Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies - For Liquid Metal we would Slime!

[quote name='craven_fiend']The Bad Cave wouldn't be too terrible to grind in, at your current point in the game. I'm not sure where the spot is, but there are metal medleys that spawn there.[/QUOTE]Its
north of bloomingdale
 
I just got to wormwood and I am still havent change class. I am using a party of minstrel, warrior, priest, and mage. What should I be changing them?
 
Well, I was waiting for the Dangerous Bustier to show up in the store. No luck with that, but what do I find in the first chest of a grotto (a level 45 one) I was in to grind some skill points? Yep, one of those things ;).

So I finished that quest and it was much better than I thought. Not only did I get some helm I didn't have before, but I got 6 recipes (all for variations on the bikinis and bustiers). At this point, even though I think I've found nearly all the bookcases, and I have the recipes from upstairs at the Inn, I still have major gaps in my recipe list. They can't all be from cursed items. There must be more recipes to find via quests like this one - that is all the more reason to try to keep knocking them out.

[quote name='62t']I just got to wormwood and I am still havent change class. I am using a party of minstrel, warrior, priest, and mage. What should I be changing them?[/QUOTE]

You started off similar to me except I went with the Martial Artist instead of the Warrior. Though I switched around quite a bit to pick up various skills needed for quests and such, I ended up doing the following long-term (and still continue with it post-game):

Minstrel -> Ranger (my main character, using boomerangs)
Martial Artist stayed the same (I like using claws and like the high-speed of the MA)
Priest -> Paladin (seemed like a natural transition and I could keep using shield/spear)
Mage -> Sage (another natural transition to keep using wands - only problem is I miss Oomph)

I have yet to even unlock the Luminary class. I see very little talk of that here. Does anyone use it? I can't remember the exact details but it sounded like a pain to unlock (I think it involves killing Atlas, whom I have yet to even see, with some low-level ability).
 
[quote name='io']Well, I was waiting for the Dangerous Bustier to show up in the store. No luck with that, but what do I find in the first chest of a grotto (a level 45 one) I was in to grind some skill points? Yep, one of those things ;).

So I finished that quest and it was much better than I thought. Not only did I get some helm I didn't have before, but I got 6 recipes (all for variations on the bikinis and bustiers). At this point, even though I think I've found nearly all the bookcases, and I have the recipes from upstairs at the Inn, I still have major gaps in my recipe list. They can't all be from cursed items. There must be more recipes to find via quests like this one - that is all the more reason to try to keep knocking them out.



You started off similar to me except I went with the Martial Artist instead of the Warrior. Though I switched around quite a bit to pick up various skills needed for quests and such, I ended up doing the following long-term (and still continue with it post-game):

Minstrel -> Ranger (my main character, using boomerangs)
Martial Artist stayed the same (I like using claws and like the high-speed of the MA)
Priest -> Paladin (seemed like a natural transition and I could keep using shield/spear)
Mage -> Sage (another natural transition to keep using wands - only problem is I miss Oomph)

I have yet to even unlock the Luminary class. I see very little talk of that here. Does anyone use it? I can't remember the exact details but it sounded like a pain to unlock (I think it involves killing Atlas, whom I have yet to even see, with some low-level ability).[/QUOTE]

What quest number is the Bustier used for? I got one in my shop yesterday. I wish I could get tags in my area, but no such luck, so I'll lose out on the Inn recipes, for now. Curse you Japan!

As for Luminary, it seems pretty simple.
All you have to do is kill a Moai Minstrel with Hot Lick.
I've yet to find one of those.

Edit:
Having Patty in the party is kind of cool. She's a level 26 Thief and comes with 62 points to allocate. I stuck with Thief and worked up the Knife skills. Once I get those, I'll quickly change her to something else and harvest points to add to the Thief class skill, then take her through Ranger and Martial Artist. It's nice having a game character in my party.

Also, curse the Back Scratch quest, 30 skill in Wand. I've been lucky with other drop oriented quests, but not this one.
 
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[quote name='craven_fiend']
As for Luminary, it seems pretty simple.
All you have to do is kill a Moai Minstrel with Hot Lick.
I've yet to find one of those.
[/QUOTE]
Seems easy - but they self-destruct after a few turns. :lol: The luminary is a really awesome character in design, but it's not as useful as others. My armamentalist uses a lot of the skills though - Disco Stew is the greatest thing in the game. I think that will be his second class whenever I get around to revocating him - already done so with my Ranger (back to MA) and Sage (Priest).

I've never been so excited about a grotto - water! Not high enough level to have bling badgers for that other quest, but oh well... at least one DLC quest will be knocked off my list.
 
[quote name='craven_fiend']What quest number is the Bustier used for? I got one in my shop yesterday. I wish I could get tags in my area, but no such luck, so I'll lose out on the Inn recipes, for now. Curse you Japan!

