The game gives you basically no clue where to go next, and some players would be forgiven for thinking the game was over at that point with us on the victory lap. However, warp to the Dream World at this point and it drops you in front of Alltrades Abbey, which is NOT destroyed there like it is in the Real World.
This was originally the second half of the previous post. I wrote the whole thing on an airplane with no connection, so I couldn't open a second post and had to keep writing in the first, then kept it like that. It was way too long, though, so I'm splitting this off like it was supposed to be.
This is, of course, the "Shrine of Dharma" from DQIII, making a long-awaited return. Classes work a bit differently this time. First, they don't start you at level 1. You keep your normal levels (which is good, because leveling is slooooow in this game) and gain Job Levels alongside them, like FF Tactics. With said levels come new class skills.
The main benefit to training up classes is gaining skills, but most of them also have a Mastery Bonus (usually +20 to a particular stat) and that's kind of cool. They also dramatically alter your stats, so for tougher parts of the game you'll want to keep your characters in the classes that fit their roles. Mages for example make your HP plummet so it's generally good to get out of that class as soon as it's mastered.
Lastly, most of the classes also have an innate benefit that you get while in that class. Merchants get extra gold after every fight, for example. Sages have the best innate benefit by FAR: Half MP usage for all spells once the class is mastered. This means it's best to keep any healers* or spell damage-dealers in the Sage role unless you're actively building up other classes. Sage should be the default you go back to though for casters.
* - One exception here is Hustle Dance, a zero-MP group heal learned by the Luminary class. Someone spamming that is better off as a Luminary than a Sage since they aren't using MP anyway.
And now, the classes. I waited half the game to get into discussing this stuff, and from here on out the game is much more fun:
TIER 1 CLASSES
Warrior - The tank class, ala Ragnar. Also a pre-req for Gladiator, the best physical attack class. Their good moves are Hatchet Man, which frequently critical hits, and Falcon Slash, which hits twice. They're good Metal hunters, obviously.
Martial Artist - The former Fighter. Hits hard, lots of critical hits, etc. I prefer this over the Warrior. This is the other pre-req for Gladiator. Their best move is Multihits, which strikes 4x and wrecks bosses.
Mage - Super weak in this game. Gets some weak to medium attack spells, as is tradition. However, the upgrade class Sage gets all of the best attack spells. Mage is really just the first half of a traditional DQ damage caster. Best to level this up and class change out of it. Their best move is Kasizzle, the former Firebane. Also gets the crucial Kasap.
Priest - The other half of the Sage pre-reqs. Gets healing spells, as is tradition. Again though, all of the best heals are in the Sage lineup. So this is really just the first half of a healer. Ideally, you want your casters to go for Sage and your melee DPS to go for Gladiator. Priest's best moves are Fullheal and Zing (mediocre chance of reviving one character). Also gets the crucial Kabuff.
Dancer - An odd class that gets a bunch of unusual abilities, mostly status ailments. This and Gadabout are pre-reqs for Luminary (formerly Idol). One benefit of Dancer is that it gains mastery pretty fast. However, like the above classes, the best dances are locked in the Luminary class. Their ultimate move is Death Dance, which can instakill foes.
Thief - Can sometimes steal items from enemies. Decent fighter. Very much outclassed though. Mainly notable for being one of the 3 (THREE) pre-reqs for Ranger. Not sure why Ranger requires more pre-reqs than any other class. They don't really have a best move, aside from maybe Padfoot which lowers encounter rate drastically and can be used infinitely.
Monster Master - Another odd, beastlord-type class. Don't have too much to say about this one because I haven't really made any use of it. It's another Ranger pre-req and easily the one that takes the longest of the 3. Their ultimate attack is Puff (the former BeDragon) which unleashes some major DPS at the cost of losing control of the character. That's pretty much their one great move.
Merchant - A weak fighter. They get more gold after fights and they learn Whistle, which is sometimes useful for grinding enemies. The last pre-req for Ranger, oddly enough. Thief and Monster Master make sense as the others, but I guess Merchant was the odd man out for the first tier of clases so they just threw it in the Ranger pre-reqs. Really the only good thing about this class is that it achieves mastery quicker than any other class by a mile. Their ultimate attack is Call to Arms, which summons a bunch of goons to launch a series of attacks on enemies. I never really used it though.
Gadabout - Formerly Goof-Off. You'd think this class would gain mastery the fastest, but nope, it's the 2nd or 3rd fastest. It isn't as useless as it was in DQIII, thankfully, learning several offensive abilities that can inflict negative statuses. The class also isn't particularly good or anything, and misses every 3rd turn on average. The other half of the Luminary pre-reqs along with Dancer. Their ultimate move is Hocus Pocus, which causes completely random effects. Yeah.
TIER 2 CLASSES
Gladiator - The physical DPS class of choice. Gets the most damaging attacks, and doesn't take too long to reach. DPSers should probably go this route. Their ultimate move is Boulder Toss, which might be the best AOE attack in the game. Does a ton of damage to everything onscreen for zero MP.
