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Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
March 3, 2009 | 11:57 AM PST
by: Matt Furtado
Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
Square Enix is bringing the RPG goodness to the DS. We've seen remakes of Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV -- hopefully V and VI are on the way -- but we have also been blessed with Dragon Quest IV and now we are given Dragon Quest V. Unlike Dragon Quest IV, Dragon Quest V has never been released outside of Japan. So, this is an all new Dragon Quest adventure for us living in the US and Europe.
Players will take control of a young lad who was journeying with his father before an adventure of immeasurable circumstances is opened. You start off as a young boy and then age as the story further develops and more options appear before you. Players will have to make decisions that will alter the game and make their own decisions. Choose your own path, choices, even your own wife and kids. The choice is yours alone to make. This may not sound revolutionary compared to titles like Fable and Fable 2, but when this game was originally crafted some 20yrs ago, this was a massive paradigm shift in gaming.
What's Hot
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride is one of the greatest stories ever told on the DS, or in the RPG genre for that matter. The story is incredibly gripping and will have you coming back for more everyday. Yes, an RPG title should have an amazing storyline, but Hand of the Heavenly Bride is a marvel even by standards today. While it's essentially the same story told in every RPG/Action/Adventure game, an evil guy plots to take over the world and you must stop him, the way the pacing and game conveys the story is so well crafted that you'll never find yourself bored.
Of course, to make your way through this awesome story, you'll need to go through all the basic steps of what makes an RPG what it is. Yes, that's right; you'll have to encounter the random battle system. At most times, the random battles are kept at a good pacing and never overwhelms to the point of wanting to quit the game. There are a few points found in the game when you'll find yourself becoming agitated and finding yourself getting into a battle every few steps, but that's all part of the classic RPG love. Battling plays a major role in the game and this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. You'll need to fight, fight, and fight some more in order to get to the high levels needed to take down a multitude of bosses and enemies. If you are one of those RPG fans that gets easily irritated with getting forced into battles somewhat frequently, then you'll just have to take a few deep breaths while playing through Heavenly Bride. At the end of the day, even with all the grinding and battling you may find yourself doing, the rewards far outweigh the minor problems you had to endure.
Much like Dragon Quest IV before it, Dragon Quest V has some wonderful sprites and a wonderful 3D camera system. While exploring and walking through towns, you'll be able to take control of the camera and spin it around the area to give it a 3D look and feel. While the characters themselves are 2D sprites, the environments are designed in 3D architecture. Combined with an old style anime-look, this really makes the game feel more up to date than it may otherwise appear and feel in some regards.
Like most classic RPG titles, there is a whole lot to do during the main quest, aside from pushing the story forward. You can stop in town as local casinos to make some bets and play the mini-games. The mini-games range from slots, monster battling, and Whack-a-Slime -- where you need to poke the screen to whack it. There are other games to be found, but these can take up hours and hours of your time if you just feel like kicking back and having some fun before moving forward in the story or just want to mess around with a few time wasting games. After all that battling, you may need a break to unwind and just have some good fashion fun. As an extra incentive, the more time you spend and play at the casino, you won't only gain massive sums of prize money, but you also are able to amass exclusive prizes and medals that can be traded for special items and weapons.
Pokemon fans will even find something in Heavenly Bride too irresistible to pass up. You'll be able to capture over 70 creatures and train them. They'll level up themselves and, eventually, you'll be able to issue commands to them. Unlike Pokemon, these creatures won't bow to your call right away. You'll need to raise them to a certain level before they'll obey your orders. As you can tell, Heavenly Bride has a lot of little games to it and this makes the experience all the more satisfying.
What's Not
Everything sounds amazing. Well, honestly, it is amazing. The only problem I have with the game is the same problem I had with Dragon Quest IV. Even with all the new improvements and reworked systems, the menus and battle system are dull and boring. The menus, while probably the most trivial of complaints, it just ugly and very dull. It's the same white bordered menu screen we've seen since the NES days. It's minor, but it doesn't fit in well with the rest of the game.
Then there's the battle system. This is just as dated as the menu screens. The enemies face you in their bland 2D look and you attack. It looks boring and it makes the battles seem pretty boring too. It looks so antiquated compared to the rest of the game. With everything else in the game so well crafted, these minor negatives are hardly even a blemish on the beauty the game is, though.
Final Word
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride is the best DS RPG. With an amazing story, music, graphics, and overall package, you'll have a hard time finding a better DS RPG. With so many options and little things to do, you'll find yourself killing time as casinos or talking to the village folk. If you want a new DS game or just want a great RPG for any system, this won't disappoint. Buy this game now.
