Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

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Dragon Quest IV (ドラゴンクエストIV 導かれし者たち Doragon Kuesuto Fō Michibikareshi Monotachi, literally meaning; The People Who Are Shown the Way) is a role-playing game and the fourth installment of the Dragon Quest video game series. The game was originally released for the NES and earned acclaim for pioneering the advancement of artificial intelligence in the video game industry. It begins the Tenkuu (Celestial) trilogy, known better as the Zenithia trilogy in English.

It was originally released for the Famicom on February 11, 1990 in Japan. The North American version, titled Dragon Warrior IV, was released for the NES in October 1992.

Setting[edit]

Dragon Quest IV is the first of the series to not be related to the lineage of Erdrick--the game is the first of a new trilogy revolving around the legend of a castle in the sky that watches over the world below. The world map is of a comparable size to that of III, but has no direct parallels to the real world in regards to the shape of the continents and nature of the kingdoms.

Plot[edit]

The story in IV is a more character-focused tale centered around the lives of the chosen ones prior to and during their quest to prevent the resurrection of the ruler of evil, Estark. The first four chapters of the story are about the hero's companions and their own challenges and hardships. While they each travel with their own goals and dreams in mind, they all eventually discover the conspiracy of Psaro the Manslayer to drive the human race to extinction via Estark's hellish power.

Prologue[edit]

The characters of Dragon Quest IV. From left to right: Kiryl, Ragnar, Alena, the Hero (female and male), Borya, Maya Mahabala, Meena Mahabala, and Torneko Taloon.
Main article: Prologue

Introduces The Hero and his/her friend Eliza. This portion of the story was introduced in the PlayStation version, and became standard in later remakes.

Chapter 1: Ragnar McRyan and the Case of the Missing Children[edit]

Main article: Chapter 1

Ragnar McRyan, one of the soldiers in the royal palace of Burland, is sent by the king on a journey to find out why children are disappearing across the kingdom.

Chapter 2: Alena and the Journey to the Tourney[edit]

Main article: Chapter 2

Alena, princess (Tsarevna in the Nintendo DS localization) of Zamoksva, who slips out of the castle in hopes of seeing the world that exists beyond the castle walls. She is accompanied by the priest Kiryl and the mage Borya.

Chapter 3: Torneko and the Extravagant Excavation[edit]

Main article: Chapter 3

Torneko Taloon lives in Lakanaba with his wife and son, and works part-time in the local weapon shop. He aims to become the best merchant in the world, and begins his chapter in search of a regional treasure that could help him accomplish his goal.

Chapter 4: Meena and Maya and the Mahabala Mystery[edit]

Main article: Chapter 4

Maya Mahabala the dancer and her younger sister Meena Mahabala, the fortune teller, have left Laissez Fayre in search of vengeance against Balzack, their father's traitorous apprentice.

Chapter 5: The Chosen[edit]

Main article: Chapter 5

The Hero has been brought up by the inhabitants of a remote and nameless mountain village. But Psaro and his legions destroy the village, leaving only the hidden hero alive. The hero leaves in search of his seven companions, in the hopes of defeating Psaro and saving the world.

Chapter 6[edit]

Main article: Chapter 6

Chapter 6 is a post-epilogue continuation of the game's storyline. Originally appearing in the PlayStation remake of Dragon Quest IV, Chapter 6 offers a lengthy bonus dungeon, and the culmination of certain plot points that were left ambiguous in the original release.

New features[edit]

Artificial intelligence[edit]

In Chapter 5, party members beside the Hero are no longer directly controlled, their behavior instead being dictated by options in the Tactics menu (Normal, Defensive, Offensive, Save MP, Use No MP, Try Out). The ensuing actions are controlled by an intricate artificial intelligence system, which takes up a significant amount of the game's memory. The other chapters, except Chapter 2, also contain computer-controlled party members that act alongside the player in battle.

Party expansion[edit]

  • Every chapter save the second includes a non-chosen party member who will assist the group temporarily during their travels together. Each is tied to a story element of the chapter and reflect that section of the story's tone.
  • A Wagon was implemented to transport up to eight party members at the same time, allowing for battle configurations to be rearranged to suit any encounter at will. Certain dungeons will not allow the wagon to enter the area, however.

Collectibles[edit]

As the Erdrick trilogy revolved around amassing several artifacts to advance a game's progress, IV introduced collectibles to maintain the same sense of accomplishment while playing a more linear narrative.

