Introduction

Chances are, just seeing the words Dragon Quest tells you exactly what you're in for. Dragon Quest V: The Heavenly Bride was released in 1992 in Japan, and was the first game in the series to never get ported abroad as a Dragon Warrior game. Why not? Who knows! It was wildly popular in Japan, as Dragon Quest always is, but for whatever reason Enix decided that America just wasn't up to the hardcore RPG action. Or else they just couldn't be assed to translate it. We never got Final Fantasy V either, so maybe there was just a general embargo on good JRPGs that year.

DQV got a remake on the PS2 in 2004, and another on the DS in 2008. The DS version even got an English release! I'm not playing those versions. I'm sticking with the original; fan-translated into English. If you have played the DS version, most of the names are going to be unfamiliar. The official localization got carried away with renaming people.

Dragon Quest V doesn't really revolutionize the genre, not that any DQ game ever does. It does, however, play around with the formula in lots of interesting ways. Although it's a little clumsy about presenting it at times, I really enjoy the story; like DQIV, it plays around with the idea of the Destined Hero.

I could probably go on and on introducing this game, but fuck it, it's Dragon Quest. I'll cover the good stuff when it comes up.

How are we doing this, then?
Straight up SSLP style in here. Enix does try to be a little more cinematic than the earlier games, but there's still really isn't anything that cries out for video recording. I plan on getting in at least a couple updates a week, we'll see how long I can go before fucking that up.

Audience participation!
Yes, just not right away. There will be a number of pauses for goonmind decision-making, I'll explain more as they come up.

The Let's Play Archive

Dragon Quest V

by Tendales

Introduction

Table of Contents