#Yuji Toriyama

[chase-omega]

I'm not gonna sit here and say "name a character who went thru more pain than him". But I will say that list would be pretty small.

Like, you'd have to dig through some RAUNCHY adult-focused media for someone who went through more crap than the hero from Dragon Quest 5 (and keep in mind, this is a kid's franchise).

[saikyo78]

[ur-not-real]

I finished dragon quest v (on dragon quest day no less😁)

Spoilers ahead! (And if you plan on playing this game i wouldn't read any further lol)

Usually im quite the contrarion but honestly i can agree with anyone who says that 5 is the best game in the series, its the most emotional, has the highest stakes, definitely the most fun, etc.

While the game took me almost 63 hours to finish it sure as hell didnt feel like 63 hours (except for my massive casino grinds they felt and were long but thats my own fault)

The story of this game is so gripping, I barely knew anything going in except for pankraz dying and and i only knew that he died but no context... and him laying there and being killed just to save his son was hard to watch. Spending the rest of the game being reminded of pankraz every now and again was touching and everyone telling you that you need to save your mother only to have her be killed in front of you after you meet her once and barely get to speak to her was so chilling... Ladja and nimzo are 2 of the if not the most gruesome and heartless villians in dragon quest.

One moment i really want to mention is my entry to gotha, i knew that thats where i was headed but the in-game time was that sorta early morning moment where everything sorta has this dim blue light to it and it was really touching to me... the dawn of a new day and the rise of a new king of gotha

It sorta shocked me in the end that the player wasnt the legendary hero... but it was his son. You find that out when you cant wield the zenithian sword but it left me asking if the player was the hero but was too young to wear/use the zenithian gear and all i wanted was to use the zenithian gear like in 4 and 6... but no, your son is the hero. Which was cool to say the least! It was different to not be the hero and cool i think

Keeping nimzo a secret until the end and then his transformation and hard boss fight was awesome and i think it was one of my favourite final boss fights

And this is all thanks to my loving wife @sarahmacbitch who bought me a copy of dqv for my birthday. If you are reading this i love you hunny♥️

...still never recruited that damn metal slime though...

[theeternalsteelangel]

Jessica Albert🔥🧊💥💗

[cwgames]

Before Sylvando can join us we need to visit his home first and I learn who he really is.

Phnom Noah Revisit Highlight Part 7

[adobongsiopao]

Currently playing "Chrono Trigger".

This is such a great JRPG.

[dmdarius]

There is some prep to be done for Morrie's whole thing. But man, who can't help but crack a smile when Morrie is on screen? And who can turn down that face when he asks you to make it to the top? Let's go monster hunting!

#dq8 #retro #playstation2 #toriyama

[forthoutoffive]

[pixelsproject]

『Dragon Quest XI∶ Echoes of an Elusive Age』 Luminary's Party

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SOURCE ↴ Dragon Quest XI∶ Echoes of an Elusive Age (3DS) walking sprites uploaded by Komodo & playinful (The Spriter's Resource)

[francostrider]

Final Fantasy for MEN™

Final Fantasy XVI was released recently, and I think it’s fair to say that the reaction had been mixed. You can count on Square Enix to make a compentently functional game, and I’m sure it plays fine. But the style and gameplay change had been a subject of debate.

Now, the gameplay is a subject in and of itself, as well as Final Fantasy’s overall identity. Personally, it fell out of favor for me when everyone looked like supermodels and dressed like a fashion designer was given too many belts. But let’s put my ranting points about the series aside to address another issue.

And that subject is thus: making a series veer toward adults. People have remarked about the tonal shift that FFXVI has had, feeling more like Game of Thrones rather than a proper Final Fantasy game. The upcoming Dragon Quest game is going for the darker and edgier route as well, with only a fiery number to show for itself so far. Yuji Horii, the series creator, had apparently had unspecified issues for aiming the series at adults.

