Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

[LegendDK]

I agree. Compared to other great RPGs, the audio is really dissappointing. In series like Pokemon, Chrono Trigger and Mother/Earthbound there are lots of different songs in different areas, but in DQ it's just the same in every town, castle etc. The music isn't bad, but after a while it's annoying to hear the same few songs everywhere you go. At least the grotto and ocean themes are awesome.

[Grazza]

The music is great but SOOOOO repetitive. I'm not sure if anyone takes music as seriously as I do in games, but bloody hell.

 

Yes, the music in this game is a massive weakness. Koichi Sugiyama is my favourite composer, but it feels like he didn't put his all into this game - it's not a patch on the soundtrack for V or VIII. Then again, who could really blame him if he was saving his best tunes for a Dragon Quest that is released on a format with better sound quality than the DS?

[D_prOdigy]

I find the music, nay, the audio in general really reaches a new level when you play it with headphones. It's a revelation compared to the speakers.

[Grazza]

I find the music, nay, the audio in general really reaches a new level when you play it with headphones. It's a revelation compared to the speakers.

 

I took your advice and gave it a good listen with headphones. The sound effects are amazing and you can hear a whole new subtley to the music, as though you can hear the individual instruments.

 

By the way, what line-ups are you generally using? I find a very pleasing team for the general game is:

 

Paladin, Gladiator, Armamentalist, Sage

 

However, now we're level 99, whilst the Sage's healing is fine for Grottoes, I don't think it's going to cut it when I level the Legacy Bosses up to 99 (which I intend to). Therefore, I'm going to have this as my boss team:

 

Paladin, Gladiator, Sage, Priest

 

OK, you have less muscle power that way, but the Sage is the only one who can learn Kazing. Furthermore, I'm sure the Priest's Omniheal and Fullheal are going to be necessary.

 

Also, with the higher Grottoes, do you think it's better to just go through them at level 99? I used to use them to level-up, as it seemed a waste to be level 99 and not utilise the EXP. However I think with the tougher ones it's better to just play them at 99 and level up elsewhere in dedicated ways.

[RedShell]

Headphones are a must for any DS game in my opinion. Even though the speakers have improved since the first DS (especially on the DSi/XL), they're still no match for listening via headphones.

 

I tried the alchemy for the Hypernova Sword last night, had the orange slime appear on my loading screen, but even that didn't help. So I ended up with the Supernova Sword instead (which is still pretty awesome actually ).

But yeah, now I need to find another Stardust Sword and then 4 Agate of evolution / 4 Silver orbs!

Hmm... going to take a while. Hopefully it'll be second time lucky though.

[Grazza]

Oh yes! I've got the Metal King Shield! Although I went back to the same chest today and only got a Mini Medal, which was disappointing.

 

. I tried the alchemy for the Hypernova Sword last night, had the orange slime appear on my loading screen, but even that didn't help. So I ended up with the Supernova Sword instead (which is still pretty awesome actually ).

But yeah, now I need to find another Stardust Sword and then 4 Agate of evolution / 4 Silver orbs!

Hmm... going to take a while. Hopefully it'll be second time lucky though.

 

Indeed. I don't think I'd "reset" it either. I did read that if you want to make something that has attacking qualities (such as a sword), it helps if you carry out the alchemy with as high stats of that type as possible, eg. level 99 Gladiator for attacking items, level 99 Paladin for defensive equipment and so on... Not sure if that's true or not. There are tables that allow you to guarantee it, if you wanted to get into it that much.

 

I'm beginning to understand the Grottoes more. The best one I've got for Metal King Slimes so far is this:

 

Silver Waterway of Fear Level 68

 

Silver = quality of monsters the Grotto starts at

Waterway = elemental type and elemental quality

Fear = type of boss

Level 68 = how many floors (not literally)

 

So, as I get Metal King Slimes on the middle floors (5-8), I imagine a "Gold Waterway" would have them on the first few floors. Last night I completed this one:

 

Copper World of Gloom Level 88

 

This was the one I got the Metal Slime Shield from. It did have Metal King Slimes but, as it started off as "Copper", not until the later floors. There's a really good guide here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/937281-dragon-quest-ix-sentinels-of-the-starry-skies/55674123

[Ike]

Headphones are a must for any DS game in my opinion. Even though the speakers have improved since the first DS (especially on the DSi/XL), they're still no match for listening via headphones.

 

I tried the alchemy for the Hypernova Sword last night, had the orange slime appear on my loading screen, but even that didn't help. So I ended up with the Supernova Sword instead (which is still pretty awesome actually ).

But yeah, now I need to find another Stardust Sword and then 4 Agate of evolution / 4 Silver orbs!

