Dragon Quest VI



The sixth Dragon Quest game, and the third part of the loosely-connected Zenithian trilogy. The evil demon king Murdaw has terrorized your world for too long -- while many other adventurers have challenged him and failed, never to return, you and your faithful companions are determined to succeed! Bravely, you storm his castle, charging straight for his throne room unimpeded...

...And then are swiftly defeated. To Murdaw, the three of you are nothing more than irritating flies; all you can do is watch helplessly as he dispatches your companions, then turns his attention towards you...

Then you wake up. Safe in your isolated mountaintop village, where the most exciting thing happening lately is the approaching festival honoring the mountain spirits...

But surely you don't expect things to stay peaceful, right? A simple errand quickly snowballs into your stumbling across a strange phenomenon, and before long you find yourself exploring both the Real World and the Phantom World, discovering the secrets binding them together... and gathering companions, some of whom seem strangely familiar...

Our heroes include:
 * The Hero, a spiky-haired teenager who lives in the isolated village of Weaver's Peak with his sister Tania.
 * Carver, a Bare-Fisted Monk with an unexplainable knack for carpentry.
 * Milly, a beautiful Fortune Teller/Dancer who seems to know more than she lets on.
 * Ashlynn, a Fiery Redhead searching for clues to her identity.
 * Nevan, a skilled-but-smug young boy from a reclusive tribe training to become a Priest.
 * Terry, a somewhat Jerkassy swordsman out searching for ways to become stronger.

Has been updated for a DS re-release, Realms of Revelation, also known as Realms of Reverie for its European release. Like Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, this is the first official English translation. (it was released in English in February 2011)

Dragon Quest VI contains examples of:


