[Average Reading Time: 8 Minutes]
A mute, a drunken womanizer, a french fashionista, and a momma's boy are working together to take down a big bad guy. Surely they would work better together if the game worked at all!
I discovered my love for the Dragon Quest series of games a little over half a decade ago when I downloaded the mobile version of the first game on a whim. Since then, I've always been excited to see the future of the series, as well as the spin-offs released in the past. One spin-off that caught my attention was the Wii game, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors. That's a mouthful, so from here on out, I'll simply refer to it as Dragon Quest Swords.
Dragon Queest Swords offers a very unique gameplay experience. It's what I would call a rail action RPG. Imagine a rail shooter. You're constantly moving forward until you have to stop to shoot at enemies. Now, replace shooting enemies with slashing a sword at monsters. On paper, it sounds interesting. Not many games opt for a melee focus when being on-rails. As interesting as it is though, we must ask an important question: Does it stick the landing?
Sadly, I can't say that it does. So, to attack, you must swing the Wii remote. Of course, it's not as simple as just swinging the remote. Moving the controller in specific directions executes slashes in specific directions. Swing vertically for a vertical slice, horizontally for a horizontal slice, you get the idea. You also have a stab move, which requires you to thrust the controller towards the screen. This all sounds simple, but you must also remember that this was a Wii game that released in 2007, which means it's less than accurate, to say the least. Sometimes you'll swing the sword and wind up stabbing. Sometimes you'll stab and wind up swinging. This gets highly annoying, especially as you begin to encounter monsters that are more effectively taken down by specific moves.
Along with slashing, you are also able to focus your strikes on a specific area of the screen by moving the cursor to a specific spot and hitting A. This helps with targeting, allowing you to have vertical and horizontal slices go through areas that they normally wouldn't and allowing for stabs to hit a specific spot when the input feels like being read by the game.
This also helps with targeting specific enemy attacks that can be reflected with a sword strike. Many enemies will shoot projectiles that you can either only block with your shield, can either block or deflect with a sword strike, or reflect back at a foe with a sword strike. This all depends on the color of the move as the prompts appear to you before they make contact. At first, it's as simple as seeing the telegraph, highlighting the area the move is going to land and hitting A, and then swinging the sword when the timing is right to send it back. As the game goes on, though, you'll begin encountering scenarios where you're on the receiving end of multiple of these moves rapidly, requiring you to react accordingly quickly. Many times I've been hit with multiple deflectable moves because I was only able to deflect one and didn't have enough time to set up for another deflection.
You'll also have times where the deflection zones line up with where a slash would go without doing the A button setup, and other times where you're getting hit by multiple deflecting moves at once in a line and now you need to hope that when you do the specific sword strike the game is asking for, it registers properly. Input delay is very real with this game, as well, which does not help with these moves that require specific timing.
Thankfully, this isn't all the game offers in terms of combat gameplay. At any time, you can open your inventory to use a healing item, or have your party member (when you get one) use an attacking, restorative, or buffing spell to even the odds. You also have access to "Master Strokes", which are your special moves that deal big damage to all enemies on screen. By hitting foes, you build up a meter that allows you to execute these moves. Fill it up and you can activate these at any time during combat. Of course, in order to do the move you need to move the Wii remote in whatever directions they ask for. Fail to do so properly, and you'll either do less damage with the move or the move will fail to execute!
Despite my problems with the combat, when you're fighting anywhere between 1-3 enemies at a time, it's manageable. Not good, but manageable. It's when you're in scenarios where there's 4+ enemies on screen and you're slashing away at one while the other's readying an attack and now you have to get your shield up and oh no, the enemy you were wailing on moved away from you and now another enemy is healing them and whichever enemy you're now focusing on while any other enemy on the screen can do something to ruin your life...
...is where the game truly falls apart.
It truly is a shame that the combat wound up like this. The Wii was home to a plethora of motion based games, and as I played this game, I began to understand more and more why casual games for the console required less-specific motions with the controller. Motion controls simply weren't at the proper point for a game like this. In an era where VR has lead to an era where motion controls in games are more reliable than ever, leading me to want to experience them more, I can only say that Dragon Quest Swords was ahead of its time. Had it released in this generation as a VR title, I feel that it wouldn't have suffered from these problems. At the very least, I would be able to stab at an enemy and actually pull it off on the first try.
So, outside of the combat, we also have a town to explore. Here you can buy items to restore health, as well as equipment to raise your stats. You can also temper your sword, making it more powerful and allowing you access to more Master Strokes. It's also here where the bulk of the plot happens, which is very basic, for the most part. There are twists here and there and there are stakes, but it never really feels too compelling, sadly.
What is fun here are the character designs and the voice acting. I'll start with the voice acting first. The cast is pretty well-directed, and the actors pull off their lines very well. Hearing people speak to me in this world was one of the highlights, since there are some fun writing bits here and there.
