Ah, nothing beats the Overture in getting the hype blood flowing. Welcome to Dragon Quest: one of the very first RPGs ever, codifier for so many of the fundamentals of the genre, and home sweet home for any RPG veteran looking to get back to the basics every once in a while. Dragon Quest isn't a particularly serious story- if you're looking for goofy puns, you're in luck- but it has spent thirty years refining its craft to hit its one note as loudly as it can possibly get. Besides, that just makes the darker moments hit all the harder.
Echoes of an Elusive Age feels like a massive celebration of the series, and is an easy favourite of the bunch. The history of the series rings loudly as we journey through Erdrea. The games themselves are non-linear, though- even with stories that are directly connected, like the I-II-III or IV-V-VI trilogies, being familiar with one is not necessary for another, but you'll be tickled if you are and you spot the threads connecting different lands.
We start, as all great journeys do, by naming our character. Dragon Quest's Heroes are silent protagonists all the way down, and while some of the games (3, 4 and 9) let you bring a female representative, many are largely male. As much as I like the game, I blame 5 for this- that story in particular requires a male protagonist, and after that, the devs likely just focused their efforts in other areas rather than design female protagonist options.
Draconian Quests, accessible by pushing the X Button (at least on Switch, which is what I'll be using), are additional difficulty options. You can start them only on file start and while you can toggle them off, you can never put them back on once you do. "Reduced Experience from Easy Fights" is a highly recommended option, because it can get incredibly easy to overlevel if you're trying to get things from fights that aren't EXP. I won't be using it this run because the list of Draconian Quests you have applied show up on screenshots and I'd rather not have them around.
- Reduced EXP from Easy Fights: Enemies give no EXP if you're "overlevelled", and I think there is a scaling effect missing from the vanilla experience.
- All Enemies are Stronger: Enemies have stat buffs and some bosses get additional turns.
- No Shopping: You can't use shops. There are some uses for Gold, but not much.
- No Armour: You can't equip anything other than weapons. This won't leave you naked, but it will sting.
- Shypox: Sometimes, the Hero will skip a turn in battle. They also sometimes get too shy to talk to people. Super Shypox applies this to everyone in the party.
- Townsfolk Talk Tripe: NPCs will occasionally lie to you. Sadly, these lies are obvious and they say the equivalent of "April Fools!" after the fact, it's just a cosmetic thing.
- Party Wipe: If the Hero dies, you Game Over. Normally, everyone has to die for a Game Over, but this makes the Hero more of a target to keep alive at all costs.
DQ Heroes have very little in the way of "canon" names- and annoyingly, the main ones from VIII onward are the numbers of their games (so, this guy goes by "Eleven"). Erdward is the name I like to give him when I want his name to sound like a name (...for a given definition of such), but there is no official usage of it.
In addition to all the miscellaneous settings we have to tinker with, we get the option to play in 3D or 2D mode. There's a feature later on that's mandatory 2D, but we'll be playing predominately in 3D mode. There are key differences in the battle engine between these options, and I prefer the 3D engine's take where differences exist.
Always a choice in opening when you get a visual like this one.
We're inside the heart of this invisible fellow. In the Definitive edition, these creatures are explained, but they remained tantalisingly secretive for the original.
He passes through the city streets, where people are enjoying themselves. Many of these designs are generic, and will crop up in multiple towns. That's the sort of series DQ is.
No, turning black has not made him visible to the people nearby. Although the fact he has the power to control the weather is...
Well, they certainly noticed that.
We cut to inside the castle, where we are having a conversation between five Kings. Well, I say "Kings", but the guy on the left is clearly a Sultan. He's equal to everyone else- although we will later learn that two of these people are Kings of the same country, and as such one of them is less equal than the others.
The one in the middle asks a very cryptic "start of the game" question.
With a cryptic start-of-the-game answer. Our protagonist has a Significant Birthmark, it sounds.
Looks something like this.
Our mysterious invisible Thing has found the baby.
That seems a little overkill for one baby.
Mum has gotten out with the baby. Don't imagine they'll get very far without a plan.
We also get to see this girl. She's not actually a blood relative, but good to get more of the children to safety rather than less.
Taking "faceless soldiers" rather literally, aren't we? This design of headless warrior is called a "Dullahan" in Dragon Quest, and they first appeared in DQ8. I'm told 11 was the first game to put them on horses, though.
This pursuit makes things very difficult, and the mother hides her baby with the girl and runs distraction. Yes, she is now dead.
The girl tries running away.
We'll... not get into what happened there.
I think this scene isn't very promising on that front.
A single drop of water lands on the baby's nose and it wakes up. I'm more curious how it ignored the rest of its situation.
The sound of the baby's cry has attracted the attention of this old man.
As confused as he is, he goes right in to help the child out, river be damned.
If you look at a map of Erdrea, you might notice "here" is actually a considerable distance from the castle that just got attacked. That was a massive storm. I honestly don't discount the idea that the storm really did travel that far. There is wiggle room in the narrative to move this scene closer to the castle if necessary.
Good question. Almost certainly some kind of magic involved.
Now that there's a person in front of him, the baby is much happier with his situation.
There's a letter in an envelope alongside the baby in the basket. This man hasn't read it on-screen yet, but I'm fairly sure he does read it eventually. Who the mother thought she was writing to was another matter, but I can't imagine she was in a good mood doing so- this letter is relevant to actions to be taken if she's dead. Knowing there were good odds it would be a necessary letter...
Well, at least the baby is in safe hands. One can only assume.
