DRAGON WARRIOR 4

Dragon Warrior 4 is my second favorite NES game of all time. It's also my favorite of the DW series, and one of my favorite RPGs period. This is old school RPGing, and it seems that people who have gotten into RPGs because of games like FF7 or FF8 do not like this series. However, people who enjoyed some of the older RPGs or the more hardcore new ones (Suikoden, Persona, etc.), may enjoy this game, so I suggest they check it out.

This was the second DW game I got, a few months after it actually came out. At the time it was the greatest thing in the world to me. I was still stuck with my NES, as I hadn't gotten my Super Nintendo yet. This game made up for that. I played it everyday and eventually beat it, which I don't think was too bad for an 11 year old.

This game differs quite a bit from the preceding 3 in that it actually has a real story and the characters have some sort of background. The game itself is divided in five chapters. The first follows the story of Ragnar, a knight who is on a quest to save some kidnapped children; the second is about Alena and her adventures as she tries to enter a fighting tournament; third is the story of Taloon, a merchant, and his quest for fame and fortune; fourth is about two dancing sisters who follow a dream they have to meet a hero. All of these chapters connect to the fifth and final chapter. The character you create at the beginning of the game finally appears in this chapter, and he (she) is the main point of the whole game. The four previous chapters are kind of like background story for your main characters friends and how they are related, and this method is actually very cool. I wish more games did it.

Graphics: The graphics in this game really aren't too far ahead of DW3. They are no where as detailed as those in Final Fantasy, they are far more cartoony and colorful. To me this is not a bad thing, after all the two games have two totally different styles... but the simple graphics in this game seem to turn a lot of people off. If you've ever seen any other DW game you know what to expect.

Sound: This is the NES, so don't expect stuff that is going to blow you away. However, the songs are all very nicely composed and do the best they can on the system. The music in this game is, in my opinion, the best of the four NES Dragon Warrior games. The main themes present in the 3 previous games are here, as well as tons of new ones. There are quite a few memorable ones as well. The sounds effects... well, they are basically the same as in the very first Dragon Warrior, and that really isn't a great thing.

Control: It's an old ass RPG, it plays how it should. Some people do complain about having to go through menus to talk and use doors, but honestly its not a big deal.

Theme and Fun: I love this game. I've played through it several times, and its one of the few RPGs I still like long after I first got it. It's a very enjoyable game, and I find myself going back to it. While it is rather linear, there are some side things that can be done... although they are few and far between.

Replay Value: Well, I still play it. Really though, there really is no reason to play through it again unless you enjoyed it as much as I did. You most likely won't see anything new, other than items and such. This really depends on how much you enjoyed playing through it.

Challenge: I found this to be the easiest of the series... But then again I played it a lot more and really didn't realize it, because I thought it was so much more fun than the originals (DW3 comes close). It's harder than say, Final Fantasy 7, but its nowhere as difficult as the other DW games. I'd say its average on the difficulty scale.

Overall: If you know you like any other Dragon Warrior game get this now! If you like the original Final Fantasy, or any other old style or hardcore RPG (Xenogears, Persona, Suikoden, etc) get this as well. I really think you'd enjoy it. If you, however, live for games like FF7 then I think you may want to be cautious. If you think like Liquid4058 then you will probably find this game boring... but to me its a classic.