Last night I was trying to get the last Dragon Ball I needed to make a wish. I’ve found that the seventh one is always the biggest chore.
I think that’s because the odds of a Dragon Ball dropping in a Parallel Quest remain constant no matter how many of them are available to drop. That is, when there’s only one left to get, your odds are one-seventh of what they’d be when you have none of them.
Anyway, my go-to method has been to keep playing PQ12, because if a Time Patroller appears, he’ll be there at the beginning. So if he doesn’t show up or he doesn’t give you a Dragon Ball, you can restart the mission until he does. This works really well for the first four or five Dragon Balls, but on the last two, it becomes more frustrating.
One thing that bothered me was that whenever the Time Patroller stiffed me on a Dragon Ball, I’d restart and end up fighting the exact same Time Patroller. This made me wonder if I was stuck in some sandtrap.
That is to say, I was worried that this *particular* Time Patroller not only *wasn’t* giving me a Dragon Ball, but he *couldn’t* give me one, and the only way out was to beat him, finish the PQ, and start over to get a new Time Patroller with deeper pockets.
As it turns out, this is NOT the case. I finally decided to test my suspicions by fighting the same Patroller over and over again, restarting every time he stiffed me. I forget his name, but he was a bare-chested redhead guy with a ghoatee, so I’ll call him Ron Weasley, because I hate Ron Weasley. I know he didn’t grow a ghoatee in the book, but it wouldn’t have changed my opinion of him.
After about a dozen rounds of this, Ron *finally* coughed up the One Star Dragon Ball I wanted. Actually, it’s a lot more fun to fight the same Time Patroller over and over, because it makes me feel like a Loan Shark.
“Hey, Ron, I been lookin’ for ya!”
“Oh, uh, Luffa! I, uh, I was just on my way to the bank, see, and uh….”
“You got that Dragon Ball you owe me, Ron? Or do I have to get my nice clean Pilot Suit dirty again like last time?”
“No, please! All I have are Hercule Badges! Rare ones! You can have as many as you want!”
“You know, that’s the funny thing. I was talking to Shenron the other day, and I said the exact same thing to him. ‘Gee, sorry, Mr. Eternal Dragon, but I only have six Dragon Balls. But I’ve got a bunch of Hercule pogs. You take those, right?’ You know what he said to me, Ron?”
“He called me a stupid jackass, Ron. Now I don’t think I’m a stupid jackass, Ron. Do you think I’m stupid, Ron?”
“Right, because only an idiot would think Hercule badges are worth a Dragon Ball. And I know you’re a bright boy, Ronald. I’m sure if you put your mind to it, you could find that Dragon Ball you owe me, and save us both a lot of trouble.”
“I’ll have it for you next week, I swear!”
“Uh-huh, but maybe I don’t *want it* next week. Maybe I want it a little faster than that. I think you can handle that, Ron. Maybe you just need some motivation….”
Anyway, I’m looking forward to the next round of Dragon Ball farming now.
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