This is gonna be just an analysis of differences I noticed between the original version and S versions, and how I feel they actually effect the experience of the game.
I now own 3 different versions of this game (vanilla PS4, S Switch, and S PS4). I played a bit of it in 2018 before leaving it shelved to finish other games in the series before returning to it. I did the same thing with the switch version when it came out, but I felt something was fundamentally different about the experience of playing it on Switch, so I had decided to finish my file on PS4 before returning to the extra stuff on Switch. Now that the S version is on PS4, it makes everything a lot more complicated.
Anyway, here is some of the magic of the original vanilla version I felt that you won't find on either S version:
Dynamic lighting on nearly every light source, as well as global dynamic lighting: It seems like every light, bright spot, and torch can cast large and even strong shadows, which was really surprising to me at how real and tangible it made the environments feel. The ladder in starting village to the right of the entrance will cast a large shadow from the torch near that moves quickly and angularly away from it as you go up it, stretching it across the length of the cave. As well as the sun causing flares with the camera, the stone surfaces picking up specular lighting in the houses. I'm not usually one to prioritize graphics, but DQ environments are so memorable, minimal, and striking that I think it really added to the atmosphere of all the locations I remember. I'm led to believe that the mentioned ladder in that starting village was placed there in order to show off lighting capability with the dynamic shadow casting.
Foliage and foliage motion: Grass is thicker and lusher in vanilla, and it sways much more to the simulated wind effects. Some people have complained about this actually because it tends to come off strangely on higher resolutions. I liked it though.
The Midi effect: The use of synthesized tracks over symphonic tracks was controversial in 2018, but I think it allowed for a really interesting effect. Here you had the highest fidelity Dragon Quest and possibly JRPG, presented in the most cinematic fashion possible regarding event choreography , blocking, and lighting, and the heart of the picture, the sound, was playing harsh, boisterous, synthetic music in a way that some found irritating but I thought was pretty confident in expressing a core theme: that at the end of the day, all the dressing, nuance, lighting, modeling, and fidelity on display here is still an extension of the simplest possible stuff; the same stuff that began in the 80s, and I mean that mechanically, artistically, conceptually. I haven't finished the game yet, but it's like even after 30 years, games are all based on the same foundations: actions, roles, and mechanics working together in a system to convey a feeling, and even in 200 years that won't change, and the ability to convey a really affecting story through a game can still be based on the simplest possible techniques-given grandiosity, weight, gesture, context, and theme.
I think the switch version loses that subtle feeling completely because the intense "fidelity-ness" of it is lost, so the music doesn't have anything to be a contrast with. Instead, with the S version, you have a 2D mode running parallel to the chapters of the 3D mode, conveying the same kind of idea in an alternate mode, rather than taking advantage of modern technical specs. I think the PS4 S version comes closer to that feeling when combining the sharpened 3D with the synthesized track, but like I said, with the loss of foliage motion and dynamic lighting, it's not all there yet.
A nice parallel to that effect is the combination of 2D mode with the symphonic soundtrack, highlighting instead the emotional power capable even in scenes made of the simplest ingredients, sprites, menus, text, and X and Y movement. The fidelity of the soundtrack adds a layer to those old but never out-of-date techniques and styles.
There are some things to mention about the updated S version on PS4: the lighting change to baked lighting although creating a more uniform look to environments, allows for some more color and less over-blooming in certain spots. The new models reflect less light than before, and the effect in the original version where character's skins will literally glow in the sunlight is gone (it always looked plasticy and unnatural to me), some surfaces and areas have actually been updated from vanilla to look better overall, and the new draconian options are nice. I think adding randomness to NPC interactions is a really good place for Dragon Quest to do more Dragon quest-type stuff. I think Dragon quest has always been about re-exploring the familiar in order to transform it once again to the unfamiliar, making you see something you think is standard as if it's your first time all over again. Seeing NPC's lie to me or my characters fumble in awkwardness through what should be routine overworld conversations was really unexpected and hilarious, and added a dynamic aspect to an otherwise overlooked motion of speaking to even the most basic of characters. I think it also adds some of the charm and humor I felt was somewhat missing from NPCs of the original version.
The one thing I do miss though is first person mode. I just really liked going around and sometimes just standing still to gawk at the environment design or the warm people doing their thing. The photo mode just doesn't cut the same feeling for me. Not sure why they removed it or didn't restore it on the PS4 version of S.
All that said and done, I'm probably gonna switch over to the S version on PS4 and finish it there. I was gonna play both versions, but when hearing about how long this game actually is, and given how much I really like the extra draconian NPC interaction based modes, as well as all the other extra story content, I'll play the S version through to the end, and probably keep the switch version as an airplane 2D mode game.
