darksnowman

Your trio of fledgling warriors really took getting pwned in the opening scene to heart. Look at them now! Is dual wielding masamunes and kitting everyone out in genji gear as good as it gets? Not saying it's not, I just don't remember getting to that point--when you said you'd get the ultimate weapons I expected individual weapons for each character. And isn't Guy best with his fists? I suppose that depends on how you play. For some reason I remember mine being like a monk. Or was that Josef? Hmm. I think Mysidia and the mask capers there is a bit of a slog but it should be a doddle for you. I think after that you are almost on the home straight. Have you got the best white and black spells yet? Wondering if you will take time to level them up or stick with what you have.

I pre-loaded it yesterday. Looking forward to trying this one out as it frequently comes recommended!

I started DQ II at the weekend to give me a break from Tales of Vesperia, as I've been locked into story segments in that with hardly any opportunity for some good old-fashioned levelling. Sometimes you just want to get out into the overworld and battle. Firstly, it's cool that this is only the second DQ and already it comes with a scripted cutscene when you start a new file. (Though FF II was doing scripted scenes so it shouldn't come as too much of a shock.) Then, another nice surprise is that with this being the first DQ to have a party, I wasn't expecting to have to work to get the band together; I just thought we'd be sent out questing together from the get-go. So, I started the game only planning to level-up for a while around the opening area and leave it at that, but as you guys are saying, it isn't as difficult as I expected so after gaining only two levels, I struck out for a nearby dot on the map and took it from there. By the time I saved and quit, I'd ended up hitting several points on the map and partnering with the prince after just missing him at several places where he was apparently also looking for me. Ha! One hold-over from DQ 1 that I wasn't prepared for was still needing to talk to the king to save. I kept checking with the priest and was wondering how much I needed to play to unlock the ability to save the game! I thought I was going to be stuck doing a quicksave, but after a while, I remembered to try the king. It is a nice bonus that it seems any king will do, but still. @drahkon ...I'm not sure if any (mainline) DQ allows you to target individual enemies of the same type. Maybe XI, but it's been a while since I last played it so I can't remember.

You can get some good grinding in later during the match.

Yeah, those empty square rooms that throw you into a battle as soon as you turn to leave. So many doors lead to rooms like that. Any further progress over the weekend?

Thanks for the present wrapping tip, @Sméagol. I'll be doing that from now on! And no hard feelings @BowserBasher--life happens! Since I now know birthdays contribute towards a stamp, I will post about more as they come up. I checked the stamps requirements and I'm a long way off completing a lot of them, and there are some gaps for stamps I haven't discovered yet! I'm going to start to actively try to tick some of them off from now on... starting with getting items from deep sea diving for which I need one thousand for the next milestone. Well, at least the shop has an expensive item I need so I'll grind deep sea creatures for bells, and then use any left over bells to send letters to animals...! I have Hippeux out already (just saying, @Katie) with a blue cat from the campsite incoming. What luck! Also, Tutu (a big white bear, one of the first to come to my island) asked if she could leave and I said yes. I don't have photos for these islanders but I enjoy the rotation.

We've just enjoyed a couple of weeks of snow, but it's nice to have it away now to be able to get outside again.

When you said you had the present wrapped, does it endear you more to the animal if wrapping paper is used? And did you find Celeste before you left? I wished on some stars too but didn't come across her.

I've taken 10+ deaths in this today and because of that, discovered the game over screen is voiced by the last character to bite it. Again, it's not the general baddies so much as the bosses that are getting me. For story reasons, I was forced to skirt round the edge of the map via the ice area in the upper right, where I came across a boss that had to be fought with Karol alone. The first death was because I figured it was a scripted and unwinnable battle... but that not being the case (lol), it took me quite a few goes to get the job done. It was an airborne enemy and like similar flying bosses before it, I just couldn't seem to reach the thing consistently. After that, I died carelessly in the castle from a couple of back-attacks chaining together, and before I knew it we were overwhelmed and all dead before I could dish out the life bottles. Currently, I've left it at a save before the boss at the top of the castle who has wiped me out a few times too--again, it's a one-on-one fight that I haven't been able to cope with, but at least this time it is a ground-based opponent. I still don't know if I am under-levelled or not playing the game properly. I think it's the latter, to be honest.

It's a penguin. The interior is all the ice stuff that we are getting recipes for at the moment. I just gave her a doll that another animal sent me in the post today.

Yeah, mentioning it as you put me onto birthdays counting towards a stamp! Gates are flung open at the moment if you and @Sméagol or anyone want to come? The house to visit is the one in the very bottom right corner. Gwen, if you are navigating by map.

No worries! I'll check back this evening and let you know when the gates are open.

It's a good game but totally skippable if you're on the fence about it imo, @Sméagol. You could check through the eShop and get a couple of games for the same price and have more fun.

Nothing dark about it. Look how bright and cheery Wargroove is!

There's a birthday on my island today. Does anyone want to visit for that? I'm just doing the rounds quickly at the moment but I can open up later in the day if you want.

