Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Hmm... looks like I need to get kraking with the alchemy. Do you guys only use recipes, or do you experiment with random ingredients too?

 

Just recipes for me, but that includes ones from GameFAQs. At the end of the day, I'm never going to be able to guess them or link up with anyone so I can access the better recipes.

 

I got a great treasure map the other day, Lv.82! And best of all it contains Metal King Slimes! It's just annoying that they're such bloody cowards.

 

Agility, agility, agility + Thunder Thrust and Hatchet Man!

Many of the better recipes can only be unlocked after canvassing guests. Most of us westerners have little other choice than to seek the help of GameFAQs if we want to complete many of the game's quests...

At the end of the day, I'm never going to be able to guess them or link up with anyone so I can access the better recipes.

Yet more reason to be annoyed with the tag mode situation then. I must sound like a broken record by now, but it really is that disappointing.

 

Agility, agility, agility + Thunder Thrust and Hatchet Man!

Yeah, my Paladin is rocking an agility boosting bracelet and knows "Thunder Thrust". Although it's obviously awesome when it works, it tends to fail way too much.

I find that the multi-attacking moves are usually more effective, despite only taking off 1 HP with each hit.

In particular my main character's "Have A Ball" can be very handy indeed, much more so than "Metal Slash".

Yet more reason to be annoyed with the tag mode situation then. I must sound like a broken record by now, but it really is that disappointing.

 

Oh, I totally agree. Some of my pals know I'm playing it and ask me about it, but I still don't know anyone in real life who's actually playing it themselves.

 

Yeah, my Paladin is rocking an agility boosting bracelet and knows "Thunder Thrust". Although it's obviously awesome when it works, it tends to fail way too much.

I find that the multi-attacking moves are usually more effective, despite only taking off 1 HP with each hit.

In particular my main character's "Have A Ball" can be very handy indeed, much more so than "Metal Slash".

 

Yeah, Paladins really need the agility boost of a Meteorite Bracer.

 

As for Thunder Thrust and Hatchet Man, in Dragon Quest VIII, that was the only way I'd even dream of taking on a Metal King Slime. In that game, the success rate was 50%, but I don't know if it's the same in DQ IX. It seems it, but then again I've had 7 or 8 misses in a row sometimes, which obviously is much less than 50%, but sometimes you get that many success in a row too - usually when you've defeated the Metal enemy and you don't need it anymore. Grr!

I find that the multi-attacking moves are usually more effective, despite only taking off 1 HP with each hit.

 

Demon Spear + Multihit for the win. Demon Spear can OHKO and using multihit can kill 1+ enemies in one turn, including Metal Slime family!

Oh, I totally agree. Some of my pals know I'm playing it and ask me about it, but I still don't know anyone in real life who's actually playing it themselves.

Yeah, even though Nintendo have done a great job publishing/promoting the game, they could've done a bit more to push tag-mode I reckon.

They must have known that it wouldn't be as effective over here as it is in Japan, so if an online solution wasn't possible they should have set something up in game stores.

It would have been rad if everyone that walked into a store had their tag-mode data collected, and then it was re-distributed via a download station esque system.

Oh well, I'm done moaning about tag-mode now... I think.

 

Demon Spear + Multihit for the win. Demon Spear can OHKO and using multihit can kill 1+ enemies in one turn, including Metal Slime family!

Cheers for the tip. I was using Storm Spear, but I've now upgraded to Demon. It's already got me a 1 hit kill too! :awesome:

 

 

In other DQIX news, I've discovered that my Lv.82 grotto isn't just good for Metal Slime Kings, but also for...

Amazing! How many grottos have you cleared to come this far?

Amazing! How many grottos have you cleared to come this far?

Well my stats say I've cleared 51, but I'm pretty sure I got this particular treasure map a bit before that. Although it was definitely after re-vocating, which is apparently the key to getting good maps.

 

I've just been replaying this grotto over and over (without defeating the boss) to collect items / fight MKS. The treasure seems to be getting better all the time, I've now been finding really high-end weapons and have loads of multiples of that gear mentioned in my previous post.

The place is also Mini Medal and rare alchemy ingredient heaven.

RedShell, that's very cool armour. If I'm not mistaken, you can alchemise that into one of the most iconic Dragon Quest outfits... (although I don't know if it looks as cool). If only I could remember which Grotto I got the Rusty Sword and Helm in, as I need to complete Erdrick's set.

