Beautifully crafted RPG that stands the test of time.
Written: Feb 17 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Perhaps the greatest video game ever made.
Cons: Out of print.
The Bottom Line: Story, characters, items, new features including wagon and small medals are truly exceptional. I'd give this game 10 stars if I could. It's just one of the best games ever.
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| mzowski83's Full Review: Dragon Warrior IV for Nintendo |
Dragon Warrior IV was released in 1992 as the start of a new trilogy in the Dragon Warrior saga. It showcased new elements that weren't found in console RPGs. This game has stood the test of time and deserves a quality review.
The game has a unique chapter system, not found in many RPGs. Broken into 5 chapters, the first 4 focus on the lives of the friends of the hero, who isn't playable until chapter 5. Each chapter gets larger and more difficult. Players will stumble across NPCs (non-playable characters) who will assist them on their way. This game is heavily reliant on random enemy encounters which are fought in a (Dragon Warrior staple) turn-based fashion. As the player progresses through the game, the characters will develop better attributes via experience levels and each chapter will unfold seamlessly.
The gameplay is very simplistic in Dragon Warrior IV. The A button selects commands and the B button cancels them. Characters that are defeated may be resurrected at the nearby house of healing. These houses have spiritual leaders that can also detoxicate, uncurse, or save your game in addition to a bevy of other things.
The menu layout is just like it is in any other Dragon Warrior game. Commands such as Talk and Door do the obvious. Search makes the character look underneath their feet to try to find a hidden item. The newest feature to the battle system is the Tactics command. In chapter five, the only character that is manually controlled is the hero/heroine. All of the other characters will choose a random command based on the tactics chosen. These include (but are not limited to) "Save MP" in which characters will not use MP unless directed to, "Try out" the characters will use items in their inventory to see if it produces a special effect, and "Defensive" where the characters take a defensive role and let the spellcasters restore hit points, mainly.
The world of DWIV is large and varied. The enemies that surround each castle help make each of the kingdoms seem so distinct from one another. All of the art is done once again by Akira Toriyama, who has consistently created all of the characters and monsters for every Dragon Warrior game to date. Slimes return smiling as well as new pompous beasts like Ogrebasher, Dragon Rider, and Flythrope. I can tell that Enix has a passion for their Dragon Warrior series because they put so much detail into their monsters. Fighting is what you'll spend most of the time doing in this game, and it's a good thing that the monsters you fight are unique and original. Most of the monsters are very likeable. Here are some of my favorites that come to mind.
Slime - The cute onion-shaped monster that can be considered the Dragon Warrior mascot. Easily defeated with one swipe of a sword.
King Healer - A slime-like creature with a crown and a green/yellow complexion. Likes to cast HealUsAll (a spell that restores all of his comrades' HP) or attack your party.
Master Malice - A large enemy wearing a robe with runes on it and huge nails. He is the quintessential standard enemy with a handful of tricks up his sleeves. He can cast Explodet (a fierce spell that slams all characters with an explosive blast of energy), shoot waves out of his fingertips (sends a pulse through all characters that renders helpful spells nil), or simply attack.
Metal Babble - A liquid metal slime. Metal Babbles look like a silver oil slick that's smiling and has bubbles around them. These have a very high evasion rate, an even higher defense rating, and the ability to cast Firebal (a spell that hits you and your friends with a blast of heat). Seldomly do you run into one of these, and if you are lucky enough to beat them, you will gain a tremendous amount of experience points.
Skullknight - A reaper with a triangular hat, pirate clothing, and a sword. To make matters worse, he is riding a steed and both him and his horse have quite a bit of agression to take out on you and your friends.
Hun - A martial artist in the tournament. Uses nothing but physical attacks fueled with the tenacity of a viper.
Hambalba - A beastlike character with a blue complexion. Will try to physically attack you with his claws or exhale a paralyzing breath attack that hits your nerves and can cripple you and/or your friends.
As you can see, I am very fond of the enemies found in this game and their images are stuck in my head forever. I love the designs and feel completely immersed into the world of Dragon Warrior IV when I am playing the game.
