While an enjoyable romp it takes slightly more then a visual and sound update to bring an 18 year old title into 2008.
The story to DQIV is typical of a game made over 18 years ago, that is to say pretty basic and overall instantly forgettable. The Lord of the underworld is reviving and his monsters are out to kill you as your character is the legendary hero / heroine (why? You just are) and everyone knows it at first glance (why? they just do) and it's your job to stop him.
At the start of DQIV you get to choose your gender before playing a brief prologue that essentially tells you the paragraph above. After that however it was about another 15 hours before you get to pay as the main character again, no i'm not joking. Similar to Wild Arms 3 and Suikoden 3 after it, Dragon Quest IV plays out different chapters with characters from their perspective before finally forming your main party, to show how they got to there so to speak. The problem with this is that it's 4 chapters with a surprising amount of dungeons and even when you get to play as the main heroine (in my case) you then have to go around the world map gathering them all up with little or no direction.
Which leads me straight onto my next gripe about DQIV, The game gives you few hints in some cases as to where to go next, and those that you get are often vague, almost cryptic. For example one time in the game *minor spoilers* I had to find a man to entertain a king and the only hint i got was: "I met a man in the town i last visited called Tom Foolery, I wonder where he is now" and that was it. It's a big world map to have to check every town, believe you me....*spoilers end*
While slogging through dungeons on your quest, obviously you will have to fight monsters and the like, this at least while old school is still a lot of fun. The bottom screen of the DS is used to show the enemy you are about to fight while the top screen shows each of the four party members you chose, their portrait as well as what action you have told the previous characters to take. It is a pretty simple game but challenging, you get to choose attack, magic, item or run away with all spells being preset per character gaining them when they reach the appropriate level. Like many old school RPG's if you get stuck, grind a while, there aren't many other options except for moving party members around, but at least this isn't that grind heavy for a game of it's age.
Like most RPG's as you beat monsters your characters gain experience which leads to level ups and improved stats, there are also seeds to be found a plenty that can be used on your characters for minor permanent stat boosts. In towns there are plenty of shops to buy and upgrade your equipment as well as buy medical supplies. To anyone who has played an RPG before it's a standard affair but also easy to pick up for new comers.
While the gameplay and story haven't changed, the graphics at least have and they are surprisingly good. The artwork is, like pretty much all DQ games done by Akira Toriyama of Dragonball fame with some great artwork and some bright colours to boot. While the character models and world map are all done in 2D, the towns are all done in full 3D and while it looks great there is occasional slow down when moving the camera around, but i literally only experienced this 3 times in the game, so overall i was certainly happy with the visuals.
The sound also fairs well, with updated music, all of which was suitable for each area, there is no voice acting in the game and pretty basic sound effects though these don't lessen the enjoyment any.
The game took me just over 40 hours to finish, however after you can save it and load that file for a hidden 6th chapter with more enemies, dungeons and bosses i never bothered to finish so it certainly is good value for money that's for certain.
All in all I had good fun with DQIV, however while the graphics and sound were updated it takes slightly more then that to make a near 20 year old game fully playable, more dialogue, character development and a clearer direction of your next objective would have made this update a real keeper. I still recommend it though.