History YMMV / DragonQuestIX

* CompleteMonster: Godwin.

* FridgeHorror : There is one high level type of Sanguini, the "Genie Sanguini", who did not turn into a demon. "By some miracle", according to the bestiary. It RandomlyDrops Saint's Ashes, an item which inverts cursed and dark equipment into their holy counterparts. Implied: The Genie Sanguini didn't become a demon because it ''ate a saint.''

* GameBreaker: Two things: Tension makes a comeback, but is ''optional''. A fully tensioned up character, with buff spells, using a powerful attack can do 70-140 TIMES the damage of a standard swing -- ''7000+ '' instead of ''80''. Endgame bosses have an attack that specifically prevents this tactic, but bosses before the end of the main story do not. In addition to that, you keep skill points between switching jobs, meaning that if you level to 15 then switch jobs a few times, you can take one of the class's 5th, passive skill trees to 100, which then affects all jobs that character uses. Taking ''Courage'' to 100, for example, will make the character strong and tough even if they are a Mage. Taking a weapon's skill to 100 will make them vastly stronger when using that weapon (+ 60 attack power when most weapons at the time are giving around 27) than they "should" be. Later, doing this up to level 38 (which is when jobs give the first 100th skill point) will allow you to do this with * multiple* skill trees.

* GoddamnedBats: The Metal slimes. In order to unlock the Armamentalist vocation, you have to kill two with a wizard ward barrier up. Easier said than done, given the fact that Metal Slimes have a tendency to ''run'' before you can even get their health down to the point where a mage can finish them off. (Granted, mages can inflict 1 damage, and you ''can'' give them Metal slash, or exploit abilities)

** This trope is very much at play in the grottos. While searching for treasure, monsters pop up everywhere. There seems to be a particularly high number of large monsters in cramped hallways. You can use holy water to stop the monsters from chasing you, but if you bump into one, you still get into a fight and the holy water wears off. This becomes particularly irritating when you reach very high level, and the monsters on the upper floors of the grotto are weak. You get knocked into a fight with a monster that is just about worthless and not at all challenging. Not that bumping into the tough monsters lower in the grotto is any better.

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Princess Simona's [[GoMadFromTheRevelation pyschotic breakdown]] at the climax of the Yore arc. Seeing one of the kindest, sweetest characters in the game driven to such despair that she's literally seething with barely controlled rage and bitterly calls her own father, her people and ''herself'' cold blooded mass murderers (which is actually ''[[SinsOfOurFathers kinda]]'' true) all while clearly on the verge of tears is...unpleasent, to say the least. Her [[SycophanticServant sycophantic]] reverence towards Yore did not help matters. Thank Celestria she was brought back to her senses after Yore's death.]]
* TheScrappy: Ivor. He talks big but doesn't ever do a good job with his Inn, at least on his own. This may have been intentional as he's TheScrappy to all of the other villagers (except his sister, who admires him.)

* TearJerker: Many, especially when the AppliedPhlebotinum comes into play, but [[spoiler: Marionette]] and [[spoiler: Mason's Zere Rocks]] stand out.
** FridgeHorror, because you realize that [[spoiler: eventually...they're GONNA find out what happened to Marion]]
*** Or worse: [[spoiler: They don't. They all go to their own graves wondering what happened to her, why she left them,and if she's happy.]]

** Really, a good deal of the level 40 quests, all of the ultimate weapon skill quests (save shield, bow, and sword, if you know where to look [[spoiler: in Marco's travel journals, found in the library]]), and anything involving {{Critical Hit}}s. These range from tedious (080 'Atchet Job), to difficult (072 Jump for Joy; 074 Mr. Whippy's Wish), to sadistic (091 Critical Appraisal). Special mention goes to 090 "One Latht Tetht" for being outright ludicrous: [[spoiler: you have to defeat 50 monsters inside the tenth floor of a grotto or deeper, all while naked]].

