[Ginkasa]

It sure took me a while to get through V...

Dragon Quest V was originally released in Japan on the Super Famicom in 1992 and then remade for the PS2 2004. North America did not receive a localized release of DQV until 2009 when it was remade again for the Nintendo DS.

Dragon Quest V borrows the chapter format from DQIV, but rather than switching perspectives between different character, V instead splits the game up between different points in a single character's life. We begin the game with our main character as a small child travelling with his father and end the game grown up with children of his own. This perspective really takes the core gameplay defined by DQs I-IV and really elevates the story to levels it hadn't been before. The overall threat is very similar to prior games - some dark lord is working to take over the world. But sticking with this main character through so much his life allows DQV to take this formula and inject it with twists, turns, consequences, and personal emotion in a way that no other DQ game has.

I don't want to spoil the story, but I will say if you're going to play just one Dragon Quest in your life make it Dragon Quest XI. BUT, if you then wanted to play a second Dragon Quest game, consider Dragon Quest V for the emotional resonance is provides.

From a gameplay perspective, the game mostly relies on tried and true formula developed in the prior games, but it does add a monster recruiting mechanic. Every once in a while after a battle a monster might get up and offer to join your party. So long as you accept (and there's not much reason not to, typically) that monster is a full fledged member of your party. Not every monster can be recruited, but the ones that can learn spells or skills and wear equipment just like anyone else. There are human characters that will join your party as part of the story, but for a large portion of the game you'll be relying on monsters to fill out the party and by the end you might be more comfortable using them than some of the human characters.

If I have a criticism of the monster recruiting aspect of the game is how random it all is. There's nothing to do to recruit monsters other than fight them and hope they ask to join. There is a book in the game that identifies which monsters are recruitable, but that's it. Its a random chance that a recruitable monster will ask to join up and some of the odds for some of the monsters are very low. Fortunately, you can and will get some decent monsters naturally. You don't need the rare ones to beat the game (or even beat it easily), but it just makes it all feel like its out of your hands. There is also no real input into how these monsters grow or develop, same as the human characters. Of course, this monster recruiting was in its early days. It did influence Pokémon who took that idea and ran with it and was also spun off into its own series - Dragon Quest Monsters (or Dragon Warrior Monsters originally here).

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I don't really have a lot to say about V overall. Growing up after playing I-III on the GBC I was so focused on playing IV that I never any really thought ahead to V. I'm not sure when it was I learned that it didn't even originally see a North American release. When it came out on the DS after IV I was excited to play and enjoyed it, but it didn't have that sense of "finally" like IV did. It also felt more like catching up rather than playing a fresh sequel like III did back in the day because by that point I had played VII and VIII and was looking forward to IX.