My file at the end of the main game is about 85 hours. Some hours were definitely added for excessive grinding, plus a couple of hours where I simply left the system on while I ran some errands or something. Yeah, 80 hours is pretty accurate.
I could see shaving about 10 if you just skipped story and didn't grind nearly as much.
I "finished" at around 40 hours (party levels 60-64), but I read quick and don't linger in towns and maps looking for shinies much. I also capitalized on metal slime locations when I found them to overlevel and trivialize a lot of bosses. Looking forward to the robust postgame, especially (spoilered because it's hard to talk about post without ruining some good stuff)
taking my time crafting +3s and going back and completing missing quests and maxing out everyone, including our mouthy little friend.
This has been one of the best games I've played on my PS4, period. I'm so happy it came over. I want more good ol' fashioned JRPGs on this thing.
I don't even know what the next new RPG experience will be for me. Having finished Octopath Traveler, then going through DQXI, and it's going to be a loooong wait for Cyberpunk 2077 (which is less of a traditional RPG experience anyway), and I'm just not sure what I'll look to next. Maybe I'll fire up the SNES classic and knock out some games.
I don't even know what the next new RPG experience will be for me. Having finished Octopath Traveler, then going through DQXI, and it's going to be a loooong wait for Cyberpunk 2077 (which is less of a traditional RPG experience anyway), and I'm just not sure what I'll look to next. Maybe I'll fire up the SNES classic and knock out some games.
Normal difficulty bosses continue to be no joke when underleveled. Especially when you don't have key abilities the game assuredly assumes you have by now.
For example, going through Octogenia:
1st MMA fight, against the strong guys - This isn't too bad, and it looks like my partner can't be downed and has infinite Strong Medicines for me.
2nd fight, against the girls - Almost die multiple times from their attacks, only able to stay alive by chowing down Strong Medicine while my partner does most of the damage.
3rd fight, against the golden boys - Actually felt easier than the previous fight, but at this point I'm making sure to keep a full inventory of Strong Medicine on hand.
3rd fight ends.
Ryu gains a bunch of XP!
Ryu has leveled up!
Ryu learns Midheal!
Oh I see, I should have had access to Midheal this entire time, lol.
I don't even know what the next new RPG experience will be for me. Having finished Octopath Traveler, then going through DQXI, and it's going to be a loooong wait for Cyberpunk 2077 (which is less of a traditional RPG experience anyway), and I'm just not sure what I'll look to next. Maybe I'll fire up the SNES classic and knock out some games.
I don't even know what the next new RPG experience will be for me. Having finished Octopath Traveler, then going through DQXI, and it's going to be a loooong wait for Cyberpunk 2077 (which is less of a traditional RPG experience anyway), and I'm just not sure what I'll look to next. Maybe I'll fire up the SNES classic and knock out some games.
KH3 is right around the corner!
They said they are still playing this! And I didn't assume they were only playing RPGs just asking when the next big one would be. And just a few months after finishing this big one seems a p short time to me that can easily be filled with all the other great stuff coming out.
On to this game for a minute, I finally got 4 people in my party! It only took 15 hours of play time...
The game also decided that having 4 characters means that it's time to get difficult. Because oh man is the desert a big jump. Legit any random encounter can kill me. Using buffs/debuffs/status effects is actually very important.
This game does a dick move with skills. At level 99 everyone will be able to learn all but one or two skills. Either have character get enough points to learn everything by 99 or restrict them to the point where you have to pick sections and specialize.
You need to use a total of 83 Skill Seeds across all characters to get everyone enough points to max their trees. It varies widely. The Luminary needs 14 of them, while Rab and Eric only need 3 each.
This game does a dick move with skills. At level 99 everyone will be able to learn all but one or two skills. Either have character get enough points to learn everything by 99 or restrict them to the point where you have to pick sections and specialize.
You need to use a total of 83 Skill Seeds across all characters to get everyone enough points to max their trees. It varies widely. The Luminary needs 14 of them, while Rab and Eric only need 3 each.
