Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

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Dragon Quest V
Cover of Dragon Quest V for Super Famicom
Developer(s) Chunsoft (SFC)
Artepiazza, Matrix Software[1](PS2)
Artepiazza (NDS)
Publisher(s) Enix Corporation (SFC)
Square Enix Co., Ltd. (PS2, NDS)
Series Dragon Quest
Platform(s) Super Famicom (SFC), PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS
Release date Super Famicom
JP September 27, 1992
PlayStation 2
JP March 25, 2004
Nintendo DS
JP July 17, 2008[2]
NA TBA
EU TBA
Genre(s) Console role-playing game
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s) CERO-A (PS2, NDS)
Media 16-megabit cartridge (SFC)
DVD (PS2)

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (ドラゴンクエストV 天空の花嫁 Doragon Kuesuto Faibu Tenkū no Hanayome?, lit. "Dragon Quest V: Bride of Heaven"), Dragon Quest: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride in Europe[3], is a console role-playing game and the fifth installment in the Dragon Quest video game series developed by Chunsoft and published by the Enix Corporation. It is the first Dragon Quest title to be released for the Nintendo Super Famicom (SFC) video game console. It was first released for the SFC in Japan on September 27, 1992, and has been remade as a PlayStation 2 game in 2004 in Japan, which was developed by Artepiazza and Matrix Software,[1] and published by Square Enix. Another remake for the Nintendo DS has been recently announced by Square Enix and is currently in development.[4] It is currently set for a July 17, 2008 release in Japan.[2] The remake will also see release in North America[5] and Europe[3], marking the first time the game will have an official release in either territory.

Along with Dragon Quest VI, the original Super Famicon release never reached North America. In the absence of an official translation, two finished fan translations exist for the Super Famicom version[6], and a fan translation of the PS2 version is in development.[7]

Dragon Quest V takes place over twenty years of the main character's life, in which he gets married and has a family. The title features an interesting gameplay dynamic in which monsters from random encounters may offer to join the player's party. This concept was used in later Dragon Quest games, and focused on exclusively in the Dragon Quest Monsters series. Catching monsters would also be later used in the Pokémon video game series.[8]

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

Dragon Quest V uses basic console role-playing game mechanics seen in the rest of the series, which includes leveling up by gaining experience points through battle, first person turn-based battles, and equipping weapons and armor. Something new to the Dragon Quest series is the ability to tame monsters into the player's party. The monsters can be used in battle and level-up like the human characters. Monsters sometimes request to join the Hero after battles if the party is strong enough. There are a total of forty monsters that are capable of joining the Hero's party in the Super Famicom version, with more in the remake.[9]

[edit] Story

[edit] Characters

Dragon Quest V for the Super Famicom was unofficially translated from Japanese into English by fans of the series.
Dragon Quest V for the Super Famicom was unofficially translated from Japanese into English by fans of the series.

The Hero (主人公) is, in the early chapters of the game, a six-year-old boy who travels all around the world along with his father, Papas. After the death of Papas, the Hero is a slave forced to undergo hard labor in the building of a great temple. Ten years after, he finally escapes there, and he starts journey to find his mother. Martha (マーサ Māsa) is the mother of the Hero, who is said to have died soon after the Hero was born. She came from Elhaven (エルヘブン Eruhebun) and hence kept power to tame monsters. The Hero's name from the manga is Abel.[9]

Papas (パパス Papasu) is the father of the Hero. Though he was once the king of Granbania (グランバニア Gurambania), he left his homeland to search for the Legendary Hero and his wife. His attendant, Sancho (サンチョ Sancho), usually stays in Santa Rosa (サンタローズ Santarōzu).

Bianca (ビアンカ Bianka) is a daughter of innkeepers of Alkapa (アルカパ Arukapa) and the childhood friend of the Hero.[9] After growing up, she moves to a mountainside village for recuperation of her father, and is one of the women whom the player can choose to marry the Hero.

Flora (フローラ Furōra) is a daughter of Ludman, who recently got back from a religious house. She is the second choice for becoming the Hero's bride.[9] Her father, Ludman (ルドマン Rudoman) is a wealthy man living in Salabona (サラボナ Sarabona). He seeks his daughter's bridegroom, but will only accept a man who is able to pass his trial. Andy (アンディ Andi) a friend of Flora's, also desires to marry her.

