Dragon Questing Part Fourteen: Groundhog Day

Back in September of 2008, I had the pleasure of playing my first proper Dragon Quest game with "Chapters of the Chosen" for the DS. After completing it, I couldn't help but wonder why I had never played a game in this series before. I'm always complaining about the gimmicks thrown into many modern games and how I'd want nothing more than to just play a modern RPG that stripped away all the nonsense and took things back to basics.

Well, Dragon Quest has been sitting right under my nose since I was in diapers. Not content to stop at the fourth game in the series, I've set out to acquire and play through every localized Dragon Quest title right up until I replay the fourth entry ... on the NES. I've spent months lurking around eBay, and I've amassed a complete collection that now only needs me to experience it.

If you've played any of the games I'll be talking about, I'd appreciate your comments as I don't know anyone locally who I can talk to about this wonderful series.

Part Fourteen:

Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden... continued


While working my way through Dragon Quest VII, I've come across a fair amount of bizarre towns affected by equally bizarre calamities. One was a town whose citizens had all been turned into animals. Another had its citizens all swearing that they were the one and only Demon Lord. Other towns suffered robot attacks, petrifying rain, and all other manner of terrible hardship. But all of these towns had one very specific thing in common: their misfortune was always apparent and obvious from the outset.

So, perhaps you could imagine my confusion when I came across the town of Litorud, a place where the worst thing seemed to be an architect who produced some of the gaudiest and most obnoxious buildings you'd ever seen. Seriously, we're talking mosaic tile walls, multi-colored floors, abstract building shapes, and unintuitive floor plans. The ugliest part, though, were the tacky decorations all over everything he made--huge imperial jewel eggs that sat atop most pillars and corners of his work.



But that couldn't be all, right? I mean, it's not like these gaudy structures were a problem here; the architect, named Baloch, was beloved amongst the townsfolk and renowned for his unconventional designs. I didn't understand or like his work, but then again, I don't get how anyone could like Sex and the City either, so...

Anyway, I had shown up in Litorud just one day before a rather important occasion: a bridge built by Baloch would be unveiled north of the town that would finally allow people to cross over to the other continent without the use of a ferry. When I visited the bridge, people were already lining up to be the first to cross once the red ribbon was cut. The bridge, similar to Baloch 's other works, was appropriately garish. With nothing to do until the grand opening the following day, I went to an Inn and spent the night. The next day, I returned to the bridge and spoke to a guard at the entrance. He said "Be sure to come back tomorrow for the bridge's grand opening! What do you mean I said that yesterday? This is the first time I've seen you! Please, come back tomorrow."

...

...

...

What?!

Whatever, I returned to the Inn, slept there once again, and hiked back to the bridge the next morning. Again, "Be sure to come back tomorrow for the bridge's grand opening! What do you mean I said that the last two days? This is the first time I've seen you! What do you mean I said that yesterday? You joker! Please, come back tomorrow."



Oh, I get it. Similar to Bill Murray’s misadventures in Groundhog Day, I found myself stuck in the video game equivalent of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where the same day kept repeating over and over again. I was hoping that the answer to the problem involved wooing the video game equivalent of Andie MacDowell, but alas: the issue was with Baloch’s incredibly showy clock tower. The monolith stood at the rear of Litorud and displayed the time for all to see. But when I made my way inside and disabled the clock, the halt of absolutely everything within the town (people, animals, even the music) is what tipped me off that this might be the source of the repeating day.

Turns out, it was—yet again—the Demon Lord behind this debacle (that bastard!), but it was easy enough to disable his minions once I’d… stopped time, wandered around the town aimlessly in the creepy-no-music state that it was in, eventually found a painting of the town’s clock tower, went through said painting, and found myself in some crazy, Chrono-Trigger-at-end-of-time dungeon. Once I’d dispatched the demons though, everything in the town went back to normal, and the day finally came for me to see the grand opening of the bridge!!!

When the bridge finally opened and I could cross the ghastly abomination, I eagerly made my way across to see what new land was waiting on the other side. But what’s this? This land was familiar… I’d been here before. This was Verdham (the herb garden town from DQing part twelve), but a few decade into the future, with both Linda and Pepe much older.

In fact, Linda had actually keeled over from old age. And unfortunately, she and Pepe never did end up together. She had married Iwan, and they even had a son together, but she left him one night to search for Pepe; the love of her life. And even though she did find him, she couldn’t reconcile her love for him with the guilt that she abandoned her family, and instead became a nun at a nearby abbey. So, for the rest of their lives, Pepe and Linda lived just minutes from each other, while never enjoying each other’s company. Only after Linda died did Pepe take notice, and that’s when he found her tombstone…

Other Islands

Truth be told, there have been a handful of islands that I haven’t bothered to mention. Although the game is a lot of fun and I’m enjoying the adventures quite a bit, not all of them are worth writing home about (or in this case, writing on the c-blogs about) and will remain only in my memory as a result. The island after Litorud is a good example: it involved three towns being ravaged by a water demon, and it was actually a really long and entertaining chapter. But I didn’t bother dishing about it since it didn’t really have many story elements to speak of. The only stand-out moments from this portion were getting the magic carpet and getting an old man named Melvin added to my team. Melvin is a good character, but I’m surprised that his introduction was so short. He woke up, said a few lines, then joined my party and hasn’t said much since. He’s a good candidate to fill the void that Keifer left, but I really hope he gets more fleshed out as a character as the game unfolds.

Okay, that’s all for now. Through this last chapter, I collected an ass-load of shards and actually had enough to go to three different places!!! Where will I decide to go? Well, you’ll have to read my next blog to find out!

As always, thanks for reading!

Ben

-----

Total elapsed time across entire Dragon Quest series: ~222 hours -

IV DS - ~30 hours
VIII - ~70 hours
I NES - ~20 hours
DQM:J - ~20 hours
V DS - ~30 hours
VII - ~52 hours

Total amount of money spent on Dragon Quest Series: $259.00 (IV, VIII twice, slime controller, I, I & II GBA, Joker, V DS, V SFAM, VII)


For the past Dragon Questing blogs, click the links below:


:::::::::: From Dragon Quest VII:

I am 100% Addicted to the Dharma Temple: Dragon Questing, Part Thirteen

Restoring the Planet: Dragon Questing, Part Twelve

Meet the Warriors of Eden: Dragon Questing, Part Eleven

:::::::::: From Dragon Quest V:

No Wonder Everyone Loves This Game: Dragon Questing, Part Ten

Coming to America Sans Eddie Murphy: Dragon Questing, Part Nine

:::::::::: From Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker:

I Guess They Can't All Be Gold: Dragon Questing, Part Eight

:::::::::: From Dragon Quest I:

Returning the Ball of Light: Dragon Questing, Part Seven

Getting a Grip on a Classic: Dragon Questing, Part Six

Going Back in Time: Dragon Questing, Part Five

:::::::::: From Dragon Quest VIII:

The conclusion of an Epic: Dragon Questing, Part Four

Discovering the Monster Arena: Dragon Questing, Part Three

How to Give a Boy a Heart: Dragon Questing, Part Two

Meeting the Cursed King: Dragon Questing, Part One