stay behind, slowly dying at her husbands side. Oh way game do you make me feel for a goat I just met? What it misses a bit is the expectation that progress is beyond everything when it comes to civilisation as it's measured by this german economist in every town. Now, it could be argued that since we are sent out by satan that it might be the reason. People expand businesses and all, but some seems to detest the prosperity since they have to fulfil demands beyond their control and just work. Kinda sad life. Then again, as Chicago burns down and you travel the world with letters for funds, who do you go to? All the people you helped, giving me at least the impression that progress allows charity, which I can agree on. If you don't have anything to share, how else would it work?
It took me 20 hours to beat this game, but I used the save state function to test out certain aspects as to avoid getting damaged or as with the end boss, see what works. One aspect I wasn't keen on was the magic system. You craft rings with magical stones you find. Now, I thought that if you used it you lost it, but as to a comment I read you actually got the stones back and can use them for more magical rings. Now the problem with the magic system is that I need to stand in the right place for certain rings and use the ring within the ring box in the inventory, not allowing me to see use it as a quick command (I think, hard to know without a manual). Also, I used rings only for the Bloody Mary boss and thought that since the final fight got nearer I just get as many rings as possible. Guess what? Can't use magic against the final boss... then what's the point of magic? Still, amazing game. The experience itself is worth it. The last thing I want to add, since I just thought of it, was an idea around the name. Since Terranigma seems to be a portmanteau of terra and enigma, meaning the puzzle of the earth, meaning the world pretty much. I can't help but like it, must be the snobbery of the liberal elite I resonate with.
Released as Illusion of Gaia in the US I first heard of it by watching the Clan of the Gray Wolf as it was the first game in the 16-bit Gems-series. So watching that back in 2009 one would hope it would be released on the Virtual Console or something, but that never happened so I had to buy it for the original console now when I can play it. Got box and manual, but decided to not get the version with the map in it, saved me over 400 SEK (something like 40 € or $).
So you play as Will, a boy that one year earlier travelled with his father to the tower of Babel, but the expedition disappeared but Will made it back somehow. Now he has some psychic powers that allow him to move things and I gather giving him some second sight. One day he finds a door to inter-dimensional pocket where Gaia exist, a spirit that warns Will that a comet is approaching earth and it will cause immense destruction as it does every 800 years. It has caused several civilisations through earths history being destroyed and in the beginning it was created by humans, but backfired on its creator. So now Will is a descendent of the knights of Darkness and with his power of Darkness have to travel the earth and search the ruins for the mystic statues.
Now the fun thing is that the ruins and world is based on real locations, like the Incan empire, Nazca, Angkor Wat, the Pyramids and so on. Something bothered me though, the world map doesn't correspond with our map so somehow Nazca and the Inca are two different continents, you walk from the great wall of China to the city of Euro (with the company Roleks, which I gather is a rewrite of Rolex) and from there you get to Angkor Wat and then you get to the pyramids. But the story actually explain it. The end shows how the world forms the continents we know of. Apparently the light of the comet caused the world to change away from what it was supposed to evolve into so that is part of why Will have to clear this mess.
On this journey Will will travel with Kara, the princess of the kingdom where Will lived, Lance, Erik and Seth, childhood friends of Will, Lilly, a new friend that can turn into a dandelion and hails from a hidden village near the lost Incan Empire. Also Will's cousin Neil that are an inventor and the son of the President of the Roleks company. They travel the world for the ruins and sees how the comet's light have destroyed the past and is doing the same now. The people around Angkor Wat is starving as the food have disappeared and some even turns to demons (I wonder if the food is referencing some kind of real world food shortages in South East Asia, like Cambodia?), the ancient Mu palace was overtaken by vampires, the Roleks company is partaking in a world spanning slave trade originating from the desert town of Dao and Kara's father sends the hunter Jackal after them in order to obtain the powers Will possess for himself. In the floating city we see people partaking in a Russian Roulette game of poisoned drinks where the loser even though he has a child on the way still drinks the poisoned glass and everyone around begs him to stop. Will himself isn't always that good either since a side-quest that span the whole game is finding these 50 red jewels and give them to the jeweller for power ups and a secret area and boss. One of the gems is snitching on an escaped slave to the slavers, and the slave and the ones hiding him disappears. And the Jackal? You burn him to death by activating a trap in the pyramids. The scene is rather gruesome!
FIRE! I take you to burn!
Gameplay wise, you go around towns until you get to go to a ruin where you traverse it solving puzzles and fighting monsters. Clearing all monsters in a room gives you a stat boost in either life, strength or defence. Will fights with a flute and can play musical melodies as well as being more acrobatic with slides and spinning jumps. Will can also change into two different forms helping him. First is the dark knight Freedan that is stronger and can reach switches further away and then Shadow, the one destined to fight the comet in the end and can go through floors. Used in only one dungeon and for the boss rush at the end, making it feel like the game was rushed a bit. They also just gives you the final mystic statue so you can reach the comet, but I wonder if they where supposed to put in Stonehenge as well as a final stage since they show it in the intro.
