It’s time now for another rousing edition of…True to Life Phone Calls, starring Paul and Tara and brought to you by a cup of mediocre Green Mountain coffee.

Tara: So, what are you doing for the rest of the night?
Paul: Playing Dragon Quest IX. I’m trying to beat this one boss before I go to bed.
Tara: Ooooh.

Yup. Only…I failed. I did not beat said boss, and I still went to bed. Talk about being a quitter. Actually, no. I was really tired. I had a day of work and then an evening of Scott Pilgrim mania, as well as food and coffee drinks and musing about comics and slushing stories for Clarkesworld and so on and so on.

But I did try to beat Leviathan twice in a row, and that should count for something; he’s a boss you’ll come across shortly after you complete the vocation quest in Alltrade Abbey, and basically, he’s a pain in the ocean-butt. At least, he is for my team of scrabblers. See, he only attacks once per turn–unlike that jerk Jack of Alltrade–but two of his main attacks are the kind that target all four of my team members at once. There’s a tidal wave attack and tail sweep attack, both of which do a good amount of damage. The biggest problem with this is my lack of healing, and I don’t have any group heal spells or buff spells save for Accelerate. I was hoping my mage would’ve learned one by now, but I guess he’s more aggro than anything. Looks like I will have to put Andy on the back burner and create a new character with the priest vocation. Please submit name suggestions. Since my martial artist and thief are both women, my priest character will be a hardcore dude.

I actually don’t mind the fact that I will have to create a new character and grind him/her up to a decent level to help beat Leviathan. Why’s that? Well, for one thing, the grinding isn’t terribly annoying in Dragon Quest IX. Each battle gets you more XP, more gold coins, and the possibility of more items for the alchemy pot. Plus, upon returning to previous towns, you’ll find new characters there ready to give out sidequests. Now, some of these are absurd and difficult-sounding, and others are of the “kill X monsters” breed. Also, rumor has it that previously visited dungeons now host new treasure chests like mini medals and harder enemies. It’ll be good to take these missions on and build up my priest at the same time. He better get a heal all spell, and he better get it fast, as it seems I can’t go forward with the actual story until I take down Mr. Fishface.

And if this tactic doesn’t work, I’ll just recruit my sister this Friday as we give local co-op a chance.