Dragon quest 8 talk

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

I just beat it and it's such a great game. Leaps and bounds better than the stinking pile that was DW7.

[Blanka789]

It is a great game, but I actually prefer Dragon Warrior 7.

[prismra]

It's a wonderful game. I love it greatly. I have a hard time sustaining interest though considering the ammount of grinding the game requires. At least the combat is fun.

If I'm on Empeechu (sp?) isle, how much futher do I have to go?

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

It's a wonderful game. I love it greatly. I have a hard time sustaining interest though considering the ammount of grinding the game requires. At least the combat is fun.

If I'm on Empeechu (sp?) isle, how much futher do I have to go?

depends on if you have followed the bird to the dark world

[Jasoco]

Empycchu, I'd say you got a little bit more to go. Once you leave the island, you'll go to another island for a couple minutes, then to a prison for a few minutes, then to the holy island for a few minutes then to the final floating island. As spoiler-less as possible.

Then after that, you can still play for a long while and get some neato boss stuff.

For the record, I'm up to the final battle (Not the extra stuff I just mentioned) and have died once to him.

Flying kicks ass.

[MarkMan]

I love DQ8.

[JesterDev]

I actually didn't even know about DW7.. Or even know about 5 nor 6.. Been asking for years about sequals the the NES titles and no one seemed to know jack! Then out of the blue I was sitting at work last night and out of the blue comes the commercial for DQ8! I was astonished, and a bit confused at the same time.. I missed out all this time now knowing...

Strange that.

Well anyway I'm off to see what system(s) 5-7 came out on. Man I need to pop my head out of my dusty classics more often. Missing out on quite a bit I see!

[poe]

I actually didn't even know about DW7.. Or even know about 5 nor 6.. Been asking for years about sequals the the NES titles and no one seemed to know jack! Then out of the blue I was sitting at work last night and out of the blue comes the commercial for DQ8! I was astonished, and a bit confused at the same time.. I missed out all this time now knowing...

Strange that.

Well anyway I'm off to see what system(s) 5-7 came out on. Man I need to pop my head out of my dusty classics more often. Missing out on quite a bit I see!

DQ5&6 are SNES, with no US release, but playable fan translations. DQ7 is PS1, and fairly easy to get used, unless DQ8's release is causing a spike in demand and price. Then there's all the rereleases and spinoffs.
This site (http://www.woodus.com/den/) goes into detail on every DQ product I've heard of, except the upcoming DQ Yangus and the new Slime-centric game, Mori Mori 2.

[Blanka789]

The game seems to be selling really well, do you think they'll put together a bunch of collections like Squaresoft did w/ FF on PSone? I've never played anything past 3 except 7 and 8...and none of the monster games...

[PDorr3]

I played DQ8 for about 22 hours, but then I just gave up on it. Infact I love the game, not sure why I stopped playing, I just got the boat to sail around.

Ill go back to it, probably sometime next year when I have time to commit to a huge game like that.

[JesterDev]

DQ5&6 are SNES, with no US release, but playable fan translations. DQ7 is PS1, and fairly easy to get used, unless DQ8's release is causing a spike in demand and price. Then there's all the rereleases and spinoffs.
This site (http://www.woodus.com/den/) goes into detail on every DQ product I've heard of, except the upcoming DQ Yangus and the new Slime-centric game, Mori Mori 2.

Thanks for the info. Heading off to ebay to see if I can pick up DQ7. I'm sure I can find the translations for the SNES versions quite easily on the net somewhere. If I don't already have them..

[poe]

Thanks for the info. Heading off to ebay to see if I can pick up DQ7. I'm sure I can find the translations for the SNES versions quite easily on the net somewhere. If I don't already have them..

Play 5 and 6 to your heart's content; it'll remind you why you love the series before you settle in to 7, which for me will always be remembered as 3 hours of *NOTHING*, followed by 90 more hours of poorly paced gameplay. Seriously, the first 3 hours take place in the town in which you start, and a completely enemy-free dungeon, before you meet your first slime. It really needed the first 2 1/2 hours cut and about 35 hours of the remaining 90ish. 10-15 hours before you even get the option for class change?!? I did finish it, but I may never play it again, especially considering how much easier every other entry in the series is to get into for me.