But I would just like to point something out: I only started playing Dragon Quest games as an adult. While I bounced off IX, I fell in love with VIII when it came out on the 3DS, played through I and II on my phone, and XI became our evening play-and-watch (as in my wife watching and enjoying the characters) after Ys VIII and Tales of Vesperia. In fact, I’m not sure I would have had patience for them as an idiot, edgy teenager. I had enough of turned based games at the time and wanted fast, twitch based combat. I also insisted on darker themes (though I appreciated Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for lightening things up).

But there is the ironic thing about “aiming things” at certain audiences. You know who took up most of the theater seating in Team America: World Police? It was not adults; teenagers took up most of them. The South Park movie was quoted all the time back when I was in middle school. And I’m pretty sure the creators know this. Despite the R-Rating most of their material gets, teenagers make up their primary audience.

And it’s not just comedies; teenagers are a mix of emotions, growing up, and trying to find their identity. They want validation and part of that is finding where they are in the world at large. And that includes confronting the worse parts of human society. When I was a teenager, videogames were mocked as nerd and kid’s stuff, when we were “supposed to be” listening and watching edgier things. Diving into the adult stuff was not just a point of pride for a teenager, but also a point of mockery if you didn’t.

I imagine things have shifted in the last twenty years, but the human experience of a teenager is still there; searching for purpose and validation in an ever changing world. Interest in the more adult themes and stories do not start after you’re 17. They start younger than that. There is certainly some maturity needed to understand graphic violence and racier topics, and I’m not about to show a six year old Scorn, but interest in adult subjects happen at varying ages for different people. 

So, when a creator of a long running game series starts going on about how “they are aiming at adults”, I feel like they are missing an important point about fiction and culture. And it comes from the same dimwitted attitude adults in the US had toward both cartoons and videogames when I was growing up: That they are kids stuff to grow out of. But with communities growing with the internet, and validating the Strange and the “Nerdier” interest, I think it’s fair to say that the better of us have moved past that notion.

Both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest have adult fanbases. Final Fantasy in particular hit big time back with VII and was already exploring adult themes. It had you following a trail of blood, to find the corrupt president of a mega corp impaled with a sword. Considering all the sequels, spin offs, older games getting western releases, and Kingdom Hearts, they are already appealing to adults.

Being an adult does not mean only watching dramas and staring at sales reports. Or only bloody violence. To not reinvent the wheel, I’ll just go ahead and quote CS Lewis:

“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

I feared discussing my favorite games and cartoons as a teenager. And even in college to some extent. But during college, I was free to connect with like minded people and enjoy things openly, rather than pretend to be something I’m not. This led me to my lifelong friends and, eventually, my marriage. That is the mark of adulthood; finding your people and your own style, not just copying what a bunch of olds expect of you. Culture has become far too varied for that.

I imagine part of the tone change has to do with Dragon Quest’s record of success in the west. While Final Fantasy regularly makes bank here, including the two MMORPGs, Dragon Quest has yet to release its MMO officially in the States. While, yes, the rest of the series would eventually get released here, it took a longer time to get there and I imagine digital distribution gave them more confidence. Dragon Quest XI was a shot in the arm for the series, but I imagine it still struggles with its competitors.

The idea of “aiming at adults”, however, is a fallacy in understanding its audience. Adults are already playing the series, and abandoning the light hearted nature of the series will likely turn off part of the audience they already have. There’s a difference between “light hearted” and “kiddie”.

No, Dragon Quest VIII isn’t a dystopia like Final Fantasy VII’s Midgar. But we are also chasing a murderous clown possessed by a demon king. The first boss is a creature concussed by the same item we are trying to find, but our mode of airborne transportation is the ghost of a murdered child of a spirit bird. And there’s something about Akira Toriyama’s art style that makes the shift from sillier moments to down right heart breaking moments work very well, where the living dolls that are Bravely Default’s heroes doing over the top heroics just feels off. I love this style, I love its humor, and I love its characters, and none of that makes me feel like I���m being talked down to like I’m a kid. 

