Dragon Questing Part Sixteen: Running Scared with My Tail Between My Legs

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 Sixteen:

Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden... continued


It was harder than I thought it would be to get myself reacclimated with certain parts of Dragon Quest VII. I mean, sure, it was simple enough to get into battles and select commands, but I had to re-teach myself what spells work and which ones don't, which are effective against certain types of enemies, and so-on.

The story is especially fuzzy to me. I don't remember how I got the big 'ol pirate ship, I don't remember what the purpose of the Crystal Castle is anymore, I don’t remember how I got the flying egg with windows, I don't remember where Maribel is, and I don't remember who Sharkeye is.. I'll have to Google a story summary or something...

Regardless, it wasn't too hard to point myself in the right direction for the final dungeon. Nearly in the middle of the map, there's a tiny island with a gigantic white tower that sticks out like a giant sore thumb. If you fly the ship directly over it, you'll automatically be transported to the top of the tower. The ominous music is what tipped me off that this is where I wanted to be. I slowly worked my way down the tower, fighting really difficult enemies along the way, until I made it all the way to the bottom floor. Once there, I found a gigantic, gaping hole in the middle of the floor. I jumped down to the poison lake below…

Wow, the enemies here are a lot harder than I thought they would be! I leveled up so much, I thought I'd be invincible at this point. But these monsters were kicking my ass - I had to heal after almost every single battle! The place even looked brutal, what with the walls glowing neon colors, adorned with coiled tentacles and numerous blinking eyes... like something straight out of an HR Giger art exhibit.



You know, I remember the final dungeon from Dragon Quest VIII very well… it was gigantic. It probably took me a couple of hours to work my way through it, with long, winding paths, huge set pieces… I think it even had a town in it. I kind of expected the same from this game, but the final dungeon was actually surprisingly short; I only had about five large rooms to tread through before I was face-to-face with the hideous Demon Lord, whose name I now remember: Orgodemir.

But, wait, let me back up. Admittedly, I didn’t fight him the first time I went through the dungeon. Last night, I stood at the portal to his throne room, and chickened out, big time. My MP was already running low from all the fighting on the way there, and there was no way I could face him if I couldn't even heal myself. I ran all the way back up to the surface, got the very best equipment money could buy, and leveled my party up to 51. Only took me about three hours.



Gotta love those Metal King Slimes…

And so, back I went, the short trip through the dungeon to the portal, and this time, I stepped through. Turns out, stepping through completely restores you HP and MP. Go Figure. Orgodemir is, as I’m sure you could guess, kind of a douche. He starts off with an attack that takes 130 HP from each party member, and then doubles up on turns by taking an additional 150 HP from Aira. Ok.. it’s clear that I have to designate a healer. I chose Melvin, since he dishes out the weakest attacks, and has tons of MP (He’s mastered Tamer and Healer). I had him using HealUs on each and every turn. Gabo was dishing out the most damage with UltraHit, which would shave off about 490 HP with each attack. Ben and Aira took turns psyching up and attacking, which combined to about 500 every other turn. I also had Aira occasionally sing WarSong, which raises the whole party’s defense by about 70 or so.

Things were going really good for a while, but by around the third phase, the plan started to fall apart. As Orgodemir took more damage, he would change his form and use even stronger attacks than before, Gabo had long ago stopped using UltraHit (It takes 20 MP per use, and Gabo only has 136 MP), Melvin was running out of MP as well, and Ben & Aira just weren’t doing enough damage fast enough. Orgodemir was kicking ass, and I was running out of ideas. Unfortunately, I had to give up on Orgodemir’s third phase and reset.

I watched a video on YouTube to see how someone else might have gone about this fight, but it wasn’t very helpful for where I’m at (It’s pretty cool though, check it out. He’s done in about eight minutes!). Even though he was about seven levels lower than I am, his entire party had mastered the GodHand class, meaning they all had the aforementioned UltraHit skill that Gabo was using. So he was dishing out about 2000 HP per round, which is pretty respectable. At this point in the game, it would probably take an additional 12 hours or more for my whole party to master the GodHand class, so I’m going to have to go a different route, and use a bit more strategy.

I figure, if Orgodemir’s attacks get more painful as the battle goes on, I should probably save Gabo’s UltraHits for the last form of the battle, when I know I won’t be able to last very long. Until then, he’ll join Ben & Aira in alternating between psyching up and attacking. Melvin will continue with the healing duties. I’ll use Ben from time-to-time to heal as well, since he has so much MP and nothing to use it on. Lastly, I’ll occasionally have Aira sing WarSong to buff up the party’s defenses. On paper, it looks good to me, but we’ll see what happens…

As always, thanks for reading!

Ben

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Total elapsed time across entire Dragon Quest series: ~273 hours -

IV DS - ~30 hours
VIII - ~70 hours
I NES - ~20 hours
DQM:J - ~20 hours
V DS - ~30 hours
VII - ~103 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:

Dragon Questing Part Fifteen: Poopsockin' it Through Eden

Dragon Questing Part Fourteen: Groundhog Day

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

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
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