Charming but poorly designed
Disclosure: I did not finish this game. If you believe a review by a gamer who has not fully completed a game is without merit, you may want to skip this one.
I have read much acclaim for this game, and I have recently started on my own quest here in meatspace to rekindle my love for the JRPG. I was turned on to RPGs with Final Fantasy II (IV in Japan) on the SNES. I proceeded to play virtually every JRPG of note up through about half of last generation. I took a break from gaming in general and came back into a climate with very few JRPGs being released at all. After a year or so, I began looking for a new game I could love. I found that my needs have changed. I am less forgiving of this genre than I once was. Luckily, I have since found at least two games that give me what I need and provide that fantastic injection of Japanese culture I crave. This game is not one of those.
The accolades for Dragon Quest V seem to stem from the story which may very well be spectacular. I didn't play the game long enough to reveal anything groundbreaking, but, to be fair, I didn't play very much of the game at all (around 10 hours).
My problems with the game are primarily with its structure although it also retains some classic RPG conventions I no longer have a taste for. As I played through the game, I found that I would begin by wandering a town talking to everyone. At this point, I really had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I was just blindly looking for that magic NPC to speak with who would then advance the story. Once I found that NPC, I would be thrust into a very linear quest which, upon completion, would dump me back into some town or similar locale with no clue how to proceed where I would start the process anew. The game did this three times, and there were no instances of my playing that I thought were at all outside this cycle. It would seem this pattern proceeds on through the rest of the game. This is a real problem as I don't particularly like searching every nook and cranny three times to finally find the "magic button" NPC. I love chatting up the residents in towns, but I want to do that with a clear picture of how I need to advance through the plot. That is something the game did not provide.
My other biggest problem stems from a long-held convention that has been solved but is still in service in many modern RPGs: traditional RPG combat. I hate random battles in the overworld... especially when the battle system is very passive and not at all inventive. I am truly sick of choosing "Fight" from a menu until enemies die. I want to be able to see the enemies that are attacking me before entering battle. I want to somehow be involved in the fight outside of making menu selections. I want a new mechanic that allows me to employ more sophisticated strategy in my battles. This game misses all those targets.
Another minor complaint is the "3D" rendering of all towns. This is sometimes helpful in seeing everything, but it is also annoying. The problem is that, while your character can only move in four directions (up, down, left, or right), the camera can be turned to any angle. You may turn it 90 degrees or you may turn it 37 degrees. Imagine an RPG town constructed with paths laid out such that you can easily navigate with only four directions. Now, take that town and rotate it ever so slightly. Your roads and bridges which were easily navigable before, now require you to jostle between two different directions to navigate their angles. If you're going to limit my movement so severely, snap the camera at 90 degrees. Rather than allowing me to freely rotate using L and R, have a single press of L rotate the camera 90 degrees counter-clockwise. A single press of R would then rotate 90 degrees clockwise. I gain no advantage from being able to view the town at a 265 degree angle that would justify the annoyance of then having to navigate it.
I realize this is a re-release of an older game. The game is a product of its time. Some games age better than others. I am sure this was a perfectly competent RPG in its day juxtaposed against gaggles of other games all with the same problems which had not yet been solved. In 2009, I simply can't forgive the problems which have since been resolved. If you have nostalgia for the game or series, you should by all means play, but, for players who lack that sort of context, this game can easily be passed up.
I have read much acclaim for this game, and I have recently started on my own quest here in meatspace to rekindle my love for the JRPG. I was turned on to RPGs with Final Fantasy II (IV in Japan) on the SNES. I proceeded to play virtually every JRPG of note up through about half of last generation. I took a break from gaming in general and came back into a climate with very few JRPGs being released at all. After a year or so, I began looking for a new game I could love. I found that my needs have changed. I am less forgiving of this genre than I once was. Luckily, I have since found at least two games that give me what I need and provide that fantastic injection of Japanese culture I crave. This game is not one of those.
The accolades for Dragon Quest V seem to stem from the story which may very well be spectacular. I didn't play the game long enough to reveal anything groundbreaking, but, to be fair, I didn't play very much of the game at all (around 10 hours).
My problems with the game are primarily with its structure although it also retains some classic RPG conventions I no longer have a taste for. As I played through the game, I found that I would begin by wandering a town talking to everyone. At this point, I really had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I was just blindly looking for that magic NPC to speak with who would then advance the story. Once I found that NPC, I would be thrust into a very linear quest which, upon completion, would dump me back into some town or similar locale with no clue how to proceed where I would start the process anew. The game did this three times, and there were no instances of my playing that I thought were at all outside this cycle. It would seem this pattern proceeds on through the rest of the game. This is a real problem as I don't particularly like searching every nook and cranny three times to finally find the "magic button" NPC. I love chatting up the residents in towns, but I want to do that with a clear picture of how I need to advance through the plot. That is something the game did not provide.
My other biggest problem stems from a long-held convention that has been solved but is still in service in many modern RPGs: traditional RPG combat. I hate random battles in the overworld... especially when the battle system is very passive and not at all inventive. I am truly sick of choosing "Fight" from a menu until enemies die. I want to be able to see the enemies that are attacking me before entering battle. I want to somehow be involved in the fight outside of making menu selections. I want a new mechanic that allows me to employ more sophisticated strategy in my battles. This game misses all those targets.
Another minor complaint is the "3D" rendering of all towns. This is sometimes helpful in seeing everything, but it is also annoying. The problem is that, while your character can only move in four directions (up, down, left, or right), the camera can be turned to any angle. You may turn it 90 degrees or you may turn it 37 degrees. Imagine an RPG town constructed with paths laid out such that you can easily navigate with only four directions. Now, take that town and rotate it ever so slightly. Your roads and bridges which were easily navigable before, now require you to jostle between two different directions to navigate their angles. If you're going to limit my movement so severely, snap the camera at 90 degrees. Rather than allowing me to freely rotate using L and R, have a single press of L rotate the camera 90 degrees counter-clockwise. A single press of R would then rotate 90 degrees clockwise. I gain no advantage from being able to view the town at a 265 degree angle that would justify the annoyance of then having to navigate it.
I realize this is a re-release of an older game. The game is a product of its time. Some games age better than others. I am sure this was a perfectly competent RPG in its day juxtaposed against gaggles of other games all with the same problems which had not yet been solved. In 2009, I simply can't forgive the problems which have since been resolved. If you have nostalgia for the game or series, you should by all means play, but, for players who lack that sort of context, this game can easily be passed up.
