Dragon Quest X

[Happenstance]

Dragon Quest X coming to PC this September

 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that Square Enix’s Dragon Quest series (it’s the one that isn’t Final Fantasy) has never been on PC, so the announcement that DQX: Rise of the Five Tribes Online is heading to desktops/laptops on September 26th is a Fairly Big Deal. As with Final Fantasy 14, DQ10 (let’s dispense with the roman numerals) is an MMORPG, and it’s one that’s already been released for the Wii and the Wii U, albeit only in Japan. Hopefully this Japanese PC launch will coincide with Square Enix finally confirming their plans for a Western version of the game, presuming it’s still on the cards. You can sign up for the beta now, if you can read Japanese (or at least Google’s mangled auto-translation).

 

If you’ve long tired of the cringeworthy fashion show that is modern Final Fantasy, you might want to give Dragon Quest a try. It’s a defiantly old-fashioned RPG series, full of heart and charm, and usually accompanied by an exceptionally puntastic translation. There’s no DQ10 PC footage/details floating around just yet, but you can always try the benchmark tool to see if it will run on your rig.

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/06/22/dragon-quest-x-coming-to-pc-this-september/

 

 

I've only ever played Dragon Quest 8 I think but I did enjoy that, I wouldnt mind playing another one now it may come over here on PC even if it is just an MMO.

[Ike]

Posted over in the Wii/U version thread but the Japanese Beta version is available now. Not too hard to sign up if you want to try it out. Online mode is IP locked, but you can play the offline tutorial portion. Not sure about the offline side story.

[Happenstance]

I just hope this doesnt go the same way as Phantasy Star Online 2 and the English development just seems to disappear.

[Ike]

At least this way it's easier to import. Was tempted to import the Wii version and buying a second hand Wii and modding it and even then you need to bride the Wii to your PC to get the VPN working. Also means we could get an English fan patch this way.

 

I still want an official English Wii U version, but I'll take it however I can play it at the moment. People are saying PC release means there's a higher chance of a localisation, but I'm not too sure without Nintendo involved and I'm not sure how much they were involved with the PC version. Nintendo were at the event in some form however.

 

Peopling are reporting they've got it working with a VPN, but the client isn't even booting for me at the moment (and others it seems) so server must be down or something.

[Grazza]

Good news, I think. I'd be much more likely to play this than the Wii/Wii U version, although I still wouldn't pay a monthly fee.

[Nolan]

At least this way it's easier to import. Was tempted to import the Wii version and buying a second hand Wii and modding it and even then you need to bride the Wii to your PC to get the VPN working. Also means we could get an English fan patch this way.

 

I still want an official English Wii U version, but I'll take it however I can play it at the moment. People are saying PC release means there's a higher chance of a localisation, but I'm not too sure without Nintendo involved and I'm not sure how much they were involved with the PC version. Nintendo were at the event in some form however.

 

Peopling are reporting they've got it working with a VPN, but the client isn't even booting for me at the moment (and others it seems) so server must be down or something.

 

Took me faaaar to long to actually find the download link after running the benchmark.

 

Downloading now though.

[Ike]

Took me faaaar to long to actually find the download link after running the benchmark.

 

Downloading now though.

 

Haha, me too. How was I supposed to know the Nvidia logo was the download link? :P

 

Word of warning, the initial patch took a few hours. Also the Beta is currently unavailable, not even offline is avialable. Here's a chart with the availability times (Japan timezone).

 

 

Green is when it's available.

[Nolan]

Yup. I got it all patched up and get the dreaded ?????????????? message haha.

[Ike]

There's a free trial going on of the new pre release version of the game if anyone is interested in giving the game a try before it goes pay 2 play on the official release day (26th September).

[Ike]

Cleared the offline bit and started the online segment. My VPN is really slow at the minute though which kinda made it unplayable. :/

 

Went with the Fishman/Weddie(?) race, will probably go Ogre for the English version. Fishman's running animation looks kinda stupid though. :p

 

[Ike]

Finally got the full version yesterday after taking a looong time to arrive. Seems they have a Halloween themed event going at the minute, hoping I can check it out properly before it ends.

 

Worked out where the in game screenshot taker saves the screenshots.

