Dragon Quest V



The fifth installment of the Dragon Quest series, and second in the Zenithian trilogy. Spanning some thirty years, you guide the Silent Protagonist from childhood to adulthood as he follows his father's quest for the Legendary Hero. Along the way, he chooses which of two (or three) beautiful young women to take as his bride: his Childhood Friend Romance Bianca, the sweet and sheltered Flora/Nera, or the commanding Debora. She then joins his travels and gives him two lovely children

A deeply moving and great story following a boy through his life, with the addition of Mons (for the better, and this game preceded Pokémon) an element not seen in other Dragon Quest games. It is the favorite of Yuji Horii, the creator of the series, and stands as very nearly the best-reviewed and critically-respected game of the entire franchise.

"Ghost Boss: Oh come now. No need to be rude."
 * Adaptation Expansion: Bishop Ladja gets considerably more screentime and involvement in the plot in The Remake than in the original.
 * To elaborate, in The Remake
 * Party chat will also flesh out your human party members since all of them will have something to say nearly every time you talk to someone, visit somewhere, or after a event.
 * And I Must Scream is stuck as a statue for eight years in DQV, as is  It is explicitly stated they were aware of everything that was occurring during that time.
 * This could mean that either was the only aware one, or that the player is only shown what's happening to them in order to set up plot-points for the next section of the game.
 * The Anime of the Game: Manga for this matter, Dragon Quest: Tenkuu Monogatari is a 12 Volume manga, released in 1997, centered on Bianca and The Hero's children, named Sora (Sky) and Ten (Heaven) in this adaptation, adding a Theme Naming for the Heavenly Bride title of the original game, it serves more as an Adaptation Expansion for the children since they venture through many original adventures not present in none of the games while their parents are Demoted to Extra. Unfortunately, Tenkuu Monogatari (Sky Tales) was not released outside Japan, and has no Fan Translation to boot.
 * Arbitrary Headcount Limit: 3 in the original, 4 in the remake.
 * And the number can be pushed up to 8 when you have a caravan, though you can't bring it everywhere and some enemies will prevent you from swapping members. But those in the caravan still get full experience from battles.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking:
 * Badass Family:
 * Badass Pregnant:Your spouse can be this if she's in your battle party in the mountain passage on the way to Gotha.
 * Badass Spaniard: Sancho, though he's more goofy than badass at times.
 * Betty and Veronica: Bianca and Nera don't really qualify for this; instead, Bianca and DS-exclusive Debora fill these roles.
 * Black Magician Girl: Subverted. Nera has a personality type more closely associated with that of a White Magician Girl, but her stat growth and equipment selection, coupled with the fact that most of her spells are offensive in nature, lands her squarely in this role.
 * Bonus Boss: Not including the later Video Game Remakes of earlier games this was the first Dragon Quest to have one of these; as well as an accompanying Bonus Dungeon.
 * Break the Haughty: Prince Harry goes through this, what with being kidnapped
 * But Thou Must!: Since this is from the same series as the Trope Namer, it shouldn't be surprising that it appears at some point. In fact, during the childhood section Harry is meta as hell about this: the first time you talk to him, he'll ask you if you want to be his goon/lackey/etc. Refuse and he'll classically But Thou Must! you. Accept, and... he tells you to scram anyway.
 * The worst one of them all is right after the first boss. He's begging for his life and forgiveness, which he doesn't deserve, seeing of course that he kept spirits from moving on for personal entertainment, and tried to have you eaten. You say no...
 * The worst one of them all is right after the first boss. He's begging for his life and forgiveness, which he doesn't deserve, seeing of course that he kept spirits from moving on for personal entertainment, and tried to have you eaten. You say no...

"Zzz... Sisterzzz are doing it for... Zzz..."
 * Cap: Annoyingly, many monsters have a level cap lower than that of the human characters (who all can reach level 99). However, the only way to find out in-game if they've hit it is to go to a Save Point and ask how far they have until their next level. Guide Dang It!
 * Caustic Critic: Third generation will spawn a knick knack critic on the top floor of the knackatory. Put any knick knack on the stand and talk to him. Then party chat, and laugh.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: The DS remake turns Nera, Deborah and Rodrigo Briscoletti into this.