 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The wells in this game can get ridiculous. Some have houses in them with their own well next to them. Somnia Castle's well is a dungeon cavern accessible by boat!
 * Affably Evil - Dhuran
 * All Just a Dream -
 * Already Done for You - Early on, Terry  Later on, this is reversed when
 * Anti-Grinding - Jobs go up in rank by fighting battles, but if you're overleveled compared to the monsters in the area, those fights don't count.
 * Beef Gate: The Somnia Castle well dungeon can be partially accessed before you get full access to it, back when you are about 10-15 levels too weak for it.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Broken Bridge: To almost artistic levels thanks to the use of interlocking "no-go" terrain for the boat (land, bridges, and reefs) and for the bed/carpet (forests, hills, and mountains). The interlocking rings of access after the first part of the game must've taken a lot of effort to design.
 * Call Back: As in Dragon Quest III, there is an old man at the Shrine of Dharma/Alltrades Abbey who wants to turn into a little girl.
 * Can't Drop the Hero: Strangely, this applies to Ashlynn as well as the Hero, despite the fact that all events involving her are optional, and, like even the Hero, it is optional to have her in the main party of four. This may be a failed attempt to avoid the player being Strangled By the Red String.
 * Chekhov's Boomerang -.
 * Continuity Cameo:
 * Cool Boat - How about a ?
 * Cool Ship - Or how about a ?
 * Also a Shout-Out to.
 * Copy Protection - Playing an unpatched pirate copy results in the opening dream sequence looping over and over infinitely.
 * Crapsack World - The Dread Realm/Dark World, so much so that literally just being there smacks you with a massive stat penalty until a certain event.
 * Curb Stomp Battle - You vs. Murdaw at the start of the game. Also,
 * Cut and Paste Environments - The bonus dungeon.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy -
 * Deal With the Devil -
 * Demon Lords and Archdevils
 * Despair Event Horizon - wields this as a weapon, pushing victims past this point.
 * Disc One Final Dungeon -
 * Like Your Princess Is in Another Castle below, this is a bit of a minor example, considering
 * Do Not Call Me Paul - Captain Blade of the Somnian army really does not like his original name "Rusty".
 * Dropped a Bridge On Him - Subverted
 * Dub Name Change - Hassan became Carver, Mireyu became Milly, Chamoro is Nevan, and Barbara is now Ashlynn. Further, Mudo is now Murdaw, Deathtamoor becomes Mortamor, Dark Dream is Nokturnus, and the kingdom of Reidock becomes Somnia. (Terry is still Terry and Amos is still Amos, though.)
 * Minor characters now also have their names changed, mostly to botanical themes or Punny Names.
 * Most strikingly, puff-puff also received this. It is not a Bowdlerization; the context is still there, unlike in Dragon Quest IV DS, but after two decades of just transliterating it, they gave it a new name: pattycake. The Gadabout's level 4 skill, Puff-Puff, kept its name, however.
 * The Spanish translation also changes a lot of names, with the most notably being Terry's rename to Norris, likely because he can use Roundhouse Kick.
 * Electric Jellyfish: The Man O' War enemies (which are clearly just Palette Swapped Healslimes) produce electricity from their tentacles during their attack animations.
 * Elemental Punch: The Flame Slash, Lightning Slash, Kacrackle Slash, and Gust Slash abilities.
 * Escort Mission: What "Howard the Coward" has every right to be afraid of.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Dhuran, one of the 4 Dread Fiends, heals your team prior to battling you, claiming it's no fun for him to fight strong foes in their weakened state.
 * Evil Is Not a Toy:
 * Expy: Dhuran shares many similarities to Rubicante.
 * Five-Bad Band: The Dread Fiends.
 * Big Bad: Archfiend Mortamor
 * The Dragon: Murdaw
 * The Brute: Blackmar
 * Evil Genius: Dhuran
 * Dark Chick: Jamirus
 * Five-Man Band: Not counting the optional party members:
 * The Hero: The... Hero.
 * The Lancer: Ashlynn
 * The Big Guy: Carver
 * The Smart Guy: Nevan
 * The Chick: Milly
 * The Sixth Ranger: Terry
 * Genki Girl: Ashlynn, so much.
 * Global Airship: The white Pegasus.
 * Hello, Insert Name Here: As is normal for Dragon Quest, you enter a name for The Hero at the start of the game, while the others can eventually be renamed after.
 * Heroic Sacrifice -
 * I Am Who? - Let's just say this is used a lot...
 * I Have No Son -
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Especially in the Isle o' Smiles arc, it is implied that monsters eat people. Why else do they call their captives "meat."
 * Improbable Weapon User - Monsters using forged fangs makes sense. Terry using the Orihalcum Fangs does not. Lampshaded in some Fan Art and given a Hand Wave by some as Rule of Funny.
 * Ineffectual Loner - Terry subverts this, as he's actually a talented swordsman who can stand on his own.
 * Infinity-1 Sword:
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Carver, most notably. Arguably Nevan, as while his heart is definitely in the right place, his first scene shows him to be pretty full of himself.
 * Kick the Dog - In Port Haven, Ivy tries to get her romantic rival Ella in trouble by poisoning the dog she's supposed to care for. This doesn't end well for anyone.
 * Lost Forever -
 * Lotus Eater Machine: The party is suspicious of the Isle of Smiles, and suspect it may be this.
 * Loyal Animal Companion: In one dream city, you see a man grieving at the grave of someone he calls his best friend and master; when you visit the real world equivalent, it turns out he is in fact the departed's dog.
 * Magikarp Power - Ashlynne is extremely weak at first, especially if you make her first vocation a Mage, but with enough work and patience to make her a Sage (and possibly Armamentalist), she becomes the best spellcaster in the game with devastating offensive spells and healing spells on par with (or possibly even exceeding) Nevan.
 * Magic Knight - Several character classes combine both magic and fighting ability, most notably the Paladin, Armamentalist, and Hero classes.
 * Mighty Glacier: Carver fits this mold, with excellent HP and strength but the lowest speed of any human PC. So does the Warrior class, which boosts HP, strength, and resilience but sharply lowers speed.
 * My God, What Have I Done?:
 * Murder the Hypotenuse: Ivy doesn't go as far as murder, but she does try to defame her. And she succeeds, until you become visible and are able to tell the mayor what really happened.
 * Mythology Gag: A meta example. Those in the west who played the first Dragon Quest Monsters will finally be able to learn the full story behind
 * In a bookshelf in Port Haven, there's a diary written by either the PC of Dragon Quest V or someone in an extremely similar situation, debating who to marry.
 * Nightmare Fuel: In-universe example: The prisoner in Arkbolt says this about the growling of the Hacksaurus in the cell next to him. Yes, he actually says the phrase "nightmare fuel". Carver also names Pretty Spry for A Dead Guy in party chat after talking to the guard guarding the Hacksaurus's cage. Evidently one of the translators was a troper who couldn't resist...
