Dragon Quest IX: RIGHT NOW in North America. Go Buy It!

jothki · July 2010

I liked the lampshading of the accents in Batsureg. Do localizers actually like to put those in?

Blackjack · July 2010

Gaming-Freak wrote: »

Blackjack wrote: »

Yeah. You can Alchemize it as soon as that Bazaar opened in that castle town.

Oh, then that explains it... I didn't bother grinding for that much Gold, even with the easily accessed Gold Golems...

Really though, after you hit level 30, Dragon Quest VIII got really easy, especially since Monster teams and the Hero's and Jessica's spells made the fights that much easier.

I literally never once used monster teams outside the arena. I apparently did an unusual leveling pattern for my dudes, too? Spears and Courage, Axes and Humanity, Whips and Sex Appeal (

) and Bows and Charm. I guess people usually do Swords and Staves and stuff?

Cantido · July 2010

jothki wrote: »

I liked the lampshading of the accents in Batsureg. Do localizers actually like to put those in?

I barely remember the show.

...
...
...
...
...
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON! *moon blows up*

KiTA · July 2010

Baramos fight.

Is it... playing the DQ3 boss fight music?

Edit: Beat him. 29 turns, and got VERY lucky. I should have went to an Inn earlier, this would have allowed me to use the high end guts "hit someone randomly really HARD" move instead of Helm Splitter. My paladin died a few times to 150x4 damage breath/kaboom/etc, she needs more HP. 600 would be nice.

Desperately need Sage, where are those stupid trolls at?

Got Aliahan boots for my main character, which is like a 20% drop. No orb.

HyperAquaBlast · July 2010

So I am changing my MA to a Paladin since my MC is a gladiator. I did a quick run of metal slimes to get him up to 13 but that gets boring fast.

How bad would it be for a lvl 13 Pally to hang around a lvl 31 crew?

gnodab · July 2010

Blackjack wrote: »

DarkPrimus wrote: »

Blackjack wrote: »

chrono_traveller wrote: »

What weapons can paladins equip? (Gaming sites are blocked at work. )

And for that matter, what can Armamentalists(sp?) equip? (I haven't unlocked either yet.)

Full list of vocations and their weapon skills
Minstrel: Sword, Whip, Fan, Shield
Warrior: Sword, Spear, Knife, Shield
Mage: Wand, Whip, Knife, Shield
Priest: Spear, Wand, Staff, Shield
Martial Artist: Fan, Claw, Staff, Fisticuffs
Thief: Knife, Claw, Sword, Fisticuffs
Gladiator: Sword, Axe, Club, Fisticuffs
Armamentalist: Sword, Bow, Wand, Shield
Paladin: Club, Spear, Wand, Shield
Ranger: Bow, Axe, Boomerang, Fisticuffs
Sage: Boomerang, Bow, Wand, Shield
Luminary: Boomerang, Whip, Fan, Shield

Just remember that when you put 100 points into a weapon skill, you can use the weapon with every class.

Also that Fisticuffs is always Omnivocational but only the listed classes can put points into it.

It's also worth pointing out that there's no such thing as a "two handed weapon" in the game, so you can use Shields with everything, even bows, claws, and fisticuffs.

Huh, I was not aware of this. I figured that claws, at least, needed to be dual-wielded.

Unfortunately, I still think I might retire my claw-thief, at least when I get to the post-game content. Right now I'm running a sword gladiator, claw-thief, axe-priest and a wand-wizard... but I'm seriously considering just rolling up a new character and making a spear-paladin to replace the thief. He's useful for regular random encounters, but my thief has been the weakest link and hasn't performed that well during the few grotto boss fights.

the only problem with that is that running a glad/paladin/cleric/mage setup seems so.... plain.

gah, i love this goddamn game

Blackjack · July 2010

Nope. It looks ridiculous, but you can have someone use a shield and claws at the same time.

Also, don't make an entirely new character. Just change the thief into a Paladin.

Athaedos · July 2010

KiTA wrote: »

Baramos fight.

Is it... playing the DQ3 boss fight music?