 * Chess Motifs: The DS localization is full of these, from the titles of various bosses to Mt. Zugzwang.
 * Childhood Friend Romance: Bianca, especially an Unlucky Childhood Friend in the SNES version. Crispin Burns as well if you choose to marry Nera.
 * However, her unlucky status is subverted somewhat in the DS remake where Bianca ends up with multiple suitors interested in her if not chosen, while Crispin ends up happily married even if you married Nera.
 * In either case, you determine whether Bianca becomes either a Victorious or Unlucky Childhood Friend.
 * The Chosen One:
 * Collection Sidequest: The PlayStation 2 and the DS versions includes Knick-knacks. Lots of Knick-knacks. Some of which can be used equipment.
 * Coming of Age Story: The story of Dragon Quest V is a 'bildungsroman' revolving around the growth of the Silent Protagonist from a newborn to a boy, from a boy to a man, and from a man to a father.
 * Cutscene Power to the Max: Ladja's giant instant kill fireball of DOOM.
 * The animation used for said giant instant kill fireball is also used for the Kafrizzle spell. Considering that Kafrizzle is a really powerful single-target spell (often over 150 damage, which is a lot in this game), it could potentially be just as deadly outside of cutscenes.
 * Also worth noting that both victims were already beaten to near death either by the party or his bodyguards.
 * Using the Magma Staff to clear the path to Diggery Pokery. You level a small mountain with it, but it does piddling damage in combat since spells cast for free from items do half damage.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Debora at times. While talking with the critic of the Knick Knacks, party chat with your children often leads to this.
 * Death by Childbirth: The beginning of the game has what is basically the classic setup for this.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: All the party's potential Monster Allies are requited by this.
 * The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: The "Talk" feature in the DS version. Every human character has something unique to say for each NPC you talk to or after each plot event. This leads to some great Character Development, which was sorely lacking in the original.
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: Bianca's fate in the original game if you didn't marry her. This is thankfully averted in the PlayStation 2 and DS remakes.
 * Earlier than that, we have the "Harry's been kidnapped" plotline.
 * Disappeared Dad:
 * Disc One Nuke: The Metal King Sword you can get at the Casino in Fortuna really IS the most powerful sword in the game. And you can get as many of them as you want if you don't mind a bit of slot machine grinding. Plus, a lot of people can equip the sword, even the Slime! It's stronger than the Zenithian Blade and every casino carries a unlimited number of them. With some Save Scumming, you can get the 50K tokens needed to buy one.
 * Not only that, but get the Caravan and recruit a Golem, equip it on him and you already got a damned tank which can more or less just replace your hero.
 * Those two examples border on Game Breaker, and the Golem is gotten a fair bit too late to be considered a DON. For some straighter examples that also fall under Crutch Character, two monsters recruitable near the beginning are the Rotten Apple, which has amazing stats for that point in the game, but caps at level 20 (though is still fairly good for a while longer), and the Slime Knight, which is pretty much a second Hero for the party, though its stats tend to falter later on (when the Son fills the same role anyways, and is much better at it).
 * The Slime can become one. It can equip the Metal King equipment, and learns the Kabuff and Kasap spells early on.
 * Dub Name Change: A lot.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: The protagonist goes through a lot of hell on his way to living happily ever after.
 * Evil Chancellor: He does get what's coming to him, though.
 * Express Delivery: When you arrive in Gotha, your wife is pregnant but still not showing. By the time you finish a very short side-trip mission to a nearby cave, she's ready to give birth to twins after less than 2-4 in-game days unless you dawdle.
 * First Girl Wins: Bianca, if (when) you choose her.
 * Five-Bad Band: the Order of Zugzwang's main leadership.
 * Big Bad: Grandmaster Nimzo, the human turned demon ruler of the Dark World. Worshiped as a god by the Order.
 * The Dragon: Bishop Ladja, Nimzo's apparently Russian right hand who is more evil than his boss.
 * The Brutes: Kon and Slon, Ladja's personal bodyguards/enforcers.
 * Evil Genius: King Korol, the High Priest of the Order who manages their temple in the Human World.
 * Dark Chick: Queen Ferz, the High Priestess of the Order and a master illusionist.
