Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS) Review
Square Enix have really been on a roll lately. With two fully fledged RPGs being released on the Xbox 360 this year and several remakes being localised for the Nintendo DS, it’s a wonder how they manage to keep putting out so many quality titles. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen is yet another remake of a very renown franchise that Square Enix has under its belt; and for the first time, English speaking gamers can have a piece of the action, which, contrary to popular belief, is just as on par with Square Enix’s other flagship series Final Fantasy. If not better.
Dragon Quest: Chapters of the Chosen is a very unique title in that it follows five different characters in five separate narratives, with them all converging towards the conclusion of the game in order to defeat a greater evil. The game is split into chapters, which each flesh out a character’s back story through the completion of a task, while the final chapter sees players taking control of the “prophesied hero” and his previously encountered companions to vanquish the game’s main antagonist, Psaro. The best thing about this format is that it not only gives players a chance to attach to the characters, but is also optimised for handheld play; a feat very hard to pull off with an RPG.
Players will be stepping into the shoes (or should I say, greaves) of Ragnar McRyan, a royal guard commissioned with finding children who have recently gone missing. Secondly, a misunderstood princess-esque character, Alena, who wishes to prove her strength to others but cannot due to her father’s oppressive nature. Third is Torneko, a travelling merchant who wishes to be the best merchant in the world. Finally are Meena and Maya, two sisters who were daughters of a famed alchemist, and wish to find revenge against their father’s killers. Sounds interesting? Well, I’ll let you know that although these episodes are all slightly short, they are very interesting to play – and they really do their best to show the player the different “sides” or “classes” of the characters. The only complaint with this mechanism, however, is that some of the dialogue can be innately hard to read, although written in English they use very abstract dialects in order to build atmosphere, but frustrating in the process. There are two other chapters towards the end of the game, but we would be spoiling if we went into detail about them. =)
Since its last inception on the Playstation, Dragon Quest IV has undergone some pretty heavy cosmetic makeovers. All environments have been redrawn and recoloured to look their absolute best, possessing a very lush and vibrant quality without deviating from their source material much. Animations on all of the (redrawn) sprites are very well done and run smoothly, while still keeping that old-school RPG feel (IE. The sprites continue to use their walking animation when standing still). During battle screens are where the most improvements have been made though, and the fully animated sprites of the enemy characters have been redrawn as well as brand new re-modelled three dimensional battle grounds. It’s all a very high quality revamp of an old classic and it really makes the game a lot more accessible.
If you’ve played an RPG, you’ve probably played a game similar to Dragon Quest. The game takes place in two phases, the first being the exploration phase while the second is the battle phase. Naturally, players control their character throughout the different towns and interact with NPCs as well as purchase equipment. Players can also save their progress, revive characters and cure status ailments by visiting a church, which can be found in pretty much every city. A minor gripe is that in order to save, you must confess, and the priestess asks if she can record your confessions in a log – which kind of seems strange, but that’s just me being pedantic.
When in the field, the players can run into random creatures via battles. During this phase, the screen changes and battles take place. Players can choose to attack and use magic, depending on the character currently in their party. The difference with Dragon Quest compared to other RPGs, however, is that you won’t be seeing your characters or any animations involved with attacking. Instead, you’ll just see the enemies animating and flashing whenever they take damage. It’s definitely quite, well, unvaried compared to other RPGs (I mean, even Di-Gata Defenders had a system where you could see your characters and attacks) but it is Dragon Quest tradition so it only makes sense that it stays. Players may also find it a bit frustrating that some characters recruited into the party are automatically controlled and not controllable by the player. Fortunately, the AI implemented is very competent and manages to keep itself (and you) out of trouble.
The biggest observation I made when playing this title was that it was so much simpler than RPGs that I had previously played. Whereas Final Fantasy encourages equipment management and party management, I found Dragon Quest to be much more, well, relaxing to play and much more easy-going as an RPG is concerned. The manner in which the story is constructed also attributed to making the game so much easier and more accessible than other RPGs I’ve recently played. It really is refreshing to play an RPG that is similar to the others but at the same time so unique.
While you’re playing through your epic quests to unite against an undying evil, what tunes will you be listening to? Mainly old school ones, is the correct answer. Dragon Quest incorporates a varying amount of tunes but they aren’t really anything special that pushes the genre forward. Appropriate music is used at appropriate times and none of the music feels out of place or poorly composed. All in all, a very decent offering by the developers.
Dragon Quest: Chapters of the Chosen is a remake that stays faithful to its source material, while still updating enough to warrant another visit to the Dragon Quest universe for veterans (though, considering this title was previously released only in Japan, you probably haven’t played it yet). As such, it’s very easy to recommend Dragon Quest: Chapters of the Chosen to someone looking for a very accessible, unique and intriguing RPG. Square Enix have announced plans to bring other titles to the Western territories.
After my experience with Dragon Quest IV, it’s needless to say that I am very excited to see what the series brings.