Hmm... going to take a while. Hopefully it'll be second time lucky though.

 

You need 3 orange slimes to get a 100% chance of success I believe. I think I've seen a metal slime as well, not sure what that effects though.

 

Finally started to get some better grottoes (took a break from the game, started playing again due to renewed interest in the thread), got one at level 71, then got a higher map from that grotto which was worse since it started on a lower rank of enemies .

 

Also got my first Coup De Co-op against a grotto boss, and again the next day which changed the enemies into Metal monster, got 2 Metal King Slimes and a Platinum! But they fled before I could kill them

[daftada]

What difference do the slimes you see on the loading page make to your game? I've spotted a few Orange ones from time to time, wasn't even aware they were anything other than a little graphical tweak! Amazing how this game has so much depth to it, I'm really enjoying it!

[D_prOdigy]

Okay I'm at a point now where I've literally no idea what you guys are on about. I'm reading about the effect of loading screens now and what seems to be 'chance alchemy'? Way over my head.

[Ike]

What difference do the slimes you see on the loading page make to your game? I've spotted a few Orange ones from time to time, wasn't even aware they were anything other than a little graphical tweak! Amazing how this game has so much depth to it, I'm really enjoying it!

 

3 orange slimes gives you a 100% chance of getting the rare drops from Grotto/Legacy(?) bosses which would normally have a 2% drop rate, as well as getting the rare item from Alchemy and possibly some other things. It's possible to manipulate the RNG to force 3 orange slimes, the guides on gamefaqs board if you want to read up on it. I'm guessing 1 orange slime gives you a slight boost?

[Grazza]

Okay I'm at a point now where I've literally no idea what you guys are on about. I'm reading about the effect of loading screens now and what seems to be 'chance alchemy'? Way over my head.

 

The chance alchemy affects only the very best items in the game. When you make one, you get a chance that it'll make an even better version. Personally, I haven't tried this yet as I haven't got any of the equipment.

 

3 orange slimes gives you a 100% chance of getting the rare drops from Grotto/Legacy(?) bosses which would normally have a 2% drop rate, as well as getting the rare item from Alchemy and possibly some other things.

 

Whoah, that sounds good! I still haven't got any Invincible Trousers (I've forgotten where Nemean is), so that'd be very useful. Also, I've just discovered where Excalipurr is, and his 2% drop is Victorious Armour, so I'd be very keen to get that.

 

Silly question, but where is this loading screen? Despite playing it for 250 hours, I can't remember where you see the loading screen!!

[Ike]

Silly question, but where is this loading screen? Despite playing it for 250 hours, I can't remember where you see the loading screen!!

 

When you first load your save from the title screen :P

[Grazza]

It was a silly question, I must admit!

 

I've done 75 Grottoes, so will have to discard some maps soon. If only I could remember which ones had which bosses, as I want to keep one of each...

[Captain Falcon]

I've still not gotten into this game yet. The slow battles and constant slowdown on the world map just put me off. I think I might just have to give up on it for the time being and save my RPG love for Golden Sun.

[RedShell]

There are tables that allow you to guarantee it, if you wanted to get into it that much.

Yeah I've read about that kind of stuff on various sites, to be honest though I find it much more enjoyable to just play the game and see how my luck goes. A lot more rewarding that way when you finally get rare items.

 

I think I've seen a metal slime as well, not sure what that effects though.

I've only had the metal one happen once, pretty sure it effects how frequently you come across metal enemies though, as when I went to slime hill/grottos there seemed to be loads more metal's than usual.

 

3 orange slimes gives you a 100% chance of getting the rare drops from Grotto/Legacy(?) bosses which would normally have a 2% drop rate, as well as getting the rare item from Alchemy and possibly some other things. It's possible to manipulate the RNG to force 3 orange slimes, the guides on gamefaqs board if you want to read up on it. I'm guessing 1 orange slime gives you a slight boost?

Do you know how long the effects of the loading screen slimes last for? I wonder if it has a time limit, or is just until you power off the DS. More importantly, I wonder if going into sleep mode will reset the luck boost. If not, the next time I see some orange/metal slimes on my loading screen I might just leave my DS in sleep mode, rather than switching it off.

[Ike]

Do you know how long the effects of the loading screen slimes last for? I wonder if it has a time limit, or is just until you power off the DS. More importantly, I wonder if going into sleep mode will reset the luck boost. If not, the next time I see some orange/metal slimes on my loading screen I might just leave my DS in sleep mode, rather than switching it off.

 

Until you save and quit the game.

[Grazza]

I've still not gotten into this game yet. The slow battles and constant slowdown on the world map just put me off. I think I might just have to give up on it for the time being and save my RPG love for Golden Sun.

