Another outstanding entry in the DQ series. As much as I prefer a normal party like DQ8 and DQ11, I can't deny that crafting your own party was a huge selling point of this game.
This review contains spoilers
A single player game disguised as an on demand MMORPG. That is how I see this game.
Story:
The story is really cool. I actually enjoy it a bit more than DQ8's story. Every little sub-story in the different towns are all cool and emotional in their own way and the overarching plot of the whole game in general is also cool. I haven't played all the Dragon Quest games, but I think Dragon Quest IX (DQ9) is the only game, where the villain actually has a back story outside of "I'm evil and I kill". Generally I like everything about it, even if it's kind of generic in it's structure (finding 7 fyggs).
Characters:
There actually aren't really a lot of characters in this game. The characters you meet that have actual personalities are always side characters. The reason for that is, that the protagonist is a personalityless self made character, just like in most MMORPGs. And there are no actual party members as part of the story. If you want party members you make them yourself. These party members then also have no personality. I'm very neutral to that aspect. I like good characters, but characters in DQ9 aren't really the main focus of the game in my opinion.
Music:
The music is good. It isn't really outstanding. It fits and has it's general Dragon Quest charm, but it is nothing truly amazing.
Gameplay:
Now to the main part of the game. The gameplay itself is just basic turn based combat. But what makes this games so amazing is the character costumization and progression. First of all YOU decide how many characters are in a party. You can play solo or with two, three or four party members. And you decide how they look and what their names are. Additionally you can actually see every equipment piece on your characters which is rarely to be seen in single player JRPGs. You can combine the abilities of all different vocations (classes in this game) to work on your personal perfect group composition. And finally there are randomly generated dungeons with random loot, enemies and bosses as the basically never ending post game content. All of that content is a massive grind. And if you have friends, you can actually play that game completely in local koop. All of these aspects makes that game feel extremely MMORPG-y. I like that a lot. The grind can be exhausting at times, but I really like the feel from that almost neverending dungeon grind and character progression. I have never played a single player game that gives me the same feeling. The only bad part of the game is that DQ9 is the only Dragon Quest game in existence that didn't get a remaster or a remake, thus is stuck on the DS. Additionally there is free DLC content that isn't available anymore due to needing Wi-Fi connection which doesn't exist anymore. There are other means to obtain it even today, but still. I like the legacy bosses a lot too, even if I haven't played a lot of Dragon Quest games yet. Throwbacks to older games are always a weak point of mine. Though grinding these bosses up to level 99 to fight them on their strongest form is rediculous.
Content:
It's rediculous. There is so much to do that you will probably never finish the game 100%. Due to it's grindy nature and random loot elements, it is basically impossible to do everything in the game. It has the most amount of content in any single player game I have ever played. The only content piece that is sadly missing is a casino.
Replay value:
It has the worst replay value of all time. In this game you work towards a very big and long lasting goal by grinding your ass of. I would never restart the game from scratch again because that would mean to grind everything up again. I only replayed the game once after finding out how to access the DLC and I will probably never do it again. I come back to my long ass save file from time to time if I feel the itch to grind more.
Conclusion:
I really like this game because it is a nice classic single player JRPG experience but also scratches the itch of playing an MMORPG. And I rather play a long lasting single player offline game with multiplayer possibilities than a live service game. This game is truly amazing.
Story:
The story is really cool. I actually enjoy it a bit more than DQ8's story. Every little sub-story in the different towns are all cool and emotional in their own way and the overarching plot of the whole game in general is also cool. I haven't played all the Dragon Quest games, but I think Dragon Quest IX (DQ9) is the only game, where the villain actually has a back story outside of "I'm evil and I kill". Generally I like everything about it, even if it's kind of generic in it's structure (finding 7 fyggs).
Characters:
There actually aren't really a lot of characters in this game. The characters you meet that have actual personalities are always side characters. The reason for that is, that the protagonist is a personalityless self made character, just like in most MMORPGs. And there are no actual party members as part of the story. If you want party members you make them yourself. These party members then also have no personality. I'm very neutral to that aspect. I like good characters, but characters in DQ9 aren't really the main focus of the game in my opinion.
Music:
The music is good. It isn't really outstanding. It fits and has it's general Dragon Quest charm, but it is nothing truly amazing.
