Gaming Forums => Nintendo Gaming => Topic started by: Jonnyboy117 on September 23, 2008, 02:17:35 AM
Title: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on September 23, 2008, 02:17:35 AM
Been playing Dragon Quest IV for review since Sunday, but there's a long way to go. Contrary to common belief, this game was indeed released in English on NES... but it was extremely rare, so not many people got to play it. I was one of the lucky few, as a friend of mine let me borrow her copy. I don't remember a lot about the story except for the AWESOME chapter with Torneko. He's a fledgling merchant, and the goal of his chapter is to open a store and make a certain amount of money. The best way to get items for selling in the store is to go fight monsters and win items in battle. That whole part of the game has a special charm and is truly unique among RPGs. It was so popular in Japan that Torneko became a fan favorite and eventually got his own game... but it was a Mystery Dungeon title. :-(
Anyway, DQIV is of course very similar to DQ8 on PS2, which all of you should play immediately if you haven't already. Or maybe you should play DQIV first, then DQ8. If this is your first Dragon Quest, have no fear! It's not terribly hard, and there is so much to love. The gameplay is quite similar to Final Fantasy, but the tone of the story and art style are much more playful. WARNING: You do have to grind for levels and money. It's just a part of the series. I love it, others hate it, so bear that in mind. For me, grinding has an addictive quality; I don't mind it at all as long as the characters are visibly improving and I feel that I'm making good progress towards buying some cool equipment. That's the great thing about Dragon Quest: the games always put new weapons and armor just out of reach, so you know they can be yours with just a little more effort. And they make a huge difference in battle, so they're totally worth it.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on September 23, 2008, 11:43:19 AM
I already ordered it. I played a little of the original on an emulator (shh!), and I was impressed by the depth of the game. It was the NES's last hurrah, I suppose.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: NWR_Lindy on September 23, 2008, 12:30:10 PM
I love grinding in RPGs. I don't know why, I can do it forever. In FFVII I grinded all my characters up to Level 99, which took about three days straight.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on September 23, 2008, 01:00:46 PM
I have my limits, but I do enjoy grinding in smaller portions. It's a good thing to do on your DS while watching TV, listening to podcasts, making out with your girlfriend, etc.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: KDR_11k on September 23, 2008, 01:33:05 PM
Dunno, I seriously lack patience and enjoy new stuff, grinding lacks the "new stuff" part.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Sundoulos on September 24, 2008, 02:18:24 PM
I played the original NES DQIV some years ago, but I didn't make it all the way through. As a fan of DQ VIII (and RPGs in general), I'm looking forward to trying this again.
The nice thing about the way Dragon Quest IV is structured is that each chapter focuses on a different character. I think that helps the game stay fresh even if you have to do a little level grinding now and then.
I've never minded the grinding in DQ games, though. When playing through DQ VIII, but I always got a certain feeling of accomplishment when I had finally leveled up enough to get a new skill, or when I finally acquired enough gold to finally purchase that shiny new weapon I wanted. I'm a bit of an old-school RPG gamer, though.
....
Johnny, I'd be interested to know what you think about the save function in the game. I've heard complaints elsewhere about the fact that you still have to save at a church. Some gamers feel that this is too antiquated, but for some die hard RPG players out there, DQ is sort of a holy grail, and that this is a staple that should not be removed. I also understand that there is no quick save function in the game. Is this true?
I'm still disappointed and puzzled to hear that Squeenix has supposedly elminated the "party chat" from the English versions of the game, especially since the English translation of it was already in place in the Japanese version of the game.
Here's hoping that the game performs well here, and that at least DQ V will finally find it's way over here.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Nick DiMola on September 24, 2008, 02:24:46 PM
I was at the store yesterday and I saw this in the case ... for $50. WTF is that!? Sorry but I refuse to pay that much for a DS game, much less a remake of an NES game.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Caliban on September 24, 2008, 02:37:47 PM
It's supposed to be $39.99, just as when I bought it.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Nick DiMola on September 24, 2008, 02:50:22 PM
Johnny, I'd be interested to know what you think about the save function in the game. I've heard complaints elsewhere about the fact that you still have to save at a church. Some gamers feel that this is too antiquated, but for some die hard RPG players out there, DQ is sort of a holy grail, and that this is a staple that should not be removed. I also understand that there is no quick save function in the game. Is this true?
What can I say? Every DQ game requires saving at a church. I'm used to it, but I can see how it might seem like a problem to new players. One thing I can say is that the game makes it cheap an easy to get Chimera Wings, which will take you back to a church instantly. Magic users also learn Evac (to escape from dungeons) at a low level. So I don't think it's a huge problem, but it's definitely less convenient than PC-style RPGs that let you save anywhere, anytime.
You heard wrong about Quick Save; it's definitely in the game, as you would expect in any handheld RPG.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: KDR_11k on September 25, 2008, 02:06:02 AM
Antiquated or not, tradition or not, handheld games require fast access to saving!