Overall, it was a fun game. Graphics are nice, music is good, and the gameplay is rather good. It wasn't that hard, but that could be due to having a guide at the end of the manual showing you every red jewel and some strategies for defeating the early bosses. So I wasn't cheating since the game came with it... maybe the save states actually count towards it, but mostly it saves me maybe one day of play. Would I 100 % it again? Maybe not, getting the red jewels only serve to connect the game with its spiritual predecessor Soul Blazer... which I probably wont get since it goes for over 1 000 SEK (ca € 100). It also is very linear so no instant re-playability I would say. Also, I question if it's actually an RPG, yes you have stat increases, but they are predetermined by killing all monsters in every room, so I would define it more as an action adventure.
Looking through the e-shop I found this little game when it was released and the design caught my eye so got it and started playing. Apparently a snes game originally, then ported to the PSP and then remade to this game. It opens with an anime sequence of a space ship on patrol encountering an attack on a planet that completely destroys it. So a science-fiction game. And then we meet Roddick, a militia guard together with Millie and Dorne that protects their home from bandits, until one day a strange plauge that turns people into stone. When Millies own father, the healer of the town is himself affected trying to treat the villagers so Dorne, Roddick and Millie climbs a holy mountain to find some herbs. And finds a shining light teleporting down captain Ronyx and science officer Illia. They inform them that the plauge is caused by an unknown power from another planet and that Ronyx decided to interfer with this underdeveloped planet. So they are allowed upon their space ship where they can do some test since Dorne have been infected as well. He can't be cured and after a conference with the enemy of the federation (of course there is a federation) reveals that there is some power behind them that scares even them.
Dorne is returned to his bed as he is turned to stone and Roddick and the others take action by travelling to a gate that take them back in time... sci-fi, fantsy and now time travel. It has everything. So back some 400 years or so to find the demon king that apparently is the one that has the blood that can be used as a vaccine. But first Roddkick and Illia gets separated from the others and have to reunite. On the travels they meet Cyuss, a wandering swordsman that aid them crossing the mountains and turns up to be the son of the Highlands mightiest warrior, Ioshua, a featherfolk (angel like people) that looks to seek revenge on some knight for kidnapping his sister. Mavelle, an amnesiac girl and Pericci, a cat-girl. They go on to reenact the legend Roddick and Millie learnt about the destruction of the demon king and it's pretty much that.
The twist is that the planet that Ronyx and Illia thought was underdeveloped actually houses some very advanced technology. Apparently the ancient kingdom of Mu (on earth where Ronyx and Illia comes from) had an accident that opened an interdimensional portal and they ended up on the planet Roak. The demon king apparently was some genetical enhanced human that was trapped in a portal when the muans (the name of the ancient people of Roak, and incidentely I guess the name of the people of Mu) tried to go home, but instead ended up on a third planet (the planet being the unknown force behind the plauge). They open the gate to hell and finds the demon king, and as they kill him some soldiers teleport in, gets some dna-sample and gets out. Order is restored in the past and the people of the future travels back to their own time and cure Roaks from the stone-infection. Meanwhile the federation have located the planet where the muans ended up. Apparently now run by a genetic engineered dictator that are intent on conquering the universe. So you are allowed to get the warriors from the past and be the strike team. In and kill. Game over.
Now, much of the plots and twists I actually like. The problem with the game is the gameplay. To often during battle I got cornered and just slaughtered without being able to react to the attack. On the other hand the stun/lock method worked in favour for me as well... but I really wished it was balanced better. It really made the game slog in the end and I don't want to play it again. It's a bit sad since the game in parts want to be replayed since you can have different characters instead of those I had. And it's not that long with akin to 20-30 hours... with the exception of the endgame where I have to grind to something like level 100 and above to finish of the boss. And we shall not talk about the idiotic system in place where you can't go back to Roaks past to finish up side quest like the arena after travelling to the last planet. Apparently worked in SNES version. Stupid game. All this combined really soured the game for me.
So, finished off Dragon Quest III and with that I have played every main Dragon Quest-game from I-IX and XI (I won't play X since it's a MMO and I don't play those) just released in the store for the Switch so I know how I will spend Halloween this year (as of writing it's mid-October). I've heard that this is seen as one of the best games in the series and apparently sold the best at release(?). Playing it now 31 years after its release and after experiencing the first two games I can see why. It's the first that feels like all the other DQ-games I've played. I don't know if it's later additions from the SNES and onward remakes compared to the first release, but you have day-and-night cycles, quick menus for healing and a bag that can store all your things. Fine by me.
Game starts with a quiz, you chose your gender and then answer question and take a test of personality that will give you a personality that affects how stats are leveling up (you can change them in the game by reading certain books), I got the lazy status, apparently I should have pushed the rock some more times in the beginning. Didn't matter, you wake up at your 16th birthday and meet the king that informs you that your father was Ortega, the warrior that set out to defeat the Archfiend and never come back so you are on a quest to finish what he started. And your first objective is to go to Patty's Place... wait, Patty's Place? From Dragon Quest IX?
It is Patty!
