Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

October 1,2008 - After the many steady remakes Square Enix has provided us with Square’s flagship Final Fantasy series, the high-powered RPG publisher is finally working on the games that made Enix the company it was known for—of course, the subject here is Dragon Quest, or Dragon Warrior as westerns are used to calling it. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen is the first of three Dragon Quest remakes to be released on the Nintendo DS, and while there aren’t too many differences between this and PlayStation version, it still provides a refreshing experience—especially to those who have never played the game before.

Unlike most traditional Japanese RPG’s, the game is divided into multiple chapters, and you don’t actually meet the game’s main protagonist until its fifth chapter, which is nearly 15 hours into the game. The game’s earlier chapters follow characters who inevitably join your party in the future, and they provide a bit of a background as to how they are and where they came from as well as some comic relief here and there. The earlier chapters also work as a sort of tutorial to get players enriched with what to expect, especially when it comes to the game’s pacing when it comes to backtracking, exploration, and battles.

This method of introduction and storytelling works as a double-edged sword of sorts. The good thing about this, obviously, is knowing a lot about the characters beforehand. The main problem with this formula is that you can easily get attached to these characters, thanks to amount of quality writing provided by the Square Enix translators, and when the time comes for you to choose which characters you want to lug around you in your party, you’ll find yourself neglecting the characters you don’t like as much as the others. There is some relief to this though, as later in the game you’ll find that inactive characters gain experience even when they’re not used, so there really is no need to worry about having someone stronger than another by a difference of over 12 experience levels.

If there’s anything any fan can tell you why Dragon Quest is so solid, it’s because of the overly simplistic turn-based battle system. Like most other Japanese RPG’s, battles are random, unless triggered by a boss fight and the combat relies on a bunch of menus. All the game requires you to do is attack, use magic, use an item, or defend. There aren’t too many additions or upgrades you can do other than that. It’s simply a straight forward kind of system, so you can feel free to kill as many Slimes as you’d like.

What’s somewhat assuring with Dragon Quest IV in comparison to the Final Fantasy IV remake is the difference in difficulty. Dragon Quest IV is a lot more manageable and requires a lot less level-grinding than its rough cousin did. Then again, it works as a bit of a tradeoff because the amount of backtracking in Dragon Quest IV exceeds that in Final Fantasy IV.

The developers took a rather unique turn with improving the way the game looks. At first glance, it looks like you’re playing a retro RPG from back in the SNES days because of all the sprites and hand-drawn environments, but when you tap any of the shoulder buttons in any of the towns, you can rotate the camera to see the extreme details made to every part of the environment. So if you’re ever stuck in a town because you just don’t know where to go, moving the camera 180 degrees will allow you to see a passageway into a building you wouldn’t have normally caught from the original angle of gameplay. Aside from that, the hand-drawn sprites are totally reminiscent of the golden days of RPG’s, and while the visuals aren’t exactly drop dead gorgeous, the amount of freedom you have with detail is definitely outstanding.

Sound is on par with what to expect from the DS. The game has a few noticeable updates to the original game while also replacing the old beeps from the PlayStation version with actual clanks of the swords during battle. As usual, in order to stay submersed with the game’s sound, it’s best to put on some headphones... except for the short times the characters talk with their extremely dreadful and fake accents.  One thing's for sure though, as with every Dragon Quest game, the music composed by Koichi Sugiyama is always a joy to hear with such masterful use of tone during all the right times.

Dragon Quest has always been a sort of neglected series in the United States, and with the quality the games have always provided, it’s always been really unfortunate. Whether it sells or not, this is a great remake of a game that totally deserved one from the ground up—but at that, this isn’t for everyone. There are a handful of limitations when it comes to character building, but then again, it really shouldn’t matter how strong your character is. At full price, it’s only an okay purchase, but then again—if it doesn’t sell, who’s to say that we’ll ever see Dragon Quest in a North American release ever again?

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