While this definitely qualifies as said move, I feel that grinding permanent stat increase drops is, in itself, a beloved JRPG trope. Spending countless hours farming for rare drops to power a character who is already grossly more powerful than even the most secret form of the most secret boss is kind of our gravy.
The only reason I wouldn't consider it a major problem is because most likely you'll have every character stick to just one weapon type, so there's not much point fretting over the fact that you can't max out the categories you're never gonna use anyways.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Ok so correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking that
Rab
is a hybrid caster? He seems to have a mix of both offensive and defensive/restorative magic.
He's only a guest in my party so far, but I've seen him cast Midheal, Squelch, Defuddle, and Zap.
Yes, hybrid. Though they should never have access to Zap. That is an exclusive Luminary move. Their only offensive spells will be Zam and Crack, while having some offensive abilities through Claws and a special event later on.
It's grown on me. I was opposed to it at first. Heal, Healmore, HealAll, HealUs, HealUsAll (which became Omniheal). But then you had spells in DQ4 that bucked that More/Most trend because you had IceBolt, SnowStorm, IceSpears, and Fireball, Firebane, Firevolt.
PSN: TheArcadeBear
Steam: TheArcadeBear
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
In some weird building plans I think I'm going to use my magical might seeds on Erik?
I don't really have any one else that makes sense to use them on but he does have those trap spells that deal magic damage. And since I'm using him as a boomerang guy giving him extra magic might will help his single target damage out with those.
Erik gets some much better options to use a turn on later on. If I'm ever in control of Erik, I always open up with Divide (from his Guile tree) and then go for the hardest hitting move because 6x damage times 3. This is especially busted when you get his Dually Deadly skill so his offhand does 100% damage instead of 50%.
...how far into the game is this? Already approaching 30 hours.
If you haven't been to...
Yggdrasil yet, you're not even at the halfway mark of the game. There's a whole other chunk of game after Yggdrasil, and a pretty good chunk of game available in post-game quests.
I just turned over 100 hours and I haven't even finished the main game yet to get to the post game stuff :biggrin:
I feel like this will be me. I'm a little over 20 hours and still in the desert area.
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Question:
Should I drop Erik's steal during the early game?
I realize that I've spent 8 points on it but have only even used itemized kill like 3 times and it was never anything too special. I imagine late game when you have more steal % and are farming things it will be super helpful. But when I have fewer points is it better to just drop it and get it later?
Basically, in the first section of the game will there ever be anything super special to be stealing?
I realize that I've spent 8 points on it but have only even used itemized kill like 3 times and it was never anything too special. I imagine late game when you have more steal % and are farming things it will be super helpful. But when I have fewer points is it better to just drop it and get it later?
Basically, in the first section of the game will there ever be anything super special to be stealing?
I would drop it, yes. I just beat the squid boss and there was never a time when stopping to farm stolen items (heh) was worth it.
Don't forget how cheap and easy respecs are in this game, too. You can get Half-inch back anytime you want.
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
I realize that I've spent 8 points on it but have only even used itemized kill like 3 times and it was never anything too special. I imagine late game when you have more steal % and are farming things it will be super helpful. But when I have fewer points is it better to just drop it and get it later?
Basically, in the first section of the game will there ever be anything super special to be stealing?
I would drop it, yes. I just beat the squid boss and there was never a time when stopping to farm stolen items (heh) was worth it.
Don't forget how cheap and easy respecs are in this game, too. You can get Half-inch back anytime you want.
Thanks I just needed to hear it from someone else to confirm my suspicions. I shall do that first thing when I play again!
I just found two Falcon Blades, but Greatswords are still better imo for MC... Sooo I slapped em on Erik and respecced him for Swords.
Yeah I think I kinda enjoy Erik quadhitting for ~130-150 total, just from normal attacks. Doesn't even have to spend MP for that!
I'm not sure if he's worth running though. My current group is MC/Jade/Rab/Veronica, and that seems to cover every base, MC and Jade are fuckin' DPS monsters. Maybe slap him in over Veronica on Bosses, I dunno. Veronica has Oomphle though. Ehhh.
edit: Oh yeah and each of those four hits has an individual chance to crit, of course, so I slapped an Assassin +3 on him and hoo boy those Crits are flying.
