Final Contract Update/Dragon Quest IX
Jul. 25th, 2010 12:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodel So, the votes are in, and both contracts passed with overwhelming margins. I can finally relax... until Monday, when I have to execute my duty of enforcing these contracts. I kicked back Friday night with lobster steamed in white wine (cooked it myself, mind) followed by cream sherry. Then I rewarded myself with some DQIX.
I hated Dragon Warrior. As a lover of adventure games, RPG grinding is anathema, and I remember DW as one long slog of blue slime after blue slime followed by the horror of a metal scorpion encounter-- one of the most searingly negative moments of gaming from my youth. I still hate that game-- I recall thumbing through the manual, looking at all the way-cool enemies you could eventually encounter, and then returning to slime-killing whilst thinking "this is all a lie." I never got very far.
Dragon Quest IX, though, is All That and a bag of skittles. Lovely to look at, lovely to listen to, with an engaging sense of humor and a quite interesting plot thus far. Still not thrilled with the basic grinding mechanics and all the time-consuming stuff like attending to every article of dress for every member in my party (absence of this micromanagment is one thing I love about FE), but it's a highly addictive game. It also has a plethora of gaming in-jokes-- one of the enemies is "Wooper Trooper," obviously based off one of my least favorite Pokemon. And these buggers are just as annoying in DQIX as they are in Pearl. [Aside-- I plan to buy that Glory of Heracles game soon in spite of mixed reviews, all the more so once I found out that it, too, features Nintendo jokes-- including an Archanea reference. I'm such a sucker.] But I highly recommend this game to anyone who has not yet tried it. At least the slimes have acquired iconic status in the last two decades....
ETA: forgot to add that both the hero(ine) and all the party members are created by you, the gamer. Fun enough, though the secondary party members have zero personality. I mean, none. No dialogue, no plot significance, nothin'. The fun is solely in making them. I made myself a pink-pigtailed, violet-eyed little mage girl and named her "Serra," then followed that with a green-haired spear-specialist warrior that I named "Adel" because he looked like a sinister version of Abel from FE3. Power to the gamers, I guess...
***
Food note of the night-- one of the most exquisite Mexican dishes I have ever encountered is Chiles en Nogada, which is like chiles rellenos made divine. Take a large poblano chile and fill it with a sweet-tart mixture of nuts and pomegranate seeds, then lightly batter it with egg, cook it up and smother it in velvety cream sauce. Amazing.
I hated Dragon Warrior. As a lover of adventure games, RPG grinding is anathema, and I remember DW as one long slog of blue slime after blue slime followed by the horror of a metal scorpion encounter-- one of the most searingly negative moments of gaming from my youth. I still hate that game-- I recall thumbing through the manual, looking at all the way-cool enemies you could eventually encounter, and then returning to slime-killing whilst thinking "this is all a lie." I never got very far.
Dragon Quest IX, though, is All That and a bag of skittles. Lovely to look at, lovely to listen to, with an engaging sense of humor and a quite interesting plot thus far. Still not thrilled with the basic grinding mechanics and all the time-consuming stuff like attending to every article of dress for every member in my party (absence of this micromanagment is one thing I love about FE), but it's a highly addictive game. It also has a plethora of gaming in-jokes-- one of the enemies is "Wooper Trooper," obviously based off one of my least favorite Pokemon. And these buggers are just as annoying in DQIX as they are in Pearl. [Aside-- I plan to buy that Glory of Heracles game soon in spite of mixed reviews, all the more so once I found out that it, too, features Nintendo jokes-- including an Archanea reference. I'm such a sucker.] But I highly recommend this game to anyone who has not yet tried it. At least the slimes have acquired iconic status in the last two decades....
ETA: forgot to add that both the hero(ine) and all the party members are created by you, the gamer. Fun enough, though the secondary party members have zero personality. I mean, none. No dialogue, no plot significance, nothin'. The fun is solely in making them. I made myself a pink-pigtailed, violet-eyed little mage girl and named her "Serra," then followed that with a green-haired spear-specialist warrior that I named "Adel" because he looked like a sinister version of Abel from FE3. Power to the gamers, I guess...
