Andrea said if I would post my written review here that she would read it. Well, ok.
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS) ReviewDragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen © 2007, 2008 ARMOR PROJECT/BIRD STUDIO/ARTEPIAZZA/SQUARE ENIX. © Koichi Sugiyama.This review is my opinion.
Review Completion Date: Friday, July 3, 2009.
System: Nintendo DS
Number of Players: 1
ESRB: E10
My recommended age to play this game: 12+
Time spent with this game: 39:36
Times Beaten: “B” Ending: One
“A” Ending: None
Initial Impressions: “With headphones, this opening track is really nice. The dragon looks a little blocky, but overall, the opening sequence is nice.”
There is a reason why the opening track, “Overture” sounds so nice – it is a recording of the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra!
This is my first written review. I’ll follow the same formula that I used with the video reviews and we will see how this works out. Here we go!
Story: You are the hero, or heroine, and you are destined to defeat the Lord of the Underworld upon his resurrection. The problem is you don’t know that yet! You have just turned eighteen and are living in small village that is isolated from the outside world. I don’t know why you are wearing armor if you are living in a farming village, but whatever – your look remains consistent. This RPG is a little different in that you don’t play as the hero the entire story. The main story is divided into five chapters, with different characters taking center stage during their chapters. You play a short prologue in which the hero is introduced and then all of a sudden, you are placed in the shoes of Ragner McRyan, a knight in the far-off kingdom of Burland. He is sent on a mission to save the children of the kingdom. At the end of his chapter, it is discovered that someone named Psaro the Manslayer (not to be confused with Battosai the Manslayer… check out Rurouni Kenshin) is on his own mission to kill the hero before the prophecy can be fulfilled. Chapter 2 follows Alena, the tomboy tsarina (princess) of Zamoksva Castle. She is accompanied by the old magician Borya (Bore-ya! Get it? Ha! Ha! Hmmm…), and the soldier/priest Kiryl. Chapter 3 follows Torneko Taloon, an ambitious merchant who dreams of owning his own shop. Chapter 4 introduces the twins Maya and Meena, a dancer and fortune-teller on an adventure to avenge their murdered father. Chapter 5 reintroduces the hero/heroine and the true adventure to defeat the Lord of the Underworld and Psaro begins. Chapter 6 is comprised of extra stuff including a new dungeon, a new party member, and the “A” or complete ending.
Most of the chapters play out like a traditional RPG – go to towns, talk to the NPCs, find items in the dungeons, and beat a boss. There are a few funnier moments as well such as Alena has to enter a competition to prevent the princess of Endor from being married off to the coliseum winner, as well as other humorous moments. Chapter 3 has the same elements, but finally, you too can enjoy the “fun” of being a worker at a weapon shop. Chapter 3 is my favorite because it is different from the others. Torneko hires bodyguards, gets his wife to sell things at twice their value, and written dialogue is great in chapter 3. I’m surprised more games don’t let you delve into free-enterprising.
Just a quick notice as to what carries over from chapters 1-4 into 5: character levels and all the skills/spells they learned, items and equipment (but not special items), casino tokens, and mini-medals. That means that money does not transfer! In chapter 3, you will find that you are collecting a bunch of steel broadswords and iron armour after battles. Torneko will keep any equipment that you don’t sell in chapter 3, so save some stuff and sell it later when Torneko rejoins in chapter 5.
Along the way, other temporary party members fight beside you. There are eight in all including a healslime, a travelling-poet (who speaks in elementary rhyme), an innkeeper’s son whom eventually starts his own town, a dragon pup, and even an angel. There is certainly a wide assortment of characters.
What works for and against the story is the dialogue itself. It is presented in dialects based off of various languages like German, French, Russian, and even a little Old-English. These dialects sometimes lead to broken grammar that can’t make the characters hard to understand. On the other hand, it helps create the atmosphere that the world of DQIV is a diverse one with many different peoples. It can be strange, but it is readable. If you are a perfectionist English major, try to make to the end of the game.
There is also side-questing to be done. You must play into Chapter 6 to complete them. You can try to complete “The Big Book of Beasts,” the games bestiary. To gain an entry, you must defeat the monster and not just see it. Good luck against those Metal King Slimes! If you manage to defeat at least one of every monster you will receive 300,000 casino tokens! You can also complete Hank Hoffman Jr.’s town. Doing so will open up item shops that sell rare equipment, as well as a new casino.
Speaking of the casino, it has poker, slot machines, and a monster arena. In the monster arena, you bet some tokens on who you think will win in a battle of monsters.
The names of towns and enemies are often a play on words and sounds. Borya is only one example. A quick sample of others are The Auld Well (old well), Ballymoral (Baltimore), War-Rus (walrus), and many others. If you like word games, you’ll get a kick out of names of places and enemies.
The story itself weaves together and the next objective is always clear. My main problem is with the main characters themselves. They hardly ever talk and don’t really have any character development. That being said, they each have their own moments and are memorable but simple characters.
