The GWJ JRPG Club 2018 - Dragon Quest VII

That definitely frustrated me. Sometimes the fragment detector would be triggered even though there was no possibility of getting that fragment at that point. Alternatively, there were times when a fragment was nearby (I knew from playing on PS1) but the detector wouldn't be triggered. Basically, some consistency would have been nice.

I am pretty far behind but going to start putting in some real time in this soon. I just finished up Emberdale. Does anyone mind spoilering if there is anything "missable" I should look out for?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

As thanks, here's a spoiler that I think is worth knowing ahead of time:

Spoiler:

Despite them setting off the fragment detector, the Mysterious Fragments don't seem to get used until the post-game. Don't stress them!

Thanks! And, funny you should mention this:

Spoiler:

After Buccanham, I found two pillars which take Mysterious Fragments--they each take 3. But given the next bits of story, I'd be surprised if I find another pillar. Maybe the balance are for the post-game?

Wembley wrote:

I am pretty far behind but going to start putting in some real time in this soon. I just finished up Emberdale. Does anyone mind spoilering if there is anything "missable" I should look out for?

I'm sure there are some, but you can probably find anything you "missed" by going back to the past. That will quickly become a pain, however. If you plan to play the post-game content, it is worth looking aggressively for mini-medals:

Spoiler:

The Medal King has a Mysterious Fragment that I haven't found yet and haven't needed; I'm pretty close to the end (I think). Right now, I have 79 or 80 medals, and my next prize is at 83, but that still won't be a Mysterious Fragment. If you miss too many medals, I'm sure going back to search for them could be infuriating.

I gather there's a few medals that are missable. And hats off to anyone who found the medal at the bottom of that apparently empty well. I never needed the mystery fragment from the Medal King thankfully. Having the detector spam like crazy every time I went there was pretty annoying though.

Wembley wrote:

I am pretty far behind but going to start putting in some real time in this soon. I just finished up Emberdale. Does anyone mind spoilering if there is anything "missable" I should look out for?

Not really. The loop of the game is to gather fragments in the present, jump back in time, solve everyone's problems like it's Quantum Leap, then go back to that same place in the present to get more fragments.

My habit was to poke my head into each area in the newly opened island in the present to see if the fragment detector went off. I also made a point to talk to the present occupants of any role or location that was significant in that island's past. So if the island's story in the past was about the mayor, the priest, and the woodcutter, I'd revisit those people in the present just in case one of them was holding a fragment.

That habit served me well enough, and I found all the primary fragments without having to look any up or circle back for any.

Just finished D'Arca daytime and I've discovered that this game (on 3DS) is best played (with the volume usually off) while watching a movie/series. That's not really a positive thing. Since it continues to disrespect my time so much, I've decided to treat it with less than my full attention.

Our relationship works best this way.

Hoping to make some better progress now.

EDIT: On the upside, I like Ruff! At least so far. Haven't had him too long yet.

Finished off Orgodemir in the past and so finally into the last act. I can see the end from here!

Woo! No trouble I guess? I had a lot of trouble on PS1 but had my party properly set up on 3DS so it was a breeze.

I had a bit of trouble because my party wasn't really prepared for the second phase. It's a JRPG boss, so I don't know why I didn't prepare for a second phase. But at this point, Ruff is a max level Champion and my MC is most of the way to a top level Hero. They kinda carry the others.

Any hint for when I get Maribel back? She was most of the way through Luminary and would have been way more useful in that fight than what I had.

Sage is good and once you have Sage and Luminary then Druid! I didn't manage to max out Druid though unfortunately. Aisha was a bit behind Maribel in stats so I buffed her with seeds and made her a Druid also.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I had a bit of trouble because my party wasn't really prepared for the second phase. It's a JRPG boss, so I don't know why I didn't prepare for a second phase. But at this point, Ruff is a max level Champion and my MC is most of the way to a top level Hero. They kinda carry the others.

Any hint for when I get Maribel back? She was most of the way through Luminary and would have been way more useful in that fight than what I had.

You're now just ahead of me! I beat Orgodemir in the past during my morning bus-and-subway ride, and for extra pressure, my my low battery indicator flashed throughout (just to be safe, I saved right beforehand).

I think your daughter's level grinding may have put you a whole job class set ahead of me! My MC is halfway through Champion, Ruff is about halfway through Pirate, Mervyn is a maxed sage, and Aishe is halfway through Luminary. She wasn't far enough along to have Hustle Dance, but also I had Ruff max out the Healslime class, so he has Multiheal. That was crucial.

I found that if the MC used Multifists while buffed, I could reliably have him do about 500 damage to Orgodemir each turn, by himself, on top of whatever anyone else did. Orgodemir often used Disrupting Wave, but I would rather have been hit by that than a big breath attack.

Unbuffed, Ruff does between 500 and 600 damage with Blade of Ultimate Power, the top tier skill for the Champion vocation. The main issue there is that it chews through MP like nobody's business.

I've been using Merwyn for monster vocations, and that's been fine but not super helpful late in the game. I suspect these would have all been more useful earlier. Aishe, I've set my sights on making her another Hero class, but so far she's still mastering the base classes I want: she's finished Shephard, Thief, Warrior, and Sailor, and is working on Mage with an eye toward Armamentalist, Pirate, and Monster Masher as her three advanced classes for Hero. I'd like to bring Maribel back as my healer and just ditch Merwyn.

