Dragon Quest 4

[chuckro]

I finished Dragon Quest 4 DS this weekend. (The original ending, that is. There's still the new version's bonus chapter.) After pulling up my old save of the original NES game, I realized exactly how nice some of the changes are--the graphics are several orders of magnitude better, obviously, but gameplay and battles move much faster and smoothly. (Having an "idiot button" for talking, searching, opening chests and opening doors, instead of having to go to the menu for each of these things, makes a world of difference.) They also added the "bag" for infinite item storage (you just can't access it during battle) and the translation makes the plot sequence a bit more obvious.

There's still a lot of grinding (hey, it's a DQ game), but the faster-paced battles and better combat interface make that a lot less painful. I think they may have fiddled with the XP/gold drops and the battle frequency of the original, too. All told, 20-25 hours of game, which is what I'm looking for in a DS rpg.

I pulled out the Nintendo Power review of the NES original, on a whim, and was struck by the difference in marketing/presentation style of the original Dragon Warrior NES translations and the Japanese Dragon Quest series. When Dragon Warrior was first marketed in the US, they tried very hard to remove the anime-style presentations and give the entire thing a European epic fantasy feel. The text boxes were all done in ye olde english ("But Thou Must!" indeed), and the box and manual art was all western-style knights, arms and armor. The sprites in the original games were simple enough that your imagination could decide of they were representing a mideval knight or a Dragon Ball-style anime character. The two SNES installments were never localized, so we didn't get any gradual transition, either.

Which meant that the Playstation installment and the Game Boy Color remakes of the original three games were really off-putting for those of us who'd been really into the original generation of games. Suddenly, all of the bright color anime-style art was there, and our mideval hero Erdrick was replaced by the very-Japanese Loto. WTF?

Now, in retrospect (and after playing the most excellent Dragon Quest 8), I realize that a lot of my problems with this change were based on my own imagination layering a certain image on the series, and having it shattered by what was "really" there. It makes me kinda wish that I was a good enough programmer to create a patch for the GBC versions that would turn them into what I wanted from the games, though I know that's never going to happen. And with the popularity of anime and manga in the US markets nowadays, the marketing is certainly going to appeal to that demographic rather than a nebulous crowd of Tolkien fanboys. So, I'll take it as it is, and be happy with that. DQ4 is a decent game, and I certain hope DQ5 and DQ6 DS actually get made and make it over to the US, because I suspect I'll enjoy them, too.

Comments

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

The grinding is really offputting to me, but I may check this one out at some point, despite having the rare NES cartridge as well.

Have you seen the Dragon Warrior cartoon? We only got the first 13 episodes over here when I was a kid, before I realized it was anime. I have a tape of most, if not all, of what was aired in the U.S. I think the story more closely followed the plot of DW3.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

You have a tape of it?! Man, I'd love to see that.

I remember seeing one or two episodes just before my local network stopped showing it on Saturday mornings, sometime during elementary school. As this was pre-internet, pretty muchall I knew about it for years was that there was a Dragon Warrior cartoon (and like the European-mideval idea of the games, it got built up in my head).

When I finish Chapter 6 (the bonus chapter) of DQ4, you're certainly welcome to borrow my copy.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Heh. I don't recall if I left the tape accessible when I did my purge, but if not then it's in a box in the closet. I think there are some clips on YouTube to tide you over. :)

I may take you up on the game, depending on what I'm in the middle of when you're done. I think a game like that would probably take me a long time, given how often I play. I'm probably more interested in giving Chrono Trigger a try.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I'm less interested in Chrono Trigger than I am in a few other games, mostly because I played the SNES version to death, and I get the impression it's less a full remake and more of an enhanced re-release.

...You've played the original SNES Chrono Trigger, right?

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Also, incidentally, DQ4 is 20-25 hours of game time. I did it in two weeks, but that's primarily because I had a weekend of travelling followed by a free weekend. Usually a game that length takes me as month or two.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

I haven't! That's why I'm interested. I never had my own SNES so I'm not as familiar with most of the games. I do have the Chrono Trigger soundtrack though, and it's awesome.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Ah, then yes, you will definitely want to play Chrono Trigger. That, and if you're willing to play on an SNES emulator, I can make a lot of suggestions for particularly good SNES games.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

I'd sooner buy an SNES and track down the cartridges, but I really don't need another thing to collect! I'm hoping some of the best stuff will end up on Virtual Console. I intend to get Castlevania IV one of these days.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I would think the odds of getting ahold of these games for a reasonable price are low, but then, I don't really trawl eBay, so I might be wrong. That, and several particularly strong games (Terranigma, Secret of Mana 2) are only available via emulation because they've never been released in the states.