"Several". It's almost very clearly 16, and I'm not entirely sure that can be described as "several". "Several" is probably the most annoyingly vague description one can get.
The Mark does one thing: we know this is definitely the same man.
Pictured here in a tree, looking out at what appears to be a flying tree. That'll be something to keep our minds on.
Our "gazing into the distance" has been interrupted by this girl piping up.
She's the reason we were even in the tree to begin with!
Honestly, what I have to wonder is how. It's not like your head is high enough off the ground to brush against those tree branches. The strangest thing is, this isn't even the first time she's lost this headscarf to this tree.
A perfectly normal coming of age ceremony, for sure. I remember climbing a mountain when I turned 16.
Just kidding, I'm an Australian, we don't have mountains. (I think we do, but since we're so geologically inert, they're not that big.)
Sandy is our dog, and she's a smart puppers. Well, not much of a "puppers", but still a good girl.
The impressive part is that she'll wait at all. Real smart doggo.
And now the gameplay has begun. Most of these options are fairly self-explanatory and not particularly helpful at this stage in the game, but "Party Talk" is a big one.
You can talk to your party members whenever you wish and hear their thoughts on the situation. These usually change after major plot events and/or what area you're in, which is one of the less complicated portrayals in the series. Some games (5-7 in particular) let the party react to every NPC! Party Chat is DQ's major characterisation tool, and it's an amazing one for how simple the idea is.
It's our big day, Erdward! We finally get to go and do the ceremony! We're going to be grown-ups, at last! Hee hee! It looks like Sandy's as excited as we are! Come on, let's get moving! We don't want her to get to the top before us!
Introduced in the Definitive Edition is the idea of party members following behind the player. Well, I'm told guests like Gemma did in the original, but I can't speak for that version. If you talk to them, they'll say their Party Chat line. Nice and convenient for now, but not everyone will follow you at once later, and even if they did, you've still got to pick out your favourite from a huddle.
A bunch of villagers have gathered to see us off, giving some neat little advice tidbits that also double as tutorials. Some relatively naturally delivered tutorials, too.
There's also the kind of villager commenting on how Erdward and Gemma have grown up.
The village in general has a strong Erdward/Gemma ship.
I don't think we ever get that clear a shot of these symbols, but it's nice that we talk about what they mean.
The Cobblestonians don't tell the kids what's going to happen, but they seem to delight in taunting the kids about how they know what's going on.
If you're ever lost about what to do, find an NPC with a pink speech bubble like this one, and they'll remind you what you should be doing. Well, for the first two parts of the game. But still, if you're ever stuck, trust the pink dots. They're even marked on the map!
Turns out Gemma does have a limit to how much Erdward/Gemma shipping she'll accept from the Cobblestonians. Although this woman actually is her grandma.
You'll be pleased to note that Erdward and Gemma's guardians are fully on board with this pairing. No comically overprotective parents here.
Speaking of which, Mum! OK, we know we're adopted from the opening sequence, but we have a mother!
Portraying childhood relationships strongly enough to get the player to care while not making the opening too long and boring is a tricky balance to hit, but I personally find Gemma well done in this regard. I'm perhaps not the best person to ask, though.
Amber also has a gameplay hint, and here it is: if we're lost in the upcoming dungeon, we should find Sandy. The upcoming dungeon isn't hard to navigate for a video game veteran, but if you're newer to playing video games at all, you might disorient yourself and this is a good suggestion to help.
Dunstan seems proud of us, but the way he specifies "as a Mayor" makes me feel like Erdward is actually important for some reason as a person in the society of Cobblestone. Why this might be the case is less obvious to me. I'm going to assume it's because he can use a sword.
Dunstan's advice is just pointing us to the next quest objective. Most pink dots are like this. There's a "Previously On" segment when booting up the game that tells you what you're doing, but perhaps you spent a few hours sidequesting- this can help you with that too.
This can only end badly.
Once you advance far enough up the trail, Gemma stops us for a cutscene. There's a prayer for this ritual, and if I was really clever, I'd tell you this tied in to the overall narrative of the story, but I think this really is just a local thing.
No such deity is ever encountered. I know, "All Myths Are True" lied to me! There's just something that little bit magical about the idea that there really is something guiding us without being an actual plot thing.
Just preparing you to walk up a mountain, say a prayer, and walk back down. Don't you have other skills you need to practice? Gemma does have other skills, so I assume she had plenty of time to work on them.
One of those things that DQ has for itself is this really fun propensity for finding random country slang and incorporating it into the dialogue of each town. The Cobblestonians all speak with the same kind of accent and mannerisms, and while there is no geographical connections between Cobblestone's accents and those of the locations nearby, it does add flavour to each town.
Just... don't be DQ4 and go so thick with the accents that the audience can't even read the dialogue.
So do we just do this on our birthdays? I assume Gemma's birthday is not necessarily Erdward's, since Cobblestone has no real way of verifying it, but sticking her with Gemma seems as interesting an idea as any.
...Well, it looks like there'll be something in the way.
I'm sorry, DQ, I really am. But you'll never convince us that Slimes are scary.
These mainstays of the monster world are beloved by all. They're round, ridiculous rascals you simply can't stay mad at.
I mean, look at them. So squishy and cuddly. Since Slime became Dragon Quest's mascot (if you want an idea of its popularity, think Pikachu), these things show up everywhere, and even have their own spinoff series where you play as one. The one that got released internationally is called "Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime" and you should play it if you're feeling blue.
As far as their role as enemies is concerned, many Dragon Quest games, especially ones where you start with multiple party members (counting temporary ones) make sure the first battle you complete is against three Slimes, and rarely will this be any threat.
