Good news everyone! I've finished fine-tuning the What-if? Machine! It can now answer any question within 1/10th of a plausibility unit! And I've replaced my lost copy of Dragon Quest IX!

I have another question: is there anywhere on the Interwebs where I can watch the Aussie DQIX ads? I've already seen the Japanese ad (so funny!) and both Seth Green ads (so very funny!), but now I'd like to see both the ads from my home turf (so very very funny...except the one I haven't seen yet. You know, because I haven't seen it...so how could I possibly know if it's funny or not?).

The Aussie ads I've seen aren't very good

Well, I'd still like to see them...and I don't watch a lot of TV since most of my time's eaten-up by playing Magic in my FLGS, playing my DSi and Wii, and being trapped within these forums
_{Also, watching retro eps of Power Rangers! So good...}

Two things...is the only way for me to get my DS online for the shop to change my router to WEP?

Also, as much as I wanted to get through this game on my own...I seem to be stuck at Wormwood. Where do I go next?

Does this game get any less repetitive after the desert palace? There's been no variety so far, and I've been using the same attacks and spells to take down enemies for about 20 hours now. It's getting old grinding for money to buy overpriced armor and weapons too. I'm not crazy about changing someone's vocation just for them to go back to level 1 and have to spend forever leveling them up and buying new armor for them. :/

That's dragon Quest for you...

I got about as far as the desert area before I stopped buying all the armour and weapons I came across - alchemy is much more rewarding.

Regarding my main battle strategies, I use very few techniques as well, and it seems to suit me fine. That is, I weaken a boss with helm splitter, multiheal with my priest (every turn - she's useless in every other respect at the moment), kabuff with my paladin (then spam thunder thrusts or regular attacks) and falcon blade/falcon blade+falcon slash with my 3rd melee fighter. When my main character (also a melee fighter) weakens the boss's defence enough, he joins in.

I haven't battled a really tough one yet that's required me to alter my strategy again, but I might improve the priest's atack capability and open it up a bit.

As for random battles, I just cut through them with regular attack spam.

If you want money, there are several ways you can go about raising cash, and I can tell you if you want.

Yes. I can't express my feelings about Nintendo's system software design without using a stream of obscenities so I won't even go there. Here's what I've done. I've configured an old, disused wireless router for WEP. When I need to go online with the DS, I unplug the WPA2 wireless router from the cable modem and plug the WEP router in its place. I then toggle the power on the cable modem because it's configured (by our ISP) to talk to only the first device it sees after powering up. Once I'm done with the DS, I swap back to the WPA2 router and toggle the power on the cable modem again.

Pain in the pancakes. Thank goodness the 3DS should finally put an end to this crap (for new 3DS games only). Regular DS games will almost certainly continue to support only WEP on the 3DS as well due to Nintendo's "outstanding" system software "design".

apparently, if you have a DSi and go to advance settings on the internet connection option, their are more options

@MERG - Head North if you haven't gotten the necklace yet. If you have, head west, as the Bowhole is the next dungeon.

@edhe - You may want to have your priest spend some time as an armamentalist and get a few Fource abilities. Those help to buff up your melee fighters in boss battles. Also, get her Half-Inch, from the thief line, for random battles. Both are well worth the time it takes to get them.

From what I've heard, DS games in a DSi can only do WEP. If anyone knows for certain that I'm wrong, I'd love to know about it. I would love to be wrong about this.

According to the quest guide on GameFAQs, you get a seed of life the first time and an ace of clubs every additional time.

Funnily enough, my priest began as a mage (until I found out my attacks were useless), when I changed to an armamentalist and learnt a few fource spells (what do they do by the way?), finally settling as a priest. I taught each of my characters half inch as well, although it's pretty useless if they don't have the dexterity to match.

@edhe - Fource abilities raise the attack/resistance of the character they're cast upon 1 stage by the Fource ability they're given. For example, if you gave someone a Fire Fource and then melee-attacked an ice-based monster (Shivery Shrubbery, Freezing Fog, etc.), you will do more damage to that monster. Or, that's what I think they do at least. Ultimately they're a bit limited in use but can be effective if you know how to use them.

Okay, I guess I am lost. I was in Wormwood and geeting no help. So I backtracked and ended up in Gleeba for the first time. I must be doing these out of order. Where do I go from Gleeba?

@MERG - Yeah, Wormwood becomes more important later in the game. Head north to either the Ilugazaar Plains (more western, go through the Urdus Marshland) or Swinedimples Academy (more eastern, go through Hermany). That will continue the story. I went with the Plains first, but Swinedimples is probably the better option.

Thanks Birdman.

i just got the game. so far im having fun with it, but it was a hard desicion whether to buy this game or other M . ah well, whats done is done!

i gotta say, i love how you can see the armor on your guys. it allows for some pretty awesome looks

I know what you mean briunj04! I have between one and three different outfits for each of my party members so far! The fact that my main character has a kilt in one outfit really speaks a lot about my Scottish heritage!

That reminds me...I should take a photo or video of my characters and post them in my 'Dragon Quest IX Gallery' thread...once I figure out how to do so...

Say, can anybody explain to me the benefits of switching vocations at Alltrades Abbey? I don't want to lose all the levels I gained as a Minstrel to become something different...but I do like the idea of trying something new! If my character switches vocations, does that mean I lose all my levels as a Minstrel if I switch back?

If the levels are all reset, then I could try the following:

My character (a Minstrel) becomes a Mage
My Warrior becomes a Thief
My Mage becomes a Priest-ess
My Martial Artist becomes a Warrior

Then I can spend time re-levelling my party through grinding, all evenly. Stop me if I'm getting too n00bish...

@NintendoPurist
The benefit of switching vocation is that you get to restart at level 1 will all your skills intact. If you got the Whipping Boy ability with your Warrior, then when s/he switches vocation, s/he'll still have it. Any stat boosts, such as strength +10 or something, are also transferred. Also, if you switch back, your character will be the same level s/he was before.

bleh, im having a hard time deciding if i should switch my main guy from a theif to a ministrel

also does anyone know of a way i can make enemies stop fleeing im trying on a quest where i have to defeat slimes in super charged tension, but they keep getting away before i can charge my tension