[edit] Plot

Dragon Quest V begins with a brief scene of the Hero's birth in which the player gives the Hero a name. After that scene, the Hero finds himself in a room onboard a ship with his father, Papas. After the ship stops at Vista Port (ビスタ Bisuta), they leave the ship for Santa Rosa, where Papas's friend Sancho lives. Upon arrival, the Hero meets Bianca. After exploring the cave behind Santa Rosa, he and Papas accompany Bianca to her town Alkapa. Upon arrival at that town, Bianca and the Hero explore the haunted castle Lenoire (レヌール Renūru), where they obtain a mysterious Golden Orb. Afterwards Papas and the Hero return to Santa Rosa, along with a pet tiger named Borongo (ボロンゴ Borongo), a monster that was saved from bullying by the Hero and Bianca.

The next day, the Hero notices a man in the town who looks very similar to him. That man asks the Hero to show him the Golden Orb and, after returning it, asks him to take care of his father Papas. Elsewhere in town, he finds the spirit of Bella, who asks him to return with her to her country, the snow-covered land of Faerie. Upon arriving there, the two defeat the Queen of Ice to allow Spring to return to the land. After accomplishing this feat, the Hero, Papas, and Borongo travel to the eastern kingdom of Reinhart (ラインハット Rainhatto), where the Hero befriends Prince Henry (ヘンリー Henrī). However, Henry is kidnapped, forcing the Hero and Papa to rescue him. Once the Hero finds Henry in a nearby hideout, they are attacked by a duo of powerful monsters, which Papas defeats, but then a third entity appears and threatens the Hero's life, forcing Papas to surrender. In the process, Papas is killed by powerful monsters, the Golden Orb is destroyed, and the Hero and Henry are sold into slavery.

Walking around a town.
Walking around a town.

The story continues ten years later, and the player finds that the Hero and Henry have grown up working on a giant temple. They get into a scuffle with the guards after seeing a girl named Maria (マリア Maria) being whipped; the three of them are released from the temple and sent drifting to convent near the casino town of Oracleberry (オラクルベリー Orakuruberī) by Maria's brother. Here the Hero and Henry discover that Santa Rosa has been destroyed by the armies of the Queen of Reinhart, who has been acting as regent for Henry's brother Dale. Upon paying a visit to his homeland, Henry discovers that his mother has been replaced by a monster. After unmasking the fake queen using the mirror of Ra and defeating the monster, Henry and Maria marry and become advisors to the king.

Afterward, the Hero will travel to the western continent, where he will meet up with Borongo once more, and travel to the town of Salabona, where the wealthy nobleman Ludman and his daughter Flora live. He sends the hero on a quest to retrieve two magic rings of fire and water as a test of his worthiness as a suitor for Flora. The Hero is able to accomplish this task only with the aid of Bianca, who he meets in a nearby village. Afterwards, Ludman offers the Hero the chance to marry Flora, but it is also possible for him to marry Bianca instead.

After the marriage, the Hero takes his bride through a great mountain path that leads to his homeland of Granbania. Upon their arrival, Sancho is shocked to see the Hero and Bianca (or Flora), and immediately takes them to see the current King of Granbania--Ojiron, younger brother of Papas. The Hero must undergo a Royal trial before he can assume the throne, while his pregnant wife rests. During the coronation celebration, the Hero's wife is kidnapped, but the newly born twins are safely hidden.

The Hero rushes to save his wife, but upon defeating the powerful monsters who kidnapped her, both the Hero and his bride are cursed and turned into stone; they remain this way for eight long years.

The Hero is found by his two children and Sancho in the garden of a wealthy man's estate, and is revived and taken back to Granbania castle. They still have not found Bianca (or Flora), but they have a lead on the whereabouts of the Hero's mother: she was from the town of Elhaven on the continent north of Granbania. The Hero goes there, finds more information, and procures a magic carpet. Travelling the world to collect the legendary "Heavenly" or "Celestial" armaments for the Legendary Hero, it is discovered that the Hero's son is indeed the Legendary Hero sought by Papas almost twenty years ago.

During this stage of the journey, the Hero avenges Papas by killing Gema (ゲマ Gema), and restores the Dragon God, as well as his flying castle, to their proper homes in the sky. To accomplish this, the Hero has to enter a time warp to retrieve the Golden Orb from his child self. The Hero, older and wiser, attempts to talk Papas out of going to Reinhart to his demise, but Papas does not heed the warning.

