Customer Reviews

Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and Tower of Mirrors

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I enjoyed Dragon Quest Swords more than other folks simply because I had read a lot of negative reviews prior to playing it and I wasn't expecting much. I get the feeling that some of the critics were expecting a first-person Dragon Quest RPG with real action battles. This is actually more like a light-gun game where you use swords and have the ability to do some mild RPG tweaks to your character. The RPG elements are about as extensive as Shining in the Darkness for Sega Genesis, that is, they are about as basic as you can get. For what it is, though, Dragon Quest Swords is very good.

The accurate sword and shield controls add a lot of strategy and fun to the experience, but again, you need to reset your expectations. You can't simply flail your arms around and expect the Wii to read your motions. You have to hold your wrist fairly steady and slash in a controlled motion as prescribed by the game. The result is a game that almost always reads your motions accurately. The only thing I'm having trouble mastering is the thrust/stab motion.

If you are expecting to hear Dragon Quest music performed and recorded from a real orchestra like in Dragon Quest VIII, you may be taken aback by the fact that the Swords soundtrack is in the MIDI format. The compositions are beautiful, but the quality is a step down from what we got on Playstation 2.

People are saying that this game is too short. I hear some folks saying it can be completed in 4 hours. These people probably didn't play through the levels more than once and try to improve their score. They probably didn't explore all the branching paths and see everything there is to see. It took me 9 hours to beat the main game, and after you beat the quest NEW branching paths open up in each of the 8 levels, so there is some exploring to be done after the credits roll.

Overall, DQS is getting a bad rap because people's expectations are set too high. That's not to say I think the game is worth the full $50, however. If I were you I'd wait for a price drop or rent it, and then you'll be able to feel like you're getting your money's worth.

Although I just bought the game yesterday and have played a few hours into it (it's actually not much longer so I'm told and I can kinda figure out where things are going at this point anyway), here are my observations so far:

First off let me set this up by saying, I am a long time Dragon Quest fan, since the early days of Dragon Warrior. The attraction to these games for me has always been that they are always a great and expansive adventure that is more like an interactive novel than a game really. Add to that a strong cast of characters/monsters, high quality music, and a fun strategy/battle system, and great replay ability, and the mind-numbing ways to customize your character, it makes it a no-brainer why these games have enjoyed such a strong and loyal fan base since the days of the NES.

Enter the latest installment of the franchise, "DQ Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors."

Cons:
- **** Waaaaay Too short. And no replay ability. ****
- No real exploration or leveling abilities. Unless you return to town before completing any set mission multiple times (Think Rail-game, forward facing only).
- Hate the 3D First Person view you are forced to move around in. Movement is rather limited (i.e. no "strafing"), so you actually have to completely stop moving to turn left or right, otherwise you just make giant circles. Not to mention just "looking around" really takes a bit of effort and time.
- Battles can be a bit of a challenge since it's all real-time and enemies just start swarming and attacking you like crazy before you even realize you're in a fight, leaving you to swing the wii-mote like crazy while trying to "focus" your attacks somewhere on the screen in between blocking, and hope that your shield hasn't already disintegrated from the last battle and can find its target.
- Master Strokes are a little overly animated maybe? Sure takes a while to finally get down to executing the moves after all the jazz-and-snazz cinemas are said and done.

Pros:
- Love the story line, though it did need to be longer which would've allowed a little more depth.
- Absolutely wonderful graphics, especially on such a low-res system like the Wii.
- Great voice acting. (I always enjoyed the person who voiced Angus' character in DQVIII, and I think he must've done some acting in this latest version as well for the "shop owner" character?).
- Simplistic and fun to interact with. (I especially like seeing the slimes getting sliced in half with my sword swings, somewhat rewarding, or a swath of enemies taken out with a single horizontal slice).
- High quality character animations and musical score.
- Death-blows on the last bosses are a definite plus, I do get a kick out of executing the "Master Stroke" as the "death-blow". Though I believe you can use any old swing to do the trick. Maybe more of a Mortal Kombat-ish fatality would have been more appropriate for something labeled as a "Death-blow".