You create your team that follows you around. You can choose between Monks, Warriors, Thief, Priests, Mages, Jesters and Merchants. I created one of each but pretty much stuck with a team of the Hero, Thief, Priest and Mage, the Hero being the only available job for the main character so he was the brawn of the operation. You set out trying to follow in Ortega's footsteps and you very quickly circle the island you are on and get a key to open a portal that leads you to another continent and a castle where everyone speaks Italian. Travel around for more keys, you see a village cursed to eternal sleep, a pyramid out in the desert, towns harassed by the infamous villain Robin 'ood. A town with a a holy river... and besides it an island that looks like Japan that you can't reach until you get yourself a ship. While on the island you find a town where they speak akin to japanese and are being harassed by the dragon Orochi... isn't that the dragon in Okami that took place in Japan... Wait, how did the map look again?
Oh my GOD! It's our world!
Yes, the map looks fairly much like our own, with exception from the starting island which I would guess is a reference to the "lost continent" of Mu since it is in what would be the Pacific Ocean. And suddenly the world was at least easy to navigate. The Italians where in Rome, the boat you got from the Spanish city near Gibraltar. The Englishmen are the one that stole the pot from the Native Americans and the pirates live in Argentina. Once you get the boat it's pretty much a travel the world quest in order to find the 6 orbs that you will use to awaken the bird god in the tower on the south pole. Now, most of the orbs I just stumbled upon walking around the world and finding caves, towers and new places mostly without a guide, but I would recommend a guide regardless since there are a couple things that makes it harder than it should be. First, the echo flute is a joke. I forget to use it, most of the time (which is on me) but when I use it doesn't tell me in a way that makes me say "there it is". Worst example is the Merchant town. There is this old man that want to build a city in I guess New York, but you need to bring him a merchant, which I did and used the echo flute... and it didn't react. It didn't react because the orb wasn't there yet since only appears after you progressed the town to a certain stage. Which is hard to guess for something that just looks to be a side quest without pay-off. But you can't progress until it's done. Also, the thief has an ability that are pretty useful that is telling you how many treasures there are in a level. Fine for dungeons and such, but it also works in town which is good, if not that it separates stairways as different levels, meaning that if you don't test it at every room below or above ground level you don't know if you gotten all items. And the side companion spell snooping never worked for me so I can't see where the damn treasures are. Which is infuriating since I know there is a hidden item in Asham that I can't find... and the damn guide I used were for the remake on the SNES where it doesn't exist. Damn it!
Still, I got all the orbs. I awaken the bird god and now enter the castle of the archfiend fighting my way through spellcaster and other hellish beast until I reach him and... he promptly beats me. Again and again. Now, I check up the strategy and I could probably have used my anti-magic spell and sleep on him, but since my healing output was negligible I started grinding for the first time during this game. 4-5 levels until my priest had multiheal, rather easy in the archfiends castle since there were liquid metal slimes that occasionally decided to stay long enough for me to kill them getting 10 000 EXP. I then promptly beat the archfiend and returned to my home to soak in the attention from the king and then... some dude named Soma shows up and spoils the party. I return to a chasm guarded by two soldiers and jumps in and finds... the world from the first two games (mostly the part that appeared in the first game). The Soma guy resides in the dragon lords castle and you gotta redo the task of getting sword, armour, shield and amulet together with the staff of rain and sunstone to create the rainbow drop that will summon the rainbow bridge to his castle. Traveling the world you learn a few things, that it's a prequel since things are either built or exist that were referenced in the earlier games and then that your father Ortega is still alive in this world fighting Soma. After finishing gathering all the items and heading for the castle you enter and fight your way up with most things looking like the original castle map until you reach a bridge where you see Ortega once more fighting the King Hydra, but is finally killed. As you rush to him his final words is that someone have to tell his child he is sorry that he wasn't strong enough to rid the world of evil. Damn!
A hero he was through all his life!
Now it's personal so you find yourselves on the final floor where Soma summons King Hydra, then the Archfiends soul and lastly the corpse of the Archfiend. I dispatch them all back to hell, but my resources are mostly depleted when it comes to magic so I make a quick save and goes for the kill, half the party dead after the first round. I restart, I survive three rounds before it's pretty much pointless to continue when only main character stands. So I check the guide... which tell me what the sphere of light is intended to do. Restart, shuffle around the equipment and thief use the sphere, priest insulate and mage kabuff while hero omniheal the first round. Surviving the first round priest uses the stone of sages while hero and thief spams attacks and mage uses Oomph on the attackers. Unfortunately the MP on the mage is already depleted after a few short rounds and the stone of sages isn't that effective in healing so then priest and thief go down leaving hero and mage. The mage only deals 1 point of damage and then she's gone leaving the hero. The omniheals depleted the hero's MP so there isn't enough for a full heal so just spam attack. The HP is lowering and then... with another strike Soma goes down leaving the hero the only one standing as the castle begins to crumble. No magic left I can't resurrect anyone so I just leave, but falls into a chasm that opens beneath me spitting me out in the cave that would become the grave of the hero Erdick. As I leave the cave all companions return to life and I return to Tentegral Castle where I'm told the chasm to my own world is closed so I can't return home, but I'm bestowed the title Erdick and the tales of my adventure would be spread around the lands, setting up the first game.
