The reason we made Dragon Quest 9 on Nintendo DS was to allow quick and easy play over local networks. At that time there were not many games using local networks and it was difficult to do so. But with Nintendo DS, the moment you turn the power on you can connect with people. We thought that was an amazing system, and decided we wanted to make Dragon Quest 9 using that ability.
But I don’t want to play my JRPGs with other people, and also don’t want to buy a little handheld console to play one.
I agree, and I think a lot of other people did too! (Although I did eventually play it via emulation and I thought it was decent.)
I played all the DQ games on their original platform.
I owned a DS but for some reason, forgot all about DQ9. I remember reading about multiplayer, then learning DQ10 was multiplayer only. This was during the WoW era and even Final fantasy was going there. So I just stopped playing JRPGs.
I got PC Game Pass and decided to try DQ11. My god, it was awesome!
I really hope DQ9 gets a re-release. I can probably dust off the ol Nintendo DS. But I don’t think I’m that into it.
I can’t understand all the love for DQXI. I’ve tried to play it half a dozen times and got as far as just before the world tree or whatever they call it once but just couldn’t keep going.
I couldn’t either. The combat and progression felt decades behind. Compared to a series like Tales or Trails, it feels unplayable to me.
It’s weird, my first JRPG was Phantasy Star on the Master System. I should love DQXI for being such a throwback, but it just seemed all cliches with easy combat and no surprises, but I fell in love with Clair Obscur even though I was awful at parrying.
Even if you’re bad at parrying, it’s still a more fun and active combat system. I want to experience the evolution of gaming. Grinding was put in games to artificially increase their playtime, mindlessly spamming attack to get through easier battles is boring. Let’s keep the good aspects of each iteration and exclude the stuff that’s less fun.
The fact that it feels decades behind is the main attraction for me. It’s an new(ish) old school jrpg. And most importantly, it still feels like a dragon quest game. Unlike final fantasy for example, which to me hasn’t felt like final fantasy since 10.
Fair point. I get that. They have stayed true to their fans and have kept the game in mostly its original format, which I do respect.
DQ 9 is the only one I played that just didn’t click with me. I never got to play the MP, which might be part of it. I’m yet to meet another DQ fan in the flesh.
But even if I had, it felt like the game sacrificed it’s story to implement it. Having these companions without any personality alone killed a big chunk of the charm these games usually have.
I wonder if I’ll ever get over the series being called Dragon Quest instead of the clearly superior Dragon Warrior.
The criticism probably came from people not owning a DS already and not wanting to buy one just for this.
Totally fair! I’m against exclusives most of the time for the same reason, too.
It’s been a long time since I played, but iirc, the online play totally broke the game if you played with someone higher level than you. I think I had beaten the game already when my brother joined. I posted online with him a few sessions and he was way overpowered after getting all the XP and weapons so the main quest was super boring for him.