 * Fourth Date Marriage: At one point in the plot, you're required to marry one of three women, two of which the hero barely knows, and the third is someone that he never had much opportunity to date (though at least he'd known her when they were children.)
 * Friend to All Living Things: You can fill out your party with recruited monsters. How do you get them to join? Beat them up, of course.
 * The daughter play this straight.
 * Gameplay and Story Integration: However, there's a neat instance of the other side of the coin. Think about all the bad fortune that befalls our hero... ... and then, during gameplay, when he levels up? You'll notice his luck stat just about never goes up. His luck stat is the lowest in the game.
 * In the childhood section of the game, when Pankraz is with you, you can't control your movement at all, you can't choose to initiate dialogue, you can't do anything but follow right behind him on autopilot. Well, of course you can't do anything; he's your dad, he's the party leader, not you. You're a secondary party member when he's around!
 * In one of the most meta moments in the series, Pankraz makes the mistake every player has in a 2-d RPG: accidentally stepping back onto a stairs icon and ending up in the previous screen. Jarring for him as one step sent him down an entire underground stairway and hilariously awkward for you as the party member who follows without a word. This was sadly not as funny for the remake where there is no longer a 2D icon to fumble with on the way to Coburg.
 * The game actually does Lampshade Hanging the fact that resurrection can happen in this setting. So, if characters get Killed Off for Real, the narrative makes sure they're either Deader Than Dead or otherwise indisposed.
 * When you get married, instead of 'death til you part', it's 'until resurrection in the church.'
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: In perhaps the oddest example of this trope and a complete inversion of the usual Take Your Time present in this game, a series of events that can take the player roughly a couple hours to get through is implied to take two YEARS . This happens at least twice in the game, in addition to normal story time skips. (The last era of the game is explicitly mentioned to have taken two years.)
 * A rather more disappointing example:  is the legendary hero, so you'd expect his stats would at least notably decent. They aren't. He is outclassed by , a mage, in every category but Strength, and dwarfed in every category by   (who is twenty years older, but come on, they're the same level!).
 * Extremely minor example: Why can't the hero's sprite ever show him wearing the red-and-gold cape after ? It would look significantly cooler than that old purple one.
 * Would you wear a royal cape to battle?
 * Yes!
 * Gasshole: The ferret enemies are constantly farting, about once per second. Interestingly, while most have gas attacks, they breathe the gas, rather than using it as a form of Fartillery.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: While you can't recruit every monster in the game, you can recruit many, many more than you're likely to ever actually use. You can at least catch one palette of every monster. The Big Book of Monsters tells you what monsters can be recruited, and the chances.
 * Gratuitous Foreign Language: Several characters, but most notably Sancho and Bishop Ladja. Nimzo actually takes it a step further by not only talking with a Russian accent, but also using a bizarre form of Cyrillic alphabet leetspeak.
 * Guilt Based Gaming: Let's not mince words: The game expects you to marry Bianca and uses every available opportunity to remind you that you really should marry you childhood friend over Flora. Among other things back in the SNES version, Bianca's father would die and you got stuck with a character who was severely underleveled and took up a party slot if you married Flora instead.
 * It's worse than that; Flora has gated level cap of Lv10 (normally Lv99 for human PCs) for the rest of the second generation (The hero's level would usually be around that high no more than an hour into the game, and the marriage is about 8~10 hours into the game), and would often disregard commands in battles unless another party member attacks her. Flora's in-battle behavior would also imply that she might not have loved the Hero at all, which would make the whole thing even more of a Player Punch.
 * It works. Most players of the Super Nintendo version, if they ever pick Flora at all, only do to see the minor story differences, then go back to the previous save and pick Bianca.
 * This is prevalent enough ALL the SNES guides in GameFAQs go with the Bianca route.
 * Was thankfully radically changed in the DS remake: besides missing out some events or dialogues, picking a bride over the other two doesn't make anything particularly bad happen.
 * Have You Seen My God?:
 * Hello, Insert Name Here: Along with naming your hero, you can rename your recruited monsters. You get to name your kids, too.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Subverted with the main character, as he's shown wielding a staff both in his sprites and in official art.
