11/16/05 - Dragon Quest VIII

[schild]

How could I forget this? DON'T FORGET TO BUY THE SLIME CONTROLLER.

[MrHat]

Metal Bubble ftw.

[Signe]

That controller looks too bubbly.  I hate both of your avatars.

[stray]

Rice cookers are overrated. I grew up on rice cooker rice. I LONG for some soggy and wet, instant, trailer park rice.

[stray]

So how is this playing out, Schild? It looks great at least.

[Sauced]

I can't wait to dig into this tonight, assuming, that is, I can stop playing the FFXII demo long enough to do so.

[stray]

Hmm.....Is that Wilford Brimley ?!

[Sauced]

It sure is. 

[voodoolily]

He's got the diabetes. (but you gotta say it like an old dude: "die-uh-bee-tiss")

[Sauced]

If nothing else, I love charmingly old-school 40 page manuals, complete with skills, spells, weapons, and the like.

[stray]

He's got the diabetes. (but you gotta say it like an old dude: "die-uh-bee-tiss")

Does he have the grape nuts too?

On a sidenote, I finally got around to watching "The Firm" the other day --- I had no idea how much of an evil bastard Wilford Brimley could be.


[edit] Lol. After a second thought, I realized just how fucking funny that diabetes line is.

[Sauced]

Seriously, can we stop talking about my diabetes and get back to talk about killing slime molds in a anachronistic looking first-person turn-based combat system?

[Shockeye]

Seriously, can we stop talking about my diabetes and get back to talk about killing slime molds in a anachronistic looking first-person turn-based combat system?

Do you really got the diabetes or are you just a poseur?

[Sauced]

I swear to god, I meant to type "my avatar's diabetes".

I am, indeed, a poseur. 

[stray]

Seriously, can we stop talking about my diabetes and get back to talk about killing slime molds in a anachronistic looking first-person turn-based combat system?

Well, you must tell me more about it other than describing the manual. Like I said, it looks cool, but Square has pissed me off for a while now.

[voodoolily]

lol

Didn't you watch Colbert Report last week? The 3:00 am phone call? Genius.

[voodoolily]

Whee, I broke the 2000 post mark. Don't I get a cookie or something?

[stray]

lol

Didn't you watch Colbert Report last week? The 3:00 am phone call? Genius.

All I know at this moment is that no one makes a more convincing case for checking your blood sugar and checking it often than Wilford Brimley. It's like he's ready to kick ass if you don't.

[voodoolily]

I dunno, BB King has it pretty dialed in.

[Signe]

I have the die-uh-bee-tiss.  You people make me sad.   

[Sauced]

Well, I certainly didn't intend to do that.  I have changed my sig. 

You don't have the skitters, do you? 

[schild]

Talk about Dragon Quest, you bastards.

[stray]

Talk about Dragon Quest, you bastards.

No, YOU talk about Dragon Quest.

Please?

[Signe]

Well, I certainly didn't intend to do that.  I have changed my sig. 

You don't have the skitters, do you? 

Maybe I do.  I don't know what the skitters are.  Is it candy fruit related?  (I wasn't really crying, you know.  I was just giving you guilt like me mum taught me)

[MrHat]

I really do want to hear about this game.

DQ taught me poker and the joys of RPG's.

[voodoolily]

I watched Sauced play it for a bit last night, and it looks great (I'm a whore for cell shading). However, as I apologized to him this morning for passing out at 10:00pm, he admitted that turn-based rpgs aren't the best spectator sports. What I did see before I slipped into a coma looked great, though. A candy cat is the best goddamned enemy I've ever heard of.

Signe, sorry to hear about the diabetes. I was wondering why on earth anyone would be happy to hear about a sugar-free cheesecake recipe!

[Sauced]

Okay, sorry this thread got so retarded.  Wait, no one here is retarded, are they?  I feel like I'm walking on egg shells around here.

