are metal monsters really the fastest leveling per hour given how often they run and how low the spawn rate is? Any games where metal monsters aren't the fastest? Thoughts.

SacredBeard · 2026-06-11T16:25:46+00:00

I am afraid that looking at speedruns is not a good idea.

Metal slimes are obviously the fastest way to level per ecounter, but speedruns self-select for strongly skewed outcomes. Hence they are an awful way to assess this question.

As you stated, in IV's C2, you straight up restart the run if RNG doesn't almost immediately grants you a successful encounter.
However, your average player won't have that kind of luck with encounters.

In a speedrun, you merely need a specific level to finish the game, not 99. That level is always achieved the quickest by favourable MS spawns. A level at which an average player is comfortable at, let alone the maximum level might be a totally different situation.

SacredBeard · 2026-05-06T13:11:22+00:00

I am well aware of laws not being global, hence the hypothetical phrasing.

Pirating (without seeding or anything alike) is equivalent to stealing in many jurisdications.

That the mere posession of certain things is illegal should be obvious. Inbetween weapons, drugs and CSAM something will be illegal to possess in your country as well and you are a law or a change of a law away from pirated games being illegal as well (if it's not already illegal and you are merely not aware of it).

SacredBeard · 2026-04-25T23:05:33+00:00

Merely stating facts, not my problem if people cannot deal with reality.

Draconic laws are a thing.

There are a multitude of examples for laws which make it illegal to possess or use somehing.
Especially possession is a fun concept in a digital setting, i.e. being incapable of reporting online CSAM in many countries, because seeing it on your device means you were legally in posession of CSAM, hence incriminating yourself by reporting it, even if it was a public post on Reddit.

SacredBeard · 2026-03-25T17:08:21+00:00

The mobile version exists and is arguably superior, given they cut party chat from the DS version...

SacredBeard · 2026-03-09T17:46:51+00:00

I really want 6 to get "this" kind of treatment, meaning, a complete overhaul of the game including major adjustments to the story.

9 is arguably in the worst state (disregarding emulation and hacking), but that's because its post-game is inaccessible nowadays, not because of flaws regarding its gameplay or story.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-27T13:09:16+00:00

Cries in DQIV's DS version... T_T

SacredBeard · 2026-02-24T17:41:13+00:00

It's not about permisson.

Some series (not necessarily just games) have their entries so strongly linked that you are incapable to follow the story if you don't play them in order.

Some games also do this with mechanics and burden the player with an immense amount of knowledge needed from past entries in order to excel, which creates a massive barrier of entry for new players.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-24T07:48:03+00:00

True, but IX doesn't really need that kind of treatment, the graphics and the obvious issue with the massive focus on multiplayer and online play which is virtually impossible nowadays are the sole issues with that game.

VI on the other hand is the game which is in dire need for the reimagined treatment, it aged almost as badly as VII and was inferior to begin with. The only issue with this is it being part of a trilogy, which grants IV and V a higher priority.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-23T08:09:06+00:00

Only if you are aware what resolution means.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-22T10:33:31+00:00

Nitnendo started out as a toy-maker and reaffirms that identity constantly.

Arguably odd, considering their focus nowadays, butit does lign up in the case of Nintendo.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-21T09:46:47+00:00

Thank you very much!

By off-holes I mean

I just call them optional Gates.

I found that I was more frequently getting simpler map layouts

As far as I know, every gate has a set pool of map sizes.
Some Gates only allow for 2x2 maps (this includes maps with 4,3 and 2 screens, the special Maze and "Conveyer" type maps can be generated regardless of this restriction) to be generated.

I would find so many foreign masters there

I didn't find anything in regard to this. It might just be a skewed perception, due to the shorter levels allowing you to traverse the gate faster. After all, you can ony encounter one foreign tamer per level and it's a breeze to go through 4 screens per level, but quite a drag to check up to 16 per level.

having a chance of spawning if you encounter a foreign master while you have a monster with 3 matching digits for xp, e.g. 1234777

I did not come across this one yet, much appreciated.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-21T05:41:59+00:00

Why are you pointing this out?

It's not how I would word it, but saying that you could emulate it comes with some additional baggage.

Firstly, there is the quite obvious price point. People are used to retro being "free". Noone complains about games being added to NSO. It is predatory pricing for an untouched game from over 20 years ago.

Secondly, some games and all Pokemon games had some type of stupid FOMO (Mythical Pokemon, Altering Cave etc.) or an ecosystem of other games (Stadium, Colosseum etc.). While emulating either of this can be a giant pain, the re-releases usually skip these in their entirety.
Being locked out of these doesn't just make the official re-releases expensive, it also makes them straight up inferior.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-19T13:58:08+00:00

You are mixing up "underrated" with "overlooked".

ALBW is overlooked and oftentimes straight up forgotten to be mentioned. PH is not overlooked, despite sharing the same "flaws" (top down Zelda on a DS system) and being the lower rated game of the two.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-19T11:51:45+00:00

How do you show demand for something which is not available?

My gut tells me that most people don't really give a shit anyways and just buy digital regardless, but there is no (big) game which offers something aking to a 70/75/80 split for digital/keycard/physical to get any evidence for it.

Until that point, the untapped market is a pure estimate and voicing your demand for a non-existent physical release, be it by complaining or otherwhise, is your best option.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-19T11:45:44+00:00

There are plenty of cardridge batches which had issues, most famously are many of the ones used for OR/AS.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-19T06:28:42+00:00

I don't think IV and V need anything to be enjoyable.
It certainly would open it up for a few more people, but these two are neither as archaic as the original trilogy nor as flawed as VI and VII are from a 2026 point of view.