After returning to the temple the Hero helped build as a slave, the Celestial armor is found, as well as the statue of his wife. After the final source of evil is eradicated from the world, the party is told that Martha remains in the Demon World, and that the final source of evil, Mildrath (ミルドラース Mirudorāsu), is lying in wait for the Legendary Hero. The Hero, his wife, and their children agree not to leave Martha in the demon world, so together they travel there via a portal near Elhaven, and reach the Evil Mountain.

Martha is found inside, but dies shortly after meeting the Hero and his family. The party continues on to confront and destroy the lord of evil, Mildrath. They return to Granbania, and have a joyful party. As the family celebrates, Papas and Martha watch their son and his family from the heavens, happy and content with their progeny.

After beating the game, players can gain access to the bonus dungeon. Dragon Quest V was the first Dragon Quest game to have a bonus dungeon (although the remakes of Dragon Quest III and IV added bonus dungeons later).

[edit] Setting

Dragon Quest V is set years after the Celestial Hero defeated Necrosaro on its previous installment, Dragon Quest IV. The game starts at Vista Port, with the Hero leaving to go to Santa Rosa. Like all other Dragon Quest games, this one takes place in a medieval world, with no real modern technology, such as cars or electricity.[8] Characters fight with swords, clubs, and magic instead of guns or other weapons.

The quest takes the Hero and his party to many exotic locations, such as a fairy village, a mansion made of ice, several caves, and a volcano. The party eventually makes its way to Zenithia, which is a castle in each game of the Zenithia trilogy. Like a few other Dragon Quest games, the final enemies reside in a dark world, separate from the main map.

[edit] Development

[edit] Production

As with the other main games in the Dragon Quest series, Dragon Quest V's scenario was designed by Yuuji Horii,[10] whereas the artwork was done by Akira Toriyama, of Dragon Ball fame.[11] Koichi Sugiyama composed all the music for Dragon Quest V.[12] This game was never officially released in America, Enix having given up on bringing RPG's there for the time being.[9]

[edit] PS2 remake

PS2 cover
PS2 cover

Square Enix released a PlayStation 2 enhanced remake of Dragon Quest V on March 25, 2004, with first day sales of 722,000.[13] As of April 2004, the game has sold over 1.5 million copies making it the top selling Dragon Quest remake game of all-time, and is available in Japan as a Square Enix Ultimate Hits title. The remake was developed by former Dragon Quest VII art directors, Artepiazza. It features 3D graphics that are similar to Dragon Quest VII, but it utilizes the extra PlayStation 2 graphical capabilities. The Hero and his companions have to fight more monsters in the PlayStation 2 remake than they did in the Super Famicom original, but the character limit on the party has been increased from three to four. Also, there were only 40 monsters available to the player's party in the Super Famicom version of Dragon Quest V due to ROM limitations. The PlayStation 2 remake, however, does not suffer from this restriction. The music is performed by the NHK Symphony.

Another new feature in the remake is the "Yuuji's Speciality Museum," where the player has to collect local specialties from all around the world, return the items back to a character named "Yuuji," and receive rewards for them. The Dragon Quest V remake is the third Dragon Quest release in the Square Enix name (after Kenshin Dragon Quest and Slime Morimori Dragon Quest). Lastly, a Dragon Quest VIII preview video disc is included in the Japanese release of Dragon Quest V remake.[14]

The PS2 version features updated graphics.
The PS2 version features updated graphics.

A fan translation of the PS2 version is currently being worked on by Kojiro Translations.[15]

[edit] DS remake

A Dragon Quest V remake for the Nintendo DS was announced in late 2007 by Square Enix and is currently in development by ArtePiazza.[4] The game uses the same engine as the DS remake of Dragon Quest IV.[9]

On April 23, 2008, it was reported that Square Enix has applied for the trademark "Hand of the Heavenly Bride" at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.[16] It was confirmed to be in reference to Dragon Quest V by a listing from Nintendo of third-party titles for Nintendo platforms.[17] On May 20, 2008, Square Enix opened up the North American site featuring the three Dragon Quest DS remakes, acknowledging the game will see a release in North America.[18] On the following day, Square Enix sent out a press release saying that the game will be released in Europe under the name Dragon Quest: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride.[3]

