RPG Progress Report

[Kuruwin]

At least there wasn't more annoying rescue missions on chapter 2 at least. My feelings for the game plumeted for other reasons though.

First of all at the end of the chapter 2 there was a boss battle that only your main character could take part of. Well the thing was that my main character was a ninja and his hits did whooping 1dmg per hit while the boss was doing like 40-60hp. Needless to say that it was impossible to beat the boss with a ninja of equal level. In most other games it would be grinding time but because it was two part battle there was no way backout. I changed to knight and beat him but changing classes cost resources and at this point at least you cant buy the items that change your class to ninja so i lost basically 2 ninja marks out of three because of this bullshit.

After beating the boss battle you have to make a choice and first i made the choice that i didn't want to because the other route is supposedly harder.

I would have been able to bear picking the choice that i didn't like but it actually lead me losing that fucking archer that i worked hard to get so when i that happened i sure wasn't fucking happy.

I had a backup save so i made the other choice but my motivation is way down now. I don't like the idea that there could be some really bullshitty battle comming up on this route.

[Exhuminator]

I don't like the idea that there could be some really bullshitty battle comming up on this route.

Oh yeah, you've got some questionably designed battles ahead of you. The end game (Hanging Gardens section) is out-of-the-blue-brutal, bullshitty in the extreme, and way too long. It almost made me quit the game.

[Jmustang1968]

The archer actually leaves your party for legit story reasons. If she didn't it would actually hurt her character.

I tend to like the harder battles and generally find the game to be on the easy side. But I also played the original not allowing for any deaths, so I found PSP version not as challenging. I also do all the side content, so I imagine my team was higher level and geared out a bit better.

I find chaos route to give the best roster of characters, I assume you switched to Neutral, I think that is the weakest route.

[Exhuminator]

generally find the game to be on the easy side

TO is an easy SRPG overall, agreed. The Hanging Gardens area was just disingenuously unbalanced rather suddenly.

[Kuruwin]

I didn't want to lose the archer so i did go with the chaos route. Yes, for the most part the game is really easy because most of the time you can just quickly kill the boss and move on. There was one castle battle on chaos route that really dragged down but mostly because of the flawed class system that makes anything that is even few levels lower than the enemy obsolete. It's really annoying to carry several dead weight characters and it doesn't make it anymore pleasant that it takes way too much exp to class to level up.

The 2nd tier classes should have been like on Fire Emblem. Make them start from level 1 but be useful from the start.

I think there was potential for great game here but there's so many poor design choices here dragging the game down.

I wont quit but i'm not looking forward to that endgame part.

[Exhuminator]

I wont quit but i'm not looking forward to that endgame part.

The problem I had when I reached the end (Hanging Gardens), is that I had blitzed my way there, by just killing enemy leaders as quickly as possible. So when I reached that last area, suddenly all the missions were just "kill all enemy units". And the units you have to kill (sometimes 15 at a time) are all super strong baddies. Since my units were so under leveled, I had to go back and grind for 8 hours, just to give them a fighting chance. Couple that with a sudden lack of funds (versus new super expensive equipment), and having to grind for finances as well. As such, the end of TO is specifically designed to force artificial longevity.

Just one of many design foibles with TO. I hate talking down the game because I know how lauded it is. Personally I was disappointed with Tactics Ogre after so many years of reading hyperbolic reminiscing about it. To each their own though, fair enough.

[Jmustang1968]

I didn't want to lose the archer so i did go with the chaos route. Yes, for the most part the game is really easy because most of the time you can just quickly kill the boss and move on. There was one castle battle on chaos route that really dragged down but mostly because of the flawed class system that makes anything that is even few levels lower than the enemy obsolete. It's really annoying to carry several dead weight characters and it doesn't make it anymore pleasant that it takes way too much exp to class to level up.

The 2nd tier classes should have been like on Fire Emblem. Make them start from level 1 but be useful from the start.

I think there was potential for great game here but there's so many poor design choices here dragging the game down.

I wont quit but i'm not looking forward to that endgame part.

The game is great. And actually requires less overall experience to level per class than do it per character. There are also easy ways to focus exp into a class.

This was a change from the original system from SFC. I wouldn't consider either "flawed" but just a different flavor. They both work.

And I wouldn't say my TO experience is just reminiscing, I recently (couple years ago) played through the PSP version. I think you missed a lot of hidden content that they expect most to do. So in order not to make the ending a breeze they beefed it up. It doesn't have artificial longevity, I think you missed a lot of side cuts of meat.
An alternative could've been to make story battles mirror levels and adjust, but that can introduce balancing issues on its own as well.

[pierrot]

I find chaos route to give the best roster of characters,[...].

I can't endorse this. Olias and Debold have such an amazing ending scene, that it would be criminal not to do neutral route. Also, the only two characters chaos route gets that neutral doesn't are Aroseil and Gildas.

An alternative could've been to make story battles mirror levels and adjust, but that can introduce balancing issues on its own as well.

Do you mean scaling enemy levels? Because I know that the SFC based versions of the game often scale the levels, of most non-leader units, within a certain range.

---

I'm playing the PS2 versions of Dragon Quest V, and loving it so far. In middle school, I played the intro of the SFC version on an emulator, but didn't get anywhere in part because it was untranslated. Maybe five or so years ago, I played the DS remake up to the first boss battle in Lenule Castle, and never touched it again. Could take a herculean effort to keep me away from the game this time, though. I finished the fairy world thread, and am at Reinhart Castle. I love Borongo, but he (?) will not attack what I tell him to. I really may as well just set him to AI.

The best thing about this version, so far, is the orchestral soundtrack. It's so blissful to play because of it.

[Xeogred]

DQV on PS2?

I want to go on record saying that... the SNES DQ games look ugly as heck. Is it just me? The aesthetics for the classic FF games are legendary to me and I still haven't played the NES DQ games, but I absolutely love how they look. But those SNES games look like accidental Flash/RPG Maker releases on the SNES or something.

Though the DS versions look even worse.

My other random dumb nitpick with this series is that I hate not seeing your characters in battles.

FF fanboy levels are too strong.

I bet, it's Adventure of Lolo that cemented my love for blocky visual design in things like these. I freaking love it.

[Jmustang1968]

I find chaos route to give the best roster of characters,[...].

I can't endorse this. Olias and Debold have such an amazing ending scene, that it would be criminal not to do neutral route. Also, the only two characters chaos route gets that neutral doesn't are Aroseil and Gildas.

An alternative could've been to make story battles mirror levels and adjust, but that can introduce balancing issues on its own as well.

Do you mean scaling enemy levels? Because I know that the SFC based versions of the game often scale the levels, of most non-leader units, within a certain range.
.

Sorry I meant to say the law route. Chaos route may perhaps have the worst lineup of the 3.

But in law, you get exclusively:
Jeunan
Ocionne
Ozma
Vice
Ravness
Xapan

You also get Gildas like in Chaos.