Earlier, I described the manual as charmingly old-school, and that can aptly describe the early part of the game, and I assume the rest of it as well.  It's... *gasp*... hard, in the way that the console RPGs of old were hard - limited access to healing during combat, no resurrection type items (yet), and a lot of grinding.  Someone dies?  Take them to the church to get a res.  Is it the guy with the Evac power who died?  Enjoy the crawl back up the dungeon.  Once you get out of the dungeon you can use an item to teleport back to any visited town, but you still get the run all the way back.  Imagine if Wizardry 8 *forced* you to play in Iron mode.  I played in that mode on purpose, so I have to admit, I love this style of play.

I've already had to grind a little bit to make it through the first dungeon.  This is assisted by the power that the second party member gets - the ability to start a fight anytime you want.  Need some xp or a sword upgrade?  Just have Yangus use his "Whistle" ability, and you'll never want to run around looking for random fights again as the joy of standing in one spot and doing it is a revelation!  Truly, the genre has taken a giant leap forward with this new power.

The score is stellar - there's a funky 50s thing going on, and the music really blends between exploration and combat modes.  I say that now knowing full well that after hearing the combat theme for the 3000th time I'll be hoping the composer gets hit by a bus.  The graphics are clean and simple, the Level 5 guys have their cell-shading style dialed in after Dark Cloud 2, and it really shows.  The town design feels like they took a 2-D map out of DQIII and put a 3D spin on it - you got your armor store next to the weapon store, there's the inn, there's the guy that sells the Herb.  Simple, nothing fancy.  The character designs by the Dragonball Z guy are cute, and some of the monsters are genuinely chuckle-worthy, and of course, there are the hordes of Blue Slimes.  The combat system does start out with the traditional "first person" look, as you survey up to 4 attackers.  The camera does swing around a bit to show attacks and spell casting as appropriate, so it does keep it a little interesting.

The story is vanilla - you are a former guard to a princess, who has been turned into a horse.  The King has been turned into Yoda.  You and your hired hand are going to find the wizard who did it, kick his ass, and get things turned back to normal.  Or so it would seem after the first few hours of play.  Haven't gotten to any of the mini games yet, but from the manual it looks like full-on casinos are in there somewhere.  Apparently there is also some sort of "crafting", but I still need to find the "Alchemist Tub", where in I can apparently use this recipe for a "Thief Key" I found to make, uh, a Thief Key.

I'm really enjoying it so far, but the FFXII demo was the best part for me so far.  Holy shit.

[Yegolev]

I have never played one of the previous games, but my wife who has watched the commercial and here are her thoughts, paraphrased: "Man, that looks just like Dragonball."; "You're supposed to play a knight, not some crappy-looking gypsy."; "Why are there so may lewd attacks?"; "December 2006?!?!11" (after I told her the last release date I saw for FFXII).

[tazelbain]

lewd attacks?

[Yegolev]

I seem to remember a fart and a seduction-type attack.  Maybe it was all the tit.

[Sauced]

When you level up, you get a couple of Skill Points.  Each character has a few pools to allocate these to, mostly weapon related, but each also has a unique Skill.  From the book, one of the characters has a special power of "Sex Appeal", so I can only imagine.

[Yegolev]

That was it.

[edit] The game I am playing that my wife hates is currently Stubbs the Zombie.  I might get DQVIII once I am done with Radiata and Baten Kaitos.  And Shadow Hearts 1&2.  And Twilight Princess.

[voodoolily]

I still haven't finished Baten Kaitos. Or Metroid PRime Echos, for that matter. God, I've got work to do.  Stubbs the Zombie looks hell of fun.

[Sauced]

Shadow Hearts 2

I'm sure she'll be thrilled when you tell her "I'll be done playing as soon as I find this last piece of gay porn."

[Yegolev]

Stubbs the Zombie looks hell of fun.

Starts off funny and gets funnier.  It is fun, too.  Did I mention it is very funny?  Moreso than Voodoo Vince, even.  If you like zombies.

Strange, after seven years of marriage (as of Oct 31) I only just found out that my wife totally hates zombies.