Our first battle, and important ones like this one have a brief moment where someone pipes up with something to say in the corner. These aren't voiced, but they're cool nonetheless.
2 damage to Sandy, 1 to us. Not that I caught the shots (I set the speed way too fast for image capturing out of habit), but yeah, we're in no real danger.
Our turn, and we can attack one Slime at a time. I've switched from a Sword to a Greatsword- Greatswords are stronger than Swords, but you can hold a shield alongside a Sword. Since we don't have any shields at all... obviously we'd rather use a Greatsword.
Abilities and Spells are special kinds of attacks. There is a key reason for them to be separate, but in this game, both use MP. We'll get some MP when we get some of these things to use. Items allows you to use items (but we do have to specifically set up items ahead of time). Equipment allows us to change to any equipped item we have without using our turn. And Defend, of course, passes our turn and raises our defences somewhat.
With the extra power of the Greatsword in hand, we can oneshot these Slimes. Sandy cannot, but she did severely weaken one- Slime B, to be specific. In this game, enemies on low health will have their names change colour depending on how close they are to defeat (yellow means roughly half, red means they're basically ready to keel over, and there's a few shades of orange in between), and that's what was going on earlier- Sandy outsped us.
Gemma does not have any combat skills, so she'll just spit out some encouraging words for her action. I don't think she's actually a target for the enemy. On that note, guest characters like Sandy do not have HP and can never die, despite being targetable by the enemy. An enemy who hits only Sandy has wasted their time.
...Our turn immediately? I thought Sandy went before us! That is because in DQ, Agility is meaningless. Well, that's not true- high Agility characters are more likely to go first in a turn than low Agility characters, and there's also use for the stats in other combat mechanics. But at the start of each turn, each character's Agility has a random modifier applied to it (I think 50-100% for this game) and those values are compared to produce turn order. These modifiers change every turn, so you can never be entirely sure who is going to act next.
Sandy tends to alternate between attacking and performing a bark action. I think this bark is the same as Ruff's from DQ7, where it will attempt to Stun an enemy group and prevent them from taking their next action. Because of the nature of the fights while Sandy is present, I'm not actually sure if Sandy's bark is single-target, group-target or all-target (these are the three most important kinds of targeting we'll encounter).
I can tell you what I do know about Bark, though- it usually works. Buffs and debuffs work surprisingly well in DQ games, and they can actually affect bosses and other fights where it would be nice to have them.
With the battle over, EXP and Gold is awarded. You don't really need to see what I'm getting, but this is what getting these rewards looks like. There's no "victory music" in DQ- just a short chime, and another chime if you happen to level up- and then silence before you continue.
Oh wow, our first fight also got us an enemy drop! That's not set. In this game, all normal enemies have two drops, a normal one and a rare one. You can get three drops total from any one fight, and you can tell ahead of time which drop you got from the sound of the chest appearing and the more brightly-shining gleam of a rare chest.
This was a common drop. The precise chances of drops aren't particularly well known, but there are various stealing mechanics to get around that when the time comes to gun for enemy drops.
Mechanically, obviously not, since you're a guest and guests can't die, but I wonder how much HP/Def Gemma would have if she was an actual character. The mainline DQ games treat Slimes as just as dangerous as other monsters for people who can't defend themselves.
Well, we had to do that anyway.
Another thing that's relatively well-established in the DQ setting is that monsters usually aren't as active as they are during the game's story. Active enough that weapons and armour shops are profitable businesses, but the stirring of whatever demon lord is running around has made things more dangerous for the average Gemma.
In other words, no one else in Cobblestone really had reason to see this coming.
I can't believe there are monsters on the Tor! And on our big day, too! It's a little bit worrying, but we have to push on- at least I've got you as a bodyguard, Erdward!
This is, surprisingly, not the full prayer Gemma will give once we get to the top, but it's cool that it's actually inscribed on one of these things.
Behind it is some treasure!
...What a treasure.
Pot lids are shields. They give a comically low defensive buff and are rarely something you unironically equip, but they're there. I wouldn't recommend giving this to Erdward.
Well, then, off to the first dungeon!
The Cobblestone Tor is intended as more of a scenic tour than a dungeon, and as the first one, it fits the mood.
There's also a lot of "look at what Erdward can do while traversing the world" in this place. I don't believe there's anything Erdward can do that he doesn't do here, so if you're stuck trying to figure out how to get to a place and none of these actions seem to help, there's probably some special gimmick or back path you're meant to use instead.
Erdward can go up ledges, but only specific ones. If you spot this icon, you can go up. You have to press A when it changes to the "interact with me!" arrow, though. For this wall in particular, doing otherwise gives you a "helpful" tutorial.
This ledge is optional, and leads to this. Sparkly spots like this are treasures, and these ones grow back if left for a while. I think it's a 15 minute wait, or possibly longer for special harvest spots.
This one is also an herb. Medicinal herbs heal 30 HP when used. They don't scale in any way, which means if we don't use them in the early game, they're probably going to sit in the bottom of the bag feeling bad.
Pre-emptive attacks! These give you extra damage on the first enemy in battle, and it's just fun to get them. I think Erdward swings faster if he's using a sword over a greatsword, but I'm not sure if this is something to worry about.
If this arrow appears over the enemy, you can pre-emptive attack. For now. You, er... may want to practice the spacing you can expect to get an attack off.
