I played this while I was having a mental breakdown 14 years ago alongside DQ3 and I remember it being a great game. Probably kept me sane an extra month or so.

There's a right choice for the marriage though. Don't fuck it up.

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>>12896291 >>12896393 >>12896454

There is only one RPG to start out with, Anon...

>>12896278
>There's a right choice for the marriage though. Don't fuck it up.
i didn't know there was marriage involved .. ill rely on my gut and not read any guides

>>12896278
>having a mental breakdown 14 years ago
I'd give anything to wake up and it's 2012 again and this nightmare is over

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>>12896282
ill take a gander at majuulars retrospective on that game i remember nothing

>>12896290
What's eating ya?

>>12896301
I'm tired of christfaggots invading my board >>12896164

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ok piggy

>>12896282
I can actually appreciate JRPGs now that I understand the retro PC games they came from. Turns out they were just being loyal to a simpler time of gaming and aren't just being "boring" on purpose.

>>12896393
They weren't being loyal to it though, they openly admit they were simplifying it for a mass audience, particularly children.

>>12896393
i just started playing dragon quest v and it's a fan translation and it is very engaging to me so far. i got the recommendation from someone else and i am thankful i took the advice to try it out. its a fun snes game

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>>12896282
>akalabeth
i checked out majuulars retrospective of this foundational game and i think its too primative of graphics and sound for me to put up with it

>>12896273
God, no. That game fucking sucks. The story is alright, but the game itself? Just terrible, and held up by idiots who praise it because "muh pokemon!". Disproportionate monster capabilities are the big part of the problem, but level growths are also an issue, and one major concern is the weird as fuck equipment options for non-humanoids, which can vary wildly, and aren't always made up for by stats and inherent resistances, so some monsters simply suck ass because they can't do something as simple as equipping shields, helmets, or armor that isn't shit. It doesn't help when, again, they have a retarded level cap and/or growth, so they can take forever to get a level high enough to get their best tier-2 spell in the fucking endgame when most of your humans and other monsters are using tier-3, which is where the game wants you to be by that point. I think the worst thing of all is that, with some exceptions, way too many units, be they human or monster, are some sort of really awkward hybrid class that dabbles in a bit of this and that, but focuses on no singular role and the overall game suffers for it in the long run. It's even worse when some of them try to be good at multiple roles that sound good on paper, but don't have the MP to do 2 or even 1 of those roles well. It's all even worse when you consider that 5 SFC only had 3 active units. Why? I dunno, I guess they were trying to build DQ1+2 at the same time or something and just reused the code, because even DQ3 and DQ4 had 4 active characters on NES. I don't know why they didn't import all of the skills from dq7 into 5ds, and rebalance all of the monsters to gain levels to 99 across the board. At least then you could give monsters both more of an identity in their skill sets, better proper roles to play, and be able to use your favorites. Get rid of the damn wisdom requirement to give orders to monsters, too. It's fucking stupid.

>>12896480
The point is that you're supposed to ditch the old monsters for new better ones or better human characters.

I'm always amazed when people are like "this game is shit it should let me play however I want!" and then their "however I want" is something dumb like "I want to bring a lvl 99 Slime to the final boss". This is like people complaining they can't stick to the first few classes in Final Fantasy 3.

Every time I hear people talking about DQ, one subject that inevitably always gets brought up is the painful grind.
Allegedly these games have grinds that are bad even by JRPG standards (a genre already filled with grinding).
Is this true?
What exactly is the appeal of the DQ games beyond the Toriyama aesthetics? Surely it can't just be that people enjoy grinding?

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>>12896510
belief is a choice you are responsible for making .. thats the deal like it or not .. belief is a choice

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>>12896505
what ive found i like so far is when you can find a grindy spot where the challenge is very close to impossible and the reward for winning a fight is massive xp (and gold comes with high xp as well) when you find those specific spawn points on the map and you listen to an interesting video or something while grinding in a challenging spot with high reward its very exciting i especially love it when there is gear nearbye that i can get with the fat gold im getting.

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>>12897017

>>12896505
>Allegedly these games have grinds that are bad even by JRPG standards (a genre already filled with grinding). Is this true?
There isn't a single universal answer, it varies quite a bit from game to game and version to version.
Speaking very broadly as a person who plays a lot of RPGs, my answer is "no". There are far, FAR grindier RPGs than Dragon Quest. Many DQ games can be beaten with zero grinding. DQ has several systems which exist in all games across the whole franchise that mitigate the need to grind, like metal slimes, the most iconic EXP pinatas in gaming.
However, there are some situations in which grinding may be necessary. There's a section in DQ4 in which the game simply will not allow you to progress until you have a certain amount of money, and grinding is the fastest way to get it. If you play through the games with a guide rather than exploring naturally and getting lost, you'll get less encounters than intended, and may potentially end up in a scenario where you are so underleveled you are mathematically incapable of defeating a certain boss, and will need to do some grinding. But if you're competent at grinding efficiently, neither of these should stymie you for too long.
>What exactly is the appeal of the DQ games beyond the Toriyama aesthetics?
DQ games have cute aesthetics which belie shockingly dark, emotional, and serious storylines. The characters are memorable and well-written, with brave heroes, lovable heroines, and hatable villains.
They offer a relatively direct and simple RPG experience. The focus is always on the cake, and not the icing.
They are an extremely important part of RPG history and gaming history, and playing the games lets you experience that history firsthand.
In general, while the games are mostly linear, they often have one single big choice for the player to make, which affects the whole rest of the game.
And it's wildly popular, so there's no end of fanart, fangames, etc. +official stuff to enjoy.

