Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

Dragon Quest V is the second of the Zenithian Trilogy. Right of the bat this trilogy doesn’t feel as connected as DQI – III did. There aren’t as many parallels between IV and V comparatively. That doesn’t take away from the game though. So let’s dive in.

Dragon Quest V obviously takes place many years after IV, as the world isn’t even somewhat similar, with the exception of a floating kingdom known as Zenithia. However, once again we are on a quest to save the world from an all-powerful evil. To combat this we must gather the famed Zenithian equipment. There’s a twist here, as the main character is not the Legendary Hero. The game starts out following our young protagonist and his father on a quest to find the Legendary Hero, to help search for your mother, who was taken away to the land of Nadiria. Nadiria is basically the underworld. Through a series of events we are hit with a pretty emotional scene early in the game, that I’ll avoid spoiling. At the end of this scene, you and your friend Harry are taken as hostages. We fast forward far enough for a young protagonist to become a young man, now enslaved to the Order of Zugzwang. Soon you’re able to escape along with your friends Harry and Maria. You are finally allowed to resume your quest in search of your mother and the Legendary Hero. After a few more story beats we are offered a choice of marriage of three young women. Story wise it doesn’t matter who you choose, but they each have different skill-sets for battle. After this there’s another time-skip, and you’re now the father of twin children! A boy and a girl. Turns out you and your wife have two ancient bloodlines and your son is the Legendary Hero you’ve been searching for! Cut forward to you guys saving the world as a family. Pretty standard Dragon Quest stuff here, so let’s get onto what makes this one stand out.

First is the generations this game spans. Technically it’s three, and that’s pretty neat, to see the aging of the characters and how the world changes slightly. The real fun is in the fact that the main protagonist can tame monsters. The options here for your party combinations here are through the roof! I got lucky and a Slime Knight named Goodian wanted to join me early on. This guy carried me through the entire game. Great equipment selection and healing spells. The rate at which monsters actually want to join you is pretty low, so that leads to a pain point. As with every early RPG, and especially Dragon Quest, there is a ton of grinding here! Want that monster? Kill it 20 times and hope it joins. Boss too hard? Grind it out!

I think this one is perfectly on par with the previous entry. Nothing stellar, but it’s a great example of a classic JRPG in this franchise.