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Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies Review
An adventure that well exceeds the price of admission.
Written by Thomas Worthington, 26 July 2010
The term JRPG has long been associated with long-winded epics that boast hours of story bloated with mandatory grinding, complex battle systems and rewards that are few and far between. It should come as no surprise that Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies doesn't stray too far this rule of thumb.
Screenshots from Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry SkiesIn fact it's this stubbornness to stick to the RPG rulebook that has earned the Dragon Quest series such admiration and loyalty in its homeland. It was only a matter of time before one of the biggest selling RPG's and Nintendo's best-selling handheld would cross paths - a match made in heaven.
Screenshots from Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry SkiesBut shoehorning all that adventure in the DS's millimetre thin cartridge shouldn't be underestimated. There's hours upon hours of content ready to consume all the spare time you never knew you had.
The story, the backbone of any JRPG, is one of redemption. Your character, a Celestrian (an angelic figure) must perform good deeds in the form of a human to earn back the halo and wings you lost in an unfortunate event during the opening scenes of the game. This means travelling from town to town, discovering the woes and sorrows that plague each one and taking up the challenge of solving each problem whether or not the reward is beneficial to you.
More emotional however are the smaller parables, the tragedies that each new mission brings. A town wrought with disease, a figure of nobility driven mad by his desire for power, a school where everything isn't as it seems. These light-hearted fables are effective, poignant and bound to pluck gently at the heart-strings of gamers old and young.
Of course to experience these magical moments, you'll have to pay the price in man hours. Grinding your party, completing side quests and playing detective will make up the majority of your stay but it wouldn't be a JRPG if there wasn't a spot of dungeon crawling.
Navigating your way through linear paths with few puzzles to test your brain rather than pushing your brawn with random battles before taking on a boss that usually brings your quest to its conclusion.
Combat takes place on a turn-based battlefield, a little dated but the saying goes 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. It's a perfect fit for the pick-up-and-play style of play audience the Nintendo DS is accustomed to. There's a complex battle system should you choose to utilise all of its functions although with a party of four, it can be easier to simply rely on the attack button whilst the others work their magic.
After familiarising yourself with the battle system, you'll be able to create your own cast of party members built to match your needs. It's up to you if you want to control each character's actions or focus on your Celestrian whilst assigning other party members to heal or fight wisely. It speeds up random battles quite a treat but you may want to take the reins of your entire party during boss encounters.
If you haven't gathered this already, Sentinels of the Starry Skies is a by-the-book affair - it doesn't jump at the opportunity to introduce new ideas to both the series and genre but instead makes full use of the array of functions the Nintendo DS has to offer.
Having both screens at hand allow menus and cinematics to be separated between them. Taking a leaf out of Phantom Hourglass's book, you can control the entire adventure via stylus or traditional controls.
Use the stylus to drag your party in any direction, grab and drag new garbs onto your heroes in the equipment selection. The only problem you'll face is the small text which makes taping through menus more of a chore than it should be.
Overlooking the opportunities of Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, Dragon Quest IX opts for local co-op allowing three friends to join your adventure. It's not without its hold backs but should you find the right players, the concept of being able to enjoy the entire game in the company of friends rather than alone is appealing.
Shame that it should be limited to local play, no doubt something that has a stronger influence in Japan where finding team mates is easier than it is on the London Underground.
The same applies to a rather intriguingly but quite frankly worthless canvassing function which allows systems in sleep mode to communicate with other nearby system to exchange data.
Dragon Quest IX ticks all the boxes; an all-out RPG that is relentless in content and refreshing in story. Tack on the quantities of side quest and opportunities that local co-op multiplayer opens up and it's all a little much to take at once. It might not stray from the tried and true formula but instead proves its worth by doing what it does best, and boy does it do it well.
Score: 91%
