| |
Dragon Quest VI Review
Amazing. You'd never believe(wait, you probably would) how many great RPGs never made it over to our shores... I still have all my old Nintendo Power magazines where the Epic Center kept claiming such great games like Tales of Phantasia, Bahamut Lagoon, and pretty much all Dragon Quest SNES games(including this one) were going to be released... it's a shame that never happened. Well, thankfully we have these magic "computers" so lots of us can relive old memories and experience what many Japanese gamers did the first time they played these...
 DQ6 is the second of two Dragon Warrior games that we never got to see(do the math, and you get... what class? V and VI!). At the time of it's release, it was a HUGE hit. The game took about four years to complete, and gamers were eager to play this tremendously. It's release date was considered an actual HOLIDAY, as japanese gamers camped outside of stores in hopes of getting their own. It sold millions within a week... and keep in mind it wasn't cheap. An estimated 11,400 yen for this nifty RPG, which is about $100 bucks U.S.(can you imagine the trauma game companies would go through if they sold their games for that much over here?). Bear in mind kiddies, this is an SNES game. Anyway, it was well worth it.
Graphics.DQ6 had pretty amazing graphics, as all near-end of the SNES RPGs did. The sprites are great, and the backgrounds look pretty... uhh, "lush". Yeah. The enemies this time around look better than ever, and even have little animations for their attacks. Those of you who have played Chrono Trigger will notice some serious similarities between the two. This is due to Akira Toriyama doing all the artwork for both games(yeah, the guy who made that anime you watch religiously called Dragonball). He also did the artwork for some of the past Dragon Quests. Anyway, the graphics get a 9/10.
Gameplay. It's just like with Dragon Warrior 2... you constantly must level up before moving on to the next area. However, I noticed a slight difference... there seems to be main "points" where leveling up must happen, split far apart in the story. You start out the game with the absolute NEED to gain levels, then it's much later that you must level up again. In between these times you can just do what you need to do and fight in the meantime. Well, inleast it seemed that way for me... maybe I just got lucky or leveled up too much ;). Either way, the idea still remains the same, and DQ's RPG style has only changed slightly for the better. 10/10.
Plot. A pretty darn interesting plot. You begin the game with a confusing scene, and then begin to control your character in a completely different setting. As you play through the game, the plot begins to unfold(like in any great RPG) and you begin to meet the people who were with you in the beginning... I've only played through the game for a little over 3+ hours(about a 1/4 of that is leveling up), and I'm still wondering. What baffles me even more is how far the translation patch goes... 10/10.
 Sound. Pretty decent, for the most part. All the music is composed by the acclaimed Video Game composer, Koichi Sugiyama. Reminds me of the music in Lufia and the Fortress of Doom. 9/10.
Replay Value. Considering the game has over 18 character classes, bonus games, monster catching, and multiple outcomes for certain things, I'd imagine most people would find themselves wanting to play it inleast twice. It's like Chrono Trigger: you can't get enough of it the first time through. It IS tremendously long though, which could damper on anyone wanting to give it another go. 8/10.
Final Thought/Overall Rating
Good RPG? Yes. Great RPG? Yes. New and old DW fans should definetely give this one a go, especially those of you were are just now discovering the series with DQVII. First give the game that started it all a shot, then try this second-most recent sequel. You'll be able to see the oldest and newest DQs all at once. Overall rating: 9.5/10.
-Grand Master Dragon
|
|
Articles 
