Board 8 > August B8 Game of the Month Club ft. Dragon Quest, Minit, and Ori [GotM]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Augusts Games:
Dragon Quest III (NES/SNES/GBC/Android/iOS/PS4/3DS/Wii)
Minit (PC/XB1/PS4)
Ori and the Blind Forest (PC/XB1)

What is Game of the Month Club?
Game of the Month is a community project open to all B8ers where users share, discover, play and/or discuss a select few games every month. The games featured each month are chosen by YOU the users (and Lady Luck)

The Basics
- Each month will feature three games that were chosen via a random drawing from a pool of games that users nominated
- For each game you beat, you get a cool point on our just-for-fun standings as well as a nomination for next month's randomized drawing
- In order to receive the point and nomination, you must beat said game within the calendar month
- If you beat one of the current month's games in the previous month, you can apply for a "recently beaten waiver," but you will only receive a point and no nomination should you do so
- Drawing for next month's games is usually around a week before the end of the month
- If you periodically keep us posted on your progress and/or talk about different aspects of the games, then everyone will think you are super awesome!

Nomination Rules
- You get one nomination automatically each month
- You receive additional nominations each month for every chosen game that you beat
- Each game you nominate has to be unique from all other nominations and cannot include a game that has already been selected for GotM
- Each game must be a standalone game that can be acquired and played on its own (aka cannot be DLC/expansion that requires the base game)
- Nominations only carry over if you beat a chosen game after the drawing for next month's games but before the end of the month
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Just-for-Fun Standings (among those who beat a game in 2017-18)
KCF: 75
gameking: 68
Lolo Guru: 41
Mr Crispy: 38
ArkOfTurus: 36
KnightOfNee: 30
Arti: 23
scarletspeed: 23
MegamanX: 18
Fenny: 15
Robazoid: 13
Wickle: 11
profDEADPOOL: 8
Shaduln: 7
Cody: 6
BetrayedTangy: 5
darkx: 5
paperwarior: 5
MrSmartGuy: 4
MZero: 4
LordoftheMorons: 3
Shonen: 3
KommunistKoala: 2
PrinceReva: 2
azuarc: 1
Fake Account: 1
Harrich: 1
Kain66: 1
Peace Frog: 1
SantaRPG: 1
Steiner: 1
Tom Bombadil: 1
Waluigi1: 1
Wiki: 1

Spreadsheet with history
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X8E8oqzES42W4S82j7WTfNnzNa8c3uXdSE1rnqYG7WM/edit?usp=sharing

Additional noms this month
gameking - 1
MZero - 1
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Dragon Quest III is where the series turned around for me. 1 is an archaic skeleton, of course, and 2 is reeeeally grindy to the point of being a slog. And that was with access to fast-forward. I probably would've been better off playing a remake without fast-forward. III is a legitimately fun, if simple RPG. You can create your own characters, to an extent, and the adventures they go on are rather endearing. Some of you will experience the cautionary tale of [Name]town next month, as well as the more sweeping fantasy saga of the main plot.
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DQ3 came in the mail today!

But i wasn't home so I had to schedule redelivery for Friday :/
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Never played a DQ so I'll probably pick it up for this.
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Just picked up DQ3 on my phone. Maybe ill get a point finally. :)
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I think that I'm going to start Ori within the hour. Now that I can backtrack and get collectibles whenever this time around, I probably won't worry about them too much until post-game.
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Tag

might try to get to Ori this month
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Nominate Ratchet and Clank (2016)

I was looking to see if I had Ori, because I swore I had bought it awhile back on PS3 or PS4. It turns out that it never came out for either platform and I was mistaking it for Child of Light, so probably no Ori for me this month, whoops.
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I forgot that Ori had a definitive version that I don't have. I kinda doubt it's worth $20 more dollars, but it's kind of a bummer I'll be playing the inferior version.

Started Minit. Looking at the how long to beat, I think I'm also close to finishing Minit.
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I thought that if you owned the original version, you could buy the Definitive Edition for $5. At least that's what I did. I wonder if that's for XB1-only if it still showed up as $20 for you (I figure just about all of your gaming is on PC Ark).
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KCF0107 posted...

I thought that if you owned the original version, you could buy the Definitive Edition for $5. At least that's what I did. I wonder if that's for XB1-only if it still showed up as $20 for you (I figure just about all of your gaming is on PC Ark).

That used to be the case, but at some point that expired. Was always planning on doing that when I got around to playing the game, but I put it off too long, I guess.
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Google tells me that the $5 upgrade was available for almost a year but is no longer active.

Ninja'd
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Spent an hour in Ori and am at Moonlit Grotto with 13% done. I was wondering how far I could get without having to respawn. I guess that when you fall into a patch of thorns, you don't simply take damage but are forced to respawn. I have two respawns now, but I'm on pace to have significantly fewer than what I did the first time around.
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ArkOfTurus has beaten Minit

Yeah, that was disappointingly short. It was alright, but it didn't really have enough time to do much interesting with the concept.
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A rousing endorsement!
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Wait, what's the difference between the versions of Ori? I just got a copy of the original one way back when.
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From what I gather, the Definitive Edition adds:
- Two new areas
- Two new abilities
- Two or three new difficulty options (I forget if the original just had a one-size-fits-all difficulty)
- Easier fast travel / backtracking
- No missable collectibles

The last one is a big one to me as the first time that I went through the original version, I assumed that all collectibles could be obtained post-game only to fall one collectible shy of 100% and no way to get it due to no access to the area in question.
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Btw Dragon Quest III is loosely tied to XI so it might be kind of cool to play it beforehand!