Since this is a Dragon Quest game, we have Akira Toriyama (RIP) doing the designs for the cast. The enemies are wonderful looking, as always. The main party also hosts a number of interesting designs. One of my favorites has to be Claymore, who's the protagonist's father. As you explore the town and fight baddies, you see a number of familiar designs all getting the 3D model treatment, and they all translate really well! It's because of this that I find Fleurette's design to be funny in comparison since she clashes so much with the world around her. It's a great design, don't get me wrong, but she looks like she walked into the wrong game and just kinda hung out there!
As much as I enjoy the characters and world here, it does not save the gameplay. Through some effort, you can get far and beat it, but I found myself stopping right at the final boss. Without spoiling ANYTHING SPECIFIC, here's why. So, the final boss has a special move they can pull off, and when they do you are prompted to slash repeatedly at the screen to reduce damage as much as possible. Despite almost filling the meter keeping track of my strokes on the side of the screen completely, I was one-hit killed by the move! This never happened at any earlier point in the game. This also happened after a long session with intent of beating the game, which did not add to my mood that night.
Despite being a spin-off, it still has that Dragon Quest blood and wants you to grind! Want cash for better armor or levels to keep your stats beefy? Better go spend a non-specific amount of time grinding for it! Before facing the final boss, I never even considered grinding. The difficulty curve was adjusting properly as I played, so I felt no need to ever go back and boost my stats before any stage. Now, right at the end, the game is telling me to go back and do all that? If this were a normal RPG, I would've. However, grinding in Dragon Quest Swords means any additional amount of time flailing your arm around to boost stats. Just thinking about returning to old areas to spend hours swinging that sword around strictly for levels and cash sounds exhausting, physically exhausting. No thanks.
Overall, I can't in good faith recommend anyone play this game. The world is pretty and the characters are fun, but the story is unengaging and the gameplay is dreadful. If this game were to get a remake for VR headsets that took advantage of the developments that have occurred over the 17 years since its initial release, though, I'd happily give it another shot. As it is now, though, I can't implore you enough to STAY AWAY!
One last thing I want to note before I end this review. I want to talk a little more about Claymore. His backstory is that he fought the evil demon five years ago and lost the ability to use his arm to fight as a result. The more I looked at him and thought about him, the more I began to realize that his story is similar to that of Dunban from Xenoblade Chronicles, who also lost the ability to fight with his dominant arm in combat. Then, I began to notice that his voice sounded similar to Dunban's, and I thought to myself "Did they really get this guy to do Dunban's voice for that game? That would be very funny." I then make my way to the MobyGames page for the voice actor, Wayne Forester. As I scrolled though his roles, I did find that he offered his talents for Xenoblade Chronicles. However, it wasn't for Dunban. It was for someone else. It was for... HIM!
A mute, a drunken womanizer, a french fashionista, and a momma's boy are working together to take down a big bad guy. Surely they would work better together if the game worked at all!
I discovered my love for the Dragon Quest series of games a little over half a decade ago when I downloaded the mobile version of the first game on a whim. Since then, I've always been excited to see the future of the series, as well as the spin-offs released in the past. One spin-off that caught my attention was the Wii game, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors. That's a mouthful, so from here on out, I'll simply refer to it as Dragon Quest Swords.
Dragon Queest Swords offers a very unique gameplay experience. It's what I would call a rail action RPG. Imagine a rail shooter. You're constantly moving forward until you have to stop to shoot at enemies. Now, replace shooting enemies with slashing a sword at monsters. On paper, it sounds interesting. Not many games opt for a melee focus when being on-rails. As interesting as it is though, we must ask an important question: Does it stick the landing?
Sadly, I can't say that it does. So, to attack, you must swing the Wii remote. Of course, it's not as simple as just swinging the remote. Moving the controller in specific directions executes slashes in specific directions. Swing vertically for a vertical slice, horizontally for a horizontal slice, you get the idea. You also have a stab move, which requires you to thrust the controller towards the screen. This all sounds simple, but you must also remember that this was a Wii game that released in 2007, which means it's less than accurate, to say the least. Sometimes you'll swing the sword and wind up stabbing. Sometimes you'll stab and wind up swinging. This gets highly annoying, especially as you begin to encounter monsters that are more effectively taken down by specific moves.
Along with slashing, you are also able to focus your strikes on a specific area of the screen by moving the cursor to a specific spot and hitting A. This helps with targeting, allowing you to have vertical and horizontal slices go through areas that they normally wouldn't and allowing for stabs to hit a specific spot when the input feels like being read by the game.
This also helps with targeting specific enemy attacks that can be reflected with a sword strike. Many enemies will shoot projectiles that you can either only block with your shield, can either block or deflect with a sword strike, or reflect back at a foe with a sword strike. This all depends on the color of the move as the prompts appear to you before they make contact. At first, it's as simple as seeing the telegraph, highlighting the area the move is going to land and hitting A, and then swinging the sword when the timing is right to send it back. As the game goes on, though, you'll begin encountering scenarios where you're on the receiving end of multiple of these moves rapidly, requiring you to react accordingly quickly. Many times I've been hit with multiple deflectable moves because I was only able to deflect one and didn't have enough time to set up for another deflection.