Not only is the world so immersive and fun, but it is also blanketed with a beautiful score written by Koichi Sugiyama. I feel that Sugiyama hit some his highest notes when creating this soundtrack (metaphorically speaking). Many of the same songs found in previous Dragon Warriors make a cameo appearance in this one, but most notably are his new songs.
Dragon Warrior IV's soundtrack has been given many different overhauls ever since the game's inception on the NES. PlayStation had its own version of the game which utilized the PSX synth to breathe some new sounds into the score. There are also CDs that may be imported that capture what the soundtrack should truly sound like with real orchestras. I am going to describe many songs in the game, and what they sound like with a real orchestra playing them. (I have many of the other soundtracks and know what they sound like... needless to say, they give justice to the bleeps and blips found on the NES).
When gambling in the casino, players are treated with a happy jazz song that resembles something from maybe the 40's or 50's. Horns and tubas help give this melody a very happy sound.
The sisters of Monbaraba have a unique song that's played when they get in a fight. It is a fast-paced song that sounds very festive. Reminiscent of a spanish song with long-held trills and octaval jumps with horns and chimes.
Menuet is the song that is played when entering a castle town or castle. This is a very majestic song that sounds serious and then gets lighter as it carries on. I have heard renditions of it with a harpsichord playing the entire song or an orchestra, complete with strings and basses.
The battle music is a stirring song with a recurring trickling that happens throughout the song. It builds up in the middle of the song with dueling harmonies. Nonetheless, it's a very intense song that's fast and upbeat.
Taloon's Ship is a very nice classical piece that does a good job symbolizing the grandeur of the ocean. It's a slower song with a great melody. I know it may seem weird to say this, but this song truly captures the feel that you should get when sailing on a ship.
The tower theme is a strange song with bells and other instruments. As the towers in this game wind around and around, I get a sense of the minute and second hands spinning around on a clock when listening to this. The rhythm of this song changes drastically at parts which symbolically could be like a clock malfunctioning. It's just the way I view this song as.
Koichi Sugiyama was at the top of his game when creating this soundtrack, as you can see, and I am still impressed with it today. It's nice to be able to sit back and listen to the entire soundtrack as it takes you through the entire game with great memories.
The characters all have their own theme music but allow me to discuss the characters in my own way.
Ragnar - A royal soldier of Burland Kingdom. The King of Burland castle has been hearing complaints from residents about the strange disappearing of their children. The king requests Ragnar to find the reasoning behind all of this. Ragnar is a brutal warrior with admirable strength and high HP totals. He is not very agile and can't cast magic spells. What he lacks in those departments, he more than makes up with his ability to equip the most powerful swords, axes, and body armors.
Princess Alena - The carefree princess of Santeem Castle. She wants to go on an adventure, but is forbidden to by her father. She is a woman of great determination and her attributes are heavily reliant on agility, high HP totals, and brute strength. She can't cast magic, but has so much speed and strength that it makes up for her spiritual shortcomings. Give her an iron claw and watch her unload damaging blows on enemies time after time.
Cristo - The young chancellor of Santeem. He is friends with Alena and joins her on her adventure when she escapes Santeem Castle. Cristo can equip a decent amount of weapons and armor. He is experienced in casting mainly healing spells and indirect attack spells. Later on in the game, he will learn how to cast spells from the "Defeat" family which will instantly slay enemies. He equips swords, light body armor, robes, and whips/maces.
Brey - Princess Alena's mentor. He is amongst the elderly and lends his knowledge to the cause. He can cast punishing spells that damage entire groups of enemies with freezeing blizzards and icestorms. He can also lower the defense rating of enemies with his "Sap" spell and double the attack power of characters with his "Bikill" spell. He is physically frail and can't equip heavy gear. Instead, he uses specially designed weapons like magical staves, or poison needles to attack his foes with an added boost of magic behind the weapon.