>>12896273
>japshit

>>12896278
>There's a right choice for the marriage though. Don't fuck it up.
Wow you get some extra goodies if you choose the rich girl but you're a soulless jerk.

>>12896494
Nah, fuck that mentality. It's stupid that slime knight is one of the only good monsters you get early on, yet most others around the same timeframe are total shit. Also, it doesn't stop what I said about movesets and lack of clearly defined roles being terrible either.

>>12896841
>There's a section in DQ4 in which the game simply will not allow you to progress until you have a certain amount of money, and grinding is the fastest way to get it.
Nah. The fastest way is treasure hunting and utilizing the towns that you can buy certain gear for lower prices and sell it for higher elsewhere or use it for your total big haul in the castle supply sidequest. I will say there is a small initial grind around the start to get Torneko strong enough to survive the dungeon treks, but past that, he levels up at a solid pace, and his stats start to increase well enough for the chapter. For those not in the know, for whatever reason, and only in chapter 3, enemies can drop gear and items that are can be worth well more than their gold drops, so selling those is advantageous, but just grinding for drops is still slow-going compared to getting treasures and finishing sidequests. That said, you might have to fight a bit extra if you're unlucky with good drops to where you'll need to get just enough extra cash to round out your goal for buying the shop, but it's not nearly bad enough to call a grind. Once you can hire the soldier and bard, you're set relatively well for combat and you can just stay in the dungeon as long as you can in order to exploit their time limits since time doesn't pass in dungeons. The biggest grind is entirely optional, and that's getting the fire-spell sword from a customer selling it to the starter weapon shop, then earning enough cash to buy said sword yourself. However, if you're lucky enough to get it from an early customer, you're set for the entire chapter and it makes cleaning up weaker enemies a breeze. Unfortunately, the odds are very low, and it can take up to literal tedious hours if you're really unlucky. The shop closing after a set number of customers/sales doesn't help either, meaning you potentially have to do the whole trek back to work several times. Worth it? Arguably not, but it kicks ass when it happens.

For most people I'd recommend starting with FFX.
It's not my favorite or what I started with, I just feel like it's more accessible and maybe relatable to more people than most jarpigs.

>>12897026
FFX is a great game, but too long for a first-timer's JRPG.
He's better off either picking between Chrono Trigger or Super Mario RPG. Each takes no more than 15-17 hours to beat for a first-time playthrough done casually. It's a good way to dip his toes into the genre.

>>12896273
Dragon Quest was made to be the first game that scrubs can actually beat. Babby's first RPG, babby's first clear. Look it up.

>>12897039
The sad part is that it is 100% true, BUT nowadays there are probably motherfuckers who will read this sentiment, and then proceed to start with the hd2d version DQ1(+2) and be completely bamboozled by it. Don't get me wrong, they are alright games and all, but they are not indicative of the originals at all, and I would never rec them as someone's virgin experience of the two games, if only because they are filled to the brim with so much extra stuff that it would be overwhelming for an RPG newcomer. Defintely made for people who have at least played the original trilogy before, if not beaten it.

>>12896393
jarpiggies always need to invent newer and different copes to pretend they're superior, it's quite sad really.

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>>12897017
that just makes me want to stick with dragon quest as a starting jrpg game

>>12897017
I'd consider it a grind whether you fight monsters for drops correctly or do the buy low/sell high strategy, but I'll admit I don't know how fast the latter is as I've never attempted it.
I agree that it isn't that bad; I think the final grind took me about 70-ish minutes? Could be remembering wrong, and I'm sure it's possible to make it more efficient. I hired all the mercenaries like you mentioned.
I just cite it as an obvious example of a "forced" grind, as there's no fast or interesting way to get all the money you need, as far as I know.

>>12897812
It is kinda luck based in terms of how fast you get the good drops to either sell or wear yourself to help reach that final threshold, and that's definitely part of why Torneko just clicked with his roguelike spinoff. That said, I think the silver statue and armory supply quests are both good for giving the player goals to work towards, especially in the NES version where you will HAVE to sell other shit to keep your inventory space managed well. On DS, the spare item bag means you don't have to worry as much. It's not too common, but having random encounters with merchants in the overworld is also useful because, IIRC, you can sell stuff you don't need as well as buy extra herbs and what not in a pinch. It's kind of a shame that Torneko doesn't carry finding field merchants or random good gear from weaker enemies into chapter 5. Some of his other actions are useful though, but being able to get the skills and perks that merchants did in DQ6/DQ3 SFC (even just finding extra gold or having better item drop rates after battle) would have really made him more beneficial overall. As is, he's alright, but I think more casual players are not as inclined to use him compared to Ryan and Alena because he doesn't have readily apparent benefits like great gear selection or a high critical hit rate.

>>12896273
The problem with starting out with Dragon Quest is that you're starting out with the best in the genre, and then the rest of your life will be chasing the dragon. It's like drugs and how no matter how much you take, nothing will beat the first high.

>>12896505
if you're an ADHD zoomer faggot, everything is grindy. The king of mentally ill faggots, Ugly Video Game Nerd, complains about 5 second loading times on games made in 1988.

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>>12898984

There's no reason not to start with the original Dragon Quest

>>12898915
Moonrunes, I know not

>>12896273
if you can't customize classes then it's not an rpg. DQ3 is easily the best retro DQ

>>12898984
Then start with the original dragon warrior.

>>12896505
I unironically enjoy the grinding. If the combat is entertaining to you it's actually not a grind. I'm not sure why I find it soothing but it's something that really calms me down.

>>12899375
This, it's not a issue in games were battles are fun, mostly rpgs were you get variety stuff while grinding like pokemon or smt