So I'm still playing Dragon Warrior 2.I'm at a point where it's been now a couple days that I'm lost in the map, which isn't a bad thing necessarily. Part of the pure experience is to get lost and not knowing where to go next in these kind of games.I'm just freely sailing the seas, in hopes of finding some new hidden island, or finding that one isolated town that only once I found (Zhana I think was called?).I need to start taking my DQ cartography more seriously, I only ever do it for the dungeons, but this game's map is rather big (compared to the first game) and theres so much water, it's easy to get disoriented. It's still comfy, as I'm slowly (but surely) grinding the gold, I need 65000 gold in order to buy that one magic armor for the princess, that I think was sold in thar zhana town... If I ever find it again.
In DQ2, for the overworld I managed with just the map printed in the manual, but I did end up making a map of a certain part of the last dungeon in the Famicom version
>>12530605Yeah I'm also using the manual map, but it's not super detailed.I actually anotated where I thought Zhana is (I think it should be on the bottom right, where the whale is), but I just couldn't find it again. To be fair, it's on a little island that's lile 5 tiles only so it's easy to miss the exact spot I guess. I already looped the world map countless times lol
I just lost a few hours of progress because I fucked up the save states (disclaimer, I only use save states to save, not to rewind or cheating, it's just faster than talking to the king, but I always save at the castle).I just fucked up badly, it's always so painful when that happens on RPGs because you lose all these hours of exp points and gold.But! At least I finally found the Jailor's Key, I just gotta get it again now, and head to Midenhall castle again to get the thunder staff again.Gonna use Repel though honestly. I'm nit underleveled anyway, but still I'm so fucking mad at myself right now I feel I should stop playing for a while, it's always thise feeling when you lose progress.
>>12530828How do you even lose progress in DQ as all you lose is money when you get wrecked.
>>12530847I did a major double fuck up. It's all because of using save states:I was at the king talking to him (I don't even know why I did it) and then I realized I didn't want to save there (it was the cannock castle and I preferred to have the save on Midenhall, for Return spell purposes), so I kept spamming B to not save. Except that also impacted when the king asks if you want to continue, since I was mashing B, it registered as No, and so the game ended, without saving!I was like, ok, no biggie, I have a save state from maybe 15 or 30 minutes ago, it's a non issue.Except, instead of Load State, I used SAVE state. I used save on the dead end screen. So I had no choice but to reset the emulator and load the actual save log on the rom, as I lost my save state. Thankfully I DO save with the king too, I don't rely on save state always, but it still sent me back like several hours of game back. I was at around 55K gold and I'm back at 48K. So yeah it's one of those moments when you get angry at yourself for several reasons: for using emulators, for being clumsy with saving and menuing/inputs (I could have prevented this if I didn't mindlessly mash B/or if I paid arrention that I was saving and not loading a state), and generally for wasting time playing video games lol, but whatever, better than wasting time watching social media reels or stuff at least.At least those hours weren't in total vain, I did en up finding that jailor key (wtf it was very well hidden, on a MENU, never seen this kind of thing on a game before, I don't think), but losing all these hours of exp and gold really really sucks.But, again, I'm not underleveled so it's srill okay, but still angry with myself.
>>12530885Yeah it's 100% your fault. Be sure to have your cartography on point as the later dungeons can get very maze-like.
>>12530893Yeah yeah, I was mad at myself, not the game. Well, at myself, emulators, and tactile screen controls, but ultimatelt myself. I do have the means to emulate the game on a Wii connected to a CRT and use the classic controller. I just opt for the convenience of using the phone, but man tactile controls really suck major ass. I limit myself to RPGs only, no action games, but it's still a putrid experience. Sadly it's too convenient, as I can play on dead time when I'm commuting, etc.
>>12530897Yeah, I played the 3DS port for convenience reasons myself. From what I know it's not too casualized but reading your posts a bit thing to help was that the other screen always has the world map open.
>>12530902Oh yeah having a map for the overworld at all times sure would help. It's very easy to get lost in the sea. I played DQ3, many years ago, and I don't remember it being as confusing as here.Also yeah I always draw maps for dungeons, it saves a LOT of time. I mean it takes time too, but the amount of time it saves you from getting lost/constantly returning to dead ends is invaluable. To the point I don't think I would play these games if I wasn't allowed to draw maps on my own, my spatial memory sucks ass so I would never get out of a semi complicated dungeon without a map
>>12530974Not having maps I think adds to the experience. I remember playing a coupld of the newer FF remasters and being annoyed at instantlly having a detailed map of the dungeon. I mean it's a dungeon at least let me find a map. But most modern RPG crowd likes evertything being on a checklist.
