The fact that the demo ends here is probably because of this guy, but why this guy is here, of all places, is another question. They probably wanted to introduce you when you had the full party of four, but after that...
Say hello to the opening of a Definitive-exclusive sidequest!
These guys can be seen only by the Luminary, and that well and truly helps them out. Us, though? I wonder what our party members are thinking.
Apparently this guy doesn't know about that clause.
Have you clocked onto the timekeeping theme yet?
Well, I don't see the harm.
Erik and Veronica have decided to say what I'm sure Serena's thinking, too. There are better introductions to the party, but I can assure you there are far worse.
Time to make our way into the world of Tickington!
Ah yes, we also have to Save before we enter Tickington. The 3D/2D jump is very awkward in terms of what the game is doing under the hood- a similar process must be done if you want to switch modes for other reasons.
Welcome to Tickington, population plush toys!
Veronica has no idea what caused that. I'm not sure what it looked like to them, either.
Serena has no concerns for such trifling matters- there are adorable things to squish.
Apparently, Tickington is so far out of the way that everyone can see the tockles.
Erik is... completely confused, because he's thinking a few more steps ahead. "You know, the small stuff" is amazing.
...I have questions about the mechanics of this (chief among them being "do spring, summer, autumn and winter make a year in your calendar too?"), but I think the answer ties in to later plot reveals. Recall that this is additional content to the base game, so they may or may not expect a player to clock on to such implications.
They are, in essence, cosmic timekeepers. If your clock stops working, you, personally, won't know what time it is. If their clock stops working, time stops working.
If you have no idea how that works, great! Neither do I, and I would rather keep it that way.
The mayor is in a place that has more information about the problem.
The Echo Chamber is the most important place in Tickington. The rest of it is normal town things- not even that, the Church doesn't work. (I'm told it does if you're playing in 2D Mode by default.)
So what's the deal with Tickington's 2D Mode? You walk around in a style of gameplay that can be best described as "DQ 5-7, and to a lesser extent the DS remakes of 4-6"- earlier games are too archaic (The original JP DQ1 didn't even have separate states for which directions the hero could look) while DQ8 pioneered a Dragon Quest style that's pretty much where 3D DQXI was built. Party Chat is accessed by pressing the "B" button while not looking at something you can interact with, and there's a general level of extra... clunk to everything involved with managing inventory. I don't like managing equipment in 2D Mode, and am fairly sure it wasn't this bad in the original games this one is emulating.
Erik: What was that little guy's name again? Ickle, was it? I wonder what his deal is...? It sounded like he'd been looking for you for a while. Maybe we should just follow him and see what happens. He said he was heading up the stairs, right?
Veronica: What did the tockles say their job was again? To make sure that time flows as it should, and that all is unfolding as intended? It's amazing to think they're doing such an important job, and yet no one can see them. It seems a bit of a shame- I mean, they're so adorable!
Serena: I've never seen a tockle before. Aren't they just the most lovable little things? I think it's their little bellies I like best. I'd never dare do it, of course, but I'd be so curious to know what it feels like to poke one!
The Inn doesn't charge to take a nap. This feels like a "not playing in 2D" thing, but you never know.
Rainbow's End Bank works exactly the same as in 3D Mode, some minor interface quirks aside. It's even got the same gold reserves- I suppose that goes without saying, but from what I hear of the development environments, impressive nonetheless.
...I think you may want to keep at it, baby tockle.
The reason we can't use the Church is because he's asleep? The weird thing is, DQ has actually had Priests that offered Church services other than Confession, and it occurs to me that, right now, "Resurrection" is one we might want to keep handy.
Considering the nature of the problem, individual tockles aren't that responsible for it. Even the Mayor kinda doesn't deserve much blame for "letting it happen on his watch".
This red tockle guarding this door feels like it should be important, shouldn't it? Well, that's because Tickington was in the 3DS version, too, and the way it worked was different. I'm not clear on the details, but it involved this tockle in some significant way. The Definitive version has no need of him.
Anyway, welcome to the Chamber of Echoes, home of this circle of musty books.
