Before I left for my vacation, which actually lasted longer than I expected, I ordered a few games. The two main games I order were the Dark Spire and also an import of Dragon Quest IX. So when I got home yesterday, and found all of the games I ordered, I decided I would hit dragon quest IX first since I anticipate it more. Anyway here is what I think of the game. BTW I have played and beaten DQIV(ds remake), DQV(ds remake), and DQVIII(ps2). All of these I liked, but none would I put anywhere near my best RPG. Also you could see that my experience with the series is still limited.
First thing first I want to mention how easy this game is for people with limited Japanese or even none at all. The game is in full kanji as well as furigana over the kanji if kanji are your weakness. Not only that, but most things are very easy to figure out until later on in the game. There are times in the game where you have to use a certain "emotions(can't think of the word)" such as salute or cheer, etc to get through in the game. It as at these times where you are the most lost, but after a while you should be able to progress. Also if you are having really trouble and don't really care if you cheat or not, I believe there are small walkthroughs online for you to get help. It is definately one of the easier games to import though, and these days I've been importing more than I have been buying localized games.
From a gameplay aspect you can definately tell that this game started out as an Action- oriented RPG. The battles are FAST. This is a weird thing to see in the very slow dragon quest series. Everything is fast though. The menus allow you for fast access, the animations are fast, and even outside of battles walking through the overworld is fast. The format of the battles is pretty DQVIII's but slightly upgraded. All battles are third person instead of first as well. The main improvement(or for some a downgrade) is the exclusion of random encounters. All enemies are on the screen. There are many reasons why I like this. One is that you don't feel forced to battle, and if you are forced to it is because you didn't avoid it good enough. Another is that you can choose which enemies you fight for the best XP, and dodge the ones you know won't give you much. Because of this, any grinding you have to do is much much much easier and more fun(well from a grinding perspective). Like I mentioned earlier, this is one of the reasons why the game is fast. While it is fast, you have everything that is in previous dragon quest games, that make them dragon quest. So for the fans that don't want too much of a change then you should be at least somewhat happy with this.
I admit the rumors about this game being easier than the other games is true. The game starts out extremely easy at the start. We are only talking about 3 or 4 bosses though. After that the difficulty level starts to increase at a steady rate. Right now I'm probably about a third through the game and the enemies and bosses are starting to feel as hard as the other dragon quests. Now what really makes it "easy" or just not tedious is that you aren't forced to grind. The enemies are made so perfect for progressing that when you start a "dungeon" the boss would be impossible to kill, but when you finish you are just at the right level that it is based solely on strategy on whether you win or not. This makes the game very fluid, and keeps you from ever getting bored. Now if you do have to grind, you won't really feel like you are grinding. Because of one of the main points of the series is created likeable enemies that interest you, I find myself actually fighting enemies on purpose just to fight them. This is one of the best things I like about the game. Even the smallest battles are fun, and there are few times where you think I don't want to fight that.
Another thing that really pushed Dragon Quest IX is the character customization. The game has one of the best if not THE best that I've seen in a Jrpg. I believe that this is because the series started out when there wasn't too much of a difference between Jrpgs and Wrgps, and this is a series that at the basis hasn't change too much. Anyway, the first thing you do in the game is customize the main character. It starts out with basic things such as Name, Sex, Hair Type/Color, Face, Eye Color, Skin Color, and anything I didn't menion. Later on in the game you choose characters and I beleive there are 6 classes to start Mage, Priest, Fighter, Dancer, Barter, and Theif(These are all based of memory, and I could be wrong). You can choose up to 3 more characters. One negative point to these characters being "Made" is that they don't have personalities and this may hinder the story. I will tell you though that you won't notice this at all. I will mention more about that later when talking about the story. There are more classes that you could unlock later on in the game, and you could change any class that you want as well. It works similar to FFIII(nes) though, and you start from Level 1 though the other class keeps the other level you had before switching. The person who likes to complete everything will probably try to max out all classes with all characters. Armor and Weapons are very detailed too. Most RPGs basically hand out armor and weapons as you progress that increase every stat. It doesn't work that way in DQIX. Every armor/weapon has something that it will improve over the one you are using, and something it will actually downgrade. This gives you the trouble of figuring out which armor and weapon is the best for your character. It makes this area much more rewarding though. Most of your money will go into buying weapons, and armor as everything else is pretty cheap. Speaking of money, you make some money through battles, but that isn't the only option and you will try to find items that sell a lot around the overworld.
