Want
to play a decent RPG that won't rule your life? Try this one for size.
The Dragon Quest series has been around for over 20 years but, even though it's
the biggest RPG series in Japan, it has never really caught on over in the West
with other series like Final Fantasy and Pokémon taking centre stage. But with
Dragon Quest 9 on the DS getting some well-deserved praise, love for the series
has seen a steady growth. With new gamers discovering the series, a host of
introduction side games have been released to make us ignorant folk aware of
Dragon Quest. The game I picked up is Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen
& The Tower Of Mirrors for the Wii. Everything about this game is
quick and simple and is a perfect start to anyone new to the Dragon Quest
series like myself.
The
premise first off is pretty straight forward, you just turned 16 and the Queen
of the town has been possessed by an evil mask. She has in a result of this
resurrected the evil force of the land Xiphos and it's your job to defeat him.
A 16 year old kid to save the world, even though they have adult soldiers they
send a kid to do the job... Oh well. The story is basic but that's ok because
the game knows what it is so a lot of thought doesn't need to go in making an
impressive story line. What sets this game apart is the short chapters, the
guided levels and the quick combats mode.
There
are only 8 chapters to complete which should only take you on average around 25
minutes to complete each one. This RPG, strangely is in the First Person. This
makes the chapters very simple because you can only move forwards rather
than having free roaming and the battles are not randomly generated like other RPGs but
instead come along when you proceed forward in certain areas. The level
progression is quick as well so there is little need for grinding. The
main reason though as to why the game is quick is the battle screen. Instead of
a turn based battle screen, all you need to do is attack and defend using
the Wii remote. If you press A, you can lock on to an opponent
and moving the Wii Remote from side to side acts as the attack. If
you press B, you draw your shield to defend attacks and you have allies in
the game which will give you status magic upgrades and health. The attacking
segment is fairly easy to master as the Wii Remote is responsive
most of the time and using your shied is very effective. Each level has a boss
at the end and are challenging to a certain extent. The final boss on
the other hand is the real McCoy and you need to be on your A game to
beat him.
As
with every other RPG, you need to interact with the towns folk for
guidance in what you need to do to complete missions and
given advice on what items to get and merge with. The item
shop is by far the strangest place to visit as the item shop as the
old lady you talk to keeps calling you lover?! Again, you're 16, what kind of paedo world
where the kids rule over the adults is this? There are a few mini games in the
town to enjoy as well as a prize draw with a tombola event to take
part in where you can win prizes for your adventure.
All
in all, this game shouldn't last you longer than 7 hours. I did a bit of
grinding to afford the best armour available to make the final boss a little
less intense. There are a few side quests at the end of the game to enjoy but
those aren't too long as well. It's a well-rounded JRPG that
shouldn't take much of your time.
It’s
not going to win any awards anytime soon but it is certainly a quality title
for what it is an introductory title to the series. So if you want to know what
all the fuss is about regarding Dragon Quest or you want to take on a RPG that
won't rule your life, then definitely pick this title up and try it out. Just
make sure you take a few breaks between levels otherwise your arm will no doubt
be feeling the strain.
No comments:
Post a Comment