*** To clarify, you have to be wearing a specific combination of clothes--hat, shield, torso, feet, gloves, weapon, and accessory--without telling you what the combo is. If you've played through to this point, you will have encountered ''at least'' 75 of each of those items. No, there are no hints. Same with another fashion-related quest (thankfully most others tell you what to wear).

* CompleteMonster: Pretty much 99.9% of the Gittish Empire, ''especially'' Godwin.

** The first line we get from ghost [[spoiler:[[YamatoNadeshiko Catarrhina]]]]? "[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction Oops!]] I appear to be dead."

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Princess Simona's [[GoMadFromTheRevelation pyschotic breakdown]] at the climax of the Yore arc. Seeing one of the kindest, sweetest characters in the game driven to such despair that she's literally seething with barely controlled rage and bitterly calls her own father, her people and ''herself'' cold blooded mass murderers (which is actually ''[[SinsOfOurFathers kinda]]'' true) all while clearly on the verge of tears is...unpleasent, to say the least. Her [[TheRenfield Renfield]]-like reverence towards Yore did not help matters. Thank Celestria she was brought back to her senses after Yore's death.]]

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Princess Simona's [[GoMadFromTheRevelation pyschotic breakdown]] at the climax of the Yore arc. Seeing one of the kindest, sweetest characters in the game driven to such despair that she's literally seething with barely controlled rage and bitterly calls her own father, her people and ''herself'' cold blooded mass murderers (which is actually ''[[SinsOfOurFathers kinda]]'' true) all while clearly on the verge of tears is...unpleasent, to say the least. Her [[TheRenfield Renfield]]-like reverence towards Yore did not help matters. Thank Celestria she was brought back to her senses after Yore's death.]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Corvus. Considering he's a [[VideoGame/DragonQuestIV Psaro]] {{Expy}}, it's a given.]]

* RuinedFOREVER: Not only were fans [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch complaining about the game based on early design screens long before its release]], the fact that it has only one save slot led to screams of bloody murder. ([[SarcasmMode Because, of course, this]] ''[[SarcasmMode couldn't possibly be]]'' [[SarcasmMode because the game's multiplayer aspects combined with multiple save slots]] ''[[SarcasmMode might]]'' [[SarcasmMode have led to abuse...]])
** Most of the earliest complaints were about how the game was originally going to be an Action RPG as opposed to a Turn-Based one. Square-Enix listened and DQIX became a Turn-Based RPG. Whether or not this is an example of TropesAreNotBad depends on who you ask.
** Infamously, Japanese fans of the legendary [[ImageBoards 2ch BBS]] (which has been described as "the anus of the Internet" by the founder of {{Gainax}} and infamous as the forerunner to 4chan) have been spending the year since the game's release troll-rating it a 1 star on online stores. Why? Cause you can see monsters on the field, and thus it's [[RuinedForever not a true DraQue game!]] [[NostalgiaFilter Ignore how many people complained about metal monster hunting thanks to random encounters]], and that [[DidNotDoTheResearch You only see ONE of the monsters on the map]]. They're often in ''groups'', and you don't see all of the monsters. (Oh, just a metal slime, I think I'll hunt down and-WHAGH! IT'S GOT WIZARDS WITH IT!!)
** And even then, there were cries of RuinedFOREVER because it was ''on the DS'', the first main series game to be released on the DS without being a remake. Some of these cries were, "Oh my god! It's not going to bring anything new to the series"! or "It's just going to be like the other handheld games!" However, many of these were more when the game was announced, when it was released in Japan and was found to actually contain a lot of innovations (See: OneGameForThePriceOfTwo, the multiplayer aspects, largely unknown to the series outside of fan-made [=MMORPGs=]), some of these silenced.