[kainemaxwell]

Just got this today, loving it!

[Jasoco]

I'm still praying for rereleases of the first four (Or even just the first) on the Game Boy Advanced.

They released the first three on the GBC, but that's not good enough. These games deserve a GBA release. I have never played 4 before. (No ROM on the internet) And 2 and 3 for a minute each. 1 was the only one I ever put any effort into as it's the only one I ever owned.

I'd also love to play 5 once. Never hear anything about 6. But I also hear bad things about 7, but would still like to try it.

C'mon, Enix, do some rereleasing already. I'd settle for a complation of emulated ones on the PS2.

DW1 was the first RPG I ever played, the first one I really got into and the only RPG I played for years until Super Mario came out. It was also the first one with Alchemy, the first really deep game I ever played, the first time I ever turned down the volume on the TV when roaming the overworld in fear of the loud sound that played when an enemy drew near. Also the only one I ever turned the volume down for. Hey, I was 9 years old. I scared easily. I hate balloons because the off chance they'll pop. I HATE LOUD SOUNDS!

Anyways... I'm this close to buying (Rebuying) DWI+II on the Color just to have it portable. But dammit if it sucks I can't play GBC games on my micro. Damn you, Nintendo. I have to put up with my seriously inferior GBASP for that. But I really want to play it again, as when I had it the first time in 2000, it got lost so fast. So I haven't put any time into it.

[MightySlacker]

Damn, I might have to open this after hearing nothing but good things. The demo did absolutely nothing for me, so i shelved it in favor of some other recent releases. I did play through 5 and enjoyed it immensly, 7 was god awful.

Dave

[Jasoco]

Did you get frustrated at dying too much before getting to the boss in the waterfall? You really should give it a big try. It gets much better as you go. Especially when you return the crystal ball to Kalderasha and the plot starts to thicken.

[MightySlacker]

Well, it hsould be showing up early next week, so I might. Right now I am splitting time with Wild Arms ACF and Magna Carta - each hs its good points.

Another reason I wasn't anticipating DQ8 was tha tI had the OST quite a while befor ethe game came out, and just wan't terribly impressed. I know it's the type of music that's much better while you are playing the actual game than if it's stand-alone, but it was still a turn-off for me.

Dave

[DonMarco]

I'd also love to play 5 once. Never hear anything about 6. But I also hear bad things about 7, but would still like to try it.

C'mon, Enix, do some rereleasing already. I'd settle for a complation of emulated ones on the PS2.
Squeenix? They released a PS2 remake of Dragon Quest V like two years ago in Japan. If it was coming out in the states, it might have been released sooner than 4 weeks ago. Then again...

They're the same company that made Unlimited SaGa and Romancing SaGa. And, dammit, they are working on a new Drakkengard sequel and pushed Kingdom Hearts II/Final Fantasy XII to next spring/summer.

The DQ5 remake wasn't bad, but if you go ahead and play the translated ROM floating around the internet, I won't tell.

[poe]

I can actually hold out hope for the DQ5 rerelease coming here, in light of the positive response DQ8 is getting from reviewers and consumers, and the fact that the same engine, minus the cel-shading and with some of the perspectives fiddled with, was used.

And, though my post above suggests otherwise, I really liked DW7 (challenge is perfect, job system is the most expansive I've ever encountered, LOTS of side activities), but the PACING is the worst I've ever encountered, in any game ever. And since every other game in the series is a consistent joy to play throughout, every other game in the series sees way more playthroughs from me than 7 will (if it ever gets played again).

[kainemaxwell]

Speaking of DQ5 and 6, I liked 6 moreso then 5. never played 7.

[DonMarco]

I can actually hold out hope for the DQ5 rerelease coming here, in light of the positive response DQ8 is getting from reviewers and consumers, and the fact that the same engine, minus the cel-shading and with some of the perspectives fiddled with, was used.
Nah. It looks oldish, like DBZ Budokai 2 compared to Tenkaichi. On top of that, DQ8 isn't selling all that well, as all DQ games have, compared to Final Fantasy.