I really liked this game, it feels like all the other Dragon Quest games and I get why it's one of the more popular entries. The throw-backs and the main quest of avenging your father is very powerful. A pity this version didn't have the intro where Ortega fights a dragon into the volcano, showing of the world and would give you "aha"-feelings as you find Ortega's helmet in the village and such, Now, there is a bonus dungeon after beating the game.. but I won't try that since I know I have to grind to get there. We have the different class-system here, but it has some problems which is indicated by that I never used it. Taking a standard team pretty much ensure you can't go wrong so that's nice, only grinding part was at the archfiends castle. The problem as I see it is that changing class takes the characters level down to 1 and you restart the leveling process. That goes also if you return to the old class, you start from 1. I think you get bonus if you max a class to level 99, but you can see it's a grind if I got to level 42 and beat the game. There is an advanced class of sage that would be useful, but I don't dare try it. Final Fantasy V got it right with separating normal level up and the class level so it was easier to change between the classes (if Dragon Quest V was first with that or something I wouldn't know since I can't remember right now) so that I don't feel I lose progress by trying some different tactic. If I ever replay it I could try some other starting classes just for the fun of it, but that means that the thief is the only one that I would dare change since healing and buff spells are pretty important in the end game. Now I'm itching for Dragon Quest XI.
Continued with the second game in the series released back in 1987, the most important year ever. It starts off with a retelling of the first game and that there is 100 years since the warrior Niklas defeated the draconlord and went travelling with his princess and founded several other kingdoms where his lines rule the land until this day. Now the forces of Hargon attack the castle of Moonbrooke where the king sends his daughter princess Peronel to safety and one lone soldier to warn the King of Midenhall before the whole castle is destroyed. The king of Midenhall sends his only son, Prince Niklas (yes, I named him after myself... again) and you are off. First by finding his cousin prince Randolph and with his help finding the mirror of Ra and using it to break the curse on Peronel so that she is turned back into a human after being turned into a dog by Hargon. Together the three sets out on a quest to find the five sigils that allowed them to speak with the goddess Rubis and get the eye of Rubis and then finding the False Idol and together with these items charged at Hargons castle and defeated him and the demon Malroth. So now I know what was up with Dragon Quest Builders 2.
Overall I liked this game, more fun with a party of three compared to alone and therefore some strategy. Mostly no problem figuring out what to do, but in the dungeons and towers I usually used a map from the internet since I can't really bother with it. And when they threw in trap doors at the cave to the final area, I really can't stand it. Also, really problematic finding the star sigil and the sunken treasure that allows you to get the echo flute. Problems that still exist is the limited inventory and the end was just walking up the castle over and over again until I've reached a high enough level and getting by without getting attacked that much so my resources aren't all spent. But **** those kamikaze monkeys that one shot the whole party regardless of the health level. Fun enough and probably more fun to replay since there is more plot, and it's just not grinding for money and levels compared to the first game and it's bigger. So big in fact that it have most of the original world within this one (minus most towns and caves).
As described before, I've played most of the mainline Dragon Quest-games, all released for the DS (and Playstation 2) and I've had this inclination to play the first 3 games as well (since those are the only ones I've hadn't played before) and lo and behold... they are all released for the Switch. Playing the first one, you can feel that it is a bit archaic. At least it's a bit mitigated in this version. It's based on the mobile port that is based on the SNES remake of the game that originally arrived on the Famicom/NES back in 1986, although not in Europe. So basically we get a better version with a graphical overhaul and a lot more gold and Exp. that hasten the game, I've read at least. And that is probably best since there isn't much in it and just to grind to get anywhere... we don't do that anymore, I still had to grind a bit to finish of the game, but I don't want to think about how much that would have been if I've played the original.
Basically you are a decendent to Erdick, this famous warrior and you now have to find Erdick's treasures in order to gain access to the Dragonlord's castle and save this land from his darkness. You need the armour and sword of Erdick, the harp of Galen the bard, the rain bow and sun stone to make the bridge appear that take you to the island where the castle is. And you also better save the princess of the land while you at it that is guarded by a dragon herself. There's something like 5 town (+1 one destroyed), 2 shrines, 3 dungeons and Tantegral Castle and the Dragonlord's Castle.
A journey to the centre of the earth
It's really simplistic in its approach. Really, grind for level ups and gold so that you can take more punishment and dish out more damage in order to go further on the maps and dungeons. Some things are more irritating than others, for example the limited amount of space in the inventory that both have to deal with equipment, special items and items like torches, herbs and such. I guess that with higher levels you get magic spells that take away the need for some items, but why would I waste magic points on Glow instead of healing and attack spells? Especially since the torch is actually better than the Glow spell? Those are a bit weird. Then we have the magic keys that open locked doors... and then breaks so you gotta buy more keys and when you leave a town or dungeon where you unlocked a door, the door appears again and you gotta use yet another key. Also, the game crashed once when I put the game speed at the lowest, but lucky enough the game autosaved so I didn't waste the grinding from level 20-23. Then we have the cryptic nature of some things like finding things out in the overworld just by accident while walking over it. I guess the map forces you to walk over there, but it is missable and you need the item as far as I understood it. It was charming at least with the art work of Toriyama and the music while not as diverse as in later games at least works. I've at least played it now, not sure if playing it again would be high up on my priority list.