 * Most of his weapons are still swords, though.
 * Averted in his special weapon, the dragonstaff. He's the only one who can equip it, it's only a little weaker than the Metal King sword, and in later works, he can be seen wielding it.
 * Heroic Mime: The protagonist is silent like nearly all other Dragon Quest games. However, Dragon Quest V subverts this trope by later revealing that the Silent Protagonist is in fact  but that it is his
 * There's also the fact that early on in the game, when you meet, he's not silent. Neither is   when you meet him later in the game.
 * If you take Debora to the hot springs in Stockenbarrel and use Party Chat, the Hero will 'talk'. It's just '.....', but he doesn't like the heat.
 * A Hero Is Born:
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: The very first fight against Bishop Ladja. He actually secretly regenerates about 200 HP per turn, which is far more than (most) characters can deal at that point in the game. Even if you manage to beat him, the game continues as if you lost. And besides, once the main character dies, the battle ends.
 * Kon starts out as this. You can only do 1 point of damage. (Even with the Disc One Nuke) Just guard for three turns.
 * Hope Spot: Hey, Hero! Your mother's alive and waiting to be saved!
 * Hey, Hero! You just got married, got the shield that your father searched for, and just became king with two hiers!
 * Ho Yay: Sancho really admires Pankraz.
 * Improbable Age: The hero starts his adventuring career at six. His children, on the other hand, wait until the ripe old age of eight.
 * It Got Worse: Not the game.
 * I Will Find You: The whole main plot resolves around this.
 * Just a Stupid Accent: Sancho's accent implies that his native language is Spanish, but aside from in the Spanish translation of the game (for obvious reasons) he never speaks it in full sentences. Bianca's accent dings this for some people, as well, slipping between British-English and Australian.
 * For the record, Sancho uses Mexican Spanish in the Spanish translation.
 * Villagers of the small village called Hay speak the way that it's too painful to read or to understand at all. Granted, even in the original they were kansai to a ludicrous degree.
 * Subverted in the case that you're traveling the world, and meeting many different people with many different accents. Of course you're going to run into some people you can't understand their accents.
 * Killed Off for Real:
 * Lampshade Hanging: Instead of "as long as you both shall live" marriage vows are sworn "for so long as you both shall be resurrected from death in the church".
 * Or, in the DS version, talk to Deborah in the third act if you married someone else. She'll say that you missed her chance with her, unless you had a switch to turn back time and confessed your love to her to a priest or something.
 * Last Girl Wins: Nera/Flora in the original, either her or Debora in the remake.
 * Made a Slave
 * Magikarp Power: A few of the monsters that can hit level 99 have extremely high stat growth and/or learn incredibly powerful abilities at the highest levels. To little surprise, slimes are one of them.
 * The three selectable girls count as well. Each one starts out filling a niche party role, but at the highest levels, their stat growths in other areas catch up and they wind up being differentiated only by what equipment they can use. For example, Debora can use stronger weapons, like the Hera Hammer.
 * Master of Illusion: Queen Ferz
 * Meaningful Name:  With a name like that, who saw it coming?
 * The Canon Names for the hero and his children count: Madason is the son of Mada, while Parry and Madchen are derived from their grandparents Pankraz and Mada.
 * Mini Game: Tons, especially in the DS remake. Slots, poker, the monster arena, the slurpodrome, the tombola drawings, the "Bruise the Ooze" machine in Debora's room, and especially the T'n'T boards, the last of which is monstrously complex and very aptly termed "Stark Raving". All are optional.
 * Mirror Monologue: By looking into a mirror, a character will interact with it. There's a different reaction for each character, so use Line-up under Misc. in the start menu to mess around different characters.
 * Missing Mom: Mada.
 * Modern Minstrelsy: The official English translation portrays Sancho as a dreadful Mexican stereotype (who apparently cooks a mean paella).
 * Monster Allies: Which must be beaten first in battle.
 * They will join you...if you fight them a certain number of times.
 * Monster Protection Racket: The player is accused of this.
 * New Age Retro Hippie: Granny Knot and others at the somewhat misnamed Knot Welcome Inne.