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Sundoulos on September 25, 2008, 11:02:02 AM
What can I say? Every DQ game requires saving at a church. I'm used to it, but I can see how it might seem like a problem to new players. One thing I can say is that the game makes it cheap an easy to get Chimera Wings, which will take you back to a church instantly. Magic users also learn Evac (to escape from dungeons) at a low level. So I don't think it's a huge problem, but it's definitely less convenient than PC-style RPGs that let you save anywhere, anytime.
You heard wrong about Quick Save; it's definitely in the game, as you would expect in any handheld RPG.
I'm glad to hear that I was wrong about the Quick Save. Saving at the church doesn't bother me personally, but I've seen others make a big deal about it.
I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive from Amazon...ahh, the dark side of the super saver shipping.
I'm hoping that IV performs reasonably well because I'd love the opportunity to play DQ V in the future.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on September 25, 2008, 12:10:01 PM
What can I say? Every DQ game requires saving at a church. I'm used to it, but I can see how it might seem like a problem to new players. One thing I can say is that the game makes it cheap an easy to get Chimera Wings, which will take you back to a church instantly. Magic users also learn Evac (to escape from dungeons) at a low level. So I don't think it's a huge problem, but it's definitely less convenient than PC-style RPGs that let you save anywhere, anytime.
You heard wrong about Quick Save; it's definitely in the game, as you would expect in any handheld RPG.
The original required you to trek all the way back to the king's throne room to save. Of course, the wing items were also available in that game, though your inventory was so small that it was annoying to have to keep them, but you dared not be caught without them because you might not have the magic points left to fly home after the kind of battle that would leave you wanting to run away. Compared to that, I find just about any save system at least adequate.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on September 26, 2008, 12:33:38 AM
Antiquated or not, tradition or not, handheld games require fast access to saving!
Quick. Save. In. DQIV.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Smash_Brother on September 27, 2008, 07:21:05 PM
Any grinding at all immediately kills a game for me. I think WoW killed grinding for me forever.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: decoyman on September 28, 2008, 01:43:04 PM
I was surprised to find out that the Target closest to me (don't know if this is nationwide or what) isn't selling this game in-store – only online. And no, they weren't just out of stock: there was no shelf space reserved for it either. It's online only, which surprised me for a pretty major game by a pretty major developer.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on September 29, 2008, 02:49:46 AM
I guess that Target didn't get your money! Buy it somewhere else.
I just got to Chapter 5, where you finally start controlling the main character ("the Chosen One"). It took me nearly 20 hours to reach that point, but I tend to play RPGs slowly and conservatively. There is definitely a LOT of grinding in this game. Consider that you have to start out from Level 1 with crappy equipment and build up to a decent character... and you have to do that from scratch five times (once in each chapter). Although I like the storytelling device of playing as the supporting characters before starting the main quest, it hurts the pacing in some ways. For instance, I've been playing for 20 hours and have yet to see any character get over Level 10 or get any kind of decent equipment. It feels like you're weak and weak, then weak some more. Of course the game isn't terribly difficult because the enemies are weak too, but I'm pretty sick of saving up for a Chain Sickle when I should be wielding Fire Swords and casting Kaboom by this point in any other Dragon Quest game. The good thing is that, if I remember well from the NES version, this last chapter ramps up pretty quickly and becomes pretty interesting as the hero starts acquiring all the support characters from earlier chapters.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: NWR_Lindy on November 10, 2008, 01:55:18 PM
Oh by the way, you can buy this awesome game today for $20 on Amazon:
I'm not a huge fan of grinding, but with this game, it's actually pretty fun. It might be because the progress you make is readily apparent - you get better attacks, weapons, armor, spells, etc. sooner than you might think.
The only thing is, I'm a little confused about the Torneko part, which is where I am now. There's just very little direction - if I hadn't read about him above, I'd be going to work, fighting monsters, and basically spinning my wheels. It IS interesting, though, and definitely a unique perspective (you can actually work a weapons store counter for money - people come in, they offer to sell or buy a weapon, you accept or refuse, and you're given a "paycheck" at the end of the "day"... your wife even packs you a lunch that replenishes some HP :P ).
So, yeah! Vudu, did you get yours yet? Anyone else who originally picked up the game, what did you think of it after finishing (assuming you finished it by now)? (sundoulos, UPB, Lindy, ...)
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: vudu on November 17, 2008, 03:33:32 PM
My copy arrived today (maybe Saturday, but I had it shipped to work). Haven't opened it yet. I'm going on vacation over Thanksgiving, so I'll be sure to put some time into it. I probably won't touch the game until then, as I'm still heavily addicted to the new Castlevania.
Title: Re: DQIV Thread of Shame on You for Not Starting One Already
Post by: TheFleece on January 28, 2009, 06:59:25 PM
I bought this for myself around Christmas and I really really like it a lot. I played the first and second Dragon Quests on GBA, but didn't finish DQII. This is definitely the same game mechanic as before, but for some reason I really like the way the story is coming around. Right now I'm near the end of the 4- I think. Also I don't really get the idea that I'm grinding- or at least not as terribly as some games, like say Luminous Arc or Pokemon. I'm really having a lot of fun with the game.
