just Dragon Quest XI

Running Man wrote:

Final boss, nice! How many hours have you put in so far?

Around 65 hours, I think. Nowhere near as much time as people here have logged on much less progress. That kind of makes me think maybe I'm rushing it, but I don't feel like I have.

A_Unicycle wrote:

This is a silly thing to get excited about, I know, but I found "Australians" in the game!

Y'all are talking about Vince, right? J/k. I'm adventuring in Octogonia now, and atm this feels like one of the best games ever made. I spent a few hours at the casino earning the ridiculously OP platinum powersword, it was a massive upgrade to the old iron broadsword from many levels ago.
By the way, the MMA fighters names are classic: The Underdigger, Whambelina etc

A_Unicycle wrote:

Also, just fought the boss in Phnom Nonh and...Oof, I don't think I'll be trying again any time soon. Giggled a lot at thy punny name, but that joy was shortlived. OUCH OUCH OUCH. I think I need another 5 levels bare minimum and a whole lot of specialised gear.

I think I’ll be coming up on this one next. It sounds like you went to Phnom Nonh before the Eerie Eyrie, the opposite path that I took. I wonder if that will make the boss a little easier? Then again, I don’t have your greatsword!

Light spoiler about Phnom Nonh and my expectations going forward:

Spoiler:

I cannot wait to get the magic key. It feels super late into a Dragon Quest game not to even have the first key, and when I saw it on the mural, I was thinking “FINALLY!” Of course, it had to be coming soon, because I can’t get into Sniflheim without it.

And another small prediction:

Spoiler:

I’m wondering if Act 2 will jump forward in time? In Gondolia I expected to participate in the Signor Universo contest, but no dice. Now having two characters with high charm, I totally think that there will be a charm contest...but that would require advancing the calendar by at least a year. It would be also fun to revisit Octagonia’s MMA tournament a year later.

I think I’ll be coming up on this one next. It sounds like you went to Phnom Nonh before the Eerie Eyrie, the opposite path that I took. I wonder if that will make the boss a little easier? Then again, I don’t have your Greatsword!

I went there before Eerie Eyrie and the underwater city. Just cleared out the former, and I'm doing some backtracking while grinding out the pep power that turns everything to metal slimes, handy!

I've also found an accessory that, when upgraded to +3, provides 25% resistance to charm (which is the main thing I struggle with the the boss fight I'm stuck on). I've bought 8 so I can have 2 on each party member...But it's getting very costly to upgrade them all!

Y'all are talking about Vince, right? J/k. I'm adventuring in Octogonia now, and atm this feels like one of the best games ever made.

First haha, that gave me a chuckle. And second, yep! This is pretty damn close to the best JRPG I've ever played. Not sure how it'd fare without the nostalgia goggles, but it's up there with my favourites (Final Fantasy IV, VI, X, Chrono Trigger etc.) Not sure if I can really compare it to Persona 3, 4, 5, but it's keeping me very entertained after 40 hours and most JRPGs start to feel a bit old by then. Bloody marvellous game.

It is interesting to see different people's experiences and party compositions. I went through the first half of the game with hero/Erik/Serena/Veronica until I got Jade who immediately replaced Erik. I didn't really have any problems with bosses, probably because I over leveled and am on normal.

The sexualization of Jade seems really out of place. She's an incredibly talented martialartist and a princess, yet she's the character that gets all the "sexy" skills. Those would have been a better fit for Sylvando's character honestly, and would flip the stereotype on its head.

Story wise, I really want to know what those little round spirit things are and what their purpose is. They are put front and center in the opening and keep showing up throughout the world.

A_Unicycle wrote:
I think I’ll be coming up on this one next. It sounds like you went to Phnom Nonh before the Eerie Eyrie, the opposite path that I took. I wonder if that will make the boss a little easier? Then again, I don’t have your Greatsword!

I went there before Eerie Eyrie and the underwater city. Just cleared out the former, and I'm doing some backtracking while grinding out the pep power that turns everything to metal slimes, handy!

I've also found an accessory that, when upgraded to +3, provides 25% resistance to charm (which is the main thing I struggle with the the boss fight I'm stuck on). I've bought 8 so I can have 2 on each party member...But it's getting very costly to upgrade them all!

I made it to that boss earlier tonight, and wow, she was rough. I definitely found that she wiped the floor with me quickly, so I'm not sure the levels from the Eerie Eyrie helped me very much.

Spoiler for a question about your accessory:

Spoiler:

Were those the Safety Goggles? I haven't upgraded any yet.

Regarding the spoiler, yes. But...

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/HJlHnzn.png)

Let me know if you figure this boss out, I'm at the point where I think it's going to be a little RNG-dependant. That piece of gear can only do so much.