As for Luminary, it seems pretty simple.
All you have to do is kill a Moai Minstrel with Hot Lick.
I've yet to find one of those.[/QUOTE]

Ah, I thought it was one where you had to kill Atlas with Hot Lick (I know there's one with him - maybe killing him with Zam?). Moai Minstrels infest the higher level grottos I got from the tag event. They are somewhat of a pain, especially if they have a Slugly Betty with them. I still get wiped out by them on occasion if I get unlucky. I suppose I could try that one out, though. I think I have two chars with Hot Lick now and it is easy enough to get more (it is only 4 points into the Ranger skills).

I forget what number the Dangerous Bustier quest is, but it is one of the lower numbers DLC ones (so 120-something I think). Just look at the quest FAQ at Gamefaqs.

[quote name='botticus']I've never been so excited about a grotto - water! Not high enough level to have bling badgers for that other quest, but oh well... at least one DLC quest will be knocked off my list.[/QUOTE]

I've had water grottos ever since the tag event - haven't had any particular use for them yet.
 
[quote name='doctorfaustus']Darn that Equinox! It took me three tries to best the foul creature.[/QUOTE]
I had a similar experience initially. 150 hours later I took him out in 1 turn. :lol:

Also found a silver grotto, woohoo! Now back to regularly scheduled advancement through grottoes and legacy bosses.
 
[quote name='botticus'] 150 hours later I took him out in 1 turn.

[/QUOTE]

Wow. Ok, time check--who has what hours in the game? I only have 88 hours logged and I feel like I've got another couple hundred to go easily. I also play slower than most people I'm sure.

I have a feeling someone on here must have over 300. Who is it? :D
 
I'm at around 155 hours myself

Does anyone have any grottos that have levels with nothing but king metal slimes or platinum metal slimes on any floors? I have like a level 58 grotto that has nothing but king metal slimes on the 11th floor. It makes grinding quite a bit easier, but I wouldn't mind havin a change of scenery, lol.
 
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[quote name='botticus']I had a similar experience initially. 150 hours later I took him out in 1 turn. :lol:

Also found a silver grotto, woohoo! Now back to regularly scheduled advancement through grottoes and legacy bosses.[/QUOTE]

Heh, that battle felt like 150 hours long to me. If I never see that horse again, I'll consider myself lucky. Darn battle was far more difficult than any of the boss battles I've encountered so far.

I've got about 30 hours and am at level 29.
 
[quote name='botticus']I had a similar experience initially. 150 hours later I took him out in 1 turn. :lol:

Also found a silver grotto, woohoo! Now back to regularly scheduled advancement through grottoes and legacy bosses.[/QUOTE]

I'm about 108 hours or so at this point. I can handle Equinox quite easily now (along with Nemean), but I just tried Zoma (one of the tag event bosses) and while I was able to last several turns I don't think I came close to beating him. But at least that's better than my first attempt several weeks back when he killed all my chars in one turn ;).

[quote name='ncjason77']I'm at around 155 hours myself

Does anyone have any grottos that have levels with nothing but king metal slimes or platinum metal slimes on any floors? I have like a level 58 grotto that has nothing but king metal slimes on the 11th floor. It makes grinding quite a bit easier, but I wouldn't mind havin a change of scenery, lol.[/QUOTE]

I have some grottos that have them on, like, the 11th floor, but it is hardly all just them. They tend to be mixed in with Slugly Bettys and Moai Minstrels which makes grinding very difficult because I have to focus on them (I rarely just get a MKS slime by himself - he usually has 1 or 2 of those others with him). All I can do is the critical chance attack with my Paladin on him (via the spear) and pound on the other monsters with my other 3 characters.
 
[quote name='io']I'm about 108 hours or so at this point. I can handle Equinox quite easily now (along with Nemean), but I just tried Zoma (one of the tag event bosses) and while I was able to last several turns I don't think I came close to beating him. But at least that's better than my first attempt several weeks back when he killed all my chars in one turn ;).



I have some grottos that have them on, like, the 11th floor, but it is hardly all just them. They tend to be mixed in with Slugly Bettys and Moai Minstrels which makes grinding very difficult because I have to focus on them (I rarely just get a MKS slime by himself - he usually has 1 or 2 of those others with him). All I can do is the critical chance attack with my Paladin on him (via the spear) and pound on the other monsters with my other 3 characters.[/QUOTE]


I think we have similiar levels. The only enemies that spawn on the floor are metal king slimes, but when you go into battle mode, there is a chance for enemies to appear with them. I usually go after the kms first and then take out the other enemies since they aren't really too much trouble now.
 
I've only had a handful of grottos with MKS, and none have them exclusively. Would be nice if I did, since I'm kinda hitting a wall with where I can fight, but ah well.

My party got wiped in a random battle for the first time in god knows how long, on the last floor of a 15 floor grotto - that was annoying. I can handle pretty much any physical or magical attack with my healer, but status ailments are still obnoxious. So harder grottoes are not going to be easy, and I've just about done all I can against Dhoulmagus (level 16).