Humiliating this tutorial's attempt to tutorialise, these Slimes actually get their own Ambush off on us. Sometimes, when an encounter starts, the enemies will either "attack before the party has time to prepare" (they get a free turn) or "don't notice the party's presence" (you get a free turn). This mechanic works completely independently from the pre-emptive strike mechanic we just learned, so the fact this exact situation happened on the tutorial is hilarious as hell. By the way, yes, this means enemies can chase us down later and then we get a free action on them anyway because reasons.
The red X icon next to Erdward's name in the bottom-right indicates he is being forced to skip his turn. Buffs and debuffs can be observed in those positions, with buffs on top and debuffs on the bottom. I'll talk a little more about buffs when we actually... have some.
There are only two enemies in the Tor- Slimes and those guys up ahead.
Easily recognised by the bundles of abundant fluff spilling from their masks, these furry fellows will make pincushions of pretty much anything they can poke their enormous needles into.
These are needlers, which apepar to be a new monster for XI. There's a lot of returning monsters in this game, but there are some new entrants here and there.
Needlers can heal themselves, and this one undoes my pre-emptive strike. They can also pass their turns for no particular reason. Since DQ8 introduced enemies with models and animations, "enemies that pass their turns for no particular reason" also get neat animations to watch. Dragon Quest is famous for inspiring Earthbound, and I don't think many people realise how much of Earthbound is actually just Dragon Quest.
Erdward gets his first level up, and in this game, there's a zoom-in on the character who levelled up and a cute animation (usually some kind of thumbs up or equivalent gesture). Unusually, Gemma will actually applaud Erdward for levelling up while she's in the party.
In this game, level ups set your HP/MP to their new maximums- ie we now have MP to actually use. RPGs in general are very inconsistent about what gaining new HP/MP does to your existing reserves, and fully healing on level-up isn't actually a DQ staple, but that's what happens in this game.
Level 2 also has Erdward learning his first spell, Frizz. In this game, characters have set spell learnlists that they get at each level- some DQ games, usually just the very early ones, have RNG variance on that.
Frizz itself is a standard Fire spell, attacking a single target and dealing 10-36 damage, based on Erdward's Magical Might (MaMight was introduced in DQ9- before that, spells were fixed damage). Physical damage is dealt with your Strength versus the enemy Defence, while magical damage is dealt with the set damage number divided by whatever the enemy's resistance is- from "no defences" to "slightly resistant" to "heavily resistant" and then finally "completely immune". I don't believe DQ11 has resistance tables at hand, although DQ9 does- largely because elemental weaknesses are huge in that game. They're less interesting in this one, although it is in our interest to keep in mind that sometimes, if fire doesn't seem to be working, we ought to consider our other options.
For some reason, there is a stairwell leading into a lake down here. It's got some pots to smash, at least.
Another herb and some Gold. For some reason, whoever put five gold coins in this pot put them in a sack with a G sign on it. I won't bore you with the contents of all the pots I smash, but in this game, they are fixed- all the items will be in the same pots from run to run and won't regenerate. Again, this is not always the case- here's looking at DQ9, which has an entire system dedicated to randomly populating and repopulating the contents of its pots and drawers.
Also found some copper ore on the way up in a sparkly spot. Copper ore in particular is basically screaming "we're getting some kind of alchemy system". And we are. This copper ore has no other use than being used in that system. DQ11 has a much simpler alchemy system than its immediate predecessors, though, and largely keeps its alchemy ingredients separate from the armour and weapons you are currently attempting to use. Which is nice- trying to keep track of what recipes you care about and which items you have to use as ingredients in DQs 8 and 9 can be a nightmare.
Completing this part of the cave starts a cutscene.
Honestly, yes I did, but since you brought it up, I'm going to think twice about it. Although I wish I weren't standing in it, if that were the case.
Well, that kid who went in ahead of us isn't having fun right now.
He's being attacked by... a face. We can't really see what this thing is for all this fog.
Whatever it is, let's swing our sword at it and see if it bleeds!
And wind gust from behind.
That explains everything and nothing at the same time.
Formless masses of mist such as you might see on a spring morning. But beware - they've been made into monsters by unpleasant arcane forces.
Ah, that makes things clearer. Smogs are actually enemies that appeared in Dragon Quest II before taking an extended leave of absence from the series until now. They are regular enemies and will be encountered as such later, but these ones are definitely... well, mini-bosses.
Gemma's not kidding when she says this- she does perform beneficial actions this battle!
This Smog launches the first multiple-targeting attack against us, Fire Breath. This is a relatively normal kind of attack and will normally hit everyone who is a valid target, but I think I've seen one or two party members escape from time to time. Gemma not getting hit is probably because she's not a target, though.
Seemed like a good time to try and cast Frizz rather than swing a sword this time, honestly. At least give it a shot- swinging a sword seems like it might be an issue.
Poor Sandy missed.
Gemma actually has a limitless supply of medicinal herbs (ie not our own) to throw whenever we need it, and her actions will be spent applying them.
Down goes one Smog, but it seems I'll have to consider other options for his friend.
Sandy's bark proving its worth and somehow stunning the fog.
Gemma also has Single Phials, to cure our MP! Well, that's convenient.
Still think I'd rather swing my sword, though. While the enemies are stunned by Sandy's bark, their evasion is actually decreased, so we didn't have to worry about misses!
Even if I did cast magic instead, I got a level up anyway. Here's a clearer shot of Gemma applauding the level. No new magic spell, though.
Cole thought our coming-of-age ceremony would be a good time for a prank. Because, you know, that wouldn't ruin the surprise for him or anything.
Gemma is actually, momentarily, more concerned about the sudden appearance of monsters than Cole's surprise appearance.
