With Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, Square Enix and Level-5 have delivered what is without doubt one of the most stunning RPG experiences not only on the Nintendo DS, but in existence, full stop.
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky is absolutely packed with content. Despite the lack of an unique plot and defined characters, fans of the genre will be pleased with such a polished gameplay. The visuals are brilliant and cheerful, probably one of Level 5's best efforts on Nintendo DS. Without any doubt the best RPG of this summer and on the system itself.
I've played over 100 games on the Nintendo ds/ 3ds and around 50 more on other platforms (Switch, Steamdeck & PS4) and I can still say that this is my favorite game of all time.
Yes, I will admit, nostalgia is playing a role in this, but let me tell you: considering this game's release year and platform, this is the best experience you could've ever possibly gotten- and here's why:
(once again, I have to stress this was a ds game over a decade ago, which makes all of this very special);
- you have character customization. It's already a shame you can't pick between genders in the vast majority of games and DQ games in general, but here they just gave you the opportunity to customize you height, hair style, skin & eye color, eye shape...
- also, your armor will actually appear on your character and party
- there are plenty of fighting classes, and a whole building system for you and your whole party. You can keep abilities from your chosen classes and thereby customize your strengths and playing style!
- the story and exploration factor is HUGE. You can easily spend a minimum of 20-40 hours on the main story and have fun exploring all these wonderfully designed different cities, areas and dungeons. the world is also very colorful (something I love about DQ games in general) and despite taking a 3d instead of pixel approach, everything looks really nice!
- if the main story is over, you still have plenty of quests and dungeons to continue with your game!
- the music is ABSOLUTELY beautiful. Played and recorded by a live orchestra, there is not a single game where the music has taken such an emotional and impressive effect on me. Seriously, the soundtrack is just absolutely amazing and varied
- there is a whole alchemy (= crafting) system where you can further improve your attributes with, and the armor etc. have great designs
There is probably so much more I can say about this game, but I think those are the most important aspects. Over the course of a decade I've put around 400hours in this game and it will forever have a special place in my heart. As most likely no one will read a review about a 13year old ds game, regardless, this is my way of saying thank you to the people responsible for creating this game and big part of my childhood. (*´˘`*)♡
Dragon Quest IX is packed with loads of content, and customization you can simply waste hours on this game without realizing it! The soundtrack maybe nonexistent and the story isn’t award winning. But DQIX easily crawled its way into my heart as one of the best RPGs I have ever played!
An epic return for the series that once launched on a Nintendo console, we welcome Dragon Quest back with open arms and embrace it for the being the brilliant title that it is.
Even without any hope of using the multiplayer, Dragon Quest IX is so upbeat, goofy, and, well, pleasant that I can only smile. It's the kind of game you can play as a vacation from other games.
A well-crafted game. It has plenty of polish, an absolute ton of things to see and do, and plenty of spot-on references to past games in the series (the combat text is still the best in the business).
It's clunky and frustrating and (occasionally) dull, but it's also solid and addictive and (occasionally) beautiful. Like I said: a game of glaring contradictions.
This is the game that introduced me to Dragon Quest. It can be unforgiving at times, owing to some of its dated mechanics, but if you're willing to put up with that, you'll find that DQIX is shockingly addictive. On top of the main story, there's a massive amount of postgame content you can tackle... but it was unlocked via Nintendo WFC despite being on the card. There are ways around that, though.
The latest entrant in the series was developed specifically for the DS and so has the hugely upgraded presentation you'd expect but sacrifices the quirky humour and sense of fun of the earlier games. A very attractive and playable RPG but I personally prefer the old school SNES reinventions for that reason.
It starts off great - great music, great quirky feel, great somewhat original story idea, great party creation. But it slowly degenerates into a grind. Quests are ridiculously time-consuming for modest rewards and leveling up is slow before long.
I'm still giving it a 7 because I got almost 20 hours before the grind killed all the fun.
SummaryDeveloped by Level 5 (the developers of "Dragon Quest VIII," "Dark Cloud" and "Rogue Galaxy") Dragon Quest IX unites the key components that made the previous Dragon Quest titles such as success. Horii and Sugiyama are on board to provide their talents as DQIX takes the series in a decidedly different direction. For the first time, the D...