Also, in my previous post, I forgot to mention that there's the DQ8 sorta-spinoff (http://www.square-enix.co.jp/dragonquest/yangus/) in the works. It's roughly "Young Yangus and the Mysterious Dungeon".

[kainemaxwell]

How *bad* is the DQ8 guide?

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

I dont myself because i didnt buy it

[Crush Crawfish]

How *bad* is the DQ8 guide?

It's just....completely terrible. It's got decent maps, but that's about it. It doesn't tell you where to go, or even give boss strategies....y'know, the things you buy a strategy guide for. x_x A total waste of $15.

On a happier note, the game itself is competely amazing. I just arrived at the second village (after getting my ass whipped by the first boss a couple of times) and I'm loving every minute of it. :D

[kainemaxwell]

How *bad* is the DQ8 guide?

It's just....completely terrible. It's got decent maps, but that's about it. It doesn't tell you where to go, or even give boss strategies....y'know, the things you buy a strategy guide for. x_x A total waste of $15.

On a happier note, the game itself is competely amazing. I just arrived at the second village (after getting my ass whipped by the first boss a couple of times) and I'm loving every minute of it. :D
Thanks for the heads up on the guide then. I'd expect better, Brady does it right, from them, especially after the debacle of the FF9 guide. x_x

[FantasiaWHT]

Thanks for the heads up on the guide then. I'd expect better, Brady does it right, from them, especially after the debacle of the FF9 guide. x_x

Was that the guide that consisted of a bunch of relatively useless garbage followed by "Go look it up online at our website"?

[kainemaxwell]

Thanks for the heads up on the guide then. I'd expect better, Brady does it right, from them, especially after the debacle of the FF9 guide. x_x

Was that the guide that consisted of a bunch of relatively useless garbage followed by "Go look it up online at our website"?
yep that's it. Half my FF9 guide is filled with pages I printed out from gameFAQs anyhow.

[kainemaxwell]

Also found a good resource for DQ8 maps:
http://www.dragonquest8.org/

[Daria]

How *bad* is the DQ8 guide?

It's just....completely terrible. It's got decent maps, but that's about it. It doesn't tell you where to go, or even give boss strategies....y'know, the things you buy a strategy guide for. x_x A total waste of $15.

On a happier note, the game itself is competely amazing. I just arrived at the second village (after getting my ass whipped by the first boss a couple of times) and I'm loving every minute of it. :D

However if you're into the alchemy pot the guide rocks. You can easily look up any item and see all the recipes it can be used in (which is useful when you need to know which equipment to hang on to and which to sell). It's also nice when you start recruiting for the monster arena. I've certainly gotten my $15 out of it, but I do wish they'd have included a complete boss section.

[gepeto]

I must say I haven't played an rpg in a while and I am throughly enjoying this one. The game keeps drawing me back to it.

[Jasoco]

However if you're into the alchemy pot the guide rocks. You can easily look up any item and see all the recipes it can be used in (which is useful when you need to know which equipment to hang on to and which to sell). It's also nice when you start recruiting for the monster arena. I've certainly gotten my $15 out of it, but I do wish they'd have included a complete boss section.You can find those online for free.

[MarkMan]

IMO, the guide is great. It's how guides should be for RPGs... not something that holds your hand throughout the game, just something that nudges you along the right path.

That's just what I think though. :)

Dan Birlew, the author, is a real good guy and I was suprised in the sudden change of writing style from him. Usually it's in depth strategy but this time it was more reference.

I wouldn't call it a strategy guide, but a reference book.

I just wish it included ALL the items... there were a few missing.

[FantasiaWHT]

You can find those online for free.

By that standard all strategy guides are pure garbage hehe. It's nice to have it in full color right in front of you while you're playing though.

[kainemaxwell]

Any advice where to allocate skills early in the game? Right now I've got the Hero doing Swords and Yangus doing Clubs.

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

It's all depends on how you want to kill enemies(Boomerangs attack all enemies at same time)

[MarkMan]

IMO, Swords OR Spear(choose one) along with Courage is the way to go for Hero.

Boomerang may be good early on, but it isn't as effective later on. I wouldn't put too many points into it.

