Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

Customer Rating:
Summary: Finally, a remake
Comment: I was a huge fan of this game 15 years ago, and I have been wanting to own it for years. I found it near impossible to find on the NES, and while Nintendo released the first three Dragon Warrior games for Game Boy Color, it seemed we would never get an American re-release for this game. It was my first console RPG, and the first video game I ever loved - and for those reasons, it will always be among my all-time favorites.

I love the chapter structure - one of the many elements that, IMO, elevates it above the first three Dragon Quest/Warrior games. You spend the first four chapters playing through the story and leveling up a variety of characters that, when you hit chapter five, your own character will then spend the first part of the chapter gathering up. It's a wonderful way of bringing together of what turns out to be a really fantastic storyline - it makes it much more than the simple good protagonist vs. evil overlord, as it gives much depth and appreciation to the people that will eventually become members of your party.

There are many little details I love in the changes that have been made here. Not just in the use of the dual screens - where towns and dungeons are visually spread across the two - and the fact that you can use the left and right shoulder buttons to turn the camera; but also in other things, like the fact that, when in the overworld, the top screen becomes a map that slowly unravels itself as you gradually make your away across it. And the fact that the top screen is utilized elsewhere, giving added info and stats during combat. And the menu system is significantly easier and less arduous to navigate. The only other version I've played was the NES, and every one of these is a huge improvement over the original.

It doesn't utilize the touch screen at all, but it really doesn't need to. This isn't so much about bringing a game to the DS, as it is remaking a classic that hasn't found its way to the US very much. And there are changes to be seen - in character names, and the fact that they try to give a specific nationality to each of the different countries (for example, Alena's country is now Russian-influenced, and she's here referred to as Tsarevna Alena...though the downside being that in Alena's country in particular, the dialogue, I suspect, was meant to be as if they were a Russian people speaking trans-literally in English, and the unfortunate effect is that much of it is unintentionally funny), and also in monster names. And there are some minor geographical differences, but they are few and far between. Overall, the very fundamentals of the game are exactly what they were in the original.

The greatest criticism of the game is really in the combat; it still goes back to the early days of console RPGs that overuses a turn-based combat system that is heavily enforced, with frequent encounters, and as a result, the process tends to become tedious. The AI can also be infuriating at times, if you're ill-prepared, and the chance encounter can be overused at the wrong moments, with near-success of a task going all to pieces thanks to one random encounter that manages to wipe out your entire party. But if you can grit your teeth and get through the tedium, the story is very much worth the experience.

If you've played this game on the NES and enjoyed it at all, this is a must-have. If you're a fan of the later Dragon Quest games and have never tried the early classics, this one in particular comes highly recommend. If you're an RPG fan and somehow missed out on the Dragon Quest franchise all-together, you must give it a try. Dragon Quest, IMO, allows for more freedom and slightly more customization than the Final Fantasy Series, and I've found it allows me to enjoy the overall experience to a greater degree.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great remake of a classic
Comment: Title says it all. If you like old-school RPGs then this is the game for you.

Customer Rating:
Summary: If you like turn based rpg's, it's a great game
Comment: I like rpg's that aren't too complicated. Usually by that I mean turn based rpgs. I find them relaxing. I also enjoy a good plot. I'm about 1/3 of a way through this game, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

The plot's fun so far. It's a cool twist to switch between characters every chapter. The accents were weird at first (and took a minute or two to understand since they don't warn you what's going on), but now I really like it. The different dialects make it seem like you really are traveling all around a world rather than one country that they call a world. (maybe the fact that I've done some world traveling and dealt with broken english in real life helps)

The graphics in town and in battle are very good. The map graphics are just ok. I like the 2-d characters on 3-d towns and dungeons. I thought that final fantasy 3 had pretty good ds graphics, but now I'm going to miss any game that doesn't use both screens for towns/dungeons. In most 3-d places, you can spin the screen with L or R which really lets you find your way in the dungeons. It also lets you find tons of doors and stuff that you wouldn't find otherwise. Even though I don't think the map graphics are anything to praise, I do like that fact that you can't rotate the world map since I'd get lost all the time... :)

I was disappointed that the enemies in the battles are so small, but really they're very well animated. The enemies don't have many attacks but this is a remake of a pretty old game so I'm sure that's the way it was in the original.

The music's very good, and I enjoy it through headphones more. Sometimes I just turn the music off, but I wear my headphones for this game!

The challenge hasn't been very high, but I have had to level up a little bit so far (run around and fight a bit to get stronger before going on). Again, I play these games to relax so I'm not looking for some challenge but not a huge challenge. Perfect for me!

I never played dragon warrior 4 on the nes, but I think this is a great game (back in the nes era the dragon quest American games were called dragon warrior due to a trademark on dragon quest). I heard that most of the name changes were to bring it closer to the original japanese (like really the the nes version wasn't a great translation).

So basically, if you like rpg games, or are looking for a good starting point in the rpg world, I don't think you can do much better than this.

Customer Rating:
Summary: fun but short
Comment: great game. brings me back to 1992. enix decided to remove all level grinding so now you basically just walk through the game, hitting your cue marks along the way. i'm about 30 hours into the game and will be finishing the main quest soon. regardless, the game looks look beautiful and is fun.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Love this game
Comment: I love the old style RPG's and find there are never enough of them. This one started a little different than any I've played before and I found myself lost but that just is a plus for puzzle fans too who like trying to figure out what to do next. Anyway, you start as you who is to save the world but suddenly you find yourself playing as another character and I wasn't sure what was going on then another chapter starts and then you are another character again but I'm glad I stuck with it because by chapter 5 you are you again and hunting these people you've played as previously to join your party and it's a huge world map and sizable game and I've played 40 hours so far and don't think I'm near finished yet but I'm loving it.