Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (Nintendo DS)

[aruljothi]

Release Date: 02/17/2009
ESRB Rating: E10+
Genre: RPG
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: ArtePiazza

Dragon Quest V is the most moving videogame I've played in ages. That might seem an unlikely claim, especially given the vintage of the material. It's a remake of a 1991 Super NES RPG that was never released outside Japan, and its dated appearance doesn't do much to hide its age. Not to mention its archaic random battles, its simple turn-based combat, and its complete lack of CG cut-scenes and dynamic camera angles. Nevertheless, the squashy, big-headed sprites who pantomime their way through DQV's world of lumpy polygons and goofball accents tell an arresting and affecting story that lends an actual sense of purpose to the countless battles you'll fight against all those grinning slimes.

Gamers often write off the Dragon Quest games as stagnant and unevolving. But DQ5 suggests otherwise -- there's no question that it's deeply similar to its predecessors, and that its fundamentals are rooted in an NES game that was already past its sell-by date when it showed up here 20 years ago. Yet it builds on the games that came before it in small, subtle ways that, combined with the modest tweaks and improvements offered by this DS rendition, create an adventure that's wholly relevant (and entirely playable) in 2009.

Take the addition of dozens of recruitable monsters to the player's combat roster, for instance. Dragon Quest IV let you team up briefly with a friendly slime, and DQV expands that into a full-fledged feature, allowing you to add nearly any kind of enemy monster to your party -- leveling them up and making use of their unique skills right alongside your hero. Not only did this feature predate Pokémon by a good five years, it also plays an important role in the narrative. At the same time, it greatly enriches the battle mechanics. As with most Dragon Quest games, your party members have predetermined strengths, weaknesses, and skills; monster recruitment makes the process of party selection feel far less limiting than it did in DQIV. Your core human party is ideally balanced for the adventure, but you can mix-and-match characters to min-max, if you like: heavy hitters like golems can make your party a physical powerhouse, while other types of monsters can grant you access to unique magic spells once they've been leveled up. You can work out more esoteric tactics as well; personally, I kept a recalcitrant, sentient bag of gems in my party for difficult portions of the game, despite the thing's refusal to follow my orders reliably, simply because it was practically indestructible -- and a boon against the game's scarce but savage bosses.

The ability to bring monsters onto your team also relates directly to the main character's personal story, a touch of character development for the laconic hero. In fact, every moment of the journey builds on his tale, which is perhaps DQV's most impressive accomplishment. RPGs tend to be stuffed with filler material, aimless side missions, and padding distractions, but DQV's 25-hour quest stays lean and focused by following a single character through his entire life, from birth to parenthood. The hero spends much of the game's opening hours in his father's protective care, simply following along as his dad continues a mysterious lifelong quest. In time, though, the boy goes his own way and begins to unravel the secrets of his family -- the whereabouts of his mother, the root of his father's seeming obsession -- fulfilling his parents' legacy while creating his own life. Each town and dungeon visited along the way offers a new clue or revelation toward this journey, making for an intensely personal quest. By the end of the game, the hero will have grown from boy to man, found love, started a family, and become an instrument of destiny....even though that destiny isn't truly his. Along the way, he also experiences heartbreaking setbacks and true suffering, and these become all the more painful for having followed his tale so closely.