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veebs-hates-video-games · 6 months

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I think once I do Ys 8 I'm basically caught up, but first Dragon Quest 11 for a bit.

I played the demo on my computer a couple years ago and was really impressed. I spent at least a dozen hours on just the demo and still didn't run out of stuff to do, and I was enjoying the retro vibe in a more modern and polished package.

Then I decided to wait for it to go on sale at an arbitrary price I decided I was ok with. And then I kept waiting for multiple years because it just keeps never hitting that point on Steam.

I ended up actually paying slightly more than that for a used physical copy for the Switch instead, so good job Squenix, you got $0 out of that instead of like 10% less than what you would've if you'd dropped the price slightly more over time.

The problem with that is that now I have to redo all the stuff I did in the demo, and the beginning of the game is slooow. Painfully so. And on top of that the game is just painfully slow in general. It would be instantly improved by speeding up literally everything by 20%, even without redoing anything to fit the slightly faster pace.

The default camera speed takes a full five seconds to do a 360, and even at the max speed it takes at least like three. This is a recurring problem for me in a lot of Japanese games, and less often in games from other places (who tend to screw up their cameras in different ways). If the maximum speed isn't too fast for me to comfortably use your range of speed settings is too narrow.

Unsurprisingly to go along with that the walking speed is also really slow compared to what I'm used to. It has separate speeds for indoors and outdoors, and really the outdoor speed is how fast the indoor one should be while the indoor one should be reserved for stealth/sneaking sections (and those should stay in games I don't play because they're just not fun for me). It's especially painful coming directly from Ys 8, where the slowest walking speed is faster than the fastest one in DQ11, plus it has a run button to go faster, plus you can equip an accessory to turn it into a run even faster button.

There's a setting to change the combat speed, but really that wouldn't address most of my problems, and also it makes the animations look weird, which is a shame because there's a lot of excellent animation work in the game, like every different enemy has their own set of animations, and they're all extremely expressive and charming.

Unfortunately it tends to make you wait through the entire animation every time, including the full transition to their idle animation, when normally most games would move the camera or start accepting input again somewhere in the middle of that process. Also if there's a musical jingle that plays for any reason (e.g. winning a battle, leveling up, a new party member joining, saving your game) you have to let the whole thing finish playing before you can do anything (and anything includes mashing buttons to skip through stuff you've already seen dozens of times), which is also an extremely long delay compared to what most games do.

I swear if the camera and run speed were more reasonable and all the little things that make you wait around extra time doing nothing were tweaked a bit the game would instantly go from 100 hours to 60-70 and feel much better too.

Also while we're at it can we get some menus that suck less, especially the terrible inventory? I know a lot of the weird quirks in the game are things that were inherited from the older ones, but sometimes you just need to change them to make them actually functional, and you can reference the old ones with visual design or something.

It's a great game in a lot of ways, but it sure does manage to suck in others at the same time. I wish I'd just paid the extra five bucks and finished the game in 2021, because redoing all this stuff at the beginning is painful.

#dragon quest xi #dragon quest

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holyshit · 2 years

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hiii I'm going to LTWT Antwerp and I'm going alone and it's my first ever concert and I have a pit ticket. do you have any tips for me on how to survive and thrive in line, in the arena and after the concert?

ahh how exciting!!! louis is a great one for a first concert ever! i answered a different anon a month ago who was asking for tips for being in line all day and i wrote a pretty long response which you can find here. now for in the arena and after!

in the arena:

safety first, so if you plan on being in the depths of the pit and not stand towards the back, be extra sure to have water on hand! if you're on barricade, be careful about the amount of space your chest has (you can put your forearms in front of your chest to give yourself more breathing room) as it can end up being tight. don't be scared to call over security if you feel yourself getting dizzy or sick. it's worth it to get out of the pit as soon as humanely possible if you're starting to lose consciousness, and it's a much better experience and safer to let security pull you out before you actually faint.

don't fuss or stress too much about your place in the pit... just find a place that has room and looks like there are fun people around you. the crowd moves so much once the show starts that you're gonna be in a different spot by the end either way! you may even end up closer once the pit starts to move. and you will have fun in any spot, near the front or near the back. they're different and both have their advantages and disadvantages, but it's a great experience either way.

also, it's 100% an option to just leave the pit mid-way through the set and stand towards the back where it's less crowded if you feel unsafe or if you simply aren't vibing with the experience in the pit. it's SUPER fun to be towards the back of the pit where you have more room to dance and don't have to deal with having a bunch of sweaty bodies pressed against you lol

in my opinion, try not to film too much/take too many pictures. i spent the majority of my first few concerts watching the show through a camera/phone screen, and now that i don't do that, i can tell you the difference in experience is TREMENDOUS. it's so much more fun and makes for such a better memory to spend the majority of the time with your phone away, actually dancing, screaming, singing along, and not spending the whole time trying to get good angles or make sure they can't hear you singing in the video. it puts a damper on the experience. at this point in my life, i personally only take a handful of pictures/videos max

speaking of! don't be afraid to dance, sing along, jump, and scream! this is what makes concerts so beautiful- when you really allow yourself to let go and essentially just completely lose your shit with other people who also love this artist! it's a feeling like nothing else, and try not to let any self-consciousness get in the way of experiencing that. no one is judging you, and if they are, it's probably a reflection of their own self-consciousness

this is where i reiterate from my last post that comfortable shoes are your best friend! especially if you plan to wait in line for hours, you're also going to be standing for hours so you want to be as comfortable as possible in very uncomfortable conditions.

and again from my last post, if you plan to have a bag, try to also bring one that is comfortable, not too heavy with only the essentials, and i personally prefer something cross-body so i don't have to have it slipping off my shoulder constantly

after the show, there isn't too much to say, but from what i can think of:

stay with groups of people if you're in an unsafe part of town! get food and a drink if needed!

make sure you already have a good plan for how to get home in advance!! make sure you know the bus/train/subway schedule in advance if you're taking public transit! you definitely don’t want to miss the last bus lol

if you want to try to see louis, you can probably look for groups of people already standing around to give you an idea of where you should wait. especially once people going home start to trail off, it will become more clear where people are waiting. it's very dependent on the venue set-up so i can't give specific advice in that way, but i find it's usually easy to see where people think he might come out. back doors/where the buses are is typical. but remember it is very much a gamble, and there's a good chance you won't see him or he won't stop for people, so don't get your hopes up too much!

take part in the group sing-alongs that sometimes happen as people are walking around after the show! they're super fun and feel weirdly bonding!

rant about how amazing the experience was to your friends/family for the next few days to your heart's content <3 if they love you, they will be happy to see your excitement!

hope you have the BEST BEST time anon! hope your first concert experience is absolutely amazing! stay safe and let loose, dance dance dance and scream the lyrics for me <3

#asks #anonymous

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