So from here I'll probably have to go back to some slightly lower level grottoes or something to get my level 50 group up to decent levels again, which is not going to help me get equipment drops (which is really the biggest motivator, however terrible it is due to the RNG). So yeah.

For reference I'm at about 220 hours now - beat the game at 60.
 
[quote name='botticus']I've only had a handful of grottos with MKS, and none have them exclusively. Would be nice if I did, since I'm kinda hitting a wall with where I can fight, but ah well.

My party got wiped in a random battle for the first time in god knows how long, on the last floor of a 15 floor grotto - that was annoying. I can handle pretty much any physical or magical attack with my healer, but status ailments are still obnoxious. So harder grottoes are not going to be easy, and I've just about done all I can against Dhoulmagus (level 16).

So from here I'll probably have to go back to some slightly lower level grottoes or something to get my level 50 group up to decent levels again, which is not going to help me get equipment drops (which is really the biggest motivator, however terrible it is due to the RNG). So yeah.

For reference I'm at about 220 hours now - beat the game at 60.[/QUOTE]

Do you have the
Priest's Primer
? The skill with that is amazing for status effects, for the entire group. Great in a pinch.
 
[quote name='craven_fiend']Do you have the
Priest's Primer
? The skill with that is amazing for status effects, for the entire group. Great in a pinch.[/QUOTE]
Is that Wave of Relief? My Sage/Priest has it, but I suppose it might be worth throwing it on someone else so I don't lose out on both healing and status repair if my healer gets incapacitated.
 
[quote name='botticus']Is that Wave of Relief? My Sage/Priest has it, but I suppose it might be worth throwing it on someone else so I don't lose out on both healing and status repair if my healer gets incapacitated.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that'd be it.
 
I finally broke down and figured out the timing method for getting the rare drops out of grotto chests. It's too tedious to do a lot without the Kawasaki map, I think, but for any grottoes I come across with a good number of S/A/B rank chests, I'll probably take the time after clearing it once.

Doing so I got all the C-rank stuff I need, and a couple B-rank items, so I'm getting there. Finally a bow upgrade for my Armamentalist and new boomerang for my Ranger/MA!
 
[quote name='botticus']I finally broke down and figured out the [highlight]timing method[/highlight] for getting the rare drops out of grotto chests. It's too tedious to do a lot without the Kawasaki map, I think, but for any grottoes I come across with a good number of S/A/B rank chests, I'll probably take the time after clearing it once.

Doing so I got all the C-rank stuff I need, and a couple B-rank items, so I'm getting there. Finally a bow upgrade for my Armamentalist and new boomerang for my Ranger/MA![/QUOTE]

Excuse me, what!?

I need some sort of Pentarang thing according to my alchemy recipes and have no idea where to find it beyond being somewhere in a grotto.

And Kawasaki map? More gibberish there buddy... (No, really, please explain ;)).
 
I finished the game a few nights ago,and I'm just tooling around exploring using the space train which was kind of fun. I ran into a virus that hit all my characters for 120-200 damage ice spells. I beat him, so I'm not going to cry HAX.

The grotto grinding just isn't resonating with me, though... I may have to just shelf the game for a while and check back when theres more DL conent. That, or start my game over and tune my characters differently/don't grind as much so the game is more of a challenge.
 
[quote name='io']Excuse me, what!?

I need some sort of Pentarang thing according to my alchemy recipes and have no idea where to find it beyond being somewhere in a grotto.

And Kawasaki map? More gibberish there buddy... (No, really, please explain ;)).[/QUOTE]
Kawasaki map is some Japanese map with tons of good treasure chests.

As far as the timing (stolen from someone on GAF):
1) To determine what chests are in your grotto:
First, go to this website: http://dq9.ffsky.cn/maplocation.htm
and determine the location of your grotto. Make a note of the alpha-numeric value assigned to your grotto. For example, if my grotto was just south-east of Angel Falls, it would be 01. Now, go to this website: http://www20.atpages.jp/dq9tools/tmape.cgi
Enter all of the information pertaining to the name of your grotto. In the last pull down menu, enter the location of your grotto that you noted above. Press the button. More information about your grotto will be displayed including the Boss, the starting rank of the monsters, how many floors it has and how many S, A and B rank chests it contains. Pay special attention to the text before the 'MAP' link (it should be something like '6926-L', but the specific numbers and letters will be different based on your grotto). You will need this information in the next step. Click on the 'MAP' link. This will show you where every treasure chest in your grotto is and what rank it is (in order to view the map properly, you need to change the encoding to Japanese (Shift-JIS)).