 * Non-Indicative Name: You'd think that the Armamentalist skill Lightning Slash and the Luminary skill Lightning would be Lightning-elemental, but they aren't. They actually share the same element as the Bang line of spells.
 * No Ontological Inertia:
 * Not the Fall That Kills You: Our heroes can survive falling several yards into the other world through a chasm completely unscathed. Even earlier, they can survive a multiple-story fall in a cave.
 * Not Quite the Right Thing: In Scrimsley, telling Amos about might seem like a good idea, despite the game's reluctance to let you, but if you do so,.
 * Only Six Faces: A major criticism of the game at the time -- Akira Toriyama was right in the middle of his Dragon Ball Z run, and Goku/Trunks/etc was bleeding out into all his character designs. Contrast the art and character designs of Dragon Quest VII, which was done after his infamous split with his publisher.
 * Oracular Urchin: Nevan is a male example who changes his tune about your party slightly after sensing your importance. Also, much earlier,
 * Our Mermaids Are Different: While the mermaids in this game physically resemble Western mermaids, the Japanese legend that mermaid meat grants eternal youth also exists.
 * Overrated and Underleveled: Terry suffers from this; while stated to have defeated several guards that you took down as a party and was shown to easily beat a very strong monster by himself, by the time he joins, he is more or less an average party member with an advanced job and strong weapon. It doesn't help that immediately after acquiring him you can use him to get another party member who--even at level 5--is better in almost every category except agility and style and starts out with the rare and useful Dragon job and could very easily fit into your party immediately.
 * Pegasus Was My Cart-Mule
 * Peninsula of Power Leveling: When it comes to leveling vocations (not so much Character Levels; Metal Slime-infested areas would be better for that), the Spiegelspire has relatively weak monsters when it is accessible in the game (assuming you aren't underleveled), but lacks the level requirements of most areas in the game, so beating monsters up here is a quick way to master vocations. It's even possible to zoom there for an easy way to get to and from Alltrades Abbey from there.
 * Preorder Bonus: For the US DS release, GameStop offered a plush Slime with reservation.
 * Prestige Class: A number of vocations like Gladiator, Armamentalist, Paladin, Sage, Ranger, and Luminary require mastering basic jobs first. The Hero class one-ups them by requiring mastery of the advanced jobs,.
 * Rape As Drama:
 * Rhymes On a Dime: The mermaids.
 * Secret Character:  Also,
 * In the Updated Rerelease, there are a number of "Slime Buddies" for you to do little sidequests for. Each joins after their respective quest is done.
 * Ship Tease: Ashlynn and Milly hint throughout the game that the Hero and Carver are their types, respectively.
 * Shout-Out: Milly mentions that a castle floating in the sky would make a great subject for a painting.
 * Skippable Boss:
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Mt. Snowhere.
 * Along with not one, but TWO dungeons that have Frictionless Ice.
 * Spell My Name With an "S" - Mireyu/Mireille/Muriel/etc... The localization went for 'Milly'.
 * Which is a borderline Regional Bonus/Broken Base for non-Japanese speakers who have debated her name since DQ6 and Dragon Warrior Monsters first came out. At least it was finally reached. You can rename her after you get Lorelei's Harp, anyway.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers -
 * Stealth Based Mission: Following Rod through Pescado and Mermaid's Cave.
 * Stealth Pun: So stealthy that this troper isn't certain it's there. Milly and Terry are brother and sister. Try putting their names together.
 * Squishy Wizard - Ashlynn, Milly, and Nevan all fall under this for their first dozen levels, but the vocation system allows them all to avert this trope. The 'Mage' class you unlock in Alltrades Abbey fits this to a T.
 * Taken for Granite: This is what Murdaw does to intruders.
 * Teens Are Short: Though canonically fifteen, Prince Howard's sprite looks very similar to the "little kid" sprite.
 * Tempting Fate: The guy in the striped shirt in the event  trips over his bootlaces twice running for the . He decides to ignore it after the second time, declaring "I'm living dangerously!" Of course, he ends up being
 * Third Person Person - "Old Amos" and Madame Luca
 * Too Dumb to Live: King Falle of Castle Graceskull. When the world is under attack by monsters, what does he do?
 * Took a Level In Badass: As he reveals in Party Chat, when Amos was little, he was called a coward. That's the whole reason he got into the town hero business.
 * Used to Be A Sweet Kid: Life between Dragon Quest Monsters and Dragon Quest VI was not kind to Terry or his sister. Despite her having it even worse, it's Terry who gets hit by this trope the hardest- to the point that it becomes an unintentional Player Punch to those Americans who were only familiar with his cute and kindhearted kid incarnation.
 * Useless Useful Spell: Most of the large pick of status based spells in the game are useless due to not being effective on bosses and sub-bosses. Also some attack spells are also not as useful as they could be, due to only hitting more than one enemy when they are grouped. But of course your party is always considered a group meaning when a enemy casts your whole party can take massive damage.
 * Under the Sea
 * Ungrateful Bastard -
 * Voluntary Shapeshifter -
 * Wasted Song - Brave Fight, which only plays when battling when he Turns Red. It doesn't help that despite the fact that his guest appearance in Dragon Quest IX would have been a suitable place to put the song in a fight that can be fought repeatedly, the standard Dragon Quest VI boss music plays instead (leading to the awkward situation of VI's boss theme being played during two battles instead of just one, because  appears as well and has the same music during his fight).
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?:
 * The fact that humans see nothing wrong with going out and killing mermaids for their meat (or using them as tourist attractions) despite the fact that they look like beautiful women with mermaid tails shows that this trope is clearly in effect.
 * When Terry joins your party, you get asked whether you want to boot someone from the party to make room for him, but when the monsters join, they're automatically sent off to the party planning place.
 * If you have a slime-only party at Slimeopolis, you're not allowed to battle without your "master" present.
 * Worthy Opponent: Dhuran considers you this. Nice to be respected, even by a Dread Fiend, isn't it?
 * Yakuza - The Gandino clan of Felonia.
 * You All Look Familiar - In the original,
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The hero.
 * You Know What They Say: Lampshaded by Ashlynn during Party Chat after talking to an old man in the first Somnia after defeating Murdaw for the first time.
 * You Can See Me?: From the party when they first meet Milly, and from Ashlynn when the party first meets her.
 * You Can't Fight Fate:
 * Youkai: On Mt. Snowhere lives a Yuki-onna named Gerda.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle:
 * You Can't Fight Fate:
 * Youkai: On Mt. Snowhere lives a Yuki-onna named Gerda.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: