Random thought: I played Hollow Knight a month ago, and Cornifer and Iselda are basically Torneko and Tessie as bugs. No, I will not elaborate.
Anyways, I've previously played all of what I consider 'classic DQ' (the original versions of the first seven games), and this marks my first foray into the DS remakes. I like the game a lot, but it also solidifies my distaste for the series' combat in general. It's not so much that the game is grindy, but that it boils down to praying hard to RNGesus only to find out that he's RNSatan instead. As an example, an early-game boss can either do a normal attack for 30-40 damage, an AOE attack for around 20, or a different AOE attack for 40plus. He also sometimes gets two actions per round. And if you think about it, him doing an AOE twice at the end of a round, then following it up with the same thing at the start of the next round (which happened to me more than once) is such monumental overkill that it will wipe your party even if you're overlevelled. Random lategame mooks do this as well. Some bosses will instakill a character if they get a critical hit - which would be tolerable in a game where you have ready access to reliable methods of resurrection, but not here! This all adds up to a game which is so random that it kills almost all attempts at strategizing in favor of relying on luck, and simply doesn't come across as fun for me (or maybe it's a skill issue? So many people enjoy the combat so I might be missing something).
The game does have updated graphics and better QoL than the NES original - as expected - but I do need to complain about how they added one of my biggest pet peeves: Xenogears-style camera angles. I feel like controllable camera angles are good for immersion if you have interesting locales that are set up like actual real-world locations, but if your towns and dungeons are set up in a rigid grid and the only thing that separates them from 'traditional' JRPG towns are the fact that the doors of houses are not all facing the same direction, then all you're doing by adding a controllable camera is adding tedium to getting around!
My star rating above should spoil that there are enough things I like about the game to balance out my biggest gripes, and really it's just the fact that... well, this game is Dragon Quest, man. Like every other game in the series I've played, the NPCs are charming, the vibes are cozy, and it really nails the sense of exploration by being nonlinear enough that everyone's journey of discovering the world in Chapter 5 will be uniquely their own. The more modern hardware and more polished translation render the dramatic moments of the original - like your childhood friend's willingness to protect you, and the villain's origin story - far more effective. And as one of the not-many who adores Koichi Sugiyama (the composer, not the person), the updated orchestration does his work a lot more justice; as a purist who writes very much in a traditional classical style, the more 'accurate' instrumental samples represent a huge jump in quality over the tinny midi of the original.
One last thing I need to mention is that the Party Chat function - which adds a ton of characterization to your party (and even the guest members!) - is inexplicably dummied out of the Western release. For a game with such a colorful cast of characters this is a massive miss!
In the end, this is a great way to play one of the strongest entries of the series in a more 'modern' medium. Fittingly for a series which has been often described as 'RPG comfort food', you know exactly what you'll get - if you like the other games in the series, I'd recommend this!
Anyways, I've previously played all of what I consider 'classic DQ' (the original versions of the first seven games), and this marks my first foray into the DS remakes. I like the game a lot, but it also solidifies my distaste for the series' combat in general. It's not so much that the game is grindy, but that it boils down to praying hard to RNGesus only to find out that he's RNSatan instead. As an example, an early-game boss can either do a normal attack for 30-40 damage, an AOE attack for around 20, or a different AOE attack for 40plus. He also sometimes gets two actions per round. And if you think about it, him doing an AOE twice at the end of a round, then following it up with the same thing at the start of the next round (which happened to me more than once) is such monumental overkill that it will wipe your party even if you're overlevelled. Random lategame mooks do this as well. Some bosses will instakill a character if they get a critical hit - which would be tolerable in a game where you have ready access to reliable methods of resurrection, but not here! This all adds up to a game which is so random that it kills almost all attempts at strategizing in favor of relying on luck, and simply doesn't come across as fun for me (or maybe it's a skill issue? So many people enjoy the combat so I might be missing something).
