Finally the classic makes it to North America, and it only took Square Enix 17 years to do it.

User Rating: 8.5 | Dragon Quest V: Tenkuu no Hanayome DS
DQ5 is an RPG that first came out in Japan in 1992 on the SNES, back then we in North America never got to play it like we did for 1 thru 4 on the NES. It was released again in 2004 on the PS2 and I thought sweet, maybe will get it now. Nope, once again I was saddened by the lack of DQ games in NA. At the time I thought I would never get to play DW5 and 6, but then DQ4 and 5 (and hopefully 6) came out on the DS and I was both thrilled and a little bummed out. I am very happy that we get to finally play these games but then I learned they were coming out on a hand held system and not a console. Still after 39 hours I must say I enjoyed playing DQ5 and I am happy that they finally got released in NA.

Game Play:
Basically you play the main character just like in most RPG's, but in this game the fist part of the game you are just a child traveling around with your dad. Later on you are a young adult that gets married and has children. So this game spans three generations of your family. DQ5 plays like every other DQ game, you have an epic quest to fulfill and must battle your way through towers and caves to progress the story. The combat is standard turn based and the only major difference in this game from the others is that after you defeat some monsters they will ask if they can join you on your quest. If you say yes then you have a new party member that helps you out in combat. I didn't mind having monsters in my party but it was not really a big deal to me if the members are people or monsters, the novelty of it wore off quickly. Also the epic feeling to this game just wasn't there for me in this game or for DQ4, I think this is because the characters felt two dimensional and were not fleshed out enough for me to really feel for them. This is due to the game being 17 years old and the game did feel old and out dated, it also felt classic to me as well and the two were always clashing with one another.

Graphics:
They were good, I would rather have played this on the PS2 or Wii and had better graphics but I have no regrets playing it on the DS with its graphics. One thing I would like to say is, this is my first game played on the DSI and I enjoyed playing it on the bigger screen. However; I think the DSI still needs a bigger screen like about the size of the PSP's, that would be really good.

Sound:
The sound was awesome; every little tune fit the situation perfectly.

Value:
Square Enix likes to charge more for their games then is average and there really isn't any reason to play this game more then once. Also this is for me at least one of the shorter DQ games so the value for this game is lower then other games.

Overall this is a great game and you should play it, the negatives are far smaller then the positives. The game does show its age but the fun factor helps to erase most of that feelling. Mainly I am just happy I got to finally play this game.

Game Play: 9/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 10/10
Value: 7/10

Overall: 8.5/10