These tomes will be the focus of our adventures in Tickington.
The stories of legendary heroes. To put it in Doylist terms, the adventure logs of the first ten Dragon Quests.
These books contain legendary exploits in the cause of Good.
And they have been befouled. As an aspiring librarian, this stings. As a Dragon Quest fan... this rankles.
With that said, I'm not 100% certain what Stickle means by this. This phrasing reminds me of preservation rhetoric, which makes me think all we're in danger of losing is the knowledge of their achievements (still, you know, a big deal), but the way the Tockles are worried about it, there's good odds that befouling these books risks undoing the achievements themselves.
Iconic moments of Dragon Quest history are being subverted, and the Heroes of their respective games cannot succeed while these subversions exist. It is our job to set things right.
We can't just jump into each book willy-nilly, though. We require directions into the books.
There are 29 twisted moments of DQ history, and each one requires us to locate a pastword to gain access to it.
To find them in the Switch version, you must locate a Tockle in the course of the main story and talk to them, and they'll hand them over without complaint. Not every area has a Tockle, but every area with one has only one- although the game will stretch the definition of "a single area" in a few cases (there's always at least a different name).
Ickle gives us a freebie!
Galenholm is the first town the Hero visits outside the starting town in DQ1. Because it's DQ1, there's not much to it, but it's named for a great musician named Galen.
Well, sounds like a plan!
Erik: Each of the books on the altars contain a record of what some hero did in the past, right? That's pretty cool- but why would someone go and trash them? That's kind of messed up.
Veronica: So someone's trying to rewrite history and spoil everything the heroes of the past achieved... Well, I'm not going to let them get away with it! Let's head back into the past and teach them a lesson they won't forget!
Serena: So all we need is to learn the pastwords, and we'll be able to go inside these books... Gosh, I really can't believe we're going to be able to have adventures straight from the pages of a story! It's something I've dreamed of ever since I was a little girl!
So, if we're going into the worlds of Dragon Quest history, sounds like we may just need a Dragon Quest history lesson!
Dragon Quest (1986, NES) is oftern understood to be the grandfather of the modern RPG. While it is not the first turn-based game of it's type (titles like Wizardry and Ultima existed before then), it codified much of the genre expectations that are still in use today. For complicated reasons, it didn't come to America until 1989, where it lost a lot of ground in "being impressive" to more advanced games that built upon Dragon Quest's success.
Dragon Quest... well, it's by no means a bad game, but it's one of the few games I can describe as belonging in a museum as a criticism. At the time, the extent of its plot was impressive compared to its contemporaries. Today, its plot has about thirty minutes worth of content wrapped in hours of grinding. There's little but historical value left in it- not a horrible legacy, but if you're looking for a fun time, this is not it.
Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line (1987, NES) is Dragon Quest, but more. It's the first Dragon Quest with party members (the player gets three party members, and you can also fight more than one monster at a time too), and also a legion of world exploration concepts that make Dragon Quest II an experience that's very nearly comparable with the rest of the series.
Unfortunately, Dragon Quest II has a very significant mark against it- balance issues, especially in the game's final dungeon, turn an otherwise good game into a relic of history. Your main problems are regular enemies that know a spell that can wipe your party in one action and bosses (including the final boss) knowing Fullheal.
Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation (1988, NES) is the Dragon Quest game. This is the game that made Dragon Quest what it is. In this game, the party system was dramatically expanded, and you could choose your own party composition, mixing and matching party roles in an excellent idea for the time, where actual characters wouldn't have gotten characterisation anyway.
Dragon Quest III is one of the greatest games of all time in Japan- it's of comparable popularity and influence to Ocarina of Time. It is the game whose sale led to record truancy rates that started the rumour that Dragon Quest games must release on a Saturday by law- that's just a rumour, Dragon Quest games release on Saturday by internal company mandate. I'm not really sold on the game myself, since I don't really understand the party system and my main experience was with a fan translation of... dubious quality. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming remake on this one.
