This is the only official U.S. version of the game, and it took until 2011 for it to get a Nintendo DS release. I'll be playing the phone version, which is the Nintendo DS version with nicer visuals. Looking forward to this one because it's got some great character designs and we get much better looks at them than we do in the SFC version. Though I will say the SFC version's visuals have their own appeal and charm and I don't think this version obsoletes it.
We start with a camera zooming through the clouds and then down through them. It was a funny coincidence because I started this game - and saw this scene - while on an airplane.
A sweet lens flare as we fly down through the clouds.
He's Hiko in the SFC version, but here I'm going with a different name.
The hero in this game is definitely one of the cooler-looking heroes in this series. Maybe THE coolest-looking? He's on par with Crono in the style department, and actually looks like a formidable fighter.
Alright, from here on out I'm gonna be going into a lot more detail on this version than on the SFC version, and since I'm gonna have the SFC version competing with this in cross-posts (and operating independently of each other), things might be redundant in terms of explanations.
We start with a flashback scene to what may be much later in the game with the heroes confronting the game's villain.
Is that what the kids are calling it now? JUST SAWIN' LOGS
They're gearing up for...a huge final battle. Interesting en media res intro to this game, probably leaning towards a "how we got here" storyline.
Our heroes climb a menacing cliff towards the lair of Murdaw. In the Japanese version, this guy had the far-more menacing name of Maou Mudo. I believe that means something to the effect of "Dark Lord"
A Dactyl creature flies down to take us from the cliff to the Tyrano Lair Murdaw's Castle.
Yeah, this place is real menacing. We'll be dropping in on it at a later time to actually go through it for real. This intro just shows the last couple of rooms.
Murdaw's Castle reeks of B.O.
This guy, who I don't know the name of yet, didn't need to point it out though. HE WHO SMELT IT, DEALT IT.
A walk down a corridor of torches, reminding me a bit of Magus' Castle. As I mentioned, this game has some very obvious DNA in common with Chrono Trigger, Seiken Densetsu 3, and yes...Chrono Cross. If one were to cross-reference the people that worked on these games with DQVI they would no doubt find some overlap, cross-company or not.
Almost TOO much so. Almost...like a trap.
Behold, Maou Mudo. I'm just going to call him that because it's a way better name. He's very evil, you see. We don't get a good look at him here before he zaps our heroes and sends them... ::Vegeta voice:: To another dimension!
The hero wakes up with temporary amnesia, and is immediately disappointed when this super hot woman refers to him as her brother.
Customary lens flare as you step outside for the first time.
That's no boogeyman, that's Maou Mudo. So, it wasn't just a dream, but rather a premo-neeetion.
The first town is on top of a mountain, which is pretty cool.
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I CAN AFFORD! GIMME THE ARMOR.
Nope, this is super strong endgame armor. You actually CAN come back later and get it.
Someone wrote these book quips in this game, and I'm thankful they exist. Whoever it was, I hope they're doing well, and I appreciate them. Cause these are great, and so random/unexpected.
Rather than start with traditional blue and red slimes, this game starts with gold slimes. They team up with sentient lotus roots to raise hell.
Equipment available for the first town. I'm going to do the usual thing and spend some time getting a Copper Sword, then whatever armor is available.
You know what gets MY dander up? Lots of things.
Maybe you just got his dander up by being so critical!
"Always trading the Bitmoney on the internet or whatever!"
In any case, I go out and grind levels for a bit.
::our hero stumbles back into the town, bleeding profusely, and weakly pounds on the pub doors like Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters::
Golbez: "Oh God, HEAL MEEE"
I finally get to the bed and get some rest. That was close.
This guy looks like something's got his dander up. It's okay because he's got a hot shoppin' tip.
Also applicable to buying the crypto-coins: Don't just go on there and buy something, especially if it's doing well. You might be buying high. Chart the trends and look for patterns, like if it crashes every time it reaches a certain high, or rebounds every time it hits a certain low. I was doing a lot of that for a while but it's time-consuming and when the economy's down, so is trading.
This guy isn't letting ANYONE into town. Even if you're bleeding out, which is highly-likely given how difficult the noob area of this game is!
Copper Sword acquired. As usual, it took a bunch of extra grinding. It isn't as big of an upgrade as usual, since the game gives you intermediary weapons in chests before this.
Well, you could always try to slide your way in the middle of that sandwich.
...what?
My God. Amazon delivery has come to the kingdom of Somnus.
A magical moment for our hero, as he gets his first couple of spells. Peep tells you the contents of a treasure chest, which is a weird spell to get this early. Mimics aren't exactly a huge issue in this game as far as I remember and they definitely aren't at any early point.
Note how they got rid of the SFC version's weirder spells...
Soon after that you get Zoom (Return), which is tremendously useful even now for getting around, much like Tupac.
I mentioned this before: Gold slimes. Because this ain't your dad's Dragon Quest! Some games start you off fighting blue slimes and red slimes. Some have the more traditional green fare. This game...gives you gold slimes immediately! Too bad they don't drop more gold.
Advice about not buying the first thing you see really starts to come home to roost now. This marketplace is full of items at different prices, and often you'll be able to get better deals on things by asking around. In this case, the shield is actually at a mark-up so I decline.
Sancho's Voice: "GOLBEZ ES...EL CHEAPO DIABLO!"