Armamentalist - A slightly oddball class combining Warrior and Mage. Gets very powerful single-target magic/physical combination attacks. Basically a Mage Knight, and the opposite of Paladin. This class is particularly good against bosses, and seems well-suited for Ashlynn. They also get Oomph, the only class to get that crucial spell besides Sages. Their ultimate attack is Kafrizzle, the biggest single-target damage spell.
Paladin - Unlike later games in the series where it'd be a traditional knight, here Paladin is more of a monk. Combines Martial Artist and Priest to give you a fighter with anti-undead powers. An excellent class if you want to have an endgame tank character. Loses some DPS versus Gladiator, but makes up for it with backup healing. Their ultimate attack is Pearly Gates, which does heavy wind damage to all enemies and gets a huge bonus versus undead foes.
Sage - The caster upgrade of choice, especially for healers. Learns all of the best Priest and Mage spells that those classes didn't get. Healers absolutely need this for Multiheal and Kazing. Also gets the crucial Oomph and Insulatle. Damage casters may want to go Armamentalist instead, but you can't go wrong with Sage. Their ultimate moves are Multiheal, Kazing, and Kaboom (the former Explodet).
Ranger - This takes the longest to get of any Tier 2 class, but it's interesting for sure. Has nature-oriented abilities and solid DPS. A decent alternative to Gladiator and probably more appealing. They get an odd assortment of moves and don't really have an ultimate / defining move, though Pyre O' Fire is a big single-target damage spell, second-only to Kafrizzle as far as single-target damage magic goes. It does about 90% of Kafrizzle's damage AND costs zero MP. Unfortunately, unlike Kafrizzle, it can miss, and frequently does. Finally, the last ability they get gives them a self-only barrier that reflects breath attacks and could be very useful in the endgame.
Luminary - Unlike later games where Luminary basically means Hero, in this one it's a rename of the Idol class from the Super Famicom version. Luminary gets all of the best dances, including the 0 MP Multiheal known as Hustle Dance. That alone makes this class an outstanding choice, not to mention all of the other buffs it gets. A bit of a PITA to get, though, since the two pre-req classes are probably the two worst Tier 1 classes. Like Ranger is a good alternative to Gladiator for DPS, Luminary is a good alternative to Sage for healers. Their best abilities are Hustle Dance, Lightning (big AOE), and Song of Salvation (50% chance of reviving characters, affects entire party).
TIER 3 AND SECRET CLASSES
Hero - The best class, gets all of the traditional Hero abilities like huge AOEs and heals. Only usable by the main character, and only after he masters a Tier 2 class. So in a way, this is the game's sole Tier 3 class. Has several "ultimate attacks" like Gigaslash, Lightning Storm, and Kazapple which takes MP from the entire party. Perhaps more importantly than all of that, gets Disruptive Wave which knocks off any enemy buffs. Finally, we can turn that incredibly-annoying move around on bosses.
Dragon - One of the secret ??? classes. Only usable by one optional recruitable character, who is in fact a dragon.
Liquid Metal Slime - Same deal here, only usable by one optional character. SUPER good class, if you can get it.
They make sure to let us know that DQV's monster-recruiting doesn't apply here anymore. That said, the remake (this/DS) adds several optional Slime characters that weren't in the Super Famicom version, and that helps quite a bit later on.
Mage has a pretty sharp HP drop and no innate skills, so it's one that you want to master and get out of the way. Since I've got Ashlynn wagon'd for now, she won't really have to fight in this form. That's right, in this game wagon'd characters also get class-mastery points, even in dungeons. Super useful.
Aside from being able to Zoom to a working Alltrades Abbey, another new development the game doesn't tell you about is that you can now control the boat that auto-sailed you to Mudo Island.
As I wander around aimlessly, I find a new town (Scrimsley) where you can recruit a secret character. This knight is Amos, a formidable fighter. Or at least, he would be, if he didn't spend half his time resting in bed from his illnesses.
Apparently when he was out, somethin' jumped up and bit 'em.
That's right. He got shot right in the butt-tocks.
Unbeknownst to Amos but knownst to us, at night he turns into this purple monster called the Scrimsley Terror. This has been happening since he got bitten. He roams around at night and wreaks havoc, then turns back into himself and wakes up all sickly, wishing he could protect the town from the rampaging purple monster.
After a quick brawl, we knock him out. Nothing has really been a threat before or since that last Maou Mudo battle.
The monster turns back into Amos, to the shock of onlookers.
That massive shaking is actually coming from the wagon. What the hell is Ashlynn doing in there? And why is she gaining so many levels despite not actually doing any fighting??
At this point you can choose to tell Amos that HE is the monster, which will lose him forever as a recruitable character. So you don't want to do that. Instead, we need to find a certain seed that can cure his ::Matt Hardy voice:: afleeck-shin. So we've got a new mission for next time.
Before we go...Warrior Cat Tales, Vol 3 (What happened to Vol 2??)
One thing is for sure, that cat won't be doddled again.
Seeds of Reason are what we're after now, and they're at the top of this particularly gorgeous mountain dungeon.
Yeah, this place is pretty sweet. The mid-90s was a great time for mountains in RPGs, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this looks in the SFC version. Chrono Trigger had Denadoro, FFVI had its misty ranges, and Mario RPG featured the memorable Moleville Mountain. And don't even get me started on the several memorable mountains in FFVII.
For now, though...more remake!
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