A charming old codger
Dragon Quest V is a game that I literally picked up because I noticed the purple character featured in the box-art. While browsing the cover caught my eye, shortly I noticed that it was a Dragon Quest game, a series that I knew about but had never tried. After a prompt purchase I spent the last year and a half finishing DQ5's adventure, while being on my own.
Dragon Quest 5 tells the typical child of destiny story that you'll find in many JRPGs, with a few twists along the way. The story succeeds mostly in its lighter moments and its ability to make one care for its cast of characters. The most annoying aspect of DQ5's story-telling is its repeated crescendos, leading to moments that reset the playing field and send you back to scratch. At worst the player feels cheated and the experience dragged out. At best, every chapter introduces new elements that keep things fresh.
The majority of DQ5 is devoted to standard JRPG fare. Random battles are frequent and you'll spend a good bit of time issuing the attack command. Luckily the game features spells that alter the frequency of battles, and the ability to issue party members strategies whereby their actions are automated. My feelings about DQ5 would have been very different had I manually ploughed through battles as frequently as DQ5 dishes them out.
Another archaic aspect of DQ5 is its menu systems and a great deal of fiddling is required to match the right items to the right character. Getting the right characters lined up for the next battle is downright arcane. The interface may have been forgivable at the time of the game's initial release, but should have been reworked for the DS.
There is however, a giant saving grace. Early in the game, the player gains the ability to recruit the very monsters that you so constantly battle. This provides a steady stream of new party members to be leveled and equipped and poses a constant stream of role-playing decisions to be made. It is this feature that greases DQ5's engine, and flips the RPG-o-meter to engrossing from grind.
There are other extractions to be found in the form of gambling mini-games and T n T arenas (board-game styled challenges to be completed by a single party member). There is also a fair bit of collecting to be done in the form of mini-medals and knick-knacks. Mini-medals can be traded for items while knick-knacks are more for show. While the activities above may yield very useful items, they are only distractions that serve to fatten up play-time. My own adventure came to a conclusion at the 60 hour mark.
The final touches that made my DQ5 experience a very enjoyable one, were the quality of the sprite work and the soundtrack. DQ5 has a soundtrack that wires itself tightly into your neurons, the town-music is playing in my head as I write this review. The pseudo-3D sprites and their animations are surprisingly detailed and look good from all the angles that the camera can be rotated to.
As a re-release of an older game, Dragon Quest V bears all the ailments that the currently plague the JRPG genre, yet it still succeeds through the charm of its writing and presentation, and its engrossing recruitment system. If you are tired of the genre, DQ5 will not invigorate you. If you have some love left for this style of game, DQ5 has a lot to give back.
