bite sized: dragon quest builders

Hey guys, it's Nate and it's time for another bite sized, you know, coming in. Kind of just loosey goosey hot off the presses with this one. I'm going to be talking about Dragon Quest Builders. It's, it's, it's getting to be autumn. You know, fall for the cretins and the plebs out there, but it's autumn for the true fans. For, for the real ones, it's autumn. It's the best, one of the best times of the year. You know, flannels, hoodies, shorts, campfires, awesome cigar smoking weather like up here in Western Pennsylvania or just in Pennsylvania as a general rule. This is why sort of being in the, the bottom part of the Northeast rules because like yeah, this is, this is probably why I will never leave Pennsylvania this season right here. It's kind of, it gets a little cold and wet, but it's just, it's the best. And, but it's the best because like all the cool stuff like I said you can do like fires. We, we have a fire ring. The other, the other day Megan and I took our boy out and we, we had a, did some s'. Mores. I've got a fireplace, you know, sitting behind me that I like to utilize in the coming months. Maybe this year we'll actually do that. I don't know. Last year we didn't because it's just like you know, small child etc. But yeah, and then like the, the, the flannels and the hoodies and it's, it's usually like, it's cool but it's like warm enough that you can get away with wearing shorts and that's always a good time. So yeah, it's cozy season dudes. And I want to talk about, we're going to talk about Dragon Quest Builders because it's kind of a cozy game, right? And I just have to be honest that initially this game kind of did not at first glance. Like I looked at this and I was like, I don't know if this is for me. Right? It's, I don't really like Minecraft all that much. I don't really like survival, the, the survival crafting genre as a general rule. It's, it's not that I actively dislike it, but it's definitely not what I would call my favorite. It's just kind of one of those things where I don't know, it just, it, it doesn't really the, the, the different times I've played it. Like you know, I played, I want to say don't starve. I've played Minecraft. I feel like. I think Fallout 3 or 4 had more of a survival mode kind of thing where it's like, you know, you have the, the food and the water meters and it's like, I don't mind those things, but at the same time it's just like, I don't know, it's like you're getting real life in. In my. In my video game, and I don't care for that. And it's just, you know, I am a fan of. Of kind of some of the different systems that, that pop up in some of this stuff, like growing crops. Like, I. I'm a big. I used to be a big fan of the Harvest Moon games, so there's kind of just some. I. I don't know. It's just like. It's not an easy fit for as far as a. As like a genre for me. But I had picked this up a while ago. I think I bought it initially so that my. My one nephew or my nephews and my niece. Nieces at this point in time, like, they. Some of the kids were over for a holiday or something and I bought it and I was like, hey, you guys can, like, check this out. I think this looks kind of cool. Okay. Yeah, sorry about that. Real life kind of getting in the way here. But I said, I think this, you know, this. You guys might be into this because, like, you know, they're into Minecraft and all that stuff. Anyways, I ended up buying for them. I don't think it really. They did much with it. Like, they might have played around with it a little bit. It's kind of like one of those things where, I don't know, you know, it's. Kids are kind of always a weird thing because in some ways they have no taste. But yeah, that's something that I guess comes with. With age and time and perspective and wisdom and all that. Anyways, so it sat sort of in my backlog for a while and then I think. I think I pulled it back out, actually. Yeah, my. My pastor was over with his boys and we were kind of having like a. A guy's day with like, his boys and Byron and me and him. We were all just hanging out and sort of like talking and the boys were playing together and Jared and I were talking and his oldest really is kind of getting into video games. Really loves Breath of the Wild and all that stuff. And so, like, he likes to come up when he comes over, he likes to, you know, play different stuff. So I, I, I turned it on and I pulled it up and I showed him. I think he played for a little bit, but he wanted to, he wanted to play some other stuff. Like he's kind of low key, obsessed with like playing Shadow of the Colossus. And I keep telling him that when he's older. I'm like, dude, like, don't get me wrong, like, I will, I will. I'm a total shill for Shadow of the Colossus. But you're not ready. I love that energy though. So like, keep that until you're in your, till you're a little older and then we will, we will do this thing. But I, I ended up putting it back on the machine and firing it up and, and then it's kind of one of those things. I think like later it was, it was running and I, I started fooling around with it and just like playing it, you know, because it's like, it was like running and just I, I started playing around with it and next thing I know it's like, it's kind of like I had like a little bit of a time machine moment where it's like two or three hours later, I'm like, holy crap, what is going on here? Like, why have been, been playing this game? And it's like it just kind of got its hooks into me and I was really heavy with it for a, I feel like a couple months this year where it was like, it was kind of just like my go to game where I was playing it all the time and then I would, you know, like podcast stuff comes up and so there's games that we have to play for the podcast and that kind of got in the way. But I've come back around to it now. I haven't beaten it yet, but I, according to what I've read online, the, the first two acts