Dragon Quest IX Hands-On

Dragon Quest IX is the latest chapter in the epic role-playing series. Dragon Quest IX is developed by Level-5, the designer of the popular Dragon Quest VIII. While the publication of Dragon Quest IX was a Square-Enix exclusive in Japan, the Western version will be released as a partnership with Nintendo of America.

While several previous Dragon Quest games have been remade for the DS, Dragon Quest IX is the first to be made specifically for the handheld. The game makes perfect use of the DS's stylus to navigate menus, move characters, and interact with the world. You take control of a fallen angel who has recently become an ordinary human. But there is no set determined main character; instead, you build your own custom character by selecting gender, body type, hairstyle, eye shape, and skin tone.

Even better, several hours into the game, job classes are unlocked, including powerful warriors, crafty thieves, and destructive magic users. There are also additional unlockable classes, such as the paladin and superstar. It's not only the main character who can be changed; every party member can go through the same treatment of selecting class and appearance. There can be a total of three friends along with the main character, and another eight more can wait on the sidelines for rotation. Want to go in with a party of priests? One frontline fighter escorting a troupe of performers? Or a simple traditional role-playing cliche? All are fun possibilities. The party system can even be used to quickly power newly made characters brought into high-end areas.

You aren't limited to using your own made characters and party. Dragon Quest IX is the first game in the series to feature a multiplayer aspect. Players and friends can enter each other's worlds and either take part in adventures or explore the world on their own. Both players will be able to explore every location the host has visited, allowing low-level players to leap through end-game events. That doesn’t mean IX will be a cakewalk, however. Nintendo is promising that it will be the hardest Dragon Quest to date, spanning 60 hours of storyline and nearly another 80 hours of side quests. At the moment, the gameplay and difficulty seem very well balanced, though later dungeons may prove more of a challenge.

Graphically, Dragon Quest IX maintains the same bright, eye-popping imagery that both the previous DS remakes and the PlayStation 2 game have established. Akira Toriyama, also know for the Dragon Ball anime series and the SNES role-playing game Chrono Trigger, once again returns as Dragon Quest’s head character designer. The characters perfectly capture Toriyama’s signature style, and the lush environments further complement the game’s anime imagery.

Dragon Quest IX has already sold more than 100 million copies since its release in Japan last year and is expected to greatly increase those figures when it comes to US shores July 11 for the Nintendo DS.