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (1990, NES) is the game that really established the character part of an RPG. There are eight party members of set build, and they now have actual personalities and stories to follow. Before you play as the Hero, you play as your party members making their own starts in the world, and the Hero eventually unites them all to fight for a common banner. The main villain is also one of the first cases of a villain the player is invited to feel sympathy for using in-game evidence- character motivations and backstories usually lived in instruction manuals beforehand.
Dragon Quest IV is a Dragon Quest I can really recommend playing in good faith. It's got a little clunk in the cushions and the DS port doesn't have the Party Chat system to really sell these colourful party members, but Chapter 3, following the story of the aspiring merchant Torneko Taloon, is probably worth seeing the rest of the game on its own. There is a bit of 90s in the corners (the fact that two women are not expected to marry is a plot point), but it's not the worst example in the world.
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (1992, SNES) is a diversion from Dragon Quest's traditional plots to tell a coming-of-age story that employs the benefits of Dragon Quest traditions to serve the narrative. It also includes a monster recruitment system that predates Pokemon's popularisation of the system (although isn't the originator), and no doubt this game's popularity paved the path for the Dragon Quest Monsters franchise. And I haven't even mentioned the titular "heavenly bride"- although admittedly, because of certain circumstances, the bride doesn't make as much of an impact as the title indicates.
Even if you're not into what Dragon Quest is as a game, Dragon Quest V is just that good of a story to be worth playing- the different story structure and monster taming system giving the games a different flavour also helps make the game come across as not fitting in with his brethren. Dragon Quest V is the base game behind the story of Dragon Quest: Your Story, although the heart of the DQV story is very much something that is told better in a video game- that's part of the reason I recommend the game so highly.
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie (1995, SNES) is a return to Dragon Quest tradition, and is probably the first game to really follow a traditional party-building path of just organically finding characters to add to your roster as you go. This game also includes a return of the class-changing system of DQ3, but drastically altered- rather than stats and spells, Dragon Quest VI introduces Skills for each class to have unique ways of fighting enemies for you to learn and expand your party's capabilities. The world also involves exploring two linked but separate worlds- a real world, and a world of dreams.
Dragon Quest VI is a pretty good game that suffers from sorta the same problem as DQII, but less so. The ending isn't horrible- although the final boss will give you a run for your money a few times- but the climax boss of Act 1, Murdaw, is incredibly difficult for the stage of the game you challenge him in, and fighting your way past him and his immediate keep is a huge difficulty spike. It's a lot less of a deal breaker as DQII, but still... don't feel discouraged, it happens to everyone.
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past (2000, PS1) is the transitional game between the 2D Nintendo Entertainment Systems and the 3D Playstation hardware, although the game seemed less interested in 3D designs and more interested in the quantity of the world and the monsters therein. Dragon Quest VII is known for two things: introducing Party Chat, and being legit a hundred hours long. I don't think it took me that long, but I knew what I was doing and was laser focused on that.
Dragon Quest VII is a bit of a black sheep in the series as far as the quality is concerned. That length is great for fans, but the game really takes its time establishing an overarching narrative. Its characters are also pretty love-them-or-hate-them, with characters that either didn't get much to sell themselves on or were the very tsundere Maribel, who requires a very specific palette to fully enjoy. That, and its massive script alongside the localisation practices of the time mean the English script of the PS1 version... kinda fits in next to fan translations in tone. The argument between PS1 and 3DS mechanically is a difficult one, but I almost have to throw my vote to 3DS purely because of the retranslation bringing out more of DQ's traditional heart.
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (2004, PS2) is the Dragon Quest game that finally sold the series to the West... well, to an extent. This is the game where Dragon Quest finally claimed its title back after a history of being known as Dragon Warrior, and also the one where the Europeans finally got to dip their toes into the series. Mechanically, Dragon Quest VIII introduced a new system called Tension, where party members could charge up their attacks for super-powerful blows. It also codified the system as being incredibly broken, so the system didn't stick around. What did stick around was the Alchemy Pot, making finding new items just as much about foraging for ingredients as shopping, and the Skill Point system, bringing the development of classes to the individuality of character builds.