Overall the game was a very enjoyable one, I just hope this isn't supposed to be the actual real "next" installment in the franchise as it can't even hold a candle to the vastness, enjoyability, and replay-ability of the last release (DQ VIII) or any predecessors. However it is a great tide-you-over game until the next "real" DQ release. Not to mention it's just plain fun that you can pick up and play anytime, which is really what I think the goal was for SquareEnix in this DQ release. If it is, they've succeeded admirably, if not, well...more homework and research is needed.

If you don't have a lot of money, then I'd suggest renting or waiting for the price to fall. Otherwise, expect this one to see most of its life on your game shelf after all is said and done. Like was said before, once you finish it, you probably won't play it again. Though while you're playing it, you're in for an enjoyable experience. Just don't expect 80+ hours of DQ exploring and level hacking. It's maybe more of a weekend warrior type game.

But I do recommend this game! I have enjoyed it just the same!

Cheers!
-S

This game was fun for about a day or two but it's way too short. I would definitely not recommend buying it. No replay value at all. I've been a Dragon Quest fan since Dragon Warrior so it was cool to hear some recognizable melodies and see some familiar monsters but I don't even think they covered 50 different monsters. You don't have the freedom to move around once you leave the one and only town. You can only take out one person with you at a time. Dragon Quest is known for it repetition so if you don't like repetition I wouldn't recommend this game for you. Sadly, this game also wasn't challenging unless you consider swinging the wiimote a challenge. I would compare this game to Resident Evil Umbrella chronicles because of the rail-like movement (but you can slightly control yourself in this game) and the repeating of boards in order to get everything. I like the rest of you have waited over 4 years the the next installment of Dragon Quest and I really feel that I got jipped. I would feel better if the game was $30 and not $50. I wish that I had rented it instead. Overall I would recommend playing this game but borrow it from a friend because they'll be done with it in less than a week or rent it. There will probably be a lot of used games popping up on ebay very very soon.

I think this game stands up really well as an introduction the the "Japanese RPG" genre of console games. It utilizes the Wii-mote very effectively game play is solid and fun. The visuals are bright and beautiful and the voice acting the best I've heard in a Japanese-to-English port. The story is a fun and typical entry in the genre and works well. I am a "casual" gamer ... with little more than a few hours at a time to commit to playing the game and I found the length to be satisfactory. I find nothing to complain about in the game and enjoyed playing it immensely. Bonus, as the interface is so very simple, my 3 year old daughter was able to play through an entire "dungeon level" with very little assistance from me. She was so excited to be able to play "daddy's" game. I was pretty proud of that myself. I am a fan of old school RPGs and give this a strong recommendation.

I enjoyed the Dragon series back in its heyday (Dragon Warrior 1 and 2- to me 3 and 4 got a little too crazy)

I have no time whatsoever logged on the games between DWIV and this release for the Wii.

I will say that this is almost a 3-D version of the original dragon warrior, with a few alterations- namely not being able to free roam, and only having the one town (and castle) (at least thus far..)

This game is a lot of fun, and some of the old school monsters come back- slimes, drakees etc..and some new ones (at least to me) - and being able to swing the "sword" and raise the "shield" is a cool feature to have.
I have noticed a lack in monster variety- maybe only 15-20 or so (and im in what i think is the last (or next to last) level)

Anyways, it will not have anywhere near the playability of DW of the past, but for what it is, i paid $15 for a used copy. well worth the money. once ya beat it, it probably collects dust, but its kind of a new-age blast from the past..

