| Developer: | Level-5 | | | Release Date: | EU/NA 2010 (2009 JP) |
| | Systems: | DS |
This week on Super Adventures, I'm taking a look at Dragon Quest IX (not to be confused with the latest game in the series, Dragon Quest XI).
This year I've been playing games that have made it onto someone's top 10 list and this one did one better than that, making it onto Gamesutra's "Best Of 2010: Top 5 Handheld Games" list. In fact it got first place, beating Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Persona 3 Portable, and Warioware D.I.Y.
There's no remakes, ports or mobile versions for me to mention for this Dragon Quest as the game only ever came out on one system: the Nintendo DS. They actually went and did it, they made a handheld exclusive sequel to a console exclusive series! Those monsters! I know it made total sense at the time for them to move to the DS because of the much lower costs, but I wasn't keen when Metal Gear Solid pulled this and I'm not keen on it here either. Handheld gaming isn't really the same experience and it doesn't necessarily appeal to the same people, so people who own one system aren't necessarily going to have the other. I suppose it could've been worse though: Dragon Quest X is an MMO!
I've actually beaten this one before, in the distant past, but I've no idea what to expect because I can't remember anything. Except maybe it has a side view battle system for a change? I do know that it's a bloody long game though, so I'm going to have to stick with it for a few hours longer than usual to give it a fair test. Long enough to get a party together and go complete a quest together at least. What I'm saying is... this is going to be another two-parter.
The team takes on a dragon together at the start of the video but after that it's almost entirely made up of shots of them hanging out in town together and smiling, which is probably more representative of the gameplay than you might think, judging by the earlier games.
This isn't the first time a Dragon Quest game has let players pick from either a male or female character, that would be Dragon Quest III, but it is the second time.
The game's character creator is basically limited to just picking hair and eyes, then choosing your skin tone, but that's a lot more than you get in the first eight games. The reason this editor has suddenly appeared here is because the game supports co-op, and the players can't all be running around looking like a default hero. Dragon Quest X went full MMO so it has an editor too, but I guess the developers weren't 100% sold on the idea as the next single player game, Dragon Quest XI, returned to a single distinctive hero design.
This is a DS game so there's no voice acting, which is a shame as the acting in DQ8 was great. Instead the characters just bob up and down in silence. In fact the hero is so silent she never says a word of text either.
Aquila explains the first rule of being a guardian angel: don't let wicked creatures ambush innocent members of your flock.
The battle system is very similar to the one used in Dragon Quest VIII. In fact it's barely changed since 1986. I choose attacks for each of my characters in turn, then everyone involved in the fight runs out and hits each other in whatever order the game chooses for them. The only thing that's changed since the last game is that 'Psyche Up' has been replaced with 'Coup de Grâce' and the music's synth instead of orchestral. Also I can't see my max health or MP anymore, which sucks.
We kicked their asses effortlessly and got 13 gold coins for our trouble. And because we're (generally) invisible, the travellers had no idea we were even there.
Turns out that when an angel helps someone out like this, the gratitude of the person is crystallised as a substance called benevolessence, which my spell checker doesn't believe is a real word. We need to collect this substance and take it up to Yggdrasil, the Great World Tree. JRPGs sure do like Yggdrasil.
So it turns out that we're not doing this guardian job out of the kindness of our hearts then. Not entirely.
I've been told to speak to Apus Major in the Great Hall, but they neglected to mention where that is so I've got to find it on my own. Fortunately I've got a device I can use to get around: the DS stylus. I just tap, drag and hold to run in that direction. Though I'm probably just going to use the D-pad instead. Still, it's cool that the game can apparently be played either with the controls or with the stylus, and doesn't force you to awkwardly use both.
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| Dragon Warrior (NES) |
I've been talking to some other NPCs and the angels here generally seem to be tired of watching over ungrateful mortals. In fact some of them are looking forward being able to quit their jobs soon. They're just waiting for that tree to finally bear fruit.
So hiked up all the stairs, gave the benevolessence to the tree, then hiked back down again for another chat with Apus Major. It's time for me to start my job for real, without Aquila's help this time.
It didn't work though! My angel's too ghostly for barrel smashing! So I did an air punch instead. I've got a few 'party trick' moves like this that I can assign to various buttons, though I'm thinking it's probably just for multiplayer. I really like this game's look by the way, with its pastel colours, sharp textures and cel shading. The outlines they've put on all the characters really makes the NPCs look like pixel art at times.
