Forgive me, dwardman, for I have sinned and played the remake instead of the original. In my defense, it’s way easier to fit the 3DS version into my life and there are two major factors that I think make for a general improvement here. One is the way that class outfits are reflected on the characters, particularly when it comes to the Goodest Boy Ruff. Yeah all the characters get their own outfits, but how am I supposed to argue with his Wolf Mom ending up in a sheep outfit when you make Ruff a shepherd? Or the wolf wearing a top hat if you make him a luminary? You may call me shallow for it but it’s incredible stuff. The other, I think, is that having everything on one cartridge instead of two discs makes a certain twist land a little better, I think. It wasn’t too much of a surprise, but I feel like the narrative moxie of it is better served without a second disc spoiling how much of the game is left.
With that said, since I haven’t played the PS1 version, I should start talking about this game on its own merits. It’s definitely as long and episodic as everyone says it is, but I actually enjoyed it for that. Sometimes you want a connected series of vignettes that are fun little adventures but will occasionally leave you mouthing “what the fuck, Dragon Quest” under your breath, you know? It’s good stuff. The playable characters are also all super endearing, and the party chat’s very fun. There’s genuinely something related to the cast that genuinely slots into one of those “what the fuck, Dragon Quest” moments, and I seriously haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
I have to say, I only really felt the fatigue setting in at the end, and that’s primarily related to how the job system works. The game really does not reward fucking around and finding out; it definitely makes some role assignments pretty obvious, but I found out way too late from checking a guide that it’s much more lucrative to put all monster jobs on one character instead of trying to spread them around. Maybe it would’ve warned me if I checked a manual or something, but man. Also it sucks that you can only have a party of four at the end because I love all my silly party members, and no, I absolutely didn’t bother with the postgame content. I thought I might until I actually tried messing around with the casino, which is mandatory to get one of the postgame dungeon fragments, and lost like all my tokens because fuck if I have the patience to figure out which slot machine has good odds or not.
Anyway, this is the first Dragon Quest I’ve finished since Sugiyama died, and now that he is no longer able to contribute to fash movements in Japan I guess I can judge his work a little more fairly. Sorry dudes the man can write one hell of a jingle but overall his best stuff is from the 8 bit era and the more I play through the series the more I realize the songs I actually liked in 11 were pretty much all from old games. There’s a bit of coziness to some of the tracks, definitely, but honestly I think he ranks only slightly above Motoi Sakuraba When Really Phoning It In On a Tales Game Because He’d Rather Be Composing for Dark Souls for me.
Anyway, overall it’s not my favorite Dragon Quest but it’s definitely a fun game. Get it before the 3DS dies. Or don’t but do crimes to get it on your 3DS after it dies.
With that said, since I haven’t played the PS1 version, I should start talking about this game on its own merits. It’s definitely as long and episodic as everyone says it is, but I actually enjoyed it for that. Sometimes you want a connected series of vignettes that are fun little adventures but will occasionally leave you mouthing “what the fuck, Dragon Quest” under your breath, you know? It’s good stuff. The playable characters are also all super endearing, and the party chat’s very fun. There’s genuinely something related to the cast that genuinely slots into one of those “what the fuck, Dragon Quest” moments, and I seriously haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
I have to say, I only really felt the fatigue setting in at the end, and that’s primarily related to how the job system works. The game really does not reward fucking around and finding out; it definitely makes some role assignments pretty obvious, but I found out way too late from checking a guide that it’s much more lucrative to put all monster jobs on one character instead of trying to spread them around. Maybe it would’ve warned me if I checked a manual or something, but man. Also it sucks that you can only have a party of four at the end because I love all my silly party members, and no, I absolutely didn’t bother with the postgame content. I thought I might until I actually tried messing around with the casino, which is mandatory to get one of the postgame dungeon fragments, and lost like all my tokens because fuck if I have the patience to figure out which slot machine has good odds or not.
Anyway, this is the first Dragon Quest I’ve finished since Sugiyama died, and now that he is no longer able to contribute to fash movements in Japan I guess I can judge his work a little more fairly. Sorry dudes the man can write one hell of a jingle but overall his best stuff is from the 8 bit era and the more I play through the series the more I realize the songs I actually liked in 11 were pretty much all from old games. There’s a bit of coziness to some of the tracks, definitely, but honestly I think he ranks only slightly above Motoi Sakuraba When Really Phoning It In On a Tales Game Because He’d Rather Be Composing for Dark Souls for me.
Anyway, overall it’s not my favorite Dragon Quest but it’s definitely a fun game. Get it before the 3DS dies. Or don’t but do crimes to get it on your 3DS after it dies.