Need to get back to 11 but I feel like I had more fun with the FF12 demo that came with DQ8’s ps2 release than DQ8
2 Likes
love dqviii. in the top… four dragon quests. ok maybe five
3 Likes
Speaking of DQXI, recently I tried playing through it again exclusively in 2D mode. The game is much shorter in this mode, especially since I was skipping a lot of side content, but also feels much more of a slog. The battle mode in 2D manages to feel very … uncomfortable I guess? Like the text is either too fast or too slow, and without animations on the monsters I find it hard to read what is going on.
I think it’s also lacking a bit of the usual charm of the game, I think in this game in particular a lot of the usual DQ charm comes from the expressiveness of the characters in 3D. Or maybe I just got used to that and found it missing when switching modes.
I managed to get all the way to Sniflheim before putting it aside for something else. Might go back to it to see how it handles the big scene in the mid part of the game (I suspect it’ll just show the movie sans voices like the opening)
I’ve been playing Kowloon Highschool Chronicle. Kinda loving it, despite the extremely grindy nature of it and the horrible stereotypes. I’m near the end and every boss since around chapter 5 has become a big roadblock. I’m only playing on normal difficulty. I managed to get the homeroom teacher as a buddy, who together with the library girl make the best level grinding combo.
I find it hilarious that one of the quest givers is a widow who has a never ending procession of dead relatives she wants to ‘set adrift organic egg as an offering’ etc. I maxed out her approval and she sent me a garter that increases agility by 20 points, which is pretty good, but it also changes the computer voice that you hear constantly throughout the dungeon into one that sounds like a woman constantly on the verge of orgasm
10 Likes
yeah I think it was the sheer idea of the 2D mode that got me to buy it on switch after ignoring the PS4 release, like I was just that chuffed, but I found that tockington on its own was more than enough
1 Like
What’s the list?
Is the worst one 6 or 2?
8 and 9 are worst (and I don’t know anything about 10)
I’m not too fond of either the original SFC release or the English DS script of 5, and 6/7 weren’t too well served by the circumstances of their localization either (though both are underrated), I feel like it’s really only 3/4/11 that are top tier and had the benefit of being contemporary in the west. I know as much about 2 as I do 10 and I don’t want to learn more until SLC
2 Likes
Got a main thruster with waayyy more thrust and that’s helped a lot (although it also eats fuel at an alarming rate). I had a few successful runs and I’m way more in the green than I’ve ever been. Have enough overhead to wait for better prices on some minerals.
Moving the ship around in this game is a joy. There’s a lot of good risk reward mechanics, and I’ve never thought about delta-V much in a video game but in encourages a lot of finesse and strategy in how you move. Like, it’s rarely worth chasing minerals backwards because you waste all your fuel reversing only to have to turn back around again.
The in-flight tuning is a mechanic that confuses me right now. I assume it’s like each part can break on 3 axes and you tune them to correct for one issue or another, but it’s unclear exactly how it affects each part. Like, “alignment” I get, but stuff like “choke” I’m a little hazy on (I assume it’s a chance for the engine to choke out?)
PS2 fan translation of DQ5 is the way to go.
4 Likes
no deborah option though 
1 Like
I love V on ps2 now. When I saw screenshots I thought it looked kind of iffy (the character models are off putting), but I’m actually playing now and seeing it’s a continuation of the Artepiazza ps1 ones, which means it’s totally the shit, and it doesn’t have the lame DS localization.
1 Like
Ya the battle animations fuckin rock and there’s…something about the world map that I preferred over the DS version? Maybe it wasn’t as compressed? I can’t remember exactly, I just know it’s the only version of the game that hit with me.
I have no clue who Deborah is and I never got married any time I played the game. It’s a lot like my real life. Maybe someday.
4 Likes
I need to get back to this game… the vibes are so confusing.
4 Likes
Honestly, the only tuning I do is to jury-rig a part to function until I can either turn around and head back or my repair drones can take care of it. I have no clue what the distinctions are yet either lmao
Also my friend found out what to do with derelicts: if your ship has a manipulator, you can tow them back to home and keep them as a ship in your garage (or sell; I sold my first one and it was easily 1m+ in salvage). Kind of high-risk, as finding a derelict is dumb luck, but well worth it if you do, can easily get 3 dives worth of money from one derelict sale.
3 Likes
House of Fata Morgana : Put me back into the house of fata morgana Haters camp again
I’m at the last door, second day out of 3, and now that the structure and story hold no real mysteries anymore I just can’t deal with the agonizing pacing anymore!!
It feels like I’ve been at the endgame stretch for like half the game, each time this should be the final chapter there’s another one behind it then you really get into the REAL final chapter but it is a behemoth divided into three huge days each with their own complete 3 hours long story, and I feel like that idiot Achilles not being able to catch up with the turtle in a race because it keeps getting ahead of him as soon as he closes the gap
Also a good part of the endgame takes place in that JRPG Endgame Metaphorical Void Zone where the spatial rules aren’t clear but you can orient yourself by having enough confidence in redemption or something, and that just seems really lazy for a modern videogame, let alone a story focused one
Stonefly:
This is a somewhat « non violent » game, more focused on exploration and resource gathering than combat (you don’t kill enemies you just blow them away like in Smash Bros, but let’s be honest half of them die from the fall) Fittingly, disposing of enemies feels pretty bad, while flying and collecting items feel great. Unfortunately there’s still a combat focus and ~80% of the upgrades are combat oriented. Once again, videogames can’t escape their violent roots
Labyrinth City Pierre the Maze Detective: Oh no there really is no challenge whatsoever to this, and exploring this videogame version of the book is probably much less exciting than reading the book would be. A game for like, 3-8 years old children exclusively
REmake: Somehow this is my first time playing Resident Evil aside from 10 minutes of Code Veronica
I was 100% in with the methodical slow harsh tank controls then I immediately died against the first zombie in the game while flailing around like an idiot and I’m now 100% out. Kids these days, including me, don’t have the patience to deal with tank controls in RE
5 Likes
dq8 is great it just urgently needs a rerelease with non random battles and nvme loading times
2 Likes
The 3ds/ phone release had no random battles, can’t remember about loading times though
Taking out the random battles actually made it worse. Part of the appeal of the world map was being able to stand on a hill and take in the sights while scanning the horizon for chests. Having 9 condors wilding out and flying straight into you to trigger a battle threw off the vibe.
9 Likes
What’s the best version of DQXI to play? I got me one of those Xbox Series X things, but is the switch version better?
the xbone version has all the switch content
3 Likes