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Talkin' Bout My Generation
Dragon Quest V is one of two games in the series that were never released in North America, prior to this release (the other being Dragon Quest VI). It's a real shame too, as Dragon Quest V is one of the best games in the series. Okay, so yes it's true that if you've played one Dragon Quest, you've pretty well played them all. The series has not really changed much over the years, the basic game play still remains the same. What sets Dragon Quest V apart from the rest is its storytelling.
The main plot of Dragon Quest V is fairly simple. Like most RPGs of its kind, it's a basic good vs evil story. What makes it different though, is how it tells the story, and the twist on the “legendary hero” trope. The game starts off with your character being born, and covers about 30 years or so of the character's life, from his childhood to adulthood, and eventually leading up to marriage and starting a family. It's an interesting - albeit sad - journey, as the floor oftentimes crumbles under his feet just as things are starting to look up for him. As far as RPG main characters go, DQV's has a pretty rough life.
Game-play-wise, it's really not too much different than previous games in the series. The one thing that really sets it apart is its ability to recruit and train monsters. I was really not a big fan of this feature, and the game does basically force you to use it for quite awhile after a certain point. My basic thought on this is, if I wanted to play Pokemon, I'd play Pokemon. Once I didn't have to use them anymore, I dropped all the monsters from my party like a hot potato. That's just my preference though, I could see how using monsters could be interesting. They can be quite a bit stronger than the humans who join your group; I just prefer having the actual story characters in my group. It was more interesting to me.
Battles are fought in the traditional Dragon Quest first person view. You don't see your characters in combat, just their weapon strikes and spell effects. Monsters do have attack animations though, which is something the original game did not. If you've played a Dragon Quest game, or any RPG for that matter before you pretty much know what to expect. Issue commands to your team, and then watch the fight play out. Keep doing this until one side wins. You will be doing this a lot, as there is a fair amount of level grinding required. Again, if you've played Dragon Quest before, you know to expect this, still it can be a little tedious at times.
There are a couple of new additions that were not in the original game. Such as a bonus dungeon (which has become pretty standard in Square Enix remakes) and a new playable character. The addition of the new character doesn't drastically change the story of the game. There is some new dialogue and a couple of new scenes that help fit the character into the game. She is just another wife choice for the main character. The character is completely optional, though.
Dragon Quest V was originally on the Super Nintendo, however this remake is based off of a PlayStation 2 build that came out a few years ago. It doesn't look as good as that one, but is definitely a step up from the SNES version. It's a mix of 2D character sprites with a semi 3D background. Certainly not ground breaking by any means, but it doesn't need to be. Flashy cut scenes are more of Final Fantasy's ballpark. Dragon Quest tends to keep things simple.
So despite a few minor issues I have, Dragon Quest V is one of my favorite games in this series. The good very much outweighs the bad. It's got a strong story, interesting characters, and is just all around a good game. I very highly recommend it.
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System: |
Nintendo DS
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| Genre: |
RPG
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| Experience: |
Finished the Game
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