A comparison between Dragon Quest IV and Square-Enix's other recent DS remake Final Fantasy IV is inevitable, so I'll get it out of the way quickly. Dragon Quest IV is not Final Fantasy IV, and it doesn't try to be. Final Fantasy IV is a complete remake with overhauled 3D graphics and voice acting to make the game appeal to a more modern audience. Dragon Quest IV takes a more nostalgic route with characters, enemies, and the world map all presented in all of the glory that 2D sprites can bring. The towns and dungeons are done in 3D, which allows for the camera to be rotated to find hidden doors, but the 3D objects for the most part give off the appearance of 2D sprites so the retro feel remains consistent. Personally, I'm a huge fan of 2D sprites, and I appreciate Square-Enix making a distinction between their two RPG remakes through their graphical style. And speaking of 2D sprites, the enemy attack animations during battle deserve special mention for being some of the best sprite animations outside of a Guilty Gear game. Some might say Square-Enix took the easy way out since technically this DS version is a port of the PS1 remake (which never left Japan), but having played both this and the 3D Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, I still prefer the 2D style.

But Dragon Quest IV is an RPG. What really matters is the story. In 1990 when DQ IV was first released on the NES the story must have been epic. You begin by choosing a name and gender for your hero (the gender doesn't effect gameplay though and the sprites look almost identical) and playing through a short prologue before starting up chapter 1 and saying goodbye to your hero for the next 12 or so hours. The subtitle, Chapters of the Chosen, is well earned because the game is split into several separate chapters, each detailing a particular character's back-story and motivation for embarking on their quest. The close examination of each character is still interesting today, with characters ranging from Ragnar McRyan, a noble knight to sisters Maya and Meena, who are a belly dancer and fortune teller respectively. My personal favorite is Torneko Taloon the merchant, who is still unmatched in modern RPGs for unlikeliest hero (and was popular enough to warrant his own spin-off game Torneko: The Last Hope for the PS1). Unfortunately, once you get control back of your hero from the prologue in the fifth chapter the plot becomes a fairly cliché "save the world from impending doom" scenario, but the fact that the other characters that join you are already well fleshed out helps to draw you in regardless. This remake does add a new 6th chapter as an epilogue to add a little more depth to the story, but don't expect anything that you haven't seen before.

For better or worse, Dragon Quest IV draws all of its gameplay inspiration from classic RPG conventions. Random encounters rear their ugly head, as does frequent level grinding. Battles play out from a semi-first person perspective where you don't actually see your own characters on-screen. Battles are also strictly a turn-based affair, with you selecting all of your party's actions at once and watching as the turn plays out. If you were a fan of RPGs back in the 8-bit and 16-bit days, then you'll love it, but if you weren't a fan of them then, there's nothing here to change your mind. Personally, I felt right at home, and was surprised to find that I didn't need to do nearly as much level grinding as I had expected to do. There's still some needed at several points in the game, but after only a level or two your stats should improve enough to move on. Or at the very least, you should have enough gold to get new equipment. It keeps the game moving at a brisk pace that never feels rushed, which works perfectly for a handheld RPG.

The music is also to be commended in DQIV. Most of it will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has played any other Dragon Quest titles, and those who haven't will still find it to be catchy and enjoyable. It's typical fantasy fare, but it's well done typical fantasy fare. I caught myself humming along several times on the world map and in towns.

There are a few sour notes in the game though, mostly due to standard 8-bit RPG conventions that don't hold up as well today. DQIV holds onto a game extending tradition of not giving you clear direction on where to go at times, or what you need to do once you get there. This isn't such a problem in the first half of the game which is fairly linear as you learn about each character, but once the whole party comes together and you can go anywhere with the boat the game stops giving hints. This results in many unnecessary deaths from going to areas before the plot would have you go there. There's also a retro quirk in the battle system that makes some battles much harder than they need to be because you can't target a specific monster within a group of monsters of the same type. Let's say there are three enemies and you have three strong attackers and a spell caster. What I'd typically want to do is target each one of the enemies with a different attacker, and then use an area spell that hits all of them to finish the battle in one turn. But since the game doesn't let you target a specific enemy within the group, my attackers will all gang up on a single enemy of the group with the spell just damaging the others, leaving two enemies still standing who can call for reinforcements and extend the battle.

Square-Enix, in an attempt to add more personality to the game, gave almost all of the towns their own dialects and accents. To name a few, you'll come across Irish, Scottish, French, and Russian towns. This would work perfectly well if the game had voice acting, but it doesn't. Unfortunately, the accents actually end up detracting from the game because it is often hard to decipher what a character is trying to tell you. It's painful to have a character ask you "where we are to be going?" and know that the developer meant to put it there.

While not perfect, Dragon Quest IV is an enjoyable reminder of what a classic RPG is. There's a reason they're called classics. Outdated as some of the gameplay may be, it's still a very fun and satisfying experience throughout the 30+ hour quest. If you've got an itch for an old school RPG, this is one of the better games you could play to satisfy it.

8 out of 10