I was really hoping the Switch version would come out before my trip to the east coast, but I guess that’s not going to happen. I’m trying very hard not to buy the PS4 version first, but reading impressions and watching Let’s Plays is making it difficult.

Just beat the final boss! Turned out to be a fairly tough battle. Had a couple of close calls there.

I said before that I've hear there's substantial post-game content and it does seem like that may be the case. So it's not over yet!

Ending spoilers ahead.

Spoiler:

Some mysteries that are still unsolved:
- What on earth are those little blue spirit things? I thought we were about to find out the truth behind them, then no, nothing!

- What on earth are those giant patterned markings? I've seen one on an island, one on the side of a mountain and one in the snow. Maybe more?

- And that big red ball over Gondolia? I thought that was going to be something, but then Mordegon destroyed it before we even knew what it was. Seemed to be related to those spirit things.

A_Unicycle wrote:

Regarding the spoiler, yes. But...

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/HJlHnzn.png)

Let me know if you figure this boss out, I'm at the point where I think it's going to be a little RNG-dependant. That piece of gear can only do so much.

Before leaving for work this morning, I made a quick attempt. My thought was to start with the Hero, Sylvando, Rab, and Serena, so that Sylvando and Rab could handle party-wide healing, and Serena could lay down some defensive buffs. It didn't go very well. Hymn of Fire doesn't seem to help as much as I'd have expected, and this combination doesn't seem to have a ton of offensive synergy. I did learn that I can snap a person out of being befuddled by attacking them, though.

Doesn't Sylvando's sobering slap skill remove befuddle as well? He sits in this weird mixed role of status effect expert (both offensive and defensive).

It does; I had forgotten about that one.

Damn, that boss is hard. I made three more tries tonight, and couldn't get past her. I even got her down into the orange at one point, after Jade landed a lucky critical, but I was pretty well done after that. Time to kit out my party with some new gear and hope that helps. Maybe I'll go to the casino.

Ohhh yeaah! Guess who's leaving Phnom Nohn

Spoiler:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/4B2P8mP.png)

Got smashed again on my second attempt after grinding to level 30 AND having double +3 goggles on my team. Changed my strategy a little, and started the third attempt with Hero, Selena, Sylvando, Rab.

Selena's Snap, Crackle, Poof is the key. Cast it on Sylvando first so he can "snap" anyone out of charm, then work on applying it to the whole team while Rab casts his heal over time and other buffs/debuffs. Then switch out to Erik to apply poison/rubblerouser, and go from there. I ended up switching back and forth, finishing with Jade's awesome crit abilities.

It honestly wasn't so bad once you take charm out of the equation. That boss can still one-shot you, but when you have 7 characters to play around with, that's pretty manageable.

Good luck!

Thanks! And congrats on getting through!

I had totally overlooked Snap, Crackle, Poof as I pursued harpistry rather than wands for Serena. That’s a really useful tip, and I can see how taking the charm power out of the equation would tip the scales in the party’s favor. I had left the dungeon to do some forging, and this morning I popped in for a minute to rectify Serena’s panels. I may do a little more gambling at the casino before I go back, but probably will make another run at the boss this weekend. I think I’ll try to avoid all enemies as I go back through the dungeon, because four characters (Hero, Serena, Rab, and Jade) are pepped, and I don’t want to lose that.

Woohoo, I finally did it! Took me three more tries.

Spoiler:

First time, I was on my heels too soon: with hard hits and the wrong people charmed, I couldn’t set up my protection. Second time, attrition got me: I ran out of MP for Sylvando (and, eventually, Serena), so I couldn’t hustle, and none of the surviving people had a Magic Water. Third time, though! I hit Dora with an early critical from Jade, and managed a Cobra Strike-Victimizer combo two or three times. Eventually lost Jade, then Sylvando, but I brought Rab in as a backup healer and brute-forced my way through.

Nice! The start does feel a bit RNG-ey but I'm glad you made it through!

Glycerine wrote:

I was really hoping the Switch version would come out before my trip to the east coast, but I guess that’s not going to happen. I’m trying very hard not to buy the PS4 version first, but reading impressions and watching Let’s Plays is making it difficult.

I just want a date, even if it is far away.

It is actually getting easier for me to wait because each month the used price of the ps4 version goes downs if I can’t wait.

Progress report!

I ended up taking a bit of a break from DQXI. I'm not sure if it was because of study stress or just because I wasn't "feeling" the winter area (charmingly named "Sniflheim"), but it was nice to step back and play other things.