She does take the time to give the appropriate chewing out, though. I don't really think there's a "correct" order to have these reactions.
I'd ask why Gemma has this authority, but she's the Mayor's granddaughter, of course she does.
...By the way, yes, we did just lose Sandy. To be fair, I don't fancy having to be the animator who has to rig making Sandy guide us through the second half of the Tor.
Gemma appreciates the fact we're here to lend a hand. I wonder what the plan was if Erdward wasn't here, though. Although I think Sandy might've been able to handle this dungeon on her own, depending on what her HP actually is.
We actually are pretty close to the end of the dungeon, although I wouldn't use this image as evidence. Look at that peak, it's going into the cloud cover!
It's also raining, too. Insult to injury.
I, I've never seen monsters that scary before... but you didn't seem to break a sweat! You're amazing, Erdward! Now, we must make sure we stay on the right path- let's look out for signposts. We wouldn't want to go the wrong way and take a tumble.
Gemma's advice points us to these tutorial signs for some more field action demonstrations for Erdward, including these vines.
We're just climbing up and down them, no swinging in this game.
Some sense of humour, mountain climber designers. I'm not really a fan of sidling and balance beams- they don't really feel like they add much other than slowing the movement somewhat and making Erdward more physically fit.
(Oh, and Gemma's just not really doing any of this, even if you try and put the camera on her.)
There's a vine to climb down, but you can just jump, too. No fall damage in this game.
And this is where we formally learn about climbing short ledges. Again, have fun putting Sandy in this area.
And we're here. No enemies at all, not even ones I dodged/skipped. Turns out we didn't need Sandy after all!
Well, we're here!
...This is disappointing.
Can we ask to come back later on a clearer day?
...Actually, can we pretend we didn't get the chance?
...Spoke too soon. Although with that said, I think this is lightning Gemma heard.
Although there is one of these fellows. This is a Hades Condor, as seen in DQs 3 and 8, and it's not even the weakest of its type! This is a stronger recolour- we shouldn't expect to fight these until late level 20s in this game!
I will be honest, I'm not entirely sure how the appearance of the bird put us in this situation.
Erdward jumps to action, though. Although I'm like 97% sure that's not how you pull up someone hanging from a ledge. At least use her other hand!
Attempting to save Gemma has left Erdward entirely defenceless against the bird that undoubtedly would completely outclass him anyway, although it looks like he has a trick up his sleeve...
...That seems like a little overkill, though. The lightning bolt does come from the sky, although I do find the idea of ground lightning hilarious.
I don't know what's underneath us right now, but whatever settlement is down there is going to have a good meal fall out of the sky. I wonder how many servings a Hades Condor gives.
Gemma: "I am so teaching you how to pull a girl up from falling off a cliff."
I like the fact that, because Erdward keeps silent, there is no actual counterevidence to the theory that Erdward had an actual say in that thunderbolt. We're definitely meant to take it as involuntary, and Erdward won't be able to cast thunderbolts for a while yet- although he does learn it eventually. I don't think we can ever do that.
Gemma realises that, whatever just happened, that mark was responsible. Or connected.
Whatever happened, it's not happening anymore. Might as well move on.
Presumably nothing. Well, staying in the village and perfecting indoor crafts until the monsters overwhelm whichever guards are here.
And it's time to clean up our work.
Told you there was a stanza missing from the prayer at the bottom. Not sure why.
Apparently, prayer has allowed the weather to clear up.
This view is the main purpose of the Cobblestone Tor coming-of-age ceremony. And they kicked it out of the park.
That's honestly how exploring Erdrea feels, sometimes. There's just more and more to find and play around in the longer you continue.
Another common approach to manufacturing conflict in your starting town is to have the characters therein foster an environment where the desire to leave and adventure is discouraged. Yeah, uh... you don't have a coming-of-age ceremony explicitly to show new adults how big their world is and get away with those attitudes.
...Yeah, adulthood really doesn't feel any different. You don't even get a gold star sticker.
Before we head back down, there's a sparkly spot here for some pink pine. Might as well.
No, we don't have to go through the Tor backwards.
Sandy is good dog. Sadly, we don't get to keep her. Bark is too powerful, apparently.
Cole's parents seem pretty OK with the whole "Cole went into the Tor without permission" thing, focusing on thanking Erdward for saving him from the Smogs. I presume there'll be discipline when it's not in front of me.
Just to make absolutely certain, this whole deal was not part of the ceremony, we were supposed to go up, say our prayers, take in the view and come down unmolested.
By "tea", he means "dinner". We're not a tea-drinking culture here.
If you have to choose one kind of NPC to talk to in Dragon Quest, talk to the kids. The kids are the best NPCs.
And many of the NPCs have bundled up on the road to meet us.
We're back!
Erdward is very forthcoming about these events.
And Dunstan takes it in stride. I always underestimate how much of a swell guy Dunstan is.
Something definitely is. Whatever it is better be a good guy.
And yes, just in case, we're making it clear that was the idea. Imagine if it turned out that they had something else in mind. I have no idea what that something else might be. Maybe they needed some pink pine to make the ceremonial belt buckles.
Apparently, Cobblestone Tor is the best mountain if you're in it for the view. There are a few mountains scattered around Erdrea, but I think Dunstan has a point here. It's certainly the least monster infested.
..."Being a tutorial level" aside...
It should be noted that just because we got given the taste for adventure now does not mean we have been invited to start our adventure immediately.
We will, of course, be starting our adventure immediately. And by immediately, I mean tomorrow, because it's dusk out and we still haven't had our tea.
