Nightmares and Dreamscapes

When Nintendo’s latest portable system was the Nintendo DS, Square-Enix announced a remake of the Zenithian trilogy of the Dragon Quest series, comprising the fourth through sixth installments, with North American release announced for all three, as the franchise had somewhat been experiencing a golden age outside Japan with the success of Journey of the Cursed King. However, unlike Cursed King, the rereleases of the fourth and fifth games, because of invisible advertising, didn’t sell as well, leaving the fate of the sixth and final Zenithian Dragon Quest in the air. Eventually, Nintendo took charge of localization and reannounced the trilogy’s conclusion as Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, but it kept its original English subtitle, The Realms of Reverie, in Europe. The title saw a port to iOS devices, with an experience on par with the rest of the series.

Combat is turn-based and randomly encountered, with the sixth installment following the tried turn-based tradition of the player inputting various commands for their characters and letting them and the enemy beat up one another in a round. Turn order can be inconsistent as in other entries, and the escape option doesn’t always work, with a few instances of accidentally tapping it when guaranteed not to work, like against bosses. While exploring the overworld, the player can swap party members out from their carriage, an option sometimes available in some dungeons when the player’s carriage comes along. As in prior Zenithian Dragon Quests, AI options are available for all characters except the protagonist, which can work well depending on the situation. Victory nets all living participants, including those not in the party, experience to level occasionally, money, and maybe an item. Death results in the player being transported to the last church with only the hero alive and his allies dead, with early-game revival expenses potentially burdensome.

Eventually, the player accesses the job system, each with their strengths and weaknesses, with a certain number of battles with enemies on par with the player’s levels or any in the Dark World necessary to advance, acquire new skills that become permanent parts of a character’s skill set regardless of occupation, and ultimately master skills, with higher-level careers available depending upon base classes mastered. Despite many powerful free skills, the game is no cakewalk, especially the main final boss. There is some early-game hell as well, like the initial revival spell failing half the time, and things such as skills on the part of the player and enemy affect all one at a time, which can drag out fights where the player has their carriage present. The game mechanics have many positives, but the archaic elements from previous series entries can spoil things.

As usual, moreover, interaction leaves room for improvement. The menus are superficially clean, but shopping for equipment and items is troublesome, given the countless confirmations, alongside the taxing nature of saving the game, the unavailability of the quicksave in dungeons, and a general poor direction on how to advance the main storyline or where to go next. Dungeons don’t have maps, either; a map for the underwater version of the lower world would have also been welcome, given its numerous points of interest. Hopefully, one day, the franchise will abandon these archaic traditions.

The story is enjoyable for a Dragon Quest game, focusing on two parallel worlds and a conflict between the playable characters and a villain named Murdaw. All characters have a story behind them, and the various subplots are detailed. However, the game is frequently unclear on how to advance the central storyline. Some plot beats, as well, are derivative, such as amnesia and a higher power behind everything. The localization is top-notch, with a hurricane of puns characteristic of contemporary translations of the series, with maybe some minor odd lines such as the ever-present “But the enemies are too stunned to move!” Even so, the narrative is a significant driving factor.

Composer Koichi Sugiyama, as usual, does a superb job with the soundtrack, with every track being enjoyable. However, some silence abounds, and the battle sounds are still dated.

The sixth entry utilizes the same graphical style as its Nintendo DS predecessors. The sprites and scenery look nice, despite pixilation, and fluidly animated enemies designed by Akira Toriyama dazzle in battle. However, many foes are reskinned, and the perspective of combat remains in first-person, like classic series entries. Camera rotation during exploration isn’t always available, which would have been handy given a plot quest where the player must tail a non-player character without being caught. The visuals aren’t an eyesore but show their age.

Finally, playtime ranges from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, depending upon how much grinding of levels and classes the player needs to make it through the game. Some lasting appeal exists in mastering all character classes, not to mention a post-game dungeon. However, there are no plot variations or achievements, and most players will likely want to move to other games.

In summation, Dragon Quest VI hits many positive notes, particularly with its solid class system, enjoyable narrative with polished translation, and superb soundtrack. However, many aspects leave room for improvement, including the occasional difficulty of spikes throughout the main quest, the retention of the franchise’s archaic traditions that affect combat and control adversely, the frequent poor direction on how to advance the main storyline, the questionable quicksave feature, and the dated visuals. Those who have enjoyed other games in the franchise will likely be able to look beyond its flaws. Furthermore, since the story doesn’t have much connection to other games in the series beyond its trilogy, those unversed in the franchise may find this port a decent romp.

This review is based on a playthrough to the standard ending with no postgame content attempted.

The Road to Zenithia

Dragon Quest is a series with an extensive history of remakes to reach new generations of gamers, one of them being the fourth game using the visuals of the seventh mainline installment for the Sony PlayStation. Although Enix America originally intended to localize the remake, the closure of developer Heartbeat in Japan terminated such plans. About two generations later, however, Square-Enix announced remakes of the fourth through sixth Dragon Quest games, known as the Zenithian Trilogy, for the Nintendo DS, with the American branch translating the fourth game as Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, which would be ported years later to iOS devices.