Edit: Beat him. 29 turns, and got VERY lucky. I should have went to an Inn earlier, this would have allowed me to use the high end guts "hit someone randomly really HARD" move instead of Helm Splitter. My paladin died a few times to 150x4 damage breath/kaboom/etc, she needs more HP. 600 would be nice.

Desperately need Sage, where are those stupid trolls at?

Got Aliahan boots for my main character, which is like a 20% drop. No orb.

There are Great Trolls in (end of the game spoiler)

the realm of the mighty before you fight

Corvus.

That's how I did it anyways. They're also on the high ground of Ondor Cliffs, wherever that is. I imagine you have to get there from

the air via the starway express.

gnodab · July 2010

Blackjack wrote: »

Nope. It looks ridiculous, but you can have someone use a shield and claws at the same time.

Also, don't make an entirely new character. Just change the thief into a Paladin.

eh, i don't mind. i wasn't particularly fond of the way i specced him, i'm not gonna retire the thief entirely, just going to sub him out for the most part.

i've already got my new character started up, tayne, my latest minstrel. now Tayne i can get into!

Dracil · July 2010

What level are you?

Edit: Beated, but this was in reply to the low level treasure maps.

quaigy · July 2010

When i go for treasure maps, i switch to my high lvl team, around lvl 45-55.

KiTA · July 2010

Having started in on the postgame stuff, let me just say this: The map of where the grottos spawn makes the strat guide worth every penny.

I literally cannot imagine trying to puzzle some of these out...

... Which is why I might stop using the guide for it. ;) There seems to be a certain level of entertainment value to be had not being able to figure anything out and just replacing a map cause you can't FIND it.

(Of course, the Cameo Dungeons? Yeah, they get guided, no exceptions.)

quaigy · July 2010

Man, doing the Sage quest post-game is Hell. There's only one spawn for the monsters you need, and they don't even spawn in the world, that would be too easy. No, instead, they have a random chance to spawn with the monster you're engaging.

Pro-tip : Do that quest in the last dungeon, not after. You'll thank me.

harvest · July 2010

Ah haha Miracle Sword for sale today. Totally bought that, it's like cheating.

So does Deftness improve the chance to steal stuff from enemies? I need about 20 Hephaestus' Flames, so that's a lot of toads to steal from.

Blackjack · July 2010

Theoretically it does, yes. But it's still pretty low. Your best bet is to just teach everyone Half-Inch instead of just one dedicated Thief.

quaigy · July 2010

A thief you'll turn into a ranger as soon as you've gotten the max deftness bonus from his skill tree, since rangers seems to have the highest deftness stat.

Algertman · July 2010

So the first treaser dungeon. Does the boss get harder each time?

Also I went in tag mode and it asked me if I wanted to take a map with me. Do I lose that map if me and another person tag?

Pata · July 2010

You keep the map.

Algertman · July 2010

thanks

jothki · July 2010

You're going to eventually get a miracle sword from mini medals.

Though I suppose you can get one absurdly early from the market.

harvest · July 2010

Alright, plot question. I finished up the desert, but nobody there is really forthcoming on where I should go next, and I can see at least two places on the map where I could travel to by ship. Problem is the enemy strength jump at both locations seems massive, and it takes a ton of MP to win and stay alive in field fights. Time to grind or go somewhere else?

Blackjack · July 2010

harvest wrote: »

Alright, plot question. I finished up the desert, but nobody there is really forthcoming on where I should go next, and I can see at least two places on the map where I could travel to by ship. Problem is the enemy strength jump at both locations seems massive, and it takes a ton of MP to win and stay alive in field fights. Time to grind or go somewhere else?

Continent north of Gleeba. There's a town in the middle of a huge plain. The town itself is actually directly north of Gleeba, but you need to dock the ship a little to the east of it and then head north

Lucascraft · July 2010

Pohl wrote: »

Lucascraft wrote: »

Ugh. Just died on the boss of AllTrades Tower and lost like an hour of play. The difficulty kind of came out of nowhere on him. I've been breezing through every other encounter, including previous bosses, with no trouble at all. Then Whamo! This guy has some pretty nasty AoE spells.

