RGR Game #020: Dragon Warrior IV

Ooh, a castle in the sky... Laputa?

Slimes, how I've missed you!

I'd be furious if I weren't just starting.

Curse you, gender-neutral name!

Just like I promised, it's time for game #20: Dragon Warrior IV! Unlike previous games in the Dragon Warrior series, this one follows the quests of several different adventurers, all of whom must conquer their own foes and achieve their own goals before finally uniting in the end to save the world. The game is divided into five chapters, each of which is like its own little complete game; the star of each chapter even begins at level 1 with no items or gold carried over.

Dragon Warrior IV is also the first game in the series to have no connection to the legend of Erdrick. It's like everything is starting over fresh!

Grab your popcorn, kids!

But I thought I was Ryan...

Ignoring kings is a
hobby of mine, actually.

Where's John Walsh when you need him?

Chapter 1 begins at Burland Castle, where the king has summoned all of his Royal Soldiers to investigate a rash of possible child abductions. The children of the nearby town of Izmit have been disappearing one by one, and people suspect it might be the work of monsters. Ragnar, the star of the chapter and one of these Royal Soldiers, begins his investigation at once.

Of course, given that I'm in control of Ragnar, the investigation is going to have a slow start. The castle is large, but what few treasures there are mock me from behind locked doors. So, after talking to everyone I can get to, I headed out into the town that surrounds the castle.

I'll find them; it's my duty
as star of this chapter.

Sorry, I just like talking to people.

I prefer Medical Steaks and Potatoes.

By the fourth game, this is common knowledge.

No, but your buddy there might.

Yeah, I know. I work here too.

Wait, they let the kids play
around monsters?

The other soldiers are incompetent.

Yeah, but it makes level grinding easier.

That's time for ya.

You're literate then, huh? Lucky.

Ooh, no more tiny castles!

The first thing I noticed upon exiting is that the castle itself is actually quite large on the outside, larger at least than the tiny castles from the previous game. I ran into a woman named Flora in the castle town, whose husband went missing. I guess I'm the designated search and rescue guy, so she's asked me to report to her if I find him. Then again, if she's talking to me about this, I'm sure to run into him along the way.

The town of Izmit sits on the other side of a river, and the only way to cross that river is via a nearby cave. No doubt the cave is full of monsters. The weapon and armor shops in Burland don't have much, but since I'm just starting out, it'd probably be best if I spent some time leveling up and saving to buy the best equipment available before going anywhere near that cave. Especially since the king's kindness to his people has resulted in my under-equipment.

We'll see how long this lasts.

That was four paces more than I expected.

We should kill monsters to
supplement taxes.

Why a cave? Wouldn't a bridge be faster?

Amazing!

You know, I'm kinda busy.

Hmm... I'll have to confiscate these.

Yeah, clouds are spooky.

So what do kings do around here then?

Give me a break, I just started!

Here, slimes... I've got a
surprise for you...

Ah, the memories...

And so, Ragnar's quest to find the missing children of Izmit begins.

I'm planning on pacing myself so that there are several smaller posts for each chapter, but we'll see how that goes. I tend to take a screenshot of every piece of dialogue, so a game of this size will most likely wind up over a thousand screenshots strong. I suppose I'll have to trim that down a bit, since I use a three-digit counting scheme, and that means no more than 999 screenshots.

Besides, fewer screenshots means fewer captions, and that means less work for me.