anandxxx said:

Actually, that's probably because many parties want Nintendo to fail.

I wonder why that is.

I also wonder if there really are a LOT of parties that feel that way, or if it's just a handful of really outspoken individuals.

But seriously, why would anyone want Nintendo to fail? They make some of the best games in the industry, and have proven time and again they are willing to push the envelope on design and innovation. Why would any self-respecting gamer wish Nintendo any ill-will? Because Zelda doesn't have voice-acting or something?

Well, it is in the interest of companies who banked heavily on HD consoles for Nintendo to fail, and that certainly accounts for a large part of the industry, ESPECIALLY in America and Europe. It's in the interest of Sony and MS, for obvious reasons. And journalists are a pretty narrow-minded and easily manipulated lot, as well. So are 'hardcore gamers'.

Third-parties might also feel that they can't compete with Nintendo on their own platforms, but that's probably just a self-fulfilling prophecy. After all, I think open-minded gamers would always be up for a great game, and why would the expanded audience have much of an inherent bias towards the Nintendo brand (beyond liking Nintendo-published games and getting skunked by bad third-party games)?

Does anyone here that has a DSiXL and this game mind taking a pic of it running on the XL? I bet it looks so sexy.

I've been contemplating about getting an XL and seeing a pic of this game on the XL may make me jizz in my pants.

Well I went ahead and picked it up this morning. Still haven't had much gameplay so I'm hoping that starts soon. Seems like an interesting setting though. Like Final Fantasy, each Dragon Quest is completely different, right?

I checked the manual but can't find any info on this... or maybe I should just play some more. How exactly do you get skill points in this? Is it by leveling up or can you get them by other means as well? I started with 6 but didn't use them immediately. Then I gained another level, was prompted to use my points but I was still at 6. If it is by leveling up, then you don't get points every level then?

No, you do not get points every level, and yes, you get them from leveling.

Thanks... I guess it was an obvious answer though :p But after playing Diablo II so much, I have this crazy obsession with perfectly managing any kind of stat points in games that allows me to. It tends to suck sometimes...

@Peppy-le-Fox

I've tried to take photos but I can't get a decent shot.

The game looks good. On the XL however the pixels are necessarily more evident.

I got this, am about 10 hours in and I love it. DQ is one of my favorite series' and it's nice to have a new one for the first time in 5 years. I stopped playing DQ5 cause I bought New Super Mario Bros, but right now there's nothing occupying my time besides this. I put Transformers aside for it.

It looks good on my XL but I prefer it on my Lite better.

I've checked it on both, like it much better on my XL. (Have a DSi and XL here, no lites in this house anymore.)

Pixels are slightly bigger, obviously, but I notice them just as much on my DSi, except they're smaller, and tiny screens bug the shit out of me.

@anandxxx To jump into this off-topic argument late, I think the main reason 3rd parties want Nintendo to fail can be seen in how they develop elsewhere. Multiplatform PC/PS3/360 games 9 times out of 10. Essentially, 3rd parties want to push their games to as many platforms as possible at once. And Nintendo jumps in with this wacky console that makes it nigh impossible to do that. So the game market is split, and that isn't what publishers want. They want Nintendo to get in line so they can develop multiplatform PC/Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo games and truly maximize potential.

It's just a simple bottom line, and from a business perspective, it does make some sense.

For that reason if none other, I honestly don't see many 3rd parties giving real support to motion at all, unless they can find a standard way to develop between multiple consoles at once with motion. Sony and Microsoft may have done better here to standardize a format between them, which would have actually been a real threat to Nintendo.

Pandareus said:

@Peppy-le-Fox

I've tried to take photos but I can't get a decent shot.

The game looks good. On the XL however the pixels are necessarily more evident.

ah, hey well thanks for trying anyway! Man I can't wait to pick up this game.

These are as good a' screenshots as I could get. My sister's playing her copy on my DSi XL (Her hinge is broken, ugh.) and my other sister is playing it on her DSi, so I got comparison shots of those two. They're kind of far apart though so I couldn't get similar areas, hope that's not too much of a bother. Also hope they came out clear enough, since I posted this before seeing them...