Getting thinking about what to expect out there.
Amber wasn't out here, presumably so she could give us some dinner when we came down rather than having to wait an hour or so for it.
Also, Gemma is sent alongside Erdward. This community is pretty tight.
And so we come into Cobblestone.
There's a few Accolades for plot objectives. There's also plenty of Accolades for other things. I won't show all the boring Accolades I get (like "find 10 types of item"), but the plot ones and funny ones, sure.
Our current objective for the story is to go to Erdward's house. The game always gives a pink dot NPC to point you in the direction of your current objective, but this NPC acknowledges the absurdity of needing to point you in the direction of a location Erdward should be very familiar with.
This part of the map has lots of pots and barrels to break, plenty with goodies. If you're into that sort of thing.
Yes, we can jump off this cliff with no consequences, what did you think? Actually, it's not that impressive- there's some cliff geometry underneath the lip of the ledge that it's easy to land on instead of making the entire plunge.
This looks like a roadblock, but you can just walk around these horses fine. Their hitboxes are a little larger than they appear.
Not suspicious at all. Funny there's one of these in our starting town. This door can only be opened by a Magic Key, a proud Dragon Quest tradition dating back to the first game- although the way Keys worked in that game is much different to how they work today.
Yes, we can go on the roofs of some of these houses for treasure. You climb boxes with jumping.
These bigger barrels are scenery, and if you kick them, they instantly shatter and offer no goodies. It's very frustrating when you're looking for real treasure and this happens.
We have not interrupted this man during his meal, he's just sitting there holding his cutlery like that. He doesn't seem to mind telling us about horse-riding. Riding things to move faster is not new to DQ, but I think using a horse is.
The shop isn't open right now, but this is what they look like. Anything with this symbol on the map and counter is a general store- in a large city, this place might only hold generic stuff like herbs, but in a smaller village like Cobblestone, it has everything interesting.
These gossiping ladies are really interested in Erdward and Gemma's relationship. Since we have now completed our coming-of-age ritual, I'm sure the question of when Erdward lays with Gemma will fly around freely.
They want the relationship to remain healthy, but they're still interested in how fast that healthy relationship advances.
Gemma is apparently sick of this. If they're as persistent as they sound, I would be too, I'm just amazed that they have been. Small village, probably a lack of gossip to go around.
...Do you have eyes in the back of your head? I think I approached this scene weirdly, because that's not something I expected.
This guy talks to us about Yggdrasil and this tree. Something as metaphysical as this can only be plot relevant later.
Especially when you get this by inspecting it.
I wonder whose daughter this is.
You can pat the horses and cows, at least. Or, well, hover-hand them.
Some good advice from a muscleman in a rubber hood and body harness hiding in this shed. This is the design they've been using for "muscular brute" forever. I can't pinpoint exactly which game introduced it, but I don't think any game or remake missed the chance to include one. Of the Standard NPC Designs to 7 and the 4-5-6 trilogy for DS, I think this one's the main one that survived the jump to 3D.
To the surprise of everyone who knows the JRPG stereotypes, Dragon Quest has largely kept its nose clean of evil Churches. Churches have been your save points since Dragon Quest 4 (it might be surprising to some that this hasn't been around since Day 1, but the older games had you save with Kings), and Dragon Quests 2 and 8 are the only games I'd really say tackle the subject of using religion for evil- and even then, 2 is just "the main villain is described as a cult leader" (he doesn't seem to be weaponising the power of cults). If you're into evil churches, DQ8's not a half-bad use of the corruption of priests as a plot direction, if a little over-the-top, but I'd recommend Three Houses as a game about evil churches at all.
To explain the other services:
- Divination tells you how much EXP you need to the next level- DQ11 has finally brought DQ into the noughties and included this on your status screen, so this is just a legacy option.
- Resurrection revives dead party members- the only way we can do this for a good decent chunk of the game.
- Purification removes poison. We'll have more than enough Antidotal Herbs to last us until we get a party member with Squelch.
- Benediction removes curses. Much more valuable, but much more rare.
- Play in 2D Mode allows us to switch modes. This is not a free action: You can only reset back to the start of a "chapter". My blog stopping points and these chapters are not necessarily paired. There are a number of exploits you can pull off with this option- namely, a lot of treasure chests get refilled because keeping track of them is hard- but I won't be exploiting this in any real way.
Resurrection, Purification and Benediction cost money scaling to your level. Fortunately, we will eventually be able to perform all of these services ourselves by the time we're high enough level that we can't just brush the price under the rug.
They always talk about being prepared for monsters, but I'm never fully sure just how dangerous it would be for a Cobblestonian to travel to, say, Heliodor right now. Torneko from DQ4 should probably have been a suggestion, but player powers really give you way too much freedom of movement around the world.
The mayor really does care. I don't think you can drop Gemma off home before going to Amber's, but I never feel right going into his house anyway.
Stealing this from behind his house, sure. The Cypress Stick is the weakest sword in the game in pretty much all of its appearances, and if you're using one, it's probably because it's the weapon you came with- and even then, it's only, like, the DQV Hero that can't find something useful to replace it with immediately.
Cole's mother is still happy to thank us whenever we chat. Not showing Cole's punishment for following us in the first place is very realistic- it's none of Erdward's business- but it does kinda look like Cole got off scot-free for his prank.
"Hah, who puts their money on top of their house?"
...Oh wait, this is our shed. I guess I don't feel bad about filching it, then.
Fresh water as an alchemy ingredient can't be fished out of any old river, but there's a collection point in this one.
And last thing before we head home, we can look in our window and spot Mum cooking.