After eleven games, I guess a style and tone change is bound to happen at some point. And I don’t feel a franchise should be forced to do the same thing over and over again. But the point I’m making is that you’re not making it more appealing to adults. Or less appealing, for that matter. It is a change, neither better nor worse, and might be subjectively received favorably or ill-favorably depending on timing and climate. But, Horii, don’t feel that you somehow owe the gaming community a “darker” game now to show you’re grown up.

You’ve been appealing to adults for a long time now.

[forteania]

Happy 29th anniversary to one of the GOATs! Also RIP, again, to Toriyama.

[chase-omega]

If you're considering getting into Dragon Quest after seeing that new trailer for the HD Erdrick Trilogy, Dragon Quest 11S Definitive Edition is the absolute best possible starting point you could take while waiting for DQ3HD to release. It also has a generously LONG demo that allows you to transfer your save data to the full game. The full game also comes bundled with an entire 2D de-make of the game absolutely free, and you can swap between the two versions without even harming your progress. There's also a side mode where you time travel to locations from other Dragon Quest games. This entire game is the absolute definitive Dragon Quest experience, and you absolutely do NOT have to play 1-10 to understand the story since this game is mostly it's own thing, and isn't even the final game in chronological order as of right now. If you are even remotely considering getting into Dragon Quest, START HERE. Try the demo, and if you like it, get the full game. Please, I REALLY want this series to become more popular in the west.

[ponett]

Have you heard about Akira Toriyama passing away?

Kind of impossible not to. The man had an indescribably huge impact on pop culture on a level that very few living artists are anywhere close to. I can't say I was ever the most diehard fan of Dragon Ball (although I do like Dragon Ball), but manga and anime would not be the same without him. His influence is everywhere. And the number of artists in my generation whose lives were changed forever by catching DBZ on Toonami growing up is staggering. A lot of my favorite stories ever would not exist if their creators hadn't been inspired by Toriyama in the first place.

For me it was his influence on the world of video games, though, that really makes his loss hit hard. Chrono Trigger is a foundational text to me. I only fully grew to appreciate Dragon Quest as an adult after having only played a bit of it as a teenager, but it was absolutely a big influence on SLARPG, both directly and indirectly. I was straight up looking to Toriyama's monster designs and illustrations for inspiration at times. But even beyond that, like... the JRPG genre would not exist without Dragon Quest, and while I've got nothing but respect for Yuji Horii, I'm not sure Dragon Quest would've been the smash hit it was without Toriyama's instantly appealing artwork all over it. Without Toriyama, would we even have Final Fantasy, or Mother, or Pokemon, or countless other games following in Dragon Quest's footsteps? And that's not even getting into all the games that were influenced by Toriyama's manga, not the least of which is Sonic.

It's surreal that he's gone. It's hit me harder than I thought it would, honestly. Really left me with a lot of thoughts about the legacies artists leave behind.

[ur-not-real]

I beat Dragon Warrior 1!

I took a break from playing Dragon Quest 5 and many other games during finals season because i needed something I could burn through to de-stress and pick up and put down whenever i had a few free minutes. I'm very happy that i picked this game up because not only is it fun, I could grind as a form of catharsis.

I took me a solid couple weeks and a lot of it was grinding. Because i was playing this for fun more than anything I did use save states, and played it on my beloved Retroid Pocket 2S (love that thing). I looked at some maps and stuff too, but I didn't follow any guides (I didn't need to because I've beaten other versions of this game before).

This game isn't hard, it's just really grindy but I Love Grinding so I was quite pleased with this.

The story still holds up to this day tbh, there isnt a huge plot but i think it's good especially for 1986/1990. I had a lot of fun playing this game, and now I'm sort of slowly playing Dragon Warrior 2 (my favourite of the Erdrick Trilogy), but for now I'm back to Dragon Quest 5.

I had so much fun playing this game and I absolutely would again, especially during finals season lol.

[theeternalsteelangel]

Best thing to come from Direct today was the Dragon Quest Erdrick Trilogy, fight me on it.

[cwgames]

Angri-La Highlights Part 2

We that the monks here were supposed to train the hero. But never happened ever since the Hero birth place was destroyed.