A playthrough of Nintendo's 2010 role-playing game for the Nintendo DS, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. This is the first part of a three-part playthrough, showing from the beginning up to the party's arrival at Alltrades Abbey. Part 2: Part 3: Some timestamps: Stornway 2:31:53 Zere 4:29:23 Coffinwell 6:22:54 The Observatory 7:49:52 Port Llaffan 8:33:09 From its humble beginnings on the Famicom/NES with Dragon Warrior ( to its big budget celebration of genre traditions with Dragon Quest VIII on the PlayStation 2, Enix's Dragon Quest series had always been defined by its perennial adherence to the JRPG design mold that it helped to establish back in 1986. But that all changed with the release of Dragon Quest IX. Though DQ8 had been a massive international hit, the creative minds behind the series decided to strike out in a new direction. DQ9 was the first numbered DQ game to be designed primarily for a handheld, the first to focus on multiplayer gameplay, and the first to allow players to create their own avatars. It was also originally intended to feature action-based gameplay, but when that choice was met with backlash from series' fans, a more traditional turn-based battle system was instead implemented. In Dragon Quest IX, you take on the role of a Celestrian - a guardian angel - who has been assigned as the protector of a small town named Angel Falls. The Celestrians earn "benevolessence" from the thankful prayers of the mortals they oversee. This benevolessence is offered to Yggdrasil, the world tree, in the hope that they'll be blessed with its fruit - fyggs - and thus be granted entry to God's kingdom. However, just as you're about to ascend, a huge attack scatters the fyggs and sends the (now mortal) hero plummeting to the world below. Adventure awaits! The main quest follows the hero as he does good deeds while searching the world for the lost fyggs, and ultimately, his salvation. It's standard DQ fare - you visit a town, beat up some monsters, solve the people's problems, move on to the next town, and repeat the cycle until you've conquered evil and saved the day. The thirty hour main quest serves as the foundation for DQ9's primary focus, the multiplayer-centered grotto quests. Grottos are randomly generated, level-based dungeons that can be discovered by completing certain tasks and by trading with other players, and they play host the game's biggest enemies and best equipment. I never had the chance to experience DQ9 as it was intended - I didn't live in a bustling city where everyone was carrying a DS around in their pocket - and since the game's servers went offline a long time ago, I had to settle for playing it as a single-player game. As a solitary experience, DQ9 is fine, I guess. It goes through the same motions as the earlier games in the series, but I couldn't help but to feel disappointed by it. The story feels like a bland, simplified retelling of Dragon Warrior VII's ( , your party members are silent and spend the entire game being spoken at by NPCs, and the campaign draws to a close before you really get the chance to dig into the class-changing mechanics. If you want to continue beyond the ending, all that's left is an endless grind to buff up characters and explore dungeons without any real end goal in mind. There's a ton of content, but most of it feels like padding. The presentation doesn’t add much to the appeal, either. It's impressive for a DS game, but the visuals are laughably rough and ugly considering that this is a sequel to one of the PlayStation 2's best-looking games and that it came out five years later. The music is likewise pretty disappointing. The synth quality is okay, but the tunes themselves are a stale and forgettable collection of rehashed tropes and motifs. I can recall the battle themes from DQ1-8 off the top of my head, but with DQ9, I draw a total blank. I can't say for sure whether or not it was my inability to play it online that soured me on Dragon Quest IX, but as much as it pains me to say this, I didn't like it. I loved DQ1-8 and 11, and while I managed to have some fun with DQ9, it often felt like an off-brand, hollow imitation of the older games. I know that it had a lot of fans, though. What did you guys think of it? (Please note that the intro FMV clip has been edited out for copyright reasons.) _____________ No cheats were used during the recording of this video. NintendoComplete ( punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