Sylvando is clearly the greatest DQ character of the entire franchise, and
Dave is by far the best NPC the game. In the fishing town, during the mermaid quest, there is a book about him, and he's just ADOOOOOOORABLE. Speaking of that section, when you fight tentacool (sp) - I love when Sylvando looks at all the fisherman as potential husbands.
I just, after about 41 hours reached the halfway point in the game, and boy-oh-boy, i'm loving this game.
Also I just passed the 60 hour mark and I think I'm nearing the end of Sniflheim (which isn't even at the halfway mark yet)
I'm also taking my sweet sweet time with the game and doing all the sidequests and shit though. I've seen some people say they beat the game in 50 hours, but like maybe if you're playing on Normal Mode and just blitzing through it, I GUESS? Hard Mode's a bit of a different story as well, given that enemies and bosses are waaaay tougher and require multiple tries or even some extra grinding.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
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DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Also I just passed the 60 hour mark and I think I'm nearing the end of Sniflheim (which isn't even at the halfway mark yet)
I'm also taking my sweet sweet time with the game and doing all the sidequests and shit though. I've seen some people say they beat the game in 50 hours, but like maybe if you're playing on Normal Mode and just blitzing through it, I GUESS? Hard Mode's a bit of a different story as well, given that enemies and bosses are waaaay tougher and require multiple tries or even some extra grinding.
I only just got to the Gondola area and this game has been almost as hard as some SMT games so far. And I mean that in a good way. I'll be like "Nah, I don't need to buff Veronica in this random encounter, just blow it up" *two enemies decide to target Veronica and she dies* "Whoops, guess I shoulda buffed her..."
Also I just passed the 60 hour mark and I think I'm nearing the end of Sniflheim (which isn't even at the halfway mark yet)
I'm also taking my sweet sweet time with the game and doing all the sidequests and shit though. I've seen some people say they beat the game in 50 hours, but like maybe if you're playing on Normal Mode and just blitzing through it, I GUESS? Hard Mode's a bit of a different story as well, given that enemies and bosses are waaaay tougher and require multiple tries or even some extra grinding.
I only just got to the Gondola area and this game has been almost as hard as some SMT games so far. And I mean that in a good way. I'll be like "Nah, I don't need to buff Veronica in this random encounter, just blow it up" *two enemies decide to target Veronica and she dies* "Whoops, guess I shoulda buffed her..."
Erik's best skills unfortunately don't come until later in the game, when you do his character arc that expands his skill trees. If you're still in Act 1, you're unfortunately just using moves like Falcon Slash, or the 6x knife skills, or the boomerang moves.
Erik is a crit machine in the late game, and becomes your best metal hunter.
He gets a 100% guaranteed critical hit move (that costs 64 MP).
I tried putting Erik and Serena back in the party, but they just look so WEAK against the DPS Monsters that are the MC, Jade, and the last party member
As I'm trying to platinum the game, I'm not playing with the hard mode draconian quest enabled.
But I ran into my first boss that is literally a pain in the ass and wiped me.
The boss has 3 attacks per turn. Any combination of these attacks can trigger:
Paralyzing Roar (AoE knockdown status for 1 turn)
Paralyzing Breath (Paralyze status for 1-4 turns)
Dark Breath (100ish damage, AoE)
ST physical hit (230 damage, on average)
AoE physical hit (200ish damage, AoE, doesn't always hit everyone)
Kasizzle (200 fire damage, AoE, doesn't always hit everyone)
The AoE physical hit seemed exclusive with Kasizzle, so it would always do one or the other. Honestly though, I spent many a round with 1-3 people either knocked down or paralyzed. I had the MC, Sylvando and Rab all in the main party so I was rarely without a form of Multiheal (MC had the Sage's Stone), but it was hard to keep up with all the damage going out. Kabuff and Acceleratle are very useful to have. Blunting the damage is possible, but not recommended because Rab could be knocked down on his turn to refresh the debuff, or would need it to caste Multiheal.
