I didn’t expect how the game’s fusion system worked! Each monster has two skill lists, one full of attacks and the other usually for raising stats, and you invest skill points into each to get skills you want. When you fuse them, you can choose to inherit 3 of the skill lists from the parents, but also sometimes the monster comes with its own unique skill list. For the Drake Slime, I was able to have it learn the dragon skill list and two wisdom stat up lists so it’s a surprisingly powerful little dragon baby.
So far I’m having fun but I’m getting pretty bored of the fantasy demon realm setting. I’m too spoiled by SMT, I want to see these monsters in a post apocalyptic office building or something lol
I’ve tried Dragon Quest XI - 2D mode after playing 3D mode once 10 years ago or so. I wouldn’t really recommend it unless you’ve already played every 2D DQ (which I have) - there are too many distracting 3D version artefacts, a lack of animations in battle, and generally unimpressive color work. It feels smaller, which is interesting, but it does not look good.
2D DQXI is weird because… Well, 3D DQXI made a few « modern concessions » that make the game a lot easier (visible enemies + being able to pick moves right before characters act instead of at the beginning of their turn) and in turn, enemy power levels were scaled up to compensate. Being the alternate budget version, 2D DQXI has none of the concessions (it brings back random battles + less control in battle) but seems to keep enemy stats the same. So it’s just a ton more difficult.
I also turned a few draconian settings on (stronger monsters, no xp on low level monsters. Also townpeople talk tripe) and the difficulty is romhack level from the start - straight up Cave to Rhone bullshit. Random encounters are extremely dangerous. I only beat bosses by stalling with defend / medicinal herbs and unleashing pep powers. The funny thing is I often have to keep allies on AI settings because they’ll react more quickly than I would - if a boss casts a big attack they’ll heal right away and not have to wait for the next turn. So I’m giving up more control as the game gets way harder.
I can not imagine what this feels like with all draconian settings on - on top of everything else, characters have no armor, you can’t use shops and have to grind enemies for each herb, each character has a 1/5 chance to waste their turns every turn because they’re all too shy to act. Kaizo Dragon Quest but entirely official
I had that same first reaction as you that the 2d mode felt strangely budget. It’s almost as barren as DQV on SNES? It’s not even DQVI level??
Gonna look up some videos to compare. Here’s DQV:
Here’s DQVI:
And DQXI 2D Mode:
Hmm, it’s actually more similar than I thought? Is it just the modern font that’s throwing the aesthetic off? There’s something garish about the entire aesthetic that I can’t quite put my finger on. OH it might be because the color choice is really basic? Instead of being beautiful like DQVI.
Also I thought DQVI had full monster animations but it’s only for attacks. Guess the DS remakes have repainted my memory for how advanced the sequels got (I clearly remember what SNES DQV looked like because it was the first DQ game I beat). Even PS1 DQVII only had attack animations, though they were much more animated.
Anyway, I wish someone fantranslated the 3DS version of DQXI. I want to play that so bad
Looking at these comparisons confirms the biggest issue with DQ11 2D is color. That garish green grass and these ugly browns are like pre 1992 SFC only
I think the HD format doesn’t help either as the mind is expecting modern indie JRPG graphics like Sea of Stars or Chained Echoes. I think we all expected something on the level of Dragon Quest 3 SFC at the very least
iirc I played DQXI on the original Switch release that let you go to 2D only for the Tockington quests but kept it in 3D the rest of the game, and had Stronger Monsters on but no other Draconian options, and that felt really ideal because getting to dip for a challenging retro sidequest every so often was pretty well integrated into the game’s pacing and challenge
still took me 60 hours and change to do all 3 acts and I play RPGs really briskly but I loved loved it and would recommend that configuration in general
Have harder monsters on after getting shamed early by @bib. I am at 100 hours and at the end of “act 2” I guess. Tried the boss once, got through 1 and 3/4 forms before getting attritioned out. Haven’t picked it up for a few days since then, it’s just a bit exhausting to think about sitting through like a 30 minute boss fight for a second time.
The Tockington quests suck imo. I gather they weren’t in the original and are part of the super duper S edition or whatever the hell it’s called I got on sale on Steam, and it shows. Just kind of low effort nostalgia bait - I guess what they call “memberberries” (although that term is too old internet rawr XD for me).