***
Food note of the night-- one of the most exquisite Mexican dishes I have ever encountered is Chiles en Nogada, which is like chiles rellenos made divine. Take a large poblano chile and fill it with a sweet-tart mixture of nuts and pomegranate seeds, then lightly batter it with egg, cook it up and smother it in velvety cream sauce. Amazing.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 04:47 am (UTC)DQ1 represents my first JRPG triumph. Beating that game as a lad in '89 was one of the great satisfactions of my youth, since it was so damn hard and so damn tedious. It did get me hooked on the genre, though. Shortly after I got into it, Final Fantasy appeared. And DQ2. And *drool* Phantasy Star II. And that was the end. I was doomed. :-) (And I do have unfinished 'fic here and there for DQ1; in fact, I tore through the GBC rerelease of the game last year for kicks.)
Create-a-characters in DQ9? Hmm! Certainly precedent for that in the series, but they have been off the table since DQ6, IIRC. (Where is that remake, Nintendo?! You did #4 and #5 already, so why not #6? Finish the Eden trilogy!)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 05:46 am (UTC)I've been playing DQIX myself the past couple of weeks and, while I guess I like it, it still falls short for me. But I'm no expert on the series as I've only ever played DQ4 and DQ5 for the DS. Still, I miss the party chat from DQ5. I really don't care about designing the characters and I'd have rather had characters with some personality. Even a tiniest bit of personality would have helped me grow attached to the characters (Seriously, the next person to whine at me that Shadow Dragon had no characterization is getting this game shoved at them because this game is a perfect example of no or next to no characterization). I didn't even care about my player character much.
There were also a few gameplay things that I wasn't fond of, but I won't specify as I don't wish to say too much. It's not plot related, but I'd rather be safe then sorry.
Again, that's not to say I disliked it because it was fun for the most part and it does still have stuff for me to do even after completing the main story, so I'm satisfied that my money was well spent, but it's probably the least favorite of the three games that I've played.
But that's just me. Reviews and fan opinion appear to suggest that I'm incorrect. :P I hope that you enjoy it!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 10:07 am (UTC)To be fair, though, I had to buy these things with my allowance, and I didn't get very much. Each game I owned was the result of months saving, so naturally I stuck to the big name classics.
one of the most exquisite Mexican dishes I have ever encountered is Chiles en Nogado
... I have to try this. NOW.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 12:25 pm (UTC)Beating that game as a lad in '89 was one of the great satisfactions of my youth, since it was so damn hard and so damn tedious.
Congratulations for beating it. I decided I had better things to do with my time, like making little model villages out of acorns and setting them on fire with a magnifying glass.
Create-a-characters in DQ9?
You create your protagonist and have the option to create all the supporting party members, or you can obtain pre-assembled party members from the inn that serves as your base of operations.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 12:30 pm (UTC)Thank you!
.But I'm no expert on the series as I've only ever played DQ4 and DQ5 for the DS.
I have the DQ5 remake and have barely even touched it-- didn't quite grab me. How is it?
(Seriously, the next person to whine at me that Shadow Dragon had no characterization is getting this game shoved at them because this game is a perfect example of no or next to no characterization
Your thoughts match mine exactly here. The parallel was... unavoidable.
There were also a few gameplay things that I wasn't fond of, but I won't specify as I don't wish to say too much.
If it's related to the multi-player thing, my husband is around to solve that, as he's playing his own copy (at a much faster rate than me, too).
But it's probably the least favorite of the three games that I've played.
Interesting. I may have to dust off my copy of DQ5 and give it another chance, then.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 01:02 pm (UTC)There are a number of online recipes, all of them different and none of them exactly like the recipe I'm familiar with, which comes from the state of Hidalgo. And of course I don't have said recipe, because it's the house specialty of the best little Mexican restaurant in metro Detroit. But it's truly amazing and probably any of the recipes would work. Happy hunting!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 08:32 pm (UTC)I really like the game. Of the Dragon Quest games that I've played, it's the only one that caused me to actually become attached to the protagonist. Since Dragon Quest tends to the silent protagonist, I often find that I have a difficult time with them, but party chat helped a lot with bringing the character to life. And I'm quite fond of a number of other characters in the game (although a few bothered me). I thought that plot was good, although it starts off slowly. It picks up after the first few dungeons.
I'm afraid to say too much more honestly for fear of spoilers, except that I really enjoyed it. ^_^