Finally, after just below 90 hours I finished it... and they said it would take 100 hours, a master of Dragon Quest I am! And after rushing through Asdivine Hearts it felt really nice playing this game for the first time, it even felt nostalgic, but that is probably more due to the Dragon Quest conservative development which have the same look, gameplay and similar themes in the story. Feels really nice. Story begins with you, a son of the local hero fisherman trying to explore the world with the town mayor daughter and the local prince. The world just consisting of 1 island in an whole ocean, that is until your father drags home some part of a stone tablet they caught in their net. After some running around the ruins of the island and talking to the right people you are able to enter a mysterious shrine (which is what it's called in the zoom list). Inside a... "fairy" explains the deal. Collect stone tablets, bring them to the shrine and put them in the pillars of the shrine. What he doesn't tell you is that once you complete a pillar you are transported to a completely new place shrouded in darkness. The twist... if you can call it twist since it is basically the only explanation that makes sense, is that you have been transported back in time to the moment that the island you are on would disappear from the world. You save the townspeople of the past and the island appears in the present which you then visit to collect more tablets and so on.
Did we take a left a albuquerque?
So after saving a number of island you begin to unravel the plot. Centuries earlier the Almighty (aka God) fought a battle against the demon king. No one knows the outcome, but the more logical ones was either a draw or a loss for the Almighty. You also collect more people that joins you, Ruff, the wolf turned human and Sir Melvyn, a knight that fought beside the Almighty in the battle the demon king, but was put into a crystal so that he could be awakened when he was needed to fight once more against evil. And Aishe, the descendet of prince Keifer who leaved the party and stayed in the past to be guardian and later husband of a dancer for a tribe who's purpose was to awaken the Almighty. So after saving all islands you unlock a portal to the very moment the battle of the Almighty and Demon King occurred. As the Almighty sends Sir Mervyn into the crystal and sends of the four great spirits HE blows himself up, critically damaging the demon. And you enter and fight the weakended demon lord. Afterwards you enter the present and awakens the Almighty. But plot twist, it's really the Demon King in disguise and he throws you all into the shadows. You are able to transport to the four islands connected with the four spirits and awakens one by one. They shatter the darkness and bring the islands back once again and then exposes the demon lord. And you have to finish him of. Do that and the world is saved and you go on a so called victory tour to meet most of the people you have saved or helped. After returning home you wake up in your normal clothes and for the third time in the game goes out with lunch to your father, but this time you are allowed to stay on the ship... as does Maribel, the mayor's daughter. You get out and credits roll. It all ends with you picking up yet another stone tablet, but this is from Keifer telling us that he married the dancer and so on. The End.
Interesting how they push this trio when both Maribel and Keifer are missing big parts of the game.
It's easy to describe the overarching plot, but as per usual with Dragon Quest, each island has it's own story that might have taken 30 minutes to complete in the beginning and then a couple of hours to finish at the end. We have the island were all women are kidnapped, the island overrun by machines, a disastrous love story that almost ends in poisonous murder and on and on. This game is huge in stories and it's really good for short sessions, one island at a time. But I can't help that feel that the main characters are a bit slow. For example the murder plot I got directly, but we didn't try to stop it until another person stepped in. The same when two bullies try to play a prank on a little girl and we could stop them, we heard there plan, but no. I would have thrown those brats of the cliffs for their insolence in bullying a little girl. Or the town that erased the proof of their ancestors guilt of almost killing the priest who was turned into a monster to protect them and even though he didn't hurt a fly they were about to burn him. And he had to leave (sadder still is that I met the priest "earlier" when he sacrificed himself yet again to save another town... at least those people tried to save him as well, but I believe he died that time). Anyway, the kids in the town dig up another stone tablet that explain their guilt and you take it and show it to the mayor who proceeds to grab a hammer and smash it... with the heroes right there, why didn't they stop it? That's what a real DnD game have over these games, you actually can stop these kind of stupid things... if not the players themselves causes those things that is.
This is how you deal with bullies and liars (picture doesn't portrait real bullies or liars)
Beside this we have some really heavy stuff. One of the earlier islands is an island were the inhabitants have been turned to stone and the only survivor was a warrior who was outside of town to get provisions and now was an old man. In the village you get three visions from statues right before the rains that caused it. One is between the warrior and his wife that urges him to stay, but he feel he must for the survival of the town, another with a little girl and boy talking about their secret hideout and the last is a father getting drunk in the pub, trying to get home when the rains start and he feels the petrification taking effects as he panic and cries out his sons name as he try to reach his house... and then the statue crumbles to dust. That hit right through the heart. You are only able to save one person, the boy who's father cried out for him since he was at the secret hideout underground and saved from weather and wind. I tell you, Dragon Quest knows how to push the feels. This is a remake from a PSOne game which I first read in the Super Play magazine, but couldn't play since I first didn't have a playstation and secondly since it didn't come out in Europe at the time. I get they gave it a 3d world like Dragon Quest VIII and IX and got rid of the random encounters like IX except in two places, on water and a dungeon where it probably was to problematic to program as you run around on glass cubes and can walk on each side. After finish the game you have enough tablets to get yet another pillar where you dungeon crawl to fight... the Almighty. Being Dragon Quest, of course he is an entertainer and comedian. I haven't beaten HIM as of writing since I probably need to grind a bit, but I probably have enough time before they release VIII.
