Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen 0
An awesome remake appears!
By Jeremy Azevedo
|
Square-Enix’s Dragon Quest series has really never been known as a cutting edge, risk-taking franchise. That’s why it comes as such a surprise that Dragon Quest IV, a remake of an almost 20 year-old game, comes off as such a fresh approach to the traditional RPG. |
The most fascinating thing about Chapters of the Chosen is that the main quest doesn’t really even begin for several hours. Instead, you play through four short, individual quests, each starring one of the key party members that will eventually accompany your hero in his adventure. This is an incredibly effective way of making you care about the characters when they join your party again later in the game. Instead of being strangers that support your hero, they are co-stars in the story of Dragon Quest IV.
Despite the unique approach to storytelling, not mush else about DQIV is terribly modern. The combat and exploration is as traditional as it gets, although some characters (the merchant Torneko in particular) do have some very interesting and unpredictable abilities. Sqauae-Enix opted not to do a full graphical update like they did with Final Fantasy IV earlier in the year, instead choosing to stick with old-school 2-D sprites set against a partly 3-D background (which also does a great job of incorporating both screens). If you’ve ever played a Dragon Warrrior game before, though, you would probably agree that this was a good choice. This series has always been known for it’s colorful and memorable character and enemy designs, and this game certainly lives up to that reputation. Read the rest of this entry →
