Dragon Warrior 2-4; any good for short bursts?

[fox | 1,673]

16 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

IV on DS = sleep mode

A godsend for short sessions

3 is getting the 2DHD treatment for switch, so QoL additions+sleep mode

[Sumez | 2,994]

I'm always vary of remakes adding "QoL additions". They tend to like to change things that are an integral part of a game's identity.
I mean, DQ3 could definitely use faster combat that doesn't need to spend a ton of time spelling out the same thing happening to every single enemy or party member, but I really wouldn't want to change things like random encounters or the penalty for dying in combat.

Curious how the new remake is gonna turn out still. I'd have preferred just a straight localization of the SNES version, but what can you do  

[Tanooki | 4,952]

8 hours ago, Gloves said:

I appreciate the thought on the more updated versions, but I really don't play much handheld at all. It's not a form factor I enjoy, and specifically for this venture I'm looking for something very explicitly to lie in bed and play while I doze off to sleep at night. I'm playing on a small CRT with a controller in hand and if I should fall asleep while playing the controller which is built like a Nokia phone will just slide to the floor and the NES will continue to run without issue, whereas any mobile device will almost surely slide off my bed and smash into a million pieces. 

Well fair enough, I was thinking of ease of use, which seems almost what you're after since you want to doze off to it, and given the grinding in this franchise, you'll do that.  I was thinking fast use, ease, easiest to pick up and return to playing with this one.  I didn't think the NES one on any of the four would be as easy to use, since it needs a return to the castle to save and they don't have quality of life improvements either.  It's fine though I started on DQ4 but adapted to DW4 NES fine, when I had it, but it helped me get my neo geo 6 years ago or so now.

[phart010 | 1,708]

On 1/3/2023 at 4:34 PM, Gloves said:

It's really physically uncomfortable lying in bed with a handheld device like a DS or my phone. 

I wonder if anyone has mounted a flat screen tv to the ceiling to play laying down. Used to be impractical, but nowadays with joycons it seems very doable 

[Gloves | 11,830]

12 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I wonder if anyone has mounted a flat screen tv to the ceiling to play laying down. Used to be impractical, but nowadays with joycons it seems very doable 

I've considered buying a projector for this.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

8 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I've considered buying a projector for this.

If you're thinking of going that route, why not just pull the trigger and get one of the little "pocket" ones?  Their display quality is good enough for just about any of the older stuff, and you can easily just swipe it into the drawer of a bedside table whenever you're done.

[Gloves | 11,830]

24 minutes ago, darkchylde28 said:

If you're thinking of going that route, why not just pull the trigger and get one of the little "pocket" ones?  Their display quality is good enough for just about any of the older stuff, and you can easily just swipe it into the drawer of a bedside table whenever you're done.

That was the idea, yeah. Ended up not bothering for whatever reason. I mean, I do already have the CRT right there. Felt like a needless expense.

[YOURTURN | 1,257]

On 1/2/2023 at 9:51 PM, Dr. Morbis said:

They are trilogies, so 1-2-3 is one story and then 4-5-6 is another story, so I would recommend starting at 2 (since you said you've done 1) or starting at 4.  That being said, the first 1-2-3 trilogy is far more connected than 4-5-6, so really you could start on any Dragon Quest game from 4 onward and not really miss anything...

Actually, the Roto/Erdrick went from being a trilogy to a series after it was revealed that Dragon Quest XI is the first chapter. (This is mentioned on the Japanese Wikipedia page.)

It goes Treasures (side-story) -> 11 -> 3-> 1 -> 2. With Treasures (just like Monsters, the Torneko trilogy, and the Easter eggs established in VIII's timeline being tied to the Tenkuu/Zenethis trilogy) being a side-story. 

With all of that excluding the Emblem of Roto manga series (as it fills in events that happened between Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest I). (Lets just say that I recommend those to those who want a dark Dragon Quest story.)

But I do agree with you...

Dragon Quest II/Dragon Warrior II is a great option for those who want to continue that story. I have not played the Switch release for a while now, but I do believe it offers better save options for @Gloves' situation.

While Dragon Quest IV/Dragon Warrior IV is a great option to jump into for those who do not want to commit to the first trilogy's overall storyline. With the first just being a "ancestry" story and this one leaving unanswered questions.

Now if you don't mind... I'm going to go back to being retired from that fandom. 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

56 minutes ago, FenrirZero said:

Actually, the Roto/Erdrick went from being a trilogy to a series after it was revealed that Dragon Quest XI is the first chapter. (This is mentioned on the Japanese Wikipedia page.)

It goes Treasures (side-story) -> 11 -> 3-> 1 -> 2. With Treasures (just like Monsters, the Torneko trilogy, and the Easter eggs established in VIII's timeline being tied to the Tenkuu/Zenethis trilogy) being a side-story. 

With all of that excluding the Emblem of Roto manga series (as it fills in events that happened between Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest I). (Lets just say that I recommend those to those who want a dark Dragon Quest story.)

But I do agree with you...

Dragon Quest II/Dragon Warrior II is a great option for those who want to continue that story. I have not played the Switch release for a while now, but I do believe it offers better save options for @Gloves' situation.

While Dragon Quest IV/Dragon Warrior IV is a great option to jump into for those who do not want to commit to the first trilogy's overall storyline. With the first just being a "ancestry" story and this one leaving unanswered questions.

Now if you don't mind... I'm going to go back to being retired from that fandom. 

Go home, Dragon Quest, you're drunk.