The thing I probably enjoy the most though as I did in DQVIII, is the adventuring aspects. Because battles are random, the overworld is BIG. There are items scattered everywhere. The world is sectioned though, and you won't progress to other ares before you solved a problem(based like arcs) in the one area. After that you are free to visit all previous areas as you please. Everytime I open up a new area or continent I explore it for about an hour before I progress in the story. That is how fun I find exploring. Each area has about 1-3 cities, as well as caves, and temples that you most likely will have to go to after you talk to people in the town. Each continent has about 3 areas and there are like 4 or 5 continents. The exploration aspects are so fun that I find myself walking to the other towns I have to go to even if I have teleportation options. Like I said earlier depending on what type of player you are you will spend some time fighting monsters, or looking for items, both of which are very enjoyable imo.
The story like the other DQ games I've played isn't really complex. It is arc based where you start out in one area solve the problem, and go to the next. From my average Japanese the basic plot is you starting out as a great angel that everybody praises for protection. You have to collect their star auras and bring it to the tree in the angel world. After going back to the angel world upon seeing a golden train you have end up losing your wings from a earthquake and beam that hits the angel world which basically means that you become human. Then the actual game start where you are gathering star auras. To do that you have to please the people of each area and then progress. Most of the character developement is from the people you help. Also almost everything is tied to the earthquake that I mentioned earlier. Like I said, the story as of yet isn't complex, but it has a charm to it, and is very likeable. I am probably just at the turning point right now where you find out what caused the earthquake and such so I don't know much more as of yet.
Don't be fooled by the "kiddy" design. While it is no DQVIII, or DQ: Swords it is the closest you can probably get on the DS. From a technical aspect it is probably the most taxing game on the DS. While the graphics aren't the best quality, you have multiple on screen at once, as well as things such as cities, trees, plants, etc. All this with this huge overworld that I mentioned earlier. While the game runs fine when it is only you or another character, once you get all four characters in your party there are some framerate issues as you run. These aren't obstructive though and a lot of the time you don't even notice them. The art design is great as well. Everything is vivid and colorful, the characters up close look basic, but not "kiddy" like many want to present. What the characters are equipped with will also change thier appearance too. Like always with dragon quest games, the sound and music is amazing. The most notable song that I heard so far was a remixed version of the main theme of the series. The battle, overworld, and boss themes are great as well. The quality of the sound is amazing. There is a reason why Dragon Quest IX uses the largest DS cart and this is most likely it. I never feel that the I can barely hear the game, or it isn't clear enough. I recommend using earphones if you want the full sound experience though.
I'm probably about a third into the game and clocked at 15hrs. Judging from that the main story will probably end around 40-60hrs long. This isn't the only thing you can do though. There are tons of side quests that will give you rewards. By tons I mean at least 5 per town. Not only that, but because it is an early import I doubt I will find anybody who I can play co-op with. The co-op sounds great though which will allow even more time to be put into the game. So unless you are used to the 100hrs+ that I heard DQVII's main story was I will think you will be satisfied with the content this game brings.
Overall I say that out of the 4 dragon quest main series games I've played, this is by far the best. It improves a lot of problems the series had, as well as keeping the traditional aspects and charm it brings. Either way if you import it or wait for release unless you are somebody who hates the core aspects of the series as a whole you should find this game to be excellent and may I say what I would consider AAA.