I just defeated this boss last night, but only barely. My team consisted of a LV 17, two LV 16, and a LV 15. He stole a ton of MP from my mage, and my martial artist took a beating and I did not stay on top of healing her so she turned into a coffin rather quickly. Finally took down the boss with repeated Crackle's thanks to that coup de grace which lets me cast spells for 0 MP. Was a literal lifesaver.

But yeah, you didn't actually lose any game progression. Just half your money. So all your grinding up to the top of the tower was not in vain!

Ugh really? Didn't know that. I cut the power off in frustration when I died. So yes, I did lose all the time played. Would have been nice if they had told me this somewhere along the way. This game's documentation isn't very good.

quaigy · July 2010

Very interesting post on Gamefaqs on map names and what they mean about the grottos.

edit: I actually had a few decent maps !

Algertman · July 2010

OK I'm sort of confused about the level of the map. Does your treasure map level up or do you just get different versions of it through out the game.

quaigy · July 2010

Everytime you kill the boss at the end of a grotto, you get a new map.

Billmaan · July 2010

Good lord, Baramos is not to be trifled with. Is it just me, or are at least half of his physical attacks crits?

I did beat him once, thanks to a lucky coup de grace on my gladiator. Oomph + full tension + falcon blade + falcon slash = 4000 damage. I was hoping to farm him for experience, but...that's just plain not going to happen for a while.

quaigy · July 2010

Billmaan wrote: »

Good lord, Baramos is not to be trifled with. Is it just me, or are at least half of his physical attacks crits?

I did beat him once, thanks to a lucky coup de grace on my gladiator. Oomph + full tension + falcon blade + falcon slash = 4000 damage. I was hoping to farm him for experience, but...that's just plain not going to happen for a while.

Do the shield skill quest. The reward make it so that whoever is holding it automatically blocks physical crits. My paladin is loving it.

Mugenmidget · July 2010

Does anyone know where Grandmaster Wun Tun Punch is located?

Elin · July 2010

So the resspawn times for ground items has me puzzled. It's been more than 24 real life hours, and many in game hours with inn saves and there are a few things that just aren't respawning. Namely the lava and royal soil. Sigh, come back I need you to alchemize!

MonkeyDLuffy · July 2010

You can steal lava lumps from Admirers in The Plumbed Depths, and you can steal royal soil from Mad Moai outside the Lonely Plains/Heights of Loneliness.

KiTA · July 2010

Unlocked Sage. Woot! Hit Level 22 (4 Liquid Metal Slimes), but have to hit the sack now. Going to go for Level 38-40 before I switch away (if I do -- might leave my healer as a Sage) -- mastering the class on all my characters for the cheaper MP. The "Jack's Knack" skill is just awesome, being able to switch classes while next to the Liquid Metal Slimes is fun stuff. I no longer have to go back to Alltrades, especially with my goddess ring (regen MP while walking). Now if I can only find a good place to farm Metal King Slimes...

Edit: Just so everyone's sure -- the drop table and the steal table (and the auto-steal table) are all the same. Things you can steal can also drop at the end of fights.

harvest · July 2010

Blackjack wrote: »

harvest wrote: »

Alright, plot question. I finished up the desert, but nobody there is really forthcoming on where I should go next, and I can see at least two places on the map where I could travel to by ship. Problem is the enemy strength jump at both locations seems massive, and it takes a ton of MP to win and stay alive in field fights. Time to grind or go somewhere else?

Continent north of Gleeba. There's a town in the middle of a huge plain. The town itself is actually directly north of Gleeba, but you need to dock the ship a little to the east of it and then head north

Thanks. By the time I checked back for a response I had already finished up a few weapon quests, so maybe I have done part of the game out of order? Not that I can know for sure, but the challenge was intense.

Captain K · July 2010

I also had no clue where to go after Gleeba.

humorously, I did this:

went to the toughest (?) possible area first: Wormwood. wandered around, couldn't seem to accomplish anything. A magic barrier blocks my way!

