Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

About Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

Dragon Quest IV (1990), first released in North America as Dragon Warrior IV, is Chunsoft and Enix's chapter-based RPG that begins the Zenithian Trilogy and introduced the party wagon and AI "Tactics".

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen in Depth

Unlike the rest of the series, the game is split into five chapters, each focusing on different protagonists. The first four follow the Hero's future companions, and the fifth, told from the Hero's perspective, brings everyone together on a journey to save the world. It keeps many established features, such as day and night cycles, travel by ship and a flying vehicle, this time a hot air balloon, three levels of keys, Thief, Magic and Ultimate, and travel doors for crossing the map quickly, and the Hero again has the strongest healing and attack spells, though he need not stay in the party once the wagon arrives.

New was the "Tactics" AI system, which lets the player give the party, who become computer-controlled in the final chapter, strategies such as prioritising damage, healing or saving MP while controlling the Hero directly; it is seen as a precursor to Final Fantasy XII's Gambits. The wagon, introduced here, lets players choose which characters fight, and later returned in Dragon Quest V and VI. It also brought the series' first casino, with slots, poker and monster betting for tokens, searching drawers and jars for items, Small Medals to trade with a secluded king, and saving at a House of Healing instead of by talking to a king.

Making Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

Chunsoft developed it and Enix published it for the Famicom in Japan on 11 February 1990, with a North American NES version in October 1992, the last Dragon Quest localised into English until Dragon Warrior Monsters in December 1999. Its PlayStation remake by Heartbeat was ported by ArtePiazza to the Nintendo DS in 2007 and 2008, and a mobile version followed in 2014.