Though of course DQ has always been about fighting in the field when you want to level and getting through dungeons as efficiently as possible to preserve your resources for the boss, 11 really takes that to extremes, as almost every fight is in principle avoidable. If you do it right you will never fight an enemy in a dungeon (in practice you’ll do a few fights to get all the treasures, rest & save, then do the clean run to the boss). This is… weird. Really saps the “epic quest”, D&D energy that I find the earlier games evoke, and leaves you with a kind of episode of the week anime vibe instead. Reinforced by the broad, naive voice acting, which as usual I could do without. I dunno. It’s very smooth and beautiful and gives a great first impression, but I care less and less as the game goes on.
yeah i think, if anything, the "budget title"ness of this game shines through the most with how it progresses. the lack of a contiguous world map, instead launching the player into these different areas of the demon underworld via the church, makes it feel like you are kind of just jumping between different rooms and doing the same general thing again and again. go here - go beat a boss there, now collect the monsters you couldn’t collect before. maybe, now, go fight in the coliseum again. hey you did pretty good! oops, that class of monsters was a big spike in strength and now you’ve lost 1000 gold.
anyway, i find that just playing this at a relaxed pace and enjoying the vibes feels best. i like having a team made up primarily of slimes, and i’m still hanging on to the first slime i recruited and i keep increasing his size because having a giant slime is what i’d want out of life in DQ world.
i guess if i’d paid more than $20 for this game, i’d be feeling a little more salty about it.
slime party for-fucking-ever. the massive amount of slime variations is one of the primary reasons i love the DQM series
i think DQM2 is probably the best in terms of coherency of world and general vibes. I like the lonely, strange vibes of the first with its randomly generated dungeons and We All Live In A Big Tree locale, but DQM2 definitely feels the most like a traditional DQ game. I’d love to give the remake a shot sometime, though the remake of the first missed the mark by a lot lot lot. Still, the second definitely lends itself better to modern game design.
The fact that I remember almost nothing about the Joker games tells me that they probably weren’t very good.
if anyone wants to read more of my words on the first one, this post and the one right after are about a retranslation patch for the first game, and why i think the remake sucks. and my thoughts on the first few hours of caravan heart are on my blog - I didn’t play much after that, and for a good reason (it’s bizarre and not very good)
DQ Treasures is a kind of non-game that I find interesting. I’m still trying to refine what it is that appeals to me about that game, since I’m playing through it again recently. It’s really not challenging in the traditional sense, but it has enough systems that it engages the “optimization” part of my brain heavily. It’s maybe the least insulting collectathon of all time? It just says “collect things” and doesn’t bother trying to hide that that’s what it’s about.
Anyway if it wasn’t DQ I probably wouldn’t be interested. I am a sucker for the whole aesthetic though. But I do love how many overlapping systems it has, almost none of which matter unless you really are trying to optimize the value of your time in the game.
Also it does feel like a DQ game if you poke at it enough - particularly the way that status ailments and elemental weaknesses can change the tide of a battle completely. And how MP is basically a timer for how long one can be on out and about.
Just learned about how DQ2 had a secret jpop song in it and a whole campaign for kids to find it that they could only find clues for if they bought a jpop album, and how that song became part of DQ legacy. It’s neat they included it in future games and remakes while still requiring you to sometimes buy stuff to unlock it, really keeping the original cross promotional spirit alive lol
Anna Makino’s Love Song Sagashite
Not mentioned in the video is that there was a cover of the song with different lyrics in a Dragon Quest cover album performed by Loula
i did wonder why DQ2 had unique file menu/name character music even in remakes (the first game uses the town theme and 3 introduces the theme used for the rest of the series)
Most elegant and cruel part of DQXI is how your childhood best friend / crush Gemma gives you, as you leave the starting city, a small talisman so you won’t forget her. (+1def)
It’s the first accessory you get, so you equip it in one of your two accessory slots. As the game goes along, you meet a lot of new people, get a team, find other accessories… These other accessories can fill the slots of everyone else in the team. But you keep the Gemma charm on the main character, obviously.
More progress… New continents… Until eventually keeping the Gemma charm seems untenable: you’re not going to keep a +1def accessory the whole game when you could have a +15atk belt or something right now! You remove the Gemma charm, forever, and your own memories of Gemma seem far away at this point.
Or you could keep the accessory forever regardless!! I’m sure some players did it. Maybe resentfully, thinking about their past love