2) To determine the time table of your chests:
Go to this website: http://www20.atpages.jp/dq9tools/from_site.html
Enter the code you found on the previous site (e.g. 6926-L) into the box (If you are still confused about the location of this code, this website provides sample screen shots above the text box). Click the button. You should see a long table. Below the table are two drop-down menus. In the first menu select the option that has 'PC' in it and press the button. You should be directed to a new page. On this new page click on the first link (amongst the Japanese text should be the level of your grotto). You should now see a table that lists every chest in the dungeon and the timing for every item that can be found in each chest. The one issue is that every item is in Japanese. As a reference, you can visit this site: http://dq9.org/dq9_takara2.html
By toggling between the Google translation, you should be able to find the Japanese name of the item you are looking for without too much difficulty.

3) Making use of the time table:
Let's say that you've found the item you are looking for and the table says that it spawns at 23 seconds. How do you open the chest at 23 seconds? First you are going to need a stopwatch. I've been using this: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/. Then, you need to enter your grotto and go down to the location of the chest that contains your desired item. Quick Save. When you restart your game you will get the quicksave message. When you select "Load quick save data" start the stopwatch at the exact same time. As your game loads, press the b button to get past the grotto text and immediately press select to enter Stella's screen. Stay on this screen until the timer reaches the desired value (23 seconds, in our example). Then press b to cancel out of the screen and open the chest. If all went well, you should now possess that great item or alchemy ingredient.

Essentially, you can determine where each chest is and what it potentially contains. With all that information you can generate a chart that indicates what treasure spawns in each chest every second. Used it to get the rest of the C and B-rank items, having more difficulty doing so for the A-rank stuff though (Metal Slime gear).
 
[quote name='botticus']I finally broke down and figured out the timing method for getting the rare drops out of grotto chests. It's too tedious to do a lot without the Kawasaki map, I think, but for any grottoes I come across with a good number of S/A/B rank chests, I'll probably take the time after clearing it once.

Doing so I got all the C-rank stuff I need, and a couple B-rank items, so I'm getting there. Finally a bow upgrade for my Armamentalist and new boomerang for my Ranger/MA![/QUOTE]

I'll have to try that when I get a map with a few A and S rank chests.

About a week ago I rented a second copy and loaded random saves onto it and tagged my game to get 30 guests. Outside of that I think I was level 99 with 4 revocations with my Hero and the Gladiator Job Skill. At that point I said screw it and retagged it one more time with a MKS map. I was somewhere between 225-250 hours at the time. I couldn't handle it anymore. It takes an hour to get through a grotto for me because I have this weird desire to 100% each level of 17 floor grottos with enemies like Wishmaster, Stale Whale, Boa Bishop, Darkonium Slime, Cyber Spider, Alphyn, AU-1000, et al appearing starting on the first couple floors. This game is driving me insane!!!! But I am enjoying most of it.
 
Botticus, I used that to figure out the level 99 map I got from the tag event has 2 S and 5 B rank chests. Unfortunately, I cannot figure out how to translate the list of timings. I made it down to a B rank chest (at least having the map helps a ton because I know where to go instead of wondering aimlessly) and it was a freakin' Pandora's Box :bomb:.

Am I correct in seeing that you need to hit the chests quickly - ie, before the last time, or you essentially get the "bad" item (or whatever is last)? I see how you do that (with the Quick Save). But I simply cannot figure out the translation part. I tried that last site and I just can't compare the Japanese figures on the chest table (which appear to be images so I can't select/translate them) with the ones in the other doc which has many pages.

OK, I found a slightly easier one. This one: 6BEC-L has 1 S, 2 A, and 2 B. And conveniently, one of the A chests is on the 3rd level. But I can't figure out the drops in the slightest. For some reason, some of the ones in the first A chest are highlighted blue, though - I will try to get one of those and see what happens ;).

Edit: Well, I hit the A chest twice and got a Reckless Necklace and a Gleeban Gold Piece... Then I made my way down to the S rank chest (level 9). Along the way I got some decent stuff from the B-D rank chests (Spellspadrilles and Depressing Shoes and a Wizardly Whip). The S rank chest just gave me a Sainted Soma though... The good news was that one floor had a lot of MKS and I managed to kill about 6 or 7. I even got 2 each on 2 different battles (thanks almost entirely to my Paladin's spear critical) - man, a 60K exp boost from one battle is nice at this point ;).
 
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The translations were the hardest part for me. Some of the more complex Japanese characters are displayed differently in the Flash chart than on the HTML page, so what I generally needed to do was look for some of the easier character strings to match. Other than the Metal Slime stuff, most of them are distinct in some way.

And to clarify, since this is something that tripped me up initially, the timer starts when you select to load your quick save, and you would stay in the battle records screen until you hit the time you're looking for. I was thinking I needed to open the chest at the correct second, but that's not the way it works.
 
[quote name='botticus']The translations were the hardest part for me. Some of the more complex Japanese characters are displayed differently in the Flash chart than on the HTML page, so what I generally needed to do was look for some of the easier character strings to match. Other than the Metal Slime stuff, most of them are distinct in some way.