  • Mini medals are scattered throughout the world for the player to gather at their leisure, which can be exchanged for incredible equipment at the palace of the Medal King.
  • Items are now hidden in drawers, cabinets, and urns in addition to chests. Contents range from stat boosting seeds to common item and small sums of gold.

Casino[edit]

Building upon the gambling featured in the monster arenas of III, the fourth game allows players to explore a large casino in the city of Endor. Redeemable tokens can be won at slot machines, poker, and monster betting, which can be spent on exclusive items and equipment.

Sequel connectivity[edit]

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride has some references to Dragon Quest IV, but is mostly an independent story that does not heavily rely on the previous entry. The adventure of the chosen is known only by a scant few individuals, which further separates the Zenithia trilogy from the Erdrick saga's heavy focus on in-game history and family lineage.


Remakes and ports[edit]

Dragon Quest IV was remade for the Sony PlayStation on November 22, 2001 in Japan. It was developed by Heartbeat and published by Enix. The remake was developed using Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past 's 3D graphics engine. With this remake came new features; among them were a new chapter, a new character, a boom town reminiscent of VII's, an inter-party talk command similar to Dragon Quest VII, and the ability to turn off the artificial intelligence for party members. The Enix of America Corporation originally planned to bring the remake to North America in 2002, but it was later cancelled due to Heartbeat closing its video game development operations.

Exploring the world in the DS version of Dragon Quest IV

On November 22, 2007, this PlayStation remake was ported to the Nintendo DS. No significant changes were made to the game's story, gameplay, or bonus features, aside from modifying the boom town's immigration aspects to reflect the lack of memory cards in the DS hardware and the calculation method for Alena's Critical Hits. The Fungeon (bonus dungeon) changed it's layout to random locations for each floor, whereas the PlayStation version was a mix of previous areas from the game and from Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past. This portable version was released internationally in September of 2008, but without the party chat feature. This was due to Square Enix's uncertainty regarding the reception of the title, and the budget to translate the two-thirds of the script that the chat contained was slashed. However, the international release performed well and the budget for localization was expanded to allow the feature to be retained in V and VI.

  • The Nintendo DS remake uses nearly the same style as the PS1 version, with some minor compression to account for the handheld's screen size.
  • The Pioneer Town lacks the variants of the PS1 version due to replacing recruitable NPCs with ones that can be found after a certain point in game (see the article for more details).
  • The floors of the Fungeon are made up of new designs rather than from previous areas in the game, as well as Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past.
  • The DS uses 2 separate screens in the game, the top screen displaying the map and the heroes' battle information.
  • Religious references that were removed from the NES version are now included in the game.
  • Name changes to Weapons, Armour, items.
  • Alena's Critical Hit formula was changed from level/256 to (level(0.75))/256, rendering her maximum chance at level 64 to be 19%.

On April 7, 2014, the PlayStation remake was ported to iOS and Android compatible devices. This version features significantly sharper graphics than before, as well as a fully orchestrated soundtrack. No significant gameplay changes were made aside from yet another tweaking of the Tsarevna's Critical Hit formula, and a slight change adding a detour in the boom town development. The bonus dungeon layout from the DS port was retained. This version was released world wide on August 7, 2014, and most importantly restored the long-lost party chat to much critical acclaim.

  • The Android and iOS uses touch screen features and the game uses a portrait screen setting instead of the landscape screen.
  • Zoom and Evac's MP cost have been reduced to 1 MP each.
  • The Pioneer Town's upgrade requirements have been slightly tweaked, requiring more townsfolk to be recruited per stage of development.
  • Alena's Critical Hit formula cap has been raised to 87, restoring the 25% chance from the NES and PSX versions.

Soundtrack[edit]

Splash art of the cast as they appear in Monster Battle Road Victory

Kōichi Sugiyama composed the music and directed all the associated spin-offs. This is the track listing of the Symphonic Suite:

  1. Overture (1:55)
  2. Minuet (3:07)
  3. Comrades (10:28)
  4. In a Town (8:16)
  5. Homeland ~ Wagon Wheels' March (5:58)
  6. Frightening Dungeons ~ Cursed Towers (5:19)
  7. Elegy ~ Mysterious Shrine (5:03)
  8. Balloon's Flight (4:32)
  9. Sea Breeze (4:31)
  10. The Unknown Castle (4:37)
  11. Battle for the Glory (7:51)
  12. The End (5:12)

Development[edit]

As the Erdrick trilogy had reached a definite conclusion with the twist ending of Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation, Yuji Horii decided that Dragon Quest IV would begin a new story unconnected to the previous games, musing that it could be the start of a new trilogy[1]. Development on the title began in February of 1988, followed by a tour of Spanish castles to get into the proper mindset for crafting a fantasy world.