 * Obstructive Foreground: Common in certain maps and locations for the original SNES game, happens in dungeons and cities which had long invisible corridors inside of what would appear to be normal walls (A example would be the Gotha Castle, having a secret door right to the priest.), the simple 2D maps will confuse players during their first stay in the area; the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 versions averts this by having more detailed maps and camera movement.
 * Official Couple: The main character/Bianca since all official deceptions of Parry and Madchen have them with blonde hair. In the game, they have blonde hair only if their mother is Bianca. Also all versions of the game (SNES/PlayStation 2/NDS) features just the Hero and Bianca in the cover, some variations only add their kids and Pankraz/Papas.
 * The commercials for all three releases prove this.
 * And the characters in the game nudges you like crazy to
 * One Size Fits All:
 * As is the norm for the Dragon Quest series and RPGs in general, but it's funny to give Bianca back the same clothes & armor that she wore as an 8 year old when you next meet her again as an adult or to swap armor with your own son.
 * Also used in-story for Zenithian helmet, which resizes itself to fit the Chosen One.
 * Perpetual Frowner: The Hero, as an adult, in the PlayStation 2 version, despite having shown all kinds of gentle expressions in official art, his 3D model for the game looks quite angry most of the time.
 * Prince Charmless: Prince Harry starts out as a total Spoiled Brat with a Freudian Excuse; in his defense, he's about six, and he gets better.
 * Proper Lady: Flora/Nera.
 * An unusual case in that for once her type is significantly less popular among the Japanese fanbase than her romantic rival. Largely due to the Guilt Based Gaming of the original version.
 * Debora mentions this trope by name, but refuses to fall into it.
 * Random Encounters: In lieu with the first Dragon Quest games, Dragon Quest V for SNES was no different, the random encounter rate is just absurd, making Level Grinding absolutely unnecessary for average players; the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 versions thankfully toned down the encounter rate, they were released in times where Random Encounters became a Discredited Trope, so no reason to piss off modern and old frustrated gamers.
 * Religion of Evil: The Order of Zugzwang.
 * The Remake: It got two:
 * The PlayStation 2 release, complete overhaul with 3D graphics, expanded background on some characters, allowing four characters in the same party instead of just three, new monsters to fight and recruit, and the addition of local trinkets museum where the player has to collect local specialties from all around the world, return the items back to Yuujii, and receive rewards for them.
 * The Nintendo DS release, it got all extras from the PlayStation 2 version minus the complete 3D graphics engine, but the most valuable addition was the introduction of Debora, a new possible bride for the hero.
 * The Reveal:
 * Rich Bitch: Debora, who may or may not have a golden heart under all that jewelry.
 * Debora spends about 90% of the marriage being an ungrateful, insane slave-driver not unlike those that imprisoned the Hero earlier, but by the time she witnesses for herself the final major tragedy in his in-game life, her tune changes and she vows to make Nimzo pay for what he did to her husband. It's worth putting up her attitude all the way to the end just to see it.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: As usual for this series.
 * Also slightly played with, due to the fact that said royals leaving tends to result in a kingdom not doing too well when they're gone, and many characters questioning whether taking off and leaving the kingdom without a ruler is a smart thing to do when they have so many subjects already willing to help.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: Bjorn the Behemoose.
 * Shoo the Dog: Ladja tries to do this to your pet Sabercat.
 * Shout-Out:
 * King Albert and his chancellor Jeeves -- aka Jeeves and Wooster.
 * Grandmaster Nimzo is named after Aron Nimzowitsch, a Latvian-born Danish unofficial grandmaster of chess. All of Nimzo's minions are named after chess pieces.
 * In one plot event, many citizens of Gotha are passed out on the floor. One of them, a nun, says the following in her sleep:

"Count Uptaten: Easy as vun, ha ha ha, twooo, ha ha ha, zree!"
 * The Mysterious Dr Agon has many of Ned Flanders' verbal tics.
 * One plot-based item is dubbed the 'Circle of Life'. When the psychic in Fortuna mentions it, she calls it "that toe-tapping number, the Cir-cle of Li-i-ife" despite it being a ring- not a song.
 * Later on, when the player actually collects the ring, the standard Get Item message box is altered slightly- instead it says "It's the Circle of Life", a line direct from the song.