For Yangus, the Club is a good choice, so is Scythe. It's up to you though.

[Jasoco]

You can find those online for free.

By that standard all strategy guides are pure garbage hehe. It's nice to have it in full color right in front of you while you're playing though.It's text. You really don't need it in full color. I was referring to "getting $15 worth out of it" purely because of the Alchemy list. A list that sorry to say, you can get completely free online.

I am actually disappointed in Prima this time. I've used their guides in the past (Banjo Kazooie and I think Wind Waker) and they were fine. Can't believe they'd screwed this one up.

Oh well, that's what the huge thread in GAF and Red Scarlet's FAQ are for.

[heybtbm]

IMO, the guide is great. It's how guides should be for RPGs... not something that holds your hand throughout the game, just something that nudges you along the right path.

I wouldn't call it a strategy guide, but a reference book.


Finally someone else sees the light. The guide-bashing in this thread is just silly.

If anyone is on the fence and debating whether they should buy it....buy it. It's an invaluable resource on all the minutia that make these grand-scale RPG's fun...as long as you don't need your hand held.

[Jasoco]

Well, usually before I buy a guide, I finger through it first. (Providing they didn't seal it in plastic at the store to prevent people from doing just that.) I always make sure it's going to have what I want to know before I buy it and find out it doesn't.

[poe]

I liked the guide more than most I've seen because they omitted everything that spoils an RPG: last boss pics, story summaries leading up to the dungeon you're in, abilities gained from the plot, etc. Why spoil 40-60 hours of gaming because a guide tells tells you so-and-so turned evil, or that there's a more powerful version of the sword you start the game tasked to find, or that when you get to the legendary city, it's in ruins, etc.

Think of the guide as less a walkthrough and more an atlas/bestiary/item list (only missing plot spoiling monster and item entries), then decide if that's a good value for the money.

[Jasoco]

In other words, everything I hate. Leaving out stuff. If I buy a guide, I WANT to be spoiled. You CAN'T buy a guide and not expect to be spoiled! That's what a guide is! A SPOILER! If it doesn't have a spoiler, it's a POS guide to begin with.

[kainemaxwell]

IMO, Swords OR Spear(choose one) along with Courage is the way to go for Hero.

Boomerang may be good early on, but it isn't as effective later on. I wouldn't put too many points into it.

For Yangus, the Club is a good choice, so is Scythe. It's up to you though.
Yeah that's what I was thinking- put points in Sword and Club for a couple levels and then do some with boomerangs.

[Kaine32]

kaine get treated for lymphogranuloma venereum IMMEDIATELY or the swelling won't stop for six months and you'll have to upgrade your pants size

[Jasoco]

Looks like Kaine has made an enemy. :/

[blue lander]

I WAS enjoying DQ8 until I spent a half hour walking to Ascanth just to run into a couple of Tap Devils who killed off my entire party in two turns! That was a little cheap and frustrating, even by Dragon Quest standards. I decided at that point to take a break from the game and start playing Dragon Warrior 4.

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

Boomerangs are you friends for pain in the ass enemies such as them

[kainemaxwell]

Anyone far enough in the game yet to notice the DQ3 and 4 references yet? Also what do they mean by monster farming?

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

Yup

[blue lander]

Boomerangs are you friends for pain in the ass enemies such as them

Hero had a boomerang equipped, but they did that underpants dance and knocked him and two others over before I had the chance to use it. Next turn they did the death dance and killed Hero and Yangus. Then the turn after that they underpants Jessica and the other guy, and then the turn after that they killed them both.

[drwily008]

How *bad* is the DQ8 guide?

It's just....completely terrible. It's got decent maps, but that's about it. It doesn't tell you where to go, or even give boss strategies....y'know, the things you buy a strategy guide for. x_x A total waste of $15.

On a happier note, the game itself is competely amazing. I just arrived at the second village (after getting my ass whipped by the first boss a couple of times) and I'm loving every minute of it. :D


Even worse than paying $15 is paying the $17.99 that the guide costs in the stores. I bought it to find locations of mini-medals.....nothing...nada...zilch


I absolutely love Dragon Quest though! Man, I am now at 84 hours logged in and I just keep finding stuff to do before I go to the final battle. I couldn't have asked for a better RPG (or a better Dragon Warrior/Quest).