Taloon - The merchant that has a dream of one day owning his own shop. He works at a shop selling copper swords, thorn whips, and clubs. He gets paid on commission and supports his family which consists of his wife and son. Taloon uses his sense of humor to sell products to his clientel. Furthermore, he uses this sense of humor in battles to attack the enemies in a comical fashion. Ranging from tripping the enemies to make them lose a turn, to singing them lullabies that put them to sleep, Taloon is a special character to take along indeed. His special attacks will surprise you and make you smile, while his regular physical attacks are pretty decent on their own merit. He equips swords or abacuses, aprons, and armors. He relies on his special abilities to take out his enemies rather than magic.
Mara - The best-known dancer in Monbaraba Village. She has put all of her skills into dancing and leads a very fast-paced life. She takes all of these skills and puts them into battle with her spell-casting abilities. She can cast spells that pierce enemies with blazing heat or engulfs entire groups of enemies in a scorching waft of incandescent fire. She equips fans, staves, or earrings mostly to attack her enemies. She wears female clothing including costumes, dresses, and leotards. She relies on her magic power to thwart enemies rather than physical attacks, mainly.
Nara - The younger sister of Nara who put her skills behind an orb. A glass orb, that is. Nara is a skilled fortune-teller who has teamed up with her sister to avenge their father's untimely death. He was an alchemist and Nara and Mara want to unsolve the mysteries behind his murder. Nara casts supportive magic and can equip swords, morningstars, staves, and earrings. She also wears the same armor that Mara equips herself in. Both Mara and Nara aren't physically almighty so they must rely on a friend of Edgar's (their father's) for strength and power.
Doran - A dragon that was raised in Zenithia Castle. He has the ability to torch enemy groups, freeze them, or put them to sleep with sweet breath.
The Chosen One - The hero/heroine of Dragon Warrior IV (Male or Female) that is the by-product of a celestial woman and a woodsman. He/she will join all of the aforementioned people in a quest to thwart an evil that has been tracking all of them. Equipping the legendary Zenithian weapons and armor is the only way for this party to combat the ultimate foe, and the chosen one is the only one capable of doing this.
Some other characters that will join your team are NPC's (non-playable characters). These characters aren't physically controlled by the player, but instead choose their own actions and leave the party at will. They will help you out by giving you key items that will advance the story of Dragon Warrior IV.
One of the key items is the wagon (along with Primrose, the horse). This is a unique feature that is redone in different Dragon Warriors (DW VI for example). The wagon allows a whole new gameplay element, as all characters ride in the wagon, and can be swapped at will during fights. If a character dies, then another character will shove their ghost into the wagon and someone will spring out ready to fight!
Hidden throughout the world of Dragon Warrior IV are small medals. These medals are special items that can't be sold or discarded. There is a king that resides on a very small island who collects these medals. He has items that can't be found anywhere else in the game in exchange for these medals. The items include:
The Staff of Punishment - For one small medal, Nara or Cristo can equip themselves with this staff of divine wrath, and use it as an item in battle. It will smash a group of enemies with its huge gusts of winds. Casts a spell similar to Infermore.
The Hat of Happiness - A hat that looks like it belongs to a jester. It has a flower on top and a striped pattern. This hat, when equipped makes the user regain MP with every step. A very valuable hat, indeed!!! 4 small meadals are required to purchase the Hat of Happiness.
The Sword of Miracles - A sword that has tremendous attack power (100) but it's most marvelous effect is the fact that when it strikes an enemy, the character with it equipped regains a portion of their hit points back. A nice sword to take along for battles where it's hard to recover health. The Sword of Miracles costs 6 small medals.
The Metal Babble Helm - The helm that offers the most defense points possible (50) without cursing the wearer. This is the most prized item that the medal king has to offer. It costs 20 small medals, not a paultry sum by any means. The most nosy players will be the only ones capable of finding enough medals to purchase this treasure.
This game is an excellent RPG that I recommend to anyone that wants to experience one of the all-time best RPGs ever created. This game was so wondrous that it was remade on the original PlayStation. Unfortunately, it was never brought over to the US. This game took everything that made Dragon Warrior III so special, and added more stuff to the formula. The new elements include the wagon, the casino, and the excellent character development. All of these elements mix well to create a tasty Dragon Warrior that any RPG fan will surely crave.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mzowski83
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Reviews written: 12
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