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Dragon Quest IV, V, VI: The Zenithia Trilogy

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Oh, my word. This is why I love Dragon Quest:

 

I found the "Fashion House" (or whatever it's called) and decided to enter the fashion contest. There I was strutting my stuff on the catwalk, wearing my Flame Armour, Flame Shield and Flame Sword, after which I was judged by a panel in a similar manner to Strictly Come Dancing.

 

I just laughed my head off. It's this sort of brilliance that sets Dragon Quest so far apart from other games. I love it.

 

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Was shocked that the fashion tournament was not in DQVIII and DQIX, both games would have benefited with a mini game like that.

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Was shocked that the fashion tournament was not in DQVIII and DQIX, both games would have benefited with a mini game like that.

 

Yes, I very much agree. And the Monster Arena.

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Just got Amos and I don't see the issue with him. What was the question? The one when he's lying in bed before you get the seed?

 

When do I get the job change place? Can't believe I'm at lv 25 and still not there.

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Just got Amos and I don't see the issue with him. What was the question? The one when he's lying in bed before you get the seed?

 

When do I get the job change place? Can't believe I'm at lv 25 and still not there.

 

Right before he joins you, you have the chance to tell him he was the monster, yeah. If you do, he heads for the hills as Grazza said. :laughing:

 

Alltrades Abbey isn't that far off now, I was starting to get tetchy too by that point. At this rate of playing you'll be beyond me in a few days!

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I don't like rockbombs...

 

Alltrades Abbey isn't that far off now, I was starting to get tetchy too by that point. At this rate of playing you'll be beyond me in a few days!

 

Really? I thought I was messing around too much. Just got to Cleaverdale or something, and close by I ran into those wretched rockbombs.

Edited by Tales

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I finished this about a week ago. So, my verdict...

 

It's a very fast, smooth-flowing game (going back to Dragon Quest IX afterwards felt like wading through treacle) with plenty of humour and charm. Often I would laugh out loud, sometimes it even brought a tear to my eye. I was most pleased this has got more "cheek" than IV, V or IX. It's slightly more like VIII, and so I hope the series continues in that direction.

 

The sprite animation on the final boss is excellent.

 

On the negative side, there does come a point where there is a lot of grinding, if you're OCD inclined. This is not particularly because the game is difficult (in fact, I didn't want to gain levels), but because it's hard to resist mastering all the vocations.

 

Before that point, there are also some huge difficulty spikes and badly-designed sections. The main problem is that the game world is divided into two (like Link to the Past). Personally, I never quite knew where I was, and there is so much freedom it also made it easier to run into the aforementioned difficulty spikes.

 

I beat the post-game boss in under 20 turns and got a fun ending for that.

 

So, a decent game. It's now clear to me that V is by far the best of the Zenithia Trilogy. I would somewhat recommend VI, just be aware there is lots of grinding if you're a completionist.

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On the negative side, there does come a point where there is a lot of grinding, if you're OCD inclined. This is not particularly because the game is difficult (in fact, I didn't want to gain levels), but because it's hard to resist mastering all the vocations.

 

Before that point, there are also some huge difficulty spikes and badly-designed sections. The main problem is that the game world is divided into two (like Link to the Past). Personally, I never quite knew where I was, and there is so much freedom it also made it easier to run into the aforementioned difficulty spikes.

 

I found it a lot harder to level up in this game, the Metal Slime family are a lot rarer and didn't even guarantee a level up upon killing them. Never ran into any difficulty spikes though.

 

I found you didn't need to really grind vocations until the post game.

 

My biggest issue is how open the game was, I had no idea were to go to the point I had reached places I wasn't meant to be yet. I beat Gracios (can't remember the exact name) without visiting the castle where you learn about him. Even the party chat started talking about things I hadn't done yet. The main reason I was stuck was because I didn't realise the fashion stuff was needed to progress the story when I thought it was optional.

 

Not sure if I missed something/forgot but no one mentioned that you had to go out and find the

Zenthian

equipment you just happen to hear random NPC's talk about them.

 

V still remains my favourite out of the trilogy as well. VI is still great though.

 

Anyway, want to make Carver a Paladin, but making him a priest seems... wrong it won't feel right with Carver knowing spells.

 

Also, what did everyone pick for

Reaper's Peak?

I went with the DQV version, naturally.

 

Bit odd seeing 3 sets of the children though.

 

 

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Also, what did everyone pick for
Reaper's Peak?

I went with the DQV version, naturally.

 

Bit odd seeing 3 sets of the children though.

 

 

I picked the same as you, although when the question was asked, I didn't realise it related to other games. I didn't understand the question at all, to be honest, but I'm glad I picked that one.

 

As for the rest of the game, you've described it better than me.

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Was just checking out IGN's top 100 SNES games... ridiculous that DQV was missing... absolutely ridiculous.

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What's ridiculous is that it took nearly seventeen years to release the game outside Japan. You can't really blame IGN for not including a game that they likely never played on the SNES.