IV's development began with the intent of exploring artificial intelligence, which was a growing trend in Japan at the time. Meetings on the topic were held from February—June 1988[2], in which the team also reflected on player feedback from III. As a result, the gameplay flow was streamlined, with changes including a simplified Command Menu and the return of the door-opening command, changed to automatically select the highest-tier key for the player[3]. The save points were also moved from castles to churches placed close to town entrances; because the kings and queens of each region no longer saved games, the developers were able to flesh out those characters' personalities[4].

The party's artificial intelligence system, written by series veteran Manabu Yamana with an emphasis on player convenience, took approximately a year to be fully implemented. Because Horii considered it tedious to switch characters in and out of the wagon to learn monsters' weaknesses, Yamana programmed the AI so that any battle information would be automatically passed to every party member, which pleased Horii, as he considered it immersive to imagine the party members sharing advice among each other[5]. This emphasis on convenience also allowed party members in the wagon to obtain the same amounts of experience as the active characters[6]. The AI feature in the final chapter was deliberately not implemented for the protagonists in the first four to allow the players to empathize with the characters as they controlled them, and to keep players from being bored by not having any influence during battle[7].

The game's storyline, with self-contained chapters leading up to a greater finale, came about because Horii did not want to overwhelm players with a single long campaign that was twice as long as Dragon Quest III's. He also wanted to examine the lives of the Hero's companions before they joined forces, a deliberate contrast to the blank slates created at Patty's Party Planning Place in III[8].

The chapter structure was also intended to ease players into the structure of a Dragon Quest game and the AI system[9], as Horii believed the systems had evolved too fast between the previous games. Due to this, Chapters 1 and 2 were intentionally structured similarly to Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, with its simple combat and three-man party respectively. Chapter 1's simplicity proved an ideal place to introduce players to AI-controlled allies through Healie the healslime. Chapter 2 proved to be the most difficult to balance, with the continent of Maestral receiving mountainous terrain to increase encounter rates and Zalenagrad getting a conspicuous sign post warning players to level up before moving forward with their journey[10].

Because the chapter structure meant that the series staple of gathering sacred artifacts (like the 5 Sigils and the Six Orbs) could no longer be implemented, the mini medals were created as a replacement to satisfy players that enjoyed the collection aspect[11]. The slot machines and monster-betting cards expanded on similar minigames from II and III respectively; the betting cards were suggested to programmer Kazuya Asano. Asano wanted the monster arena to be based on more than pure chance, thus he tested each monster's winning probability to ensure every monster had a chance to win a battle and assigned the odds accordingly[12].

Development of Dragon Quest IV wrapped up in August of 1989, with focus shifting to Dragon Quest V's planning stage after a two month break. Chunsoft struggled to fit the game on to the cartridge despite having twice as much memory capacity as Dragon Quest III, with Koichi Nakamura admitting that only a scant 100 bytes remained by the end of development[13]. In a December 1990 interview with Famitsu magazine promoting Dragon Quest V, Horii revealed that he intended for Psaro to join the Chosen at one point, but the scenario was scrapped due to the strict memory limit[14]. Whether this original scenario was revived for chapter 6 in the 2001 PlayStation remake or remained scrapped in lieu of a new story altogether is unknown.

Credits[edit]

Original Famicom version
Role Staff
Scenario writer Yuji Horii
Character designer Akira Toriyama
Music composer Koichi Sugiyama
Scenario assistant Kazunori Orio
Tsuyoshi Asami
Fuminori Ishikawa
Shigeya Ueno
Sachiko Sugimura
Chief programmers Hiroshi Naito
Manbu Yamana
Programmers Narita Togo
Masaaki Okano
Assistant programmer Kenichi Masuda
Kazuya Asano
Masumi Takimoto
Masayoshi Saitoh
Takahito Ikeda
Hiyoji Shinohara
Graphic designer Takashi Yasuno
Satoshi Fudaba
Sound programmers Masumi Takamoto
Tadashi Fukuzawa
Assistants Rika Suzuki
Kenjiro Kano
Mariko Iida
Kazuhiro Kurimoto
Yuchi Kikumoto
Toshiaki Kamata
Eriko Yamakawa
Chiharu Ando
Assistant producer Hiroyuki Takahashi
Sadao Yahagi
Director Koichi Nakamura
Producer Yukinobu Chida
Publisher Yasuhiro Fukushima

Trivia[edit]

Gallery[edit]

Title Screens[edit]

Box art[edit]

Miscellaneous[edit]

  • Symphonic Suite.

