@AdventNick#14261 Tim's suggestion is cool but you know what, the GBC ports of DQ1-3 are based on the SFC ports and were released in the USA and I recommend those over the SFC versions.
-Even more refined
-8bit chip tunes make the gameboy sing and are more like the original music, with added layers
-gameboy is the pokemon machine, play dragon quest on it
-more likely to complete the game on a portable?
Especially in the case of DQ3, I think the GBC is the best version ever made, definitive, even.
I remember hearing Tim say that, and I thought, "well, he must also mean the GBC ports, since they're the same thing"
Yeah, DQ9 is really really great. Was always sad I never really engaged with the multiplayer because I didn't know anyone who had it. I still think about the town where everyone turned to stone quite often.
@treefroggy#14339 Oh wow, the enemy battle sprites are even animated just as well as the 16 bit ones. I'm gonna have to grab these cartridges off eBay before my Analogue Pocket gets in.
I have a copy of DQIX sitting around that I never dug into but it‘s also one of my friend’s favorites and she has played every single DQ lol. I assume it's not possible to do multiplayer anymore?
I remember Best Buy had a thing where Nintendo sent reps to BB to give out DQ9 maps.
I went to one as the guy was about to leave and he was like "I've been here for hours and you're the first person to come and visit me! I actually have no idea how to even do this, let's try to figure it out" lol
anyways, he was wrapping up so we chatted for a bit. Unfortunately I ended up losing the map coz I didnt save my game, and the DS ran out of battery while I had it closed (DS didnt have sleep mode like 3DS does lol)
PSA I will never have time to get in on multiplayer dq IX but you people are serious about setting up multiplayer and someone wants in I‘ll mail you my old cartridge I don’t want it anymore just lmk
A few years ago I decided I was going to catch up on DQ as a series, since I had only at that point played VIII, IX, and I (as a kid). I loved most of it, but I also learned that it's possible for me to get overloaded with playing what are in the end extremely samey games– I started with I and made it all the way up through VI, where I hit a wall and had to give them a rest for a while. I subsequently picked up the remakes of VII and VIII, and just recently XI, but I never managed to go back to VI, which is a shame since I had heard it was quite good.
Anyway, the reasons why I enjoy the series are reaaaaally different from why I enjoy some other RPGs, and are mostly centred around how much the games stay the same mechanically for the most part, so they're easy for me to play with my critical brain mostly shut off. Although yeah, I kinda can't stand the 'ye olde' accents, even though I appreciate what they're going for-- making parts of the fictional world distinct from each other through a sorta-dialect.
I feel like the mechanical comfort and steady rhythm might be part of the reason the “big themes” come through as strongly as they do in the most successful DQ games. Always less knotty than FF for example though that quality has its appeal too
I‘m on the cusp of starting DQVI on DS, so sorry to hear those DS scripts are possibly the low point of that cockney cheese spectrum (whatever we want to call it). Oh well, I’ll give it a shot anyway.
I don't know DQ history very well, so I'd be curious to hear from those of you who've played them in Japanese: do characters from different regions speak in different Japanese dialects in the same way as in English? Do the games appropriate real-world dialects or are they made up?
And I don't know how serious this idea about attempting DQIX multiplayer is, but I've had that game sitting in a drawer for months (never played it) and would jump on the party train if timing/number of players works out.
I'm trying to imagine an English version of that but all I'm coming up with is translators misusing a lot of modern-young-person slang or quoting memes or something and coming up with something embarrassing. Gonna yeet those slimes into next week or die lit!
For real though I can imagine this and am suddenly jealous of the Japanese DQ experience.
I've been listening to a lot of Dragon Quest music this year when I go for walks and I kinda wish there was a youtube playlist of each type of music within DQ a la Town, Overworld, Sailing, Dungeon, etc.
Also, I think DQ II's "Busy City Streets" is my personal favorite town theme especially on the Gameboy Color.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpfYobQShvM
In Japan the Dragon Quest Game Boy games share a common visual theme: A party adventuring with the leader at the front mid stride: 'Let's go'.
It's a very suitable image for portable Dragon Quest.
This is a game in which you go on adventures, that you can take with you on your adventures!
Out of the five releases only Dragon Quest III breaks from the theme.
The North American versions got different art. Unfortunately, for the DQ I & II collection and for the original Monsters we got awful CG renders for the covers. I do like the cover we got for DQ III of the main character holding his sword aloft with his cape swaying in the breeze and his party behind him. It conveys grand adventure.
I like both Game Boy Color versions of the DQ III cover. I wonder if the DQ III Japan release breaking ranks was so they could more easily present the main character without clearly depicting gender. The North American DQ III cover lovely as it is, has chosen to depict a dude holding his sword aloft (you could imagine it's a woman, but it takes a little effort). The Japanese release has a chibi style main character sitting down, who is _maybe_ supposed to be a boy, but it takes zero mental effort to think of them as being a girl instead. That's neat.
Overall, Japan got the better covers, but at least some of the covers we got in North America were nice too.
https://sickr.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/dragon_quest_monsters_terry_wonderland_retro.jpg