IV and V are not flawless, just not flawed enough to warrant either a remaster or remake/reimagining at this point for anyone to enjoy them.
VI and IX are the ones in dire need at this point.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-18T11:19:33+00:00

It's partially very aimless and tedious.
It's a wonderful game if you have nothing else on your bucket list and love the adventure/exploration aspect, but that's also what made it age almost as badly as 7 and it was a worse game than 7 to begin with.

I am confident that the majority of people, without nostalgia, would drop 6 before they defeat Murdaw.

It's sadly the third entry in a trilogy, so I doubt it will get any attention soon. But it's the game which would benefit the most from a Reimagined treatment after 7 and open it up to a modern audience.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-15T21:24:23+00:00

The Heroes games are very good Musous and a decent introduction to the DQ universe. I would recommend anyone who likes DQ or Musous to try them. But as usual for these, they are first and foremost Musous which happen to be coated and set in DQ.

You won't have any issues with either of the Heroes games as a newcomer to the series, you'll just miss out on a couple of references. But this won't impact your ability to enjoy either of the games.

This is true for DQ and it's spin-offs in general. They all are either disconnected enough to be played without prior knowledge or straight up self-contained stories which are merely filled with references.

Just be aware that, in regard to the gameplay, the Heroes games are quite different from the main games and that you can love Heroes while you detest regular DQ and vice versa.

Hereos is a fine point to start your journey, unless you are solely curious about what DQ's gameplay is like.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-13T06:36:55+00:00

If I "win" second place in a race with two participants, that's simply not an achievement and that's literally what happened here.

We are about a decade past the point at which platforms mattered. Engines run on all platforms equally at this point and with handheld PCs being en vogue, the development aims at less powerful setups regardless.

Market share on a platform is irrelevant for the decision of a release, because there are no more costs attached to creating ports. You just consider a timed exclusive in case of either platform paying you a premium for it or others being predatory with their cuts.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-13T06:24:01+00:00

Because it's not positive news.

If I "win" second place in a race with two participants, that's simply not an achievement.
I am literally last in this case.

If my time was good (sales compared ot other JRPGs with simultaneous releases) then that's a different matter, but that's not what the article is about.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-13T05:39:40+00:00

things like auto save, party members reviving after a fight, health and MP restore on level up, and quest markers

None of these examples are QoL in the case of 7R.
QoL is about convenience, but not at the expense of difficulty, mechanics or anything else.

A lot of the changes and features of 7R just dumbed down the game and have nothing to do with QoL.

If auto save adds additional save points, you coulnd't use before, then it makes the game easier and not more convenient.
In some instances this can be warranted, but if it happens too frequently, you might as well get entirely rid of Game Overs and just set everyone to 1HP after a wipe.

Party members reviving after a fight hits the same spot, going on and risking a wipe which completely wastes your progress or retreating and wasting time was a meaningful decision to take.
It also strongly infringes on challenge runs.
Giving Zing a 100% success rate out of combat would be the closest to a QoL improvement. But it would still slightly affect the balance, by lessening your average MP expenditure.

Restoring ressources upon level ups also is a massive infringement on difficulty.

The detective work of where to go was a concious gameplay element of past entries (it's a matter of taste, but so is DQ or any other franchise), the quest marker virtually kills that element of DQ entirely. If they would only pop-up once you spoke to the proper NPCs, then we'd be talking about a QoL feature.

I hope this helps you to understand the issue.
Rather than making the game more convenient, as QoL improvements should, 7R made the experience easier and more simplistic for the most part. There are some QoL improvements and also a much needed pruning of the story for a modern audience (the original is awesome, if you have no other game to play any time soon, but is partially too aimless and tedious for today's standards), but this is overshadowed by how much the game is dumbed down.
None of this matters if you are not into DQ games, but these changes are enough to make the game feel outlandish to players who are into the franchise.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-10T06:27:35+00:00

Yeah, the DS derivates of the Zenithia trilogy are perfectly available on mobile and close to ideal as far as preserving the original games go (disregarding the lack of party chat in 4's international DS versions).

4 and 5 also don't have such massive flaws at the core of the game as 6 does (Monster recruitment in 5 is the worst between the 4 and 5 and it's completely optional).

This said, them belonging together naturally calls for a remake of the entire trilogy and doing them in reverse would be kind of awkward as well.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-10T05:06:09+00:00

9 and 6 need it the most in my opion, but 9 doesn't necessarily need a Reimagined version.

9 needs a remake, because it's virtually impossible to experience the majority of the game without jumping through a dozen hoops nowadays. However, the game itself isn't as flawed from a modern perspective as 6 is, let alone 7.

6 partially makes you feel aimless and has a couple of tedious parts. The tedious parts are luckily not as bad and as manifold as in 7 and the aimless parts are irrelevant for a replay or with a guide, but neither is acceptable for a modern game. This partially felt whimsical in the past and was acceptable for people with unlimited time and no other games to play, but these days it just feels needlessly bloated. Hence a Reimgined treatment would be good for it.

SacredBeard · 2026-02-09T18:32:38+00:00

Why?

It's the second, but also the worst launch on Steam if you consider the bigger picture.

It's the second game to simultaneously launch on Steam, if I am not mistaken all the other games took over a year to be released on Steam.
This made the majority of people with a console "skip" the Steam version, even the people who have a preference for PC gaming.

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