>>12530985Not sure how it is in DQ or FF, but I think a good way to do it is the metroid/sotn approach of automatically unlocking sections of the map as you progress. That way you don't know what comes ahead, but the cartography part is automatized.
>>12530993The new FF pixel remasters forcibly add a map that's always there. YEah an Etrian odyssey approach of a map filling out as you explore a dungeon is in my mind the best
geez not to be a downer but this all sounds tedious as hell. I guess I'll skip this one
>>12531008It's a very nice game actually, it started a bit rocky for me, but as I got the full party of 3 it was smooth sailing (no pun intended).The tedious part was me being clumsy and fucking up the save progress.
I'm 44 hours in Dragon Warrior VII and just got Melvin and the magic carpet.I spent hours planning out and grinding jobs for the party, the system here is really good but I could not fathom playing without a class guide or some kind of spreadsheet. This game feels like and endless adventure, how long even is this game?>>12530885>the king asks if you want to continueWhy is this a thing? It's not like it puts you back to the title screen to load another save, it's just a black screen that forces you to turn off the console
>>12531018>Why is this a thing? It's not like it puts you back to the title screen to load another save, it's just a black screen that forces you to turn off the consoleI have no idea, Mother games do that too. Maybe as a way to prevent people from accidentally fucking up their save? Since it has the message about reseting the console before turning off. I dunno but it is a hassle.Also that's a damn fine piece of exotic art. Toriyama was a genius.
I take photos of the save password on my phone like the devs intended
>>12531093Based I also take screenshots when I find items on my own. That Taiyou no monshou was fun to find after that one NPC tip
>>12531093I've always imagined what it was like to be a 10 year old in Japan in 1987 and having to walk back to the castle and write down those characters hastily (but carefully) while your mom was yelling at you it's time to go to bed already
Remember that when people played these games they had a manual they were expected to read. See if the manual has a map of the world to help orient yourself. Otherwise get a hint book and only look if you're really stuck.
I remember drawing a map myself. The overworld is pretty big, so it's quite useful to do so.
>>12531002>FF pixel remasters forcibly add a mapThis basically renders the Thief useless In V besides stealing and high agility because the maps shows all the "secret" paths. Also all classes can now sprint (AFAIK was also in the GBA port) so that ability is also gone.
>>12531849Yeah, this is the map on the manual: >>12530619It's not super detailed though.I think I know where I need to go next: a tower that's on the center of a land surrounded by water and mountain, somewhere near Thun I think. I could see it, but I couldn't find my way to it, need to find it again.I also just got the loom fabric item so I think now I need to return to Thun anyway to see that sewing guy.I was lost for a while but now that I found the jailor key I have to revisit places too.>>12531885Right? I'm surprised at how big it is. I think III was even biger but has more land and less water
Alright I started doing the cartography for the overworld. Even though I marked where Thun was, more or less, I just can't find it again. The map is quite intricate even though it seems it isn't. Wish me luck!The good thing about getting lost is that I'm almost there at reuniting 65K gold for the mink tunic
>>12534373This region in particular is super weird and disorienting
Welp, I got to admit, I'm having trouble with this game's map.I KNOW Thun is somewhere in between Alefgard and Rhone (which I haven't unlocked yet but I know it's the mountain region to the south of alefgard) and to the west of Moonbroke. Right?I even managed to get there twice before, but I wasn't smart enough to start doing serious cartography to be able to get back to it. I just marked an approximation of it on the vague manual map, which I how I know in between which regions it is, but with the map being so complicated and obtuse with mountains and rivers, it's not of much help.I started doing actual cartography know but even though I spent a few hours, I still haven't managed to find it back.Unless I was wrong and Thun is somewhere else and I got disoriented, easily possible.Also, I see that one tower thats in the middle of a piece of land surrounded with water, but there's no way to get there with the ship, since the only way there is from a soil road, but, I can't find how to access that road, I imagine it's either very convoluted to find that path, or the only way to get there is to fly. I still haven't got the flight item (still only have the loom), but not sure if it's that or just me not finding the proper way.Gotta admit this game's map perplexed me, I will remember this world map forever. So far it's the most complicated overworld map I've seen.
Alright, I found Thun but in the end I'm still stuck.This game proves to be really hard and not just because of enemies, the game itself is very overwhelming, every time you believe you are finally going to be lead to something great, you just get to another dead end. It's very discouraging.I guess it's enough for today, I guess I'll just keep aimlessly traveling the world in hopes of finding something else.
>>12535768>>12530619This map is the small version from the manual, but both the JP and US version also came with a second, bigger map. See CIB version on ebayhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/145894238504This should help, it's more detailed. You can probably find a better version than the one I'm linking if you google hard enoughFor Thun take the left river by boat and then you'll have to finish by foot at the some point
