Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

Is there something wrong with me or what? I'm playing the DS remake of this game and I'm stunned how good it is. And I'm even more stunned when I look at its release date, 1992.

I'm playing it, still in childhood part, dam it is good. Won't make a review nor will detail what I currently enjoyed in it but there's a ton. As a fan curious of games design I took a second degree enjoyment to quote some design tricks used in the game. Just one detail, you can hit at any moment the B button to get a comment from a companion in your party. So you get many comment for many places of the game, not only for each area but really the places you are exactly but what stunned is to quote that with some companions for almost each talk you can have with a NPC if right after you hit B you get a companion comment related to the talk.

When I discovered the trick it's been a total first and second degree pleasure to talk to each NPC around and hit B to get the new comment, and I didn't found a single talk not getting a comment from my current companion (not true for all places but still for many). Trickily at this time of the game the current area had some places you could not access blocked through various sample way, this trick taking part of building the extreme density of companion comments. Simplistic but so efficient.

Why this post? Well share my current pleasure and curious to know what you think of this game.

Dasale said:

Is there something wrong with me or what? I'm playing the DS remake of this game and I'm stunned how good it is. And I'm even more stunned when I look at its release date, 1992.

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Cool thing for me is that I experience all of these things for the first time on handhelds ... heck, I am playing Lunar: Silver Star Harmony on PSP now and didn't realize it was a remake ...

I really enjoyed the Dragon Quest DS games, but I play so many that I can't remember whether I liked IV or V better ... I think V.

The IV is rather good too but the level of polishing is quite lower than in the V. Also the pure writing, not the plot management but purely the sentences writing, is rather weak or poorly translated in the IV when it's not a problem with the V.

In the IV I totally liked the approach of the first half when you get the separate stories and few links between each through some talks or locations. I found it was a great game approach working very well and that I would enjoy get in some other RPG. Also the separate stories of the IV first half use adult heroes and that's so pleasant and unexpected from a JRPG with all those boring teens. Also each separate story are better and better and that's much better than the reverse.

But I paused my play of it when the second half started, ie when you start regroup the spread future companions. I found its beginning not well done and a bit disappointing so I paused the game to let first half live happily in my memory before take the risk to spoil it a little with a possible less good second half.

I also felt a much better density management in the V than in the IV. Also the companions comments add a lot of charm to the V that hasn't the IV. Few comments of the V with some spoil:

In both it's been a breeze to not have face one more time with boring stupid teen heroes of JRPG and in V I felt the child approach of the hero have a point of view more adult and the density of stupid kiddish stuff is more minor that I usually quoted in JRPG. Also I felt many kiddish stuff had more something like a second degree.

I would definitely advise the IV but I currently feel the V quite better. It's weird you mix all those games, I hope I'll never forget how good it was to play the V. But well I don't play so many game so that's easy for me.

About the PSP I don't have any, I never quoted enough non action RPG on it to be appealed. This could have changed as I haven't check since some time.

OMG, Lunar came out on PSP already?!

Rithrandil said:

OMG, Lunar came out on PSP already?!

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Yep, couple of weeks ago I guess ... just got my code last week (while I was away on business) and just started playing a few days ago.

I finished the original NES version of DQIV back in the early 90s, when it was known as Dragon Warrior 4. You only had control of the main hero during battles in that version, the other members were AI controlled.

I played a bit of the Super Famicom version of DQV on an emulator a few years ago, but I had started to lose my taste for JRPGs by then.

Great games, I played them all for the SNES...... and NES.

JDR13 said:

I finished the original NES version of DQIV back in the early 90s, when it was known as Dragon Warrior 4. You only had control of the main hero during battles in that version, the other members were AI controlled.

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They changed it a little through the remake, but overall it's probably not much different. The fight system is perhaps less subtle than can be the FF4 system or of Chrono Trigger, but I found in it a huge plus when compared to FF4, when DQ4 abuses of random fights like FF4 does a lot too often, for most of those fights I could end them very fast through frenetic clicks, something impossible with fights based on time delay like in FF4 and Chrono Trigger.

JDR13 said:

I played a bit of the Super Famicom version of DQV on an emulator a few years ago, but I had started to lose my taste for JRPGs by then.

