| Produced by: Square Enix Rated: Teen Players: One Memory Required: 177 KB (supposedly) Genre: RPG How It Started Akira Toriyama is known throughout the world as the famed creator of the Dragonball series. Hardly an anime lover in both Japan and the United States doesn�t know his name, and my brother is no exception. When he heard that Akira Toriyama-sensei was going to be creating a brand-spanking new video game, he jumped at the opportunity to swindle me in to buying it. Now, I knew that it was going to be an RPG game, my very favorite genre, so I thought that I wasn�t completely devoid of benefit from purchasing Dragon Quest VII: Journey of the Cursed King, but little did I know that I would be obsessed with it and my brother wouldn�t so much as touch it. I feel satisfied that I only had to pay for half of the game. It was like getting half price for a vacation. Plot The title pretty much says it all. You play as the hero, a young man in service to King Trode and his daughter Princess Medea. Never mind that Trode is a three-foot tall toad-looking thing and Medea is a horse, you�re a good kid who serves King Trode unquestioningly. Besides, they weren�t always like that. Before the journey began, Trode and Medea were normal humans before the evil jester Dhoulmagus took a strange scepter that has unbelievable magic powers and cursed not only the king and princess, but the entire castle as well, transforming Trode and Medea and freezing the castle inhabitants in time. You were a servant turned royal solider at the time, and, miraculously, you were the only one to escape the curse. Now you accompany the king and princess in an attempt to undo the curse and destroy both Dhoulmagus and the power of the scepter once and for all. Seems simple, right? But it�s not, really. Soon your party of three turns to a party of six, all with grievances against Dhoulmagus, who has been murdering innocent people left and right. Questions begin to arise� Why does Dhoulmagus go after only certain types of targets? How did he know about the scepter? And how did you alone survive his brutal attack on the castle? All are questions that might only be answered by beating the living daylights out of one very elusive evil jester. Storyline and Game Play Sometimes I find myself crying for the lack of storyline in games, which leaves me feeling like an outsider, but not so with Dragon Quest. In fact, the gates of heaven were opening and the choir of angels were singing hallelujah as the story was unfolding. It avoids some of the most basic clich�s, such as the main character being cursed himself, having the child of the bad guy among the group, or even having a regal king. Actually, the story doesn�t even revolve around the problems of the main character. It insists that the game focus on the problems of others, including the lovely outcast Jessica and the (extremely handsome) orphan Angelo. Throughout Dragon Quest VII, the main character voices no problems of his own and instead serves those around him unselfishly. How sweet! It really makes the main character a highly likeable fellow. To add to the intrigue, the story is continually evolving as time goes on. Many different points are dealt with and so many unique people cross the player�s path that one might find himself having trouble keeping track of them all. It doesn�t take much to get attached to the characters, considering they�re all loveably quirky. Consider Yangus, a cockney-speaking ex-thief who takes an exceptional shine to the main character and refers to him almost exclusively as �Governor.� He eats like a pig, picks his nose, and isn�t too terribly bright, but his brutal honesty and undying loyalty to �Gov� (no matter what sort of half-wit situations the main character might lead Yangus into) just make him one of those rough-around-the-edges homey sorts of characters whom you can fall back on when everyone else is turning their backs on you. And storyline isn�t the only good thing about this game. The game play is almost as much fun as figuring out what happens next. Despite the fact that it�s a random battle turn-base system (*gag, choke, cough*) which means that you never see it coming and everyone has to wait their ever-loving turn to hit something, the game manages to make even a traditional turn-base system seem like fun. The spells have funny names like �Zing� to bring someone back to life and �Kaboom� to cast a flurry of explosives, and the techniques are interesting to say the least. There�s the �sultry dance� which causes the victim to dance uncontrollably (which left me in stitches when poor Yangus first fell under it�s power) and Angelo�s �angel eyes� which causes the target to fall madly in love with him (not a hard thing to do, considering that Angelo is a very, very good looking guy). There�s also the matter of �psyching up,� a special ability that all the characters have. Psyching up allows the character to raise his or her tension level, increasing attack power. At it�s highest level, psyching up causes the character to reach a state of super-high tension, where they do five times the damage that they normally do. Not to mention being in super-high tension mode makes them glow purple. I likes the purple glowing. Traveling can be a pain, however. Sure, it�s fun to be in a world where, get this, there is no out-of-bounds (literally, the entire world is open for exploration. Sail wherever, walk wherever, no limits.); but walking for fifteen minutes