I wasn’t intending on making a review for this game but I decided to change my mind and give this one a nice review. I’ve always been terrible at trying to just finish these DQ games despite XI being such a great game. I decided to play the fifth entry because I know how popular it was though had I done this later, I probably would have done II instead. Regardless, let me tell you why DQ V is such a great game.

While this game is old, I don’t really want to spoil much of the story as I think it’s something that should be experienced if you have an interest in the game. The story however did surprise me, I was expecting it to be pretty basic and would work for the most part of the time. There’s so many eye opening moments and even times that got a big reaction out of me. While I don’t find the characters as memorable as other RPGs, a lot of them are still good for the game and I’m happy to find the writing to be one of the highlights of the game. There’s even some nice humor at times. It’s just overall very good.

The gameplay is also pretty fun and rarely has dull moments. One neat mechanic of DQ V has to be recruiting specific monsters from the overworld or dungeons to put on your team. I used a few of them and I’d say my favorite one was the Curer just to have a convenient healall user if I needed it. Battles require some thought and you’ll have to make use of buffs, debuffs, and statuses to win some later fights. You don’t even need to grind all that much in the game, I only did it like a few times though it might vary for others. I love all the different types of spells to use too but it does make it stressful to sometimes not go overboard and run out. If there was one thing I regret was not buying more Elven magic from the casino. I did at least prepare for the last part of the game.

The world is vast in the game and there’s a lot of places to visit and discover. One thing I love about the overworld is just the many ways to travel in it. You can go on foot, travel by ship, magic carpet, a floating castle, and even a dragon. I did find myself getting lost a few times but I did get used to it for the most part. I wish the return spell would let you travel to any location you’ve been to, it seems to be picky about where it’ll save locations for you. While the game visually might be a little repetitive for some of the locations, there’s still a lot here and it was always a curiosity to check what’s new.

The dungeon design in this game is pretty good and not much of it is that annoying or bad. It’s fun to explore these and get items and fight tough enemies. I do wish more bosses were in them though, it feels like a lot of the time you don’t fight them. There’s some memorable places like the haunted location early in the game, a cave with minecarts to ride, and a volcano with lava floors that hurt. Wait, Final Fantasy 1 already did that last one, hmm. You also sometimes can’t bring your caravan in for these places so make sure you set out a good team for this before going in. I swear a lot of the 2nd half makes you do this.

Ok I know I said to let you experience the story for yourself but one thing that was on my mind a few times was the marriage thing. You’ll try to get an item related to your quest but are forced to marry a girl by the name of Flora. By the time you’re almost done, you meet up with Bianca as she’s aged up since you last met her in your childhood years. Now I for one thought it was very obvious where they were going with this and I was expecting them to truly fall in love. When you finally get the rings, you get this plot point where the Hero struggles between the two with even a restless night and I’m just thinking “What? Why would I not choose Bianca?” I almost felt like this was just gonna force her anyway but obviously I was going to pick her. It wasn’t till later I looked it up and found out you can marry her! With some of the parts in the story, that just feels wrong. Maybe I just don’t get it? Just feels like the wrong choice to me.

There are some small nitpicks I have with the game. I really don’t like the item management with this game and how picky it is with them wanting items in a character’s inventory to use. I also felt the encounter rate at times could be a little annoying at times. This point I’m gonna bring up isn’t a problem with the game but I felt by the 2nd half, my team basically stayed the same and I felt kind of discouraged to try other ideas because what I had was working fine. There’s also some characters you can use and I find confusing why you would want to unless I’m missing something. I think it’s partially why a lot of the characters don’t feel the most memorable in my heart if that makes sense. Still, again these are nitpicks and it says a lot about the game that these are really some of my only few negatives.

Visually the game looks pretty nice for a 1992 RPG. I think the battle screens are the highlight because they actually take place in locations just like the first DQ game on Famicom. Those designs by Akira Toriyama are also just splendid here. The music is also pretty good and almost feels like I can hear the orchestra even if it’s obviously still just the SFC sound chip. I especially love the two dungeon themes you hear in the game the most. I also really love the music when you’re sailing. Even the sound effects sound pretty nice for the hardware. It’s all worth a listen if you ever have the time.

I’m happy to have finally finished this game and see it rank so high. Sure it may not be my favorite 16 bit RPG as of writing this but still being such a great game is no slouch either. You probably know already just how popular this game is and it’s very easy to see why now that I’ve played it all the way through. There are various ways to play the game now. It was first remade in 3D on the PS2 and then a more enhanced 2D version was made for the DS. The DS version was the first time it was localized too so you’ll need a fan translation to play the original or the 3D remake. It also has a version for mobile phones. Oddly it’s never been ported since which feels very odd considering the Switch’s success. A movie based on this game also exists called Dragon Quest: Your Story. Never watched it though, maybe I should. The series would only get one more sequel on the system which is kind of shocking considering how well this one did. When I watched the credits of the game, I really felt moved at reminiscing about the journey I had. It’s kind of crazy to think I played this in memory of Toriyama as he has now passed away and seeing his name makes me miss him again. Bless him and all of the talent who worked on this game. Dragon Quest V is a great game and it’s a game I’ll probably play again someday.

Despues de haber probado un mal JRPG quise probar algo que me quitara ese pesimo sabor de boca y me decante por este titulo, Dragon quest 5

no soy bueno con las introducciones, asi que ire al grano con lo bueno y lo malo

lo malo:

1-apesar de que esto pasaba en los anteriores titulos tambien y ademas de que hay una magia que te permite identificar informacion de los objetos, aun asi no son claros con sus efectos secundarios

2-quedo un cabo suelto con la desaparicion de un personaje en la historia

y ya... ... ... xd

realmente se me hace dificil en pensar defectos para este juego, quizas es porque recien lo termine y me gusto pero no tiene ningun problema serio, al menos a mi criterio

Lo bueno:

1-mejoras de calidad de vida: lo tipico, mejoras en la interfaz y movidas para comprar objetos, almanecar y retirar, comparar, etc etc

2-reclutamiento: me sorprendio esto pues ahora puedes reclutar con cierta probabilidad a determinados monstruos, unos mas utiles que otros, dependera de ti manejarlos, equiparlos y ver cual llevas, esto da mucha variedad a la aventura y la mayoria son buenos, ademas de un sistema para cuidarlos como cajas del pc en pokemon

3-Historia: todavia me cuestiono si es mejor que la del 4 pero puedo dar por hecho que quizas esta historia pegue mas con la gente ya que es mas personal por asi decirlo, vemos al protagonista desde pequeño hasta adulto pasar por momentos tristes y felices, todo el tema del legado de su padre me parece genialmente wholesome junto a la busqueda de la madre, mi unico pero con la historia es que siento que le hizo un par de capas mas de atencion a los hijos, pero no estan mal

4-la musica: chida y apropiada, la musica melancolica y triste tiende a ser la mejor en esta franquicia por algun motivo

5-tiene una dificultad apropiada, ni demasiado facil ni demasiado dificil, no se siente injusto y si sabes como son estos juegos se te hara aun mas llevadero

al principio tenia conflicto con el hecho de que solo puedas usar 3 personajes al mismo tiempo en una pelea y no 4 como en los 2 anteriores juegos, pero lo de reclutar varios monstruos lo compensa

no tengo nada mas que decir, recomendadisimo

casi lo olvido, arreglaron el pedo de la IA obligatoria del 4, ahora puedes manualmente escoger las ordenes de tus aliados como en los otros juegos, que bueno xdxd