The fourth game differs from its predecessors and successors in its use of a narrative system of chapters, staying true to the English subtitle, new to the remake (but present in the PlayStation version) being a prologue chapter where the player briefly controls the protagonist, male or female, they create when starting a new game. Following this are several chapters during which the player controls the deuteragonists before they join the main character. These include Ragnar McRyan, a knight of Burland; Tsarevna Alena and her protectors, Kiryl and Borya; Torneko Taloon, a fledgling merchant; and the gypsy sisters Meena and Maya.

The chapter-based structure, where the player controls different characters, individual or part of a small group, remains unique within and without the franchise, with the overarching plot of Psaro the Manslayer unleashing demons upon the world and seeking the Secret of Evolution. While developing cutscenes are admittedly scarce and plot direction can be poor at times, the narrative never feels forced in the face of the player, with an extra postgame chapter putting a new twist on the original plotline, accounting for one of the better stories of the series.

The translation breathes life into the dialogue, with different parts of the world having regional dialects, such as Scottish in Burland and Russian in Zamoksva, with puns aplenty in terms of names for encountered enemies, towns, and certain characters. Moreover, the localization team reconciled the naming conventions of the original NES English version and the Japanese script very well. There are also a few cultural references; for instance, one opponent Alena faces in the tournament is named Quick Draw McGore. Some minor errors exist; for example, a couple refers to each other as mother and father, and keeping the name of a central town as Endor with zero Star Wars references one could perceive as asinine. Regardless, the localization is one of the strongest Square-Enix has produced.

Good luck beating these guys before they run away.

Players of prior Dragon Quests will be familiar with the game mechanics, enemies randomly encountered, and the frontline party of up to four active characters squaring off against them. New to the remake, at least to Anglophone players, is the ability to input manual commands for allies once they join during the main chapter instead of relying upon various AI commands. However, they are still available if the player does not prefer manual command input. Each character can attack, use MP-consuming spells if able, defend, or use items. The party can collectively attempt to escape, though this option naturally can fail.

If the player doesn’t want to waste time on weak enemies, Holy Water or the Holy Protection spell can nullify fights with them. Battles, for the most part, flow quickly, especially if the player sets message speed to the maximum setting and lets the AI take over for standard encounters. While the AI has quirks such as allies not deciding commands until they reach their turns, in which case they may heal a character that gets to low health within the same round, it’s not foolproof. During most boss battles, players will likely prefer more control over their party’s actions.

The order in which the player’s characters and the enemy execute their commands in a round after input can vary, even when battling the same types of opponents; however, the Accelerate spell can help them take their turns first. There’s also an annoying tendency of magic that damages enemies to do nothing against various foes, even versus the same types, and slight early-game hell in the form of revival magic that only works half the time (but that which always works the player eventually acquires). Total defeat in combat costs players half their carried gold, though the bank in Endor can somewhat nullify this penalty.

The original Dragon Quest IV also had been released in an age when sleeping at inns did not fully restore the party, with the player needing to pay at churches to recover ailments and revive deceased characters, death in combat leaving only the protagonist alive at the last church saved at. Grinding may also be necessary to make it through the game, with the Whistle ability acquired by Torneko summoning enemy parties instantly and helping here. Furthermore, should players partake in the postgame chapter, they will want to hold on to cursed equipment. Ultimately, the battle system works, although the dated traditions of the franchise are still in play.

Putting the Dragon in Dragon Quest.

The iPad controls take some getting used to (in my case, I mostly used my left hand and an Apple Pencil). However, they work, with the menus being easy and the new presence of a bag to store excess items negating that players sell or drop goods. The player can further see how the equipment increases or decreases stats before purchase, text speed is adjustable, and an option for auto-healing all characters in the party using spells exists in the menus. Moreover, magic allows for instant exit from dungeons and conveyance among visited towns, and descriptions exist for spells and items as they should be in any RPG. However, as mentioned, the plot direction is often poor, and dungeons lack maps. Regardless, despite some rough spots, control is tight.

The soundtrack by the late Koichi Sugiyama, as usual, is astounding, with plenty of neoclassical tracks, but one technical problem is that the music of wherever the player is, be it in a town or dungeon or on the overworld, resets after the player fights a battle or acquires a quest item. This issue can make the tracks feel repetitive and impossible to hear in full without remaining still. The signature primitive sound effects of the series in battle are also present, but the audio is a high point.

The graphics mostly remain unchanged from the PlayStation version and show their age. The colors are pretty, as are the character and monster designs (despite some palette swaps). However, pixilation abounds with the sprites and environments, and combat remains in first-person like classic franchise entries. Some positives are present, like the perpetual animation of enemy sprites in battle and night/day effects, but the visuals have not aged well.

Finally, the fourth entry is around a twenty-four-hour game, with the postgame content possibly boosting playtime beyond that, and filling the monster compendium provides another source of lasting appeal. However, one will likely need a guide, and no other replayability exists.

In conclusion, Dragon Quest IV, when the Nintendo DS version was released, was a great return of the game to the Anglophone world, following the trend the eighth installment had started regarding localization style, with the iOS version bringing it to more audiences. However, it does retain some dated elements of the franchise, especially in its core gameplay. Furthermore, the graphics have aged poorly, and the lasting appeal is finite. Still, its narrative form remains unique in the franchise, with a solid translation helping, and the musical score remains magnificent as always. As the start of the Zenithian trilogy, it proves a good diving board into the franchise, available for modern gamers to enjoy.

This review is based on a playthrough of the iOS version on an iPad without the postgame content completed.