Yes, we did take a while getting back home... Wonder who did share the news of what happened.
...Serious question, why would this ever be a concern?
Erdward was a bodyguard for Gemma and Erdward successfully guarded Gemma's body.
There's a general openness about situations that most RPG characters would stay mum about here. I don't even think this is a Dragon Quest thing, but it is still somewhat remarkable to me nonetheless.
Amber is aghast by this revelation.
But not entirely surprised. Well, I say "not surprised", but I feel like that's not the correct word for this...
Apparently, manifesting thunderbolts was something we were going to be doing at some point...
Shiny!
...Well, at least we get a post-humous gift from granddad. I still don't entirely know what it is, though.
Well, something Granddad was keeping secret and passed on to Amber when he died.
The what? I mean, when we're not calling Erdward "Eleven", we're calling him "the Luminary", but... what does that mean?
Gemma is as shocked as us.
Amber doesn't care, she just would like Erdward to do the thing anyway. We don't know the thing, but please do that thing.
Well, at least we have a start. To Heliodor!
I presume that actually going to Heliodor ought to help us out on that front.
They phrase this as if Erdward is leaving forever. To which I say... forever?
At least there are some things that can be controlled on this front. A good hearty meal could do us some good.
After that revelation comes the fitful sleep. Doesn't seem to have worked out too well for us.
Amber's nice and supportive about our sleepwalking episode. To be fair, she's awake too. Apparently we're not the only ones having trouble hitting the hay.
Sure, I guess that'd help.
Not much use in disturbing the neighbours, so off to our plot objective. Whatever was in Amber's soup tonight was not being used to help support our sleep schedules.
Since we're threatening to leave Gemma behind, Gemma is reflecting nostalgically on her experiences with us.
Poor Gemma's life hasn't been the most interesting counterargument to Erdward's decision.
We all have dreams that won't come true. Sometimes they're the same dream.
This whole "being the Luminary" thing is putting an end to those dreams for both of us.
Well, that's the short version of that legend. Basically every RPG has some legend like this, and usually it takes longer than 24 words. Pretty much all of these myths can be condensed down to this quote, though, and ironically enough, this game cares a lot more about the mechanics and events of the original Luminary's quest than some of those RPG myths. Not only do I not expect Gemma to know all the relevant plot details, but sharing them all now would a) bore us and b) get us thinking about what plot twists those details hint at.
This part of the legend is unique to the DQXI version of the myth. We're getting some starting points to work with.
This star is the star of legend. It's much more prominent than its neighbours. Considering it came from this planet, of course it's closer than the rest of the stars, but it's interesting they make that obvious here. Well, obvious if one understands the astronomy of how stars work. In-universe characters, of course, may still believe in geocentrism. It's not something the story really cares about.
We're a reincarnation. Intermediate level metaphysics, at its most complicated.
...OK, we're in the middle of nowhere, why the hell am I even using big words?
Gemma knows us going to Heliodor and getting answers is the smart thing. There's just no point in us continuing our old life without at least asking the question. Ideally, the option for us to not actually do anything about it is on the table, but knowing the luck of an RPG protagonist...
Gemma, we're in the middle of the village. That is the furthest question from their minds.
...Gemma...
Well, somehow Erdward got to the next morning. He's switched from his Cobblestone clobbler to his traditional design- this will be considered the "default" costume we wear at all times unless something else comes up.
I'm not going to be the greatest judge of that topic.
Forget him? I've never met him! Well, he was in the opening cutscene, but beyond that?
Well, if we got raised in his name, we're probably going to have a few of his values from osmosis.
Yes, we actually get some extra cash. Not the greatest amount, but always welcome. "Don't spend it all in one place" is always fun, because the cash honestly feels like something that you have to spend at once. I'm thinking of the lady who gives you 60 Rupees in Wind Waker when your first purchase is probably 80 Rupees.
So the shop is open now? That might come in handy.
Apparently not the shopkeep, then!
And also this guy, who has asked us for a favour. We're literally right outside our house, by the way.
He's lost a flurry feather.
No, seriously, he wants us to fetch a feather.
Quests in Dragon Quest are represented in this way- at least as of DQ9. Which is pretty recent, but still, DQ9 was the first DQ I played, "You've been asked to undertake a quest. Will you acquiesce to this request?" is pretty charming for me.
This guy is more of a tutorial on Quests than an actual story.
Unlike in DQ9, where accepting a Quest had some meaning, here, you can accept as many quests as you feel like without actually completing them. You get them by talking to NPCs with purple dots over their head, and you should accept them all regardless of intent to actually finish them.
We already picked up the flurry feather- it was a shiny spot, not a key item. Completing the quest gives us the tutorial on quests. This can be funny if you do this quest any time other than right now.
I like how all the RPGs give this as advice for sidequesting. It's not wrong advice, but it's awfully callous when you consider it.
We get a Sleeping Hibiscus! This is an item that can attempt to put enemies to sleep. We probably won't use it ever. If the "accepting quest" dialogue is cute, "transgressed with finesse" is even better. Who gave DQ this idea and did they get a raise?
Completed quests get a stamp for their effort. Completing Quests gives nothing but Accolades and the things they give as prizes. Which is still pretty good things.
The things we can buy from the Item Shop. A lot of this stuff is not particularly worth it, Wayfarer's Clothes is the only thing I think you might want to buy. Not that much, though.
Interesting.