Wait, the NPCs are pixel art! Well some of them anyway. Man, how did I not notice this until now? It's harder to tell at the normal zoom level but they've only got so many angles of rotation so if you spin the camera around it's a dead giveaway. Those barrels are sprites too.
I'm right next to a shop actually, I can tell by the icon on the map. I got really lost in Dragon Quest 8 at first but that'd be pretty hard to do here with that map up on the top screen (that's definitely not a complaint). I was expecting to find more to do here though. I've been spying on all the NPCs and so far they're mostly just expressing how they're sick of a local kid called Ivor. C'mon game, I need some quests!
After I swiped the remaining piles of sparkly alchemy ingredients the owner came in and thanked their guardian angel for helping out. I mean he couldn't see me or talk to me, but that's not really necessary. I'm just here to get the swirly benevolessence they leave for me.
Oh, also there's only one slot for me to save in here, there's something else I've learned.
The last task I needed to do here was convince a ghost that he was dead, which wasn't hard seeing as I have no dialogue options. Well, I get to say 'Yes' or 'No' sometimes, but this is the series that gave the world the 'But thou must' trope, so my choices don't exactly change much.
Aquila turned up and told me to take their supercharged ghost benevolessence right up to the tower, so I'm already done here.
Basically, we just have to get this one thing done and then we can all leave humanity to deal with their own problems from now on! In retrospect it was a bit of a waste of time for them to train the hero for this job if she was only going to have it for one day.
I've reached another animated cutscene and they've done something interesting with the dual screens this time, showing two different angles of the same scene simultaneously. Because one screen of animation wasn't expensive enough already.
This is apparently the Starflight Express, which shouldn't be confused with the long-running musical Starlight Express. No roller skates required on this ride. We hope.
The surprise attack blasts the hero right off the tower, which would be pretty bad if she didn't have wings. Though the cloud of feathers around her as she falls makes me think there won't be much left of them after this.
We get a second set of opening credits as she plummets to the ground in a ball of light, and crashes right into the lake at Angel Falls! That seems like one hell of a coincidence.
A few days have passed and it turns out that Erinn, the woman we saved from the monsters at the start, has been repaying the favour by looking after the hero while she recovered from her fall. Ivor thinks she did it because the hero has the same name as their guardian angel... no one knows that they're the same person. That's the hero's statue behind her by the way. Turns out that people knew her name all this time because they read it on the base.
I spoke to Erinn and she told me to go say 'hello' to everyone in town. But that's exactly what I didn't want to have to do! Well, at least she told me straight instead of just telling me to 'come back later' or something. I hate it when a game expects me to stumble across the next objective through trial and error.
Being a regular corporeal person isn't so bad though. It means I can destroy barrels now!
After a while spent talking with the NPCs I learned that there was an earthquake the night that my angel fell to Angel Falls and it's blocked off their only road out of here, leaving the town entirely cut off.
I eventually reached the next bit of story as well, as Ivor reveals that he's decided he's going to prove to his dad he's not entirely lazy and useless by sneaking out and clearing the pass. And if it proves to Erinn how awesome he is, that's just a nice bonus. There are a lot more monsters around since the earthquake though and he needs my help to fight them. So I've finally got my chance to get out onto the overworld!
This means I can actually go exploring without surprise interruptions all the damn time, it's amazing! They've actually given me a decent block of land to run around here as well, but if I've learned anything from Baldur's Gate it's that it's best not to stray too far from the path when you're level 1.
A FEW LEVEL UPS LATER
It's cool seeing all the different enemies, by the way. The cute imaginative monsters have always been a highlight of the Dragon Quest games and this lives up to the tradition. I already fought this cruelcumber in the intro fight but the way he always manages to impale himself on his spear when he dies hasn't gotten old yet. These games always say the enemies have been 'defeated' instead of slain, because they're too cute to kill, but this dude is definitely dead.
Anyway, I found the landslide blocking the road and it turns out that there are already soldiers there working to clear it. So that's one job I can cross off the list. Though they're also looking for a woman called Patty who went missing. Seems like she tried coming to Angel Falls through the Hexagon instead, which is an old ruin they stopped using when it started falling apart. This is not good.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART TWO
Huh. It turns out I own this one, but I've never played it for some reason.
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