I was fairly excited about this release. I tore the box open this week, ready and willing to
relive hours upon hours of my wasted youth. I squeed with delight as the Dragon Quest
theme began playing in all its tinny regal splendor. And then the game began.

Let me say, first and foremost, that I did enjoy playing Dragon Quest IV. Arte Piazza, the
art directors from Dragon Quest VII, took the lead on this remake, and it shows. The
refresh on the art is welcome, but not intrusive or overdone. Akira Toriyama’s monster
design is still charming and bright, including the bosses. The sound is a near-perfect
translation of the original and still rings true after fifteen years. The problem is that most of
the mechanics are also still the same after fifteen years, and they don’t quite stand the test
of time.

JRPGs are known for slow-paced combat, and DQ is the grandaddy of them all. Twelve
year-old me had no problem with this, probably because I didn’t know anything else. DQIV
is turn-based, and forces you to go through several menus to choose exactly what
everyone wants to do, every time. Unlike the recent re-release of Final Fantasy IV, there is
no Auto-Attack option. This means is that early fights can take forever as you whittle down
slime after slime.

Inventory is suboptimal. When I didn’t know that only being able to hold eight items per
person (plus one overflow bag) was an arbitrary difficulty modifier, it didn’t bother me.
Today, trying to stock up on Medicinal Herbs that don’t stack and cannot be used except by
the player who is holding them is nearly unforgiveable. This is particularly true in the early
stages, when those herbs are your lifeline, and its a long way back to the save point.

Ah, yes, saving. Another “fun” DQ innovation. In DQ, you save by “confessing” at a church.
That’s it. No save points in dungeons, no way to port out and port back in, nothing. This
means that if you trudged all the way out to some Light forsaken tower and spent two hours
grinding through it just to die on the final boss, you are out of luck. Do it all again. This time
with feeling. And mana regeneration? Forget it, until you can obtain items that will do
restore your juice. So make those spells last. They’re the only ones you’ve got.

Finally, level grinding. I’m a 4-year WoW player, so level grinding is nothing new to me.
That being said, years of playing WoW and Final Fantasy games have conditioned me to
expect that if I play through a game normally, entering dungeons and facing bosses in
sequence as I meet them, I stand at least a fair chance of prevailing. Not so in DQ. Most of
the time, if you try to take on a challenge as soon as you encounter it, you’re going to die.
End of story. Expect to wander around aimlessly looking for fights for at least an extra
level, better two, beyond the level you are when you first encounter The Next Big Thing. Oh
well, at least you make lots of gold, right? Wrong. Forget being able to get the latest and
greatest gear available from each new town, at least at first. DQ is stingy with the money,
and dungeons drops are rare. Be prepared to wander.

I knew all of this going into the game, though. I knew that there were things that were
going to bug the heck out of me because I’ve come to expect more from my RPGs since
1992. That’s why I still enjoyed DQIV so much.

The storyline is still fairly epic, even by today’s standards. The characters have life, and
feeling, and the localization teams have done their best to make each Chapter feel like it
takes place in a completely different part of the game world. Even if this does lead to some
horribly funny Japanese-to-Russianesque-to-Rusjapenglish in Chapter 2, it gives you the
feeling that you are a large world with varied ethnicities and real danger.

My favorite Chapter is still 3, the tale of Mara and Nara, the dancer and the fortuneteller.
As a kid, these ladies inspired me even more than warrior princess Alena. That part hasn’t
changed a bit. Fighting with clubs and daggers is de rigeur, but using fans, claws and cards
as weapons is a blast. Grinding through the merchant quest still sucks, though.

I also have to give credit where credit is due. What little new stuff there is here really
works. The DS two-screen approach offers a lot of screen real estate for this game. This is
invaluable in dungeons because it lets you get a better sense of where you are going, and
cuts down on the random lost roaming of the original. The towns look lovely, almost on par
with Dragon Quest VII. There is an online Chance Encounter mode that allows you to
expand your own town through Nintendo WiFi play. If you have other nostalgia-starved
friends who pick this title up, you’ll enjoy sharing your own little piece of Heaven with them.

All in all, I think Arte Piazza did a good job updating this classic for the modern era. I hope
this brings a new generation of proto-geeks to DQ, and to the appreciation of substance
over style (I’m looking at you, Final Fantasy X-2). I’m looking forward to the ports of
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride and Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie, the
second and third titles in the so-called “Zenithia trilogy”. Most Americans (including me)
have never had the chance to play DQV and VI. DQV was released in Japan in July, so
hopefully the U.S. release isn’t far behind. Maybe they’ll even evolve out some of the rough
parts this time.

For being an epic RPG that, despite its many flaws, is still playable and enjoyable fifteen
years after its original release, I am giving Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen 4
weiners out of 5.

From PlayingWithMyWeiner.com.