 

Last night I revocated my Paladin, Gladiator, Armamentalist and Sage, so hopefully the Grottoes will get better now.

 

EDIT - Apparently the Rusty gear is from Quests.

Edited September 21, 2010 by Grazza

You get Rusty gear from the captain collection Mini Medals as well.

I got the Rusty Sword from an early quest(i dont remember which) and the Rusty Shield from the Rock On! quest

I had a fantastic play session last night.

 

It started with me doing my first Grotto since revocating, in order to get my first "higher quality" map. We were all approx Level 42 in our "true" classes, and I chose to explore a Level 68 water Grotto. I hadn't been in there long (I was on Floor 5) when I saw this:

 

 

As you can imagine, my heart soared! Then the blighter ran off! Never mind, I was soon encountering loads of them on that floor and the next two, including in pairs, and I defeated plenty. Such pure joy!

 

Then a Minstrel Moai appeared, so I defeated it with Hot Lick and unlocked the Superstar class.

 

Further into the Grotto, I had a tense tangle with a yellow-coloured Manguini and two Slugsy Betsies. They kept reviving each other about 20 times. I thought I'd be getting loads of EXP (as in Dragon Quest VIII), but that was not the case.

 

Deeper down, I got into a lot of bother with some pink-coloured lizard men. I defeated a few, but they kept calling for back-up. Unfortunately, I got careless with not healing my Sage and he got KO'd. Now this was a real problem, with four or so lizard men to defeat. I decided to have my Hero Paladin use either Kerplunk or Kamikazee, opting for the latter, which was a mistake as it only took out one or two of them. The remaining lizard men called for back-up and there were four of them again - this was turning into a real problem!

 

I instructed my Gladiator, Dave, and my Armamentalist, Kate, to Flee. It failed! I tried it once more and it worked. With no evacuation spells, I used an Evac-U-Bell, then a Chimaera Wing. We escaped, but it was a close one!

 

With a couple of Quests now cleared, I decided to obtain the Rusty Shield. I turned it into Erdrick's Shield and, with my Shield skill maxed, it gives a massive 15% block chance.

 

What an excellent game. Last night's session was the type of RPG brilliance I've only had from Dragon Quest.

Australia is having an event for Dragon Quest IX so people around the city can gather around and tag one another, looking forward to it ^_^

Massive Professor Layton reference in latest DLC quest = freaking awesome.

Here are all the DQ games I have...

 

Hmmm...perhaps I should collect the NES copies now, been a while since I went back and got an older DQ game

Here are all the DQ games I have...

 

Hmmm...perhaps I should collect the NES copies now, been a while since I went back and got an older DQ game

 

Nice! Been checking the prices for the SNES versions of DQ1&2 and DQIII and they're pretty expensive, alot more than the NES versions, or at least they are on Play Asia.

 

Seen a copy of DWIII for the GBC new and sealed for £59, dropped from £99 so I'm slightly tempted to buy it, but it's pretty expensive for a GBC game.

Edited October 2, 2010 by Ike

Anyone still hooked on this? I bought another Ruinous Shield the other day and have now kitted out everyone (apart from the Hero, who has Erdrick's Shield) with a Goddess Shield.

 

Soon, I will have revocated my members in these vocations:

 

Gra - Paladin, Thief, Minstrel

Dave - Gladiator, Warrior, Martial Artist

Kate - Armamentalist, Mage, Luminary

Nigel - Sage, Priest, Ranger

 

Is it worth going for the full 10 revocations? I really want to make the Metal King gear, as well as all the other best armour.

Don't you need to reach level 100 to revocate? How on earth have you levelled up so quickly?

Don't you need to reach level 100 to revocate? How on earth have you levelled up so quickly?

 

When you defeat these things, you receive a massive 120,000 EXP (shared):

 

 

I was lucky enough to get a Water Grotto with these in before I'd ever revocated, which I'd love to share with you if this game had better online features. Even with these, though, revocating 10 times would be a mammoth task... unless I get a floor with only Metal King Slimes, that is.

 

EDIT - by the way, no, you need to get to 99, not 100. That's one problem with this game - you still get experience at level 99, even though you don't need it.

 

I've got all 12 revocation rewards now.

Edited October 11, 2010 by Grazza

Anyone still hooked on this?

Pretty much yeah. I've clocked 250 hrs now and am up to 5 revocations with my main character!

I really wasn't going to bother with revocating so much, but when I discovered a certain enemy all of that changed... AGAIN! ...

