Gotta Catch them Wives

The sequel is usually not as good as the original. What about the Fifth-quel... or the fifth in this series?

For Dragon Quest, they wouldn't stop at four, or five, or six, or seven... they still aren't done and they're on eleven. But what kept their fan base alive for so many years? What was the driving force behind this franchise for the better part of almost three decades?

In 2009, a remake of a popular title from Dragon Quest came to the Nintendo DS - Dragon Quest 5, Hand of the Heavenly Bride. It challenges a few concepts that the series strode to develop, but if you had played the fourth installment, this won't be too different stylistically. Reason being, they were all remade around the same time.

Lucky for us though, 4,5, and 6 belong to the same trilogy, so the fact that they were all remade is a nice touch to add some continuity to an otherwise disjointed group of games.

In the review right before this one, we talked about how the 4th installment of the series broke a lot of boundaries in a good way, does the 5th in the series keep that streak going, or is it like most sequels, and seeks to disappoint? Let's talk about it:

Music

Hmmm. I wonder who composed the music for this game? If you guessed Koichi Sugiyama, you'd be right. You would have been right for the past 4 installments as well. So does he keep delivering? Yes and No. The orchestral version is actually really good. The version that they deliver to us on the DS feels a little bland and leaves something to be desired.

But wait, John, didn't you give the Music from the 4th game a pass even though it too was on the DS? I did. The reason for that though is it was still new and exciting for fans of the DS. Two years later though? With a larger budget, and the first installment ever of Dragon Quest 5 in English? It falls a little flat.

This isn't to hate on Mr. Sugiyama as he delivers quality content on every front, from battle to menu to overworld themes. It's the developers fault here, for not exploiting the DS's robust system. (Professor Layton, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass)

This is the first game where I felt like it failed to push the limits on what was capable for the system at the time. In no way is it terrible, or even 'not good' but I can't put it too much higher than 'not bad' either

Music: 3.5/5

Animation/Graphics

If we're talking about Dragon Quest, we can't (not) mention Akira Toriyama. Famed for his art on the Dragon Ball Z series he seems to like drawing dragons. The art for this continues to impress.

Graphically again, it's not too different from IV, which is a bit of a shame considering they came out two years apart, and again, the DS is capable of: Golden Sun; Okamiden; and that Kingdom Hearts number title.

There's not much to hate here, and with some new monster dynamics and story the series needed to animate way more than just a few NPCs and characters, so it was a huge job. Overall the graphics are nothing to complain about and definitely don't hinder any immersion or play-ability at all.

Animation/Graphics: 4/5

Plot

Often an area that Dragon Quest struggles with, the plot of this game pushes some fantastic boundaries. Some will argue with this, saying that a few of the characters feel bland. I agree. They do, especially compared to the IV predecessor of the chosen chapters.

However, there are sooo many NPCs, as well as *gasp* an actual storyline. I'm not saying that Dragon Quest has never had a story, even it's first installment had a 'quest' otherwise the series wouldn't have it's name. But it's the first time we've seen such a twisting and turning plot with an interesting time structure and decisions that directly impact the story.

Dragon Quest really captures this when you have to make an important decision about 1/2 way into the game (halfway depending on how much of the bonus content you do). Dragon Quest has often been taken as one of the birth places of JRPGs or Japanese Role Playing Games; but with this title they turn the dial up on 'role playing.' and for a roleplaying game what else is there really?

The story has interesting elements of time as mentioned previously. It plays in a linear fashion, but the amount of time that passes is original within the story. In a way it's like seeing a whole generation pass. For this and other reasons, the story pushes some boundaries in ways that make the game exceptional, despite some bland characters here and there.

Plot: 4/5

Gameplay

With the Nintendo DS, having bad gameplay is somewhat difficult (not impossible... Bravely) but the controls feel smooth and definitely don't hinder the player.

Mechanically Dragon Quest V emphasizes the good and gets rid of some bad. This game doesn't feel nearly as grindy as previous installments with 30-50 hours of gameplay depending on how much of a completionist you are I don't think you'll be disappointed.

With a plethora of minigames that they do by way of Casinos you'll be entertained for hours at the very least. There are a few quality of life changes that still hadn't been adopted like moving equipment around by way of menu; but that for me only adds to the nostalgia of the game, and not a sense of 'dating' an otherwise good game.

They also got rid of the 'class' mechanics entirely. Which I think was a good call because of how much it might've convoluted the system.

There is a part of gameplay that we NEED to talk about though. And for me, is what makes this game one of my favorite Dragon Quest titles.

The ability to catch and train monsters.

You read that right. I'm a Pokemon fan through and through (even the Pokemon Company in recent years has been the actual worst) and the idea of capturing and training monsters is just a cool concept. One that Dragon Quest does well by the way. On the DS version you can capture around 70 monsters, to take you with them on your journey.

Now, I know what you're thinking. John, isn't that just stealing ideas from Pokemon and making it worse?

I disagree with that sentiment for three reasons:

1. Dragon Quest is not all about the training and capturing of monsters, it's a side feature of the game.
2. The monsters of the game series had long been a constant throughout the series, so the idea of getting to tame them and add them into your party makes for interesting gameplay at the very least (an idea they would expound on later with Dragon Quest Monsters series)
3. Hard to copy something that hasn't come out yet. Red and Green (the japanese versions of the game) didn't release until 1996. Dragon Quest 5 for the Super Famicon, released in September 1992. I don't want to point any fingers here,but if anyone is copying anyone here, it's not Dragon Quest.

Gameplay 5/5 - minus points for some clunkiness plus a thousand points for the capturing/training.

Overall

I honestly loved this game. For a long time it was my favorite title for the simple monster taming ability.

That said, there are a lot of great things about this title, but also a lot of things that hinder the title. As a series I think that's awesome.

Why? Because changing the formula needs to happen in order for a game series to get truly better. Otherwise you have companies that sell the same garbage year after year because why not? It works and people buy it. (Not pointing fingers again)

My Final Score: 4/5 - A worthy installment to a legend franchise