  • Famicom guide.

  • PlayStation guide.

  • PlayStation art.

  • PlayStation group.

  • Logo of the cancelled localization of the psx remake.

  • Cast.

  • DQIV Cast battling monsters.png
  • DQIV Into The Fray.png
  • DQIV Camping.png
  • DQIV Group cheering.png
  • DQIVCharacters.png
  • DQIV Random Encounter.png
  • Dragon Quest IV characters.png

  • CD Theater.

  • CD Theater.

  • CD Theater.

  • "Legend in the Dark" novel.

  • 4koma comics.

  • 4koma comics.

  • 4koma comics.

  • 4koma comics.

  • 4koma comics.

  • 4koma comics.

  • Bosses Trading Card Game sleeve.

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ ファミ通, November 1989
  2. ↑ ・・・・・・今回イロイロと新しいことにチャレンジしてますけど、なかでもいちばん苦労したところはどこですか? 堀井: やっぱりAIでしょう。できあがるのに1年以上かかってますから。とにかくAIを使うっていうことは、最初からほとんど決まってたんですよね。それまでまず、'88年の2月頃から会議を初めて、延々と会議を繰り返したわけです。 最初のうちは、ほとんどAIのことばかり話しあっていたんですね。 堀井: そうです。どんな方法があるかっていうのを何回も話し合って詰めていって、6月の段階で、これだというものがやっとできあがったんです。その後プログラムに移ったわけなんですけど、実際にプログラムをする山名くんがかなり苦労をして、1年以上かかたっと思いますよ。Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 4, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  3. ↑ 堀井さんて、今までも常に反響を生かしてゲームを作っていますよね。 堀井: 反響の中でも特に、不満の部分を生かしますね。なんとかがめんどくさかったとか、それはある程度自分たちでも反省会を開いたりするんですけどね。るそういう意味では今回、コマンド体系をさらに使いやすくしたつもりです。カギを使うのがめんどくさいとか、そういった部分をすべて改善しましたから。Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 6, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  4. ↑ Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 9, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  5. ↑ 堀井: あとね、みんなが誤解してるかもしれないんで、これだけは言っておきたいんです。たとえば8人いますよね。で、ブライばかり出して戦闘してて、マーニャは馬車の中にばかりいたと。だからマーニャは、このモンスターと戦うのは初めてだという場合でも、マーニャはいちおう馬車の中から今までの戦いを見ている、という設定のもとに学習しているんです。それはナゼかって言うと、1人ずつ出して学習させるのはダルいと思ったからなんです。だから、パーティとして覚えちゃう。1人の知識はみんなの知識というような、学習機能にしちゃったんですね。結果的にはこれでよかったと思いますよ。やっぱり、それぞれのキャラクターを外に出して、何回も同じモンスターと戦うのってダルいですから。Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 5, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  6. ↑ 逆に、中にいる人は学習できないとなると、必然的に外に出すキャラって固定されますよね。 堀井: そうなんですよね。役に立つキャラばかり使うことになるから、役に立たないキャラはいつまでたっても育たないし、役に立たないままになっちゃうでしょう。それじゃ困りますからね。馬車の中のキャラも経験値がもらえるっていうのも、そのせいなんです。Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 5, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  7. ↑ もう1つ目立って新しい要素として、5章構成のストーリーっていうのがあるんですけど、そもそもどうしてシナリオを5つに分けたんですか? 堀井: これもイロんな要因があるんですよ。まず、メモリーが増えるぶん、ΙIよりも長い話になりそうだと。そうすると、IIIより長い1本の話っていうのは、けっこうヘビーだと思ったわけです。長いぶん、終盤になってダレたりとかしちゃうんじゃないかとね。それだったら、スパンスパンと区切って、1本1本の話しとしてはそれほど長くないけど、全体のボリュームとしては川よるもあるという方法をとろうと思ったんです。それで何章かに分けたいというのが出てきたんですね。また、それと並行してAIを使うということになったんですよね。AIで仲間が勝手に動くと。ただ、初めから勝手に動かれたんじゃ、あまり感情移入ができないんじゃないかと思ったんです。