The game does have updated graphics and better QoL than the NES original - as expected - but I do need to complain about how they added one of my biggest pet peeves: Xenogears-style camera angles. I feel like controllable camera angles are good for immersion if you have interesting locales that are set up like actual real-world locations, but if your towns and dungeons are set up in a rigid grid and the only thing that separates them from 'traditional' JRPG towns are the fact that the doors of houses are not all facing the same direction, then all you're doing by adding a controllable camera is adding tedium to getting around!
My star rating above should spoil that there are enough things I like about the game to balance out my biggest gripes, and really it's just the fact that... well, this game is Dragon Quest, man. Like every other game in the series I've played, the NPCs are charming, the vibes are cozy, and it really nails the sense of exploration by being nonlinear enough that everyone's journey of discovering the world in Chapter 5 will be uniquely their own. The more modern hardware and more polished translation render the dramatic moments of the original - like your childhood friend's willingness to protect you, and the villain's origin story - far more effective. And as one of the not-many who adores Koichi Sugiyama (the composer, not the person), the updated orchestration does his work a lot more justice; as a purist who writes very much in a traditional classical style, the more 'accurate' instrumental samples represent a huge jump in quality over the tinny midi of the original.
One last thing I need to mention is that the Party Chat function - which adds a ton of characterization to your party (and even the guest members!) - is inexplicably dummied out of the Western release. For a game with such a colorful cast of characters this is a massive miss!
In the end, this is a great way to play one of the strongest entries of the series in a more 'modern' medium. Fittingly for a series which has been often described as 'RPG comfort food', you know exactly what you'll get - if you like the other games in the series, I'd recommend this!
5 Comments
There was a very recent patch that added Party Chat, if you're into that sort of thing
I personally really enjoy that random factor in Dragon Quest battles, I think it makes many battles more exciting than they could be if the boss just followed the same pattern throughout the battle, although seeing your point of view, I think I understand why the combat system isn't for everyone. Also, I think the fact that items to revive allies and recover MP are limited also adds more excitement, because in my case, it makes me think better about my long term strategies. Anyway, if you already know that you don't like to play these games but you are interested in the franchise, I think you should stop playing the classic Dragon Quest games, and jump directly to 11.
@Maurith I do enjoy randomness and can see how it gives you an added element of excitement - I guess I just feel like the DQ series tends to get the balance off more often than not. I mean, certain things like a boss getting a double turn at the end of a round followed by a double turn at the start of the next are kind of a "game over" button, potentially able to wipe out your party with you given no chance to react or try to recover. I do like the games enough that my complaints about the combat aren't enough to turn me off them completely! Just curious, how would you say DQ11 is different? Is it more forgiving?
I can't deny that I don't understand what you're saying because it has happened to me, but in that sense, it's not like it's something completely uncontrollable and that happens with all bosses. One option is to increase the agility of your party at the beginning of the battles to have more chance to attack first and the boss attacks last (you can increase your agility several times), and the second option, although more difficult because they may have a little resistance to spells, is to lower the agility of the boss. You should also try to equip accessories that increase agility and use the "defend" command more often, as this is activated from the beginning of the turn regardless of the character's agility and decreases the damage received. It is also advisable to have healing herbs on characters that don't have healing spells and also on those that have them in case they run out of MP.
I mean, your arguments are totally valid, but from my own experience, I feel that these are situations that can be prevented or controlled most of the time and don't depend totally on luck. If I know a boss is powerful, I try to play more defensively. Not all bosses have two turns throughout the game either, although I can think of a couple of battles that are difficult, this specific title has them.
If you still applied all the strategies I recommended and it happened anyway, then I guess you were just very unlucky. The opposite of getting metal slimes.
I mean, your arguments are totally valid, but from my own experience, I feel that these are situations that can be prevented or controlled most of the time and don't depend totally on luck. If I know a boss is powerful, I try to play more defensively. Not all bosses have two turns throughout the game either, although I can think of a couple of battles that are difficult, this specific title has them.
If you still applied all the strategies I recommended and it happened anyway, then I guess you were just very unlucky. The opposite of getting metal slimes.
FallenGrace
16 days ago