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About Me
My name is Ben. This is my blog.
I enjoy working in Adobe Flash when I have the time and I've churned out a few websites as a result. I call myself a gamer, although I'm admittedly a bit of a fanboy; you could print "Nintendo" on a roll of toilet paper and I'd bid for that shit on eBay.
Seriously though, I play a lot of games and my platform of choice right now is the DS. There are a ton of sidescrollers and traditional RPGs that I remember playing a lot when I was younger. Better yet, I missed a lot of games on the Super Nintendo back in the day (they were like $70 or something) and a big trend on the DS right now is remaking and re-releasing them for this generation of gamers. I eat that shit up. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Shiren the Wanderer FTW.
My Top Seven Favorite Game Franchises:
1. Dragon Quest
2. Half-Life
3. Mario (excluding some)
4. Castlevania
5. Metroid
6. Ace Attorney
7. Resident Evil
Some of my favorite games (In no particular order):
Paper Mario, Xenogears, Okami, the entire Resident Evil Series, Super metroid, Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2, Secret of Mana, Illusion of Gaia, The World Ends With You, Mario Kart DS, Kirby Canvas Curse, Super Mario Galaxy, Fire Emblem: Path of radience, No More Heroes, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis, Dr. Mario, Devil's Crush, Ninja gaiden (NES), Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest Heros: Rocket Slime, the Phoenix Wright series, Hotel Dusk, The Longest Journey, Breath of Fire III, Half-Life 2, Lock's Quest, Henry Hatsworth, Rhythm Heaven, and many others that I just can't think of right now...
Gamer Profile
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PSN: Ben7072
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Steam:
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PSN: Ben7072
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Following (8)
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Back in September of 2008, I had the pleasure of playing my first proper Dragon Quest game with "Chapters of the Chosen" for the DS. After completing it, I couldn't help but wonder why I had never played a game in this series before. I'm always complaining about the gimmicks thrown into many modern games and how I'd want nothing more than to just play a modern RPG that stripped away all the nonsense and took things back to basics. Well, Dragon Quest has been sitting right under my nose since I was in diapers. Not content to stop at the fourth game in the series, I've set out to acquire and play through every localized Dragon Quest title right up until I replay the fourth entry ... on the NES. I've spent months lurking around eBay, and I've amassed a complete collection that now only needs me to experience it. If you've played any of the games I'll be talking about, I'd appreciate your comments as I don't know anyone locally who I can talk to about this wonderful series. Part Seventeen: Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden... continued 
So, hey, you wanna hear something crazy? You ready for this? 
That’s right. After almost eighteen months and three different home addresses, Dragon Quest VII is officially just another notch in my DQ belt. It’s almost hard to believe; the index for the walkthrough alone was so long and daunting I didn’t think I’d ever make it out alive. But here we are… Yesterday, I’d attempted for the first time to take on Orgodemir, and failed. It was a battle of attrition, and he just had the resources to outlast me. No matter though, I took a look at my party’s strengths and weaknesses, put together a loose strategy, and made a second attempt. 
Orgodemir has four different phases, each on more deadly than the last. He means business from the very beginning, but by the third phase, he’s dishing out attacks that take upwards of 150 HP from each teammate. My strategy was as follows: - Have Ben cast Twin Hits (a spell that doubles attack power) on Gabo, Aira, and himself in that order. - Have Gabo cast Magic Wall on the party, then start wailing on the boss. - Have Melvin cast Heal Us on every single turn, unless no one is missing more than 100 HP. In that case, just attack. - Have Aira sing War Song twice (a song that raises the party’s defense considerably), then start wailing on the boss. - After Ben casts Twin Hits three times, start wailing on the boss. And, really, this worked like a charm for the first three phases. He was dishing out heavy attacks, but couldn’t keep up with Melvin’s healing spells. And when thing got really heavy, I just had Ben stop attacking and join in with Melvin to heal. The fourth phase is when thing really got good. I had been saving all of Gabo’s MP for this part, and I just unloaded on him with five back-to-back Ultra Hits, which took a total of 2500 HP. Orgodemir didn’t stand a chance. Gabo’s Ultra Hits combined with the rest of the team using normal attacks brought Orgodemir to his knees in no time at all. At first I was a little shocked at how easy it was, but no wonder: I was at level 51. In case you’re curious, here are my team’s ending stats: 
With Orgodemir dead, I was transported to the Sky Fane, and then watched an ending that would rival that of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’s. Seriously, this last part was almost an hour long. I guess it makes sense though; what better way to end a 100+ hour game? The ending had me flying around in my weird egg-shaped ship again, stopping off at all the towns I’d saved. It was a good refresher course, as it reacquainted me with all the various townsfolk throughout the world. When that was done, Ben returned to his hometown to rest for the night. The next day, Ben sets out on his first voyage with his father, Borkano, and the credits begin rolling. The whole time, I’m wondering what the hell ever happened to Kiefer, but at the very end, as Borkano pulls of a net of fish, a stone shard with some writing on it falls out: Dear Ben, I'm still traveling with Layla and the Dejan tribe. I don't even know how long it has been since you and I went our separate ways. Jann has yet to return. As the guardian of tribe, the honor of marrying Layla fell to me. If you find this, I want you to let my father know that his son finally found his way in this world. And, Ben, I want you to know that we are friends no matter how far we are from each other. Your friend, Kiefer I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to