This was the first DQ i've tried to play, and i didn't take too long to stop, due to being very grindy and i wasn't in the mood for that, and it seemed to me that it didn't have a proper story. After finishing DQV i've played the first and second games in the series, and playing these two sure helps to enjoy this one more
I don't think this game has much of a story, but it does have a lot of worldbuilding, the map being inspired by the real world is very cool, and the world feels very alive thanks to NPC talkings, and the original game was from 1988, this is clearly very ahead of it's time. I gotta say i love the immigrant town part, it was funny as hell seeing what happened to my dealer, whom i've named Darkson, because Darkson is a name funny as fuck. Also the plot twist by the ending is without a doubt amazing for 1988 and obviously inspired a lot of other JRPGs, so this game really is based as fuck
This was ahead of it's time in mechanics and exploration too, the class system is very well thought even with it's issues, you have a lot of freedom in the map but most of the time you don't get lost because the NPC clues are much better here than they were in DQI and II, you can also save these clues pressing y, and the openness you gain when you get the boat is much better than the mess DQII becomes after you also get this there. But well, it still isn't perfect, the problem with the non-linearity in this part is that you must find and use shrines to teleport to specific parts of the map, but a lot of them don't show up in the map after you visit them or spot them in the overworld, i really don't know why, so when you must revisit them if you don't remember or didn't take a screenshot, you will need a guide, and due to the very open nature of the game, finding what you want in a guide can take a while. Oh and you also can't use return to some specific towns, which sucks too, and the "forget" spell had a bug while i was playing, even having the most recent version of the translation patch.
As for the class system, i like how it can be very useful, but you can also ignore if you just want to finish the game. I've gone with the recommend group, a warrior, cleric and mage, and the only change i've made was mage to sage, because i've saw that the sage got a lot of useful skills. But i also would've made my cleric a fighter by the ending of the game, after learning revive, but i did a backup save, to return if i regretted, and i did regretted, because i've gained 11 or 12 levels with the now fighter, and i didn't gained any MP, and even if i wanted another unit for physical damage, the main purpose was still to heal. As for other classes like thief and dealer, they didn't seemed too useful to me compared to the most recommended ones, but maybe in the future i will replay this and go with a fighter instead of a warrior and turn him into a mage of something, or maybe do something with a thief too, but my issue is that it seems that if you want to make a mage a fighter or warrior late-game it won't go well, since it doesn't gain any MP.
This game like any good RPG rewards you well for exploration, but sometimes exploration in dungeons can be tedious, due to the high encounter rate and some of them being very annoying, especially the ones in the last part of the game with the floor gimmick, fuck this gimmick specifically, so like most old RPGs this works better with fast forward. Also i don't know why this and also the DS remakes don't got MP restore items. I don't find the OST to be as memorable as from other snes JRPGs like final fantasy 6, breath of fire 2 or earthbound, but the visuals are some of the best from the console
I don't think this game has much of a story, but it does have a lot of worldbuilding, the map being inspired by the real world is very cool, and the world feels very alive thanks to NPC talkings, and the original game was from 1988, this is clearly very ahead of it's time. I gotta say i love the immigrant town part, it was funny as hell seeing what happened to my dealer, whom i've named Darkson, because Darkson is a name funny as fuck. Also the plot twist by the ending is without a doubt amazing for 1988 and obviously inspired a lot of other JRPGs, so this game really is based as fuck
This was ahead of it's time in mechanics and exploration too, the class system is very well thought even with it's issues, you have a lot of freedom in the map but most of the time you don't get lost because the NPC clues are much better here than they were in DQI and II, you can also save these clues pressing y, and the openness you gain when you get the boat is much better than the mess DQII becomes after you also get this there. But well, it still isn't perfect, the problem with the non-linearity in this part is that you must find and use shrines to teleport to specific parts of the map, but a lot of them don't show up in the map after you visit them or spot them in the overworld, i really don't know why, so when you must revisit them if you don't remember or didn't take a screenshot, you will need a guide, and due to the very open nature of the game, finding what you want in a guide can take a while. Oh and you also can't use return to some specific towns, which sucks too, and the "forget" spell had a bug while i was playing, even having the most recent version of the translation patch.
As for the class system, i like how it can be very useful, but you can also ignore if you just want to finish the game. I've gone with the recommend group, a warrior, cleric and mage, and the only change i've made was mage to sage, because i've saw that the sage got a lot of useful skills. But i also would've made my cleric a fighter by the ending of the game, after learning revive, but i did a backup save, to return if i regretted, and i did regretted, because i've gained 11 or 12 levels with the now fighter, and i didn't gained any MP, and even if i wanted another unit for physical damage, the main purpose was still to heal. As for other classes like thief and dealer, they didn't seemed too useful to me compared to the most recommended ones, but maybe in the future i will replay this and go with a fighter instead of a warrior and turn him into a mage of something, or maybe do something with a thief too, but my issue is that it seems that if you want to make a mage a fighter or warrior late-game it won't go well, since it doesn't gain any MP.
This game like any good RPG rewards you well for exploration, but sometimes exploration in dungeons can be tedious, due to the high encounter rate and some of them being very annoying, especially the ones in the last part of the game with the floor gimmick, fuck this gimmick specifically, so like most old RPGs this works better with fast forward. Also i don't know why this and also the DS remakes don't got MP restore items. I don't find the OST to be as memorable as from other snes JRPGs like final fantasy 6, breath of fire 2 or earthbound, but the visuals are some of the best from the console