Oh, you might be a good person for me to play with, then. I never really used mages and black magic too well, but I love (and abuse) the clerics and white magic. Or should I be calling them princes?

Well, in DQ IX, the vocations for spells is both Mage and Priest. I hope that KerPlunk goes to the Mage class, or else i'll be torn from which one to choose.

Probably Mage though, KaThwack and KaBoom are invaluable spells. I'm pretty much the contrary, I hate physical classes on DQ games, since I often find out that spells/abilities are faster to get kills (except when you're Metal Slime hunting).

And so, it starts...

Dragon Quest Reviews:

GameTrailers - 8.5

IGN - 8.0

Sigh....how can these sites be so obsessed with the 3DS but so consistently downscore regular DS games?  Are they really so obsessed with graphics?  Even then, Dragon Quest IX is one of the best looking games on the DS....

At the risk of unearthing a cliche',  you can't fix stupid. :P

Seriously though, uninformed internet reviews are a dime a dozen these days and the public is slowly but surely becoming aware of this fact. Take earthbound for example: Gamefan belittled it for it's graphics, music and game play back when that magazine was afloat, but you would be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't impressed with that game today. Heck, there where even magazines who said FF7 was a dull romp back in the 90s and while it may not be perfect, that game is still beloved by millions of people all over the world for one reason or another.

In a game where you can join up with old friends, make some new ones, swap treasure maps and simply enjoy one of the medium's best engines, can one really be bothred by the opinion of some joe-blow on the internet?

I'm sorry for ranting fellas, but Dragon Quest is getting exposure in the western world like it never has before, and I can't let the excitment be ruined just for another bum review in the medium's midst.

Well said, heck if I would have listened to these so called "Proffesional reviews" I probably wouldn't have played about 50% of the games I have played, all of which I have enjoyed greatly.

Well, I have my copy of the game.

So bye for a week while I play it!

I just bought Dragon Quest IX and let me tell you, this is probably one of the best traditional JRPGS i've played in a long time. This game is amazing.

I'm an ONM Subscriber and my copy arrived today with it's review of DQIX, below is their concluding thoughts of the review:

Vast, sprawling adventure

Bags of Character

Multiplayer is seamless fun

Endlessly rewarding

- Dated Menu battle system

'Whether it's teamplay you want or epic solo adventuring, DQIX handles both with class'

90%

Next month they have a review of Metroid Other M,

Been playing this since yesterday, probably around 5-6 hours in.

LOVING it so far.

Anybody else itching to hear the first week's sales? I'm not sure why but I feel it'll be around 300~400 thousand.