this game. And thus draws to a close the longest game I’ve ever played, by a long-shot. So, what’s next? There’s less than a month to go before Dragon Quest IX comes out, so if I play another DQ game beforehand, it would definitely have to be a spin-off. I have two games in mind: Dragon Quest Swords for Wii, or Torneko: The Last Hope for the PS1. Suggestions? As always, thanks for reading! Ben ----- Total elapsed time across entire Dragon Quest series: ~275 hours - IV DS - ~30 hours VIII - ~70 hours I NES - ~20 hours DQM:J - ~20 hours V DS - ~30 hours VII - ~105 hours Total amount of money spent on Dragon Quest Series: $259.00 (IV, VIII twice, slime controller, I, I & II GBA, Joker, V DS, V SFAM, VII) For the past Dragon Questing blogs, click the links below: :::::::::: From Dragon Quest VII: Dragon Questing Part Sixteen: Running Scared with My Tail Between My Legs Dragon Questing Part Fifteen: Poopsockin' it Through Eden Dragon Questing Part Fourteen: Groundhog Day Dragon Questing Part Thirteen: I am 100% Addicted to the Dharma Temple Restoring the Planet: Dragon Questing, Part Twelve Meet the Warriors of Eden: Dragon Questing, Part Eleven :::::::::: From Dragon Quest V: No Wonder Everyone Loves This Game: Dragon Questing, Part Ten Coming to America Sans Eddie Murphy: Dragon Questing, Part Nine :::::::::: From Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker: I Guess They Can't All Be Gold: Dragon Questing, Part Eight :::::::::: From Dragon Quest I: Returning the Ball of Light: Dragon Questing, Part Seven Getting a Grip on a Classic: Dragon Questing, Part Six Going Back in Time: Dragon Questing, Part Five :::::::::: From Dragon Quest VIII: The conclusion of an Epic: Dragon Questing, Part Four Discovering the Monster Arena: Dragon Questing, Part Three How to Give a Boy a Heart: Dragon Questing, Part Two Meeting the Cursed King: Dragon Questing, Part One
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Living the dream since March 16, 2006
Living the dream since March 16, 2006
As far as the next game goes, I'll put a vote in for Torneko, if only because I remember reading about it when it came out, and it sounded pretty fun. It might also be cool for you since the thing that got you into Dragon Quest was DQIV, and Torneko's a side story/spin off of that.
Also, you should totally play Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime at some point. That game is AMAZING!
Rocket Slime was actually the very first DQ game I ever played. I know that's a bit misleading, since my blog seems to indicate otherwise, but I didn't really feel like that was a "proper" Dragon Quest game, in that it was a spin-off.
But, man, what a great game that was... I bought it day-and-date of release, and was absorbed in it until the very end. Back then, I was so convinced that I only liked Rocket Slime because it was a spin-off. In fact, I was positive that I wouldn't like Dragon Quest until I started playing IV. What an eye-opening experience that was...
The only reason that I bought either of those games was because they were Square-Enix titles. After playing all these DQ games, and having played FF games for years, there is such a big difference between was Squaresoft was, what Enix was, and what Square-Enix is. They just don't make game like they used to.
I think I'm going to go with... Torneko.
I'd say it's a cross between 4 & 5.
Four was awesome because, well, it was my first (you never forget your first), but also becuase it took a really simplistic story and told it in a fun and interesting way. Not to mention, it has some of the best DQ characters ever. Torneko, especially, was a great character, in that it really challenged your expectations of what an RPG hero does. He was a fat, middle-aged dude, and the primary goal of his chapter was to open up a shop and get rich. It was interesting in that the mechanics stayed the same; you were going out and fighting baddies and collecting loot, but the kicker here is that you would take all your stuff back home, sell it, and put it towards buying a shop. How weird is that?!
Five is also awesome and, if I'm being realistic, a little better. The story is as engrossing as Dragon Quest has ever been for me, with a few really, really profound moments that you would never expect from a game like this. Sancho, Pankraz, and your pet tiger are all better characters than you'd think from first glance.
Do you have a DS?
Yeah I have a DS. Thanks for the recommendation, i'll give DQ5 a go.
I'm looking forward to following along with this while I play through IX myself. And maybe I'll decide to finish VIII one of these days.
Grats on beating 7, the one I always get lost in!
I've also been curious about Swords for a while now, but some other folks actually convinced me to pick up Torneko first. I did just finish Shiren the Wanderer for the DS recently, and I figure I should probably tackle Torneko before I forget how to play Roguelikes! But after 9, I'll probably play Swords before moving onto 2 and 3.
Ekm29 -
Yeah!!! I hope you like it! Please let me know!
Naia-the-gamer -
Luckily, I own physical copies of all the Super Famicom Dragon Quest games, so playing the translated PC roms wouldn't really even be piracy!!!
But 2 and 3 would have to be sometime after 9. The reason being is that I'm not confident that I could finish either game before 9 came out, and I'm definitely going to want to switch over to 9 the second it's released.
But it does admittedly excite me that 1, 2 and 3 are connected story-wise. And that bit about Caravan heart blows my freaking mind! Er... is Caravan heart by any chance better than Joker? I didn't like Joker much...
Trebz -
Hey, thanks for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed what you saw, and I hope you'll continue to check out my posts.
Yeah, playing 7 and 8 definitely contributed to that massive amount of hours I've spent on the series... over half, in fact. You should def finish 8 though, it's awesome!!!
I'm excited about you following along with 9; I'm planning on posting more regularitl about that game, and taking it really slowly. I'm thinking about posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about 9 until I finish it.
Baksama -
Thanks, I very nearly did get lost in 7 on a couple of occasions... it's huge!
I definitely plan on playing all of the NES games, rest assured. How short do you mean? Took me about 20 to get through the original, but I guess that's pretty short compared to the rest...
Do I maybe have faps to thasnk for this?