I have played this, I have beaten it maybe 6 months ago. It is harder at first, but gets easier and a lot more enjoyable.
Everyone should play this.
Let me go find my review:
This is an old school RPG designed to look like the original Dragon Quest games. It uses sounds, music, enemies, skills and graphics from the game, but it still does not feel like the game. The combat system uses the standard 2K3 system which normally is fine, but stats for Dragon Quest start in the single digits when the 2K3 system was meant for higher stats. So from the beginning of the game, you will be waiting around 15 seconds per turn.
The main story is slaying the Slayer King, what did he do to you? I am not sure, but I just know he is evil and for that, you need to kill him after you have proven yourself worthy enough by finding the golden chalice. While the game is narrow on path, story and characters, it has a broad array of customizing your characters. Not just when you first start the game, you begin by selecting your party of four just like Dragon Quest 3 or the SaGa series. It is more than that, in later levels 10+, you will have a wide array of weapons, armors and more importantly accessories. This is where the game gets interesting, fun and more enjoyable than you would suspect because of the quirky items. You come up with your own logic to combat monsters. At some points you may feel very uber compared to the foes you battle, but most of the time you will get slaughtered.
Another thing that makes the game diverse, fun and adds to exploration are the things you find. Not just weapons, treasures and monster-in-a-boxes, but I mean drinkable water that bestows afflictions to you. Helpful afflictions like invisibility or harmful ones like poisoning your entire party.
Expect to be unexpectedly slaughtered quite a lot as the game is very unforgiving. With the death of a single party member, you may be lacking what it takes to win a battle. Whether it is needed magic, or needed weapons, creatures have their own weaknesses that someone in your party will need to combat them. Fortunately, there are spell scrolls if you have a party of non magic users.
It is a plodding game with no choices or places you can get lost exploring. The standard RPG blockages are not clever if there at all. Aside from a few blocked bridges or locked doors you merely travel and enter anything in your path. That does not matter for the old school gamers that have fun just playing, but some people like clever ideas to block higher areas.
After hours of losing frustrating battles, you will be rewarded with hours of enjoyment and equipment variety. If you looking for a game with charming monster graphics, simplistic map design on the surface that has a lot of depth and things to find, this is the game for you.
Advice: Each new area should have a new cast of enemies, even if they are just different versions of them. Metal Slimes and babbles should run more frequently, because if you do not have someone with a *secret* spell to kill them, you may be stuck there waiting. The victory music makes me want to fall asleep instead of go hurray!
Discord
Light Style