Easing back in, I managed to take down the big boss of the area. Before that, I'd gone to a key location, done all the puzzles, and realized I was there too early and everything had reset upon my return. Grr. At least I got a handful of levels from using Hero, Sylvando, Jade + 1 as my main team, swapping them out to preserve pep. Their combined pep ability turns everything into metal slimes most of the time!

Speaking of metal slimes, there seems to be 2-3 confirmed metal slime spawns in the Dundrasil Castle Ruins. The dragons that spawn there have 3 little metal slimes for some quick EXP if you need it. Looks like they only spawn once though, so make sure you have the appropriate abilities (aoe physicals, high crit chance, or "metal" attacks).

A_Unicycle wrote:

Easing back in, I managed to take down the big boss of the area. Before that, I'd gone to a key location, done all the puzzles, and realized I was there too early and everything had reset upon my return. Grr.

I think I know the place you're referring to, that happened to me too. It really put me off exploring, to be honest. For what it's worth, it's not something I encountered in the rest of the game, so don't let it put you off!

I've made some progress in the post-game/Act 3. It's interesting. I'd be curious to see what other people here think about it.

The other thing to help with killing metals is that Rab's solo pep power can put metal enemies to sleep. Really useful for giving you some extra time to kill them. Jade and Serena get low hit chance gaurenteed crit skills with spears that will one shot any metal enemy.

Spoilers for early act 2:

Spoiler:

The final party member you get knows how to use axes which also have a always crit skill.

There is an easy way to farm metal enemies that opens up to you near the middle end of act 2. I can type it up in a spoiler when I get home if people are interested.

Malkroth wrote:

The other thing to help with killing metals is that Rab's solo pep power can put metal enemies to sleep. Really useful for giving you some extra time to kill them. Jade and Serena get low hit chance gaurenteed crit skills with spears that will one shot any metal enemy.

Spoilers for early act 2:

Spoiler:

The final party member you get knows how to use axes which also have a always crit skill.

There is an easy way to farm metal enemies that opens up to you near the middle end of act 2. I can type it up in a spoiler when I get home if people are interested.

Sure, i'm always looking for ways to grind more efficiently. I've trailed off on this a bit, but I do intend to get back to it over the holidays

Easy Metal Farming Guide, requires Act 2, contains minor spoilers about early-mid act 2

Spoiler:

You will need these to begin farming:

  • Pep Up (Hero in Luminary tree)
  • Pep Pip (obtained from crossbow minigame and casino post-game) (edit: apparently you only get 5 pep-pips before post-game from the crossbow minigame)

For super easy kills, get Erik's Critical Acclaim skill (Guile) - This is a guaranteed crit

  • As a back up, these characters can get miss/crit skills:
  • Jade - Lightning/Thunder Thrust, Spears
  • Serena - Thunder Thrust, Spears
  • Final - Hatchet Man, Axes

Give a Pep pip to Sylvando then follow these steps:

  • Get Rab, Erik, Sylvando, Jade, and Hero into Pepped state (Hero can pep self after other 4 using Pep up)
  • Save your game
  • Begin a random battle anywhere
  • Activate Haulellujah with Hero/Erik/Jade
  • Swap Erik out for Rab
  • Use Sylvando's Pep Pip on Jade
  • Activate Electro Light with Hero/Sylvando/Jade (flee and reload if this fails)
  • Swap Sylvando out for Erik
  • Activate Dirge of Dundrasil on Rab to put metal enemies to sleep
  • Use party's critical skills to one-shot metals (Can swap Hero/Rab to Serena/Final for more crit skills)

edit - Got lists working. Hopefully a little easier to read now.

How will I know if I'm in act 2? Hesistant to google that.

Don't worry, you'll know when you're in Act 2. It's very obvious. You're not there yet, but fairly close.

Haha, yep, that was a pretty big event. Pretty sure I'm in act 2 now. Wow!

Edit: I posted this over in the digital shutterbug thread, but it was such a cool screenshot I wanted to share here too

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtFceR0U4AAAExo.jpg)

Wow, this is the first game I've had to turn *down* the default brightness because it hurts my eyes! Not to mention the incredibly loud default music volume. Subtle it ain't

A_Unicycle wrote:

Haha, yep, that was a pretty big event. Pretty sure I'm in act 2 now. Wow!

I haven't played in more than a week, and am very jealous.

ComfortZone wrote:

Wow, this is the first game I've had to turn *down* the default brightness because it hurts my eyes! Not to mention the incredibly loud default music volume. Subtle it ain't :)

Midi blasting straight through your speakers!

I used the strategy I posted a little up-thread last night and got into a battle that gave all my characters 4 or 5 levels each. Characters are now 53 to 57 (Serena levels so slowly!)