 

Pretty much yeah. I've clocked 250 hrs now and am up to 5 revocations with my main character!

I really wasn't going to bother with revocating so much, but when I discovered a certain enemy all of that changed... AGAIN! ...

 

Platinum King Jewels.

240,000 EXP each! Absolutely ridiculous, even moreso when this happens:

 

 

 

 

OK, I'm officially jealous now!

 

You've persuaded me to press on, thanks.

How do you manage to keep playing DQIX for so long? I do check the DQVC almost every day and clear a couple of grottos sometimes, but it's really not that entertaining anymore. To make everything "worse" i bought Chrono Trigger DS which has completely stolen my attention :P

How do you manage to keep playing DQIX for so long? I do check the DQVC almost every day and clear a couple of grottos sometimes, but it's really not that entertaining anymore. To make everything "worse" i bought Chrono Trigger DS which has completely stolen my attention :P

 

The completionist in me is still booting up the DQVC every day to see if there's anything interesting on, but other than that, I'm not really doing much other than tackling a new grotto every couple of days.

 

It's probably because I haven't revocated anyone yet. I'm not longer getting anything of interest out of grottos. The best one I've completed is an 'Emerald' one levelled 66. Didn't even have any super chests or enemies in it. My highest levelled member is my Paladin at 95. I'm questioning whether there's any real point of revocating him when he reaches 99. Sure, I'm much more likely to come across some much better grottos, but what would be the point when my party has an incredibly low-level Paladin? I'm just going to die lots.

 

Plus my alchemy hijinks have pretty much stalled at 62% complete now. Pretty much everything left to make is a case of (a) requiring annoyingly rare orbs and other pieces of rare armour, (b) requiring Agate of Evolution/Gold Bars (making Sainted Somas is a bitch) or © I simply don't have the recipes (stupid tag mode requirements).

It's definitely not much "fun" any more, and to be honest it has soured my memories of the main game. Post-game content should be an extra challenge, not a massive jigsaw to complete.

 

Dragon Quest VIII was much better because all the best items (such as the "Metal King" equipment) were to be found in certain places. In Dragon Quest IX, however, it is entirely random which items you receive, so you have to keep playing and playing in the hope that you get them...

 

I'm constantly torn between completing it 100% or just levelling-up to 99 (again) and fighting all the Legacy Bosses until I can beat them when they're Level 16. Then again, I know it'll retain its grip on me...

Well for me the main hook to this game is in the customization, so collecting the various clothing and weapons is what keeps me motivated. It has the same appeal as something like Animal Crossing in that sense.

In fact if DQIX didn't have these features I most likely wouldn't be playing it.

 

Anyway, I'm currently only at 50% for wardrobe completion, which for such a long play-time is mind blowing! I know it's highly unlikely that I will complete it 100%, but at the moment I'm still having fun collecting stuff.

I also find discovering new types of monsters fun, (I'm at 89% for that) it's great when you're in a new grotto and suddenly see an enemy that you don't recognise.

 

But yeah, maybe because I was completely new to the DQ franchise I'm able to enjoy it a bit more than those that have played some of the previous titles.

 

I'm questioning whether there's any real point of revocating him when he reaches 99. Sure, I'm much more likely to come across some much better grottos, but what would be the point when my party has an incredibly low-level Paladin? I'm just going to die lots.

If you're only revocating 1 character, you can just protect them with the rest of your party using moves like "whipping boy" etc... One battle against a metal monster with see him jump through quite a few levels instantaneously, then you just move to slime hill (or a decent grotto) and take on the higher ranked metal monsters. It's possible to go from Lv. 1 to around Lv. 50 in like 20 minutes or so.

 

And once you get PJK's in your game, pretty much every successful battle against them is a guaranteed level up (by at least 1), regardless of your current level or how many characters are in your party.

 

In Dragon Quest IX, however, it is entirely random which items you receive, so you have to keep playing and playing in the hope that you get them...

Just keep collecting new maps. Seriously, I've literally got the Metal clothing/weapons coming out of my ears on my game.

Once you discover a metal item in a grotto, keep re-entering it and you can build up a collection in no time.

By that point you should also have loads of Slimedrops and Orichalum, so creating the King Metal versions in alchemy should be pretty straightforward, providing you have a few Slime Crowns handy too that is.

Loving this game overall, There's a lot of things I could complain about but it can be forgiven I feel.

 

The music is great but SOOOOO repetitive. I'm not sure if anyone takes music as seriously as I do in games, but bloody hell.