[edit] Reception

Like the other games in the series, Dragon Quest V was very popular in Japan.In 2006, the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu had readers vote on the top one hundred games of all time, Dragon Quest V coming in at 11 and the PS2 remake at number 40.[19] In particular, the way the story is divided by different periods of time has been praised, something that has not appeared in many video games.[9] Dragon Quest V has also been acknowledged as Yuji Horii's favourite in the series.[9]

[edit] Soundtrack

As with every Dragon Quest, Koichi Sugiyama composed the music and directed all the associated spinoffs. A compilation of Dragon Quest V's music was put on the album Dragon Quest V ~Bride of the Heavens~ Symphonic Suite, was released in 1992 and then again in 2000. The first version features an extra disc with the original soundtrack as well as the symphonic one.[20] Here is the tracklisting of the Symphonic Suite:

The cover of the soundtrack
The cover of the soundtrack
  1. Overture (1:59)
  2. Castle Trumpeter (2:21)
  3. Melody in an Ancient Town ~ Toward the Horizon ~ Casino ~ Lively Town ~ Melody in an Ancient Town (7:50)
  4. Magic Carpet ~ The Ocean (7:39)
  5. Melody of Love (3:00)
  6. Monsters in the Dungeon ~ Tower of Death ~ Dark World ~ Monsters in the Dungeon (6:20)
  7. Violent Enemies ~ Almighty Boss Devil Is Challenged (5:44)
  8. Noble Requiem ~ Saint (5:53)
  9. Satan (4:52)
  10. Heaven (2:57)
  11. Bridal Waltz (3:39)

[edit] Manga

Dragon Quest Tenkuu Monogatari (Tale of the Air) is a two volume manga series based on Dragon Quest V by Chino Yukimiya, which ran in 1997, and again in 2001.[21] The story follows Sora and Ten, the two children from Dragon Quest V.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Dragon Quest V for the PS2 (2004). Retrieved on August 28, 2007.
  2. ^ a b 『ドラゴンクエストV 天空の花嫁』が2008年7月17日に発売決定！. Famitsu.com (2008). Retrieved on April 15, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c EXPERIENCE DRAGON QUEST IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND ZENITHIA TRILOGY ANNOUNCED FOR EUROPE. MCV (21/5/2008).
  4. ^ a b Kurt Kalata (2007). Dragon Quest 4 to 6. Retrieved on Aug 28, 2007.
  5. ^ Joe Keiser (2008-05-21). Square Enix Brings Dragon Quest DS West. Next Generation. Retrieved on May 21, 2008.
  6. ^ ROMHack Search (2007). Retrieved on Aug 29, 2007.
  7. ^ Kojiro Translations -- Home (2007). Retrieved on May 16, 2008.
  8. ^ a b Dragon Warrior/ Dragon Quest (2006). Retrieved on Jan 29, 2008.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurt Kalata (2007). Dragon Quest V. Retrieved on Jan 29, 2008.
  10. ^ Dragon Quest V at IMBD (2007). Retrieved on August 29, 2007.
  11. ^ Akira Toriyama at IMBD (2007). Retrieved on August 29, 2007.
  12. ^ Koichi Sugiyama at IMBD (2007). Retrieved on August 29, 2007.
  13. ^ Rob Parton (2004). Japandemonium. Retrieved on August 28, 2007.
  14. ^ Hirohiko Niizumi (2004). Dragon Quest V to Have DQ VIII Trailer. Retrieved on August 30, 2007.
  15. ^ Dragon Quest Translations (2007). Retrieved on August 29, 2007.
  16. ^ Latest Status Info
  17. ^ http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2008/080425e.pdf
  18. ^ Square Enix (2008). DRAGON QUEST. Retrieved on May 20, 2008.
  19. ^ Colin Campbell (2006). Japan Votes on All Time Top 100. Retrieved on August 31, 2007.
  20. ^ Patrick Gann (2006). Dragon Quest V soundtrack. Retrieved on August 28, 2007.
  21. ^ Dragon Quest Manga (2003). Retrieved on August 29, 2007.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Dragon Quest and Dragon Warrior video games
Main series
I • II • III • IV: Chapters of the Chosen • V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride • VI: Realms of Reverie • VII • VIII: Journey of the Cursed King • IX
Monsters
1 • 2 • 1+2 • Caravan Heart • Joker
Slime MoriMori
Fushigi no Dungeon
Other
Languages