My front line party got wiped out, which led to the backrow 4 stepping up. I cast Kerplunk with Serena (which full revives the backrow dead members) and then when the B team died, it was back to the A team, and I cast Kerplunk with Eight to revive the B team in case they needed to step up again. Thankfully, I managed to win, but it was on my third attempt of dealing with the boss.
Moral of the story: Paralyze resisting effects are good. Craft a few.
Something to keep in mind early on about dual-wielding:
As I recall, Dragon Quest uses a fairly simple subtractive defensive model, by which I mean most attack damage is just a randomized fraction of your Attack minus a randomized fraction of their Defense. The important thing about this is that dual-wielding imparts a multiplier on the power of the second attack, not the damage. So the damage you add from the second attack can be significantly lower than half of the first attack. For pure damage, it can be advantageous to just go with a more powerful weapon and outrun the enemy's Defense that way.
Of course, there are other things that help negate the disadvantage, like higher crit chances with multiple attacks, added chances of proccing status effects, the skill that brings the second hit to full power, and so on. I'm just saying that beelining for Dual Wielding can get you less extra damage than you expect.
My favorite musical instrument is the air-raid siren.
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I could see shaving about 10 if you just skipped story and didn't grind nearly as much.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
This has been one of the best games I've played on my PS4, period. I'm so happy it came over. I want more good ol' fashioned JRPGs on this thing.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
Also, I believe Valkyria Chronicles 4 is soonish. The demo is out right now for it.
KH3 is right around the corner!
I wasn't sold by the demo from Lost Sphear, which is weird of me to say cause it feels very similar to I Am Setsuna, which I loved.
Battle Chasers looks good, though. I see it regularly on sale on Steam, so I could dip into that while I wait for KH3 (delayed to Summer 2020).
Steam: TheArcadeBear
For example, going through Octogenia:
2nd fight, against the girls - Almost die multiple times from their attacks, only able to stay alive by chowing down Strong Medicine while my partner does most of the damage.
3rd fight, against the golden boys - Actually felt easier than the previous fight, but at this point I'm making sure to keep a full inventory of Strong Medicine on hand.
3rd fight ends.
Ryu gains a bunch of XP!
Ryu has leveled up!
Ryu learns Midheal!
Oh I see, I should have had access to Midheal this entire time, lol.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
(that's also if it doesn't get delayed :rotate:)
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
They said they are still playing this! And I didn't assume they were only playing RPGs just asking when the next big one would be. And just a few months after finishing this big one seems a p short time to me that can easily be filled with all the other great stuff coming out.
On to this game for a minute, I finally got 4 people in my party! It only took 15 hours of play time...
The game also decided that having 4 characters means that it's time to get difficult. Because oh man is the desert a big jump. Legit any random encounter can kill me. Using buffs/debuffs/status effects is actually very important.
You need to use a total of 83 Skill Seeds across all characters to get everyone enough points to max their trees. It varies widely. The Luminary needs 14 of them, while Rab and Eric only need 3 each.
While this definitely qualifies as said move, I feel that grinding permanent stat increase drops is, in itself, a beloved JRPG trope. Spending countless hours farming for rare drops to power a character who is already grossly more powerful than even the most secret form of the most secret boss is kind of our gravy.
He's only a guest in my party so far, but I've seen him cast Midheal, Squelch, Defuddle, and Zap.
Yes, hybrid. Though they should never have access to Zap. That is an exclusive Luminary move. Their only offensive spells will be Zam and Crack, while having some offensive abilities through Claws and a special event later on.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
All these DQ spell names are utter nonsense and also they all sound alike (with the exception of Heal and Midheal).
Steam: TheArcadeBear
I don't really have any one else that makes sense to use them on but he does have those trap spells that deal magic damage. And since I'm using him as a boomerang guy giving him extra magic might will help his single target damage out with those.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
If you haven't been to...
Steam: TheArcadeBear
I feel like this will be me. I'm a little over 20 hours and still in the desert area.
Should I drop Erik's steal during the early game?
I realize that I've spent 8 points on it but have only even used itemized kill like 3 times and it was never anything too special. I imagine late game when you have more steal % and are farming things it will be super helpful. But when I have fewer points is it better to just drop it and get it later?