Speaking of which Nominate Dragon Quest XI

Since it comes out next month
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Part of the reason I went with III instead of one of the later games was that it's a lot shorter, but I'll definitely be playing XI next month whether it's a GotM or not
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Immediately after resuming, I died twice and several more times after that. I did restore the Ginso Tree, not that it is necessary I put it in spoiler tags. I'm currently at 34% completion.

I don't feel like I have come across any of the Definitive Edition exclusive content, but it has been like three years since I played the original.
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I finally wrapped up Mirror's Edge Catalyst, so I will be dedicating the majority of my gaming time to Ori now. Unless I am totally mistaken on the game length, I should have it finished by early next week.
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tag
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I swore to myself id be more active, this month is hard as im away for a week on business. Plus next week is madden week, hellness

DQ3 I dunno if I have the time for that slog

Minit and ori seem doable
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MegamanX posted...

I swore to myself id be more active, this month is hard as im away for a week on business. Plus next week is madden week, hellness

DQ3 I dunno if I have the time for that slog

Minit and ori seem doable

I beat Minit in about 90 minutes, so your chances of finding time for that are pretty high!
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I am currently at 77% at Black Root Burrows, which is one of the two new areas of the game. I am not a big fan of it as Ori is at its best with the fast, free-flowing movement and this area slows things to a crawl.

That also reminds me that peak Ori might be the best Metroidvania out there. When you get later in the game and have pretty much every ability out there, controlling a full-strength Ori and traversing the world is zen-like.
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I might bust out my GBC and play Dragon Quest III. I would (semi-shamefully) probably resume my old file if that hasn't been wiped out already.
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I resumed my file I had started like half a year ago yesterday. I was only like two hours in, so close enough...!
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I only vaguely remember things that I did almost 20 years ago

I remember going through a pyramid or desert ruin and then maybe some sort of forest or cavern where some civilization up and left or maybe had a tragic end. Perhaps that was one of the other DQ games, but the desert part I remember for sure because that took me FOREVER to beat
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DQ III: Beat Kandar and became Queen of Romaly. There's also a village that's cursed to be asleep by the elves.

Everything so far I kind of remember, but I think I last played this game over a decade ago so I'm sure I'll have forgotten some of it entirely.
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Touching base on what you just said, I think that sleeping village is what I misremembered as the civilization in the forest/cavern
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Got the Dream Ruby and woke up the sleeping village. It seems that the town was put to sleep right after Ortega left many years ago.
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So I am at 86% in Ori and about to enter the final area. I have 120 deaths, and my 99% run from three years ago resulted in 180-something deaths. I feel good about my chances at having significantly lower deaths when I finish, but I wonder if I will go over when I pursue 100% post-game.
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DQ3: Welp, getting the Golden Claws (cursed to give you an encounter every ~2 steps in the pyramid) and then having to go back to the top to get the Mini Medal I missed was quite the experience

On the plus side I don't think I'm gonna need to grind for a while...
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KCF has beaten Ori and the Blind Forest

After finishing, I immediately went and grabbed all that I didn't during the game, and I wrapped up 100% completion in 7:10 with 133 deaths, roughly 50 fewer than last time.

As for those without the Definitive Edition, the additional stuff is cool, especially the new abilities with one making traversal even more amazing, but I encourage you to go through the vanilla version if you have it. The only thing to look out for is missables in I believe three locations. I spoiler tagged them below.

Ginzo Tree, Misty Woods, and Forlorn Ruins
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I haven't played my PS4 since DOOM, so I should probably nom some games I own for that. Let's do Gravity Rush and Teslagrad for now.
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Played quite a bit more DQ3. Got the ship and Final Key.
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Okay, I got my GBC out and popped in DQIII. My file was still there! I looked at the most recent location on the return spell, searched for that name in a walkthrough, and the first mention of it happened to be where I left off.

I rescued two people from a cave, received pepper, and exchanged that for a ship.
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I spent like an hour or so playing it only to accomplish little more than leveling up once or twice.
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DQ3: Got all of the orbs and Lamia. Heavenly Flight is such a great song.
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DQ3: Got destroyed on my first attempt against Baramos since I only had healmore on a cleric and heal (useless) on my hero. I grinded a few levels and got healall on both and barrier on the cleric and then beat him pretty easily.
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KCF0107 posted...

I spent like an hour or so playing it only to accomplish little more than leveling up once or twice.

The Dragon Quest Experience
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Bump
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Played up to getting the water vein in Ori. Game looks and sounds fantastic, of course. I really wish some of the attacks were more visually distinct, though, and something about wall jumping just feels off. Great otherwise, though.
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There are hardly any pure combat moves, so I can't disagree with that point. This is I guess abstract spoilers but not really, but eventually, traversal moves will also double as your most effective combat moves.
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I will start dedicating some more time to DQIII from now on
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In DQIII, I found a Zen (I think the symbol next to the name is a book), and the Final Key. I have a suspicion that these are optional items and thus no closer to progressing through the game.

I think that I may just resort to using a guide to know where I need to go at all times because I don't care to waste time in long, directionless games.
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The Zen Book lets you turn any character into a sage (normally you can only turn jesters into sages). The Final Key is necessary, though.
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DQ3: Up to Zoma's castle. Finally reclassed three of my characters and they're only back up to the mid-20s, so I might have to grind a little bit before taking on Zoma.
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DQ3: Ortega, nooooooooooo!
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