And to clarify, since this is something that tripped me up initially, the timer starts when you select to load your quick save, and you would stay in the battle records screen until you hit the time you're looking for. I was thinking I needed to open the chest at the correct second, but that's not the way it works.[/QUOTE]

Wait, explain that last part a bit more. On chests where I could get to them in just a few seconds, I would run up and wait. But it seems like I'm getting the same things from them all the time, so it must not be working. Do you have to go into the Battle Records screen? You can't just wait by the chest? Is it the time spent from load and through Battle Records and then you can take your time opening the chest?

Also, how do you get all the chests displayed in the chart? I only get the first 5 or so. It isn't showing me the deeper ones (like my S rank one...).
 
Arrow keys. :D Took me a while to figure that out too. :p

The only way I know it works is by quick saving. I would assume that the timer would start from the time you enter the floor otherwise, but I can't say for sure because: I think leaving the Battle Records screen is what causes an item to spawn, since the everything is being redrawn at that moment. So if you don't use the Battle Records screen out of a quick save, you might have to know how long you've had the game on, and then go down the stairs at the correct second (and avoid getting in any fights) to get the right treasure.

So yes, while I haven't waited around to try, I would assume that once you exit out of the Battle Records screen, you could take your sweet time to actually open the treasure, because the item inside has already been determined.
 
Argh, OK, so you need to start counting when you load the save, even though this includes a few seconds for "making a backup". Then you need to (quickly I presume) go into the battle records. Then you quit that at the time you want according to the chart. Then you open the chest whenever?

If I could just figure out any of the Japanese items on the charts I'd give it a try. It would be helpful to know an entire list for one chest so you know if you just missed something by half a second. I'll have to look at it more tonight. I went through a couple more times and for the most part I kept getting the same things from the same chests (lots of mini medals, Sainta Ashes from one, a couple of Mimics, the Sainted Soma yet again from the S-rank chest, etc...).

Edit - OH, crap! The arrow keys not only let you scroll to the right to see other chests but DOWN to see times going on forever. I thought all the items stopped at 19 seconds before #-o. I stopped scrolling after 7 minutes... I can't translate a single thing on the chart and given that it goes on forever, I doubt I'll find anything.... So tantalizing, and yet so far away ;). Looking at the full chart, now, though, I don't see how it was that I was getting a lot of the same items from these chests. While there are a lot of repeats, I should be getting different stuff occasionally since it changes constantly.

Since you are clearly better at this translation thing than me, Botticus, could I ask you to just see if you can figure out one thing for me? On 6BEC-L, the very first column is an A-rank chest and it has some blue highlighted fields (all the same). I'd just like to know what those are. I have tried aiming for 14/16/18 seconds but without knowing what that is I'm not sure if I got it or not ;). Going over to the S ranked chest, the very first item is also blue highlighted. Ah, I think I can translate that one - "Angel Soma". I went to this S chest 3 times and got Sainted Soma each time. But that is the 7 second drop and there aren't very many of those afterwards. That means I'm clearly doing something wrong with the timer - perhaps not using the Records screen as you said. I was loading, then just waiting 17-19 seconds before opening it. I guess that just gets me the default first item, which is a Sainted Soma...
 
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[quote name='io']
Since you are clearly better at this translation thing than me, Botticus, could I ask you to just see if you can figure out one thing for me? On 6BEC-L, the very first column is an A-rank chest and it has some blue highlighted fields (all the same). I'd just like to know what those are. I have tried aiming for 14/16/18 seconds but without knowing what that is I'm not sure if I got it or not ;). Going over to the S ranked chest, the very first item is also blue highlighted. Ah, I think I can translate that one - "Angel Soma". I went to this S chest 3 times and got Sainted Soma each time. But that is the 7 second drop and there aren't very many of those afterwards. That means I'm clearly doing something wrong with the timer - perhaps not using the Records screen as you said. I was loading, then just waiting 17-19 seconds before opening it. I guess that just gets me the default first item, which is a Sainted Soma...[/QUOTE]
As best I can see, the A-rank one is probably げんま石 - something Stone, so probably Ethereal Stone, going by the list of possibilities.

And yeah, the 7 second one might be the first spawn. Like I was saying, I think the point of going into the Battle Records screen is so you force an item to spawn when you exit the screen. This is different than, say, having the menu open, where you can still see everything going on in the background - nothing is going to change about the chest in that case.
 
[quote name='botticus']As best I can see, the A-rank one is probably げんま石 - something Stone, so probably Ethereal Stone, going by the list of possibilities.

And yeah, the 7 second one might be the first spawn. Like I was saying, I think the point of going into the Battle Records screen is so you force an item to spawn when you exit the screen. This is different than, say, having the menu open, where you can still see everything going on in the background - nothing is going to change about the chest in that case.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, odd that they highlight it in that case. I did get one of those last night (though I'm not sure from which chest).

