Wolf Kanno
is a Level 99 Chocobo
Memento Mori
Site Contributor

Well, I hope so. And don't get me wrong, seeing that skeleton in the shack and the robot still serving him soup was pretty effective. It just could have ended there and been much more effective, IMO.

I was really hoping this would be one of those worlds that won't stay saved, honestly. Due to the lack of records, I was expecting they'd actually use the robot to build an army and start a war all over again. Alas, that plot point was wasted. Which is exactly why I think it was all unnecessary and would have worked better if you just got to see the shack and how Autonymus died alone with the robot he named after the dead woman he loved outlived him for centuries.

But he can be a good writer at times, and DQ has had vignettes that were really good. Heck, DQV's entire story is more poignant than most games I've played mostly because of how well it's handled - he just knew how to keep the right things subtle so that you could relate to the protagonist and feel the passage of time. So I really wouldn't consider him a bad writer because a bad writer does not create that.

I think maybe it would have worked better for me if 1) I hadn't stumbled on people on the Internet praising it to high heaven and 2) maybe the characters weren't all so "This is a living being with a soul!" If they were actually emphisizing honoring the memory of Autonymus, that would have worked. But I just don't agree with the way they decided to go about her routine. And I think that's because part of me feels for her and I think the saddest thing is that people decide it's for the best that she stays deluded that she can save him instead of even trying to give her a new purpose for living. Because he's gone and she can't bring him back with no soup. Refusing to help her face reality seems kind of cruel, really. For me the story is just sad in a way that I feel is completely at odds with author's intent, because every single one of the characters is like "yep, this is the right thing to do. We are heroes for... perpetuating this limbo."

That's good to hear! Being back in neutral, I mean. I've never taken on the optional bosses in DDS so I wonder how hard they are.

Too bad about SMT IV tho. The good thing is that I'll probably be getting it for Christmas as well, so we can keep each other updated on where we are

As for DQ, yeah, that was a bit sad but I don't think it warranted the reaction everyone had to it. I mean, damn, the poor machine is wasting its life away by doing something completely futile and you're trying to tell me letting it stay in this limbo is the kind thing to do? The hell?

Not to sound too cynical, because I actually think it's possible for AIs to possess souls in the future, but I really think everyone talking about the robot as if it were human was really getting ahead of themselves. There was nothing to suggest it was personally attached to Autonymus - heck, the fact that it was ready to serve Ambrose instead even disproves it, as that means they were pretty much interchangeable in its eyes. It does say "thank you" but that doesn't have to mean anything since it does respond to people as part of its initial programming and you did help it get back to doing what it was supposed to do.

I mean, you'd expect a soulless machine to just keep doing what it's meant to do until it dies. But instead of trying to work it so it does something actually useful, everyone's like "this territory is off limits! Do not go there! No one must know why even though it's just that there's a robot that keeps bringing soup to a dead body and that's how it's meant to be forever!"

Idk, I was disappointed. Probably mostly because I've seen people say it's "omg so messed up" but really it was just "eh". I was expecting a twist, especially since they said there's a whole chunk of history missing, which I thought was foreshadowing to something big. Then there's also the fact that the game tried to push mindless, unquestioned sentimentalism as the right thing to do which just made me go ugggghhhhhhh

So I beat the mech chapter, past and present and... I really don't get what was so dark about it? If anything, I think the course the game made you take was pretty stupid.

Just like every DQ game, really.

Though I've heard that the switch to symbol encounters has actually fixed that for DQ VIII. Apparently, now the exp gain is much bigger, so there's no real need to stop and grind anymore

Yeah, I heard. DQVI pulled none of that, thankfully, since whoever joined you stayed pretty much throughout the entire game.

Still, that's nothing some good old grinding can't help with

Ooh, I'll keep that in mind! Thanks! The automatons don't seem that difficult yet, though.

Also, will it be hard for Ruff to catch up? He's currently lever 4 or 5 while everyone else is like 13.

Yep! Made it to the island with all the mechs this morning. Idk why but I just can't stop playing these games.

Just beat that boss in the cave where Ruff was. Now I'm back in town and I can finally talk to actual people.

Well, for me that scene when he keep saying "Ruff! Ruff!" and they take it that it's his name just makes more sense to me. I understand you may feel nostalgic to Gabo, though. I just think the new version works much, much better.

Really, the only thing that bothers me about these translations are the puns, but I'm willing to give them a pass since apparently that brings them closer to the original Japanese, and though I am loath to admit it, it does reinforce the light, fun quality of the game that really makes it stand out among the crowd. Other things I genuinely love, though. That Ruff example is just one of many things, just like all the dialects, that I really appreciate as a linguist and translator myself. Because the dialect aren't just thrown in - they're well researched, well transcribed, and used consistently for characters of specific origins, really making the world feel like a lathe, multi-cultural place of diversity. It's so much better and so much less lazy than that studios faux-Early Modern English thing that happened in I and II that wasn't even used correctly at all.

So yeah, I think I understand how you may dislike it, considering how the new translation changes everything you know and like about Dragon Quest, but for me it just tingles all the right linguistic places in my head. And I really appreciate the huge effort they go through to really recreate that intended DQ experience.