A boy from an isolated island faces his destiny and changes the face of the world.  That is the basic plot of the latest installment of the immensely popular Dragon Warrior series.  As a young boy in the small village of Fishbel you have always yearned for adventure.  Your father, the famous fisherman, has always refused to take you with him on his journeys into the sea but fate has much greater adventures in store for you.  It all starts in a world where only one island is...

This addition to the dragon warrior series brings back the epic feel and addictive pace that I have found absent in many of the newer RPG's.  However while the story has brought back the days of epic role-playing the game also seemed to import most of the system, graphics and sound from the earlier games as well.  The game features a mix of sprites and more current CG resulting in a hybrid very similar to the Star Ocean 2.  Unfortunately one of the drawbacks of sprites is their resolution and the monster sprites are sometimes atrociously bad when viewed out of battle.  Though in battle the animations are great and often funny.  The background music is decent and of course it changes with battle sequences and special situations but it is nowhere near the FF series in sophistication.  

I was amazed to see how little the game menus had changed since the days of dragon warrior one.  The bulky and unattractive multi option interface is rendered almost obsolete in this game, however due to the addition of a sort of catch all key which often performs the appropriate action without any need to make use of the interface.  Also the rudimentary artificial intelligence that is often used to control characters other than the Hero (you) can sometimes be annoying.  However, switching over to manual is always an option.  

Personally I love playing the game despite its flaws.  One of the main reasons for this is the fact that it’s just plain hard.  Spending time to build up your characters and arm them to the gills is a must.  Or you will simply end up dragging coffins behind you most of the time or worse yet keep waking up in a church.  Gold is hard to come by and most armor/weapons are fairly expensive.  But these adversities instead of hindering your enjoyment make it that much more of an accomplishment when you complete a quest or get a new skill or finally save up enough money to buy that absolutely badass sword you've been wanting.  

The game is absolutely huge and chock full of character advancement options and mini-games.  This is a game that cannot be finished in a weekend...or even a week of straight play.  While some people might take that as a challenge I suggest you take your time with this game and rediscover what role-playing games were meant to be.

Gameplay: 8
Bulky interfaces but incredible, an incredible array of options and mini-games.

Graphics: 6 
I love the sprites but their rapidly loosing their ability to compete with ever improving CG.

Sound: 7
Well done but certainly not catchy or inspiring.

Difficulty: 10
Great.  I miss having a real challenge in RPG's.

Concept: 9 
The story and scope of options in this game make it a heroic effort. 

Overall: 8
What it lacks in graphics and sound it more than makes up for in concept, difficulty, and yes, nostalgia factor.