For those of you who love the dragon warrior series, this game is for you. The game lets you use the wand as your sword arm. How you swing the wand is how your character (which it's first person view) swings his sword. So you do an overhead slash its copies. monsters have to be attacked certain ways and some you just wail away on. The learning curve is very easy. you should be a master on the path to the first cave. The game is kinda short, but very enjoyable. You level up and need gold like the other games. In closing, if you like the kendo sport in wii sports resort, you'll love this!

After reading some of the reviews here I was kinda worried about this game. But I found the controls to be a lot easier than expected (except thrusting), the graphics are good (for the Wii) and the story is old school. Everything about this game screams "kid", but it's actually a fun, entertaining game. The story is exceptionally linear (other than going back and doing the missions again). And there is NO voice acting whatsoever.

If you are an old skool RPGer that played the Dragon Warrior games on the NES back in the day, you will have a HUGE rictus grin the first time you hack and slash your first Slime ^_^

I LOVED this game!

I remember playing the original Dragon Warrior back on the NES and it's amazing that this series has lasted so long. All the familiar characters are there from drakees to wyverns to golems, and of course slimes.

The game allows you to use your Wii remote as your sword and shield, using slashing and stabbing motions to fight all the monsters of Avalonia. It takes about 1 day to get your aim down, but once you learn to use the targeting feature, it's easy.

All in all, I spent about 40 hours beating the first version of the game (there's a 2nd version you can play after you defeat Xiphos) which made this game a great value in my opinion.

Can't wait for the next installment in this series!

If you're prone to carpal tunnel syndrome - maybe you're like me and use a mouse all day at your job - you may wish to rethink this game.

The game itself is a lot of fun. The graphics are cute, if not eye-popping, and the storyline and characters are entertaining. I like a very easy game with little to no chance of dying, and this meets that criterion, for sure. They do a nice job adding some little mini-games, and I like that they made them multi-player.

My first, smaller complaint is the lack of depth to the world. Other characters around town don't really give you useful information, and forget about them maybe sending you off on entertaining side quests. As others have said, there's really no exploration either. Just stick to the path, fight the random battles, beat the boss, rinse and repeat. And once you've found a goody, it never regenerates no matter how many times you walk the path leveling up. Still, this doesn't ruin the game, at least not for me.

My much bigger complaint is with the game controls. There's no use of the nunchuk, so all your walking and navigating is done on the D-pad. Not only is this rather irritating for simple navigation, it's also extraordinarily awkward for your hand position. Also, the sword swinging has to be done with the Wii-mote perfectly parallel to the ground, thumb on top. This is also terribly awkward. Between these two things, I can't play for more than about an hour at a time before my wrist starts aching horribly.

To see what I'm talking about, hold out your hand like you're about to shake hands with someone. Notice that your fingers are roughly in line with your arm, and your thumb points somewhat up. Now tilt your hand down toward the ground so your thumb forms a straight line with your arm. Now hold that for awhile. It's just not natural, and I think the ability to use natural movements is what gives the Wii controllers such potential.

I agree with the many reviewers who say this isn't really worth purchasing new. Wait for the price to fall, rent it, find a bargain, or get it from a friend once they're done with it.

Being absolutley thrilled that I felt like I finally bought the Wii for something other than my kids playing wii sports, I ran to the local game crazy the day Dragon Quest Swords came out. I was not disapointed. I am a die hard RPG fan of the old school persuasion (FF VI and DQVII are my favs)and found this game very entertaining. All of the usual DQ themes and characters are there and the european dialects are abundant as well. The story is good and the graphics are very clean. There are plenty of equipment options and a few mini games and of course there are secret dungeons. Now the cons : The sword is really irritating even after you get used to it. It slashes diagonally when you slash side to side etc.It is a short game, but no shorter than Final Fantasy III for the DS.You can only use one other character other than yorself at a time but you get used to that after a little bit and it is actually ok. I guess I'd give this a 4 1/2 stars but the controller issue is so frustrating that I have to give it a 4. Overall this is a fun game and if you are a fan of the series it is a must have. I hope that square will keep trying this !