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I used the search function and found a few topics on this game but they all had spoiler warnings or seemed as if they might have them in there and I'd like to avoid story spoilers at this point so I decided to make a new topic.

Anyway... has anyone here played this and what do you feel about it? I'm not real familiar with the series, I beat the original about 10 years ago... that's all the experience I have with the series. So far, I'm really enjoying it (only about 4-5 hours in), it has that old school, turn based, JRPG feel to it with completely decent visuals and music to complement it. I don't really much care for the Hero, but JRPGs are known for the cartoony, teen hero so I just take that with a grain of salt. At least he's useful in a battle.

I love DQ VIII. It's way, WAY more modern than any other Dragon Quest game (including IX), and that's mostly for the better. It can be hard to go back to that extremely slow, deliberate pace of earlier DQ games. You don't even get a single battle in the first two hours of Dragon Quest VII.

So yeah, back to VIII. Its characters aren't terribly deep or complex, but they have appealing personalities and are good in general; I sort of wish you got more than four of them. The story is simple and consistent, and feels more like a fairy tale then one of Final Fantasy's sci-fi/fantasy epics, but there's some fun in that kind of story. I've beaten every Dragon Quest game other than the seventh one, and I think that VIII has one of the better plots in the series.

Several years ago, I wrote a forum article on the skill point system in Dragon Quest VIII, but it looks like that forum is locked to users. If you have any questions about the game at all, be it gameplay, story, or what have you then you can post it here or send me a PM.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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Well, this should work out then... cause I'll have plenty of questions for you. I've actually got a thread over at GameFAQS (I'm not a very big fan of that site but when you are posting about older games you tend to have a little higher quality of poster) and it's actually been a little more helpful than I expected. Would be great to have another educated poster help with the game because I've decided not to use a guide (other than probably an alchemy one) other than interacting with experienced players on a forum.

That way, I can get advice and help with game mechanics, not miss things that I want and not mess my characters up without spoiling the storyline.

EDIT: Like I said, I'm not very far. I completed the first dungeon and then did the sidequest for the cheese above the waterfall and now I should be heading to Alexandria.

This post has been edited by Billdolfski on 31st March 2014 04:00

All right. Because I'm bored, I'm going to copy/paste/recreate part of that non-spoiler guide I made. To avoid spoilers, I'll call the four characters Hero, Yangus, Girl, and Dude. Here's some random advice on Dragon Quest skills:

You get 350 points at level 99, but don't expect to go that high. Realistically, you'll beat the game around level 45 and if you do endgame and post-game stuff your level will probably jump to around 55. You can count on each character getting 200 to 250 points, and each skill maxes out at 100 points.

Avoid Fisticuffs. It saves you money paying for weapons, but the skills are almost always lagging behind other options. Girl learns a very powerful spell when you put in 100 points, but it's only worth it if you're building her all around that spell. Not recommended.

Do the Monster Arena side quest. It's my favorite in the game, and the rewards for doing it get really, really good.

Don't sell the Girl's starting whip. It's the only one you get, and it's the first ingredient in a very useful chain of alchemy recipes. So hang onto it until you get some snake scales, at least.

Hero is good at everything. Swords have the best overall offense (and his best weapon is a sword), spears have a few really good specific skills (Lightning Thrust and Multithrust are awesome), and boomerangs are solid. Don't put points into boomerangs, but keep a good one in your inventory for large groups of enemies. Courage is an awesome skillset that gives you healing spells, powerful magic attacks, and good passives.

For the Hero, I would recommend maxing out Courage and putting points between swords and spears as you see fit. Swords and spears are both great.

Axes and scythes are better than hammers. For Yangus, axes give him most of his best skills - Helm Splitter, Parallax, and Executioner are awesome the whole game. Scythe skills are eventually pretty good, and Yangus's strongest weapon is a scythe. Hammer skills have some money-stealing, some targeting stuff, and some stunning attacks, but cost a lot of MP and Yangus never has much MP. Humanity is an okay skill, though, and it gives Yangus some healing magic and support skills.