* ThatOneSidequest[=/=]{{Waggle}}: Tag Mode. It's easy enough to find all the players you need in Japan since everyone and their mother plays DragonQuest, but players in other regions will find it much more difficult to find the required 30 different people to max out their Inn upgrades in addition to getting the additional items and treasure maps.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Corvus. Considering he's a [[DragonQuestIV Psaro]] {{Expy}}, it's a given.]]
* {{Woolseyism}}: Plenty. Puns and AddedAlliterativeAppeal aside (which the game uses ''constantly'' to mixed results), the translation is top notch, with the [[DragonQuestIV few]] [[DragonQuestV accents]] around being fairly low key and -- most importantly -- ''easily readable.''

* AccidentalNightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Princess Simona's [[GoMadFromTheRevelation pyschotic breakdown]] at the climax of the Yore arc. Seeing one of the kindest, sweetest characters in the game driven to such despair that she's literally seething with barely controlled rage and bitterly calls her own father, her people and ''herself'' cold blooded mass murderers (which is actually ''[[SinsOfOurFathers kinda]]'' true) all while clearly on the verge of tears is...unpleasent, to say the least. Her [[TheRenfield Renfield]]-like reverence towards Yore did not help matters. Thank Celestria she was brought back to her senses after Yore's death.]]

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Quite a number of them, actually. Some of the dialogue is especially humourous. If the unpriestly priest of Dourbridge didn't make you grin, wait until you meet the one in Batsureg!

* AccidentalNightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Princess Simona's [[GoMadFromTheRevelation pyschotic breakdown]] at the climax of the Yore arc. Seeing one of the kindest, sweetest characters in the game driven to such despair that she's literally seething with barely controlled rage and bitterly calls her own father, her people and ''herself'' cold blooded mass muderors (which is actually ''[[SinsOfOurFathers kinda]]'' true) all while clearly on the verge of tears is...unpleasent, to say the least. Her [[TheRenfield Renfield]]-like reverence towards Yore did not help matters. Thank Celestria she was brought back to her senses after Yore's death.]]

** Infamously, Japanese fans of the legendary [[ImageBoards 2ch BBS]] (which has been described as "the anus of the Internet" by the founder of {{Gainax}} and infamous as the forerunner to 4chan) have been spending the year since the game's release troll-rating it a 1 star on online stores. Why? [[UnpleasableFanbase Cause you can see monsters on the field,]] and thus it's [[RuinedForever not a true DraQue game!]] [[NostalgiaFilter Ignore how many people complained about metal monster hunting thanks to random encounters]], and that [[DidNotDoTheResearch You only see ONE of the monsters on the map]]. They're often in ''groups'', and you don't see all of the monsters. (Oh, just a metal slime, I think I'll hunt down and-WHAGH! IT'S GOT WIZARDS WITH IT!!)

* ThatOneSidequest: Tag Mode. It's easy enough to find all the players you need in Japan since everyone and their mother plays DragonQuest, but players in other regions will find it much more difficult to find the required 30 different people to max out their Inn upgrades in addition to getting the additional items and treasure maps.

* ThatOneSidequest[=/=]{{Waggle}}: Tag Mode. It's easy enough to find all the players you need in Japan since everyone and their mother plays DragonQuest, but players in other regions will find it much more difficult to find the required 30 different people to max out their Inn upgrades in addition to getting the additional items and treasure maps.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Quite a number of them, actually. Some of the dialogue is especially humourous. If the unpriestly priest of Dourbridge didn't make you grin, wait until you meet the one at Batsureg!

** 'A Simple Task' is not as simple as the little girl who gives it to you seems to think.

* TearJerker: Many, especially when the AppliedPhlebotinum comes into play, but [[spoiler: Marionette]] stands out.

** One specific outright edit, however, was the modification of the "[[{{Dragonball}} Mr. Popo]]" style face option, which is a lucky thing as it was essentially [[UnfortunateImplications blackface]]. It now just resembles a [[MascotMook Slime]]'s face.
* {{Shipping}}: In Japan, there's already a blossoming fandom for [[PlayerCharacter Your Hero]]/[[TheMentor Aquila]].