Date Acquired: 7.10.2010
Date Completed: 9.13.2010
Thoughts: I am well known (among my friends anyway) for my love of the Dragon Quest series. It’s one of the only series, maybe THE only series where I don’t get distracted from the game and take time off. I always finish Dragon Quest games. And this one was no different. I followed the life cycle of this game closely, from the controversial announcement that the series would be moving to the DS for the 9th game (the 8th game was on the PS2, the 7th game on PS1) It was controversial because DQ8 on the PS2 was amazing, the first time the Dragon Qwest series had a game that was known for it’s graphics. DQ8 had voice acting, something you don’t get much in typical DS games. I also sunk over 100 hours into the PS2 game. Could a DS game actually be that big?
Pros: The answer is, yeah, pretty close. While the actual main story only took me about 53 hours, there are 120 optional side quests, many of which don’t activate until after you beat the game, and an additional batch available from Nintendo via download, as well as treasure maps that can be found in a variety of ways including the game’s tag mode. In short, there’s a lot content in the game.
The game offers a lot in the way of customization as well. You create not only your main character, but every member of the party. Deciding things like gender, skin color, appearance and name for each. In addition, every piece of clothing or weapon equipped by the characters are visible on the characters at all time. So every new sword, or armor piece results in a different look for the character.
DQ9 also maintains the classic Dragon Quest charm. It’s been a key element to my enjoyment of the series, and it’s hard to put into words, but I know it begins with the monsters. The slimes and wyverns and drakes and golems all harken back to the very first game, and I’m always happy to see them return.
Cons: While I did like customizing the look of every character in my party, I didn’t like the decision to make them non-characters. They have no personality, no back story and never speak or do anything in the game. They are basically just there to give you extra turns. I feel like we’re way past that. That’s just too big of a throwback. I LIKED the characterizations in DQ8. I liked Yangus and Angelo and the rest. It’s not like it would have been difficult to give me customization AND characterization. When I’m creating characters just give me a byline describing the character I am making: This character is boisterous and outgoing, ‘this character is timid and stutters a lot’ whatever. Then I can design the character with this criteria in mind. If the character I’m making a notorious lady killer, I might design him as a fat hideous slob. It would be great!
Furthermore some of the elements introduced in previous games have been removed or left in a bad state. For instance: Monster capturing is gone from this game altogether. That was one of the elements that made DQ5 and 8 so interesting, happening upon a monster that could fight either in your party like in DQ5 or in an optional monster battle in DQ8. Tracking the monsters down and recruiting them became a tremendously fun part of the Dragon Qwest series. I haven’t played 6 or 7, so I don’t know if this element existed in those games, but it was missing in DQ9. Alchemization is another factor I took umbrage with. In DQ8 you could use alchemy to craft weapons you couldn’t buy, superior weapons relatively early in the game. In DQ9 you really can’t do this until after you’ve completed the game. So uh, what’s the point then? All the good equipment requires very rare materials you can’t get without downloading the extra content and/or finishing the game.
The use of character classes left me puzzled as well. At first it seemed an adaption of Final Fantasy 5, where you could have your warrior study mage class for a while and learn spells. But no, anything you learn as a mage is immediately lost to you when you become a warrior, with the lone exception of skill point allotment. Then there’s the decision of when to make them unlockable. The sage vocation for instance, can’t be learned until at least the 2nd to last dungeon in the game. At the point that I learned it my characters had played through the whole game and were around level 45. If I made a character a sage, he would go all the way back to level 1, lose all of his HP, MP and spells and I’d have to build him back up so he could help me in the last dungeon of the game. Yeah sure, why not just grind an entire game’s worth between the 2nd to last dungeon and the last dungeon?
Conclusion: I enjoyed the game, but after 8 and 5, this game fell way short for me. I suspect the tag mode and multiplayer aspect would add a lot to this game, but those aren’t really options for me, so I can’t consider them. I’d recommend this game for die-hards, but for others, I would tell them to play 5 and 8 and wait and see on the upcoming 6.
To do: Download some of the extra quests and play through those. Also meet up with my friend Dan and play the multiplayer.
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