So, has anyone found out anything that hasn't been documented in the FAQ's or crappy strategy guide yet?

I have been at the casino trying to get some Gringham Whip action going on.....key word = trying!

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

Boomerangs are you friends for pain in the ass enemies such as them

Hero had a boomerang equipped, but they did that underpants dance and knocked him and two others over before I had the chance to use it. Next turn they did the death dance and killed Hero and Yangus. Then the turn after that they underpants Jessica and the other guy, and then the turn after that they killed them both.

I leveled up hard before i faced them

[poe]

I have been at the casino trying to get some Gringham Whip action going on.....key word = trying!

Use the roulette exploit if you really want to make it simple. Place a max bet on a triple street (the yellow arrow that places a bet on 3 columns at once), both double streets above that, all three streets, then every individual number, split, quad; basically, every possible bet above that triple street. Max bets on all 31 spots will run you 15500 credits, but any win in those will trigger so many winning bets you get a minimum of 25000, and upwards of 65000. All with about 1 in 3 odds, overall. I just used bingo to get the seed money, then from there got to 150000 credits in under half an hour. Never went all the way for the whip, just settled on a couple sets of armor and extra saint's ashes and prayer rings for alchemy.

[DDCecil]

Play the 100 token machine. I got 3 7's in a span of 6 minutes! Hello Gingham Whip and Liquid Metal Armors!

I beat the game last week, and the ending was very predictable, but sweet.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

I beat the game last week, and the ending was very predictable, but sweet.


Did you do the dragon trials and get the second ending too?

[drwily008]

Yeah, I went home last night and had 20,000 tokens. I bet on the 100 coin slot and won 777 several times! :eek 2:

I was very happy to buy 2 liquid metal armours and a gringham whip. I still had enough (20,000ish) to have enough bankroll to keep going too!

I did all of this in a matter of an hour.

HAPPY HAPPY!

[drwily008]

Also, what level were you guys in when you beat the 1st part of the game?

I'm in the mid-40's levels right now with several skills maxed out. I'm just before the final castle right now.

I was only in level 37 yesterday then I started to destroy all things metal (y'know...slimes, babbles, King Slimes). I have Jessica use the Dragon Lash (I think thats the name while equipped with a Gringham Whip, Hero with a Falcon Sword (oh yeah I won that last night in the slots too) with the metal slash, Angelo with metal slash (Hell Sabre...soon to be a falcon sword), and Yangus with the hatchet man skill.

I went up 8 levels in around 1 1/2 hours.

[DDCecil]

I beat the game last week, and the ending was very predictable, but sweet.


Did you do the dragon trials and get the second ending too?

I started the trials, but will get back to them sometime this month.

[kainemaxwell]

Status: Just got Jessica in my party, got up to Level 15 for everyone. Having a blast with the Alchemy Pot (even made Bronze Armor and a Stone Hardhat!). About to go find Angelo once I finish making Bronze Shields.

[Sylentwulf]

Where is a good place to level up before smacking the dragovian king around for the last few times? All my chars are around level 42 and that desperate attack of his can level any one of my characters EVERY damn turn. I don't have the best of luck actually KILLING metal things, but if the spot is good enough, I'm willing to give it another try.

After beating the game, Trode says "wow, your levels were so low and you gave the boss such a good smacking we should call you the puny powers" or something similar lol.

[vultar]

Metal monsters, provided you can kill them, are your best bet. Other than them I couldn't find one place that was better than another. In case anyones still working on this themselves..
Spoilers
There's a air only area north of Rydon's tower, or whatever the stone mason's tower was called, that seems to have a large amount of slimes. Before the dark monsters show up that's all that's there, afterwards all they add are some dark sabercats. You can easily power through the beasties up there the kicker is killing the metal monsters of course. Equip the hero and Angelo with falcon swords and use thier metal slash, if they're metalys have Yangus and Jessica hit, other wise have Yangus do his critical axe attack, I can't remember the name, and have Jessica speed up the party so you have a better chance of getting a second strike before they run. If you have the Timbrel of Tension have Jessica use it instead. You can easily get metalys this way and routinely get liquid metals, and if they stick around beyond the inital encounter you can kill king metals reasonably well too.

