The Dragon Quest Thread

[Hirato]

Changed my mind, just picked up DQ7 from EB Games; the clerk had to check about 4 times to make sure that the game was actually released before she got it out of the storeroom.
I probably won't play this until mid/late-October though; whenever it is I get bored of Mon Hun X.

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm in EU so no DQ7 for me yet.

 

[Hirato]

I'm in EU so no DQ7 for me yet.

I'm sure you'll find one if you just go into a random shop and ask.
I live in Australia: we usually get 3DS games a whole week after they're widely available and distributed in Europe at large, so you shouldn't have any difficulty finding a copy in Europe.

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm in EU so no DQ7 for me yet.

I'm sure you'll find one if you just go into a random shop and ask.
I live in Australia: we usually get 3DS games a whole week after they're widely available and distributed in Europe at large, so you shouldn't have any difficulty finding a copy in Europe.

Nvm, I have this pre-ordered from Play Asia. I have so much pre-ordered, I tend to forget which games I actually have payed for.

 

[aweigh]

recent video of this year's Dragon Quest Museum in japan:

 

[Hobo Elf]

I'm in EU so no DQ7 for me yet.

It was released in Finland this friday.

 

[OracleX]

Can we also expect an android release soon?

 

[aweigh]

i don't think DQ 7 and onwards will be hitting android/iOS any time soon.

man, the dioramas in that dragon quest museum are fucking amazing. i almost shed a tear when looking at the paintings as well; especially the painting of the rainbow bridge from dq1.

 

[Abu Antar]

i don't think DQ 7 and onwards will be hitting android/iOS any time soon.

man, the dioramas in that dragon quest museum are fucking amazing. i almost shed a tear when looking at the paintings as well; especially the painting of the rainbow bridge from dq1.

VIII is already on iOS WW. VII is out only in Japan.

 

[aweigh]

cool, i didn't know. btw, what is iOS "WW"?

 

[St Antony of Padua]

cool, i didn't know. btw, what is iOS "WW"?

World Wide

 

[OracleX]

Viii also has an android release

 

[Siveon]

I'm playing VIII on 3DS anyway, can't fathom playing DQ on anything than on a handheld.

 

[deuxhero]

The newest English release on the 3DS apparently has a fucked up framerate that is substanially worse than the original Japanese version a lot of the time. How do you screw up that badly?

 

[Siveon]

The newest English release on the 3DS apparently has a fucked up framerate that is substanially worse than the original Japanese version a lot of the time. How do you screw up that badly?

Who knows? I've only heard of NIS screwing up a localization. Did Square Enix add in an English dub or anything that like that? Either way that's a bummer, might go with emulating the PS1 on my PSP, then. We're talking about VII right?

 

[Jasede]

I never played it so you got me all fired up to play DQ 7 for the first time. The only one I played was DQ 6 and one of the DS ones. I hated the DS one but really enjoyed 6, especially the class system. I played what I think must have been the original, on the SNES. That game already felt -enormous- for a SNES game so I have no idea just how large 7 may be.

So the version you recommend is the original PS1 version, correct?

Thanks aweigh

 

[Hyperion]

PS1 version is an absolute mammoth of a game. Played on an emulator, with a walkthrough by your side for the entirety of the playthrough, it'll probably take close to 100 hours not including the postgame, or HomeTown. Postgame will double it. Totally blind playthrough with no help, you're looking at potentially 150 - 200 hours depending on how well you search, or just how good your memory is with the way the game weaves histories of certain countries together. Looking at you, golden horned beast.

From the compiled list of changes all over the internet, the developers basically took away the mystery, challenge, and charm of the game but tried to replace it with meaningless, mindless grinding. It's a shameful practice that the "modern gamer" prefers busywork over playing an actual game, because their ego can't tolerate failure or to challenge their memory and reading comprehension in the least.

dq 8 is probably mostly the same on the 3ds as it was already made with "modern gamers" as the audience so it is much smaller and simpler than dq7 in everything: less depth, less characters, less classes, shorter dungeons, etc.

That's scary, because DQ8 was already simple by classic standards.

 

[Jasede]

What's the PSX emulator of choice these days? Or rather, which one did you use and have no issues playing this particular game with?

 

[Siveon]

I mostly intended on playing the original PS1 version either way. However if there's problems with the VIII port outside of the soundtrack then we'll have a problem. Also the hardware jump would be odd, ah well.

 

[Keldryn]

I have a 40 minute train ride to and from work every day. I have two young children and thus it can be difficult to find the time to play video games for a couple hours at a time, undisturbed.

So it really doesn't matter to me if the original DQ7 on the PlayStation is longer or more in-depth. Even if I owned it, I would likely never get around to playing it. The requirement to return to town to save the game means that I can't really play it unless I have a large enough block of time to play. Which generally means that I'll start a game, play it on a couple of weekends, and then go months without getting back to it, at which point I've forgotten where as I was.

I'll take playing a "dumbed down" version on the 3DS over never getting around to playing the original any day. I'm also perfectly fine with a shorter game; it's not like the 3DS DQ7 is a short game. The longer the game, the greater the chance that I'll get pulled away by Real Life for a while. When this happens, any deep and complex mechanics that I enjoyed when I first started playing the game become an obstacle to picking it up again several weeks/months later.