One-shotting the bosses? Oof! So you're clued into that, then. The post-game content is doable as long as that first character is good enough to be able to survive running from battles until you unite with the second character, then you can start to feel like you're holding your own in there. Try it and see, maybe you'll enjoy the challenge! What do you think of those nothing rooms? I think those were probably the worst thing about the game for me. (Maybe you're strong enough that they don't drain your resources.)

Mine's a pinky yellow colour scheme, I think. Definitely not black and red, sorry.

I have Crazy Redd visiting!! I got the worthy painting, deal of the winter. I know you guys like to collect these things for display purposes, so I'll keep an eye for a while and if anyone is interested I can open up. The following fakes are available: - academic painting - informative statue - scary painting

I downloaded DQ II in the Christmas sale and have it ready to go. Just wouldn't mind getting a few (dozen) other RPGs out of the way first.

Glad to see you giving it another whirl, @Hero-of-Time! What a nice surprise. SaGa doesn't allow you to whale on your own party or anything like that, so don't be too put off... that perhaps it can't be broken as much as you are currently snapping FF II in half. Let's see if you still have this thirst for the grind when you get the late-game spells! Does PSP/ Vita have a rerelease of FF II like it got for FF I? Me, I really enjoyed FF II when I played it on the Dawn of Souls collection. I love to see how they went from FF to FF II--with the engaging story and keywords, party members who are actual characters, the revolving fourth party member slot, and the change up in levelling system is good on paper, but they just didn't pull it off in practise. I played through it at least twice because after the first time, I was just too weak to tackle the bonus content. As I remember, you're started off with a character I hadn't levelled much at all during the main game which left me snookered!

Is that location a spoiler? Is Ocarina of Time in BotW? I feel spoiled.

Could be. That's interesting to think about. I don't remember younger party members bothering me much in other RPGs. In fact, a lot of the time I enjoy levelling up the unlikely looking characters to save the world with a group you'd never guess would say boo to a goose, never mind cast reality ending spells. I think in Vesperia, I'm okay with Karol but I've been unable to warm to Rita--she's such a whine with too few flashes that she actually cares. The older characters are just so much less obnoxious than her. The boy Karol at least has aspirations and has been growing since we met him, Rita though has been a total whinge from day one and is one of the central characters! Sometimes I think she could be struggling with the discovery that she harbours feelings for Estellise and doesn't know how to express them (I doubt the story will go there), but the majority of the time she's just a whiney brat. Maybe she feels stressed from having to solve all the science-y problems the story throws up, or maybe she's always been a loner and doesn't know how to interact with a team. Whatever it is, it would be nice to have something to help me understand where she's coming from. In the meantime, as long as it works, I'll keep on brute forcing it with the physical attackers.

50 hours in and I'm still waiting for the party to settle down. Judging by the Switch homescreen icon, it looks like all available party members have now been with me at one time or another, so I'm just waiting for them all to come together for the final stretch. Don't read that as a complaint--I like the way the game makes you feel like something is always missing from your party composition. And I mean, it sort of feels like we are in the endgame now but I doubt the game will be radical enough to end with a depleted party. Storywise, since where I left off previously, in Egothor Forest, the game has been pushing me from place to place with more urgency than ever. We visited a flying city (with a warehouse that I thought was destined to become my own storage point, or perhaps guild house which I'm still on the lookout for, but nothing happened with it), then someone joined the party who, as has been the norm, was a couple of levels above the rest. With no time think, we chased the badguys through two dungeon-type areas, one of which displayed a map in the upper right corner of the screen--a first for me in this game--then had me face-off against Schwann (!!) who showed me to the game over screen. After reloading the save, we took him out at the second time of asking but it was no mean feat as we were heavily down in restorative items by that point. I think I subbed Rita in to add some distance to our attack as it was Schwann's close range overlimit we couldn't live with the first time. Then it was straight into another dungeon where we were rejoined by one party member (whose "welcome back" was pretty funny, I thought), got the Sorcerer's Ring up to level 3 (no chance of limit breaks going up to level 3 yet?) and saved the capital city after a twist boss fight and moment of assistance from a villain who it now appears doesn't care what happens as long as the conflict never ends. And of course, a party member had took off by the end of this segment. Next up, bruised but not beaten, party fractured, airship gone, we must storm the still-standing capital to put an end to this by killing the maiden if we cannot rescue her!* If things weren't currently funnelling me directly to the capital, with all other options apparently cut-off, it would be a good time to go back and revisit a few woodland areas with the upgraded Sorcerer's Ring, plus the recent dungeon that let me keep a map, as there might be a few blocked-off areas that are now accessible. There are still things I would like to be given the chance to make happen, such as establishing Brave Vesperia with a base of operations. (Hopefully this isn't a missable sidequest!) And perhaps there are more party members to come? Like, I'd let Sodia and Witcher of the Flynn Brigade into my line-up and drop the kids I'm lumbered with off at daycare if the chance comes up. Patty I can take, as she is obviously meant to be quirky, but Karol and Rita especially, aren't easy to take seriously as central members of the group. *and find out who the true puppet master is?

Yeah, these rumours never mention if they'll make Link's Awakening run smoothly!