The Slimes are back and more terrified than ever. Dragon Quest IX debuts on the Nintendo DS with the same penuche that keep us coming back for more. Various enhancements to this latest effort give gamers a wide range of options when crafting their characters through the story-line. The battle system has been enhanced to allow gamers to set automatic actions amongst the party which is an increasing trend in RPG’s. Add to that the convenience of a hand held platform, gamers have a new reason to acquire a DS. Sorry little Billy, but Mommy may borrow your DS for an extended period time…
We begin our adventure with character creation. Players have several options for physical features for characters, but let’s face it, it’s a hand held. The customization is not nearly as in depth as some titles such as Mass Effect, but at least it’s not limited to Mario or Luigi. When the story-line begins, gamers are cast as a Celestian, which is a guardian angel of sorts. This Celestian is under the care of a mentor and about to be released out into the big bad world on his/her own. Since the Celestian is the village guardian, doing good deeds is the way to earn the gratitude of the villagers (And the villagers are just not competent at all). This gratitude manifests into a tangible “super gratitude” which is of course brought to the big tree in the sky that grows Fyggs. Once the Fygg appears it’s said that a magical train will take the Celestians to the promised land and away from the mere mortals that depend on the Celestians to solve their petty problems. No wonder they want to get away from it all. In the process of babysitting and fruit cultivating, the magical choo choo makes an appearance. All does not go as planned (are we shocked?). The Celestian crashes to the mortal plane and now has to get the Fyggs back and right all the wrongs of the world.
Who knew that misspelled fruit could summon such mayhem and mystical modes of transportation?
Fans of the series can look forward to Akira Toriyama’s style of animation as featured in Dragon Quest VIII. This lends a cartoon feel to the game similar to the Dragon Ball Z series. The graphics are quite good, especially if one hasn’t picked up a hand held system since the 1st Gameboy. The NPC’s have charming names like “Jack of Alltrades; Master of Nu’un” and the monsters follow the same formula of maybe 15 original types with several variations depending on the level or progression of the storyline. The process of leveling up has not changed. Experience points and gold are earned after battle and true to Dragon Quest form, you have to go to your local priest to find out just how many exp points are required until the next level is reached. (I mean really, can’t just display that on the status screen huh?) Skill points are acquired at various character levels. Characters are assigned specific weapons depending on the trade they are currently undertaking. Alchemy makes a reappearance so make sure you don’t need that pointy hat before you hock it at the local shop.
While Dragon Quest IX feels like your standard JRPG, there are a lot of new improvements that fans of the series will enjoy. Gamers have the opportunity to insert themselves into the game as the main character. Furthermore, new characters are either created by the player, pulled from a group of pre-created characters or brought in from online. This means that no one is subject to have useless but required characters (i.e. Cait Sith or Quenna) in their party unless you really, really want to. As for online play gamers have the choice of connecting to Nintendo’s network and either participating in another gamer’s adventure or bringing someone in to help kick some tail in a fight. Another great feature is the class selection for created party members as well as within the story line the opportunity presents itself to change classes. This opens a wide range of options as to where players want to take their character development.
The battle mechanics are a mix of old and new for the series. Yes, it is still turn based action (characters act in a randomly designated order) but gamers now have the option of setting tasks for the characters in their party. What this means is that if a gamer want to concentrate on attacking with 3 characters but would like to designate the priest to heal injuries accrued during battle, they can set the task for that character to “Focus on Healing”. Using this method players can focus their attention on the battle at hand. And yes, the Slimes still run away after you surpass level 2. The newer feature is that due to the elimination of random encounters players can see the enemies in the field and attempt to avoid them if there is need. Sticking to the perimeter is a great way to avoid unwanted battle.
In this installment of the Dragon Quest series, developers Level-5 gave this handheld title some serious muscle to contend with more traditional platform titles. The additions to the game such as online play and pre-set battle modes are becoming almost standard on most titles. Character customization is a nice feature added to this title and so is the lack of annoying mandatory characters. The storyline progresses at a medium pace, it really depends on the player and how much level grinding is desired. But the most frustrating thing that we found was the monotonous level grinding. We enjoy a good “level up dance” every now and again but to fully max out your character takes some serious commitment even from the most avid of RPG fans.
Overall Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies was a welcomed title to the handheld market. The developers didn’t skimp on the authenticity of the series just to throw out a title. We give this Quest a solid recommendation and think it’s a step forward for handhelds.
Overall Score: 8.5/10
