Namasura
Smash Journeyman
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2019
- Messages
- 246
Satisfaction
Hero: 95%
On one side, I am very biased, Dragon Quest is the first series to be in Smash that I have consumed compulsively, having played almost every single DQ and DQ spin-off under the sun. On the other, I am extremely nitpicky and I care a lot about the soul of the work, which is why a remake one of my favorite games, Spyro, isn't a 100% from me. If Hero had arrived with DQ11 content and looking half-assed, I would be mad.
Thankfully, we do not live in such timeline. When luminary was shown, I was a bit worried, for the first few seconds there was no hint if this couldn't be a cloud-like deal. Then the light shines, Dragon Quest 3 music starts to play, and to join the Hero of 11, comes the heroes of 8, 4 and 3! All characters I have known for years, all characters from games I loved, immediately my memory flooded back to 15 years ago when a much younger me would gawk at a magazine talking about this "Dragon Quest 8" game that just looked so different from the everything else, that was either too edgy or too pastel.
The characters picked for DQ were pinpoint to cause such feelings, each one representing a generation (Erdrick for the 80s, as the climax of the Erdrick trilogy of DQ1-3. Solo as the start of the Zenithian trilogy of the 90s. Eight for the 2000s and the Luminary for the 2010s.)
And Sakurai didn't stop delivering. I wanted the menu, I don't care if its slow, Dragon Quest is a slow game, you have to make gambits and consider what approach you will pick, the menu provides that and makes the heroes a true classic JRPG rep. The spells like zoom were making their classic NES noises, the music was orchestral and DQ Hero came as a franchise rep, like MegaMan, with every hero appearing for the last attack. The alt costumes change colors for real, unlike the last SE character. This is as close to a perfect representation as we can get, I hope they keep delivering in the spirits and music.
-5% though because in many DQ games you can pick a female or male alt and the fanbase of DQ is a 50/50 split in Japan, so my one nitpick was that they could have picked the female hero of DQ4, Sofia, over the male, Solo.
Banjo: 80%
I have said multiple times, if there was someone who needed to kick open the floodgate of western characters, it had to be Banjo. I am not hot on the 64, but I also try to expand my tastes and tolerance beyond something as shallow as just what I personally love. Banjo is a series with a lot of history on Nintendo, and such history as well as the long history of their fans asking for them to 'come home' was celebrated masterfully in the trailers. The nods to rare, the music, the love, its the sort of thing that makes you feel happy for the fellas even if they aren't your most wanted.
That said, I didn't like the model we have seen so far, it feels a bit weird, I hope it is polished before the release, which seems likely, if that is changed my satisfaction will be way higher.
Hero: 95%
On one side, I am very biased, Dragon Quest is the first series to be in Smash that I have consumed compulsively, having played almost every single DQ and DQ spin-off under the sun. On the other, I am extremely nitpicky and I care a lot about the soul of the work, which is why a remake one of my favorite games, Spyro, isn't a 100% from me. If Hero had arrived with DQ11 content and looking half-assed, I would be mad.
Thankfully, we do not live in such timeline. When luminary was shown, I was a bit worried, for the first few seconds there was no hint if this couldn't be a cloud-like deal. Then the light shines, Dragon Quest 3 music starts to play, and to join the Hero of 11, comes the heroes of 8, 4 and 3! All characters I have known for years, all characters from games I loved, immediately my memory flooded back to 15 years ago when a much younger me would gawk at a magazine talking about this "Dragon Quest 8" game that just looked so different from the everything else, that was either too edgy or too pastel.
The characters picked for DQ were pinpoint to cause such feelings, each one representing a generation (Erdrick for the 80s, as the climax of the Erdrick trilogy of DQ1-3. Solo as the start of the Zenithian trilogy of the 90s. Eight for the 2000s and the Luminary for the 2010s.)
And Sakurai didn't stop delivering. I wanted the menu, I don't care if its slow, Dragon Quest is a slow game, you have to make gambits and consider what approach you will pick, the menu provides that and makes the heroes a true classic JRPG rep. The spells like zoom were making their classic NES noises, the music was orchestral and DQ Hero came as a franchise rep, like MegaMan, with every hero appearing for the last attack. The alt costumes change colors for real, unlike the last SE character. This is as close to a perfect representation as we can get, I hope they keep delivering in the spirits and music.
-5% though because in many DQ games you can pick a female or male alt and the fanbase of DQ is a 50/50 split in Japan, so my one nitpick was that they could have picked the female hero of DQ4, Sofia, over the male, Solo.
Banjo: 80%
I have said multiple times, if there was someone who needed to kick open the floodgate of western characters, it had to be Banjo. I am not hot on the 64, but I also try to expand my tastes and tolerance beyond something as shallow as just what I personally love. Banjo is a series with a lot of history on Nintendo, and such history as well as the long history of their fans asking for them to 'come home' was celebrated masterfully in the trailers. The nods to rare, the music, the love, its the sort of thing that makes you feel happy for the fellas even if they aren't your most wanted.
That said, I didn't like the model we have seen so far, it feels a bit weird, I hope it is polished before the release, which seems likely, if that is changed my satisfaction will be way higher.
. To be honest, I was initially disappointed because I thought that meant we weren't getting Banjo-Kazooie, although I held onto my hopes for a second reveal and we got 'em; nothing against DQ, it's just I'm not as attached to it as B-K, y'know, but I still found Hero and the DQ stuff cool and interesting, as I said.