何か変なことをやっても、プレイヤーはろくに見もせずに、ボタンを押していくだけじゃないかとね。やっぱりAIをおもしろいと感じるのは、そのAIのキャラに思い入れができないといけないわけですよね。それじゃあ、章に分けたのと合わせて、最初はAIじゃなくて、それぞれのキャラに対する思い入れをつくる部分にしようって、そう考えたわけです。コイツはこんなヤツだということがわかってこそ、5章になってからAIで動かれても、楽しめると思うんですよね。Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 5, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  8. ↑ "What was the inspiration for dividing Dragon Quest IV into five stand-alone chapters?" Horii: In Dragon Quest III, you went on an adventure with three companions, but these characters were simply created from scratch by the player. I thought it would be interesting to explore the lives of your comrades, which became the inspiration for Dragon Quest IV. Nintendo Power issue 230, page 55
  9. ↑ 確かに1章なんか、イロイロな面で入門用にもピッタリという感じはしますね。 堀井: ただ、あんまりドラクエすぎてもちょっとつまらないので、ホイミンをつけてみたりとか。(笑)ちょっとだけNPC(ノンプレイヤーキャラ)の練習をさせたりもしてるんですよね。Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 6, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  10. ↑ 今のところ2章までやらせてもらったんですけど、今回は結構イベントが多そうですね。2章なんていきなりイベントがあったりして...。 堀井: そうですね。2章はバランスどりもけっこう苦労しました。というのは、町の数が多いものですから、隣の町までの距離もあまりなくて、ヘタすると1回もエンカウントせずに行けてしまう可能性があったんですよ。 それで最初の町に、注意のメッセージがあったりするわけなんですね。 堀井: あのサランの町の武器屋にはアリーナが装備できる“いばらのムチ"を売るようにしたり....。地形もモンスターに会いやすいように山を多くしたりと、いろんなことをやりました。で“いばらのムチ”を買うために戦っていると、ちょうど次の村にいっても大丈夫なレベルになっていると・・・・・・。Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 6, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  11. ↑ 週刊少年ジャンプ issue 45, page 8, 1989
  12. ↑ あと、カジノもやらせてもらったんですけど、あれはオトナがハマるんじゃないかと思います。 堀井: けっこう凝ってるでしょ。 ・・あれは絶対ハマりますよ。** 堀井: いやあ、ボクはあそこまでチュンソフトが疑ってくれるとは思わなかったですよ。 特に格闘場が、前よりオモシロイんじゃないかなって感じがするんですが...。 堀井: 前はランダムで対戦カードを作ってたんですけど、今回は前もってある程度のカードを用意してあるんです。で、オッズ(倍率)もちゃんと設定してあるし。 オッズを調べるのが、かなり大変だったという話を聞いてますけど。 堀井: チュンソフトの浅野くんっていう人がいるんですけど、彼が、こっちのスタッフが作ったカードを何度もためしてみて、確率を計算して、オッズを作ってくれたんですよ。
      • ということは逆に言えば、それだけ確かめてあるから、いくら倍率が高いとはいっても、決して勝てないというわけではないですよね。
    堀井 そうです、勝つこともあります。勝つ確率が0っていうカードはないです。Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 7, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  13. ↑ IVはどうなんでしょう。IIIは2メガでエラく大変だったって聞いていますけど。 中村: 大変は大変でしたけど、無事にタイトルも入りましたし。(笑)数バイトしか残ってないなんて事はないけど、まともなプログラムが組めるほど、空いてないです。全部で100バイト位、空いてるかな? Dragon Quest IV Master's Club page 11, ISBN4-7966-0084-1
  14. ↑ — じつは『V』の主人公はデスピ○ロで人間に復讐するという・・・・・。そんなシナリオも想像できるんですがどうですか?よく、「あれではデスピ○ロがかわいそうだ」という意見も耳にしますから。 堀井: なるほど。アイデアとしてはおもしろいね。本当のこと言っちゃうと、ピ○ロは途中で仲間になる予定だったんだよ。でも、容量の関係でどんどん削られてしまって。で、結局ああいうことになったの。ファミ通 No. 117 December 21st 1990, page 43
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
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