Basically, in the first section of the game will there ever be anything super special to be stealing?
I would drop it, yes. I just beat the squid boss and there was never a time when stopping to farm stolen items (heh) was worth it.
Don't forget how cheap and easy respecs are in this game, too. You can get Half-inch back anytime you want.
Thanks I just needed to hear it from someone else to confirm my suspicions. I shall do that first thing when I play again!
Yeah I think I kinda enjoy Erik quadhitting for ~130-150 total, just from normal attacks. Doesn't even have to spend MP for that!
I'm not sure if he's worth running though. My current group is MC/Jade/Rab/Veronica, and that seems to cover every base, MC and Jade are fuckin' DPS monsters. Maybe slap him in over Veronica on Bosses, I dunno. Veronica has Oomphle though. Ehhh.
edit: Oh yeah and each of those four hits has an individual chance to crit, of course, so I slapped an Assassin +3 on him and hoo boy those Crits are flying.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
I just, after about 41 hours reached the halfway point in the game, and boy-oh-boy, i'm loving this game.
3DSFF: 5026-4429-6577
I'm also taking my sweet sweet time with the game and doing all the sidequests and shit though. I've seen some people say they beat the game in 50 hours, but like maybe if you're playing on Normal Mode and just blitzing through it, I GUESS? Hard Mode's a bit of a different story as well, given that enemies and bosses are waaaay tougher and require multiple tries or even some extra grinding.
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
I only just got to the Gondola area and this game has been almost as hard as some SMT games so far. And I mean that in a good way. I'll be like "Nah, I don't need to buff Veronica in this random encounter, just blow it up" *two enemies decide to target Veronica and she dies* "Whoops, guess I shoulda buffed her..."
"Enemy unleashes a DESPERATE ATTACK"
o-oh...............
(i love it)
Battle.net Tag: Dibby#1582
Erik is a crit machine in the late game, and becomes your best metal hunter.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
But I ran into my first boss that is literally a pain in the ass and wiped me.
The boss has 3 attacks per turn. Any combination of these attacks can trigger:
Paralyzing Roar (AoE knockdown status for 1 turn)
Paralyzing Breath (Paralyze status for 1-4 turns)
Dark Breath (100ish damage, AoE)
ST physical hit (230 damage, on average)
AoE physical hit (200ish damage, AoE, doesn't always hit everyone)
Kasizzle (200 fire damage, AoE, doesn't always hit everyone)
The AoE physical hit seemed exclusive with Kasizzle, so it would always do one or the other. Honestly though, I spent many a round with 1-3 people either knocked down or paralyzed. I had the MC, Sylvando and Rab all in the main party so I was rarely without a form of Multiheal (MC had the Sage's Stone), but it was hard to keep up with all the damage going out. Kabuff and Acceleratle are very useful to have. Blunting the damage is possible, but not recommended because Rab could be knocked down on his turn to refresh the debuff, or would need it to caste Multiheal.
My front line party got wiped out, which led to the backrow 4 stepping up. I cast Kerplunk with Serena (which full revives the backrow dead members) and then when the B team died, it was back to the A team, and I cast Kerplunk with Eight to revive the B team in case they needed to step up again. Thankfully, I managed to win, but it was on my third attempt of dealing with the boss.
Moral of the story: Paralyze resisting effects are good. Craft a few.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
As I recall, Dragon Quest uses a fairly simple subtractive defensive model, by which I mean most attack damage is just a randomized fraction of your Attack minus a randomized fraction of their Defense. The important thing about this is that dual-wielding imparts a multiplier on the power of the second attack, not the damage. So the damage you add from the second attack can be significantly lower than half of the first attack. For pure damage, it can be advantageous to just go with a more powerful weapon and outrun the enemy's Defense that way.
Of course, there are other things that help negate the disadvantage, like higher crit chances with multiple attacks, added chances of proccing status effects, the skill that brings the second hit to full power, and so on. I'm just saying that beelining for Dual Wielding can get you less extra damage than you expect.