[poe]

Best place for metal "bubble slimes" (babbles, dammit!) I found was the southern plateaus of the desert, the area you have to land on while flying, at night. I ran into groups of six frequently. Howlwind Hill, N of Rydons tower, is good, too. You'll fight a lot more mundane slime family monsters than metal ones, but the Metal King's give more experience and the occasional Slime Crown.

[Sylentwulf]

North of rydons tower is MUCH better than the desrt area it seems. I'm still having a HELL OF A TIME trying to level. I'd guesstimate I've done about 5 hours north of rydons this morning and gained maybe 2-3 levels each character.

Right now, everyone is level 44-45 and the first dragovians trial (crimson) is CRUSHING ME. I'd say I've taken off maybe 1500 hp off of him at most, and that was the one attack I managed to get in.

Problem is his desperate attack that takes off 485 hp EVERY TURN in addition to another attack. So, instead of using my 2 tambrels, I have one dead guy, one guy bringing the dead guy to life, and 2 people psyching up or "knocked off their feet" or gigaflashed.

Anyone have any good ways to beat this guy? gamefaq doesn't have much, in fact I think only one of the faqs even MENTIONS him. Am I just too damn low? what level did other people beat him at?

[vultar]

I may have been around level 50 or so, but I think, with luck you should be able to get through this guy at your levels. I managed to get up to the final set before I ran out of free time to play fighting them this way: This scenerio has the Hero with spear skills at least up to multithrust and his courage skills up to Omniheal, and Angelo with bow skills up to multishot, and staff skills for Jessica up to accelerate. Anyway give the timbrels to Jessica and Yangus so that the hero and Angelo are free to fight. On the first turn have the Hero pysch up, Jessica cast Accelerate, Yangus use the timbrel, and Angelo cast Kabuff. Next turn, if they're hurt have the hero cast omniheal if not have him pysch up, have Yangus use the timbrel, if they're not all going before the dragon now have Jessica accelerate again (if they are have her use her timbrel), and have Angelo cast Kabuff again. On the third turn have the hero use multithrust, Yangus the timbrel, Jessica the timbrel, and have Angelo pysch up. The next turn it's Angelo's turn to hit and the hero is pysching up again. Basically the Hero and Angelo should be hitting when they start the turn with a level 3 tension. If the dragon casts gigaflash go back to step one and set up your characters again, the biggest thing is to make sure your guys are faster than the dragon and pretty buffed up. The hero should be the one healing if at all possible since Omniheal doesn't effect the tension and heals everybody up completely. Dead people of course mean Angelo's busy Kazing them. Fullheal works too, but I find that I normally didn't have just one person hurt. If you're doing about 1500 damage, he should be almost dead they don't really have that many hit points if I remember correctly.

[Sylentwulf]

No omniheal for me, and I don't even get to "next round...."
Next round for me is "next round, kazing the guy that just died" repeat ad infinitum.

I'm gonna bang out 4-5 more levels.

[poe]

Hero's Courage skill is almost a must, since with both Omniheal and the 1/2 cost magic skill, it makes him your best healer. I was using him for healing, Jessica for Timbrel, Hustle Dance, and support magics, Yangus attacked (I think Helm Splitter worked to reduce that guy's defense), and Angelo used Timbrel, Multishot and healed if absolutely needed.

[Sylentwulf]

Just goes to show how different the game can be :) Angelo is my weakest attacker, with multishot being used only for slime hunting. I actually use twin lash for my strongest attack, having jessica and hero do most of the damage, letting yangus do sage stone and timbrel, and yangus do timbrel and healing/kazing.

Unfortunately I had yangus max out on scythe (and stealing is virtually BROKEN in the game) with clubs as his secondary (wish I had done axe)
Jessica maxed with whip and sex appeal (which works great in both)
Angelo maxed in bow, with some in charisma, some in staff (30-40 more points in staff and he'd be GREAT)
Hero maxed in boomerang, and sword, roughly 30-40 in courage.

