I read that it doesn't affect the Hero, just the rest. Serves me right for trying to give Yangus some more defense.

It played cool haunting music though

Yes it did.

got owned by the boss of the Dark Ruins pretty badly, so I decided to go and level up a bit. Went to Trodain and fought everything in sight to get some liquid metal slimes (10,000 xp). Actually managed to kill more than 50% of em and got on average 3 levels for the characters in about an hour. Multiheal should make that boss fight considerably easier.

still hopeless against Rank B in the arena.

I haven't played in a week, I have been so busy at work.

First pictures of Dragon Quest Yangus:
http://www.the-magicbox.com/0512/game051214e.shtml

OK, right now I have about 25 hours into Shadow Hearts II. I've hearing nothing but good things about DQ VIII. I really like the old school type of RPG's. As mentioned earlier, I think you can get it at CC for 30 bucks. So, my question is should I finish SH II and how many hours does it usually take to finish? Or should I go and pick up DQ VIII and dive in and forgot about SH II for the time being? Thanks...

Finish SHII or you'll probably never go back to it. It's hard to jump back in to RPGs after time off (especially with the 80+ hours DQVIII takes) as you forget the story, lose track of what your supposed to do next, aren't as familiar with the map etc.

I'm currently at 42.5 hours in the game, and I'd say I'm only about 2/3 through it. I'm not sure because I don't know what all is left to do. Right now there are 3 things on my immediate todo list in the game.

That looks like a young Red in one of those photos. If it's anything like DQ8, I'll be picking it up.

That's definitely Red. Based on the fact the it looks like he's got three monsters following him, this could be a new Dragon Quest Monsters title.. DQM1 featured a DQ6 hero as a kid and DQM3 featured a DQ7 hero as a kid. So, if that's the case it'll probably be a PSP title. But, that's just speculation at this point.

This is so true. I have dozens of half-finished RPGs that I always consider jumping back into, but can never remember where I was at. I went ahead and started DQ8, but put it on hold to finish Shin Megami: DDS 1. I give up on Magna Carta already, I'll finish that later. And I'm so tempted to go ahead and jump into Kingdom Hearts 1 before the sequel comes out.

Why the heck do I keep on buying RPGs???

I wonder this myself sometimes.

I have several RPG's I've purchased this last year that I've started but haven't finished.......yet I keep buying new ones.

I hear that. I used to buy almost RPG that came out, and only finished about half of them. Now I've cut it down to only a handful this year and I've beat most of them, but even so, I had to put Dragon Quest VIII on hold for a few days, so I could go back and finish Xenosaga II before the desire to do that left me completely. At least I don't have to worry about forgetting what was going on in that game (Xenosaga), because the plot is so that there's little chance to understanding what's going on anyway.

Very true. I was all into Tales of Symphonia, and then took a break, and haven't played since. That was about 2-3 months ago. Same thing happened with Star Ocean.

Ditto for me on Baten Kaitos.

Shame the chances of getting it here now are like one out of a million. From what folks in know say corporate SE is very displeased with DQ8 sales. Apparently it didnt even get near 100k and they were hoping for 1/4 of japan market after all work they put into it. It sucks when today casual gamer dominates your hobby, while it never sold here well in past I hoped the market was able to "mature" enough to support genre other then characters with guns in their hands or typical sports game. DQ5 we can officially say goodbye to as well

Well, they were crazy if they thought Dragon Quest VIII was going to sell over 1 Million copies in North America. Other than Final Fantasy, JRPGs don't sell that well over here. Most casual gamers have never even heard of Dragon Quest before, and you can thank Enix for that. Dragon Warrior IV gets a minor release on the NES after most people had already moved on the SNES, Dragon Quest V & VI don't get released at all, and then Dragon Warrior VII gets released at the end of the Playstation's lifecycle (with graphics that look first generation) after most people have already moved on to the PS2.

Re-releasing the older and/or previously unreleased titles on the the Playstation might have been a good way to drum up interest in the series, but oh guess what? Re-releases for IV & V were never released in the US either. We did get re-releases of 1-3 on the GBC, but just in case casual gamers might accidentally draw a connection between those games and Dragon Quest VIII, S-E changes the North American title of the series back to the original Japanese title. So it's not exactly suprising that the 8th game in a series that most people haven't heard of, or if they have heard it of it it was under a different title, didn't sell very well.

thats a bummer that the game isnt selling well. Its very well done in my opinion. Im about to head into Rylon's Tower (sorry I dont think thats a big spoiler or anything) and im still totally enjoying the game.

also for taking on Rank S in the arena what team do you guys recommend? Right now ive got Stereopes(sp) Talos and the healing Octopus guy. I like that Skeledoid guy but I think the other two just have more tanking ability.

I seriously doubt the game is selling under Square-Enix's expectations. People over at Slime Knights are freaking out because it wasn't on the November sales chart not realizing that 1) the game was released in the middle of the month, 2) Christmas time meaning parents buying present meaning stuff like X-Man and Spider-Men fly off the shelves even more so than even usual for the kids and 3) RPGs rarely make it in these charts to begin with.

While DQ Yangus may not make the move across the ocean (it's just been confirmed that it will be the next Mysterious Dungeon game.. which makes it more unlikely) I can assure you that the next remake and IX are probably heading over once they come out in Japan.

A regular customer of mine (I say mine because he shops at the store and buys specificly from me) bought DQ 8, and the Slime controller no more than two weeks ago. This suprised me because he normally does'nt like RPGs and I felt this game would be a good starting ground for him. He appeared excited and asked me if I had bought the game yet, and I told him I was'nt buying it right away because my girlfriend worked on it, so when she got her copy she said she would give the game to me. Today my customer comes to the store and hands me a bag. Inside the bag is his copy of DQ 8, and the Slime controller. Puzzled I asked him if he was trading it in, and he said "No, I couldnt get into it, and rather than trade it I want you to have it. Merry Christmas." I feel bad that I didnt pay for the game and show my support, but I'm also glad it didnt end up in the trade-in box. I guess now my girl gets to keep her copy of the game .

BTW, for whatever reason, the game is down to 30 bucks at the latest GameCrazy sale. I hope it's not because of poor sales...

I don't know what SE was expecting, but they sold almost 100k in half a month from what I've read.

If there's anyone else who's been thinking about picking this one up : wait one week. CAG is reporting it'll be $34.99 at BB next week, so that's $24.99 a/c. I'm all over that one.

Actually, it's $34.99 at CC.. you'll have to PM at BB and use the coupon for $24.99.