VGTribune

Price: $34.99

Release Date: July 11, 2010

Developer: Square Enix Co., Ltd.

Publisher: Nintendo

This review was based on a review copy of Dragon Quest IX provided by Nintendo.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is the latest installment in the highly successful Dragon Quest franchise. However, the series, which is a huge hit in Japan, has never really taken off here in America. However Nintendo, much in the same vein of Monster Hunter Tri’s release earlier this year on Wii, wants to replicate the series’  success in Japan here in America. So, for many American gamers, this will be their very first Dragon Quest game. Is the title a fresh and engaging Japanese RPG or does it fail to resonate with American gamers?

Simply put, Dragon Quest IX is the best role-playing game on Nintendo DS, or any handheld platform for that matter, since Square-Enix’s 2008 title The World Ends with You.

The basic storyline in Dragon Quest IX is your typical Japanese role-playing game fare. In the very beginning of the game, you create a character that serves as the guardian angel of the small village of Angel Falls. However, on your trip back to the Observatory, a fortress in the sky that houses guardian angels the world over, something goes terribly wrong and your character falls to the world below, now mortal and stripped of most of his heavenly powers. The protagonist then embarks on a quest to collect the heavenly fruits of the Observatory, re-gain his powers, and ultimately save the world. Still, it’s how the player and his customized party get to the ending that’s truly engaging.

First and foremost, it’s worth noting that for a turn-based game, the combat is actually extremely engaging. Battles are fast-paced and have been streamlined a great deal; players can choose to assign tactics to their party members that will allow the computer to take over an ally’s commands based on how you want to train and use that character. However, the most notable aspect of Dragon Quest IX‘s combat system is the game’s cinematic battle sequences. After a player chooses a spell to cast or an attack to use, the camera will shift to a 3D environment where the battle will play out. While at first these battle animations may seem time-consuming and superfluous, the animations of the techniques are actually quite quick and, even after hundreds of battles, are never a bore to watch.

What really makes Dragon Quest IX stand head and shoulders above the other quality role-playing games on the Nintendo DS though are its multi-player features, so much so that Nintendo actually listed the game in our press kit as a member of a new genre entirely, the “social adventure”. And, while categorizing DQIX in a genre of its own may seem to be an extrapolation at first, the title couldn’t be more accurate.

Not only can four players team up locally to take on monsters or explore the game’s various dungeons, but players can actually close their DS, go about their daily lives and still receive data, such as treasure maps that lead to grottoes filled with rare items or a unique boss, from other players. This feature, dubbed “Tag Mode”, has already made an enormous splash in Japan. Players have been randomly meeting fellow questers on the train to work through this mode and, in some cases, intentionally ventured to the real life “Patty’s Pub” in Akihabara in hopes of meeting fellow gamers to connect with. In fact, “Tag Mode” has been such a success that Nintendo is planning on making the “still playing, even when you’re not” feature standard on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS.

In addition to this revolutionary mode however, Dragon Quest IX also allows players to access an online shop that is updated daily with new items and download new quests that, in some cases, can actually act as a supplement to the story in the main single-player quest.

That said, I still haven’t even touched on my favorite part of Dragon Quest IX; its level of customization. Players can fully customize everything about their character and his or her party members. There are 900+ items that scattered throughout the world that players can customize their characters with, ranging from everything to weapons to their outfit and the nicest little aspect of this feature is that players will be able to visually see changes in their characters appearance immediately after they alter them. For example, if you find an awesome new suit of armor and you want to equip your best warrior with it, you can do that and the suit of armor won’t just act as a defense upgrade. It will also change how your player looks on the field, and in battle, giving a level of customization and personalization to the player that no game on the DS has offered before. While the idea that the player must mold each of their party members themselves may seem strange at first since every character lacks their own pre-determined personality until you give it to them, the personalization actually makes the game that much more satisfying once you take down a boss using a mage that is named after and looks like one of your best friends.

Ultimately all of Dragon Quest IX‘s features, the customization, engaging battles, multi-player functionality and immense world, make the title one of the most addicting games I have ever played. I guarantee that you’ll find yourself either bringing your DS onto the subway hoping to level-up your party members one more time before that big business meeting or trying to earn another secret treasure map before lunch. While Square-Enix and Nintendo’s choice of putting a major role-playing title on the DS may have seemed odd at first, the convenience of having an entirely fleshed-out world in the palm of your hand that you can explore at your own pace is something that I question how I ever lived without.

Even if you aren’t a fan of role-playing games, Dragon Quest IX probably has something for you and, unless the highly stylized anime art style turns you off, there should be absolutely no reason for you not to check this title out.

VGTribune gives Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies a 9.5/10.

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