I now own 3 different versions of this game (vanilla PS4, S Switch, and S PS4). I played a bit of it in 2018 before leaving it shelved to finish other games in the series before returning to it. I did the same thing with the switch version when it came out, but I felt something was fundamentally different about the experience of playing it on Switch, so I had decided to finish my file on PS4 before returning to the extra stuff on Switch. Now that the S version is on PS4, it makes everything a lot more complicated.
Anyway, here is some of the magic of the original vanilla version I felt that you won't find on either S version:
Dynamic lighting on nearly every light source, as well as global dynamic lighting: It seems like every light, bright spot, and torch can cast large and even strong shadows, which was really surprising to me at how real and tangible it made the environments feel. The ladder in starting village to the right of the entrance will cast a large shadow from the torch near that moves quickly and angularly away from it as you go up it, stretching it across the length of the cave. As well as the sun causing flares with the camera, the stone surfaces picking up specular lighting in the houses. I'm not usually one to prioritize graphics, but DQ environments are so memorable, minimal, and striking that I think it really added to the atmosphere of all the locations I remember. I'm led to believe that the mentioned ladder in that starting village was placed there in order to show off lighting capability with the dynamic shadow casting.
Foliage and foliage motion: Grass is thicker and lusher in vanilla, and it sways much more to the simulated wind effects. Some people have complained about this actually because it tends to come off strangely on higher resolutions. I liked it though.
The Midi effect: The use of synthesized tracks over symphonic tracks was controversial in 2018, but I think it allowed for a really interesting effect. Here you had the highest fidelity Dragon Quest and possibly JRPG, presented in the most cinematic fashion possible regarding event choreography , blocking, and lighting, and the heart of the picture, the sound, was playing harsh, boisterous, synthetic music in a way that some found irritating but I thought was pretty confident in expressing a core theme: that at the end of the day, all the dressing, nuance, lighting, modeling, and fidelity on display here is still an extension of the simplest possible stuff; the same stuff that began in the 80s, and I mean that mechanically, artistically, conceptually. I haven't finished the game yet, but it's like even after 30 years, games are all based on the same foundations: actions, roles, and mechanics working together in a system to convey a feeling, and even in 200 years that won't change, and the ability to convey a really affecting story through a game can still be based on the simplest possible techniques-given grandiosity, weight, gesture, context, and theme.
I think the switch version loses that subtle feeling completely because the intense "fidelity-ness" of it is lost, so the music doesn't have anything to be a contrast with. Instead, with the S version, you have a 2D mode running parallel to the chapters of the 3D mode, conveying the same kind of idea in an alternate mode, rather than taking advantage of modern technical specs. I think the PS4 S version comes closer to that feeling when combining the sharpened 3D with the synthesized track, but like I said, with the loss of foliage motion and dynamic lighting, it's not all there yet.
A nice parallel to that effect is the combination of 2D mode with the symphonic soundtrack, highlighting instead the emotional power capable even in scenes made of the simplest ingredients, sprites, menus, text, and X and Y movement. The fidelity of the soundtrack adds a layer to those old but never out-of-date techniques and styles.
There are some things to mention about the updated S version on PS4: the lighting change to baked lighting although creating a more uniform look to environments, allows for some more color and less over-blooming in certain spots. The new models reflect less light than before, and the effect in the original version where character's skins will literally glow in the sunlight is gone (it always looked plasticy and unnatural to me), some surfaces and areas have actually been updated from vanilla to look better overall, and the new draconian options are nice. I think adding randomness to NPC interactions is a really good place for Dragon Quest to do more Dragon quest-type stuff. I think Dragon quest has always been about re-exploring the familiar in order to transform it once again to the unfamiliar, making you see something you think is standard as if it's your first time all over again. Seeing NPC's lie to me or my characters fumble in awkwardness through what should be routine overworld conversations was really unexpected and hilarious, and added a dynamic aspect to an otherwise overlooked motion of speaking to even the most basic of characters. I think it also adds some of the charm and humor I felt was somewhat missing from NPCs of the original version.
The one thing I do miss though is first person mode. I just really liked going around and sometimes just standing still to gawk at the environment design or the warm people doing their thing. The photo mode just doesn't cut the same feeling for me. Not sure why they removed it or didn't restore it on the PS4 version of S.
All that said and done, I'm probably gonna switch over to the S version on PS4 and finish it there. I was gonna play both versions, but when hearing about how long this game actually is, and given how much I really like the extra draconian NPC interaction based modes, as well as all the other extra story content, I'll play the S version through to the end, and probably keep the switch version as an airplane 2D mode game.