Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

[S.C.G]

Well that certainly makes sense. A shame about not defeating any of them though.

 

yeah, i really wanted them added to my list as i needed them both, the king ones were almost one-hitting me though so i probably wasn't gonna be able to defeat them all but i had fun trying lol.

[ReZourceman]

I'm still a n00b at this game. I wasn't really feeling it but I started getting into it yesterday. I just did the first boss at the Hexagon.

 

I have a few questions.

 

Do you only ever solely control one character, and then just have pretty much NPCs who follow you?

 

Any tips for coming up what I'm about to do?

 

When can I alchemise? Keep getting shit that it tells me I should alchemise. I'm not comfortable carrying around 5 horse manure's with me. :p

[darksnowman]

And it's also a brilliant pun!

 

And Zelda: Phantom Hourglass!

 

I haven't actually tried that, but the sound in this game is fantastic. As far as I'm concerned, the DS has my favourite-ever sound chip anyway, and it's as good as ever in this game. When you cast Crackle, you can hear every shard of ice.

 

Took me a bit of thinking to get the Swinedimples pun. I knew it had to be some kind of joke but I didn't instantly get it.

 

I forgot about Phantom Hourglass. I enjoyed the snow mystery in it too!

 

Prior to trying out the headphones I'd already noticed how "meaty" Crackle sounds. The DS does produce some great music but its definitely better when you plug in some headphones because, at the very least, you can hear the music and sound effects in stereo.

 

I have a few questions.

 

Do you only ever solely control one character, and then just have pretty much NPCs who follow you?

 

Any tips for coming up what I'm about to do?

 

When can I alchemise? Keep getting shit that it tells me I should alchemise. I'm not comfortable carrying around 5 horse manure's with me. :p

 

You create a party of your own, using the same customisation you had for your main character. Making party members and alchemising will become available when you get to Stornway which is right after the Angel Falls/ Hexagon part. If you head out to do the Wight Knight without a party, you've missed it so head back to Stornway. The alchemy pot becomes available slightly afterwards but not too much. You'll also be able to go online to the DQVC when you get stuff happening in Stornway.

[S.C.G]

You create a party of your own, using the same customisation you had for your main character.

 

Or you can do what I did and just recruit some randoms, which can also lead to some 'interesting' results and is why my other three party members are called Bennet, Dixon and Harriet... lolz. :p

[Grazza]

yeah, i really wanted them added to my list as i needed them both, the king ones were almost one-hitting me though so i probably wasn't gonna be able to defeat them all but i had fun trying lol.

 

There are loads of Liquid Metal Slimes in the Blowhole. Have a Mage cast Accelerate twice to give you all a chance of acting before they flee and have any spear users you have perform Thunder Thrust.

 

 

Took me a bit of thinking to get the Swinedimples pun. I knew it had to be some kind of joke but I didn't instantly get it.

 

Nor did I. I went to bed and suddenly thought...

 

Swinedimples

Swine dimples

Hog warts

Hogwarts!

 

 

...that's brilliant!

 

And Rez, you start as a Minstrel, so I'd stick with that for a while. Swords and Litheness are a good bet for him. I'd particularly recommend Litheness and all the characters' "5th classes", like Courage, Spellcraft etc, as when you max them out you get a stat boost.

 

Any characters you have that can equip spears, I'd recommend putting 58 points into that ASAP, as it's extremely useful when you encounter metal enemies. However, as far as I'm aware, you will be able to swap characters around later and get more skill points (it takes until Level 38 to get 100 points, Level 99 to get 200).

Edited August 2, 2010 by Grazza
spelling error

[darksnowman]

I just did the stuff leading up to the Gortress and everything that takes place leading up to it. During the animé cutscene I got thinking that every little story section in DQ IX has been pretty tragic.

 

On a more upbeat note, I'm pressing up towards lvl 40 now and I'm starting to become omnivocational with the skills I've been levelling.

[Hero-of-Time]

Im nearly level 40 myself ( at 38 ), just been grinding again most the day.

 

Im at the point in the game where I have crossed the bridge made of light and headed to the volcano village. The boss before making the bridge was a pushover, hardly touched me. Then again I won't leave an area until I have bought every upgrade I can.

 

With the volcano village having more items to buy ( not too many thankfully ) its off to grinding I go...again.

 

*puts DSi in pocket ready for work break*

[D_prOdigy]

Heh, I seem to have with the alchemy what you lot have with buying things from the shops. There's something so satisfying about going out of your way to make a kick-ass weapon for no money whatsoever.

