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Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors

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And Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2! Only when you want a long game though. It's still cartoony, but it's one immense RPG! :heh:

 

My fiancée (pretty sure that's the first time I have written that word down.. ever :eek:) and I bought Dragon Quest VIII about a year ago new for £1.99 in GAME.. and it is a game I am really looking forward to playing some day :hehe:

 

Having said that, I'm not sure when that day will be as I don't feel like I will be prepared to tackle it for the forseeable future :eek: I seem to have too much else to play :red:

 

I hope I will get to it some time, but I'd like to get back to my Skies of Arcadia file before delving into a different turn-based RPG.. and Shenmue II is on the horizon having waited something like two years since completing the original :eek:

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I hope I will get to it some time, but I'd like to get back to my Skies of Arcadia file before delving into a different turn-based RPG.. and Shenmue II is on the horizon having waited something like two years since completing the original :eek:

 

Don't mid Grazza and his obsession with Dragon Quest VIII, he will try to force feed you that game even if it kills him :heh:

 

Basically I'll give you a run down on which Dragon Quest might suit you...

 

If you are a graphics whore = Dragon Quest VIII

 

If you love a deep storyline = Dragon Quest V

 

If you want a game where you don't pay much attention to the story but has a lot of things you can do = Wait for Dragon Quest IX to come out.

 

I would like to mention Dragon Quest VII as your answer for if you want the biggest and vast quest, but it's a 2001 game on the PS1 that only ever came out to english in the US so :heh: Don't bother with that ^_^ (Until hopefully the announcement for Dragon Quest VII for the Wii and I will need more then new pants to feel clean again.)

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From your descriptions, I would guess that Dragon Quest IX is likely to suit me best out of those games :heh:

 

Anyway, I seem to have played Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors a lot since starting it on Tuesday morning.. so much that I actually finished it tonight :eek:

 

It was quite straightforward until the final battle which required me to go back to do a couple of stages again so I could temper my sword and obtain a few mini medals to exchange for a couple of leaves to ressurect the fallen.. and even then, I just about managed it :heh:

 

I had ran out of everything and the final boss had taken me down to 13HP when a 3 pronged attack requiring a diagonal slash came my way! Given how inaccurate that can be, I was thankful to execute it perfectly to not only survive but also provide the killer blow.. and that was that :yay:

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From your descriptions, I would guess that Dragon Quest IX is likely to suit me best out of those games :heh:

Then your in luck, the game isn't out yet so you have time catching up on all those other games you want to go back and finish :laughing:

 

and that was that :yay:

Congrats ^^

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Should / nando / play any of the main Dragon Quest series? I'm gonna say no. :heh: Whether IX might sound relatively good in principle or not.

 

I've been playing DQ: S: TMQATTOM (what? I was dying to type that full acronym out!) this week and finished it today. Really enjoyed my time with it. I envisioned a shoddy sword game skinned with a DQ theme but what I got was a proper little DQ adventure! The charm, the vibrant (yet small) world, the music, the items, the baddies, the character of the characters... its all here. I wasn't expecting voice acting, but the characters all speak in their separate dialects during cutscenes- yet another top notch translation, by the way. How good is Fleurette? Her Frenchness is the highlight of the cast for me.

 

I've plonked just over ten hours into DQ: Swords and I've beaten three of the post game mirrors in the Reflectory. King Latem (ie a Metal King Slime, geddit?) being the one I haven't vanquished. He seems to do a runner after 25 seconds and I'm yet to get him down to half his health in that amount of time. I dunno if I'll do any more right now because whilst I've loved the ten hours I've had with it, I don't want to turn it into a grind. There's plenty of swords to temper- I want a Zenithian one- but they cost a lot and getting money has been a slow process compared to the value of the swords.

 

It might be "Dragon Quest Lite" but its still packed full of quality.

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I picked this up about a week ago. To be perfectly honest, I forgot it existed. Then I saw nando was playing it and I got a sudden urge to buy it. When it was released, I was snobbish about it, ie "just a spin-off". However, when I thought how much I like Dragon Quest VIII, it seemed crazy not to play it.

 

Anyway, I'm pleased to say the style of localisation is intact from DQVIII, with eloquent dialogue and many of the same voice actors. It even has Michael from Alan Partridge!

 

The trademark Dragon Quest humour is there too. I was absolutely in stitches at "Stiletto", the man who runs the mini-games, and was very surprised when the blacksmith made me a sword and said "Ah yes, that looks the dog's on you!"

 

This is still the only DQ game that has been on a machine more powerful than the PS2, and so it's a great thrill for me to see all the monsters upgraded. Same goes for all the sound effects and items. It's bliss! I think the world of Dragon Quest releases loads of endorphins in me, because nothing else makes me feel quite that way! When I saw you can forge the Dragovian King Sword from Dragon Quest VIII, I was even more excited!

 

The gameplay is good and thrilling, although I hit a low point when I failed on Chapter 8. It's too long, making it very frustrating if you fail on the final boss. It is also a massive grind getting all the items for the forging. You have to replay the same areas far more times than you would in a normal RPG. Still, I'll go back to it and forge all those swords eventually!

