Update on DQV:
I'm up to the third generation.
I feel it could use some QoL features. If I can carry more than 9 items in my bag, why can I only buy 9 from a shop at a time? Also, why can I only get medicinal herbs which heal for so little this late in the game? Together these issues means I have to spend an unnecessary amount of time in the shop buying herbs to heal my party if I don't want to waste MP on healing. The only consolation is how absurdly cheap they are.
I knew about DQ5's narrative in a broad sense but actually playing it, while I wouldn't necessarily say it ranks highly on my "favorite game stories" I do think it is very unique and forward-looking even compared to many JRPG's that come out today, and for a game that is so old it's not at all unsatisfying in that department either (I get that I'm playing the DS remake which changed things around a bit, but still). I picked Debora as the bride (which I had planned to do from the start) and it's actually pretty cool to use party chat and hear her talk about herself and the places you're at. She could have easily been a grating character but her self-absorbed personality is actually pretty entertaining and makes her easily the most memorable of the brides, so I don't regret picking her at all.
The monster recruiting is also a really cool feature that from what I remember predates Pokemon by a good margin. I wish the recruitment rates for the monsters weren't so miserly though. This proved to be a big issue with the Magmen fight for the Circle of Fire, it really feels like that fight expects you to have four party members but I only had three, they do such ridiculous damage at that point in the game that it's difficult to keep up. I tried to recruit a bag of tricks to help me but I sat there for like multiple hours without getting one, so eventually I just tried to do the boss again with the party I had an only barely managed to win. Without the Slime Knight I got earlier by a complete stroke of luck it would have been impossible to win, he really is an excellent party member.
Overall I'm still enjoying myself. I was already planning on giving DQ8 and XI a shot, but I was very unsure if DQ was for me, and now I think it is likely that I will dig them because of how consistent the series is, which is great.
I'm up to the third generation.
I feel it could use some QoL features. If I can carry more than 9 items in my bag, why can I only buy 9 from a shop at a time? Also, why can I only get medicinal herbs which heal for so little this late in the game? Together these issues means I have to spend an unnecessary amount of time in the shop buying herbs to heal my party if I don't want to waste MP on healing. The only consolation is how absurdly cheap they are.
I knew about DQ5's narrative in a broad sense but actually playing it, while I wouldn't necessarily say it ranks highly on my "favorite game stories" I do think it is very unique and forward-looking even compared to many JRPG's that come out today, and for a game that is so old it's not at all unsatisfying in that department either (I get that I'm playing the DS remake which changed things around a bit, but still). I picked Debora as the bride (which I had planned to do from the start) and it's actually pretty cool to use party chat and hear her talk about herself and the places you're at. She could have easily been a grating character but her self-absorbed personality is actually pretty entertaining and makes her easily the most memorable of the brides, so I don't regret picking her at all.
The monster recruiting is also a really cool feature that from what I remember predates Pokemon by a good margin. I wish the recruitment rates for the monsters weren't so miserly though. This proved to be a big issue with the Magmen fight for the Circle of Fire, it really feels like that fight expects you to have four party members but I only had three, they do such ridiculous damage at that point in the game that it's difficult to keep up. I tried to recruit a bag of tricks to help me but I sat there for like multiple hours without getting one, so eventually I just tried to do the boss again with the party I had an only barely managed to win. Without the Slime Knight I got earlier by a complete stroke of luck it would have been impossible to win, he really is an excellent party member.
Overall I'm still enjoying myself. I was already planning on giving DQ8 and XI a shot, but I was very unsure if DQ was for me, and now I think it is likely that I will dig them because of how consistent the series is, which is great.