Since I bought myself a 3DS, I've been able to get in more time gaming than I had in years. I have Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2. Started playing it when I got it (2006). Got about 25 hours into it before work and other real life stuff consumed most of my time for a while. Tried going back to it a few times, the last about 5 years ago. It had been way too long and I didn't remember much about what I'd done. So I'm looking forward to this on the 3DS too (not interested in playing it on my phone).

(the original does i mean; there's a reason the 3ds version is so cut down it literally cannnot contain the entirety of dq7. dq7 was like 3 ps1 discs and it didn't contain CGI/FMV).

Do you have a source on that? From what I can tell, 3DS cartridges look to have a max size of 4GB (and possibly 8); there are several games that are 3+ GB in size. Looks like the download version takes up 1.5 GB on the system. Three PS1 CDs -- if filled to capacity -- total 2 GB. However, there was a LOT of duplicated content across each disc in a multi-disc PS game (or on any other console). As the game needs to be able to start and play from any disc, anything that is not keyed to a specific location or event has to be on each disc.

In short, the statement that the 3DS version literally cannot contain the entirety of the PS1 version would seem to be false.

 

[Great Deceiver]

What's the PSX emulator of choice these days? Or rather, which one did you use and have no issues playing this particular game with?

DQ7 is fantastic, the best PS1 emulator out right now is hands down Mednafen. Use the Retroarch Mednafen PSX core to have access to Retroarch's amazing CRT shaders.

 

[Jasede]

Well, I tried ESPX and at least with the plugin I am using, there's a weird flicker/blur every line of dialog.

I have Mednafen and have never used it before. Is it command-line only? When I try to run it there's no GUI. (Yes, this is probably explained on the website somewhere, but I will say, Linux people treat user friendliness as some kind of mortal sin.)

 

[Great Deceiver]

As I said, use Retroarch and download the Mednafen PSX core. It's pretty simple.

 

[Hyperion]

hree PS1 CDs -- if filled to capacity -- total 2 GB.

It was 2 discs, I still have the box in my living room next to my ps4, crying tears of shame.

I'm not familiar with Mednafen, but ePSXe works very well and allows you to remove frame limits. Running at 300 fps while grinding for the post-game, or traversing the overworld (or just until you get sword dance...) can help shave a hefty chunk of time. If Mednafen does as well, feel free to give it a go.

I have a 40 minute train ride to and from work every day. I have two young children and thus it can be difficult to find the time to play video games for a couple hours at a time, undisturbed.

That's perfectly fine, we all have different time constraints. But, the main complaint here is that the general time required to complete all content will probably be similar, but the QUALITY of time spent is surely going to be disastrous in the remake. Due to the nature of class changes, it's going to be loaded with hours upon hours of grinding out shit enemies to master myriad monster classes because you don't retain abilities anymore. Given the nature of the grind, it's even possible it'll take LONGER than the original to complete the same tasks, while cheapening equipment upgrades, and excising some dungeon content, to name but a few things.

 

[Keldryn]

i agree with this sentiment in general. If you can only play the 3DS version then by all means do that as even if they removed a lot of the content the game itself is still the most complex (mechanically and thematically) of any DQ game. just know that there is a bigger and better version of the game out there waiting for ya when you have the time.

I already accept that I will never have the time. I have so many games on so many systems that I have never played -- going back a good 20 years.

and as a veteran RPGer you can certainly understand how one must take a stand on young idiots praising stuff that is not deserving of such praise.

True. However, as a veteran RPGer my tastes have changed pretty significantly over time. I was 14 when I first got a computer at home (my cousin gave me his old C-64), and I played the hell out of most of the classics of the 80s (Bard's Tale, Might & Magic, Pool of Radiance, Wizardry, Pool of Radiance, etc). And it probably physically hurts you to hear me say it, but today I cannot imagine a more boring game to play than an old Wizardry or Bard's Tale*. I certainly enjoyed them back around 1988, but I could never stand to play one of them today (I've tried). And I certainly respect their role in the foundation of this genre (and the industry in general). I also used to enjoy drawing maps by hand, too.

*Okay, any EA Sports game would be more boring.

I've never played the original DQ7, so I have no point of comparison. But I have played a lot of CRPGs and JRPGs over the past 28 years, and the beginning of DQ7 3DS already feels really slow (reminds me of the beginning of Twilight Princess). So trimming the intro was probably not a bad idea. I've lost my patience for lengthy intros, I have to say. JRPG dungeons generally consist of wandering around a maze fighting random battles, so I actually don't mind if the layouts are streamlined from the original. Phantasy Star 2 burned me out on complex dungeon layouts. (That's another game I don't think I could ever enjoy playing again)

Dragon Quest has always been rather heavy on the grinding, and while I don't generally have much patience for that sort of thing anymore, I find that I don't mind it so much on a handheld game. Sometimes I have to wait around for 10-15 minutes, and it can be fun to just run around and fight monsters for a few minutes; I don't really want to get into any meaty content unless I've got a good half hour or more to play.

That's perfectly fine, we all have different time constraints. But, the main complaint here is that the general time required to complete all content will probably be similar, but the QUALITY of time spent is surely going to be disastrous in the remake. Due to the nature of class changes, it's going to be loaded with hours upon hours of grinding out shit enemies to master myriad monster classes because you don't retain abilities anymore.

Is it necessary to master all of these monster classes in order to complete the game?