Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

Err… sei lá. É bem correto e durante umas partes eu me diverti e fiquei empolgado. Mas não tem aquele espírito, aquela originalidade, aquela construção de universo e personagem e aquele senso de aventura épica que pra mim são as coisas mais legais de um RPG. Ainda tem a chatice dos episódios no primeiro terço e umas inconveniências que em nada acrescentam além de irritação.

It seems that with Dragon Quest III, Yuji Horii had essentially refined the Dragon Quest formula to the point where something more transformative had to be done to make a sequel that felt truly significant in the grander scheme of the series. Enter Dragon Quest IV, which didn't just feel like a more polished and ambitious version of the previous DQ incarnations, but ended up redefining the structure of the series as a whole. Rather than giving the player a large, expansive map to approach in whatever order you felt like, Chapters of The Chosen instead goes for a somewhat more linear, plot driven experience that emphasises the storytelling above contributing to a more player-driven narrative like the previous games would be more conducive to. Of course this isn't to say that the game also didn't make a bunch of other changes and refinements to ensure that things wouldn't stagnate, with that core gameplay loop yet again being improved, especially when talking about the DS version of the game which does away with a lot of the janky early gen conventions that these games would regularly embody.

This is what feels like the first of the DQ games that doesn't feel as if it's included little bits and pieces that are intentionally vague to the point of needing to look things up or read a strategy guide or whatever, yet it manages to do this without ever feeling overly handholdy in its approach either. The player will still have to hunt down information on how to progress and often use their intuition in a variety of ways to fully understand what their next goal is, but the information feels presented in a more overt way that makes it more clear what pieces of information are actually significant. This is definitely a welcome change over putting the player in a bit of a situation where they're burdened with endless amounts of useless information that they need to sift through to find what truly requires some more attention. This is further aided by the fact that the game more strongly encourages talking with all the NPCs and interacting with as much as possible through the amount of additional flavour text added, which provides that bit more of an intrinsic reward that goes a long way for an experience this expansive.

This is further elevated by the party chat mechanic in the game, having it so your party members will have remarks to utter in response to almost any situation if you talk to them, which not only leads to more moments of dialogue that's either funny or provides deeper insight into certain concepts that are being explored, but it contributes extremely strongly to the characterisation of all these characters. Your party don't just feel like faceless figures silently following the chosen one along, they each feel like their own individual characters with their own sets of perspectives and approaches to every given situation, and it leads to being able to form a much deeper connection with them as a result.

The praise I have for the chapter structure of this game also can't be understated, and I think that that feature alone is a big part of why the world of DQ4 feels as rich and evocative as it does. Along with being able to more clearly define individual character motives, the smaller stories told in each chapter before you're properly introduced to the main character allow a large portion of the map to have a stronger sense of familiarity when the entirety of the world ends up opening up to the player once they've completed these chapters. It feels like each of these chapters has a very different theme to it, Ragnar having to solve a mystery about children disappearing, Alena doing anything in her power to break free of the confines that keep her shackles down, Torneko wanting to live his own life and prove that he is worthy of pursuing his dreams, the twins on a bloody revenge story to avenge their father, and of course, the chosen one and their journey to save the world. The sense of unity between these characters despite their different motives is a really great idea to me due to how this essentially further solidifies the main character as a truly legendary force while also being able to perfectly embody the sheer danger of the threat that's upon the world as a whole.

Seeing the tangible differences each character has had in this world is another nice touch in making the world feel ever-changing and alive, often feeling as if it's moving forward in real-time, rather than what could often feel like a bit more of a static environment in past titles. I feel the idea of moving in real-time ties into the narrative progression game as a whole as well, being about the process of change in real-time as opposed to trying to fix problems that had already cemented themselves in the past. This isn't just visible in the way that the world feels considerably cheerier at first, with the progression into bleak territory occurring throughout the adventure, but even the antagonist himself differs from past titles by not having come even close to completing his plan at the start of the adventure. Rather than destroying an established, oppressive entity, Chapters of the Chosen sees the player instead relentlessly following its villain and doing all they can to slowly break apart a plan that is still being put in motion, stopping the world from falling into a purely dark, decrepit state rather than trying to pull the world out of one. While one method isn't necessarily better than another to me, I do like the sense of urgency that this approach provides, and it's also great for getting further insight into the motivations and personality of the villain himself rather than his entire presence being "I am a powerful force of evil".

I also found it lovely how this is the first game in the series to truly start messing around with adding some optional content and side quest content in some big ways, not just having some extra minigames to spice things up, but actually going and adding a few other questlines and secret locations to the game that reward exploration even further. It felt so cool to play the game and not just have everything contribute to the main story, but actually have these other plot elements going on to make the world feel that much more dynamic. While Dragon Quest 3 had already made strides in making a world that didn't just revolve around the player character, this one just goes that step further and is all the better for it, especially since in this game they're still often pretty obscure for the most part, as to never feel like an intrusive element of the game, but being really cool once you discover one of them.

Gameplay also feels like it's been majorly improved here in certain regards, though this one feels like a somewhat more divisive part of the game. Rather than having the massive, intricate character customisation of the last game, the archetype of each character in DQ4 is set in stone from the start and cannot be changed. I feel like your mileage with this decision will depend entirely on how much you love micromanaging to perfectly optimise and/or break things, but for me personally, I think this is a fantastic decision that is conducive to more strategic gameplay. A single support character is unable to cover all the options you need in this game, but the player can switch out party members at the start of each turn, which leads to a more dynamic combat experience that gives the player the option to minmax during battle without becoming overly slow-paced. The encounter design is often tailored around this mechanic as well, fully putting it to the forefront rather than just having it be a mostly useless but neat mechanic. If there are enemies that are physically resistant, then switch them out for the more magic-oriented characters, if the enemy has an extraordinarily powerful attack, then it might be worth exchanging a warrior for another support class to more effectively withstand the onslaught etc. While there are still some elements that feel a bit half-baked, especially with the way that there still doesn't feel like a fully consistent and effective way to mitigate magic attacks beyond grinding to become stronger, on the whole the gameplay loop just feels far more deep and engaging despite the fact that the party system has been mechanically simplified.

There are some other miscellaneous elements of the game that are worth talking about here as well, such as the way that the ending sequences of this game are yet again the most overwhelmingly great part of the game, or the fact that I do wish the dungeons were a bit more complex than they are here, but I feel like I'm already pushing it with how much I've said here so I'll just mostly leave it there. On the whole, Dragon Quest IV once again represents how a core gameplay loop that stays so consistent can still be utilised to craft such a wide range of experiences that are each worth the time spent exploring them. While not without its flaws inherent to the series, I still must say that Chapters of the Chosen is yet another absolute triumph in the Dragon Quest series and to think that this is a remake of an NES game that doesn't really change a ton beyond its presentation (and allowing the player to actually control all their party members) is mind-blowing given how ambitious and polished this would have been for the time. Undoubtedly worth playing and it's not too long or arduous either, so it's pretty approachable on top of being a wonderful time.