Dragon Quest IV sure is a game...

 Dragon Quest IV was the last Dragon Quest released for the NES. It was released in February of 1990, eight days after I was born. Dragon Quest V came out two and half years later, which feels like a long time with how short the first four were. Regardless, this was the first of the Zenithian Trilogy, but it's the last that I played. The order doesn't really matter, though, so I don't feel like I lost anything. DQIV is also the first NES game I've ever played on the NES. I will keep in mind the release date for all this, so let's get into how I feel about DQIV!


What sucks:
The encounter rate is the absolute worse that I've ever experienced. There was a time that I traveled six squares, and I got into three fights. So many times, I had an encounter as I entered a room or dungeon. This discourages exploration. Every time I thought about looking down a hall, I was terrified of getting into 108 battles along the way just to pick up something that wouldn't be very good. It made the game painfully frustrating, and I hated playing the game. Obviously, I kept on trucking, abusing emulator cheats, but had I been playing this on a console, I'd have dropped it a week ago.


That's the only thing I believe to be outright terrible. But, there are some things that I'm iffy on.

Dragon Quest IV doesn't guide you like a lot of other games, nor does it have you walk around aimlessly, doing random nonsense.   I want to know exactly where I'm supposed to go, especially when I'm afraid to explore, but I understand why some players want to be free. It can make sense from a personal standpoint and a lore reason. Why would anyone know anything about this isolated town or dungeon? But I feel like, when the game did guide you, it did so in a questionable way. It's always a random NPC who told you a rumor, which seems strange. Why does a child know about a comedian on the otherside of the world? The cave went of Kyivs, the golden bracelet (which disappears in the second half), and Taloon's cave just came without a good explanation to me. What about the Staff of Magma or the Flute of Revealing? Did anyone mention the Small Medal King or the elf tree?

Is the music good or simply not terrible? I don't think I'm going to remember any melodies or even put any on that Spotify playlist. I'm not saying it's bad because it's not, but it's a bit bland. Nothing is out of place or hurts my ears (outside of the NES bit MIDIs), but it's ...very..."meh." This might be a good thing because Koichi Sugiyama was a terrible person, so he gets no props for his work here.

I know this was from 1990, but the characters don't feel important. There's no growth in any of them, and only Solo actually adds to the plot. Why were the other seven "chosen"? What's, actually, a bad thing is why was Naya (or Maya) so bad? She's not a good attacker, a terrible mage, and she dies in a stiff breeze? Her sister is great and can turn into a dragon, but what's her deal?

Despite that, I'm still glad I played Dragon Quest IV. And here's what's good about it.

It was made in 1990, and it's a very long game. I know it's propped up by garbage encounter rate, but the world of DQIV is going to take a while to get through. There are so many places to explore and visit. It has some mini games and underserved mechanics. The Small Medals were a good reason to look around, and I barely touched on the Pirate Village. And you wouldn't think I'd be down for then, but the cursed equipment was a fun thing to experience. DQIV was the first time cursed gear made its appearance, and it's a bit rough around the edges, but I'll take it.

I liked how different a lot of villages and castles felt. I know most of them are shallow and not worth revisiting, but the hard working King in his fields is a different place than the kingdom of women. The desert oasis is the exact opposite of Endor Castle and its underutilized collegium.

The characters feel just different enough in battle to make all of them useful, except for Naya, of course. Solo is clearly the best, but Bray has different spells than Maya. Our two physical attackers have different strengths and weaknesses from each other. Christo is a tanky healer, which you don't see in JRPGs too often. But, seriously, why is Naya here?

Dragon Quest IV is a very middling game. I still think DQV is better, but I'd rather play IV than VI. Out of all of the Xentihian Saga games, I would like to replay this one with the DS remake more than the others. I don't know if it gives characters more personality or growth, but it can't make anything worse. I also know there's a mini game to expand the world with Hector's Immigrant Town. At the very least, more colors and newer sprits will make our characters pop a lot more. Maybe I'll figure out which one is Maya and Naya? Either way, Dragon Quest IV isn't a bad game, but it sure ain't a good one.

My spreadsheet character rankings:
Solo is the only character higher than a five (she has a six).
The combined total is 3.25, the lowest of anything I've played and more than a point lower than DQVI.
Saro is the best character in the game as he got a seven.