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Dragon Quest IV, V, VI: The Zenithia Trilogy

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Also, The ending of DQVI was great, seems like there really is a timeline between these three Zenithia-games. I'm keen on finding out where V fits.

 

Dragon Quest storylines

Zenithian storyline: VI-IV-V

Roto Storyline: III-I-II

 

The rest of the games (VII,VIII,IX and X) have no relations though.

 

I expect payments of 10 chocolate chip cookies by my door in a week from now for my contribution thanks!

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Dragon Quest storylines

I expect payments of 10 chocolate chip cookies by my door in a week from now for my contribution thanks!

 

I didn't ask, you just answered. :P

 

Anyway, I have the cookies ready, but postal service from Finland is quite slow, so I have to regretfully admit, that your demand was given in vain.

 

I do apologize.

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Aaannd, I'm back. Just beat Dragon Quest V.

 

Great adventure, probably one of the best and definietly most emotinal DQ story I have so far played. And that also marks the completition of this Zenithia Trilogy, and boy what a wild adventure that was.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the titles. While V had the best story, I think VI had the best gameplay, as in developing your characters. Much like taking Final Fantasy V, but removing the annoying parts of its development system. IV was probably the most forgettable, but that I can accept as it was originally a NES title.

 

So there, one piece of video game history cleared. I still have Dragon Quest IX waiting in my shelf, but I think Iäll take a break from DQ for a while now. Maybe tackling some Pokemon next.

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Yes, I agree that IV (in its current form) is the most forgettable. I hate to say it, but it wasn't localised as well as the others - no Party Talk, for one thing. To be honest, I think IV-VI could all do with a major remake again sometime, when it is possible to make a major jump. I hope to see I-III on the 3DS and IV-VI on Nintendo's next handheld...! :)

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Then again, IV had the most memorable villain of the trilogy, Psaro the Manslayer.

 

Maybe it was because he was a constant part of the story, whereas Nimzo and Mortamor were only revealed towards the end of the game. I was surprosed, as the final battles were always pushed up a notch in difficulty in comparison to the enemies and bosses on the final lair. Only Nimzo was a bit on the easy side, Psaro and Mortamor really put up a difficult fight.

 

Damn, now I really want to test out IX, but I don't know if I have time to play it. Hmm...

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Ok, so I went back to Portugal for a weekend some time ago, and found Dragon Quest VI for 15€. I thought it was a bargain (they also had Elite Beat Agents for 5€), so I bought it to play later, but ever since then, I've seen the same price for that game in several other places.

 

I know this might sound paranoid, but are there any known issues with the game that caused it to undersell, or its price to drop?

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I know this might sound paranoid, but are there any known issues with the game that caused it to undersell, or its price to drop?

 

Nothing wrong with the game itself, it had a few changes from the SNES version but nothing to put people off.

 

It just didn't sell too well, at least no where near DQIX levels even though it was published by Nintendo. IV and V didn't sell well and SE nearly dropped VI all together until Nintendo swooped in. it being published by Nintendo probably means it had higher print numbers. IV and V price increased because they became rare for a while.

 

Also Joker 2 didn't sell to hotly either.

 

It's pretty much the reason DQX getting a localisation is up in the air at the moment.

 

It's not my favourite of the Zenith trilogy but it's still great, certainly worth playing.

Edited by Ike

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God bless clueless people, though... I got IV and V for a little over 20€ combined, lol.

 

Yes, I agree that IV (in its current form) is the most forgettable.

 

Really? 'Cos I skipped VI on account of pretty much everywhere I looked people calling it the worst in the trilogy. I didn't much care for IV, either, to be honest... or III. Or VII. I liked them, but wouldn't consider them mandatory at all. Loved V and VIII, though, I completely agree with their reputation of being the best 2!

 

Also, I just realized how the DQ and FF numbers always seem to oppose one another as far as reputation is considered. =D

 

The first 2 entries in both series don't really count as they're more proto games than anything and are mostly ignored, but from 3 onwards in both series it's always opposite:

 

FF3 is considered meh/good. DQ3 is considered incredible.

 

FF4 is considered incredible. DQ4 is considered good.

 

FF5 is considered good. DQ5 is considered incredible.

 

FF6 is considered incredible. DQ6 is considered good.

 

FF7 is considered incredible. DQ7 is considered good. (I disagree with this one though... DQ7 is much better than FF7 imo, even though I didn't even finish DQ7).

 

FF8 is considered meh/good. DQ8 is... well, it's DQ8, motherfuckers!

 

FF9 is considered incredible. DQ9 is considered good.

 

You gotta love the modern community's newfound appreciation of FF9, that game was ridiculously underrated by the fans at the time, made me very happy seeing it voted the second best FF (after VI, and rightly so) in the latest NeoGAF RPG poll, not to mention it being ahead of FF7... that tasted particularly good, for some reason.