I did find what appears to be some metal gear in that first A rank list. So I'll go for that later. If I didn't have a dentist appointment in an hour I'd do it now ;). Looks like I have a decent chance at 31 or 33 seconds. 31 doesn't translate but it is metal something. 33 looks like the "Meta Mara Lance" which I could ceetainly use. So when I get back from the dentist I'm going to try the records screen thing and aim for 33 seconds. That chest is easy to get to - it is on the third level and only the first requires a lengthy walk. There are some tough baddies to avoid, though...
 
[quote name='botticus']As best I can see, the A-rank one is probably げんま石 - something Stone, so probably Ethereal Stone, going by the list of possibilities.[/QUOTE]
yep, ethereal stone.



if you use firefox you can use the extension "rikaichan" and it'll translate words.

it's helpful, but i might be overrating it because i study japanese and it fills in some blanks...
 
[quote name='io']Thanks, odd that they highlight it in that case. I did get one of those last night (though I'm not sure from which chest).

I did find what appears to be some metal gear in that first A rank list. So I'll go for that later. If I didn't have a dentist appointment in an hour I'd do it now ;). Looks like I have a decent chance at 31 or 33 seconds. 31 doesn't translate but it is metal something. 33 looks like the "Meta Mara Lance" which I could ceetainly use. So when I get back from the dentist I'm going to try the records screen thing and aim for 33 seconds. That chest is easy to get to - it is on the third level and only the first requires a lengthy walk. There are some tough baddies to avoid, though...[/QUOTE]
All the A-rank equipment is Metal Slime weapons/armor. Google Translate describes it to me as "Metasura" :D Only one I've gotten so far was for Quest 59, Metasurabutsu.:lol:

[quote name='kainzero']
if you use firefox you can use the extension "rikaichan" and it'll translate words.

it's helpful, but i might be overrating it because i study japanese and it fills in some blanks...[/QUOTE]It'd be really useful if it translated the Flash chart, but I have a feeling it probably won't be able to. Might give it a try though.
 
Holy hell! It freaking worked! On my first attempt I got exactly what I was aiming for at 31 seconds: the Metal Slime Spear. I'm gonna reset and do 33 which is another Metal item, then maybe again at 1:08 which is supposed to be the Metal Slime Shield. Awesome! Now if I could just figure out more of that Japanese and find myself a Pentarang...

Edit: Got the Metal Slime Shield at 1:08... This is great. I was 116 hours into the game and nowhere near getting these "randomly" so this adds a little life to the game for me. With some upgraded equipment I can go after some of the legacy bosses which still slaughter me at this point.
 
[quote name='io']Holy hell! It freaking worked! On my first attempt I got exactly what I was aiming for at 31 seconds: the Metal Slime Spear. I'm gonna reset and do 33 which is another Metal item, then maybe again at 1:08 which is supposed to be the Metal Slime Shield. Awesome! Now if I could just figure out more of that Japanese and find myself a Pentarang...

Edit: Got the Metal Slime Shield at 1:08... This is great. I was 116 hours into the game and nowhere near getting these "randomly" so this adds a little life to the game for me. With some upgraded equipment I can go after some of the legacy bosses which still slaughter me at this point.[/QUOTE]

That's awesome io!

Why do you want the Pentarang so badly? I have two of them and turned one into the Hexarang. I use it for one of my characters, but am usually forced to swap it out on more difficult enemies. Are you just a big fan of boomerangs?

I found my favorite grotto so far in Emerald Maze of Woe Lv. 75. It is located in the marshes below Batsureg. I find Metal Slime Sollerets, Metal Slime Armor, Reckless Necklace, Orichalum, and a bunch of other stuff on my first trip through it. There must have been 15-20 chests at least.
 
Yeah, I've been using Boomerangs exclusively on my Hero (who is a Ranger). Should I not be? So I wanted something better than the Flametang or whatever it is I'm using.

So I hit up a lower A level chest that had some metal thing my translator (Bing) wouldn't translate - turned out to be Metal Slime Helm. Then on my S-rank chest I got Dragonlord Claws which were a huge upgrade for my MA from the King Cobra Claws I've been using for a while. In the document, these were called "Ryūō tsume", so I had no idea what they were - but I knew there was only 1 second amongst the first few minutes, anyway, that had this one item so it had to be good. There are a couple more I'll want to snag, too, but the S rank chest is on the 9th floor, so that is a bit more difficult - but I do get 2 A's and a couple of B's along the way as well.

The Dragonlord Claws are my first 4-star rarity I think. I have yet to see a 5 star - but I assume those are probably the ones you have to get lucky with in Alchemy (the ultimate equipment or whatever it is).
 
Glad you got it working! I rather like boomerangs myself, my Ranger/MA has been swapping between Hexarang for random encounters, and his Orichalcudgel (stave) for bosses.

I went through my good grotto (2 A-rank chests, level 83) one more time, got a couple Metal Slime items, and the resulting map was only level 80, but Diamond! And it has 3 S-rank and 2 A-rank chests, so this should be good (only 13 floors, too)!

I have a feeling pretty soon I'll have to use this method for Reckless Necklaces because those will be the last god-forsaken alchemy items I need in quantity.

