New Dragon Quest IX Info: Battlefield, Hissatsu Special Moves and new monsters

Back from the holidays! And lo and behold there is new Dragon Quest IX information in this week’s Shonen Jump. Here is the one-page scan:

Battle

The article goes through a sample round of combat. If you want to follow along, start at the top center of the scan page and follow the arrows.

1. You choose from various commands that should be familiar to players of the DQ series. Once you’ve selected all commands, the battle will start.
2. The Mage advances towards an enemy (a Wyvern) and casts a spell (Mera, ie Blaze). Looks like the Mage got the first attack!
3. Next the Fighter charges in and gets in the enemy’s (a Puchi-Zucchinya) face.
4. The screen moves to the monsters perspective as the Wyvern attacks the Fighter.
5. The screen rotates. The Puchi-Zucchinya attacks the Fighter from behind.
6. The camera zooms out to the Priest who casts a spell (Sukara - raises one ally’s defense rating).
7. Finally it’s the Soldier’s turn. He uses a Technique and finishes off the Puchi-Zucchinya.

The article mentioned that a monster attacked a character from behind. It doesn’t state whether back-attacks are stronger than front-attacks or not. I wouldn’t read too much into this yet. The tone of the article seems to be hyping the camera movement on the battlefield, so more than likely they are just pointing out “Ooh, look. It’s not just a line of stationary enemies anymore.”

Hissatsu, aka Special Oh-Shit Moves

DQIX also has Hissatsu moves. I don’t know how this will be translated, but they become available to you when you are in deep trouble (like low hit points). They are special attacks that presumably do lots of damage. Different classes have different Hissatsu moves.

1. When you are in a pinch, Special Hissatsu moves become available.
2. Hissatsu moves differ by class. Soldiers, for example, can invoke an Excellent Hit.
3. When Hissatsu moves are available, your Hissatsu command will light up to let you know you can use it.
4. What happens if all of your party members join together and do a Hissatsu move at the same time? Super Hissatsu Move! Likely to be badass. Note the big sword falling from heaven.

Pretty cool to see these in there. Note that Hissatsu moves are different from Techniques that each class learns through Skill Point distribution.

New Monsters

Finally we have some new monsters. These monsters are unique to DQIX.

From right to left.
1. Nubon - This monster appears sluggish and lazy, but watch out because he might suddenly grab a boulder and throw it at you.
2. Desert Runner - Nicknamed “Desert Meteor”, this sucker is fast. In the screenshot he is casting Biorimu (SpeedUp or Accelerate), which is a spell that raises all allies’ agility.
3. Upa Soldier - This guy is good at dodging attacks. In the screenshot it says “Upa Soldier is getting ready to dodge an attack.”
4. Snail Frog - In Japanese Denden-gaeru, a cross between the words for snail and frog. This guy licks you in the face and makes it so you can’t move, much like other DQ monsters with big tongues.

Conclusion

That’s it! Can’t wait for DQIX! To keep up-to-date on the latest Dragon Quest IX news, subscribe to my RSS feed.

Dragon Quest IX will be released in Japan on March 28, 2009. It will cost 5980 yen.

Links:
Official Site