to get to the dungeon you just died in can get very old very fast. There�s a spell called �Zoom� in the beginning, which allows to travel to a select number of places that you�ve already been to, but that list of places doesn�t grow (to my knowledge) and you�re still left walking, walking, and walking still. It wouldn�t be as big of a bother if the battles weren�t RANDOM, but they are, so it�s something you find yourself grumbling about but having to do anyway. Oh well. It gives you a chance to be out at night, under the stars� Oops� What do you mean the battles at night are more intense? Well, snarf� Among random comments to make about game play is the VERY convenient talk-to-your-party feature. At any given time (outside of being in a battle, of course), you can press �start� to see all of the people in your party and speak with them. By speaking, I mean letting them talk while you shut up, but there is a purpose for this. If you haven�t played in a while, or forgot what you were doing because you got sidetracked, then your friends will tell you what you�re supposed to be doing and where you�re supposed to be going. Also, when you�re stuck, they might drop a helpful hint or two. Even when you�re not fumbling for instructions, talking with the party gives the characters a sense of depth and reveals things about them that just make them that much more likeable (or unlikable, depending on the situation). But enough about game play. I�m typing myself silly. Graphics Scenery� Did I get to mention the scenery yet? Gracious, it�s gorgeous. Things are lush and green and alive and there are cows and dogs and horses and beaches and� yeah. It�s a beautiful world filled with all different kinds of landscape, including deserts, plains, forests, hills, valleys, and oceans. I�m not making much sense. The world that you find yourself in is made of anime-esque areas filled with interesting creatures. The game is cell-shaded (which is a sweet, cartoon-ish manner of 3D that manages to be flat and 3D at the same time) and the characters, anime though they are, are very present instead of just kinda� there. They interact with their environment perfectly, fitting right in with the world made for them. The sunsets and sunrises are beautiful and the light changes accordingly, making time a concrete thing. If you leave at dawn and arrive at dusk, leaving at midday will get you there at midnight. There�s not two ways around it. The battle techniques are fun with the graphics so involved. The flashes of light and various spell effects are almost as satisfying as knowing your opponent will take damage because of it. And get this; if you equip a shield, you actually carry it into battle. If you change your clothes (especially with Jessica, although this is not necessarily for the better at times) you actually change in appearance. Amazing! Morality Why? Whyyyyyyy?! There are several suggestive things that are less than admirable in Dragon Quest. For example, Jessica�s taste in clothing is deplorable. Her chest is barely covered! It�s almost more modest to have her wear a dancer�s outfit! And her special technique is to be a sexy as possible to seduce her opponents. Please! That�s not the sort of thing that should be defiling the purity of the game. Now, there is the option to avoid allowing her to use her specialties, but it�s still there every time she levels up. How disgusting. That�s not my only gripe. Most of the people in Dragon Quest worship an entity known as �the goddess,� and it seems to me that the religion was designed after Catholicism. However, it�s still idolatry. And to boot, the only way that you can save your progress is to pray to the goddess. It�s like forcing the player to worship this pretend entity. I was positively revolted (though not enough to make me stop playing). I�ll admit that every time I walked into one of their �churches,� I felt the need to scream �There is only one true God, and He is not a WOMAN!! I worship no goddess!� So I did. And you know what? I felt better. So there. One last thing. Alcohol. All over. Need I say more? I didn�t think so. Message So let�s ignore the goddess and Jessica�s wardrobe issues for a moment and focus on the main character. He�s constantly sacrificing himself and doing dangerous things for everyone he comes into contact with. He serves his king with admirable loyalty, he helps those who need it, and he�s always standing up for what�s right. The basic message of Dragon Quest isn�t very hard to grasp; your friends are important enough to die for, be loyal to those in authority (even if they are haughty half-wits), defend what�s right (even if it means doing dangerous and unpleasant things), stick by your word, and don�t let evil get away with it, no matter what. Is it enough to balance out the bad stuff? Well, that� for you to decide. Summary All in all, I love Dragon Quest as if it were a creation of my own, only influenced by immodest idol-worshipers. With the game play, graphics, storyline, and sweetheart of a main character, I manage to overlook the junk that�s thrown in. Should it be on your to-play list? Absolutely. Should it be on your to-model-my-life-after list? By no means whatsoever. Guard your morality, and have fun with it. In the meantime, I�m going to go beat Dhoulmagus with a stick. See ya! Mhiko�s Rating 8 outta 10 minus five for the morality issues but plus three for the main character�s sake |
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