RPG Genre Discussion Thread

[lestatdark]

MrT-Tar said:

I bought DQ IX about a week ago, however I haven't finished playing DQ V yet.  I've just entered the dark realm, progressing to what I assume is the final dungeon.

In DQ IX, is there any big gameplay changes that I should be aware of, apart from lack of random encounters?

There isn't a fixed party this time around, you have to create your own party and this can be easily missed, just like what happened with mjk45.

There's a vocation system that can be freely changed once you reach a certain point of the story. In conjunction with the Skill system that comes from DQVIII, you have tons of skill trees available to your characters and can be freely pursued as you see fit.

There's also a combo system, which works by multiplying damage output if your characters get successful similar actions.
For example, imagine that your Minstrel and Warrior get subsequent attacks. Minstrel usually attacks first due to his higher agility, and does normal damage. Then your Warrior attacks and if he doesn't miss the attack, he gets a 1.2X bonus damage to his attack. If a third character also manages to attack successfully in this window span, without the enemy taking any action, then that character will have a 1.5X bonus damage, and a fourth character would have a 2X bonus damage.

There's a overworld loot system, in which alchemy items can be picked off in certain parts of the world map and will later regenerate after a period of time has elapsed. This also happens for pots and blue chests inside dungeons or towns as well.

I think that's pretty much it.