[Ginkasa]

Dragon Quest IV was originally released in North America as Dragon Warrior IV on the NES in 1992. A remake was released in Japan for the PSX in 2001; this was slated to hit our shores as well, but the closure of the development studio of the remake meant this localization was cancelled. We finally received a remake of the game in 2008 as Dragon Quest IV for the Nintendo DS - a port of the prior PSX remake. It has since been released on iOS and Android devices, but I played the DS version here.

In contrast to the prior DQ games, IV placed a large focus on having a diverse cast of characters in the player's party. I didn't have a party at all. II added two more characters to the group, but collectively they all sort of represent the "hero" and they don't really get an opportunity for any personality to shine through. III introduced a full party of 4 total characters in the party (including the main character) plus however many left in reserve, but they were player created and had no backstories or personalities. IV, conversely, goes all in on having defined characters with backstories and personalities and defined gameplay traits.

It goes so all in, in fact, that (except for a brief prologue in the remakes) the game starts with the party members rather than the main hero. The subtitle for the remakes is Chapters of the Chosen due to the core mechanic behind Dragon Quest IV. The main part of the game is split into five chapters. The first four chapters introduce an eventual party member or set of party members. You play as these characters in episodic adventures establishing who they are, why they're out adventuring, and what their individual goals are.

First we have Ragnar who is seemingly a random solider from the kingdom of Burland. He initially goes out with the rest of the soldiers to investigate a bunch of missing kids, but this leads to him then being sent out to find the Hero to make sure the monsters don't kill him before he fulfill his destiny.

Alena is a tomboy princess who keeps breaking out of the castle to go have fun adventures and become stronger. She is accompanied by Kiryl and Borya (a priest and her tutor) for protection. In her adventures she ends up jumping into the larger troubles of the world.

Torneko is a merchant in probably the most unique chapter. As Torneko, at first you just go to your day job and sell weapons to adventurers, but at night you can venture out to fulfill Torneko's dream of owning his own shop and, after, expanding his merchant empire.

Maya and Meena are sisters who are out for revenge on the person who murdered their father. Their father's murder of course ties into the larger story and pulls the sisters into a larger quest to save the world.

In Chapter 5 we finally control our main character and go out into the world to meet and collect the various other character we just spent a dozen hours or so getting to know. Its a fun structure and helps ensure they each characters feels important. One thing I struggle with some other RPGs is not feeling as attached or using characters that join the party late in the game. Here, I don't have that problem.

One problem that does exist in the original game and in the localized DS remake is that once you gather the party members that's about it for their personality. There's not a lot of interaction in between characters and so not a lot of opportunity for any personality to shine. In the Japanese version, the DQIV remake featured a party chat where the different characters could interact with each other. When they brought the game over to NA, doubts about the games profitability led to them not bother translating the party chat (as it comprises a large portion of the overall text in the game) in lieu of just nixing the feature entirely. Fortunately, they brought it back for the iOS and Android releases and the feature is present in later releases as well - just not this one.

Another issue I have is the constant restart feeling you have moving from chapter to chapter. At the beginning of RPGs, particularly older RPGs, particularly Dragon Quest, you start out weak and underequipped and you have to spend some time just fighting battles in order to gain experience and money to get better equipment. This is fine, I find it relaxing overall, but this process repeats at the beginning of each and every chapter in this game. It makes the game drag a lot in the beginning as you constantly feel like you're starting over again and again. I admit this game was a bit of an albatross for me back in the day. I was excited to go from III on the GBC to IV and was planning to get a PSX just for that remake. When that was cancelled, though, it was years before I had an opportunity to play this game (and those years felt a lot longer back then than they do now). When I finally got it I was excited, but I ultimately had a false start as I got worn out by the constant restarts and stopped playing at Chapter 4. I later went on to beat and and have done so a few times since, but it is a bit of a slog and probably holds this game back for me a little.

That said, I do feel more attached to these characters than I do some other DQ characters (particularly in the next couple of games) primarily because I get to spend quality time with each one building that stronger connection despite the lack of overall character interaction in the story.