A Slime Draws Near! Command?
If you like Dragon Quest, you are bound to like Dragon Quest IX.
Unlike the Final Fantasy franchise which has always developed through punctuated equilibrium with mixed results, the Dragon Quest series operates by phyletic gradualism. The only way you would be able to place IX sequentially in the series (besides the roman numerals, of course) would be to catalogue the traits it has inherited from its forebears (Mini Medals from IV, Alchemy Pot from VIII). You will feel right at home during that terribly unlucky moment when some slime critical hits and slays your only Cleric steps before a Boss fight.
By all standards, it should be the perfect Dragon Quest game -- but it doesn't quite feel like it.
Despite the radical (pardon the Final Fantasy slight) "paradigm shift" of releasing a marquee franchise game on a portable gaming system, Square-Enix devalued the impact of Dragon Quest IX by releasing two excellent remakes of IV and V within the past two years. What should have felt like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night instead feels like Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.
The paint-by-numbers Dragon Quest plot does little to dispel this notion. Nothing in the game matches the emotional impact of re-exploring Alefgard in Dragon Quest III (the NES Chrono Trigger) or finally uniting your party in Chapter V of Dragon Quest IV (the NES Ulysses).
Dragon Quest IX is mechanically sound and a pleasure to play, I just doubt I will remember anything about it in a year.
Well, maybe the magical flying golden train.
Grade: B+
posted by d l wright at 8/22/2010 05:21:00 PM
3 Comments:
The sheer nerdiness of this line: "What should have felt like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night instead feels like Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia." makes this my favorite game review of the year. Maybe ever.
A+
For realz.
I tried to think of an analogy that even Nell could understand. Actually, I am curious if that even registers for Mark. 8-B
I had a dream last night that Al Harrington was dunking all over some Lakers scrubs. It was rad.
That analogy totally registered with me... except, um, yeah. Never played Ecclesia.
I'm still kind of curious about DQIX. Except, admittedly, outside of unlocking enough achievements in Halo 3 to unlock the Katana armor, I haven't "grinded" for more than a decade. And I'm okay with that.
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