What the Game's About
Square Enix is bringing the RPG goodness to the DS. We've seen remakes of Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV -- hopefully V and VI are on the way -- but we have also been blessed with Dragon Quest IV and now we are given Dragon Quest V. Unlike Dragon Quest IV, Dragon Quest V has never been released outside of Japan. So, this is an all new Dragon Quest adventure for us living in the US and Europe.
Players will take control of a young lad who was journeying with his father before an adventure of immeasurable circumstances is opened. You start off as a young boy and then age as the story further develops and more options appear before you. Players will have to make decisions that will alter the game and make their own decisions. Choose your own path, choices, even your own wife and kids. The choice is yours alone to make. This may not sound revolutionary compared to titles like Fable and Fable 2, but when this game was originally crafted some 20yrs ago, this was a massive paradigm shift in gaming.
What's Hot
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride is one of the greatest stories ever told on the DS, or in the RPG genre for that matter. The story is incredibly gripping and will have you coming back for more everyday. Yes, an RPG title should have an amazing storyline, but Hand of the Heavenly Bride is a marvel even by standards today. While it's essentially the same story told in every RPG/Action/Adventure game, an evil guy plots to take over the world and you must stop him, the way the pacing and game conveys the story is so well crafted that you'll never find yourself bored.
Of course, to make your way through this awesome story, you'll need to go through all the basic steps of what makes an RPG what it is. Yes, that's right; you'll have to encounter the random battle system. At most times, the random battles are kept at a good pacing and never overwhelms to the point of wanting to quit the game. There are a few points found in the game when you'll find yourself becoming agitated and finding yourself getting into a battle every few steps, but that's all part of the classic RPG love. Battling plays a major role in the game and this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. You'll need to fight, fight, and fight some more in order to get to the high levels needed to take down a multitude of bosses and enemies. If you are one of those RPG fans that gets easily irritated with getting forced into battles somewhat frequently, then you'll just have to take a few deep breaths while playing through Heavenly Bride. At the end of the day, even with all the grinding and battling you may find yourself doing, the rewards far outweigh the minor problems you had to endure.
Much like Dragon Quest IV before it, Dragon Quest V has some wonderful sprites and a wonderful 3D camera system. While exploring and walking through towns, you'll be able to take control of the camera and spin it around the area to give it a 3D look and feel. While the characters themselves are 2D sprites, the environments are designed in 3D architecture. Combined with an old style anime-look, this really makes the game feel more up to date than it may otherwise appear and feel in some regards.
Like most classic RPG titles, there is a whole lot to do during the main quest, aside from pushing the story forward. You can stop in town as local casinos to make some bets and play the mini-games. The mini-games range from slots, monster battling, and Whack-a-Slime -- where you need to poke the screen to whack it. There are other games to be found, but these can take up hours and hours of your time if you just feel like kicking back and having some fun before moving forward in the story or just want to mess around with a few time wasting games. After all that battling, you may need a break to unwind and just have some good fashion fun. As an extra incentive, the more time you spend and play at the casino, you won't only gain massive sums of prize money, but you also are able to amass exclusive prizes and medals that can be traded for special items and weapons.
Pokemon fans will even find something in Heavenly Bride too irresistible to pass up. You'll be able to capture over 70 creatures and train them. They'll level up themselves and, eventually, you'll be able to issue commands to them. Unlike Pokemon, these creatures won't bow to your call right away. You'll need to raise them to a certain level before they'll obey your orders. As you can tell, Heavenly Bride has a lot of little games to it and this makes the experience all the more satisfying.
What's Not
Everything sounds amazing. Well, honestly, it is amazing. The only problem I have with the game is the same problem I had with Dragon Quest IV. Even with all the new improvements and reworked systems, the menus and battle system are dull and boring. The menus, while probably the most trivial of complaints, it just ugly and very dull. It's the same white bordered menu screen we've seen since the NES days. It's minor, but it doesn't fit in well with the rest of the game.
Then there's the battle system. This is just as dated as the menu screens. The enemies face you in their bland 2D look and you attack. It looks boring and it makes the battles seem pretty boring too. It looks so antiquated compared to the rest of the game. With everything else in the game so well crafted, these minor negatives are hardly even a blemish on the beauty the game is, though.
Final Word
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride is the best DS RPG. With an amazing story, music, graphics, and overall package, you'll have a hard time finding a better DS RPG. With so many options and little things to do, you'll find yourself killing time as casinos or talking to the village folk. If you want a new DS game or just want a great RPG for any system, this won't disappoint. Buy this game now.
February 8, 2010