I just beat the vermillion dragon, thought he'd have more hp than that, I think I only did 3-4 attacks completed. Also found out how to finally destroy slimes which helped with a few levels :)

[kainemaxwell]

Just got Angelo in the party, any advice on Angelo's skills?

Right now my plan is:
Hero- Sword, Spears and Courage
Yangus- Axe, Scythe and Humanity
Jessica- Whips, Staffs and Sex Appeal

[poe]

For Angelo, I went Staves as far as 65 (for Oomph, also gives enemy-impairment spells), maxed bows, and worked on Charisma on the side (for enemy tension reducing techniques). I did miss out on his metal cut ability, but with Yangus and Hero's critical attack abilities in Axes and Spears respectively, I scored way more kills on metals than metal cut would.

For Yangus, I wouldn't bother taking Humanity past 42. At that level, he gets Kabuff, but past that he gets nothing useful: Kerplunk, Golden Oldies, and Underpants Dance never saw any use in my game, and Midheal was obsolete by the time Yangus got it. You might even stop at 32, when he gets Share Magic (really useful since most of his abilities I used didn't require more than 3 MP), but it was handy during boss fights to have an extra character buffing defense.

[Sylentwulf]

Just got Angelo in the party, any advice on Angelo's skills?

Right now my plan is:
Hero- Sword, Spears and Courage
Yangus- Axe, Scythe and Humanity
Jessica- Whips, Staffs and Sex Appeal

Problem is, you won't even see 2 of these maxed out until you're level 50 or so (which for me was way after I beat the game)

My advice, dump ALL of your points into the following:
hero - sword
yangus - axe
jessia - whip
angelo - bow

THEN after those are maxed, start dumping into whatever second category you want. (second weapon or char's spec skill)

I found angelo and yangus spec skills to be almost completely USELESS. whistle, share magic, and sarcastic snigger are fine, but those are the only three I ever used.

[Raedon]

It's ok, but I'm tired of grinding around fields just to beat a boss.. When did grinding add to game quality?

[drwily008]

...metal "bubble slimes" (babbles, dammit!)...

Amen, brother poe...amen

Seriously, this game is beyond great! I finally beat Rhapthorne, rather I tore him a new asshole. Now on to the Dragonian Trials. It took me 120 hours, man I must have done everything except getting a "S" rank in the monster arena.

Then the Final Fantasy demo....that's right I've never even touched it. I am using it as a reward for completing DQ!

[Sylentwulf]

It's ok, but I'm tired of grinding around fields just to beat a boss.. When did grinding add to game quality?

I haven't had to purposefully get into one single fight through the entire course of the game in order to gain levels or gold up until AFTER I beat the game.

The dragon quest/warrior games are just a DECENT difficulty as opposed to the crap that has been final fantasy for 12 years now, and virtually every other RPG released in north america.

[kainemaxwell]

Just got Angelo in the party, any advice on Angelo's skills?

Right now my plan is:
Hero- Sword, Spears and Courage
Yangus- Axe, Scythe and Humanity
Jessica- Whips, Staffs and Sex Appeal

Problem is, you won't even see 2 of these maxed out until you're level 50 or so (which for me was way after I beat the game)

My advice, dump ALL of your points into the following:
hero - sword
yangus - axe
jessia - whip
angelo - bow

THEN after those are maxed, start dumping into whatever second category you want. (second weapon or char's spec skill)

I found angelo and yangus spec skills to be almost completely USELESS. whistle, share magic, and sarcastic snigger are fine, but those are the only three I ever used.
Now see I had wanted to start working on 2nd weapons in case the one I was using was weaker then newer ones I found/made until I could get or make a new one in the next town or something.

[Sylentwulf]

And then you end up with subpar skills throughout much of the game, and only get the really usefull high end stuff right at the end.

I had my boomerang skill at 80-90 and my sword skill around 40, and I could use my sword just FINE. I really only used the sword for bosses and slimes throughout the entire game though. That boomerang is just great.

[kainemaxwell]

Ok so stick with those skills, not the other ones? Yeah I started doing that last night actually after getting Metal Slash..