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You have to replay the same areas far more times than you would in a normal RPG. Still, I'll go back to it and forge all those swords eventually!

 

I actually only had to repeat two levels once each in order to have enough to get me through the final battle.. up until then, it was pretty much a straight run through (and a relatively enjoyable one :yay:)

 

I'm glad I left myself with stuff to go back to (after you complete the game) because I was through this in a couple of days.. maybe too quickly..

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I'm glad I left myself with stuff to go back to (after you complete the game) because I was through this in a couple of days.. maybe too quickly..

 

You and darksnowman are making me feel very inadequate! :heh: In my defence a) I was rushing because I had to leave for work, b) I don't think I actually ran out of health, I just turned the game off with low health on the boss's 2nd form (it doesn't help that he has no health bar - grr) and C) I hadn't forged a 3rd-tier elemental sword because I thought I had to use the one the statue gave me.

 

But yeah, I'm rubbish!

 

I blinkin' love wearing all the armour from the series, such as the Dragon Mail. It's comforting like an old pair of slippers! Of course, you can't see yourself wearing it, as it's 1st-person, but I really hope you can see all the armour and items in any future Dragon Quest games. In Dragon Quest VIII there is one visible "set" for Hero and a few for Jessica, but I'd love to see them all. I want to stomp about in full "Metal King" garb.

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I blinkin' love wearing all the armour from the series, such as the Dragon Mail. It's comforting like an old pair of slippers! Of course, you can't see yourself wearing it, as it's 1st-person, but I really hope you can see all the armour and items in any future Dragon Quest games. In Dragon Quest VIII there is one visible "set" for Hero and a few for Jessica, but I'd love to see them all. I want to stomp about in full "Metal King" garb.

 

DQIX does. Can't remember if it's armor or just outfits but they all have visual changes and there're some great costumes you can get.

 

If you need to level up, replay the mirror world stage there a lot of Metal Slimes which are pretty easy to kill which will level you up quick. You don't even need to hold forward for that stage either.

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DQIX does. Can't remember if it's armor or just outfits but they all have visual changes and there're some great costumes you can get.

 

Every tiny bit of equipment and Armour/shields, boots, arms etc etc are clearly visible in DQIX on the character when they are wearing them.

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Every tiny bit of equipment and Armour/shields, boots, arms etc etc are clearly visible in DQIX on the character when they are wearing them.

 

This is a feature I have been longing for to be standard in RPGs for years, yet assumed there must have been some hardware limitation-related reason why I had never seen it in any title (unless I'm just spectacularly ignorant of these things).

 

If the DS hardware can pull off all those armour models, why isn't it a feature that's in every modern RPG? Is it laziness, or is it just me who actually thinks it a good feature to have?

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I think Resonance of Fate reflects equipment changes on your characters.

Edited by darksnowman

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If the DS hardware can pull off all those armour models, why isn't it a feature that's in every modern RPG? Is it laziness, or is it just me who actually thinks it a good feature to have?

 

Bolded the correct part.

And it's one of the best features, more fun in a game when you can make your character look ridiculous too making him/her looking badass.

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If you need to level up, replay the mirror world stage there a lot of Metal Slimes which are pretty easy to kill which will level you up quick. You don't even need to hold forward for that stage either.

 

Thanks. That's the first level I haven't got an A-Rank for, so I definitely need to spend some more time with that (I got an S-Rank for the Griffin level!)

 

Every tiny bit of equipment and Armour/shields, boots, arms etc etc are clearly visible in DQIX on the character when they are wearing them.

 

That's brilliant, can't wait to wear the Metal King Armour and Spear! This should be standard from now on, it's so appealing.

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*cast Zing on topic*

With the Zenithian trilogy behind me, it's time for my next DQ adventure. I managed to snap up a sealed copy of the game off eBay last week.

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I wasn't really interested in the game when it was originally released. My experience with the DQ series was very limited at the time ( played DQVIII for a bit on the PS2 ) so a lot of the charm that resides in this series would have been lost on me. I'm looking forward to giving this game a play through and hopefully the motion controls won't hinder my enjoyment too much.

Time to dust off the old Wii U and start my adventure...

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God damn it! I thought this was some sudden announcement!

Disappointment draws near...

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I was wondering what game you were hinting at, this one didn't cross my mind for some reason even though I loved the game alot. Still waiting for a Motion Plus follow up.

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Simon Greenall's even in this one (the bloke who voices the Meerkats and plays Michael in I'm Alan Partridge). :)

 

Also, that's one massive telly!

Edited by Grazza
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I finally got around to start this, yesterday evening. I put a couple of hours into it so far and have just reached chapter 4.

I love how the world feels just like a proper Dragon Quest game. You have a bunch of colourful characters in the main hub area, with some of them having fully voiced dialogue. Even the ones that don't speak give off a lot of character purely because of the way they are wrote. The little woman in the armour shop that says things like " Hello, my lover" and I can hear the voice and accent in my head. :D The sense of familiarity continues out on the battle field as you will be fighting the enemies that you know and love from the main games.