We're not actually related to Chalky, so I wonder how much of a resemblance this is. Admittedly, this is a world illustrated by Akira Toriyama, an artist who is rather famous for drawing the same six people over and over again (as blatant as it is, I've honestly gotten sick of the "DQ Heroes are Dragon Ball characters" jokes). Erdward being Young Chalky is completely in-character for Toriyama, even if it's strange in-universe.
...Although, saying that, Chalky himself does resemble a blood relative of Erdward's...
Chalky did actually go exploring the world. This is why I think there's an argument to be made that Chalky did not necessarily find Erdward outside this village, although at his age, it's not an unreasonable assumption.
The magic of RPG traditions. If you Game Over in Dragon Quest, you're sent back to the last Church you used with half your gold missing from your bag and only your lead still alive. DQ11 changes this somewhat, giving you alternative options for reviving if you don't mind losing your progress instead.
This guy has some more generic, very good advice to hand out...
Oh never mind, this is actually a gameplay tutorial. Pep happens randomly, with all sorts of mechanics (like how much of your HP you have) tying into whether you get it to trigger. For now, though, Pep doesn't actually change our behaviour.
Despite the fact we're about to "leave Cobblestone" plot-wise, there's nothing actually stopping us coming back for any reason. For example, using the free bed for healing.
The fact that fighting monsters gets you experience to fight stronger monsters is a constant of RPGs the world over, but it always sounds 50 times weirder tutorialised by an NPC than treated as a mechanical thing.
Dragon Quest presents no penalty of any kind for running away, but it's not always successful. Some fights you can't flee from (the circle around the battlefield will be red if that's the case) and a Draconian Quest option exclusive to the original release imposes No Running on the whole game, but usually fighting the encounter out is just fine. Early on, though? Maybe a good option.
We can't enter Gemma's house right now. Again, we did have the option to do so earlier, I just felt it plot-inappropriate to do so.
Gemma has holed herself up in her house, and Sandy is intelligent enough to understand that this means she should stop Erdward from attempting to enter the house. Good dog.
You can look into the house through the window and see Gemma at work. Good to know she hasn't been crying.
Again, we can come back whenever, but plot-wise, this is actually a very useful question to ask. Make sure you've done everything in Cobblestone you've put your mind to doing- especially that one Quest for the flurry feather.
Dunstan, incidentally, is waiting to see us off.
...So why is Dunstan hiding the circumstances behind our adoption, if it's still pretty clear that we are, in fact, adopted? Where does Amber fit into this false narrative? There's no real moment where the truth comes out and Erdward changes his opinion on Dunstan- not that he has much in the way of opinions.
I mean... you know we're a baby in a basket floating down a river. I understand thinking we're not a magical baby, but, uh... don't know if you've noticed, but 99% of babies go through childhood without being floated down a river.
Dunstan doesn't really believe the nuts and bolts of the whole "we're the reincarnation of that legendary hero" thing, but he doesn't seem to take any action on this belief. He's more the sort of skeptic that's like "yeah, feel free to try, but if you fail, I'm not going to be disappointed."
Cheeky little... This isn't really something you'll find out of most characters who fill Dunstan's role. Perhaps that might be a clue that Dunstan's moment of greed is going to come up again.
He gets a scolding and the plot moves on. One wonders exactly how much of a reward Cobblestone is really going to get for raising the Luminary. Obviously, this is a big deal, but...
Dunstan knows his limits, but he will act to circumvent them where possible.
...This is an explicit item? (The fact Dunstan isn't holding it particularly well brushed completely to one side.)
This horse seems to be the one this little girl bragged about earlier. I never noticed this little detail before.
"Follow your nose" implies that we should have agency in what direction we head, but that doesn't really feel like it fits the suggestion that Heliodor is something we can find by following the path. Perhaps it means the fact that your nose is constantly in front of you no matter how far you move forward?
Amber has a tearful farewell.
And the rest of the village has an existent one.
Gemma rushes out at the last second, finally making it to the parting ceremony.
She's actually out of breath, a little bit.
This is an actual accessory for Erdward. Considering its appearance and origins, one might be caught assuming this is, like, +2 Defence and the worst accessory in the game. It's not- it gives +30% resistance to Curses and Beguilement, the latter of which is not only one of the best methods of avoiding Beguilement in the game, but it's very charming that equipping the heartfelt gift of your childhood love interest makes you more immune to hostile womanly charms.
(With that said, not all of the causes of Beguilement are "womanly", but I appreciate the idea.)
Despite this assertion, Curses and Beguilement won't be a problem for a little bit, but... how can you say no to that face? Besides, we won't be getting enough accessories that unequipping Gemma's Charm provides benefits for a while, either.
Don't worry, I won't.
...The heartstrings.
And that's Cobblestone done. We're ready for our adventure to begin in earnest! And it only took like twenty minutes!
As alluded to in the update, many RPGs are famous for having an overly long opening, usually set entirely within your first town to participate in some local custom that has no bearing on the overall impact of the story and/or teaching you things that you might never use again. And Dragon Quest hasn't been entirely immune to that- Dragon Quest 6 is heavy on this sort of thing, although it does introduce a major plot development for you to think about in the back of your mind partway through, and Dragon Quest 7 is famous for having about two hours of content before you even make it to your first Slime battle- but I find it impressive that not only does Dragon Quest 11 manage to capture the mood of that style of opening, but it manages to cut out all the boring bits and get you started much quicker than usual. It feels like it's directly tackling this major criticism and doing an excellent job of it. We do still have plenty of worldbuilding to tackle, but the actual gameplay resembles actual gameplay and not just arbitrarily running around tripping event flags until the plot says you can move on.
Next time: Welcome to Heliodor!
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