Square-Enix have definitely done a good job modernizing Dragon Quest IV.
The storyline is split up into five different perspectives. You'll be able to play around with the hero for a short time during the prologue. This time, you are able to choose the gender of the main character, and like always, is unnamed. This green-haired Hero/Heroine has recently turned eighteen, and you find out that he/she is "The Chosen". The game will roll on to Chapter 1 after doing a few things around your home village. Chapter 1 revolves around Ragnar McRyan, a knight in a very manly pink armour. This captain of the Burland is trying to solve a mystery of disappearing children across the land. A tomboyish princess of Zamoksva that goes by the name of Alena stars in Chapter 2. After sneaking out of the castle, she is accompanied by Borya and Kiryl to explore the world. In Chapter 3, you take control of Torneko, who is on a quest of being the best merchant in the world. You start of by working at a weapon store, and then you look towards getting your own shop. Chapter 4 is based on two sisters. Meena, a fortune teller; and Maya, a dancer. Their father got killed by Balzack, an evil king. The two plan to avenge their father and defeat Balzack. You will finally be able to take control of the green-haired protagonist again in Chapter 5. Unfortunately while hiding, his/her village is burned down by Psaro the Manslayer, who is a main villain in Chapters of the Chosen. Eventually, these characters will join forces to stop Psaro. The Hero and his/her allies will come across many more key villains during the fourth "Dragon Quest".
The gameplay mechanics in Dragon Quest IV don't introduce anything new to the turn-based formula, but it's still as classic and addictive as ever. For those of you who aren't familiar to the gameplay mechanics of Dragon Quest, it's turn-based much like Final Fantasy. You will have allies that can use different abilities and have their advantages and disadvantages. Battles are always first-person, with the enemies on the bottom screen and faces and stats of the allies on the top. One thing that bothered me a bit was the frequent button pressing. Every time you go through a block of text during battles, you'd need to Press A to move on. You would find yourself mashing the button sometimes. Fortunately, my thumb never got sore, but the A mashing did get slightly annoying. Monsters lack variety during the beginning of the game, but that eventually increases later on. Of course there are the slimes that make all of us happy. I don't think I need to explain any more on the battle system. All I really need to say is that it's just as good and charming as usual.
There usually aren't a heap of bosses in Dragon Quest games, but hey! Quality over quantity, right? Bosses are usually pretty tricky, and it's vital to train to a certain level before even attempting to confront such beasts. The truth is, level-grinding is very common in RPGs, but Dragon Quest games especially. Sometimes, you'll even need to level-grind for foes in a certain cave or dungeon. Level-grinding however is a little less frequent than in other Dragon Quest titles. I noticed that the allies take less time to Level-Up than usual. Anyway, back to bosses. As I've already established, the bosses are usually pretty tricky. Their outrageous hit ratio and spells, and sometimes two moves per turn make it a rather unfair match. Fortunately, when all your allies die, the game isn't over. Instead, you are re-directed to the last church you stepped in and you will lose half your money. Therefore, your progress through a certain area won't have been lost.
Then there's the rest. You may find that Dragon Quest IV isn't that great for the first 8-10 hours of gameplay. This is about how long it takes to get into Chapter 5, when you can finally take control of the Hero again. Once you're into Chapter 5, you will respect the game a lot more. There's a lot more to explore, and it simply feels better. Once you get all the allies, you can build a proper party and explore more locations with confidence. There's less dying and frustration too. Exploring in the world of DQIV is fantastic. Until you get the ship, it's usually pretty straight forward on where to go or what to do. Once the ship is available, you get stumped more often, but the good news is that you can explore a lot more which will include level-grinding, "colouring in your map" and of course finding hidden treasures. Something that don't see every day in older RPGs is camera control. In towns and some other locations, a 360-degree camera is there to help you in your need to look for ways to go. It's not a very hard game. It's pretty tricky Pre-Chapter 5, but the difficulty starts decreasing once you progress through the game. But then again, it depends how much level-grinding you've been doing. As I mentioned earlier in this review, Level-Grinding isn't needed as much as in other DQ games. One thing I have never liked about the series is the save system. In other RPGs, you will be able to save out in the overworld, and you can find save spots before bosses or halfway through a dungeon. In DQ, the only save spots are churches, where you confess your work to the "Goddess". This can get a tad annoying, especially if you muck up in a dungeon. I doubt this will be changed anytime soon however, and I've gotten used to it. The hours of gameplay varies on what you do. The main story is roughly 30 hours, but side-quests can easily add on to that.
Side-quests are indeed present. You won't come across any until later on, but once you get there, they're pretty cool. One that is a good mention is the Mini-Medals. If you have played any other installment in the series, then you will most likely be familiar with these. You collect a certain amount and give them to the King of Medals and he'll give you a prize every time you give him a certain amount. Many more hidden side-quests can be discovered during the adventure. Sadly, no monster parties this time.
You might be disappointed when you find out that there is no touch-screen availability whatsoever. I thought there could've been some great ways to use it. It would have been pretty cool if there was the option of controlling your character with the stylus like you could in the remake of Final Fantasy III and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Another place where the touch screen would've been a great addition would be the battles. Despite this complete absence of the touch-screen feature, this does not minimise the greatness of DQIV.
Square-Enix have done very well to make the graphics of Dragon Quest IV "DS Material". They haven't improved very much from the PlayStation remake (after viewing screenshots), but they still look glamorous on the two screens, and have obviously improved A LOT from the NES original back from the Early 90's. They are mainly 2D, with some 3D background, therefore making it a "2.5D" game, which was actually very common for JRPGs back in the PS1/N64/Saturn era. How 2.5D works is as follows: Characters are usually drawn; these 2-dimensional characters would explore a 3-dimensional world. The overworld is an exception, which is fully 2D. Battle graphics are also 2.5D. Maybe a bit more detail for the characters would've been nice, and possibly some more times when you see the character portraits. Hopefully, this will be the case for the upcoming remakes of DQV and VI. Nevertheless, because I'm a huge sucker for 2.5D graphics, I have to say that Dragon Quest IV looks very nice, graphically.
Want me to be completely honest? I've never been much of a fan of the soundtrack in the DQ series. It isn't very memorable, and some of the songs are far too repetitive. I like it when songs I love are constantly repeated, but in Dragon Quest's case, no. If you've played a DQ game, then you will definitely recognise some of the jingles, such as the Main Theme, the menu, the resting, the saving, and a few more. Sound-effects are pretty cool, and they might also be familiar to you. There is no VA in the game whatsoever. I thought it would've been a nice addition to the remake, as I am quite a fan of the European voices in DQVIII. V and VI possibly?
Square-Enix have definitely done a good job modernizing Dragon Quest IV. It's also good to see that younger gamers can experience this NES classic now. It is a very addictive adventure, promising you 30 hours + of excellence. Best thing is, DQIV is just the tip of the iceberg. Dragon Quest V and VI will make their first appearances outside Japan in 2009, along with the upcoming Dragon Quest IX. There's a lot to look forward to, DQ-wise. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen may not remain my favourite in the series, but it's still a charming adventure worth picking up by any DS owner.