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What's ridiculous is that it took nearly seventeen years to release the game outside Japan. You can't really blame IGN for not including a game that they likely never played on the SNES.

 

Really? Didn't know that! Thanks for clearing that up!!

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Was just checking out IGN's top 100 SNES games... ridiculous that DQV was missing... absolutely ridiculous.

 

It was a good game on the SNES, but daaaamn it aged badly, like really badly.

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It was a good game on the SNES, but daaaamn it aged badly, like really badly.

 

DQV?

I played it for the first time a couple years ago and loved it. Better than VIII, which used to be my favourite DQ. I think it hasn't aged a day. I played the DS version, but it's basically an enhanced port either way...

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DQV?

I played it for the first time a couple years ago and loved it. Better than VIII, which used to be my favourite DQ. I think it hasn't aged a day. I played the DS version, but it's basically an enhanced port either way...

 

But looking at it now

dq5-13.png

 

And then a few years later getting something like this.

 

dragon-quest-6-final.jpg

 

Which also is the first game to introduce animation into a dragon quest fight.

 

I still play DQV on the SNES from time to time, but when compaing it to the PS2 version or the DS version it just can't compare.

 

However DQVI on the SNES from time to time looks better on the SNES than on the DS at times, and even the music in the game sounds better to me.

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My copy of Dragon Quest VI arrived yesterday and I may start it this weekend. I'm a little nervous about starting it due to the amount of people saying it's easily the worst out of the trilogy. I'm also not a fan of the battle setup as it seems to be like IX where you pick a job and then level it up. I don't like having that kind of freedom as I usually level my characters up in a wrong way.

 

Any hints/tips before I start this?

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Any hints/tips before I start this?

 

Hmm... I wouldn't worry about the vocations, as you can change them easily and it's clear which characters you should keep as fighters and which you should keep as mages, sages etc.

 

I still think there are some badly-designed sections and potential difficulty spikes if you get ahead of yourself, but just be careful to save your game often.

 

My biggest advice would be to read up on the missable characters. It's worth the spoilers if you really want to collect them all. On the other hand, you do not need them all, and it would make it even more OCD if you did have them!!

 

Hope you enjoy it.

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Hmm... I wouldn't worry about the vocations, as you can change them easily and it's clear which characters you should keep as fighters and which you should keep as mages, sages etc.

 

I still think there are some badly-designed sections and potential difficulty spikes if you get ahead of yourself, but just be careful to save your game often.

 

My biggest advice would be to read up on the missable characters. It's worth the spoilers if you really want to collect them all. On the other hand, you do not need them all, and it would make it even more OCD if you did have them!!

 

Hope you enjoy it.

 

I didn't realize that there were missables. I may have to look into that.

 

In terms of the difficulty spikes they shouldn't cause a problem. In any RPG I tend to have sessions that last a couple of hours where I just go around grinding. This usually leaves me overpowered for various parts of the game. As long as I can do that, I should be fine. :D

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The difficulty spikes are really to do with how open the game is. You might not encounter them at all. On the other hand, if you go to the wrong place without previously finding the shop that sells the appropriate sword, you can find yourself in a very difficult situation. I suppose listening carefully to Party Talk and/or the "fortune teller" is a way to keep on the path the game expects of you.

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My copy of Dragon Quest VI arrived yesterday and I may start it this weekend. I'm a little nervous about starting it due to the amount of people saying it's easily the worst out of the trilogy. I'm also not a fan of the battle setup as it seems to be like IX where you pick a job and then level it up. I don't like having that kind of freedom as I usually level my characters up in a wrong way.

 

Any hints/tips before I start this?

 

It's still a great game even if it the "worst".

 

There is a missable character but as long as you listen to the villagers you'll be fine. He's optional anyway and isn't that great a fighter although his comments are funny.

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The missable character Ike is talking about is only missable if you act like a nob. :heh: Do the right thing and use some tact and you will recruit him... and never use him anyway!

 

I got about 20 hours into DQ VI and quite liked it, theres nothing wrong with it at all. I was enjoying levelling up the jobs (I first chose some useful ones, then switched to jobs I wouldn't normally use just to mix it up) although for some reason the big guy who I made a martial artist never seems to level up his job! I'm up to Castle Swanstone, so once you get past there, H-o-T, you'll have surpassed my efforts!

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DQVI is like a baby that grows up and becomes the handsome DQVII which I can never stop looking away. Both games are fantastic and is the area I like with DQ, one whole game with lots of short stories in them

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I've got Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie and ordered Dragon Quest V: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride. Does it really matter what order I play them in?

 

I shall be playing this next tuesday, can't wait!

Edited by -Dem0-

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I've got Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie and ordered Dragon Quest V: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride. Does it really matter what order I play them in?

 

Nope, think of them like Zelda, they may have some little references to some of the older games, but it does not take away the core of the game and can easily feel like they are stand alone games.

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the only copies of DQ 4 that I have found are either NTSC and the ones that are PAL are either out of stock, V.expensive or Italian (Box & Manual) so what should I do?

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