[Sumez | 2,994]

Most of the tie-ins between DQ games and spinoffs (including that extra ending clip for DQXI) are just fun references and nods. You don't really need to think any more about the timeline than the developers did in order to be able to enjoy them  
But if you do want to geek out about silly stuff like that, there's the (official) comic book which ties nearly all the games together into the same continuity.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Sumez

[Estil | 1,265]

11 hours ago, phart010 said:

I wonder if anyone has mounted a flat screen tv to the ceiling to play laying down. Used to be impractical, but nowadays with joycons it seems very doable 

No way dude!  You know how easily that could come loose and squash you??

 

[phart010 | 1,708]

3 hours ago, Estil said:

No way dude!  You know how easily that could come loose and squash you??

 

Mount it with some long screws into the joists

[YOURTURN | 1,257]

16 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

Go home, Dragon Quest, you're drunk.

But Final Fantasy is not home, man.

[YOURTURN | 1,257]

11 hours ago, Sumez said:

Most of the tie-ins between DQ games and spinoffs (including that extra ending clip for DQXI) are just fun references and nods. You don't really need to think any more about the timeline than the developers did in order to be able to enjoy them  
But if you do want to geek out about silly stuff like that, there's the (official) comic book which ties nearly all the games together into the same continuity.

Agreed that just playing them is fine if you prefer to just beat these games. It's why I only recommend that people who want the whole story to play the Roto/Erdrick series in either order. With the rest skipping to Dragon Quest IV. 

The rest? Not so much. Simply because Yuji Horii is both the creator and scenario writer, and has said that Dragon Quest XI is the origin story to the entire Roto/Erdrick story arc. The finale was simply created as a start of the 'true' timeline and the beginning to Dragon Quest III. 

Then again, the Emblem of Roto series is a very dark series. And I mean there is a scene where a guy had his neck slit open kind of dark. Kind of how the "fans" treated my fandom from the time XI was announced state-side onward. 

But all I can say is that the franchise is literally too expensive to simply "geek out" on. And this is from the guy who spent a lot of time and money experiencing a small percentage in regards to what the franchise offers in Japan. 

[JeremiahJT | 75]

You have already made your decision, but I would have went with Dragon Warrior II. Of course it is my second favorite of the series after the original Dragon Warrior. The grinding in this one has never bothered me and I love the connections with the first game.

Edited January 6, 2023 by JeremiahJT

[Jeevan | 8,932]

27 minutes ago, JeremiahJT said:

You have already made your decision, but I would have went with Dragon Warrior II. Of course it is my second favorite of the series after the original Dragon Warrior. The grinding in this one has never bothered me and I love the connections with the first game.

I agree that the grinding never bothered me that much, but the very end is where i ground out all my levels.  If i died, i went and healed and leveled some more.  You know why   

[Gloves | 11,830]

28 minutes ago, JeremiahJT said:

You have already made your decision, but I would have went with Dragon Warrior II. Of course it is my second favorite of the series after the original Dragon Warrior. The grinding in this one has never bothered me and I love the connections with the first game.

I'll definitely play 2 eventually. 

[YOURTURN | 1,257]

1 hour ago, JeremiahJT said:

You have already made your decision, but I would have went with Dragon Warrior II. Of course it is my second favorite of the series after the original Dragon Warrior. The grinding in this one has never bothered me and I love the connections with the first game.

I was on the same boat with Dragon Quest II. It is easy to get lost in, but even doing that was fun. Even though I stopped playing it after I quit being a hardcore fan of the franchise. 

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

I'll definitely play 2 eventually. 

You better! I want to hear that you grew a beard trying to beat it, and not some story about some 85 inch 8K monitor falling on you while you were playing 4 in bed!

[Sumez | 2,994]

5 hours ago, Jeevan said:

I agree that the grinding never bothered me that much, but the very end is where i ground out all my levels.  If i died, i went and healed and leveled some more.  You know why   

Same! I always hear people complaining about the grinding in DQ2, but it feels super balanced to me, since there are so many places you'll go and explore where you'll naturally fight monsters along the way, my characters grew naturally as I progressed. 

The two companions you get always feel weak, but the main character trying to support them in order for them to support him is just a key aspect of the gameplay.

It's not until the tail end of the game I'd have to walk back and forth in the same area until I'd be able to survive the final dungeon. And honestly I think at that point it's fair, you want it to feel like an ordeal. And you get so much exp there it doesn't really take long. Compare DQ1 which is just all grinding all the time for five hours straight

 

Maybe if you knew just exactly where to go and what to do right out the gate in DQ2 you could solve all the puzzles so fast your characters would be immediately underleveled, but I guess the lesson is don't use a guide when playing it it's too much fun figuring all that stuff on your own. 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Sumez

[Red | 439]

I used to consider Dragon Warrior IV my favorite of the NES games, but a few years ago I want back and replayed II, III, and IV all in a row and I liked II the best of the bunch.  It has far less grinding than IV  (which was so bad, I wound up not actually finishing that playthrough) and I'd say it's the most balanced of the three.  The only spot that was really bad was the road to the final area.  I may have lucked out on the final dungeon though.  I remember it being a pain back in the day, but I somehow made it through on my first try.  It may be because back then, I don't think I...

Spoiler

made much use of the shield that could be used to cast a healing spell an infinite number of times.  I got one for every character and made heavy use of them.

 

[Sumez | 2,994]

The dungeon leading to the final area is infamous for a good reason, but I think it fits the pace of the game perfectly. It's tough and you're probably expected to do multiple dives mapping out the place and hunting for collectables, until finally just making the straight run for the healing spot past the dungeon at the skin of your teeth, dragging your sorry ass across the finish line. Few things in a classic JRPG has felt as satisfying.