 

Unfortunately some ingredients are frustratingly rare... I think... Corundum. Gold Bars. Reckless Necklace ;[

[Nolan]

Gold Bars are painfully rare. I only know of one enemy that drops them, and after killing 29 of them, they dropped a single Gold Bar. This was with stealing until they had nothing to steal...which takes FOREVER. Crappy thief....

 

Upto 72 hours now, Omnivocational Swordmaster as well for my main. Working towards getting Sage unlocked (killing things with Frizz sucks). Refuse to beat the game.

 

I'll post characters and levels tonight, possibly even do photo's.

[Ike]

Heh, I seem to have with the alchemy what you lot have with buying things from the shops. There's something so satisfying about going out of your way to make a kick-ass weapon for no money whatsoever.

 

Unfortunately some ingredients are frustratingly rare... I think... Corundum. Gold Bars. Reckless Necklace ;[

 

Corundum's not rare, though it took me along time to find some. First time I visited the spot there wasn't any.

[D_prOdigy]

I turned my Thief into an Armamentalist the other day. Kept the Half-Inch ability, but deftness is comparatively pretty lame, unfortunately.

 

Pretty much all the quests I take on now are related to grottos. Which isn't great, as most are either very hard to find (I don't have the overworld memorised THAT well), have bosses too difficult for me at this stage (Traumanator), or just don't drop the items I need...

 

Corundum's not rare, though it took me along time to find some. First time I visited the spot there wasn't any.

 

I know one place where one spawns every few days. Frustratingly inconvenient.

[darksnowman]

Pretty much all the quests I take on now are related to grottos. Which isn't great, as most are either very hard to find (I don't have the overworld memorised THAT well), have bosses too difficult for me at this stage (Traumanator), or just don't drop the items I need...

 

I was detouring yesterday and doing some quests for a change of pace. After doing a few, the only ones I could find involved alchemy... which I didn't think was ideal. I checked to see if I had the items and did the ones that I could but aside from that I felt no drive to hunt down specific items to alchemise with. Hopefully I'll get into the alchemy side of things but it doesn't seem that alluring to me right now. Actually, I was tempted to open the recipe list and make everything that I had ingredients for, purely to increase my percentage of Alchenomicon Completion (currently 1%).

 

I'm well up for a dungeon crawl so I can't wait to get my hands on some quests that ask me to go into the grottoes!

[Grazza]

On a more upbeat note, I'm pressing up towards lvl 40 now and I'm starting to become omnivocational with the skills I've been levelling.

 

I've maxed out my Mage's Spellcraft (and am very close with some others), but I felt guilty for giving her such rubbish defence. Therefore, I've changed her and the Priest into other vocations to build up their Shield skills. They've both already got Block Chance +4%, so I feel better now, but might get it up to +6% before I press on with the game.

 

Incidentally, I thought levelling-up would be a breeze, but the newly-changed characters only get about 1/4 to 1/3 the EXP of the more experienced ones.

 

Im at the point in the game where I have crossed the bridge made of light and headed to the volcano village. The boss before making the bridge was a pushover, hardly touched me. Then again I won't leave an area until I have bought every upgrade I can.

 

Yeah, that boss was quite easy (loads of lovely Liquid Metal Slimes in there too!), but I'm now trying to buy all the Dragon Armour, Dragon Shields etc for the next bit... Wow, they're expensive!

 

Unfortunately some ingredients are frustratingly rare... I think... Corundum. Gold Bars. Reckless Necklace ;[

 

Yes, I'm actually reluctant to use any Gold Bars until I know where I can get more of them (although Nolan's post is very helpful on that).

[Guest Captain Falcon]

Well I didn't play any of this on Saturday... damn you Monster Hunter!

 

And Sunday... well I managed about 40 mins. Would have played later but... well.. you guessed it Monster Hunter...

 

Anyway, finally got a chance to do a bit more today and beat the first boss. Sort of getting into it. Plowed most of my skill points into sword apart so now I have the the dragon slash skill and the +10 attack.

 

I'm liking that the battles don't take too long at this point - makes it easier to get into and the encounters much less of a chore.

[killer kirby]

I don't even know how anyone can grind in this game, you get everything anyway by having fun by the quests you can take on. Thats all I have been doing at the moment.

[Hero-of-Time]

I don't even know how anyone can grind in this game, you get everything anyway by having fun by the quests you can take on. Thats all I have been doing at the moment.

 

I tend to grind in all my RPGs but in the DQ games i've played its a little OTT.

 

Most RPGs at least give you enough cash to buy the goods you want but in the DQ games you hardly get any from your regular battles so you have to go out your way (grind) if you want stuff from the shops.

