Dragon Quest IV - Chapters Of The Chosen DS

[Geoff D]

I was cautious before starting this, due to not really getting on with turn-based RPGs in the past, but what a lovely game ? I?ve never played any of the Dragon Quest series before, so have dived straight in with this one; there?s a lovely old school charm to the revamped graphics & the music is absolutely superb.

From what I can gather the game mechanics haven?t been messed with from the original releases, so you could say it has an ?old fashioned? feel, but as a non-RPG gamer I?m really loving it. You start your quest, travel to villages, towers & so on, acquiring goods, fighting & levelling up as you go.The battles are random & turn based, but if you put the battle text speed up to setting 1, they can fly by ? it makes the action feel fast & furious & gets the blood pumping nicely.

The game is divided up into 5 chapters & I?m only on chapter 2 at the moment; you play as different characters in each chapter & I?m assuming it all ties together at some point in the future.

It?s a charming title indeed ? I?m having a lot of fun with it, & the fact that it can be had for around the ?17 mark is an added bonus.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Imo its the best rpg on the DS. I'm a huge fan of the Dragon Quest series so i am a bit biased. What makes these games so great imo is not the turn based battles (which are nicely balanced, so don't get me wrong) but its the journey itself, visiting the different towns, talking to each individual person.

Everything about it has its own sense of difference, charm & whimsy from the different locals you meet to the numerous dungeons you battle in, gives you the sense of western rpg design while still having that lovely japanese nature. Everything is so colourful and lovely, which is why Dragon Quest is so much better than any of the Final Fantasy games as they are always missing these important things. Musn't forget the brilliant localised europeanesque script.

Also the rotatable camera which you wouldn't expect from a DS title. A technical achievement from a brilliant psx port. If there was one negative i could give it it would be the numerous slowdown you would experience in certain areas of towns.

I finished it yesterday took me 28hrs. Be prepared for the final boss Geoff D, he goes on for an age and is one of the coolest looking animated bosses ever.

So yes, you could say i loved it!

[The Mole]

Thanks for the impressions guys. I may get rid of Sonic Chronicles and get this instead.

[Briareos]

Thanks for the details, ordered on the strength of them!

[abigsmurf]

Heard a massive amount of content was cut from this. Apparently there was a big party chat system that got removed (makes up something like 1/3rd of all dialogue). Even more bizzarre, the translation of this system is mostly done and is even on the cart.

Probably done for time reasons but it seems strange, it wasn't exactly important it was released on a certain date

[Steve]

Awesome. That is all.

[MiaBocca]

Surprised this thread isn't more active, is DQ not as popular round these parts?

Never played DQIV before, so this was all new to me, but I'm a fan of the series. Great game, love the presentation and the quick battles. Having chapter to introduce each of the main party was really enjoyable way to get to know the characters. Brilliant touches of humour and beautiful music as always with DQ, can't wait for V, VI and IX all on the DS too

[Champloo]

Something I'm not so sure about. When all of the party later meet up, will they keep all the items they had when you first leave them? I don't know whether to save all of my seeds until I have the whole party together and can decide who needs them most.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Yes, they do mate.

[Champloo]

Cool, cheers for letting me know.

It's a great game. Script is v.funny in places, and every town and region has its own character. That's what I love about the DQ games - they put some thought into the script.

[Briareos]

Enjoying this so far but my real niggle has been the five chapter introduction to the characters, Going back to level 1 four times has made me sick to the back teeth of slaying wigglies!

[Geoff D]

Just finished this with about 25 hours on the clock - loved every minute of it; charming, fun, totally engaging. bring on more Dragon Quest DS games

[SuperBeatBoy]

Aint that last boss wonderfully animated. I was wowed when i first saw him.

[Geoff D]

Yep, absolutely superb - & a treble hard bastard as well

[SuperBeatBoy]

Lets hope they hurry up with Dragon Quest V.