If you’re into old-school RPGs or even newer ones, the Dragon Quest series could be right for you. Sure, it embodies most of the characteristics of an old-school RPG but if you can adapt to the upped difficulty and requirement of gaining levels, some truly incredible adventures are in store for you. Simply, if you’ve never played through a Dragon Quest game before, I would be the first to tell you that you’re missing out on a highly enriching experience. Though the series lacks in the States some of the popularity it receives in Japan, I believe that the Dragon Quest series of games is quite possibly one of the most enjoyable series of RPGs to date.
Playing through the original as a kid on the NES, I never had the chance to experience the second or third (or even fourth) iterations at an early age on the NES. However, I soon experienced the glory of remakes as I continued on with Dragon Quest III on the Game Boy Color (one of my favorite games of all time). The parallels between the 1 and 3 were incredible to me and I had never felt such a sense of adventure in video games. Soon, I learned of the trilogy nature behind the Dragon Questseries where 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9 are all trilogies featuring different settings and overall evils. Thus, the first trilogy was rounded out for me on Game Boy Color as I played through Dragon Quest I & II.
After finishing the first trilogy, my anticipation heightened for the series even further. I attempted to play through Dragon Quest IVon the NES but never made it past the first chapter as the original NES Dragon Quest games truly don’t age very well (the visuals looked awkwardly colored and the interface was nothing like that of the remakes I had played on the GBC). Thus, I longed for the PlayStation remake of DQIV, along with the other Japan only releases, DQV and DQVI.
Now with the release of Dragon Quest IX on the horizon for the DS, Square Enix has upped the ante even further by announcing a true trio of remakes for the DS and answering the dreams ofDragon Quest fans in the States. DQIV, DQV, & DQVI are all arriving on the DS as well, featuring the improved visuals seen from the Playstation version of DQIV along with a whole slew of extras. And that means I can continue my journey through the worlds of Dragon Quest on the most recent remake, Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen that was released back in September. I could only hope that the second trilogy of games could provide the same sense of wonder that the original trilogy instilled within me but nonetheless, I knew for certain that I would enjoy the game.
Stellar Story
Our quest begins in a similar way to previous games and allows the player to choose between either a boy or girl to represent the main character, as well as designate a name of this Legendary Hero. The story then begins town where players get a small sense of the life that the Hero is currently living. Training in the many arts of combat, our Hero also has a tricky companion, and both a father and mother. However, after settling in for the night, the game takes a shift in direction from previous games by setting the spotlight on a different character entirely. As Chapter 1 begins, players assume the role of Ragnar McRyan, a soldier in the Burland army. In carrying out all that is just and good, Ragnar sets out to find the cause of recent disappearances of the children in a local town.
The best part of Dragon Quest IV is that it allows players to essentially play through 5 completely different chapters in the story of the chosen. This allows players to understand the different motives of each character as well as the hardships that they overcome on their journeys. Each of the first 4 quests stars a different character or characters, each from a different kingdom and part of the world. Though none of the characters know of each other from the beginning, they are destined to meet up later in the story in order to combat evil. Thus, players are getting classic Dragon Quest gameplay in 4 different occasions and then one final quest through the last chapter.
What makes Dragon Quest IV further unique is that each chapter has its own unique characters and sets of circumstances. Ragnar must travel around on sort of a mystery case as he attempts to find the whereabouts of the missing children (and eventually learns of the impending evil that is arising all around the world). Ragnar’s abilities feature nothing more than the ability to dish out damage with a sword and though he eventually finds a helper, his solo quest is similar to the style and gameplay of the original Dragon Quest game.
In the second chapter, however, players assume the role of Alena Tsavarena, a tomboy princess from the castle of Zamoksva. Due to the over-sheltering of her father, her quest is to travel the world outside of the kingdom in order to test her strength (and in the process she restores her father’s missing voice as well as fights in a world class tournament in the kingdom of Endor). Alena also excels in strength but she is accompanied by two caretakers, Borya and Kyril, a mage and healer respectively. This adventure is the lengthier of the first three as she travels to many different areas on her quest but begins to resemble the gameplay from anything past the original Dragon Quest.