are sort of like really heavy and then the last three tend to be a little lighter and, and go a little quicker. And actually I'm, I'm in the third act currently. And what I found is that the, the progress so like, you know, the, the progression in as far as like tools and sort of getting better and better equipment and resources, et cetera, is, is much quicker in this third act than it is in the first two. It feels like those first two acts, it's like, it's a pretty hefty, not grind, but it's a pretty hefty. Like you have to really kind of like dig into it to get, to get like the best stuff like to get to like the best resources and it just kind of takes a while. Not really grindy, but it just, it's. The pacing feels a little kind of. It, it lags and it's still fun. It's still like really kind of like, it's, it's really cute. But anyways, I, I've been playing it and it's, it's just weird and like there's kind of a thing where it kind of breaks my completionist brain a little bit because there are like hidden objectives and things you can do in like little checkboxes and stuff. And so there's a part of me that wants to like, do all the things, see all the things, but there's also just. There's a lot to do. And even like the core loop is sort of like you go out and you fight monsters and you gather resources and you come back and you sort of like build up your town. So it's like, it's like very minecrafty and it's like, it's, it's essentially Minecraft with a Dragon Quest skin. And that I think more than anything sort of sells me. I like, I love that, that style, like the Akira Toriyama artwork, like that, that design and direction, like the monster design, the character designs, all that. I love that. And I just. So. But it's like, yeah, I'm just kind of obsessed with, with building up these little towns. And then you hit this like, sort of like almost like perfectionist bent where it's like I need to make this the best possible town ever. And you kind of, you can just. I, I've lost probably. I mean, I have probably artificially sort of increased the, the play time of the game because it's like I need to like perfectly set up my little, my little domain before I move on. And yeah, it's just, it's, it's, it's like I said and it's just like, it's, it's a super kind of cozy game in that it doesn't ask a lot of you. It just kind of like it's there for the vibes. It's fun, it's kind of wholesome and refreshing. I don't know. And I'm really kind of low key obsessed with it now. The, the, the reality is like, I don't know that we'll ever. I mean we, we might do an episode on it, but if I'm being honest, like, Dragon Quest Builders does not feel like a top 100 list contender. Mostly because it's really good but it's not great. Like I said, there's some pacing issues in the first couple acts. At the very least, I think some of the boss encounters, because there's, like, a big boss battle at the end of each act, they're not great. Like, it's, it's kind of like one of those things where. And maybe that's just part of the, the survival, the, the survival crafting genre kind of thing, where it just, it doesn't really telegraph a lot of information. And it is just sort of like you, you get these things and you kind of know how it's supposed to work, but at the same time, you just, you, you have to figure it out. I think a lot more. It doesn't, it doesn't communicate some of that, like, vital information to me that I'd like. And it's not that the boss fights are, like, really hard or anything. They, they just, like, it's, you have to do a couple very particular things. You have to, you know, build and move things in very particular ways. And it's just kind of like, okay, I guess. And I just feel like I, I don't know how I would fix that. I don't know if it can be fixed, really, but it does feel just like a little clunky and not as intuitive as I'd like. But I, I, I do love this game. I'm, I'm kind of wanting to get through it pretty quickly here. This is actually kind of like, right now I'm playing Astral Chain for the podcast, which is, is really good. I, I like that I have some thoughts. I want to save those for when we do the actual episode on that, but Dragon Quest Builders is kind of like, that's, that's, that's the 4 Nate game that's like, I'm playing that because I just want it. And it actually feels like it's like one of those games where, again, it just feels kind of, like, appropriate for the season. Like, it's, it's kind of fun because, like, this is also, like, we're kind of getting into spooky season. Like, we're in September, so October's next month. Like, the leaves are turning. You know, it's like Halloween is kind of around the corner, and I do kind of like the juxtaposition of September on October, and September always feels like a little more like it's like football and, you know, fires with friends and, and kind of like it's like that. And then you have October, which you can have. You, you can have that stuff in October too. You do have that, a lot of that stuff in October, but at the same time, then October sort of. You're getting close to Halloween or Reformation Day, depending on, you know, your, your preference here. It's like, whatever. I don't, I don't have a problem with, with either one. But you're kind of hitting this thing where it's like October has a pretty significant shift in like, it's like, you know, you're gearing up for spooky season. And I just love the sort of like the juxtaposition of those two, like, smacked right up against each other and. But yeah, I'm, I'm really digging Dragon Quest Builders. I think it's, it's really fun. I think if you like those types of games, it's maybe not as in depth as, as some of the. It doesn't have like, some of the same systems, but I do think it's kind of just. I think it's a really great game, really great style. It's really charming, really cute. I, I just, I love spending time, you know, in that. I think I have, I do have quibbles. Like, you