For Yangus, I would recommend putting points equally into Axes, Scythes, and Humanity, pushing whichever one you like best. My favorite is probably Axes.

The Girl is difficult to build, since most of her best stuff is at 100 points. Girl can be an offensive powerhouse if you focus on Whips and Sex Appeal (heh...) or a magic powerhouse if you focus on Staves and Fisticuffs. Whips get a REALLY good skill at 23 points, and Staves give her very large and valuable MP bonuses when she equips a staff, plus some spells that she can use without a staff. Sex Appeal is decent, but better if she's attacking a lot. Don't put points in Daggers.

For the Girl, definitely put 23 points into Whips, then decide if you want to go all magic (Staves) or mixed offense (Whips). 100 points in Sex Appeal gives her an awesome healing skill that costs zero MP and 100 points in Fisticuffs gives her the most powerful offensive spell in the game. Girl is the hardest character to pick skills for.

The Dude is balanced, but not as powerful as the Hero or the Girl. The Dude's good with swords, but the Hero's better. The Dude's also good with staves, but the Girl's better. His Bow attacks are really strong and varied, but bows are rare weapons that often require fancy alchemy to get decent ones. Charisma is an okay category for support skills and passives.

For the Dude, I would say pick two between Swords, Staves, Bows, and Charisma. He's mostly your healer, so any offense or support he brings to the table is just icing on the cake.

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I'm sorry that was really long and boring, but DQ VIII is one of my favorite PS2 games. And I'm really wordy and nerdy. I hope that helps you a little.

This post has been edited by laszlow on 31st March 2014 11:38

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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So you're against raising Fisticuffs for Thin Air?

Yes, and also for Defending Champion. I would rather save those points for something more useful in the endgame. Thin Air is a good skill, but I would rather grab a damage bonus on a weapon type that I'll keep using the whole game. And hey, maybe I just like using weapons. They look cooler.

But really, to each his own. DQ8 isn't a ridiculously challenging game. You won't "ruin" your characters by building them a certain way.

This post has been edited by laszlow on 31st March 2014 13:43

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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But, but... DECISIONS!

I knew I was going to stick to swords and courage with Hero but it seems like everyone else preached Thin Air for Yangus... but I'll side on you if there are better decisions for end game. I'd rather suffer through in the beginning and have a more powerful character later on if that's that case.

Jessica (I think that's her name?) is going to be hard for me to decide. Multiple options on top of having the one build you didn't recommend, but it piques my curiosity.

You're not the first person I've heard about not putting any points into boomerang but just using them... the only ability that makes it do 150% or whatever damage and keeping it more even across the board (the damage, I mean) seems pretty damn useful.

Anyway, I've got time to figure this out so post away, lol.

This post has been edited by Billdolfski on 31st March 2014 13:57

I guess Thin Air on Yangus makes sense, because his other MT attacks are pretty lacking or expensive. Also, Thin Air comes after something like 40 points, so it's a significant investment that I'm not the biggest fan of. Maybe if you focused on axes and fisticuffs and ignored scythes it could work - scythe skills are mostly worth it for the group attacks anyhow.

Jessica (the Girl) is hard to build. Daggers are bad, but all of her other skills have something really good at 100 points. Not a fun thought exercise.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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I think I'm about to pick her up too, finally found Alexandria. I'm horrible at navigating in video games.

With Yangus, I liked the idea of scythes for aesthetics but I've kind of gotten the impression Axes were a little better, though scythes were good enough and that I'd want them for the steal sickle abilities. Then I've hard the drop rate in the game is so cruel I shouldn't bother with stealing but if you're doing above regular damage with a chance to steal, albeit a low one, for no MP I can't see how it's a bad investment.

Yangus seems to get tons of skill points, do they taper off or does he have more room to work with than the rest?

Stealing is hard in the game. For all items of consequence, the steal rate is 1/256 for his first skill and 1/128 for his second skill. Good luck.

