I was looking for a very straight forward JRPG to play, and this game was that exactly. Really very little twist on the genre, just playing everything straight, a little fantasy adventure where you level up your stats and progress through a linear story. I think even within the Dragon Quest franchise this is one of the more conservative titles - the story doesn't span generations or shift focus between multiple protagonists. If that's what you're looking for, this is a cute game with a fun cast and it isn't too long in the tooth. That said, I do have some issues.
The pacing isn't the best, both narratively and mechanically. At the start of the game you're quickly moving between short vignettes, basically a new episodic story for every location you visit, and filling out your party as you go. However, once you get the main four party members you won't see another for 20-30 hours (never, in the PS2 version), and it takes a very long time for the thread connecting the different adventures to become clear. The individual stories are fun, but it's frustrating just how long you spend one step behind Dhoulmagus.
I was surprised too by the lack of depth to the game's mechanics. This is my first Dragon Quest, I'm used to Final Fantasies, or other games that present you with complex systems to master, which reward engagement with vast power. In this game you just level up higher and slap on better gear for marginal stat increases. You can stack buffs for powerful attacks, but most of the late game bosses can simply undo buffs on a whim. Advancement is linear, not geometric, so the difference between overlevelling and overgearing for the lategame bosses is not going to make a huge difference, you will most likely have a prolonged battle with the final boss no matter what. Personally, I like having deeper systems to engage with and the ability to overshoot the difficulty sometimes, but if that complexity is offputting to you then this game might be for you.
It does make me sad when silent protagonist games like this only allow for a male protagonist, and then force you into a straight relationship. This wouldn't bug me if the Hero were a character with a voice and a personality, but clearly you're supposed to pour yourself into the protagonist and if you're not a straight man you're out of luck. I know Dragon Quest IV back in 1990 allowed you to choose between a male & female protagonist, so I don't know why it's so uncommon in subsequent entries, other than, I guess, the terrible risk of putting some lesbians in your game. Personally I could live with it.
The pacing isn't the best, both narratively and mechanically. At the start of the game you're quickly moving between short vignettes, basically a new episodic story for every location you visit, and filling out your party as you go. However, once you get the main four party members you won't see another for 20-30 hours (never, in the PS2 version), and it takes a very long time for the thread connecting the different adventures to become clear. The individual stories are fun, but it's frustrating just how long you spend one step behind Dhoulmagus.
I was surprised too by the lack of depth to the game's mechanics. This is my first Dragon Quest, I'm used to Final Fantasies, or other games that present you with complex systems to master, which reward engagement with vast power. In this game you just level up higher and slap on better gear for marginal stat increases. You can stack buffs for powerful attacks, but most of the late game bosses can simply undo buffs on a whim. Advancement is linear, not geometric, so the difference between overlevelling and overgearing for the lategame bosses is not going to make a huge difference, you will most likely have a prolonged battle with the final boss no matter what. Personally, I like having deeper systems to engage with and the ability to overshoot the difficulty sometimes, but if that complexity is offputting to you then this game might be for you.
It does make me sad when silent protagonist games like this only allow for a male protagonist, and then force you into a straight relationship. This wouldn't bug me if the Hero were a character with a voice and a personality, but clearly you're supposed to pour yourself into the protagonist and if you're not a straight man you're out of luck. I know Dragon Quest IV back in 1990 allowed you to choose between a male & female protagonist, so I don't know why it's so uncommon in subsequent entries, other than, I guess, the terrible risk of putting some lesbians in your game. Personally I could live with it.
2 Comments
With 'used to Final Fantasies' you mean newer ones i suppose? I only played the first 4 or so, and i didn't really feel there was any complex system to master, at least more complex than dq (except ff2 but that system was a dumpster fire).
icazinho
1 year ago
Other than that, I also believe that it’s common for one to have issues identifying themselves with a protagonist based on their gender. You can see a lot of male players complaining about obligatory female protagonists… Me, being a bissexual man, have no issues whatsoever in that regard. The protag’s gender was never a issue to me, neither was their sexuality in-game. Even when I identified myself as straight, I always fancied things like playing as the female protagonist in Persona 3 Portable and dating with the boys, and I chose the female protagonist in DQ4 only because I liked her design a lot more than the male one, she looks way more badass.
I think that the gender of the character shouldn’t matter as much as to how its written, or how the story is written and how the events and character interactions are portrayed, and that’s how identification works for me in the end.
But, well, I know how the videogame industry has always been lacking in a broader gender representation and LGBTQ+ characters, but that’s also well known that you sadly can’t expect much in that regard from Japanese games, especially one from the early 2000’s. That said, I still think you should give a chance to other Dragon Quest games, with a proper mindset before diving in. Maybe you’ll enjoy 3 and it’s fully open world formula and it’s focus on gameplay and its job system, or 4 and its episodic narrative, or 5 and frankly everything about it, since it was and still is to this day, for me, one of the finest JRPG experiences I’ve ever had.
I can appreciate where your complaints come from, but I also insist that you try more of them with a different mindset before going on.