Then all that will be left is finding Bling Badgers.
 
I really wish I could cancel Story DLC quests. I've got 2 quests that I can do anything with for now. I don't have a silver grotto and I've not run into a Darkonium Slime. Curses!

I need to get some good Grotto's, but that's going to take a while, as I can't tag, no one in the vicinity, and all the events are 50 miles or more away.
 
I got a Reckless Necklace randomly when I was first playing around in this grotto. But yeah, I could see needing more.

Do you ever get recipes for the ultimate equipment? I think I may have the recipe for one set, but not for most of it. It would be nice to have those so I know what to look for in the higher chests.

And what the hell is a Bling Badger?
 
[quote name='io']I got a Reckless Necklace randomly when I was first playing around in this grotto. But yeah, I could see needing more.

Do you ever get recipes for the ultimate equipment? I think I may have the recipe for one set, but not for most of it. It would be nice to have those so I know what to look for in the higher chests.

And what the hell is a Bling Badger?[/QUOTE]

One of them stole the Stornway drunk's letter.
 
They're gold and purty. And in my Diamond grotto, finally!

My luck appears to be changing, as I even got Metal Slime gauntlets without bothering with the timing. At this point I'm just hoping to get the quest drop from that guy before I get randomly killed in a random encounter. Scary enemies here.
 
Nice, I finally got my Pentarang as the 2:05 drop from a B rank chest. Worked like a charm (once I matched up the symbols). It is almost more fun having to decipher the Japanese to figure out when the items show up - it's like a game within the game ;).

Got the metal slime boots too... Oh, and a sword.

Now I'm going for what is translated as a "Wind forest fire mountain" at the 2:47 mark. Can't wait ;).

Edit: :lol:, well, what I got was a 4-star rare fan called an "Attribeauty". Too bad I've never used fans... I have no idea if the name was just changed or if I missed the mark this time.

Edit #2: Got some more goodies like Metal Slime Armor and best of all, I just got a Meteorang from an S-rank chest! I had no idea what it was, but it was on the list and looked unique. Bing completely failed to translate it, but it is this one: "メテオエッジ".
 
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[quote name='io']Edit #2: Got some more goodies like Metal Slime Armor and best of all, I just got a Meteorang from an S-rank chest! I had no idea what it was, but it was on the list and looked unique. Bing completely failed to translate it, but it is this one: "メテオエッジ".[/QUOTE]
"Meteo Edge?" Looking at a katakana chart might help.
 
I suppose I need to get used to being wiped out moving forward. S-rank monsters do not mess around, especially when you're below level 70. Might have to start using Vanish when I'm just looking for treasure so I can avoid some more battles. Got my first S-rank weapon at least, but then I realized that the Uber Falcon Blade is still better than even the most maxed out sword, so it was a bad first choice.

At least it took me 230 hours to get the "you suck, here's an accolade" for wiping out so many times. And it came after my 5000 battles accolade.
 
[quote name='pete5883']"Meteo Edge?" Looking at a katakana chart might help.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, had I seen that I would have realized what it was. For whatever reason Bing (nor Google) could translate that while being able to do most of the rest.

[quote name='botticus']I suppose I need to get used to being wiped out moving forward. S-rank monsters do not mess around, especially when you're below level 70. Might have to start using Vanish when I'm just looking for treasure so I can avoid some more battles. Got my first S-rank weapon at least, but then I realized that the Uber Falcon Blade is still better than even the most maxed out sword, so it was a bad first choice.

At least it took me 230 hours to get the "you suck, here's an accolade" for wiping out so many times. And it came after my 5000 battles accolade.[/QUOTE]

Wait, you are trolling around in grottos looking for treasure and not using Vanish. I use it ALL the time. I wish it had a quick-use button to make it easier to apply - like one of the shoulder buttons or something ;). Even with it applied I still end up running into plenty of mobs in the grottos. It isn't too much of a hassle to encounter them occasionally though I did get wiped out once last night. And whatever accolade you are talking about I got 50-60 hours ago. I guess that's what happens when you get super-high grottos from tag events and then try to go into them with your level 30 or so chars. I was encountering completely new monsters and going after the chests which at the time almost always gave me something good. But I'd get smacked down frequently. Then of course I had to try Zoma and Estark (the 2 official NOA tag event grottos) and they are by far the toughest things I've seen in the game.

After getting all the loot last night, I decided to try some more of the DLC story quests and just by luck I happened to have a Silver grotto from the tag event that also happened to be infested with Darkmonium Slimes. And it wasn't too high a level (55 or so) that I couldn't handle it. On top of that, it had Atlas as a boss so I know where to find him for 2 other quests. Had I paid attention and kept track of his HP I could have gotten 3 done (I had the one active where you need to finish him off with Zam). Then there's another where you have to steal something from him, which I went to pick up afterwards. So I'll try to get those two done at once later. He wasn't all that tough, though I'll have to be careful when doing the Zam thing, as that char is my main healer as well.
 
