Play With Me: Dragon Quest IV
So we all had a good laugh watching me bumble through Chrono Trigger, didn’t we? Yes, I suck and am terrible at JRPGs. So in the spirit of good sportsmanship, I figured I’d put another personal epic failure up for public mockery. And after all, this past week’s experiment sure served as some much-needed incentive for me to break through a mental wall and clean a game out of my back-log, and lord knows I’ve got a stack of unfinished games that could tower over my house.
I figured I’d begin with Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen. Yes, another JRPG. Here’s a summary:
A prestigious army captain, an adventurous princess seeking to test her skills beyond palace walls, a humble merchant aspiring to open his own shop, and two sisters who wish to avenge their father’s death…These seemingly unrelated individuals will soon cross paths when fate brings them together to journey alongside you, the hero. Dive into this unique adventure, and discover an epic tale told through the experiences and emotions of characters from all walks of life.
DQIV consists of five total chapters, and in each chapter you play as a different character so that by Chapter Five each character in your party has been given a fairly in-depth backstory. When I last played the game, I was at five hours and thirty-five minutes and had just begun Chapter Three: Torneko and the Extravagant Excavation. Up to this point, I had completely fallen in love with the game, which is strange because all of the conventions that usually disgust me about JRPGs (linear gameplay, random battles, turn-based combat) had somehow become endearing in DQIV. Perhaps it was because of the way the game is presented with it’s charming characters and wonderful art style. Or perhaps it was because all these simplistic RPG conventions weren’t masked by never-ending side quests, incomprehensible plots, painfully-long cut-scenes, and complicated battle menus, item-building, food-cooking, or some ridiculous job system with infinitely branching paths. It was “just” an RPG, plain and simple. And if I was having difficulty clearing a certain area or knocking off a particular boss battle, I didn’t need a special elemental armor or to backtrack and find some convoluted side quest. The answer was simple: grind.
So with that in mind, I suspect finishing DQIV may not cause me as many headaches as Chrono Trigger did. But that wouldn’t be fun for you to watch, now would it? You rubes wanna see me suffer and fail. Well, the good news for you is that the game is by all reports around twenty hours long and I’ve got the attention span of a gnat. And that’s where the title “Play With Me” comes in. As with Chrono Trigger, I’ll be updating my progress via the DGR Twitter Feed. There you can feel free to harass me, poke fun at me, or even attempt to finish the game before I do purely out of spite. Trust me, I’ll need all the help and prodding I can get.
Wish me luck.
Or not.
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Tags: dragon quest 4, jrpg, Nintendo DS, play with me, square-enix
April 17th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Never got a chance to play this one to the end so I may take you up on the offer.
April 18th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
chrono trigger is dope shit. hey, whatever happened to the team fremont forums?
April 18th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Been a while, eh? We ditched the forums back in August or September 08. Haven’t seen you around in a while, man. Good to hear from you.
April 19th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I will also play with you, but I would like to point out that since your time with RPG’s is shorter then other genres, might I suggest skipping DQIV and focusing on DQV? IV is great, but V is a classic. You might be better served playing that one.
April 19th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Don’t worry. I’ll be playing DQV the moment I’m done with this. I already put in a couple hours on that one and love it. I think Dragon Quest is my favorite RPG series.
April 19th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Well I’ve been meaning to pick up and play the DQ DS remakes and this seems like as good a time as any. I’ll join you on your quest.
April 19th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Right-o. I just finished Chapter 3 on DQIV and I’ll be twittering my Dragon Quest shit as I go.
Incidentally, Torneko is one of my all-time favorite video game characters. I may have to check out his spin-off games.
April 20th, 2009 at 3:58 am
I must be going much slower than I thought as I am only at the start of chapter 3.
So far so good but I may be spending just a little to much time on building up my characters before I move on.
Think that is just a habit for my days of final fantasy 7.
Apart from doing that there has been no problems at all so far.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Did you just start over the weekend? If so, you’re making quick progress! You’ll catch up to me in no time as Chapter 3 should only take you 2-3 hours.
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:49 am
I did start at the weekend and would be going much faster but I was behind on Dexter.
I am taking to much time getting money and my lvl is going to damn slow still playing about with Torneko. I am not far of from the end of that Chapter.
Got to say so far the game is pretty linear. It is not hard to get to the next point and the fights are pretty easy. I will admit I was whipped out a few times so far. Playing at night and falling asleep you tend to forget to heal and just attack over and over.
One more thing what the hell is up with the horse manure?
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 am
Ha! I have no idea. I thought it was pretty funny, though.
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:03 am
I’d be all for this but Mother 3 says no. Oddly enough I just got through a ‘Dung’ section there to go with your horse manure.
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:20 am
I have now completed Dragon Quest 4. It has taken me so long due to the fact that I only really played it before going to sleep at night.
I had some problems with the game. The amount that you have to grind in this game is a pain. A lot of the bosses that you meet do require high levels. So if you are into games where most of the time is on the map walking about fighting monsters till you eyes bleed then this would be right up your street.
Combat is in your typical style with some heavy hitters, offensive and defensive magic. You can set you group to AI in battles the way you like them to be from a small list. There are also some items that are typical that will heal you or cure you. A few of the equip able items such as swords shields and so on have an ability that can be used in battle like fire attacks from a magma staff.
There are many dungeon areas that repeat the same formula over again. They range in size and what type of items you find in them, the same as many jrpgs. At the end of each you will find a boss monster to fight to get the magic sword or armour or what ever it is you are looking for.It is very hard to get lost in them as there is not that many places to you can go. A few of the dungeons are optional and contain magic item’s that will help you out at lower levels. Things like sands of time that will rewind a fight to the start.
I will admit that when I was done with the game, I was just happy that it was over. I found a few of the parts during the game to be fun they just happened to all be at the start of the game. The first 4 chapters and the start of 5 was all good. After that there was nothing that left me thinking oh I want to go see what happens next.
All in all, I think this is more the type of game for jrpg fans that want a game that is very heavy on the battle side of things.
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
Well, you passed me by, my friend. Free time has been pretty scarce these past few weeks, so I’m still in the middle of the last chapter. But I’m sort of in the same boat as you: I absolutely loved the first four chapters and the beginning of the fifth. After a while in the fifth chapter, it finally started to get a bit tedious.
I’ll get back into it again at some point soon.