Game Play:If you have ever played a DQ game before the battle system will not surprise you at all. It is a traditional turned based RPG. You give your characters commands (attack, magic, item, etc.) and then you watch how the turn plays out. The party and enemies move based on speed. For example, in one battle all your characters may be faster than all of the monsters, so that would be four straight moves for you and then the monsters attack. What happens most of the time is that some of monsters are quicker than some of your party members. Ragner is the slowest and Alena is the quickest. Some characters are purely offensive (Alena, Ragner, Maya), Kiryl is strictly supportive (healing and defensive spells), and the others are a combination of offensive and supportive abilities. Once you get the wagon in chapter 5, you can switch out party members in battle between turns, but only on the world map and in a few dungeons. Don’t worry; the characters that are not in the active party still receive experience. The best strategy is to use the members that will give you an advantage in battle. You pretty much always want someone who can heal and someone that can inflict magic damage. Some characters that work well in some dungeons may not work well in others. An easy example is Maya: don’t use her fire attacks against fire-based enemies! You will have to level grind to learn the characters’ abilities but fortunately, the battles in this game are fast-paced. Still, if you are not the type of player who can stand still for a while to power up your team, you probably will get bored a few times. In my experience, the characters leveled up fairly quickly and I didn’t have to wait around for extended periods. My hero was on level thirty-eight when I beat the game.
Controls:Move with the control pad and use the A button to talk to NPCs. There isn’t touch screen support at all. There is a mini-map that gets filled in as you travel around the world map. You eventually get a boat and near the end, a hot-air balloon. You will still encounter enemies in the boat but you can travel the world worry free in the balloon. The trade-off is that you can’t enter the menu in the balloon. Simply land to enter the menu. Enter the boat by walking up to it, and press A to enter the balloon.
The menu itself is very easy to navigate. Press X and you’re in! Your party’s current stats are displayed on the top screen and all of the options: talk (talk to someone), items (use and look at the inventory; characters can hold 12 items and extra items are kept in the bag), attributes (shows the characters stats, skills, and equipment), magic (cast field magic), examine (look at the ground near your feet), and Misc. are on the bottom screen. Misc. has the following options: heal-all (restore HP automatically using items and spells), line-up (change party members order), organize items (puts extra items into the bag – special items and equipment currently worn is excluded), battle records, quick save (creates a temp save that works on the world map and outside of buildings), equip, tactics (set the other characters to your own specifications or leave them on “follow orders” to give the commands yourself), sort bag’s contents, and settings (BGM and SFX volume and battle message speed).
In towns and dungeons, use the L and R buttons to move the camera. It isn’t necessary to move the camera often, but sometimes hidden things can only be seen by shifting the camera. Press L and R at the same time to reset the camera.
Graphics: The graphics are clear and present the diversity the characters and enemies well. Akira Toriyama’s creations are colorful and have a lot of personality in battle. The map sprites are not quite as impressive; they aren’t ugly, just simple. In several towns, the first being Aubout de Monde, there is a slowdown that interferes with the seamlessness of the game. It doesn’t break the game; it is simply annoying. The map sprites could have used a bit more variety as well – when someone is sleeping he is either lying on his side or standing up with his eyes open.
Music: I’m a sucker for orchestral tracks, so I don’t have many complaints with the music. I wish it could have been fully orchestrated like DQVIII, but that is asking a bit much for a DS game. The MIDI is of high quality and sounds great. Some of the music does get repetitive, especially in the dungeons.
SFX: The SFX are very repetitive, but that is because you will use many of the same tactics in every battle. Your fighters will attack and your magic users will cast their spells. It doesn’t sound bad by any means – you will just know the sounds after a while.
Problems: I really don’t have any real big problems with this game. The graphic slowdown is annoying, but beyond that the complaints I have are with the fabric of the DQ series. The experience gained from battles is not great, the money you earn is pathetic, and the good shop items are overpriced. That is just part of the DQ experience, but it seems softer in this installment than in DQVIII.
Parting Shots:Pros: fast random battles, funny dialogue, good music, and beautifully drawn characters and locations
Cons: level-grinding, other “DQ problems,” and graphic slowdowns
Score: 8/10This game is DQ and doesn’t make any apologies. The chapters give you insights into the characters and some of writing is just great.
Buy/Rent/Skip: Buy. If you don’t like turn-based RPGs skip it – there isn’t anything here that is going to change your mind. If you interested in trying a turn-based RPG, this could be a good gateway game. The learning curve is steep for those who haven’t played DQ and turn-based games before, but this would be a good one to experiment with. It isn’t the easiest game I have ever played, but isn’t the hardest either. It is definitely less involved than DQVIII.
Current Price: $30-27 for new and $24-19 for used
I received this game as a Christmas gift, so I didn’t pay for it! I would pay full price for this one. Be prepared to spend at least 35 hours to reach the “B” ending and even more to complete all there is to do in Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen!