Chapter 3 is where the gameplay takes a strong leap of separation from previous games. Players assume the role of Torneko of Lakanaba on his quest to become something more. Torneko is stuck within the everyday routine of being a father, husband, and worker at the local weapons shop. His routine life is keeping him from being the world class merchant that he longs to be. Thus, Torneko sets off to raise money and buy a shop in the prosperous town of Endor. Beginning with no money and little fighting skills, Torneko must find money to buy a weapon from the local weapon shop he works for (oh the irony!) before he can become strong enough to even leave the town. Thus, you can actually work at the weapons shop to earn commission from your boss after making the day’s sales. This has its benefit because Torneko earns around 100 gold for each shift he works and you also may be able to buy rare items from customers that you can actually use later on your quest.
Torneko, being the successful merchant that he is, also has a knack for finding expensive items after defeating enemies. At the beginning of his quest, this may just seem like a nice bonus to his skills but it does serve a purpose later on: once Torneko travels through hardships to reach the town of Endor, he must then raise enough money to buy his shop and eventually enough money to pay for the digging of a hole to the east. This can be done by 1) selling items obtained from battles and 2) finding the rare Goddess statue in a local cave and selling it for $20,000. And though Torneko does have to finish a few quests here or there to actually make it to Endor, his story is pushed further from the quest based stories we’re used to seeing and more towards a mission of true salesmanship.
Finally, the last group of travelers is Meena and Maya from Monbaraba in Chapter 4. Their quest is to find the murderer of their father and seek retribution. Gameplay is back to the traditional style as Meena and Maya find passage to the lair of a great evil and attempt to destroy the evil that potentially killed their father. This portion of the story is when the game begins to heat up and afterward players begin to see the convergence of each path to a central location.
Dragon Quest IV also marks a special time in RPGs, providing the first real ability to have a party of more characters than the allotted amount in battle. Thus, once your characters all meet up, you’ll be given the option of forming a party of 4 to fight in battle, while the rest stay in a wagon. This also allows players to switch out characters during battles for strategic purposes and use reserve characters even after someone dies in combat (they jump out and replace them). This was a huge step in RPGs at the time and it is an effective format even today (Golden Sun 2actually mimicked this formula, if I remember correctly).
Impressive Improvements
DQIV: COTC embodies all of the typical characteristics of Dragon Quest gameplay but also thrives from the many improvements and additions added this time around. Much like many of the recent Final Fantasy remakes on the DS where gamers were given top quality in presentation and in gameplay refinement, Dragon Quest IV provides a beautiful remake of the original with well accepted additions to the game’s format such as quick saves, multiplayer, and extras such as mini medals and additional gameplay.
However, the best part about any Dragon Quest remake from an original NES title is its simplification of the interface. On the NES,Dragon Quest’s interface was very bulky, slow, and oftentimes confusing. However, on the DS version, everything is much simpler, making the experience much more enticing to play through. And though the interface is not as robust as some of the interfaces of other RPGs, it’s a huge step up when considering the alternative (while still paying respect to the original design).
Players receive the traditional interface improvements including quick keys that perform certain actions out of battle. These include Heal All, Equip, Line-up, Tactics, Organize Items, Sort Bag’s Contents, Battle Records, Settings, and Quick Save. Using some of these menus may help to lessen the amount of time you spend wading through menus. Even further proof of a more robust interface is the ability to press Y at any time to receive detailed information about your current location on the upper screen, whether that be on the world map or even within dungeons and towns. Particularly effective in towns, pressing Y cycles through a list of the items within all of the town’s shops, which is a handy tool to speed up equipment purchasing.
However, my biggest complaint in the interface is that the touch screen is not used in any way, shape, or form. Sure, the improvements parallel those that we saw in the Game Boy Color remakes of the first three games but there really isn’t much overall improvement from the ones we saw on that two-generation old handheld. It would have been nice to see some attempt at touch screen implementation, even if it only existed in the menus alone.
Another notable improvement that Chapters of the Chosen adds to the core gameplay is sped up combat. This is an invaluable addition to the format as it makes gaining levels feel less of a chore and also allows players to reach their destinations much quicker than they normally would. Slow combat has been shown to hurt any RPG, especially ones with random battles such asDQIV and thus the ability to end battles quickly can make or break an experience for some gamers. And, to further improve the speed of victory, gamers retain the option to set sort of an auto-combat mode where your characters act according to a set plan (such as “show no mercy” which causes the characters to throw any offensive attack they choose at the enemy).
