Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies cover art

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Loot-driven Dragon Quest built around randomized grottos, alchemy crafting, and endless vocation builds.

Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE5 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    1/10

    Menu combat; no execution ceiling.

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    0/10

    Co-op exists but no adversarial human play.

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    5/10

    Grotto maps and rare gear drops are heavy RNG.

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    9/10

    Vocation builds, alchemy, and grotto farming routes are solvable.

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

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Game details

Released
2009
Developer
LEVEL-5
Franchise
Dragon Quest
Platforms
NDS
Modes
Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
IGDB critics
86/100
IGDB users
85/100
Role-playing (RPG)Turn-based strategy (TBS)AdventureFantasySandboxOpen world