 

It's a shame if it doesn't run as well on the DS Phat and Lite as well as it does on the DSi and XL. I've heard (don't know if it's true) that because the former have less RAM, they have much more slowdown.

 

Until you save and quit the game.

 

Excellent! When I get three orange slimes I'm going to fight each Grotto boss four times then discard the map:

 

boss, boss, boss, boss, delete

boss, boss, boss, boss, delete

boss, boss, boss, boss, delete...

 

I completed "Diamond World of Fear Level 88" last night, and what an epic that was! It filled out a lot more of my Bestiary, taking it to 86%. One of the new monsters was a Platinum King Jewel, although as they are on Floor 14, these particular ones won't be very useful to me.

 

These higher Grottoes, by the way, are so challenging I can't believe I was thinking about whether I should do them at level 99 or not. In fact, I'm changing my Grotto team to three level 99 Gladiators + a level 99 Sage or Priest. My boss team might be Paladin, Gladiator, Sage (or Gladiator), Priest, I'm not sure.

 

One great thing about this game is that I now know monsters who I can quite easily steal valuable items off:

 

Genie Sanguini - Saint's Ashes

Metal King Slime - Orichalcum, Slime Crown

AU-1000/Gem Slime - Gold Bar

 

Anyone with a reasonable Deftness (Gladiator or above) has a decent chance of stealing, especially with the Honour Amongst Thieves or Medal of Freedom.

[Grazza]

I've now got the Metal King Armour, although it's amazing I've got even that, because they're only in Rank 9 chests and according to this guide you only have a 1% chance of getting the "Metal Slime" equipment: http://dragonquest.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_treasure_map_treasure_chest_ranks_in_Dragon_Quest_IX

 

I realise now I've encountered a Rank 10 chest too, but I deleted the Grotto because I didn't like it! Currently about to Revocate for the 4th time, ho hum...

[Ike]

Finally got a grotto with Metal King Slimes so I've been leveling up quite nicely, also got my first piece of Metal Slime equipment, the Gauntlets!

[Grazza]

Finally got a grotto with Metal King Slimes so I've been leveling up quite nicely, also got my first piece of Metal Slime equipment, the Gauntlets!

 

Great! What type of Grotto is it? I've seen them in fire and water Grottoes.

 

I've been having a blast today, as I turned it on and got one orange Slime, so I thought I'd have a clear-out of my Grottoes. I ran through each one (it's surprising how short they are when you've got the complete map) and defeated each boss (most of them only take three turns of "Attack" x 4 when you're level 99), then, if I found a duplicate boss, I discarded the Grotto. This is so I can run through them easily if I ever get three orange slimes.

 

I'm currently a level 99 Paladin +3 (can't face grinding again yet).

 

Anyway, I beat Nemean and got... Invincible Trousers!!! The most exciting moment of the game so far, for me. I shouted out "Yes!"

[Ike]

Great! What type of Grotto is it? I've seen them in fire and water Grottoes.

 

The "nature" one which just looks like a cave, I seem to get the Ruins and Nature maps alot, bit sick of them now :P. Beat the boss and got the accolade for beating a level 75 map and got another map which is level 71 but haven't gone to it yet.

[RedShell]

I got my first Lv.99 treasure map today!

But it turns out to be quite a crappy grotto, not very good for treasure or Metal monsters. The boss is Greygnarl though, who is surprisingly difficult, I actually got into trouble with my all Lv.99 team! Beat him eventually though. It's weird because you don't get another treasure map from him, he has a %100 Yggdrasil Leaf drop instead.

 

Anyway, thought I'd take some pics of my current team:

 

Bonus :

 

Gotta love DQVC!

By the way, has everyone seen this:

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2010/dragon_quest_ix_events_across_uk_19366.html

 

Dragon Quest IX events across UK.

 

Special events will be taking place up and down the country this month to bring Dragon Quest fans together, with Gamerbase in HMV stores acting as a meeting point on the following dates:

 

Edinburgh - Monday, 25th October

Glasgow - Tuesday, 26th October

Manchester - Wednesday, 27th October

London - Thursday, 28th October

Reading - Friday, 29th October

Shame they don't go with GAME and do more locations.

London is closest for me, still bloody miles away though.

Edited October 25, 2010 by RedShell

[Ike]

None near me .

 

Got a grotto with Gem Slimes, got a ton of gold battling them, they give out 10,000 gold each

[qzamabad]

i am in birmingham and really looking for a meetup, a little annoyed with the locations of the 5 hmv locations.... any takers?

[ShadowV7]

I'll likely be going tomorrow to the one in Glasgow. Though the folk who I know that play games have a sucky taste in games so don't have DQ aside from one who's working. Who needs friends when you have random strangers.