Gameplay:
Now to the main part of the game. The gameplay itself is just basic turn based combat. But what makes this games so amazing is the character costumization and progression. First of all YOU decide how many characters are in a party. You can play solo or with two, three or four party members. And you decide how they look and what their names are. Additionally you can actually see every equipment piece on your characters which is rarely to be seen in single player JRPGs. You can combine the abilities of all different vocations (classes in this game) to work on your personal perfect group composition. And finally there are randomly generated dungeons with random loot, enemies and bosses as the basically never ending post game content. All of that content is a massive grind. And if you have friends, you can actually play that game completely in local koop. All of these aspects makes that game feel extremely MMORPG-y. I like that a lot. The grind can be exhausting at times, but I really like the feel from that almost neverending dungeon grind and character progression. I have never played a single player game that gives me the same feeling. The only bad part of the game is that DQ9 is the only Dragon Quest game in existence that didn't get a remaster or a remake, thus is stuck on the DS. Additionally there is free DLC content that isn't available anymore due to needing Wi-Fi connection which doesn't exist anymore. There are other means to obtain it even today, but still. I like the legacy bosses a lot too, even if I haven't played a lot of Dragon Quest games yet. Throwbacks to older games are always a weak point of mine. Though grinding these bosses up to level 99 to fight them on their strongest form is rediculous.
Content:
It's rediculous. There is so much to do that you will probably never finish the game 100%. Due to it's grindy nature and random loot elements, it is basically impossible to do everything in the game. It has the most amount of content in any single player game I have ever played. The only content piece that is sadly missing is a casino.
Replay value:
It has the worst replay value of all time. In this game you work towards a very big and long lasting goal by grinding your ass of. I would never restart the game from scratch again because that would mean to grind everything up again. I only replayed the game once after finding out how to access the DLC and I will probably never do it again. I come back to my long ass save file from time to time if I feel the itch to grind more.
Conclusion:
I really like this game because it is a nice classic single player JRPG experience but also scratches the itch of playing an MMORPG. And I rather play a long lasting single player offline game with multiplayer possibilities than a live service game. This game is truly amazing.
I wish I liked it, but I don't. The multiplayer is cool though.
This game is MASSIVE which makes it very daunting to replay- but it is also INCREDIBLE and I would say a must-play for fans of JRPG's that also own a DS (or software that can run DS games).
The story is actually very engaging- you are uncovering the truth about the angel society that you left while at the same time solving problems for the humans that you can now interact with. It's tropey in that you start with "kill this cucumber" and end with "kill the guy who killed God," but its still engaging. The sections in swinedimples and the dragon duel in particular stand out.
The gameplay loops is classic JRPG dragon quest- its a grind, but there are enough skill-trees and classes and lovable enemy designs that the gameplay loop doesn't get old too fast (I will maintain that this game gets infinitely better once you learn Zoom, though).
The multiplayer is also very fun and the postgame is massive, meaning that you can play with friends no matter where you are in your journey.
The story is actually very engaging- you are uncovering the truth about the angel society that you left while at the same time solving problems for the humans that you can now interact with. It's tropey in that you start with "kill this cucumber" and end with "kill the guy who killed God," but its still engaging. The sections in swinedimples and the dragon duel in particular stand out.
The gameplay loops is classic JRPG dragon quest- its a grind, but there are enough skill-trees and classes and lovable enemy designs that the gameplay loop doesn't get old too fast (I will maintain that this game gets infinitely better once you learn Zoom, though).
The multiplayer is also very fun and the postgame is massive, meaning that you can play with friends no matter where you are in your journey.
L'histoire est vraiment bonne, les autres personnages aussi. Le postgame est répétitif, c'est juste plein d'antres. Le fait que nos compagnons soient des coquilles vides qui sont là que pour aider au combat, bon voilà quoi
I wish I liked it more than I did. The customisation was great. But more so than any Dragon Quest game I just got my head down and churned through it. I felt no incentive to carry on past the credits. I was just glad to be done with it, but I really couldn't tell you why that was.
Probably the peak of DQ gameplay in the main games (haven't played X or XI yet as of writing, can't comment on them yet).
Music's great, story's nice, tons of side content that extend the lifespan of the game a lot, especially once you get into grotto exploring.
Tied with V for my favorite of the series.
Music's great, story's nice, tons of side content that extend the lifespan of the game a lot, especially once you get into grotto exploring.
Tied with V for my favorite of the series.
your standard dq/general jrpg but with custom character building and some degree of freedom to wander around between the railroaded segments. made for me
Mi primer Dragon Quest, me lo regalaron en navidades del año 2010 si no recuerdo mal, me ha marcado de por vida, eras un aprendiz de ángel y tu misión era heredar un pueblo para proteger, pero un día te caes del observatorio de los ángeles por un accidente al entregar un yggo a Yggdrasil, y te caes al mundo de los mortales perdiendo tu halo y tus alas pero conservando tus poderes de celestial, así comienza tu aventura entre dos reinos. Adoro a Luzbel 10/10
I'm biased, but the writing is funny and clever, the graphics are cool (for the time) and i love the music and characters so much. Seeing ur equipment actually change is awesome and the spells and skill tree feel powerful
All I want from this bloody industry is a remake or even just a remaster of this stupid little game.
My first DQ game way back when, didn't know at the time that the party building system was irregular for the series but I super dug it. God I miss the metal slime farming in this title
Need to return at this, it was very fun and interesting!