So when is the release date? Update: January 20th 2017
A bit of a update (which since it isn't out until now anyway make's it a bit redundant, but still), now I finally grinded the cast for 15 hours up to level 50, got all the regular vocations for the Hero and everyone else is up to 3d Tier vocations. I challenged the Almighty and I finally beat him... but no, that's not enough since I did it in 39 turns and apparently its 20 that is the magic number and the Almighty is a f***ing cheater. Putting my characters to sleep, making them laugh uncontrollably and dishing out high amount of damage that almost makes a TPK. And yet, its still much more fun than grinding for the end of any Final Fantasy game I played. But I'm done. I got such a big backlog of games and several of them is RPG's with another 60 hours per game.
Dragon Quest VI, said to be one of the best and the last game for the SNES in the series, and pretty much for Nintendo for a long time until IX changed that. It starts right of as you, the blue haired hero together with a carpenters son and some dancer charges Murdaw's castle, an evil demon. You reach the final room and... gets beaten and seems like turned to stone. Well, that was fast. You wake up in some mountain village together with your sister. A dream perhaps... or a vision of the future? Well, I already know since I've played the game. You are tasked to bring a crown for some important ceremony and heads to the neighbour town, but the crown maker is out so you follow him into the wild and appears near a hole in the ground where the crown maker is hanging on for dear life. You rescue him, but slips and fall into the hole. He appears to be in some strange world where no one can see him and eavesdropping he finds out about a well that apparently people disappear into. Jumping through he returns to his own world. Apparently he have discovered the Phantom World and in a vision is sent out to stop the evil that threatens both worlds.
Why does the japanesse hero almost always have blue hair? Either that or red?
Traveling to the Kingdom of Somnia he mets up with Carver, the carpenters son from his dream, but he don't know the hero... so was it a vision of the future? They enter the military and is told about Murdaw, the same they fought in the beginning and they travel to the Phantom World in order to get help fighting him. They find the girl from the beginning of the game, Milly and she helps them become visible, but Milly can't remember them either. They seek out an artefact in a tower where they meet Ashlynn a girl that apparently comes from their world as well, since no one else can see her. They fight their way to the demon lords castle, defeating him... or so they think. In reality it was the king of Somnia that have been turned into a decoy by Murdaw and the twist is revealed. The beginning happened and the hero and his companions were split between a dream personality and the real them. The game starts in a dream world where our hero is a loyal brother to a little girl, Carver is the fighter he always envisioned him to be instead of the carpenter his family tried to push on him and so on. Meaning not only do you have to defeat the real Murdaw, but also unite your true self. Our hero for example is the prince of Somnia, but his dream-self ain't. And what happened to their real self? The hero is actually now an amnesiac who live together with this orphaned girl who only wished for a family... manifested in the dream as the hero brother. Do you get how gut-wrenching it is to take away her only family? Again, Enix knew how to write emotional stories.
Milly, don't ask me what the bands are for
To reach Murdaws real castle you gather a ship from a town with a prophet called Neva who joins your party and fighting Murdaw again gives almost the exact outcome, but while you are brought back to the dream world, you uses the artefact you acquired and returns immediately and defeat Murdaw, but it's not the end since as in most Dragon Quest games, a darker power hides behind the first threat, the demon lord. You also meet Terry, a roaming sword-fighter you learn is Milly's brother that you can get to join after a series of quest, there's also the knight Amos that during full-moon (?) is turned into a monster and protecting this knowledge from him makes he join your quest (which actually goes against my honesty policy when playing the good hero, but they rationalise it that its the villagers wish to spare him the knowledge that he has been cursed since he pose no danger to them, but telling him would guilt him into leaving).
Carver with a purple mohawk
Anyway, you travel both the real and dream world which have certain differences between them. For example there exist a temple dedicated to class changes only in the dream world since the demons destroyed the real one, same goes for a kingdom of magicians that only exist in the dream world and is where Ashlynn hails from. There's also a realm above where the dragon lord sit, like in every Zenethian Dragon Quest game (game IV - VI with Zenithian armour and such) and basically an underworld where the demon lord exists. And I gotta say, that one is really creepy. A particullary place is where dead souls scramble to reach the bottom of a lake to get a chest, but they never reach it since their greed keeps them killing each other. Nightfall and the lake is filled with water and the dead goes to shore and awakens again and the circle repeats. Basically something inspired by Greek tales of the underworld like Sisyfos trying to get the stone up the hill and so on. All these are designed to drain them of hope and spirit that empowers the demon lord so by breaking the circle of hatred he is weakened. You then confront the demon lord and defeats him witch causes the dream world so separate. Since the hero, Carver and Milly found their real worlds they are free to stay, but if you noticed Ashlynn originates from the dream world and has to leave, and if you read the right party conversation she even confesses her love for the hero. God dammit, can't we keep the trend of happy endings of Dragon Quest games going?
