#slimereads

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Adorable visuals from Dragon Quest Monsters 4: The Withered World!

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My merch from the Gelato Pique collab arrived! The dracky is sooo soft and squishy <3

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DRAGON QUEST x 8 THE THALASSO

For the 40th anniversary, 8 THE THALASSO is doing a collab with Dragon Quest! This is a company that sells... shampoo!

Their website currently features some adorable illustrations of healslime and friends washing up!

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Dragon Quest VIII - The Journey Begins

A few days ago, I found my copy of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. I bought it when it was released in the US in 2017, then forgot about it for 9 years. After some deliberation, I decided to break the seal and start playing! I'm about 4 hours in and I just got inside the Tower of Alexandra.

I'm surprised the art direction isn't more similar to DQVII 3DS. The game looks pretty nice, like DQIX but fancier (and full 3D of course). I was disappointed when I turned on the 3D slider and nothing happened. Wait, right there on the box it says "Playable in 2D. Some areas also playable in 3D." What areas?!

Slimes are so tiny in this game!! The photo mode is fun. I wish we could also take normal screenshots though. I want to capture lines of dialogue and battles!

Hunting down infamous monsters is pretty fun. So far I've beaten Automaton Aviator, Shortshooter the bodkin archer, Buffalo Bill the bullfinch, and Axoraptor the hacksaurus. I wish they were in the defeated monster log. Wait, I just got spoiled that you can recruit them later?! Oh boy!!!

More thoughts (without screenshots 🥀):

The open world is ok. It's a bit too large and the hero's character model is a bit too small/slow. It looks great, but the PS2 version looks amazing too! Damn, I'll probably have to play it eventually. I know the normal monsters were random encounters instead of in the overworld. I'm used to the overworld encounters from other newer DQ games, but I HATE how they've implemented it in this game. If a monster moves out of your field of vision for one second, it's gone! A new monster spawns! I dread the day I see a metal slime out of the corner of my eye and accidentally rotate it out of frame. Although the top-down view of DQIX isn't as cool as the lower third-person POV of this game, I have to admit it was better when you had to leave the room of the dungeon in order for the monsters to respawn.

I like the characters so far. Eight, Yangus, King Trode, and Medea. King Trode is on the battle record screen giving advice, just like Stella in DQIX!! I appreciate that the party chat screen exists, but I wish their lines would just pop up instead of the whole separate screen. It has a Professor Layton vibe. One time, Yangus told me "I can tell when something is valuable. I was famous for that in me younger days." They added a reference to his spinoff mystery dungeon game! That's adorable! I was wondering why I constantly hear the horse whinnying and the clop of her hooves in the overworld. And then I realized... it's so you know the wagon is following you because it's not rendered in this game. Kind of annoying!!

I recently started playing Ocarina of Time for the first time (the pc port of the N64 version). Farebury and its surroundings feel awfully similar to the market/castle in that game! And don't get me started on the day/night cycle. At first I was annoying by how short it is in OOT, but in this game it feels too long! Of course you can go to the inn, but my gold! I was hoping the Tick Tock spell would make an appearance, but alas. Side note- Ocarina's visuals are amazing! I wish we had a Dragon Quest game on the Nintendo 64! I guess there's always DQVII on PlayStation...

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Closeups from the Dragon Quest Monsters 4 Collector's Edition!

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DQI - Princess Rescue

The faerie village is new in this version, right? But it ties the trilogy together so well! Even though it's not the same village as DQIII... I like spending time there with my friends Day-Dreamer, Arm-Twister, Over-Seer, and Goolian. The free inn doesn't hurt either.

I AM WORKING ON IT, MISTY FAERIE! Time to go rescue the Princess. Since I already learned Dragon Slash, I made short work of the green dragon. The soul sigil is a game-changer. It basically adds the coup de grace or let loose functionalities from DQIX and DQVII, respectively.

I love how they inserted Gwaelin into every single cutscene! She's supposed to help in the battles too, right? So far all she's done is talk, but that's fine. I learned the Japanese word yuusha-sama. I intend to carry her throughout the rest of the game. She's so funny, and some of the silent protagonist syndrome is alleviated by her saying everything for the both of us. Alef asked for no pickles.