 

This lady had a quest which seemed to involve use the in game screenshot taker which I did and got a reaction out of her but it didn't seem to complete the quest.

 

Got my Magi/Mage Dracky hat from playing the Beta.

 

Made it up to level 8 and progressed the story a tiny bit but I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing at the minute. Wondered into a cave and got one-shotted so I obviously wasn't meant to be there yet. :p

 

Trying to farm gold so I can upgrade my equipment, still using the Beginners Sword.

[Tales]

Knowing DQ, won't you be grinding an awfully lot in this game? (I have never played an MMO)

[Ike]

Haha. Unfortunatatly, yeah since it's a mmo it has more grinding than usual.

[Ike]

 

Got a Genki Dama from a sidequest (doubles EXP and Gold earned for 30 minutes) so did some grinding. Managed to increase by 2 levels (8 - 10) and upgrade my equipment.

 

Worked out how to allocate skill points and got Flame Slash which does quite a bit of damage, around double my normal attack.

 

Also beat the first boss (and grew to level 11!) which I believe is the end of the race specific part of the story and opens into the main story.

[Sheikah]

Damn, both this and PSO2. What is it with Japan and not releasing MMOs in the west?

[Ike]

 

Casino! Didn't visit it yet though. Had to visit "Entertainment Island" to complete the pub quest which allows me to hire NPC party members. Battles are a lot more fun with more than 1 party member, your just waiting around for your turn most of the time when your on your own. You can hire each member for certain periods of time before they leave.

 

There was some interesting looking stuff going on in the city but I have no idea what it's for. The Mini Medal King is here too who also gives a quest but I didn't speak with him yet.

 

Somehow I made it to the next major city underleveled so I spent most of today fighting to get a VPN to work for a decent amount of time Man O' Wars (great because they can summon backup) and stronger versions of the Meowgicians. The Meowgicians were giving 50+ EXP which was real nice but they are pretty hard to kill and their magic hits for a lot of damage and my NPC's tend to die a lot against them so I couldn't fight them much.

 

Went from level 11 to 14, badly in need of some cash though.

 

If you log out at the pub it allows your character to hired by other players and gives you a bit of EXP and Gold if someone hires your character into their party so I left mine so I shall see if anyone does.

Edited November 2, 2013 by Ike

[Sheikah]

It might be worth investing a small amount of cash into a decent VPN :p

[Ike]

Yeah, was debating doing that yesterday, surprised I haven't gotten banned the number of times my IP/Password changed.

 

That's what I get for using a free VPN I suppose, will look into getting a decent paid one later.

[Ike]

Renewed my sub since my free period ran out.

 

Saw my very first Metal Slime today! Of course they both ran since I'm no where near ready to be able to kill them.

 

There's currently a promotion going on for those who haven't logged in since 25th September until the 5th December (Version 2.0's release day) where you get a Angel Slime Hat which gives you and everyone in your party double experience points if you are under level 40! And it stacks with the Genki Dama bonus!

 

I found a rental character with the item since I don't qualify and it certainly sped up gaining 3 more levels!

[Ike]

Since I'm off for the holidays I've had more time to play this. Think I'm on the verge of getting addicted since all I've done today is play this this.

 

Made a tiny bit progress story wise but managed to complete a number of side quests including the ability to change vocation. Although I can't decide what to change to yet. I want to change class and get some of the passive skills so will have to look into what seems best.

 

Killed 2 Metal Slimes today which gave me just under 5000EXP. My first Metal Slimes kill (both in the same battle). Got a Liquid Metal Slime down to around half health but it ran. Saw 2 Metal Slime Stacks but they both ran as well. Found a good levelling spot and got up to level 29. Think I was around the low 20's area yesterday so I've levelled quite a bit.

 

Upgraded some of my armour as well.

 

[Ike]

For anyone that cares, I'm now at the point where I can turn Human again if I want, but I'm going to hold off for now and collect the rest of the Emblems (you need 6 to progress the story).

 

Unfortunately due to the way the game is structured, the other races stories after pretty quick to get through since your a lot stronger than the enemies and they either flee or die in a couple of hits. Although due to the amount of grinding it took me to beat my own story line, I'm not that bothered. :p

 

The bosses are varying degree of difficulty, the Ogre boss went down easy but the Elf boss was a bit tougher with it having a high critical hit ratio.

