Dragon Quest V

Dragon Quest V is the fifth installment in the Dragon Quest series It was the first Dragon Quest title to be released for the Super Famicom.

Along with Dragon Quest VI, the original Super Famicom release never reached North America. In the absence of an official translation, several fan translations exist for the Super Famicom version. It was finally released for the Nintendo DS as Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride.

Gameplay
Dragon Quest V uses basic role-playing video game mechanics seen in the rest of the series, which includes leveling up by gaining experience points through battle, first person turn-based battles, and equipping weapons and armor. Something new to the Dragon Quest series is the ability to tame monsters into the player's party. The monsters can be used in battle and level-up like the human characters. Monsters sometimes request to join the Hero after battles if the party is strong enough. There are a total of 40 monsters that are capable of joining the Hero's party.

Like IV and VI, this game has a wagon where members of the Hero's party can rest while exploring the world, while in IV and VI it was up to four. The tactics system first introduced in Dragon Quest IV was brought back in this game, but with the added option of controlling allies manually for the entire game (whereas Dragon Quest IV only let you control them for four out of five chapters). It also expanded the tactics system by allowing the artificial intelligence routines to be set individually for each ally rather than for the party as a whole.

After beating the game, players can gain access to the bonus dungeon. Dragon Quest V was the first Dragon Quest game to have a bonus dungeon (although the remakes of Dragon Quest III and IV added bonus dungeons later).

Plot
Dragon Quest V begins with a brief scene of the Hero's birth in which the player gives the Hero a name. Afterwards, the Hero, as a child, and his father, Pankraz travel to meet Sancho, an old friend. The Hero meets Bianca and the two explore the haunted Uptaten Towers, where they obtain a mysterious Golden Orb. The next day, the Hero notices a man in the town who looks very similar to him only older. That man asks the Hero to show him the Golden Orb and, after returning it, asks him to take care of his father Pankraz. The first section of the story ends with Pankraz being killed by powerful foes when he tries to protect his son and Prince Harry. They are then both sold into slavery.

The story continues ten years later, and the player finds that the Hero and Harry have grown up working on a giant temple, but escape as the scene opens. The Hero travels to the west to the town of Mostroferrato, where the wealthy nobleman Rodrigo Briscoletti and his daughter Nera live. Rodrigo sends the Hero on a quest to retrieve two magic rings, called the Circle of Fire and the Circle of Water, as a test of his worthiness as a suitor for Nera. The Hero accomplishes this and Rodrigo offers the Hero the chance to marry Nera. After the marriage, the Hero travels to his homeland of Gotha, where they make him king. His wife has two children, but is kidnapped by monsters. When the Hero comes to rescue her, both are turned to stone by the monsters.

The Hero is found by his two children eight years later and is revived. Travelling the world to collect the legendary Zenithian armaments for the Legendary Hero, it is discovered that the Hero's son is indeed the Legendary Hero sought by Pankraz almost twenty years ago. During this stage of the journey, the Hero avenges Pankraz by killing Ladja, and restores the Dragon God, as well as Zenithia castle, to their proper homes in the sky. To accomplish this, the Hero has to enter a time warp to retrieve the Golden Orb from his child self.

After returning to the temple the Hero helped build as a slave, the Zenithian armor is found, as well as the statue of his wife. After the final source of evil is eradicated from the world, the party is told that Mada remains in the Demon World, and that the final source of evil, Nimzo, is lying in wait for the Legendary Hero. The Hero, his wife, and their children agree not to leave Mada in the demon world, so together they travel there via a portal near Lofty Peak, and reach the Evil Mountain. Mada is found inside, but dies shortly after meeting the Hero and his family. The party continues on to confront and destroy the lord of evil, Nimzo. They return to Gotha, and have a joyful party. As the family celebrates, Pankraz and Mada watch their son and his family from the heavens, happy and content with their progeny.