Dragon Warrior IV (NES) Playthrough [1 of 2]
188A playthrough of Enix's 1992 role-playing game for the NES, Dragon Warrior IV.
This is part one of a two-part playthrough, showing from the beginning through the beginning of Chapter 5. Part two can be found here: https://youtu.be/Vch6Sf--rMo
After finishing up the Erdrick trilogy in Dragon Warrior III (https://youtu.be/KXq6KwzG8iQ ), Enix gave the series one last hurrah on the NES before moving on to the SNES with Dragon Quest V.
Dragon Warrior IV was the first installment in a brand new story, usually referred to as the Zenithian trilogy. In a huge shake up for the series, Dragon Warrior IV's structure is nothing like what we saw in the first three games. This time, the story is broken into five distinct chapters:
Chapter 1: The Royal Soldiers 2:04
Monsters have recently begun kidnapping children from a local village, and Ragnar, a knight from the kingdom of Burland, is asked by the king to look into the matter.
Chapter 2: Princess Alena's Adventure 1:29:48
Princess Alena leaves home, determined to prove herself strong and capable by participating in a fighters' tournament held in Endor. (The town, not the forest moon.)
Chapter 3: Taloon the Arms Merchant 4:06:04
Taloon wants to become a successful merchant, leaving his family behind to seek fame and fortune.
Chapter 4: The Sisters of Moonbaraba 8:24:44
Sisters Mara and Nara are on a quest to avenge their father's murder at the hands of his apprentice Balzack.
Chapter 5: The Chosen Ones 10:22:18
The hometown of a boy destined to become of a hero of legend is destroyed. He is the sole survivor of the attack, and as he explores the world looking for answers, his path converges with those of the protagonists of the first four chapters.
The first four chapters act as vignettes that introduce us to the major players, and Chapter 5 introduces the main hero as the force that unites them all for the coming showdown with a powerful evil force.
It represents a major shift in storytelling from the first three games in the series. In juggling so many distinct characters with fleshed out back stories in such a massive world, the scope of the plot is far larger and more complex than anything seen in the Erdrick trilogy - perhaps more than any other RPG released during the NES/Famicom's lifetime.
The gameplay is similar to the older games, but with a few big tweaks. Once you have all the main characters together, you can choose which four you'd like in your active party at any time from the overworld, and the battle system becomes somewhat automated. You have direct control over the hero's actions, but everyone else's actions are dictated by the computer.
This change boosts the speed of combat considerably, but it also forces you to rely on an AI that doesn't always act in your best interests. It's a trade-off that I have mixed feelings on - I like the new pace that it sets, but the boneheaded ways that the AI finds to squander MP usually dissuades me from relying on the magic users. Your physical characters can easily brute force their way through the game so long as you're using the hero as a healer.
It is this that most people seem to regard as Dragon Warrior IV's biggest flaw, and I'd agree with that opinion. Mechanically, it feels one step forward, two steps back from Dragon Warrior III. In terms of overall experience, though, I feel like Dragon Warrior IV edges out its predecessor with its brisk pacing and stronger narrative.
It's an incredibly ambitious game that succeeds in most ways, and its innovations laid the groundwork for much of what would be seen in later entries in the series. I thought it was fantastic, and its well worth the time of any JRPG fan.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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