Dragon Quest IV

Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi (Japanese: 導かれし者たち, lit. The People Who Are Shown the Way) is a role-playing game and the fourth installment of the Dragon Quest video game series. The game was originally released for the NES but was remade for the PlayStation. It begins the Tenkuu no Shiro (Castle in the Sky) trilogy.

It was originally released for the Famicom on February 11, 1990 in Japan. The North American version, titled Dragon Warrior IV, was released for the NES in December 1992.

Dragon Quest IV had a unique way of advancing the story. It was split into five chapters. The first four chapters were told from the perspective of the hero's future companions. The fifth chapter was the hero's quest. During that quest, you would meet with and join with the companions whose stories were told in earlier chapters. Then, with a full cast of companions the group would begin their journey to save the world.

The first four chapters were dedicated towards introducing motives and back-stories to the hero's companions, as well as some information on the game's antagonist, Necrosaro. Each story gives meaning and attachment to those characters. In chapter one, the royal guard Ragnar must save the missing children and in doing so uncovers a plot to kill the still young hero. In chapter two, the princess Alena tries to prove her strength and sets out on a journey with Brey and Cristo. In chapter three, the merchant Taloon (Torneko in the Japanese version) seeks wealth and treasure. In chapter four, the dancer Mara and the fortune teller Nara attempt to exact revenge on their father's murder. All four of these stories lead up to the hero's fifth and final chapter.

Unlike the previous dragon quest games however, it appears that the storyline of Dragon Quest IV does not relate to the storyline of Dragon Quest I, II, and III.

Dragon Quest IV introduced several new features over the first three titles. The new chapter-based story telling system was one of them. Also the inclusion of the, now common, casino. In addition, there were party member artificial intelligence options, which allows the player to give strategies to his party while still directly controlling the hero character. Finally, the wagon which allowed extra characters to wait and be exchanged during battle if needed.

Ports and sequels
Dragon Quest IV was remade for the PlayStation on November 22, 2001 in Japan. It was developed by Heartbeat and published by Enix. The remake was developed using the Dragon Quest VII's 3D graphics engine, but was still Dragon Quest IV's story and world. With this remake came new features. Among these features were a new chapter, a new character, an inter-party talk command similar to Dragon Quest VII, and the ability to turn off the artificial intelligence for party members. The Enix of America Corporation originally planned to bring the remake to North America in 2002, but it was later canceled due to Heartbeat closing its video game development operations.

Dragon Quest IV is the fourth game in the Dragon Quest series. The next game in the series is Dragon Quest V, which has some references to Dragon Quest IV, but is mostly an independent story.

Soundtrack
As with every Dragon Quest, Koichi Sugiyama composed the music and directed all the associated spinoffs. Here is the tracklisting of the Symphonic Suite:
 * 1) Overture (1:55)
 * 2) Minuet (3:07)
 * 3) Comrades (10:28)
 * 4) In a Town (8:16)
 * 5) Homeland ~ Wagon Wheels' March (5:58)
 * 6) Frightening Dungeons ~ Cursed Towers (5:19)
 * 7) Elegy ~ Mysterious Shrine (5:03)
 * 8) Balloon's Flight (4:32)
 * 9) Sea Breeze (4:31)
 * 10) The Unknown Castle (4:37)
 * 11) Battle for the Glory (7:51)
 * 12) The End (5:12)