Edited by Oxigen_Waste

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Like I said, VI is still good. Doesn't deserve skipping at least :cry:

 

III, V & VIII are generally considered the best. I hear X is actually pretty good.

 

My personal ranking would be something like this, I think:

 

  1. VIII
  2. V
  3. IX
  4. IV
  5. VI
  6. I
  7. II

 

Not played III or VII enough to rank them properly, but III seems it probably in my top III. I like VII a lot so far as well.

 

Although II is my lowest it doesn't mean the game is bad, my list is on a scale of "Amazing" to "Sightly not as Amazing". To be honest I almost would class I & II as one game as they tend to get bundled together anyway. Much prefer the Super Famicom version over the Famicom/NES versions.

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Really? 'Cos I skipped VI on account of pretty much everywhere I looked people calling it the worst in the trilogy. I didn't much care for IV, either, to be honest... or III. Or VII. I liked them, but wouldn't consider them mandatory at all. Loved V and VIII, though, I completely agree with their reputation of being the best 2!

 

Well, IV just seemed a bit simple to me at the time, especially without Party Talk. VI is sprawling, but had a powerful story here and there. Plus it had changeable classes/vocations. To be honest, I could swap IV and VI around depending on what mood I'm in.

 

I'm glad VIII and V are considered the best though. IX is also in my Top 3. I can't say the story or atmosphere were anything special, but I just had so much fun with it.

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*casts Kazing on topic*

A couple of weeks back I mentioned in another thread how I wouldn't mind playing some of the older DQ games again and that time is now.

I decided to go with the DS trilogy of games. I never did play DQVI ( been sat on the shelf for YEARS ) but I didn't want to jump straight into it without going through IV and V first. This may end up being a mistake as I will be probably burnt out by the time I reach the sixth game. :p Anyway, that being the case, I fired up Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen yesterday afternoon. 

I forgot how funny and annoying the accents can be to read. I remember me shelving the game early on when I originally played the game due to me finding them annoying. If you search the thread you'll probably find my comments about this. :D 

I finished Ragnar's chapter yesterday evening. I'm playing the game the same way I did all those years ago by doing random battles until I have enough gold to buy every bit of upgrade armour that the shops have to sell. This works out well because it gives me the best gear but also levels my characters up. I think Ragnar was level 10 or 11 when I fought the boss of his chapter. I was able to just tank the hits and pummel the boss...with the help of the healing Slime, of course. :p 

I'm currently using this tactic with Alena, Kiryl and Borya just outside of Zalenagrad. I'm needing a fair bit of cash to get everyone equipped with Leather Armour and to buy a couple of Divine Daggers.

Man, I love the enemy sprite work in the game. They are so animated and full of character. Something that still remains true for the newer 3D entries in the series.

I find Dragon Quest to be comfort food JRPGs. Because they retain so much between each of the entries ( music, enemies, spells etc ) there's a real sense of familiarity that comes from playing them. :heart:

*goes back to grinding for coin*

 

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15 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I find Dragon Quest to be comfort food JRPGs. Because they retain so much between each of the entries ( music, enemies, spells etc ) there's a real sense of familiarity that comes from playing them. :heart:

 

So true!

 

I played most of them myself over the years.  The only one I haven't completed (apart from X and XI) is III, because I just got burnt out, which is not to say it's more taxing than the others, but I'd had enough at the time.

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1 minute ago, Grazza said:

 

So true!

 

I played most of them myself over the years.  The only one I haven't completed (apart from X and XI) is III, because I just got burnt out, which is not to say it's more taxing than the others, but I'd had enough at the time.

I can't wait for you to experience DQXI. You're in for a treat.

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I played through the DS version of V for the first time a few months ago. It doesn't quite hold up to VI, but it has some neat ideas.

Lizzie in that game is waaaayyyy overpowered and I'm fine with that. Plus, it's kind of amusing using party chat with her and seeing her very simplistic view on humans.

XI will probably be next once I get it on Switch. Then IV seems the most logical step after that.

Edited by Glen-i
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I've just finished Alena's chapter.

The tournament proved to be a bit tricky. Both Quick Draw McGore and Samson Knight had me on the ropes. Twice I got to the Abominable Showman and both times he managed to do me over due to having zero luck in hitting him. :( 

I decided to reload my game, head out to the wilds and level up a bit. Luckily I ended up running into a Metal Slime just north east of Endor. Even luckier was the fact that I managed to defeat the thing.  Borya actually paralyzed it by chance and then I was able to go enough damage to it before it sodded off.

With Alena at level 14, I went back to the arena and pretty much sweeped all of the opponents away quite easily. My lucky streak was still with me because I got a critical hit on Samson Knight on my first turn and this wiped him out straight away! :D 

Alena's adventure is over for now. The tale of Torneko begins...

