Topic: Rumor: Dragon Quest Remakes For DS

[jakeOSX]

i played DQ1 on the NES shortly after beating FF for the first time.

when i realized you had to open a menu to open a door, i stopped and never turned it back on.

i suspect that later games changed that...

[couchmonkey]

It's been too long since I played DQ IV to give an accurate opinion, but at the time I had played Final Fantasy IV and had already decided that I would never touch Final Fantasy I again because of grinding, yet I still enjoyed DQ IV.

It definitely included grinding, but I only recall one area where I actually had to stop progressing and just wander around and level up for like an hour.  That said, a lot of content in the game hid grinding in a novel way for the time, which might not be so "novel" anymore.  Louieturkey mentions Taloon's chapter, where you have to earn a ton of Gold...but it was somewhat disguised by the novelty of running a store.

[IceCold]

Damn RPGs.. even the talk of grinding makes me sick.

[couchmonkey]

I replayed most of Chapter 1 on DQIV yesterday.  Impressions:

- There is some grinding in Chapter 1 but it's not bad.*   Unfortuantely some of the other chapters are worse.
- I hope they fix the menu system. Like somebody mentioned, you open a menu every time you want to talk.
- More importantly, smooth out the talking controls in general.  NPCs have a tendency to step away just as you talk to them.
- I still love how the story works (there are four chapters that tell the stories of the various characters that make up your total party in chapter 5) but I hope they improve the localization - it's not Engrish, but it's bland.
- In chapter 5, your team goes on auto-pilot.  You choose their strategy, but there's only one character you can control directly. I liked this system a lot in 1992, but who knows if it has held up over time?
- I like how death works - you lose some gold and are sent back to the last church you saved at, but you don't lose your experience or items.


* Obviously, everyone has different opinions on how much grinding is acceptable.  Here's a rundown of my playtime last night:

5 minutes - Explored Burland Castle Town.
10 minutes - Explored surrounding area, gained a level, died.
20 minutes - Made it through a small cave leading to Izmit Village.
30 minutes - Pumped everyone in Izmit for info, cleared out the remaining bit of the first cave.
45 minutes - Returned to Burland Castle Town and brought a woman back to Izmit Village. (Around Level 3)
60 minutes - Found a hidden cave where a key item is, got the item and died exploring more of the cave.
75 minutes - Explored the rest of the cave and added an Uncontrolled Assistant to my party.
80 minutes - Made my first foray into the final castle, returned to Izmit for more supplies. (Around Level 5)
95 minutes - Made it through the castle to the boss, died.
2 hours - Made two more runs to the boss, died the first time, should have won the second time, but forgot to heal my Assistant before the battle and he got wiped out in the first round. (Around Level 7 or

Personally, I enjoyed playing a hard RPG for a change.  I should have won that last battle, but I got anxious and forgot to heal before starting.  The grinding is a bit worse in Chapter 2, because the Princess is tough as nails, but her two sidekicks are pansies that die at the drop of the hat.  

[Luigi Dude]

Dragon Quest IV TGS 2007 Trailer

The game sure is looking nice.