 

If you don't do the sidequests ( I do usually do these before the end boss ) how else are you supposed to get stuff? You could probably use alchemy I suppose but even then you have to wander around either finding the ingredients or getting into a battle and nicking the stuff or hoping it drops the loot for you.

[darksnowman]

Last night I went up and opened a bunch of red chests in

 

Greynarl's lair

 

 

and they were all empty bar one. If I'd left these closed til later would they have been magically filled with some kick-ass items?

[D_prOdigy]

Last night I went up and opened a bunch of red chests in

 

Greynarl's lair

 

 

and they were all empty bar one. If I'd left these closed til later would they have been magically filled with some kick-ass items?

 

Nah, one of the villagers explains that naughty soldiers raided them before you ever get a chance to access them.

[darksnowman]

Nah, one of the villagers explains that naughty soldiers raided them before you ever get a chance to access them.

 

Thats a relief. I was wondering why the chests were empty and if I should just leave the remainder closed... but I just couldn't stop myself.

 

I just spotted on 1UP that they are starting up a Dragon Quest Cafe, with its first meet-up being today. Pity they are based in San Francisco and not Northern Ireland. :p

 

Congregate with fellow 1UPers to chat about the wonderful Dragon Quest IX. Share maps, tips, and delve into multiplayer! We also plan to host regular meetings in San Francisco, so keep an eye on the schedule below if you wish to attend.

[D_prOdigy]

 

I just spotted on 1UP that they are starting up a Dragon Quest Cafe, with its first meet-up being today. Pity they are based in San Francisco and not Northern Ireland. :p

 

That is doubly annoying, because I was just about to rant how I just learned that to access the upper levels of the Stornway Inn - which contain many of the better recipes to be found in the game - you have to have tagged a certain number of people in Canvassing Mode. Which is kind of uber suckage when you don't live in a country where four million people bought the game on day one.

[Ike]

Most RPGs at least give you enough cash to buy the goods you want but in the DQ games you hardly get any from your regular battles so you have to go out your way (grind) if you want stuff from the shops.

 

If you need cash, head south from Gleeba. Gold Golems are really common in that area so it's easy to make cash.

 

I took my DS into Newcastle the other day to try canvassing mode. Got nothing

[killer kirby]

If you don't do the sidequests ( I do usually do these before the end boss ) how else are you supposed to get stuff? You could probably use alchemy I suppose but even then you have to wander around either finding the ingredients or getting into a battle and nicking the stuff or hoping it drops the loot for you.

 

I do the whole shabangabang

 

For Dragon Quest IX I just use alchemy as well as do the quests, never had trouble with money (This also includes the new Downloadable content of items every day)

 

Dragon Quest for me has never had the tiniest bit of grinding for me (Besides Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest II) If out of money, sell the weopons and gear you won't be using once you upgrade with the equipment you are about to buy.

 

But thanks to alchemy I don't sell anymore but always try to make the most out of everything of what I have

[Grazza]

That is doubly annoying, because I was just about to rant how I just learned that to access the upper levels of the Stornway Inn - which contain many of the better recipes to be found in the game - you have to have tagged a certain number of people in Canvassing Mode. Which is kind of uber suckage when you don't live in a country where four million people bought the game on day one.

 

That is annoying, but if they are only recipes, can't we just find them on GameFAQs? I haven't looked yet, but later on in the game, I wouldn't consider that cheating if it's the only way to find them.

 

As for the grinding debate, I have to agree with Hero of Time - money has been short in every Dragon Quest I've played, although I don't particularly mind.

 

I spent all of last night spearing Metal Medleys and Liquid Metal Slimes in order to get Kate and Nigel their +6% Block Chance ...and the odd thing is, it was enormous fun!

[Hero-of-Time]

Yay! I've just killed my first Liquid Metal Slime!

 

I put an Agility Ring on my main character and seeing as he's a Priest I made him learn the spear moves early on. This is allowing me to do the Thunder Thrust move which kills the LMS in one.

 

Im still having a problem with the LMS running away before I can get a hit in. Is there anyway to solve this problem with an ability or a spell?

 

I loved the anime cutscene I got just after Magmaroo, just wish there was more of them in the game.

[Ike]

Im still having a problem with the LMS running away before I can get a hit in. Is there anyway to solve this problem with an ability or a spell?

 

Nope. The only way is by boosting your agility to move before the LMS. Meteorite Bracers give the largest agility boosts if you can get one.

 

Go the quest to kill 3 Metal Medleys using Pressure Pointer which is pretty tough as they keep running before it hits. Got 2 so far though. Edit: Got all 3 now

 

Story wise, I've just got the last Fygg so I'm guessing I'm pretty close to the end of the main story.

Edited August 3, 2010 by Ike