Don't leave Ashlynn
Playing it the first time and figuring out what's going on is rather enjoyable and it actually took me by surprise since I'm more used to the vision of future story-telling. They also gets creative with it. Obviously I figured out that the hero is the prince of Somnia, they pull the exact same thing in Dragon Quest VIII with "Hey, you look like some royal person I know". In the real world the captain Rusty vouches for you as the heir of the throne, the evil chancellor sees his chance and ask what the prince sister was named. Well, I thought, and I guess it's designed that way, that the girl that lived with me in the dream world was my sister, but no. The chancellor have Rusty executed. Rusty's dream-self is still alive, Captain Blade who trained you when you joined the Somnia military and is the spotless soldier and loyal commander. What Rusty always envisioned... This gets me every time, and it's impossible to save Rusty. At least the king of Somnia imprisoned the chancellors dream-self as well so not even in his dreams he will escape the crimes he committed, even though it feels that the dream-chancellor was much nicer. Still, a problem with the game is, and this have occurred in IV as well, that there's to many characters. VIII and IX was better with a limited to just the standard party numbers since they are always there and I can listen to their story all the time. I guess it's replay-ability, but when each playthrough is 60+ hours for me, then it can get rather tedious I tell you. So I missed Ashlynn's love confession the first time around which really sucks, but then again, I replayed the whole game when I lost my chance to get Amos.
Unique for this game was that you could change classes (unique and unique, you could do that in DQIII, but it never came here anyway) and had to level up them one by one. Which probably explain the amount of time I spent here. You could also get slimes to join you, but already stated, when am I gonna use them with 6 ordinary characters, 4 slots to fill and Amos? The others at least have personality. And this was all Dragon Quest games I've played, well except from the Wii game since I've not finished it... maybe I've have time before they release VII. Dammit, cravings to play grow stronger.
Yeah, show only the male main character when it doesn't matter if the hero is male or female
My second game in the series was Dragon Quest IV, which I've played twice, once as a male and the other as a female, since that is the only customisable choice you have in this game it can alter certain dialogue options or how you go around in one quest I believe. Originally the game was made for the NES, later remade for Playstation and finally remade for the DS and with that it even crossed over to Europe for the first time. And playing it gave me a huge interest in writing dialogue since the game was to me even more heavy on different dialects representing different countries within the world. For example you have a scottish nation, a russian one and even a french, and I could identify people from different parts of the world thanks to that. To me that was amazing, genuinely simple to get points across.
Only manly men wears pink
The story begin with a prologue as you are introduced in a small village with gives you the background, demons harass the world and you are the chosen hero, but must be in hiding due to being to young and need to train for the coming conflict, you are introduced to some towns people and the most important one being a shape shifter girl that is your best friend. Apparently you are the child of an angel and human. And that's it. Apparently this was in the newer version since the original game starts up with chapter 1 and you take control of Ragnar, a Burland warrior that is tasked to find the missing children of the kingdom. He teams up with a slime and discovers a plot by the monsters to find and kidnap the chosen child and the only way is for Ragnar to find the Chosen one himself before the monster does.
A fighting princess
Scene change and you now play as a princess Alena who want to fight evil, but are kept locked up by her father. She escapes, but are followed by her best friend/priest and teacher (?) and Alena enters an arena battle to become the champion. While fighting she hears rumours about Psaro the Slayer, a fighter beyond human strengths. As the final draws near and she is about to meet Psaros eye to eye. She waits... and waits... well, Psaros doesn't show up so she is declared winner by default. As her company returns home they find that the castle is completely empty and she has to set out to find her father and people.
An ordinary merchant that saves the world
Next is a small interlude as we follow Tallon, a buddying entrepreneur that wish for grander things in live as he works by selling weapons for the blacksmith. His wife and kids encouraging him to go out in the world and he's of. He begin by buying weapons in one town and selling them in the next, he starts lending money for enterprises that will pay a high return. He even comes across a village of foxes in human disguises. He sets up shop in another town and invites his family over and the next project is building a tunnel to the other side across the river to speed up trade routes. This is what I mean that Dragon Quest has a longer impact on people and people starts to appreciate the games more today. They have whole chapter dedicated to the sales person in an RPG, a merchant that works for his family's fortune and he is around 40 years old. It's pretty much unheard of. And it's basically Economics 101. I'm amazed at this, and it was in the original NES from the 90's? Not many modern games get this deep beyond brave hero of destiny or circumstance protect the world from evil.
Meena, the younger sister and fortune teller
Next chapter is about twin sisters Maya and Meena who set out on a quest to avenge their father that was murdered. Their father was a famed alchemist that tried to figure out the power of transmutation, evolving lead to gold, man to god aka the stone of sages (or I assume that is what they getting at). One is a dancer and the other is a fortune teller and they set out. First they locate their father's apprentice who can tell them that it was their fathers other apprentice, Balzack... should I censor that name? with this knowledge they storm the castle. It doesn't go as planned. Apparently he have been kidnapping maidens and is to much for the twin sisters as it turns out he evolved himself to a monster. The apprentice sacrifices himself so that they can escape and regroup (he doesn't die, but gets captured instead). They flee to a coastal town and journeys across the sea thinking about the next step.