know, I don't necessarily like how there are some things where, like, some of the things that kind of hold it back are just like, you can lay down blueprints to build things, but you have to have a completely bare patch of ground in order to lay down the blueprint and sort of build on top of it. And in order to take the blueprint off, you have to put exactly the things that it wants in there. And that's kind of frustrating because it's, you know, just, it's like you have different types of walls, but if it calls for earth walls, you have to use Earth and you can upgrade those afterwards, right? And it still remains the same thing, but if you put like, wooden walls up to begin with around a building, the. It might not. It won't clear the blueprint and it's just like dumb stuff like that that kind of like, annoys me. And it's like. And again, you have to have a perfectly clear patch. So it's like a lot of times the, the part of the, the game that's kind of fun is like the maximizing your space. And so like, you put like these little buildings and you want to build like, areas to, to move around and, and everything, but it's like you're trying to like, you have a fairly condensed grid, like sort of block of, of territory that you can build that is, you Know, sort of within a safe zone. And so it's, it's kind of like, yeah, I don't know, you, you want to maximize that, right? And you, you can do stuff like you can build multiple levels. I, I think like building, building extra levels all does kind of just feel a little weird to me at some point in time. Like there, there is like a custom build mode. But you know what I've heard though too is like I, I do feel like, and the emphasis isn't on combat, but the combat does feel like a little kind of like janky and kind of like eh. But from what I've heard is Dragon Quest Builders actually sort of does like a little bit of work to make this all like it. There are some. It's. It's actually better, has a better story, has like some. The systems are a little more streamlined and it actually like, I was talking to Josh about it too. I might have even said this on the main, main episode, but it kind of bums me out because I don't know that we're ever going to get like another one of these. Like, I don't know that Dragon Quest Builders is. Our three is in the works. And I mean it might be, but I don't think that these were like huge commercial successes. And Square Enix is notoriously like, you know, it didn't perform up to our expectations and it's like, well, some of that is just like, you guys are kind of stupid. Yeah, I said it. Yeah, it's like you guys make bad decisions with your properties all the time and you do a lot of like brand damage and you, you waste a lot of money on sort of chasing down spectacle in, in an era where spectacle, spectacle is kind of like the norm and so like, you have to really go above and beyond and it's just like. Yeah, I don't know. I love Square Enix. Like, I have a lot of history with them, but some of my favorite games growing up were from Square Squaresoft and Enix. And then when they be. They joined and became Square Enix. So it's just like, it's tough. Like, I also feel betrayed by what they did to the. The Valkyrie profile series with Valkyrie Elysium, that game is just aggressively mediocre. Um, has a few good ideas and they just never capitalize on it. But like, I'm not here to like rant about Squaresoft. I'm here to just say Dragon Quest Builders is really fun. It's really cute, it's really cozy. It's a good time it's usually on sale. I think. I think you. I've seen it as low as, like, 20 bucks. I think it might even go. It probably goes lower than that. Honestly, it's worth your time. I'm really kind of like. Like I said, it's like one of my favorite things I've played this year, but it's more of like. It's like I'm just having a really good time with this. Not that this is like a really important piece of work in the video game sphere or space. Like, it's just fun and it's just kind of clean and cozy and it's. It's. It's wholesome. It's. I don't know. It's a good time. I think it's worth your time. Yeah, I'm just enjoying it. I just kind of wanted to say, like, you know, and like, I said it kind of. I was thinking. I was like, hey, it kind of fits the season where it's like this. This cozy vibe. Like, hey, just here for, like, the good time. And you sort of be like, chill and like, build some stuff and, like, hang out with your. Your friends and, like, go kill some monsters. I mean. Yeah, that sounds pretty cool to me. I mean. But anyways, I don't have a lot to say that. Like, a lot more to say about other than I really love it. I think the gameplay loop is solid. I think it's. You know, there isn't a ton to it and there. There are some, like, gripes, but overall, it's like, it's probably. Like I said, it's. It's top three games for me this year. I think just because it's been the thing that I've kind of had the most. One. One of the things I've had the most fun with. Yeah. So, hey, if you kind of like, if you. If your tastes sync up with mine, I think, like, this is worth checking out. Like, it's. It's kind of fun. Like the. I don't know, it's like Minecraft, but set in a Dragon Quest world with a Dragon Quest skin. And I think just like. Yeah, I think it's cool and I think you should check it out. It's definitely sort of in my personal rating. It's definitely a. Should play. Um. But yeah, anyways, that's it, guys. That's all I got. Nothing profound, like I said, not. Just sort of wanted to take a minute and talk about one of like the. One of my favorite experiences of the year. It's. And again, it's It's. It's good. Not great. It's not going to change your life or anything, but I think it's a ton of fun. I think it's really cute, and I'm just here for the vibes. That being said, you know, this has been a bite sized, you know, the spiel. So, like, be good, do the things, and we'll catch you next time later.