Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies Review - Nintendo DS

After the long wait of 1 year of its Japan release the Dragon Quest IX made its debut in July 2010 in Europe and NA. There are several new things are included in this installment of Dragon Quest like, It is the first Dragon Quest title to be initially launched for a hand-held system and first in a series to support multiplayer gameplay. 

Story:

As game starts you are a Celestrian. Celestrian is blessed with wings who dwells high above the mortal realm. You have become the guardian of a village. Now it is duty of Celestrian to protech them from any harm and to out for their fragile charges and being responsive to fervent prayers while remaining invisible to human eyes.

The great earthquake causes Celestrian to thrown from home and strips his angel-like trappings. Having lost most of his Celestrian's powers, but not his memory or the ability to see deceased and magical spirits, he travels about trying to find a way back to the Observatory.

Characters Customization:

This not only allows you to design your own character hero, but also to the three companions who faithfully follow you throughout the game and we can exchange our player. All characters you create has the Dragon-ball flavor but your group will be define by its gear. You are free to choose different types of armors and other equipments such as leather boots, Fishnet stockings and high heels, T-shirts and jeans, boxers and briefs  etc. The secret of their success lies not in combat or in its gameplay, but his charisma. Unlike previous games, the player has more control over their characters appearance.

Gameplay:

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is the ninth installment in its series and remains faithful to its traditional approach as always: explore different towns, talk to as many characters appear along the way, go dungeons and level up by constant clashes with wild monsters. This time the enemies are not wild at random and automatically at every few steps, but are physically around us, which makes it easier to avoid them and as per our wish to escape from fighting.

It is presented in the combination of First and 3rd person view. As a main character you have to plan your attack from First Person perspective which includes selecting opponents to target and then switching up to 3rd person view to watch main character and monsters battle round. This fights includes the combo system which is there for both players and monsters.

Quest:

Now I should highlight the new quest system which made its debut in the Dragon Quest series. Basically it is several secondary objectives that the inhabitants of different regions of the game you are asked to adhere : to find an object, defeat a common enemy in a certain way and look for something etc. It is not related to the main story but surly adds depth and hours of play despite its optional.

Multiplayer:

For the first time in the series, Sentinels of the Starry Skies also allows multiplayer option to tackle missions together with other users wirelessly and to get hold of weapons and special items in an online store which is accessed via WiFi. The game allows players to have a cooperative wireless multiplayer experience with up to four players.

Graphics and Audio:

In terms of visual graphics Dragon Quest IX is surprising in quantity and quality both. Maps in the game are huge, with variety of details, enemies and regions. For audio part, the soundtrack follows the usual line in the saga: great compositions, casual and quality, but too repetitive, Which is shown especially during the battles or long trips on the world map. Still, some of the themes, classic and original have enough quality to compensate with this lack of variety.

Conclusion:

With no need to reinvent their significant innovation or gameplay, Dragon Quest continues to maintain its charm intact. A few new playable added, more than anything else an original epic story, filled with charismatic characters and touching moments, and a sense of humor are more than enough to make players to stick with their Nintendo DS for many hours continuously. An adventure with a classic aroma also improves as you go deep into it.

Pros:

• Wide gameplay world, provides many hours gameplay.
• Characters Customization
• Quest, optional dungeons, crafting to keep players busy.
• Multiplayer via Wifi up to 4 players.

Cons:

• Heavy accents steal focus from plot.
• Europe version doesn't have good menu system.
• Older players many don't like it.

Score: 8.0/10