Just finished Act 1. Definite Edition adds new side-stories before Act 2. [SPOILERS]

[ZeroZeroOne]

I was following a walkthrough(for the NON-Definite Edition).

And suddenly, my game deviated from walkthrough itself!

Right after Act 1, the world falls into Darkness.

But instead of starting back as a fish, you control Sylvando and assemble a Smile army. You also play a side-story involving Erik and a HealSlime, Jade in the Casino, and Rabs and being a king.

The Sylvando side story is so freakin' hilarious and well made. Overall, it's an extra 4-6 hours. But going from the side stories into Act 2 made the whole experience so much more enjoyable.

Sure, you can play without it with the regular version. But IMO, it's a vital part of the whole experience.

[Koby]

Make sure you recruit everyone you can during Sylvando's part as you'll get a much better custom outfit as a result of doing so that'll last you all of Act 2 and is like his second best in the game overall. You can get it in Act 3 from the Casino... but why miss out for the entire Act 2 and then have to waste Casino tokens..

[Tim Allahn SnAckbarr]

Originally posted by Koby:

Make sure you recruit everyone you can during Sylvando's part as you'll get a much better custom outfit as a result of doing so that'll last you all of Act 2 and is like his second best in the game overall. You can get it in Act 3 from the Casino... but why miss out for the entire Act 2 and then have to waste Casino tokens..

Oh cool, I didn't know this! (Still got it, luckily.) It looks quite a bit cooler than the standard outfit too.

I enjoyed the heck out of these side stories -- a lot of people act like they don't add anything and while they aren't crucial to the main plot, they do add quite a bit of backstory, humor, character development, etc.

These aren't some hamfisted sequences they shoved in, they stand on their own quite well. In fact, it might be one of my favorite parts of the whole game.

[Khronikos]

Originally posted by ZeroZeroOne:

I was following a walkthrough(for the NON-Definite Edition).

And suddenly, my game deviated from walkthrough itself!

Right after Act 1, the world falls into Darkness.

But instead of starting back as a fish, you control Sylvando and assemble a Smile army. You also play a side-story involving Erik and a HealSlime, Jade in the Casino, and Rabs and being a king.

The Sylvando side story is so freakin' hilarious and well made. Overall, it's an extra 4-6 hours. But going from the side stories into Act 2 made the whole experience so much more enjoyable.

Sure, you can play without it with the regular version. But IMO, it's a vital part of the whole experience.

It's not a vital part of any experience lol. All of this was talked on after the complete game was shipped and directed to its end.

[Brunel]

Originally posted by Koby:

Make sure you recruit everyone you can during Sylvando's part as you'll get a much better custom outfit as a result of doing so that'll last you all of Act 2 and is like his second best in the game overall. You can get it in Act 3 from the Casino... but why miss out for the entire Act 2 and then have to waste Casino tokens..

Oh that is really nice! Do you also still get the original outfit if you get the upgraded one?

[Entelechia]

That's actually a huge negative for me, really hate these POV-Change party-limited sections in any game. Pls tell me there's an option to just skip them altogether.

[rad_knight]

i wouldn't say it's vital, and i think some things worked a bit better when you didn't know them ahead of time, like for example erik having amnesia, originally it would've been initially confusing to see him stow away on the ship and then be surprised by him having amnesia but now you just know in advance, although the foreshadowing with his sister was nice.
also knowing were jade was and what she was doing was infuriating, since while i'm trying to do a very hard boss i know for a fact that my best party member is a 5 minute walk away and i can't go get her. also it ruins the tension of "maybe she actually did willingly do this and she's happier this way" which was a slim chance but at least it was a possibility, now we already know the minute we show up that she's there against her will.
syl and rab's are pretty cool though, and it shows how every party member would've made a better protagonist than the one we actually got.

[Blackdeth]

Originally posted by Khronikos:

Originally posted by ZeroZeroOne:

I was following a walkthrough(for the NON-Definite Edition).

And suddenly, my game deviated from walkthrough itself!

Right after Act 1, the world falls into Darkness.

But instead of starting back as a fish, you control Sylvando and assemble a Smile army. You also play a side-story involving Erik and a HealSlime, Jade in the Casino, and Rabs and being a king.

The Sylvando side story is so freakin' hilarious and well made. Overall, it's an extra 4-6 hours. But going from the side stories into Act 2 made the whole experience so much more enjoyable.

Sure, you can play without it with the regular version. But IMO, it's a vital part of the whole experience.

It's not a vital part of any experience lol. All of this was talked on after the complete game was shipped and directed to its end.

Was it tacked on after release? Or was it cut pre-release with the understanding they would be charging another full box price for an "Upgraded" version? I guess that depends on the person and their understanding of how game corporations work these days. I would be alot more supportive had they offered owners of the original the option to upgrade for 15 bucks or something.

Had they done that I would have upgraded and enjoyed the new content. But instead they are being very greedy and now my first DQ game will be my last. A shame.

[Brunel]

Originally posted by Brunel:

Originally posted by Koby:

Make sure you recruit everyone you can during Sylvando's part as you'll get a much better custom outfit as a result of doing so that'll last you all of Act 2 and is like his second best in the game overall. You can get it in Act 3 from the Casino... but why miss out for the entire Act 2 and then have to waste Casino tokens..

Oh that is really nice! Do you also still get the original outfit if you get the upgraded one?

Small update: You do not get the mardi garb on sylvando if you do the side quests, only the peerless parade costume. However, you do get the mardi garb on your hero which you can also equip on Sylvando. You just don't receive two of them I guess.

[ZeroZeroOne]

What I really like about the Sylvando side story and what it brings is that it fills a missing gap of why Sylvando was so obsessed with his Act 2 mission of making the world smile. The goal was super simple ("Make the world smile"), but his entire side-story arc, that journey itself - was super satisfying. Going to towns, gathering likeminded individuals, and just reminding them that in spite of the darkness, there is still light.

Even the folks that were super annoyed at this joker dancing in their face couldn't help but relax a bit. That's super wholesome.

Finaly, when the Hero finally meets up with Sylvando again:

Without the side story, it's like --- "Uh wtf did you do? Why are you dressed like that?"
VS
With the side story, it's like --- "Well damn Sylvando you are truly the hero in your game!"

It's really great.