[quote name='io']Yeah, had I seen that I would have realized what it was. For whatever reason Bing (nor Google) could translate that while being able to do most of the rest.[/QUOTE]
if it's not in the dictionary then it won't translate it. meteo edge just isn't a word in there. =)
 
[quote name='io']
Wait, you are trolling around in grottos looking for treasure and not using Vanish. [/QUOTE]
Eh, I like to get the exp, since my only other alternative is continuous Dhoulmagus grinding, which is kinda boring (and almost counterproductive since I need to be giving back his exp for better drops, but I can't afford to). So usually I'll fight what I have to fight until almost inevitably my Priest gets knocked out in the last few floors, at which point I'll vanish to finish raiding the S-rank chests.

Still trying to pick up two more S-rank weapons (spear and fan), but unfortunately the characters are completely different in the Flash chart than in HTML script so it's going to be a lot of trial and error.

Need a couple more Metal Slime things too, but I'm way backlogged on orichalcum so there's no rush there. Reckless necklaces will be my pickup in the meantime.

And this may or may not be obvious to people, but if you're using the timer to grab treasure, you only need to quicksave and reload once in a grotto. If you keep the timer running, you can just pop the menu open at a new chest and wait for it to hit the next time.
 
[quote name='botticus']
And this may or may not be obvious to people, but if you're using the timer to grab treasure, you only need to quicksave and reload once in a grotto. If you keep the timer running, you can just pop the menu open at a new chest and wait for it to hit the next time.[/QUOTE]

When you get into an encounter it screws up the timing though (another reason to use Vanish). I had a stupid mob materialize right on top of me when I went out of the Records page and that screwed up an S-rank pickup on the 9th floor. That was frustrating...

But are you saying you keep the timer running when you go pick up the chest and run around, then it is still good for the next one? That is actually not obvious since I thought it would freeze for all the chests and only continue if you did something like a battle or going into the Records screen again. I've always just did the timer for one chest and went "random" for the rest figuring the timing was messed up at that point.

I can confirm that you can do nothing the entire length of the timer till the very end, as once I forgot to go into the records screen. I did it really quickly at the end and then got back out in time and got the treasure I expected. So I guess that does point to the chests being reset only when leaving that screen but yet the timer ran the whole time. That further suggests that if you don't go into the Records screen (or, presumably, a battle) then you get the first treasure on the list since you never reset the treasure time (it is just at the beginning). That makes the pickups somewhat less random because for most part before you mentioned the timer deal, I was always using Vanish and just getting all the treasures without any encounters - meaning, I think, that I was always just getting the first thing in the list.
 
[quote name='io']When you get into an encounter it screws up the timing though (another reason to use Vanish). I had a stupid mob materialize right on top of me when I went out of the Records page and that screwed up an S-rank pickup on the 9th floor. That was frustrating...
[/QUOTE]
Might just have been off a second. I got in plenty of battles during a 50 minute grotto run and the timer was good down to the 13th floor.
 
[quote name='botticus']Might just have been off a second. I got in plenty of battles during a 50 minute grotto run and the timer was good down to the 13th floor.[/QUOTE]

Perhaps, though I was never off in the 20 or so other attempts where I didn't run into anything.

Wait, are you saying it is the same timer reagrdless of floor too? It seems really non-random if the only thing that changes the chests is going in and out of the Battle Records screen and not fighting or anything else. That means you'd always get the same thing if you never went into that screen. Or is the timer running before you even go into the grotto (and not really 0 when you start the grotto - so the chests get set when you first enter based on whatever the timer was) and the quicksave just resets it to 0?

I'll have to try a run where I just keep it going then and see if I can pull stuff from higher and higher times. That would save a lot of trouble with the quicksave/reload which I was doing for every C-rank or higher chest before.

And if you figure out the characters for that S-rank lance let me know, because I needs one of those too ;).
 
So, are like me and Botticus the only ones playing this any more? :lol:

DQVC this week is "Fingerwear Fayre" (rings).

I had Prayer Ring, Rousing Ring, Sober Ring, and Catholicon Ring in my store - nothing too great.

And there's a new guest: Kiryl
I got "Kiryl's Clothes" and "Kiryl's Trousers" from him. The latter may just be because I upgraded the Inn as he said something about that when he gave them to me. Neither of them is very good.
 
[quote name='io']So, are like me and Botticus the only ones playing this any more? :lol:

DQVC this week is "Fingerwear Fayre" (rings).

I had Prayer Ring, Rousing Ring, Sober Ring, and Catholicon Ring in my store - nothing too great.

And there's a new guest: Kiryl
I got "Kiryl's Clothes" and "Kiryl's Trousers" from him. The latter may just be because I upgraded the Inn as he said something about that when he gave them to me. Neither of them is very good.[/QUOTE]

Huh? I thought the new stores went up at 8am?
 
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