Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation

Spoilers are thrown around indiscriminately below.

I finished my second run of this about a week and a half ago. A very good game but, as I mentioned on the phone, there was a bit of a shadow hanging over my run of this. This game is very similar to Dragon Quest VII (only ever released in the states as Dragon Warrior VII but hopefully the 3DS remake will make it here). And I enjoy DQ7 more than this game. So I had memories of DQ7 and hope of a DQ7 remake hanging over me as I played this game.

That said, this is definitely a good game in its own right and it paved the way for DQ7. This game sees the evolution of the DQ job system (or vocation system, as they call it now). The closest predecessor to use this system was DQ3. DQ3 allowed changing jobs but jobs were heavily linked to your character and his/her level and the level would reset to one when changing. There were some perks that’d carry over but for the most part that fact kept me from taking advantage of even those.

Meanwhile, DQ6 encourages you to change jobs by separating the characters a bit from their current vocation. Characters keep their equipment selections and levels. Vocations teach skills and magic (which are learned permanently) and alter the character’s current stats by percentages. Also, this is the game where the added advanced vocations that get unlocked by mastering two or three other vocations. I’m always a sucker for that.

Speaking of advanced vocations, this game debuted Thin Air, an attack that belongs to the Paladin vocation. This attack appeared in DQ7 as Vacuum (the DQ series underwent a mass name changing). This attack is probably the most broken thing in the series. Massive amounts of damage to all enemies and no MP cost. Non-boss encounters are now trivial in a series where they are usually dangerous.

On that note, the magic vocations get shafted in DQ6 and DQ7. With all the added skills in these games, many of which cost no MP, the typical roles of the mages to take out groups of enemies can now be done by the fighters. Further, the Mage vocation carries a hefty HP penalty. It was bad in DQ7 but it’s atrocious in DQ6. Ashlynn, a magic-using character that should be right at home in the Mage vocation, becomes brittle as glass. She will get one-shot by bosses using party-wide attacks (no hiding from them) while she’s in that vocation. That’s something I wish they’d did better in both games.

Story wise the game revolves around a two-world deal, a common setting. DQ6 is somewhat unique in that instead of light and dark worlds it’s real and dream worlds. The dreams of the denizens of the real world make the dream world. It gets a bit more complicated as the dream world also houses the souls of slain real world inhabitants.

This is a little bit nicer than the light-dark world thing that a lot of games do since it gave them a bit more liberty to put differences in between the two while still having the two worlds reference each other. Denizens of a desert town might dream of an island paradise, for instance.

Besides that, I’ve always liked DQ’s episodic nature and there are some great ones here. Here’s a few memorable ones:

– One real-world town is home to a kindly old woman. Sleep at the church she works at and you go to the dream-world version of the town. This one is almost identical. Here you hear about two treasure hunters that went to a nearby cave. Everything seems fine until the next morning. The streams that run through town suddenly turn red with blood.

You go north to investigate and find the female thief feverishly trying to wash her blade which is soaked with blood. She says she killed her companion. This is the source of the blood from before. Investigate further and you find her companion is still alive. She was tricked by a monster into attacking her friend but you can save him (and in an example of Gameplay and Story Integration, the monster uses the confusion status ailment in the fight).

– In the real world you’ll find the ruins of a castle. Go to the well here and you arrive in the dream world where the castle is at its prime. The dream world version is the memories of the inhabitants of the events that led to the castle’s destruction. The king was worried about the power of the Archfiend and decided he needed to be stopped. He found out about a demon even more powerful than the Archfiend and a method to summon and control this demon.

You arrive as the summoning is being prepared. The castle inhabitants are clearly afraid and the king’s decision to summon this demon is very controversial. The castle also holds the fabled Armor of Orgo, one of the game’s pieces of legendary equipment. The king performs the summoning but the demon does not fall under his control. The demon does what demons tend to do and begins to destroy the castle and slaughter its inhabitants.

You run from the destruction as people are getting struck down left and right. The captain of the guard urges you forward while he stays behind to look after the Armor. Last you see of him he takes it down to a secret vault.

After that you wake up back in the real world. From the dream you figure out where the Armor is as well as the skeletal remains of the captain. The captain wrote some last words on the wall in his own blood.

– The Cloudsgate Citadel is held by Dread Fiend Dhuran. I like Dhuran. He’s the noble demon of the group. He lets you walk freely through the Citadel without being attacked. When you face him he sets up some warm-up fights before fighting you himself. And before he fights you he fully restores you because he wants to see you at your full strength. It’s highly implied that he could’ve been causing all kinds of havoc but didn’t because rather than spread the cause of evil he just wanted to find a worthy opponent. When he found out about your party he delayed all plans and was hoping you’d get to him. He even wishes you well as he dies.

It’s also awesome because before this game I played Dragon Warrior Monsters. DWM references the DQ’s that came out before it (1-6). I hadn’t played most of them at the time. DWM also involves some awesomeness with Dhuran and was my first exposure to him. The first time I went through this game it was nice to see that scene in its original context.

– Some series like to make deep villains with such tragic pasts that you actually feel sorry that you have to strike them down. For the most part, DQ does not follow this model. DQ villains are sadistic bastards that enjoy human suffering as entertainment. The Archfiend of DQ6 is no exception. He has his own Dread Realm that he has direct control over and he has allowed three human settlements to appear.

Of course, he allows this so he can torment the inhabitants. In one village he spikes the water so that everyone becomes depressed to the point they no longer wish to move. They just lie around and not even starving to death can motivate them. In another he spreads rumors of grand treasure to get the inhabitants to fight and start killing each other.

In the last settlement he just sets up gold ole’ fashioned misery. Terrible conditions, little food, and abusive guards. Torture and public executions are carried out daily. When you liberate this town the Archfiend gets pissed and subjects all the inhabitants to either petrification or being turned into an animal.

– I’m not generally a fan of post-game bosses and challenges but DQ sometimes provides me with some exceptions. I like DQ6’s bonus dungeon. You get to it by mastering every vocation. Unfortunately, that requires a lot of level grinding, as post-game material seems to always require.

The bonus boss is Nokturnus, the demon that was summoned in the scenario above. You get to fight it this time. It is indeed more powerful than the Archfiend. If you beat him in under 20 turns you get a sweet addition to the ending. Impressed with your strength, Nokturnus teleports your party straight to the Archfiend and then gives you ring-side seats as Nokturnus waffle-stomps the final boss for you.

Overall, an enjoyable game in its own right. But it makes me hope for a DQ7 remake even more.