Dragon Quest VIII is another game that's pretty popular that I'm not entirely sold on- though in this case, I think it's entirely on me not clicking with the overall package. It's exactly as competent as the praise indicates, and I have no problem recommending the game, it's just not my personal game of choice.
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (2009, DS) mostly builds up on DQ8: It expands the "foraging" part of alchemy recipes with more raw materials and nerfed the tension systems to make them less centralising (although they're still in there), but the main element of the game is in its multiplayer: You can join in the quests of other Dragon Quest IX players. The party system works like DQ3, but with much more customisable characters to make teamups more interesting, and a grotto system makes the postgame incredibly expansive over the main content- in fact, multiplayer often feels more balanced for playing together in the postgame than the main content. There's also a lot of free DLC, internet functionality, and the origins of what became Streetpass.
Unfortunately for Dragon Quest IX, its greatest strengths are also its crippling weaknesses. That free DLC and internet functionality is long-since defunct, and while the Streetpass functionality means it is still legitimately obtainable... yeah, good luck with that. Playing the main story of DQIX gives you a solid story, even if the helper fairy Stella doesn't give two flying fyggs, but some of the elements of the game that really make it one of the most beloved entries is locked behind using a save editor to gain access to that content- and even then, gathering the EXP and resources you need can be a bit of a slog (then again, I supposed you do have a save editor...)
Dragon Quest X: Awakening of the Five Tribes (2012, Multiplatform) is an MMORPG that still has support to this day. I'd talk about what the game added to the series, but the game is completely untranslated. I hear there's a little bit in fan translation, but there's also legs of the game's history where there was an IP block on the non-Japanese players. I can't say very much about what the game is like, and that upsets me, because I'm very interested in changing that- Annlucia is cute as heck.
Right, that's history over, time to take a look at Galenholm. Looks like nobody's here.
Erik: So we really are in another world, huh? One minute we're checking out a big old book and now here we are in some place called Galenholm. That's quite something. Well, whatever it is we've got to do here, there's nothing stopping us having some fun while we're doing it. I mean, we've come all this way, right?
Veronica: I don't tend to be easily impressed, but this is quite something... I mean, books that lead to other worlds? That's just weird.
Serena: What did the tockles call this place again? Galenholm, was it? Apparently it was named after its founder who was a famous bard. He must have been quite someting to have a town named after him! I'd love to hear him sing!
Half-melted monsters that sort of resemble slimes, and spend their dairy-drenched days dreaming of world... edamination.
Galenholm has random encounters. Each Altar (except Undeciphered, for some reason) has one Pastword that leads to random encounters. Sadly, they aren't actually designed such that the enemies come from the game the altar is representing- the Fromage Fray is from DQ10. There's a few enemies that appear only in Tickington, but as far as I can tell, no enemies original to DQ11 appear in Tickington- it's all nostalgia enemies.
Speaking of nostalgia, each Altar even has its old battle theme to go with it. 2D combat obeys the "turn-based" system more than the 3D mode does- you issue commands to each party member, the turn order is rolled, and everyone executes their commands in sequence. This is technically how turns work in 3D mode, too, but there, you get to choose commands as turns come up. In 2D Mode, it's possible for a party member to die before the command to heal them goes through, or for an enemy to die before a herd-hitting attack is prepared to finish it. The main benefit to using an AI setting is that the AI is not beholden to these hiccups and may heal damage before you have the chance to issue such an order- since you get those benefits yourself in 3D Mode, AI loses its appeal.
The speed settings of 2D battles are also a little awkward, in my opinion, but I think the thing that makes it really feel less comfortable than the DQ games its evocating is the lack of HP bars. The feedback on how much HP you have missing is critical to planning healing moves ahead, and most 2D games I play have that somewhere. Your HP will change colour when you're low on health, but if that's your only indication of a problem, you might get a dead party member before you get the chance to act on that information.
There's one fellow sitting around here- and that's a fairly necessary thing for Tickington. Each area has a Quest that tells you how to solve the local problem.
The Lyre of Ire is the claim to fame of Galen and Galenholm- you can't get it on your first visit, but once you have some keys, you can acquire Galen's treasure.