His skill points taper off - it's to give him a small early advantage over the hero, who's way better. Everyone eventually gets 350 at level 99, but they're all paced differently. The fourth character always seemed to get them waaaay slow in the mid-game.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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Got an axe in Alexandria so I was glad about seeing one of those since I've been using clubs the whole time. Been splitting what I put in axes and scythes and got humanity up to 16 for nose for treasure.

How high should I plan to take humanity? And I'm still undecided about Thin Air.

Definitely keep up Humanity until you get Midheal. Beyond that it's up to you. His final few Humanity skills are pretty good, but not superior to his best weapon skills.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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And his best weapon is indeed a scythe. Decisions, decisions.

Do the weapon abilities require you to be equipping that weapon to use it? IE, can I use Helmsplitter with a scytche?

I loved DQ8, I was playing it without a guide as well so I sold a lot of my early items about halfway through. Then, I decided to use an alchemy guide because that seems fair, but you can only get so many of certain items needed for alchemy. TL;DR don't sell anything until you're sure you can't use it in something else

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Squenix games completed:

FFIII
FFIV
FFVI
FFVII
FFIX
FFX
FF Tactics: Advance 2
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Quest 8
Dragon Quest 11
Super Mario RPG

I've started to catch on to that notion. I know alchemy ends up getting crazy in this game but I do like crafting.

We'll see how it pans out.

Quote (Billdolfski @ 31st March 2014 11:41)

And his best weapon is indeed a scythe. Decisions, decisions.

Do the weapon abilities require you to be equipping that weapon to use it? IE, can I use Helmsplitter with a scytche?

Nope. You need to have the proper weapon equipped to use the skill. Another knock on clubs - the best club requires the best axe as an alchemy ingredient, and I think that axe skills are way better.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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I love this game. I found Dhoulmagus to be a cooler bad guy then...that other fat purple dude.

Such a pity...pity, pity.


He was a pain in the ass boss i tell ya!

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Excuse me? Would you mind not talking while I'm interupting?

So I need to focus on a weapon type.

So what I need to know now is, am I going to have enough skill points (realistically) to get the 2nd Steal Sickle skill, have Axes in good shape and enough to get Thin Air through Fisticuffs?

I figure I'm going to have to make some sacrifices.

Quote (Billdolfski @ 31st March 2014 14:08)

So I need to focus on a weapon type.

So what I need to know now is, am I going to have enough skill points (realistically) to get the 2nd Steal Sickle skill, have Axes in good shape and enough to get Thin Air through Fisticuffs?

I figure I'm going to have to make some sacrifices.

Well, no. You can switch weapons in battle, and sometimes it's good to focus on two types and switch between them. I like doing that for all four characters, because your two mages get MP regeneration with staves and better physical offense from their other weapons. The Hero is best overall with swords, but spears have a few skills that are CRUCIAL for certain enemy types and boomerangs are better than either of them against enemy groups. Yangus is in the same boat, especially since both axes and clubs have attacks better against certain types of monsters.

So for Yangus, getting Nose for Treasure, the second stealing skill, Thin Air, and having axes at around the same level as scythes is a grand total of 194 points. Definitely achievable. Yangus will have that many skill points before he hits level 40. You'll have wiggle room beyond that, and it's up to you if you want him to max out axes, max out scythes, put more points in Humanity to get to Midheal, or whatever else. Most characters have around 250 at level 45-48 (the fourth character lags behind in skill points, though), so there's a lot to work with.

This post has been edited by laszlow on 1st April 2014 05:26

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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OK, good. Wiggle room is nice. And I get all tore up about how to make characters, lol. I was playing Torchlight II last night with a buddy and I don't remember the game super well and the hundred hours I put into into were between two mages and I played a different class this time an dit was giving me fits.

So since I get so many points, with the girl, I'll be able to do whips and staves and sex appeal? I'll just have to pick what I'm going to take to 100?

Quote (Billdolfski @ 1st April 2014 11:43)

So since I get so many points, with the girl, I'll be able to do whips and staves and sex appeal? I'll just have to pick what I'm going to take to 100?

Yeah. That's exactly how I built Jessica; I maxed out staff and sex appeal and brought whips up to around 60 or 70 (her level was in the high 50s).

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
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At least I have one plan!