Multiplayer is a new addition to the DS version of this game. In multiplayer, players are given a random town that interacts with pioneers sent out from other players’ games. Each time your pioneer encounters a pioneer from another game, a new person is added to your town. If you attain enough people, the shops may sell rarer items (the benefit of multiplayer). However, aside from this minimalist multiplayer experience, there is no Nintendo Wi-Fi connection and no other multiplayer features. Still, it’s nice to have something that can artificially extend the gameplay, even if it’s something as simple as collecting rare items.
Astounding Aesthetics
Visually, DQIV is a huge step up from the original game. Going from 8-Bit to even a step up on PlayStation graphics, Chapters of the Chosen looks great in its 2D/3D hybrid form. However, if you compare the game to the PlayStation remake years ago, you’ll notice that it is more of a port of this title in a sense than a true remake (with only minor graphical and audio updates). Towns and environments are still fully 3D with an isometric overhead perspective and players are given the ability to fully rotate the camera in most areas to give them different perspectives of the areas around them. The DS works very well for this title as both screens are merged together to portray one large view of your surroundings.
Battles are as minimalist looking as ever as ever, featuring mere caricatures of your characters on the top screen, while the enemy art and animation is the main focus of the battle. This opposes some of the current RPGs’ insistence on flashy battle sequences, and I feel that this minimalistic approach tends to get more of a bad rep than it should. There are clear problems and benefits with both styles of battles and the problems with DQIV’ssimplistic style are far too often pointed out by the media without mentioning its benefits. Minimalist battles obviously are not as impressive on the eyes as more graphically intensive ones (though they still look good).
However, the benefit of these minimalist battles comes in the overall speed of combat. A major complaint I have with some of the newer Final Fantasy remakes on the DS is precisely this issue where combat takes much too long due to flashy spells and victory animations. If one plays any of the original Final Fantasytitles and then plays their reincarnated forms on the DS, they may feel like these graphical enhancements hinder the actual flow of the game. Thus, Dragon Quest IV’s insistence on minimalistic battle sequences is integral in successfully pulling off its hardcore RPG elements (such as fighting numerous amounts of battles to gain levels).
Musically, any Dragon Quest title has a musical score that ranks among the best of any RPG. I find it most enlightening to listen to live renditions of videogame music to understand how it was fully intended to sound, particularly the Dragon Quest: Symphonic Suite performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. And, as the musical composition of Dragon Quest titles is always incredible, the DS does an excellent job of providing a quality musical score with its selection of instruments that sound orchestrated at times. The music in Chapters of the Chosen plays great homage to the traditional soundtrack and revives it, giving players a truly breathtaking soundtrack.
As for the story, I enjoyed the uniqueness of the Chapter based stories and the change of perspective from one story to another (as well as the parallels and eventual convergence of each story into the final chapters). This just gave me a better sense of understanding the setting of each of the many characters and their individual importance to the overall story. Still, though, it seems that the first of any of the trilogies is always the slowest as an entire world must be introduced before moving through the actual story. I can’t help but long for the incredible tie-ins that I experienced after playing DQIII and I’m hoping that this series provides the same with sequels DQV & DQVI.
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen is on the higher end of prices for DS titles at $39.99 but as an RPG, this price can be justified since RPGs typically take more time to finish than any other genre of games. If you’re a fan of Dragon Quest, this is the defining title in the series and though it is in many ways a port of the PSX remake years ago, the portability of the DS makes it the most ideal system for RPGs as you can play them anywhere, at any time, and always are given the option to quick save and quit at any time. This allows gamers to spend time playing the game in locations other than their living room or bed room, making the 40+ hours manageable and never daunting.
So now for the verdict: did Dragon Quest IV live up to my own personal hype and expectations? Well, I loved the story and classic gameplay but it still didn’t approach the level of adventure experienced in DQIII (though DQIII is considered by many in Japan to be the best Dragon Quest title so that’s difficult to live up to). Still, the game embodied enough improvements from the original game to make it much easier to finish overall and the homage to traditional gameplay that was present in the Game Boy Color remakes remained in this one as well. Thus, I thoroughly enjoyed DQIV despite a few inadequacies here or there.