The Lyre of Ire summons an enemy encounter for free. In DQIV, you could do this by having a merchant whistle. The Whistle command replacing the Lyre of Ire kinda makes the Lyre come off as less impressive nowadays. Although, hilariously, DQXI doesn't have a Whistle command.
As "ways to wreak havoc by using classic items in unintended ways" go, spamming Whistle until the place is swarming with enemies is an incredibly creative one for the first impression.
Also, one thing to mention is that DQ1 for the NES is filled with Ye Olde English. Not only is everyone speaking like that, but all the battle text is like that ("Thou hast cast the spell of Hurt!", "Thou hast advanced to the next level!", etc). Later ports toned down the dialogue for readability, which is fair, but it's still probably my favourite thing from the game.
One thing about Tickington is that the rewards are very... mixed. A Gold Bracer is barely a reward even at this stage of the game. You've got to clear all the Tickington Quests for the ultimate rewards, but I feel like the experiences you get are more valuable than the tangible rewards. Although there are some rewards that are very worth your time.
Verily!
...I have no idea what he's talking about. Galenholm isn't very scary.
The Quest description changes once you Accept the quest proper. The quest dialogue after saying "yes" often gives gameplay clues later, and these updated descriptions include the clues.
These three chests contain a lamplight, 20 gold and an herb. This is also what they contained in DQ1- well, the lamplight was a Torch, a usable item in DQ1 that was dropped from the series after that game (although it reappeared as a key item in 5).
This indent in the wall is indeed how you get out the back.
Mature in every sense of the word, their taste has been tempered to perfection. They know all the fondues and don'ts of fine dining and never cheese from a fight.
...I wasn't expecting this to happen! Rarefied enemies appear rarely alongside a specific common enemy- in this case, if you find a fromage fray, you might just find a fromage flay alongside them. I'm told the odds of this happening are 1/256. They can be increased at a later date, and I wasn't intending on showing the fromage flay until I had the means of doing this. The tutorial on Rarefied Monsters is in Gallopolis, and you're supposed to find your first one there.
Rarefied monsters first appeared in DQ10, and any rarefied monster we'll encounter is either from that game or this one. The fromage flay, in particular, is from DQ10. I'm told it's also one of eight Rarefied monsters to be designed by fans, and the only one of those eight that appears in this game.
Rarefied enemies are much more powerful than the regular encounters that summon them. The fromage flay only has 4x the HP, a signficantly increased MP pool and a slight attack increase (no Defence buff), but it's still worth treating them as minibosses all the same. I didn't know their drop off-hand, but their common drop (the thing Erik can Half-Inch) is pretty good and I probably should've tried to get one, but oh well. I wasn't expecting to fight it at all.
Of course you're not affected by Sap. I probably got hurt by the Flay's Zam spell- a single target high-power spell.
At least I got the Dazzle. Assuming he'll be using physical attacks.
Sap worked the second time, at least.
Which is good, because we're really going to need everything we can do. Another problem with 2D is the discreteness of the animations- the fact that the attack happens then the damage appears. Well, OK, that's not a problem in practice, but when it comes to writing them up after the fact, I don't know what attack did the damage. There's no way this blog would've worked in 2D Mode the whole way. Besides, a lot of love clearly went into the 3D designs.
I won in the end.
The EXP we get in 2D is as good as 3D, and the level ups work the same. Erik also picked up Evac- a Thief tradition, but considering Evac doesn't cost MP and Erdward is always alive on the field, I'm not sure why I'd ever want him to cast it.
That's the common drop. This is an alchemy ingredient that's not our problem yet, but it will be later.
You just have to love the way monsters see their situations.
Hi, you're being a pain in the rear and we would like to stop you.
I'm sure you're very sympathetic. Rolls eyes.
I'm sure this is commentary on the music industry, but I don't really think "magical harp that summons monsters" really has a symbolic equivalent.
The black sheep of the bongo drongo family due to a lack of any discernible rhythm. Its tunes are said to be so bad that they cause those who hear them to go deaf for days.