DSi:


DSi XL (Those colored/curved lines only appear on a camera, weird.):


Direct comparison:


Comparison of DSi XL to a portion of my monitor:

Below are some minor feature spoilers that you've probably already read about.

I'm about 10ish hours into the game and I've finally opened the DQVC, the online store that has a bunch of different rare items every day. I have to say I'll be pretty disappointed if that's all there is to it. The way some previews worded it, it sounded like it would contain treasure maps that would lead to rare items. It's boring if it's just about buying those rare items outright. I hope I've simply not unlocked a feature yet, and those maps are coming. If not, I'll be kind of pissed, actually. With tag mode being completely useless, I was gonna rely on that store for those maps.

I'm now at the spot Scrawnton was talking about already on the first day he got the game, lol. I finished the Jack of All Trades thing and I can now change vocation, though I'm probably gonna wait on that. Suddenly tons of side quests opened up, too, but they're not what I expected. I mean, these quests are pretty much Xbox Live achievements (with actual rewards, though). Things like: kill this thing with this move, do it 15 times. Heh. Again, slight disappointment. Which is not to say that I don't feel compelled to complete them as soon as I get them.

Alchemy is also addictive. I haven't dabbled into it too much so far, I got maybe 4% completion of the alchonomicon, but still I go out of my way to get the ingredients I'm missing, and it's pretty satisfying to get weapons before you can buy them.

I've read that Treasure Maps can also be downloadable. That's separate from the store, I believe. They might have something to do with the downloadable quests, though.

@Zero
Yeah, I didn't explicitly say that, but it's part of what I was saying. The Wii is a different platform, difficult to port to, and publishers bet on the other consoles. Publishers like platform parity. Maybe they'd like a one-console future even better, though. (I would.)

ANYWAY, I wonder... if publishers HAD predicted the Wii's success, would they have backed it, or chosen PS3/360/PC, instead? I can't imagine the PC sales contribute much to most console games. And PS3/360 are tremendously bloody waters. One strike, and you're out.

I really am curious about how PC sales of console games compare to the console sales. Like... Devil May Cry 4 or Super Street Fighter IV or RE5 or Assassin's Creed or even, like, Blur and Burnout. How much did they sell, exactly? I would guess not well, but publishers keep making PC versions, so...

Alright, it's reassuring to know I didn't simply misunderstand what the online store was about.

Alright, that can't be healthy: I just spent 5 hours straight playing the game, and all I can think of is going back to it.

Hiding alchemy recipees in bookcases is such a good move, I'm getting into that aspect of the game in a way I never did in any other DQ game I've played.

The sidequests for the most part are a neat challenge, too. Some have you play the game differently, which is nice.

And according to the manual, turns out that by connecting to the DQVC, we'll receive "exclusive new quests as they become available", so it simply looks like none have been put up just yet.

I did buy a "dangerous bustier" off the online store just now, though. Meee-ooow. Not a very good defense rating, but it does boost the "Style" rating. Gotta love the DQ series: it never takes itself too seriously. You'd never have a rating that determines how often monsters won't attack because they're checking you out in Final Fantasy.

The best is when an enemy dances, and your characters are so enthralled they just have to boogey down, too!

This game can get pretty addicting. I'm at the part regarding the 'Wight Knight" and I've just built my party of heroes. I'm doing a little grinding to get them buffed up a little... I don't want them to be owned as soon as I need them during the inevitable boss fight.

Yeah, I'm not very far, but like Panda said above... I can't wait to play it again. There's something very alluring about this game that I can't quite put my finger on. It's just old-school RPG goodness. And (ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!) I'm lovin' it!

Xbob42 said:

These are as good a' screenshots as I could get. My sister's playing her copy on my DSi XL (Her hinge is broken, ugh.) and my other sister is playing it on her DSi, so I got comparison shots of those two. They're kind of far apart though so I couldn't get similar areas, hope that's not too much of a bother. Also hope they came out clear enough, since I posted this before seeing them...

DSi:


DSi XL (Those colored/curved lines only appear on a camera, weird.):


Direct comparison:


Comparison of DSi XL to a portion of my monitor:

Hey thanks for that! Yea it's weird when you take a picture of a computer moniter or something like that and it always looks weird.

The direct comparison is very nice. Thanks again!