Impressions: Dragon Quest IV (Greg)

Dragon Quest IV

Before I knew that the Dragon Quest 4-6 trilogy was coming to the internet, I was surfing the internet and literally thought it was a typo. I mean, I knew Dragon Quest IX was coming to the DS but I had no idea that IV was as well. It’s very hard to express my excitement when I finally realized that these titles were coming in the near future (5 & 6 have been Japan only up until now). I am a huge Dragon Quest fan, having played the incredible 1-3 trilogy, and I am completely stoked to be able to play the next 3 installments in the series.

Dragon Quest IV is obviously remade with improved visuals and audio, just as many of the older Final Fantasy titles are currently experiencing. As is always the case with Dragon Quest (or any Square Enix game for that matter), the music is incredible. The graphics are also some of the best I’ve even seen on the DS to date, even maybe surpassing those seen in the Final Fantasy remakes. For instance, in towns you can rotate the camera a full 360 degrees quickly around the completely 3D towns. The battle animations are traditionally old school but the creatures are also rendered in 3D. The game looks beautiful, and I’m very excited to play through Dragon Quest IV for the first time in such a beautifully remastered version of the game. It hits scores on September 15th.