 * The ghostly Count Uptaten seems to enjoy imitating Sesame Street's Count von Count. Of course, with a name like Count Up-To-Ten, it's probably expected.


 * At the beginning of the game, Pankraz will suggest naming the main character Madason. If you actually choose that as your name, he will instead suggest Erdrick.
 * King Korol. Say it out loud.
 * Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Nera.
 * Silent Protagonist:
 * Spare to the Throne: Appears twice.
 * Prince Harry's half-brother, Wilbur, never wanted to be king, but his mother orchestrates Harry's kidnapping, forcing Wilbur onto the throne so she can be Queen Dowager. When Harry returns ten years later, Wilbur is desperate to hand it over to him, and is completely stunned when Harry refuses.
 * In Gotha, Albert only rose to the throne after his elder brother disappeared; though he has done a far better job than Wilbur, he's still a Reluctant Ruler who immediately tries to hand the reins over to the just-arrived heir, despite the fact that his newly rediscovered nephew has only just learned of his Secret Legacy and has had about zero training as a ruler.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Nimzo/Mirudraas/Mildrath. Ladja/Gema.
 * King Korol/Ibul, Kon/Jami/Jahmi.
 * Sprite Polygon Mix: In the Nintendo DS Video Game Remake.
 * Squishy Wizard: Nera, the most magically skilled of the brides.
 * As well as your daughter.
 * Survivor Guilt:  ends up with a huge case of it, although how bad it is only becomes clear if you add him to your party then talk to him a lot in different cities.
 * Taken for Granite:
 * Theme Naming: The official English translation of the DS remake gives several villains chess-related titles, such as Kon the Knight, Slon the Rook, and the final boss, Grandmaster Nimzo, who is named after a real-life grandmaster of chess (see Shout-Out). Allies of theirs that are just Palette Swaps of randomly encountered enemies follow the naming pattern of (name of non-Palette Swapped version) Pawn.
 * The chess motifs for the villains are even more subtle than that; the proper names are the names of the chess pieces in Russian. Kon means knight, Ferx means queen, and Korol means king. Averted, however, with Slon the Rook and Ladja the Bishop; while 'slon' means elephant in Russian (and would therefore seem like a good name for a rook), it's the Russian term for the bishop, and 'ladja' is the term for the rook.
 * Zugzwang is also a chess-related term; it means a situation in which all one's possible moves are bad.
 * Coburg and Gotha are named after this.
 * The Three Faces of Eve: Bianca (child), Nera (mother), and Debora (seductress).
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Bianca and Nera.
 * Tragic Keepsake:
 * Don't forget.
 * Tsundere: Debora, heavy on the tsun.
 * The Unchosen One: The unnamed Hero of Dragon Quest V is obviously not "The Chosen One" but the actual Prophesied Hero still looks up to him for guidance and support because while Parry is a clever kid he's still just a kid and every kid needs
 * Video Game 3D Leap: The PlayStation 2 remake, the only 2D Original Dragon Quest to be completely remade in 3D.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: Add  to your party, then take him back to the first few cities of the game and talk to him constantly.
 * Marrying Nera in the SNES version. Less cruel in the DS remake.
 * Video Game Time: On two different levels.
 * The passage from day to night takes a minute or two of real-world time (not counting time in battles).
 * Chapters 2 & 3 take place over less than a month of in-game day/night cycles + sleeping at inns unless you spend a lot of time grinding. However, in-story dialog suggests that each chapter takes over 2 years each. (e.g. )
 * Villain with Good Publicity: The Order of Zugzwang in the third generation.
 * You can find a catechism of their leader. Your character might even agree with the material!
 * Wolverine Claws: Debora's starting weapon, as well as another set you can pick up later.
 * A Worldwide Punomenon: They're everywhere. And they're not unique to the localization, either.
 * That's the Running Gag for the American localization of the Dragon Quest series.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Nera/Flora and her children. Also, Prince Harry has neon green hair.
 * He has green hair in the original, too. It's just not quite so... shiny.
 * You Have Failed Me:
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: As if to hammer the point home that the Order of Zugzwang are evil bastards,.
 * Also,
 * This even happens to . Ouch.
 * This even happens to . Ouch.