Then I went to Swinedimples, which is the next toughest area (I think?) and it was pretty easy after gaining many levels in the Wormwood area.

Now I'm doing the Batsureg stuff and it's laughably easy to kill all the monsters in this area.

I think that's exactly backwards? Not really sure, since I couldn't actually figure out what the first area I visited is even for. I assume it's where you go after you get all the fyggs.

harvest · July 2010

Haha I did that same thing Captain K. At least in that first area there were some nice recipes and alchemy materials.

Blackjack · July 2010

Captain K wrote: »

I also had no clue where to go after Gleeba.

humorously, I did this:

went to the toughest (?) possible area first: Wormwood. wandered around, couldn't seem to accomplish anything. A magic barrier blocks my way!

Then I went to Swinedimples, which is the next toughest area (I think?) and it was pretty easy after gaining many levels in the Wormwood area.

Now I'm doing the Batsureg stuff and it's laughably easy to kill all the monsters in this area.

I think that's exactly backwards? Not really sure, since I couldn't actually figure out what the first area I visited is even for. I assume it's where you go after you get all the fyggs.

It is exactly backwards, yeah. Not that that's a bad thing. Running around places you "shouldn't be" is the best part of getting the boat in a Dragon Quest game. But, the easiest way to tell if you're "supposed" to be somewhere is to kill something in your area and then look at the Defeated Monsters list and see where it's registered. If there's, like, a page of question marks you've probably skipped an area or two.

harvest · July 2010

Blackjack wrote: »

Captain K wrote: »

I also had no clue where to go after Gleeba.

humorously, I did this:

went to the toughest (?) possible area first: Wormwood. wandered around, couldn't seem to accomplish anything. A magic barrier blocks my way!

Then I went to Swinedimples, which is the next toughest area (I think?) and it was pretty easy after gaining many levels in the Wormwood area.

Now I'm doing the Batsureg stuff and it's laughably easy to kill all the monsters in this area.

I think that's exactly backwards? Not really sure, since I couldn't actually figure out what the first area I visited is even for. I assume it's where you go after you get all the fyggs.

It is exactly backwards, yeah. Not that that's a bad thing. Running around places you "shouldn't be" is the best part of getting the boat in a Dragon Quest game. But, the easiest way to tell if you're "supposed" to be somewhere is to kill something in your area and then look at the Defeated Monsters list and see where it's registered. If there's, like, a page of question marks you've probably skipped an area or two.

In my case I figured out I probably wasn't supposed to need to rest after every other fight, so I went other places until I was feeling just on the edge of comfortable.

Edit:

Holy Jesus my first treasure map was a cakewalk, and I finally found my second grotto, but the boss is really scary and wiped me out after 3-4 rounds. He was hitting twice per turn with a ~80 point melee hit and/or Kaboom! I put out ~800 damage on him but then he was healed to full. I'll come back to this aspect of the game much later it seems.

Edit part two:

I find myself in need of a gold bar. Someone care to spoiler how and where to get one?

KiTA · July 2010

Yeah, I ended up in Wormwood or whatever first, too. As in, "it was the first place I found after the boat." Before even Gleeba.

Isn't non-linearity fun?

Blackjack · July 2010

harvest wrote: »

I find myself in need of a gold bar. Someone care to spoiler how and where to get one?

Earliest you can get one without spending hours and hours of your life grinding materials is during the Wormwood section in the Bowhole dungeon--make sure all four of your dudes have Half-Inch and just start stealing from Drakularge enemies--they look like slightly smaller, non bow-wearing versions of the boss in Gleeba, if you need a visual. It's their rare steal but it crops up often enough that you'll be pulling one every thirty minutes or so which, again, is infinitely faster than trying to alchemize it. In case you don't believe me or are insane, the recipe is Sainted soma x 3 + Ethereal stone x 2 + Birdsong nectar x 5

jothki · July 2010

So is the boss from the first map you get random? Mine had Equinox, who proceeded to stomp me until I came back much later.

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