Written Review: Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Now, I'm gonna let you guys know something RIGHT NOW. I've only played two games in this series. I never heard of the series when it first came out on the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES if you will, but that is only because I wasn't born when it came out ( '89 I believe).With this backstory intact, I now bring you to the game I'm reviewing. As the newest installment in the venerable series, I bring you Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.

I wanna tell you a little bit of the history of this series a bit, just to clarify why I LOVE this game and the franchise. Back then, it was originally called Dragon Warrior in North America for over 15 years until the 8th installment came out and changed the title with Dragon Quest VIII: The Journey of the Cursed King. This was, in fact, my very first Dragon Quest game, even though I had no knowledge of the past games.

As you can probably recognize from the cover art of DQ8, you think to yourself and say, "Hmm, those characters look a LOT like those in Dragonball Z." Well, you wouldn't be too far off. The same artist who drew Goku and co. in the TV series did ALL the artwork in DQ8. And because of that pedigree, that is possibly what attracted me to playing this game and putting my first footsteps into the series.

To start, gameplay is something that has stayed with each new version of the series. Even from Dragon Warrior to Dragon Quest IX and the other remakes on the DS, each game has never deviated from the core mechanics on how to fight each battle. Yeah, this series has the same "go to next town, fight enemies along the way, go to a dungeon, kill a boss, and get a reward from a town" method like all the other Square Enix games, but in DQ, it's different. The fighting style has something that has been so successful with the series in Japan and has convinced me to believe this series is better than juggernaut franchises like Kingdom Hearts and even Final Fantasy. That one "thing" is simplicity.

Yes, it seems SO mundane to think that an RPG's gameplay being simple can't stack up to the complexity of Square's other franchises. But hear me out, because it's simple but ADDICTIVE AS HELL! Even Satan HIMSELF would think the same thing if he played it.

Also, even though we are in an era where many RPG games have real-time combat, this is one that sticks to its 20+ year-old traditions and is strictly turn-based. Even that seems like something else to complain about. Again, trust me in my judgement when I say that it truly works for this style of game. If the game wasn't turn-based AND simple, the game would have major issues. And with the hardware that we're dealing with here, I don't think it would be possible. We're talkin' about a frickin' DS for cryin' out loud.

One thing it DOES take from modern RPGs, though, is something that wasn't in DQ8 but thankfully changed for DQ9. NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS!!!! This was a BIG problem I had with 8 that made it seem like a struggle to do when all you wanted to do was go to a town. It isn't anything new to other RPGs, like Final Fantasy XII and XIII, but I am happy they ditched that old mechanic and made it work in this game. This is a trend that they should continue to do for future games in this series.

Going back to the simple nature of the combat, each character has 6 commands that the can perform. They all range from the most common "Attack", "Spell", and "Abilities" commands for each class (here it's called Vocations, but its basically like every other class-based RPG), but one thing that stands out is called the "Coup de Grace" (it's French FYI, don't ask me why it's in a Japanese game). This command is randomly available in battle and works more or less like a Limit Break from Final Fantasy X.

Outside of that simplicity, though, is where the addictive nature sets in. Again, where many recent RPGs have a craft system in their games, and with only two games to finally have it, this series just has a knack for making it addictive like no other franchise. It uses an alchemy pot, a.k.a. "Krak Pot", to merge weapons, armor, and accesories with alchemy items to forge stronger ones.

This isn't the actual pot. Just think of it as a substitute to what I can find.

The thing is that many of the ingredients are on the game field and from each and every monster, whether it be dropped or stolen. Even though it isn't convenient to throw random things into the pot, recipies are found from reading books within towns and even dungeons. So, in turn, it gives you more incentive to explore through every nook and cranny of every place you go to. This amount of depth makes the simple nature of each battle and dungeon crawl turn into something you frequently wanna do. This is the MAIN reason for why I sank 120+ hours into one save file. That is a RARE feat for me to do on ANY kind of game.

And that's just about it gameplay-wise. There's a lot more to talk about this game, being the graphics and the story (not the biggest thing of the game). BUUUUUUT I think you all can wait a little to get that info later..in PART 2!