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Lol it's weird how many of those classical JRPG share some weird conventions like abuse of random fights, always young teen heroes, abuse of many story cliché you find in too many JRPG, deliberate kiddish approach and even Chrono Trigger fails in this.

That's a very good point of DQ4, with first half focusing on adult heroes. For DQ5 it's more subtle, it's a very young kid, not at all a teen in long first part, but definitely not targeted to very young kid players as seems to be most JRPG using such very young heroes. In fact DQ5 setup an adult point of view on the kid hero even if you'll find some kiddish stuff anyway.

FF4 is perhaps more polished and ambitious than DQ5 but for me it suffers of some points:

• Real abuse of random fights and somehow requiring some xp farming.
• Young teen approach too much like a non deliberate and non funny caricature to not irritate me significantly.
• Total abuse of resurrecting dead heroes, I quickly end in not believe any hero death in the game.

If DQ5 continue to be as good it will win easily in my heart and will hardly not be in my top ten all time favorite.

I'm finishing up the DS remake of IV currently, can't wait to get my hands on V.

So far have played I - IV and VIII and have loved everyone. And although the emphasis is on gameplay/battles and the stories have never approached a FF or Phantasy Star level of sophistication (or convolution as some may prefer, hehe), the simplicity to me is endearing.

A new RPG is coming to the DS and it looks to be incredible. It is called Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. It is like the Wizardy games merged with pokemon(adult version) but with more depth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaGTapB7ufc

Damian Mahadevan said:

A new RPG is coming to the DS and it looks to be incredible. It is called Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. It is like the Wizardy games merged with pokemon(adult version) but with more depth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaGTapB7ufc

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It's look quite in the same vein than Etrian Odyssey series from the same developers/publisher. EO was a fairly good dungeon crawling CRPG but well not a very good game. The fights was average, the classes ok, some nice details in the design, and ok dungeon levels, but overall the game sink a little bit into repetition and too much xp farming, and levels haven't a good density of good tricks to manage. I never tried EO2 and have no idea if it significantly improves the design.

I'm playing DQ8 right now, first DQ I play and yes, it's a good game, I hadn't noticed you would get comments on each conversation, will check it out later.
Interestingly, I tried it some 3 years ago when I bought it, and guess I was a jRPG newt at the time, as I didn't give it a chance because it would only let me save in a town (and the first boss fight was a beatch). I tried starting it again a couple of weeks ago and haven't been able to stop playing it (already clocked 55 hours in last save)

It's like FF series not all are the same in the series. About the comments you could get from companions, it's the V and not the IV. Probably not all in the series get this because it requires design time. For me the V is significantly better than the IV, in fact it's also the remake which is more polished. Strangely I pause play DQ4 because I was worry the game could become less good and DQ5 because I was worry to finish too soon a game I was enjoying a lot.

Now I'm in Suikoden Tierkreis and Might & Magic Clash of Heroes… That's weird i paused that long the DQ series I was playing.

try DQ6 it is really very good!

GothicGothicness said:

try DQ6 it is really very good!

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Has DQVI ever been released outside of Japan? I'm guessing the ROM has a fan translation though...

It has not been released yet, and it does.

Wait…. which one had you starting off as a kid traveling with his father for the first few towns?

That was DQ5

Ah ok, I guess DQ6 is the only one I've never played.

I still have my original NES carts of I-IV, and I have VII & VIII as well, although I haven't finished a DQ game in probably 15 years.

VII is the one I really want to play if I had the time, I've heard it's quite epic. It was supposedly one of the most popular RPGs of all time in Japan.

Dasale said:

It's look quite in the same vein than Etrian Odyssey series from the same developers/publisher. EO was a fairly good dungeon crawling CRPG but well not a very good game. The fights was average, the classes ok, some nice details in the design, and ok dungeon levels, but overall the game sink a little bit into repetition and too much xp farming, and levels haven't a good density of good tricks to manage. I never tried EO2 and have no idea if it significantly improves the design.

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Well this is still a dungeon crawling RPG at heart but from what i hear they fixed everything that was wrong with Etrian Oddessy with the exception of the xp farming. :/