Fun but im alone in this world
Not much to say on this one. I liked the story, ideas and setting quite a bit. Sadly that was often muddied by the gameplay experience being structured far more for postgame and multiplayer experiences that cause the single player experience to suffer. This was the last dq game I had yet to play and while I liked it, it left me feeling unaccomplished and unimpressed
One of the greatest games for the DS. I rember that my grandma bought it for my birthday. I lost the count of how many hours I spent on this game. I rember that after the final boss (Corvus? I don't remember) I hacked it with cheat codes and brought it to completion. Good days!
How much content can you fit on one DS cart?
I beat the game a long, long time ago, but I still come back to it. Not for replays, mind, but the absolutely MASSIVE postgame. Great character customization for a party of four and an addictive loop of dungeon crawling and getting more treasure maps.
I beat the game a long, long time ago, but I still come back to it. Not for replays, mind, but the absolutely MASSIVE postgame. Great character customization for a party of four and an addictive loop of dungeon crawling and getting more treasure maps.
Sois una panda de cobardes por no admitir lo bueno y comfy que es este juego!!!!
best dragon quest game hands-down! have been replaying it on my ds (first played when i was like 12 or something) and it still holds up. sooo wild that there hasn't been a port or remake of this one yet
Can't get myself to play this for a long time
Tropey story, and takes a LONG ass time to get going storywise and gameplay wise, even by JRPG standards. I can't deny the quality here, but if you're not already a DQ/JRPG fan, this isn't going to sway you one bit.
I liked the Vocation system tho, and the combat really opens up by endgame.
I liked the Vocation system tho, and the combat really opens up by endgame.
One of the only RPGs to be worth replaying with entirely vanilla hardware and ROM
THE UNDISPUTED GREATEST GAME OF ALL TIME
le meilleur DQ chile the tea honey
Never finished this, sadly. Really liked being able to change your characters outfit, but wished the choices looked better. Didn't like the chili art. Not sure why I never finished it, may have been the chibi!
Infelizmente não completei. Desde de criança não gostava de RPG e esse jogo foi o responsável por mudar isso, eu só pensava nesse jogo o tempo inteiro, mesmo não sabendo nada de inglês, esse jogo tem momentos mágicos, seja os anjos, a yggdrasil e pra mim principalmente, o trêm dourado.
Meu Dragon Quest favorito, as cutscenes são muito bem feitas pra um jogo de DS (igual o remake de FFIV), o prólogo é longo, chato e maçante mas é necessário pra dar todo o contexto ao jogo, criar sua própria party é algo bem daora desse jogo e que deveria ter nas sequências, o sistema de classes é bem completa porém dividiu opiniões sobre o level resetar ao mudar de classes, criar e customizar seu próprio personagem também é algo muito legal e um ponto bastante positivo do jogo e que dá muita imersão ao roleplay, o mapa é grande, cheio de segredos e lugares pra explorar, os bosses são moderados na dificuldade e pode exigir muito grinding, enfim, esse jogo teve várias adições e é um prato cheio pra quem gosta de RPG e é um jogo bem completo pra os moldes do Nintendo DS, recomendo totalmente
Really cool game. Every time I start a Dragon Quest game I always find myself surprised by how good they are. This game in particular has a ton of customization in terms of your party. You just create 4 custom characters and can make them into whatever job you want. For example, I got through a majority of this game without even having healing spells because I was able to build a party that could handle that. Spending several hours crafting gear admittedly helps with that, but still. Speaking of the crafting, it was a pretty major part of my playthrough. I got super into it, tbh. Created a dedicated spreadsheet to tracking things that I want/need that could calculate the number of each ingredient that I need. That's not to say that doing that level of crafting, or any crafting at all, is required to enjoy the game, but I thought it was really satisfying.
This game also got really creative with multiplayer. In a way, I think they were experimenting with some MMO stuff in this game before they made X. I unfortunately played this years after the online was shut down, but traces of the game's roguelike-y dungeon generation content still remain and seem pretty integral to post-game. Similar to an MMO, 100%ing this game also seems grindy as hell. I hear some people say that a majority of this game's content is in the post-game, so I definitely intend to check that out.
This game also got really creative with multiplayer. In a way, I think they were experimenting with some MMO stuff in this game before they made X. I unfortunately played this years after the online was shut down, but traces of the game's roguelike-y dungeon generation content still remain and seem pretty integral to post-game. Similar to an MMO, 100%ing this game also seems grindy as hell. I hear some people say that a majority of this game's content is in the post-game, so I definitely intend to check that out.
fuck the haters I love this game
Still my most favorite JRPG. Post Game is what makes this game so incredible. Lots of additional stories, the dungeon mechanics, the grinding and crafting... Everything in this game is amazing!