Dragon Quest IV remake hands-on impressions

[11.30.01] » U-G-L-Y, but it's got an alibi: it's really, really fun!

   When Dragon Quest VII was released (Dragon Warrior VII in America), many fans bitterly complained that the basic gameplay hadn't changed since the series' NES incarnations. Though untrue, this criticism wouldn't have necessarily been a bad thing--after all, the original NES games were packed full of exciting quests and gameplay. As if to prove the point, Enix has ported the original Dragon Quest IV to the Japanese PlayStation; though no U.S. release date has been announced, Enix has confirmed their intent to bring it to the States. Chockful of graphical, musical, and gameplay enhancements, Dragon Quest IV is sure to please fans of the original version, and maybe even win over some new converts.

   The PlayStation version of Dragon Quest IV uses the Dragon Quest VII engine; this means that most of the praise and complaints lauded on the latter game's engine apply to this remake, too. Battles still load quickly--even more quickly than in Dragon Quest VII, astoundingly--and are o'erbrimming with quality monster animations. The overworld engine still looks miserable, with poorly animated sprites and jaggy, misaligned textures. Though many of the sprites are new and look better than those found in Dragon Quest VII, many of the textures are reused. The NES game's day/night cycle is in place, and the transition is now much more gradual. Thankfully, the game is entirely FMV-free. The music has been completely overhauled, and to great success. Orchestral remixes and reinterpretations of classic Dragon Warrior IV songs make for some of the series' best music yet. The sound effects, however, are still NES era blips.

   Narratively, the game is nearly identical to the NES original. The game is divided into five "chapters." The first four chapters introduce a number of supporting characters in a series of short adventures. The fifth and longest chapter unites all of the previous, supporting characters with the game's "hero." The PSX version adds an extremely brief prologue chapter that introduces you to the main character. Here, you meet the main character and Cynthia, his shapeshifting-cursed female friend. After chasing Cynthia around town, you return home and share dinner with your parents. It's not much, but it will help keep gamers from wondering "why did I just enter my name?" for the first fifteen hours. The "manual" AI option from Dragon Warrior VII has been implemented, letting players finally control the actions of their supporting characters.

   Gamers put off by the slow pace and lengthy quest of Dragon Quest VII might want to give Dragon Quest IV a look. Unlike Dragon Quest VII's glacially paced beginning, Dragon Quest IV dumps gamers right into the thick of action, with numerous characters, a variety of quests, and lots of battling from the very start. Many gamers were also put off by Dragon Quest VII's 100 hour plus playtime. The NES version of Dragon Quest IV featured a 30 to 40 hour quest; assuming that the PSX remake is of comparable length, gamers may find it easier to swallow. In short, Dragon Quest IV is a solid remake of a fantastic game. Though it's not going to win any beauty pageants, its shorter, denser quest and cast of likeable, memorable characters make it, in many ways, a more accessible game than its PlayStation predecessor.