The combat is quite fun, if a little fiddly. As expected, the motion controls don't always do what I want them to do. There are times where I was trying to slash one way but the game was registering my doing a completely different type of move. This has made getting the higher ranks at the end of stages pretty much impossible, although I did manage to grab an A rank on one of the stages. Hopefully the items you get from the higher rankings are available elsewhere in the game. 

While the sword mechanic is a bit iffy, I do enjoy using the shield. It's very satisfying to block enemy attacks and then hit them on the counter. I also enjoy how the shield starts to fall apart from using it too much. It's a good way of keeping you on your toes so that you can't just stand there and block until your hearts content. You have to be pretty proactive in order to make it to the end of the stage while keeping your shield intact.

The movement and item selection in the game come with some baffling design choices. They really should have allowed for you to use the nunchuck to actually move the character. Having to move with the d-pad is pretty awkward. The same goes for bringing up menus and using your special moves, both of which are mapped to the 1 and 2 buttons. A far better thing to do would be for movement to be controlled with the nunchuck, with the items and special moves being mapped to the - and + buttons. They are far more accessible than the 1 and 2 buttons. To get around the fiddly moving I have been holding the wiimote in my right hand and then using my left hand/thumb to move with the d-pad. 

I love Fleurette. :heart:

859901-fleurette.png

I find it hilarious that she was training to be a nun and once she quit that profession she then goes away and starts dressing like she does. :grin: Her voice acting/french accent is great and i've found her to be more helpful in battle than Anlace. I didn't know what to get her to say when she addresses me. I wasn't sure how many options there were to scroll through but I eventually settled on her calling me mon ami, purely because it reminded me of Gambit from the old Fox Kids X-Men cartoon. :laughing:

Once i've completed a level I then went back through it again. This has allowed me to get a bit more experience and cash, so in that sense i'm just playing it like a normal DQ in that i'm doing some grinding in order to get the best equipment I can before I move on to the next area. This means that if my movements/controls don't register and I do get hit, I have enough HP and defence to still make it through the stages.

I'm looking forward to getting back on it later today. :peace:

 

 

Edited by Hero-of-Time
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Blast from the past, @Hero-of-Time :hehe:

I love seeing threads from old games revived! It's cool to see all of the original opinions as well as new impressions.. though there is something at the top of the page that I perhaps don't need to be reminded of :indeed:

I was actually kinda hoping maybe we would be getting a Switch port or something with the bump but I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts.

I thought it was a decent game at the time :smile:

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8 minutes ago, nekunando said:

I love seeing threads from old games revived! It's cool to see all of the original opinions as well as new impressions.:smile:

I love it as well. It's been fun reading through the old comments in both this and the DS Dragon Quest threads. It's also sad just seeing how many good members we've lost over the years. :( 

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I put some more time into this last night and have managed to complete another couple of chapters. The method of instantly revisiting stages that I have just beaten has worked wonders, not only for my level but also for grabbing ingredients to power up my sword. I decided to go the lightning route when powering it up. I've no idea if this was the correct way or not but I see that I can go back and make the ice and fire versions if I choose to do so.

In various stages i've come across giant boulders that I couldn't break down. I had to look up online on how to get rid of them and it turns out all I needed was to spend some of my Mini Medals that I had been hording and buy the seed that allows me to break the blocks. Now that I have that move in my pocket i'll be revisiting stages to see what goodies lie beyond those walls. Speaking of Mini Medals, I see you can buy the Liquid Metal Armour for 100 of them. The boost to your defence is insane and i'm half tempted to spend a bit of time just trying to farm the medals I need to buy this. 

I think all of the partner characters have been unlocked now but i'm still using Fleurette at every available opportunity. Having her healing skills, as well as a spell that damages all enemies, just comes in too handy to pick anyone else. I seem to do much better in a stage when I have her with me. So much so that I even managed to get S ranks in a couple of stages! With the way the wiimote acts at times I honestly didn't think i'd be able to achieve this.

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Outside of the main quest, I played around with a couple of the mini games in the town. The Tombola is just a game of chance and is played by rotating the wiimote as if turning the handle on the ball machine. I did get a couple of half decent healing items from it and seeing as you don't have to pay for playing it I was happy to put all of my tickets to good use. The other one I played was Slime Crisis ( Time Crisis pun?) and I quite enjoyed playing this one. It's hard to get a decent score on it though due to the wiimote not correctly registering my inputs. Still, it was a nice distraction from the main quest.

With no World Cup matches being played tonight I should be able to spend a lot more time on this. I think it's chapter 6 or 7 that i'm currently on and once again i'm looking forward to getting back home and playing the game. 

 

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The Tombola is what broke me, you get the Liquid Metal Shield from it as the top prize but it was killing my arm.

And yes, Fleurette is best partner.

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2 minutes ago, Ike said:

The Tombola is what broke me, you get the Liquid Metal Shield from it as the top prize but it was killing my arm.

Bah! So to get that shield it's left down to a game of chance? Disappointing. :( 

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28 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Bah! So to get that shield it's left down to a game of chance? Disappointing. :( 

Yeah. It was the only thing I had left to get.

You have to win twice as well.

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