I did this previously in Dragon Quest I and II. Like Dragon Quest II, this game has a spell which allows you to bypass keys. However, unlike Dragon Quest II, there are doors you need to open very early in the game. To accomplish this objective, you need to get a Wizard to level 35 fighting enemy groups that average less than 50 experience points per battle.
As daunting as that seems, I've determined that it can be done in approximately 100 hours of game time. That's less time, for example, than it took me to play Dragon Quest VII through for the first time. It's also considerably less time than it took me to finish my 100% items, max-levels-on-all-classes-playthrough of Dragon Quest III a few years ago.
It was a bit slow starting out, due to the struggle of fighting enemies without equipment. I started with my expected end-game party, two Goof-Offs to turn into Sages later. That was a mistake. I underestimated how much time it would take till my Wizard could survive with less than a full party. I could have breezed through that faster with two Fighters instead. But by the time I realized that, there wasn't much to be gained by switching.
At level 7, when my wizard learned Firebal, I was able to drop my two extra people and fight with my Wizard and Hero. This is advantageous because of the way experience is distributed. You get twice as much experience per person in a two-person setup as you do with a four-person setup. You get twice as much again if you have a single-person party. But the wizard just can't survive solo until around level 12 or 13. Learning the spell Bang is when I was able to go solo, but it was still tenuous for a level or two because at that point you don't always go first, or second or third.
But the Agility gains of the Wizard also picked up around that time, which increases both your speed and your defense, and I've only rarely died since. My Wizard is now level 20, and hasn't died in a few levels. At this point she usually goes first or near first, and has enough agility and HP that a couple of hits don't bother her. The only time she's ever in danger is when a Spiked Hare enemy group hits her with a sleep spell. But even then they usually run away before dealing enough damage to be truly threatening. This was still pretty dangerous a few levels ago, but I've mostly graduated past any real threat level.
That's good, because dying is inconvenient in this challenge. To get the full experience from the battle for my Wizard, my Hero needs to be dead. Otherwise each member gets only half. But if my Wizard, fighting solo, dies, it's the Hero who gets automatically resurrected. So I have to spend time having the Hero attack himself to kill himself off again, which is a minor annoyance. But it's been some time since I've had to do that.
I have a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress. I have around 11% of the experience points I need to get to level 35. It takes nearly two hours at this point to gain a level, so it's pretty monotonous and slow-going. I watch TV while I'm playing to keep from getting too bored. Last night I also took a break to play some Dragon Quest V for a short bit. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Dragon Quest in general, and the challenge isn't going to fill all my Dragon Quest appetite for the time it takes to finish it. So I may play a bit here and there on some other games.
Unfortunately, my conservative estimate, based on the time I have available to play, puts getting the open spell as late as mid-August, assuming I keep up on it that long. We'll see if I have the stomach to keep going that long.
No comments:
Post a Comment