And finally we return to the chosen hero. One day as he/she is training the townspeople hid the hero away under a building, the shape-shifting girl even go as far as impersonating the hero. Locked away underground the hero can't do naught than hear the battle and the victorious monsters that have attacked their hidden village, slaying the chosen hero that could have threatened them. Alright, motivation is vengeance. You set out and pretty much the first person you meet is your grandfather who condemned the love between his son (your father) and the angel. He lets you stay the night, but nothing else. Travelling the world you meet up with your destined companions. Maya and Meena you meet in the town they arrived in since the older sister used all their cash in the casino. You pretty much solve the problems they couldn't in opposite order as you played the game up until this point. The last one you get is Ragnar if I recall correctly. So what is the deal? The monsters are rallying under Psaro the Slayer as he seek revenge on humankind since they hurt his girlfriend who cried tears of rubies and finally killed her in their greed. That pushed him to seek out the power of evolution to become stronger . He entered the arena battles to slay the worlds greatest fighters so no one could stop him while his monster servants searched for the chosen hero of destiny. You travel around the world and even enters the sky to meet with the great dragon who lives in the sky palace surrounded by angels. And finally you and your comrades travels to the underworld where the monsters lives and confront Psaro in a long fight where he evolves in 4 stages I believe until he is defeated. And that is the game, Everyone is saved and peace is restored. The hero travels back to his desolated home town to look at once was, the hero stands at the grave built for the shape-shifting friend and suddenly she materialises and they embrace... does that have lesbian undertones if you play as female hero?
Of course there is post-credits content. You can actually recruit Psaro and fight another end boss, this time one of his lieutenants that actually gave up Rose's (the ruby elf) location, just so that Psaro would be pushed to exterminate humankind. So he is redeemed somewhat. He also looks cool in his white hair and black outfit. Overall this game is fun playing the different mode, especially when you pick up that it's not important to grind for cash, but instead weapons and armours that you can sell in the final chapter since that follows the characters, while money gets spent. I also recall casino token does and since we already know, to win you got to play the casino for the really good weapon and armours so we don't have to grind forever to reach a decent level. One irritating thing the localisation did, was removing the party conversation that really can flesh out the characters. Without them you miss certain hints like the priest/friend of Alena has a crush on her and so on. And it's really annoying when you have the command, but all they say is that none have anything to say at the moment. Before I read the explanation on the internet it almost drove me insane.
Have been playing Dragon Quest V recently and just finished the main quest around 50 hours (not counting the time wasted playing in the casinos getting enough tokens for some of the best equipments and items for the endgame). Overall I start to see why Dragon Quest beat Final Fantasy in Japan and might explain how DQ seems to grow in appreciation comparably to FF. The story is better, better explained, shorter although more stream lined it has more emotional value. You actually cares for these characters and are allowed to grow with them. Not to mention, they dared to switch around things. First of, you aren't the legendary hero set out to save the world in the Zenithian armour like other games which really is a really great move for the otherwise chosen hero cliche. Of course they solve this by appointing your son as the hero, but still, he ain't the main character.
The story overall is that you are the son of Pankraz, a wandering warrior on a mission to seek the Zenithian equipment and the legendary hero. On your adventures you meet Bianca, Nera and Debora (all potential wives later on, the canon one I guess being Bianca due more screen-time and the cover of the game) and while on a mission protecting Prince Harry of Coburg you and Harry gets kidnapped and Pankraz steps in, but ultimately faces an enemy to strong for him, bishop Ladja. With his final breath he reveals that your mother is alive and only the legendary hero can save her. 10 years later you are a slave building a temple but escapes with Harry and Maria, a girl who's brother was one of the guards and let them escape. Traveling the world you are reunited with the girlfriends and choose one to marry. You then travel to Gotha where you find out that you are heir to the throne as Pankraz was the king at the same time your wife is suddenly 9 months pregnant. You are installed king, and your wife gives birth to twins, but the joy is short as the wife is kidnapped and you go after her, climbing a tower and comes beside her and who show up if not Bishop Ladja, turning you both to stone and you are again separated as you are sold on an auction to a rich man and she is dragged of to the temple you built as a slave. 8 years pass and you see the mans boy grow from toddler until he is kidnapped by monsters. In an act of desperation he throws you down screaming at the "good luck" statue he bought. Rather gut wrenching as it also reflects on the time the hero lost on his children as well. But who comes around if not your fathers servant Sancho with two twins, your kids who resurrect you from your stone prison. And the hunt for your wife and mother is on.
Really effective storytelling and you feel for their plight. Does the choice of wife change the story in any way? I don't know, but I was smart enough to make a separate save file right before the decision with a good deal of tokens, but not enough sadly, so I at least save 20+ hours on replays. Another mechanic is the monster recruits. You can recruit most of the monsters, some good some bad. If you want to go all in I highly recommend some kind of guide to know what monster to devote your time on. Didn't realize until the end that it is probably a good idea to focus on monsters that have a chance to survive the endgame, not Dwoght Da Dwarf.
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