You'll also have times where the deflection zones line up with where a slash would go without doing the A button setup, and other times where you're getting hit by multiple deflecting moves at once in a line and now you need to hope that when you do the specific sword strike the game is asking for, it registers properly. Input delay is very real with this game, as well, which does not help with these moves that require specific timing.
Thankfully, this isn't all the game offers in terms of combat gameplay. At any time, you can open your inventory to use a healing item, or have your party member (when you get one) use an attacking, restorative, or buffing spell to even the odds. You also have access to "Master Strokes", which are your special moves that deal big damage to all enemies on screen. By hitting foes, you build up a meter that allows you to execute these moves. Fill it up and you can activate these at any time during combat. Of course, in order to do the move you need to move the Wii remote in whatever directions they ask for. Fail to do so properly, and you'll either do less damage with the move or the move will fail to execute!
Despite my problems with the combat, when you're fighting anywhere between 1-3 enemies at a time, it's manageable. Not good, but manageable. It's when you're in scenarios where there's 4+ enemies on screen and you're slashing away at one while the other's readying an attack and now you have to get your shield up and oh no, the enemy you were wailing on moved away from you and now another enemy is healing them and whichever enemy you're now focusing on while any other enemy on the screen can do something to ruin your life...
...is where the game truly falls apart.
It truly is a shame that the combat wound up like this. The Wii was home to a plethora of motion based games, and as I played this game, I began to understand more and more why casual games for the console required less-specific motions with the controller. Motion controls simply weren't at the proper point for a game like this. In an era where VR has lead to an era where motion controls in games are more reliable than ever, leading me to want to experience them more, I can only say that Dragon Quest Swords was ahead of its time. Had it released in this generation as a VR title, I feel that it wouldn't have suffered from these problems. At the very least, I would be able to stab at an enemy and actually pull it off on the first try.
So, outside of the combat, we also have a town to explore. Here you can buy items to restore health, as well as equipment to raise your stats. You can also temper your sword, making it more powerful and allowing you access to more Master Strokes. It's also here where the bulk of the plot happens, which is very basic, for the most part. There are twists here and there and there are stakes, but it never really feels too compelling, sadly.
What is fun here are the character designs and the voice acting. I'll start with the voice acting first. The cast is pretty well-directed, and the actors pull off their lines very well. Hearing people speak to me in this world was one of the highlights, since there are some fun writing bits here and there.
Since this is a Dragon Quest game, we have Akira Toriyama (RIP) doing the designs for the cast. The enemies are wonderful looking, as always. The main party also hosts a number of interesting designs. One of my favorites has to be Claymore, who's the protagonist's father. As you explore the town and fight baddies, you see a number of familiar designs all getting the 3D model treatment, and they all translate really well! It's because of this that I find Fleurette's design to be funny in comparison since she clashes so much with the world around her. It's a great design, don't get me wrong, but she looks like she walked into the wrong game and just kinda hung out there!
As much as I enjoy the characters and world here, it does not save the gameplay. Through some effort, you can get far and beat it, but I found myself stopping right at the final boss. Without spoiling ANYTHING SPECIFIC, here's why. So, the final boss has a special move they can pull off, and when they do you are prompted to slash repeatedly at the screen to reduce damage as much as possible. Despite almost filling the meter keeping track of my strokes on the side of the screen completely, I was one-hit killed by the move! This never happened at any earlier point in the game. This also happened after a long session with intent of beating the game, which did not add to my mood that night.
Despite being a spin-off, it still has that Dragon Quest blood and wants you to grind! Want cash for better armor or levels to keep your stats beefy? Better go spend a non-specific amount of time grinding for it! Before facing the final boss, I never even considered grinding. The difficulty curve was adjusting properly as I played, so I felt no need to ever go back and boost my stats before any stage. Now, right at the end, the game is telling me to go back and do all that? If this were a normal RPG, I would've. However, grinding in Dragon Quest Swords means any additional amount of time flailing your arm around to boost stats. Just thinking about returning to old areas to spend hours swinging that sword around strictly for levels and cash sounds exhausting, physically exhausting. No thanks.
Overall, I can't in good faith recommend anyone play this game. The world is pretty and the characters are fun, but the story is unengaging and the gameplay is dreadful. If this game were to get a remake for VR headsets that took advantage of the developments that have occurred over the 17 years since its initial release, though, I'd happily give it another shot. As it is now, though, I can't implore you enough to STAY AWAY!
One last thing I want to note before I end this review. I want to talk a little more about Claymore. His backstory is that he fought the evil demon five years ago and lost the ability to use his arm to fight as a result. The more I looked at him and thought about him, the more I began to realize that his story is similar to that of Dunban from Xenoblade Chronicles, who also lost the ability to fight with his dominant arm in combat. Then, I began to notice that his voice sounded similar to Dunban's, and I thought to myself "Did they really get this guy to do Dunban's voice for that game? That would be very funny." I then make my way to the MobyGames page for the voice actor, Wayne Forester. As I scrolled though his roles, I did find that he offered his talents for Xenoblade Chronicles. However, it wasn't for Dunban. It was for someone else. It was for... HIM!