Oh my god, then we got stuck in the Weirdwood maze for 30 minutes before the cutscene where Gwaelin dispels the illusion finally triggered. Gwaelin likes the faerie village too! We (it feels great to have some semblance of a party) rescued the faerie leader, Dream-Whisperer. She revealed that she ships Alef and Gwaelin, which made Gwaelin very pleased.

I love how they're both into it. Gwaelin is in it for the long haul!

After grinding some metal slimes and gold golems, I took down the knight aberrant! I remember the strenuous battle from the mobile version. I did it this time at level 32. The glombolero armor that you get from the mini medal king really helps, since it halves MP costs. Alef dons Erdrick's armor!

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Dragon Quest VII Reimagined - Collector's Edition

At 2pm on February 7, 2026, my package finally arrived! Everything seems to be in perfect condition. I'll write a short review of each item.

The game: the reversible cover is a nice touch. If you haven't seen, it has the art for the PlayStation and 3DS versions of DQVII on the inside. I haven't bought a physical game since the days of the Wii and 3DS, and I must say I was disappointed by the flimsiness of the case, but I guess that's what the steelbook is for...?

Steelbook case: I don't really get the appeal of steelbook cases. Whichever case I decide to keep the game (key) cartridge in, I'll have an empty case lying around no matter what! It does make sense for the complete HD-2D Erdrick trilogy.

Digital Deluxe and Earlybird DLC: I'm carefully hoarding my seeds. I like the funny slime weapons, but after a few hours of playing I have no more need for them. The character costumes are fun, although like others have said, I wish the vocation outfits were still in. I currently have the protagonist in VIII's outfit, Maribel in Serena's outfit, Ruff in his white wolf outfit, and Kiefer in his default outfit (someone has to represent VII). Maribel's other outfits all clash with her hair, and she looks great in green! Hey, I just remembered, isn't there supposed to be a red slime shield somewhere? I just looked it up and it's only digital?! That's not fair! The game card isn't even really physical! I was also annoyed that the digital pre-orders got to play two days early while I had to pay more to play two days LATE...

Ship in a bottle figure: I love it! I know some people don't think the figures are detailed enough, but to me they have a nostalgic feeling, like toys from McDonald's or Toys R Us from my childhood in the early 2000s. Of course, you can't play with these. Has anyone cracked theirs open...? It's nice that you can remove the bottle from the stand, but I wish there was a handle or something so I wouldn't have to worry about fingerprint smudges.

Slime plush: So cute! Its exterior is silky smooth and the stuffing feels solid. I wish it was a bit rounder instead of squat. The DQVII Reimagined logo looks cheaply printed (embroidered would be better), and there's a tiny rough bit of plastic sticking out from the middle. Maybe I'll try to cut it down. Both the slime plush and the ship bottle are a nice size!

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Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Over the course of about five weeks, I finally played this game all the way through. It was so fun! The story of the Celestrians is interesting enough, but... As you know by now, I prefer the DQ games with fixed-character parties over the character creator entries like III and IX. Unexpectedly, the character of Stella is so lovable that she almost makes up for it. <3

What made my experience truly fun was local multiplayer! My sister @lovers-instead and I played as much of the game as possible together on our original 3DSes. I'm sad we missed out on this game in our childhood, because we always dreamed of a DS game that let you play the entire game in a fully cooperative way. Pokemon Black/White and Animal Crossing: Wild World gave us a tiny taste, but DQIX really delivers! My sister got the achievement for spending over half of her playtime in multiplayer mode, but I didn't.... because I just couldn't help myself from going back and progressing the story on my own save as well. Yes that means I did everything twice. I had fun!

My main vocations were Armamentalist and Sage. I do admit that the character customization is implemented very well. Every single different piece of equipment (minus accessories) is actually visible on your character when you wear it!

After spending nearly 100 hours on the main story, we didn't feel like grinding in the postgame or looking into preserved online-only content. More playthrough stats below!

Next up is, of course, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined!!!!