I managed to beat the main storyline of Dragon Quest IX. Overall I really liked the game, and not get to embark on the post game stuff which is supposed to be full of hard dungeons, and more mysteries. Personally I want to beat all the classic bosses, and collect any legendary equipment I can find. IE Erdrick’s (Loto’s) equipment, and the Zenithian gear. I only had a few problems with bosses up until the final boss of the storyline. He kept kicking my butt. Mostly due to status effects, putting my healer to sleep, and doing massive amounts of damage to everyone at once when he drops bellow half hit points. Since you can have other people with the game “log into” your game I had a friend come in and give some assistance. We were able to beat the boss with little difficulty.

Now comes the time where I get to place the game in line with the other main games in the series. If I had to rank them in the past I think it was something like: 5,8,4,7,6,3,2,1. Now that I have the main story of 9 done it comes to place it. I am very tempted to place it at the top, failing that between 5, and 8. I am not quite sure which yet, but still musing on it. One of the criteria I always thought was a hallmark of a good story is one that can elicit an emotional response. For some reason whenever the goddess Celestria spoke in the game I felt particularly moved. The game itself has an overall theme dealing with death, and spirits seeking to finish some final task before they cross over. Only other Dragon Quest game to move me like that was 5 for the multi generational epic story.

Every Dragon Quest game has some music to it that is memorable, and empathise the feel of the game. For me this is usually the overworld theme. I even have Dragon Quest V’s overworld music as my alarm sound on my phone. In Dragon Quest IV it was the hero’s music when he traveled alone, it changes when you have the full party collected. For IX the defining song, and I think a lot of fans will agree with me on this, is the observatory theme. It combines into one song a sense of pride, duty, dedication, and somber decorum that the game exemplifies.  Give a listen to the symphonic version of it. Imagine a place looking over mortals with a steadfast dedication, tempered as if with somber reluctance.

One thing I was dismayed to find out was that once you beat the game you cannot return to the observatory. It phases away because all the celestrians are called back home by their goddess. So even though I can get to the realm of the Almighty, where the goddess Celestria now resides, I cannot go to the observatory and listen to this fantastic piece of music. A sub goal for post game is to see if I can find some spot of the game I can have the music be played. The game has only one save slot, and I can’t restart and gain access unless I delete my game, and thus all my work. Needless to say the symphonic suite collection will be hunted down and purchased.

Advertisement