Dragon Quest: Shōnen Yangus to Fushigi no Dungeon

Dragon Quest:
Shōnen Yangus to
Fushigi no Dungeon
Developer(s) Cavia
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Designer(s) Yuji Horii
Artist(s) Akira Toriyama
Composer(s) Koichi Sugiyama
Series Mystery Dungeon
Dragon Quest
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Release date(s)
  • JP: April 20, 2006
Genre(s) Action role-playing game,
Roguelike
Mode(s) Single-player

Dragon Quest: Shōnen Yangus to Fushigi no Dungeon (ドラゴンクェスト　少年ヤンガスと不思議のダンジョン lit. "Dragon Quest: Young Yangus and the Mystery Dungeon") is a prequel/spin-off to Dragon Quest VIII, developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix as part of the Mystery Dungeon series.[1]

Gameplay

The game utilizes randomly generated dungeons and combat taken in turns.[2] Players must fight through different floors of enemies until they reach a boss monster, which they must defeat to advance through the story.[3] Combat takes place on contact with enemies, with no separate battle screen or menu system.[3] A new feature to the series is the "tension command", that allows players to build up attack power to deliver strong blows upon enemies, though the character cannot move in this state.[3] Later on in the game, and players can capture monsters with a special jug, and use them to attack opponents.[3] Players may keep three monsters in their possession at any one time, and can be taught to use special abilities by using items and through combat experience.[3] Monsters must reach level four, be given foods they like, and also a weapon before they will assist Yangus, and as they fight more and more, they will combine their strengths with other captured monsters.[3][4] Players can also utilize a farmhouse late game where monsters can be kept and bred to create new and more powerful monsters.[3] The game also uses cinematic and computer generated scenes with a comic-book style.[3]

Story

The game centers around the character Yangus, who is a main character in Dragon Quest VIII, as a child.[1] Described as a "plump bandit", he becomes involved with his father Yampa's gang of thieves when a mysterious jug is brought home.[3][5] Though instructed not to touch the jug, Yangus does, and is sucked inside the bottle into another world called "Bottle Land".[3] Gelda, a female bandit from Dragon Quest VIII also appears in this new world, as well as Red, Morrie, Toruneko, and a new character named Poppy, and each begins to explore the dungeons of this new land.[2][3][5]

Development

A trailer for the game was shown at the Jump Festival in Tokyo, December 2005.[6] The game's soundtrack features music from Dragon Quest VIII, arranged by Hayato Matsuo,[7] along with a few original compositions by Koichi Sugiyama.

Reception

The game sold over 301,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2006, ranking number 42 in sales overall for the year.[8] The game was noted for its "cartoonish 3D graphics", and its full motion video was also praised.[4][9] The original art style and cell-shaded graphics were highlighted for praise as well.[4] Destructoid listed it as number 10 of their Top Ten favorite Dragon Quest games.[2] IGN described the dungeon movement system in the game as "clumsy".[3] The narration of the game was thought to be hilarious, due to the narrators acting out of various characters parts.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 Hirohiko Niizumi (January 30, 2006). "Four million Dragon Quest VIIIs shipped". GameSpot. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  2. 1 2 3 Stealth (July 8, 2012). "Top 10 Dragon Quest Games". Destructoid. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Anoop Gantayat (April 24, 2006). "Dragon Quest Yangus: Import Playtest". IGN. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  4. 1 2 3 Andrew Alfonso (May 1, 2006). "Dragon Quest: Young Yangus' Mysterious Dungeon". GameSpy. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  5. 1 2 Staff (December 19, 2005). "Jump Fest 2005: Square Enix and Mistwalker show upcoming titles". GameSpot. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  6. ↑ Anoop Gantayat (December 17, 2005). "Eyes On: Dragon Quest Yangus". IGN. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  7. ↑ Greening, Chris. "Hayato Matsuo Interview: Dark Orchestral Writing". Game Music Online. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "2006年ゲームソフト年間売上TOP500" [2006 Game Software Annual Sales Top 500]. Famitsū Gēmu Hakusho 2007 ファミ通ゲーム白書2007 [Famitsu Game Whitebook 2007] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Enterbrain. 2007. p. 387. ISBN 978-4-7577-3577-4. JPNO 21240454.
  9. ↑ Tim Surette (January 27, 2006). "Dragon Quest VIII spin-off dated for Japan". GameSpot. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
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