Wait, what? The cheap devil?
This is actually a pretty key item, and it costs a HUGE amount at this point. However, you can haggle the price down by just saying no a lot.
The guy becomes increasingly desperate and distraught as the haggling continues. I'LL SEND YOU INTO FINANCIAL RUIN, YOU BASTARD!
Finally the price ends up at 200 GP, which is as low as it goes. Golbez scores the key, the merchant loses his house and his wife leaves him. I'd say this was a good transaction.
The Thief's Key is basically tier 1 of door opening in this game. You've got tier 0 normal unlocked doors, now tier 1 locked doors can be opened. There are other keys later, and surprisingly few doors for this particular key, however.
Another haggle-fest takes place as you can get these competing merchants to fight over an item that you've got for sale. This whole area is awesome.
He's cheating on you.
They're talking about Cliff, the big red dog the noted crownsmith of Haggleton.
...just realized this town is called Haggleton. That's ingenious.
I glossed over it, but I'm actually after the crown right now because Tania needs it to be extra-beautiful.
So I have to track down this crownsmith. Turns out he's over here, by this giant hole (hee).
Here's Cliff, about to fall to his demise. Golbez helps him up...
...while falling in! Cliff is rescued, but AT WHAT COST, DAMMIT!
Our hero, who we now know would be terrible in a Royal Rumble, finds himself in...the underworld? And he's a ghost now?
Dogs can see him, but no one else can. Now we just need to get him a Ziggy and he can help Sam Beckett solve problems.
Another cool thing this game has is a bestiary that you can fill out. Sometimes I really like stuff like this, from a completionist standpoint. In the case of this game, it really shows off the personality of these monsters. There's even an action button to animate their sprites.
This place seems to be a weird mirror universe version of the regular world, a place where our hero doesn't exist. ...did he come from the sea and return to the sea?
The ticket back to the original/real/material world is to jump into this light-well.
And we're back topside, in the world where Golbez isn't a ghost. Should have probably named him Serge.
Our hero finds the guy he saved, who is astonished to see that he lived. Then they make love.
...what? It always happens that way in Highlander movies.
Back to the hometown (thanks Zoom), crown in tow. This guy is having some deep thoughts.
Next is a parade, which is apparently a celebration of Tania's gorgeousness? It's almost like they're going to sacrifice her to their fish god or something.
Turns out it's nothing that bad. The festival is actually to celebrate this moon goddess, who appears in spirit to talk. Not to Tania...to the hero. Apparently he's supposed to save the world. Works for me.
Fireworks go off as the festival winds down. And by "winds down" I mean everyone's getting drunk and rowdy.
Here's someone who really IS being cheated on, I think. Buddy is out trying to romance Tania as we speak, even though he's got Judith at home wondering where he is.
What, you thought I was joking? HERE HE IS.
Tania isn't ready. "I...I think I might be gay" she says. "I wasn't until you proposed though"
These townspeople are really gassed-up for the festival, and dance around. Well, I'm just glad Tania didn't get sacrificed to Orochi or something.
That guard from earlier lets me in now. This is the town of Somnia. No relation to Insomnia from Final Fantasy XV. Still not sure what the deal was with the sleep theme in that game. FFXV...I'll get to that one. Maybe.
"So many strapping men" says this random lady before dropping her wallet in front of our hero, going "oops, what have I done", and slowly leaning way over to pick it up. Our hero then just sort of wanders off.
"GET OUT!" screeches this woman as she menacingly wields a detachable shower head. I don't know what's going on here but my bad.
Like the previous game, I have a chance to buy a Boomerang early in the game, and it's a slight upgrade to the Copper Sword in damage...while hitting all enemies, which makes it a massive upgrade overall. There's also a Stone Axe that I can't equip, which means a new character is probably on the way shortly. I could have bought it for them ahead of time, but I didn't.
::Sancho is seen rubbing his nipples:: "EL CHEAPO DIABLO STRIKES AGAIN!"
...the hell is going on in this post
Right away I can put my new Boomerang to the test, because large groups of enemies attack once you go south on the world map. It's pretty clear that the intention was to persuade the player to get the Boomerang before continuing.
The first real dungeon is Gardsbane Tower. Captain Blade here tasks a few new recruits with heading there to retrieve stuff. If our hero wants to be a real citizen of Somnia, he better win this competition.
Here's a quick gander at the world map, which you have from the start here. Two things jump out: One, how round this world is compared to previous DQ world maps. Two, how much LAND there is. This is a rare RPG overworld that has a lot more land than water. Makes me wonder how huge this game will be.
The tower is to the south, on this island that is the best spot to level-grind yet. With the Boomerang, that is. Unfortunately I still only have one character to power up, for now.
After getting to the absolutely ludicrous (for this point) Level 13 while watching other things, I'm ready to take on the tower with my solo hero. Here, it looms before me like Shinra Tower on the cover of Final Fantasy VII.
I really hope that any characters I get after this get bumped up to a similar level. Cause otherwise, I just spent a lot of time making one character OP. 90% chance they don't, but it's alright. I had a lot of airplane time to play this, and level-grinding was a great low-effort way to chill out during that time.
Next: More remake! Then more SFC! Never alternated something with its own remake before, this is gonna be weird. At least from here on out every DQ game only has one real version as opposed to multiple very different versions.
No comments:
Post a Comment