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If I remember right, you need 10 iron swords to complete the chapter and for a certain period you can buy them on the cheap so it might be worth buying them and hanging onto them. Saves grinding monster drops for them. Although you might prefer the grinding. :heh:

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2 hours ago, Ike said:

If I remember right, you need 10 iron swords to complete the chapter and for a certain period you can buy them on the cheap so it might be worth buying them and hanging onto them. Saves grinding monster drops for them. Although you might prefer the grinding. :heh:

It was 6 swords and 6 armour. I'm sure someone gave me similar advice when I originally played it 10 years ago. It may have been darksnowman. I'll have to have a scroll through the thread and have a look.

I wanted to finish off Torneko's chapter before going to bed and I've just finished it off now. I didn't bother doing the sword/money cheat. I play the game in a way where the money grinding goes hand in hand with the level grinding. If I didn't grind the money then my levels would be lower than what I wanted.

The first section of the chapter starts off pretty slow but once you are free to leave the shop things do pick up quite quickly. Also, earning the cash needed isn't that hard really. The items that drop off of monsters do so far more generously than they do for any other character.

I was happy to get Torneko and his family out of his village and move him to Endor. At least he doesn't have to put up with that bloke putting him down and perving on his wife anymore. :D 

The next chapter awaits...

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...but not until I get some sleep. :p 

 

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On August 1, 2009 at 3:27 PM, Ike said:

 

There's a great money making scheme in chapter 3 as long as you don't progress enough to make it unavailable.

Turns out it wasn't darksnowman. It was Ike again. :D 

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Cracked on with this some more this morning and I've just finished Maya and Meena's chapter. It was pretty straight forward, especially when you get the third party member joining you. 

I kept having encounters with Slime monsters that would join up to make the King Slime. These fights were pretty annoying, not because they were difficult but because of the time they take. If you attack them they just replenish their ranks with more Slime. :mad:

With that chapter done, it's time for the final push...

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IIRC, this final chapter is significantly longer than the rest of them, with the previous chapters just being used as small set ups for this one.

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Seeing Maya and the Hero has made me remember how much I love the character design in this game.  You've made me want to play it again, @Hero-of-Time!

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I'm having an absolute blast playing through this again. It's so much fun! I love it how the DQ games are just simple, no none sense JRPGs. There's no stupidly complex battle systems to learn or any fancy way to level up. The games just let you get on with it.

I'm currently 17 hours in, recruited all of the Chosen and they are all kicking around the level 25 mark. I did do a spot of grinding to reach those levels but that was mainly to  get Ragnar up to the same levels as everyone else. In doing that I came across some more Metal Slimes and managed to kill a fair few of them. I also came across a Liquid Slime but the thing ran away. :( 

The team I'm rocking at the moment is myself, Alena, Ragnar and Meena. I'm all about just hitting hard and healing up when I need to, which is why Meena is there. While I do miss being able to cast a few spells, given my level I'm usually able to withstand any attacks thrown at me. This lineup may have to change towards the end game.

I've just nabbed my 2nd bit of the Zenithian gear ( got armour and shield ) and I'm about to set off to grab my 3rd piece...

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I've taken care of Psaro's 4 minions but I've yet to venture into the last dungeon. I decided to head to the Royal Crypt area and do a spot of Liquid Metal Slime farming. I've gone from level 32 to 37 in a very short period of time. It's just a shame only my main 4 are getting the experience points.

I had a battle where 4 LMS spawned and somehow I managed to kill all 4 for a cool 40k exp boost. Not one of them tried to escape. Lucky me!

I think I'll get my team to over level 40 and then head towards the final battle.

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My final team and levels were these.

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I absolutely tanked Psaro. With a combination of high levels, Adam, Alena, Ragnar doing the attacking and Meena constantly on healing duty with spells and the Sage Stone, the poor boss didn't stand a chance. 

D7l5E1yX4AIzpbR?format=jpg&name=large

I forgot just how good the transformation animations are during this fight. The way the camera pans around and new limbs are grown look fantastic, despite it being a DS game.

As I mentioned earlier, I loved playing through this again and I look forward to starting Dragon Quest V. Before that though I may do the extra post game content that IV offers. Looking through the thread it seems the last time I done the post game stuff I was in the high 40s, so getting to level 50 should do the trick.

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This evening I done some level grinding and then finished off the post game bosses.

D7rgxsFWwAMOTh5?format=jpg&name=large

I forgot how funny these guys are. Their battle music and general banter is hilarious. They didn't cause too much trouble. Some of my team were in the level 50 range which made it a pretty easy fight. 

Next up...

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I switched a couple of members for this fight. Psaro was pretty under levelled but I hadn't used any seeds during my time with the game so I ploughed them all into him which negated the need for any level grinding. Meena and Kiryl were on healing and buff duty while myself and Psaro dealt the damage. 

With those battles done and dusted, I seen the new ending and the game is complete. What a ride!

*fires up Dragon Quest V* :D 

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