Yes, those skills are awesome for Champion. Making Ruff a Hero instead of a Champion was one of my big mistakes. I 100% ditched Merwyn too, sorry old man!

I'm up to Level 5 now, starting to get some forward motion in what I assume must be the first quest.

I still have no idea what you're all talking about with classes and whatnot, but I assume that'll all start sorting itself out soon.

Actually no, you’ll play for quite a long time before you get classes.

I'm finally almost done with the second visit to Greenthumbs in the past. On the one hand, I actually liked visiting it again after some time had passed before my first visit, and to discover that Carraway remains an idiot.

This trip also answered one question I had: No, all trips to the past don't send me at the same point in the past. I don't think this matters in the overall plot, but it's something that had been on my mind for some reason.

That thing with the poisoning in Greenthumbs really takes forever to be resolved, and it's really not that interesting overall. That game can be really hit and miss sometimes.

Now that I'm finally done with the book I'm reading, I should be able to replace my evening reading time with evening playing DQVII time. With the holidays coming up, I might be able to squeeze in enough time to finish it before getting started with Persona 5.

LastSurprise wrote:

Actually no, you’ll play for quite a long time before you get classes.

I realized after I posted that this was quite vague, especially as (I think) this is the first DQ you’ve played.

When DQ games feature a class system (3, 6, 9, this one, you usually unlock the ability to set or change classes at Alltrades Abbey, which doesn’t become available until roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the way through the game.

And on the subject of classes, everyone near the end can have a good laugh at my expense. After beating Orgodemir in the past, I decided to have Sir Mervyn start learning how to be a jester. BIG mistake.

ClockworkHouse, have you gotten Maribel back yet?

Well Jester is needed for Druid I think but you might be running out of time. Plus you've probably run into a slightly awkward part of the game :).

Mr GT Chris wrote:

Well Jester is needed for Druid I think but you might be running out of time. Plus you've probably run into a slightly awkward part of the game :).

Yeah, I was going for Druid. And, that slightly awkward part is EXACTLY what I was talking about.

Underwear dance?

Haha. That was pretty funny to see my party dragging around a coffin.

Ran into a bit of difficulty there.

I really need to catch-up. I have no idea what anyone is talking about in this thread.

LastSurprise wrote:

ClockworkHouse, have you gotten Maribel back yet?

Just now. One weird twist you never saw coming, eh?

Wembley wrote:

I really need to catch-up. I have no idea what anyone is talking about in this thread.

Same. And I feel bad because I'm the one who nominated the game originally

bobbywatson wrote:
Wembley wrote:

I really need to catch-up. I have no idea what anyone is talking about in this thread.

Same. And I feel bad because I'm the one who nominated the game originally :(

We can form a mini-group! The Laggards of Dragon Quest.

I'm actually enjoying this quite a bit now. I got another half hour in last night, and am slowly but surely making progress. I'm hoping to have a good run with it over the next week and a half. I've got a break from work.

Progress!

Spoiler:

I've recovered the Fire Spirit, and I'm well on my way to the Wind Spirit. I'm irritated that no one has yet suggested that the Almighty who totally isn't acting like Himself probably isn't the Almighty.

I think I said earlier that Maribel was a Luminary, but she was a Druid. Nice to be working two characters toward top tier vocations.

I just crested 50 hours and am progressing at a good clip. I'm confident I can finish this soon, maybe even this weekend if I get some time.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Progress!

Spoiler:

I've recovered the Fire Spirit, and I'm well on my way to the Wind Spirit. I'm irritated that no one has yet suggested that the Almighty who totally isn't acting like Himself probably isn't the Almighty.

I think I said earlier that Maribel was a Luminary, but she was a Druid. Nice to be working two characters toward top tier vocations.

I just crested 50 hours and am progressing at a good clip. I'm confident I can finish this soon, maybe even this weekend if I get some time.

I'm right behind you:

Spoiler:

Recovered the Fire Spirit, and am on-board the Sea Dragon getting some exposition. Next up:
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/DN4cr8L.jpg)

MC has mastered Champion, Ruff has mastered Pirate, and Maribel and Aishe are both on their way through Luminary -- Aishe is almost done. Definitely think I can finish this over Christmas and free up time for Persona 5 (and, more Dragon Quest XI)!

Hey, just a heads up that there's a game-breaking bug in the end game. I didn't encounter it, but I'm glad I read about it.

After the final dungeon becomes available, if you want to backtrack through past islands to clean up collectibles, don't have Maribel in your party. Doing so could result in her being removed from your party and the fourth character slot being permanently empty.

Spoiler:

The gist of it is that if you trigger an extra cutscene on an island where you aren't expected to have had Maribel in your party (i.e., anywhere you went while her father was sick), the game will kick her out of your party for the cutscene but not empty that character slot again afterward. You'll get stuck with a three member party, and you won't be able to swap in Maribel at all.

The recommendation is that once the final dungeon is available that you play on a new save slot from that point onward.

Thanks for the tip. That sounds terrible! I wonder if that was what Mr GT Chris ran into.

Good question. I don't know if it affects the Playstation release.