Material family
150 HP
40 MP
...Oh, well I suppose this guy is based on a DQXI monster. The regular enemies don't, but some of the bosses... well, I don't suppose any classic monster has a music theme to fit in. It'd be interesting if they made which monsters are DQXI original matter, but I don't believe it does.
We have an opening plan of action, and might as well use it. Rubblerouser isn't great, but it's damage, and might as well, if everyone is buffing up.
The wrongo bongo's first action, in turn, is going to be strumming the Lyre of Ire and summoning reinforcements.
I think I switched to a sword for boss combat and am switching back. There's no way I was foolish enough to not even have this equipped.
Well, if that wasn't the greatest use of time. I imagine it was Erik's boomerang.
Wrongo Bongo: Plays music so bad that Erdward gives up his turn.
OK, that's more of a problem.
That's even more of a problem!
...So, uh, it turns out that the Wrongo Bongo is actually just weaker than the Fromage Flay. Just goes to show the gap between bosses and Rarefied enemies.
Erdward got a level up, too, and learned his first true offensive ability- Cutting Edge. It deals 1.75x-2.25x damage to a single target, and is otherwise known as "the boss-killer for Greatswords". Well, for now. Unbridled Blade is the real bosskiller, but we're going to have to go deeper if we want that. No crits from these, though, so they'll kinda fall off later.
We have brought peace back to Galenholm, and now the Hero can visit here and... stock up on supplies. Leaving this place like it is really wouldn't inconvenience the Hero, because of the way DQ1 works, but still, this is where he gets some really helpful equipment to survive the earlygame into the midgame.
I think the DQ1 Hero might need this more than I do.
If the DQ1 Hero has need of the Lyre of Ire, so he shall receive it.
And sure enough, the town is now repopulated. If you need to fight any Galenholm enemies, they're in the cave to the back.
You will never be able to use the services, though.
This part just happens the first time, though.
I suppose this is another part of why I think these events are going to outright get in the way of the real Heroes. Those are some tall stakes.
I'll be more than glad to help out there.
We'll just need to get the ability to do so first.
We'll be right on it, I promise!
...Yeah, no I won't, but most of the time.
This Tockle appears to thank Erdward for the help that has been done and will be done.
And more importantly, facilitate that future aid. At any point, we can enter Tickington by talking to Tickle and undergoing the "Save game" customs check. Tickington has also been added as a Zoom point.
The Mayor also gives us a gift.
It's not anything tangible, it's just a menu listing of the locations of every single tockle in the world.
He says this, but there's one crucial detail he skipped.
The locations are only recorded once you have visted the area (and it has to be the exact area). One thing that does occur to me, though, is that there is one in the Cryptic Crypt we don't have access to, and this thing does tell you about Tockles that are in areas you've visited but cannot reach. File it under "moderately interesting quirks"- maybe it'll register if we go back there, but I don't care that much.
There's also a conventional Church just outside Tickington, too. Considering his dialogue, I suspect he got added for the Switch version (especially considering there's a campsite just up the hill), and his main purpose is probably to cover your recertification. Slash any revivals you may or may not need to do.
And that's our first jaunt into Tickington. Future updates won't necessarily be this discrete, but I figured this was a good update to host separately. Tickington is a huge nostalgia bomb, but the differences between 3D and 2D combat can easily make the place come off as... well, not the greatest addition in terms of being a game itself. Future quests also will not be so straightforward... or so self-contained.
As for my opinions on Tickington... well, I'm a Dragon Quest fan through and through, I love me some historical value. However, some of the choices stand out as being relatively... well, three Pastwords per Altar is very restrictive, and sometimes I disagree with the game on how well represented a game is. Perhaps they wanted to focus on the Quests more than the representation, but it's clear some games got a better deal than others. Especially in the case of 7. I was a little harsh on describing DQ7, but that game is weird and not only do its plot points have poor representation in the main story of DQXI, but its Tickington representation is probably the poorest of the bunch.
The rewards for Tickington do get better. Ish. There are a few good ones and a bunch of terrible ones. It also depends on how diligently you want to cover it. There's also a few rewards that aren't even Quest rewards in there- but those come much later. Let me just say, DQ9 fans, you're in luck.
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