 

The second tier of story is a lot more difficult and a lot longer however. Our team got taken down by a giant enemy crab due to it also having an attack with a high critical ratio and that was just the mid boss! The main boss was easier but still a tough battle (we did have a level 73 on our team though :p).

 

Also completed the Warrior specific quests up to level 40 and got the Warrior set which is looking pretty nice. The level 45 quest unlocks the Coup De Grace and the level 50 gives the "Proof of Warrior" item which gives a random chance of attacking twice.

 

 

(I have the Warrior shield but I forgot to refresh the image before I reclassed to level).

 

I helped a team member with his quest to break his level 50 level cap which involved fighting enemies with a high critical rate attack (seems to be a common theme this week). Took us a few attempts because they kept killing the AI healers. Strategy in the end was for me to use Protect on the healers if one of them went down so the other wouldn't die while trying to revive the other. It's a difficult fight for level 50's, the recommended level, never mind me being 9 levels lower.

 

So yeah, fun times.

[Grazza]

@Ike - thanks for all your updates on this game. I've only just read them all, as I forgot this thread existed (I was going to say I didn't know it existed, but I see I've posted in it!)

 

What I really want to know is - How good is this game (especially compared to VIII and IX)? How much are you enjoying it? I know it's an MMO so is going to feel different; I just can't quite get my head round how much it'd compare to VIII, for example.

[Ike]

In terms of IX it's a lot bigger and better. The structure is pretty similar in both.

 

It's a bit difficult to compare to VIII, VIII probably has the better story. I have heard from someone that the stories in X are actually pretty good, but it's hard to say myself not being able to understand them. I've picked up the gist of most of the story lines but not enough to say either way.

 

It might depend on what it was about VIII you liked so much.

 

Version 2 added a new storyline and the 2.1 either continued that story or added a new story line.

 

It's a great game, I've had a lot fun with it despite the language barrier. It's a shame people instantly dismissed it just because it's an MMO. However it is a massive time sink and I understand people aren't as willing to play a monthly fee.

 

There's a ton of content which I haven't even touched as well as new stuff being added all the time which is also pretty daunting. Of course there are special events. Valentine's day involved a beauty contest and you could fight chocolate themed monsters variants, like the chocolate Slime Stack.

 

I haven't even bought a house yet.

 

The recent 2.1 update added a new job class to the series the "Item Master". This class allows you to scout certain mechanical based enemies (So like the Monster Tamer) to add to your team but they can also power up items to increase its affects, like heal your full team with a herb or something.

 

The game features "Magic Labyrinths" which are pretty much IX's grottoes although the difference is each floor as a certain number of enemies you must kill before you can progress. Of course there is a boss at the end.

 

A lot of the music is recycled from older games which is probably my biggest complaint. Also it's very hard to earn gold. Monsters drop very little. You gain the most of it from doing your daily crafting tasks or selling those crafts on the bazaar.

 

Progress wise since it's been a while since I updated, I'm currently near the end of Version 1's story. And as you may or may not have guessed from my avatar but I got my human form back. despite me not initially really liking any of the race designs, I got used and grew found of the Weddi form and part of me didn't want to change back. I'm at the last area but I feel I'm still too under powered to beat the final boss despite being level 50 in the warrior class. I did my own level cap quest and it went much smoother. Currently back to grinding my other classes as I want some of the stat boosts from those before I take on the final boss.

 

The second Dwarf boss was ridiculously hard though, I didn't need to beat him to progress the story but it was something I wanted to do. Some of the bosses have massive difficulty curves from out of no where. Someone I spoke to was surprised I beat it at level 50. I had some pretty good NPC team mates though.

 

Part of me wants to be selfish and hopes it doesn't get an English release. I've already put a lot of time into the Japanese version. I've been playing what? 3 months and still not finished the story. Of course I want to play the game in English and understand what's going on and play the game with people on here. Also I want to be able to play it on the Wii U on the Gamepad when I want to be lazy and lounge around in bed/on the sofa. I'm worried about how far behind the English versions content would be though.

 

I definitely recommend at least trying it out.