Party Chatting is a recurring element of the Dragon Quest series introduced in Dragon Quest VII and then retroactively added to the remakes and re-releases of previous titles, with the exception of Dragon Quest (which has no party), II and III.
Description
It's a feature that allows to optionally speak with members of the party to get their opinions and insight on current circumstances at the press of a button, after a cutscene or speaking with an NPC. They are, broadly speaking, context sensitive pieces of dialogues, some of which with only very narrow time windows to be viewed.
This is used with great effectiveness to either flesh out the personality of the characters, their backstories, the world around them, or just nudge any distracted players to the next story beat, without the need to add extra lengthy cutscenes, which would bog down the flow of the story. Their optional nature, however makes it so that even the most interesting piece of information of characterization could potentially be accidentally completely missed if not read during certain specific time windows.
In VII and the remakes of IV, V and VI, almost every NPC dialogue, even the most minor one, as well as story events, and current locations, could potentially trigger a series of Party Chats. Starting with VIII, each successive title has streamlined the process, and now new pieces of party chat dialogues usually only trigger after reaching a new location , cutscenes or speaking with specific, major NPCs. This results in not only being fairly more intuitive to guess which pieces of the story and actions will actually trigger a new chat, but also in the party conversations themselves being usually more meaningful than just idle chats.
The available party chat dialogues are in the vast majority of cases directly influenced by the at the time party structure, hence the use of any party swapping system, such as the wagon, Patty's Party Planning Place, Monty's monster dens, or Maribel's house in Pilchard Bay, becomes even more crucial. Of note are the exceptions of Dragon Quest XI and the partial one, of Dragon Quest VIII, as in these cases party chat is either completely, or only partially, not disrupted by the party battle formation.
Development
During the lengthy development cycle of VII, Yuji Horii began playing the pc game Diablo in 1998. Horii became impressed with the multi-player features of the action rpg, and enjoyed being able to communicate with his friends through only the game itself to work towards their shared goals. Furthermore, he was impressed that NPCs were given multiple lines of dialogue through the gossip feature.
Taking these inspirations and considering the tremendous storage capacity of the original Sony PlayStation discs over the SNES's cartridges, it was decided to implement a similar system into the then-upcoming title to benefit the series during the first boom of multi-player rpgs in the late 90's.
Since the original implementation in 2000, the feature has received near universal praise for adding significant depth to the stories of each title and has become a highly esteemed and indispensable part of the series ever since. The feature has also gained fame for the sheer text volume it brings to each title: the English localization for the party chat of Dragon Quest VI alone totals at 251,770 words.
Appearances
Dragon Quest IV
IV was the first remake to receive Party Chat, and is slightly different from subsequent versions. Namely, the Hero does not need to be alive or present in the party for a conversation to begin. This can occasionally lead to small goofs when a character references them, but does allow for the feature to be used in dungeons where the Wagon is not allowed and the protagonist was left outside. Of note, is that the international release of the the DS version in 2008 lacked the party chat feature, which then-localization director Richard Honeywood elaborated upon in an interview with 8-4, ltd.
When the game was released to mobile devices in 2014, the past success of the title justified the localization of the feature to the budget managers at Square Enix, with all dialogue being fully translated and made available upon launch.
Dragon Quest V
V would return to the standards set in VII, in that the Hero must be present for conversations to begin. Human characters benefit from lengthy party chats, but monsters have only two, never-changing lines of dialogue--one for the overworld and one for indoors.
Dragon Quest VI
The sixth game in the series benefited immensely from the feature, gaining the most Party Chat since the original version of VII. Every line of dialogue spoken by an NPC, even the barking of dogs, will elicit a unique response from at least one character.
Due to the three dialogue-storing spells being deleted for the Nintendo DS version, Party Chat was written so as to guide players in the right direction to advance the game without revealing too much.
Dragon Quest VII
The first game to feature Party Chat set a profound precedent for the series.
During the development process it was decided that characters should be as distinct as possible to create interesting lines--Maribel Mayde was not originally part of the game but written in specifically for this purpose.
In the original PSX version, players could even speak to party members in the midst of battle, with dialogue even reflecting specific circumstances such as Ruff being hit with kasnooze or Maribel being utterly disgusted by the presence of an Ulcer. Enemies would get the drop on the party if they spent too much time chewing the fat, with a 67% chance to pounce after being used twice and a 100% chance on the third turn. This feature was removed in the Nintendo 3DS remake.
Dragon Quest VIII
The first truly three dimensional game slightly alters the Party Chat formula, being the first to have a separate menu pop up to allow players to speak with specific characters when they desire. The Battle Records screen will also elicit quips from King Trode, bestowing titles and comments based on the player's performance, similar to the Titles bestowed in the previous games. In one of said comments in particular, if the player has never once spoken to their companions, the cursed king will mumble about the group being dysfunctional.
For the first time, due to the group being together all the time, in both the original and the 3DS re-release the party chat is not influenced by the party battle formation, with the sole exception of being able to talk to Trode himself: due to the wagon being unable to traverse caves and dungeons, and the cursed monarch being banned to enter most settlements, party chatting with him is only possible in the open fields or at Tryan Gully.
Additionally, by visiting a mystical pool with blessed waters, the party can also speak with a temporarily restored Medea. As she pretty much has a new dialogue after each major cutscene, it virtually works the same as a regular party chat.
Dragon Quest IX
The return to player-made characters by way of Patty prevents standard Party Chat form being used, but Stella is more than happy to speak her mind on the battle records screen whether players want her to or not. She will not react to every spoken line of dialogue as past companions have, but she does have something to say about all story events.
Dragon Quest XI
XI has two versions of Party Chat--one with a separate menu similar to VIII for the HD edition, and one similar to 4~7 for the 3DS release. This latter type is the only one present when playing in 2D mode or while visiting Tickington.
With the party being essentially together all the time, the party chat is for the first time completely unrestrained by the party battle formation, allowing to hear the opinions of every character at the same time without the need to change the battle party structure.
Dragon Quest Heroes and Dragon Quest Heroes II
Due to how the games are structured, a traditional "in the moment" party chat is not possible. Instead, it is only after each story mission, that the cast can be talked to for their opinion on the current situation, not unlike any regular NPC. Occasionally each character will also do a special Puff-Puff cutscene.
Dragon Quest Builders and Dragon Quest Builders 2
In Dragon Quest Builders, the Builder is for the majority of the time alone, but on the occasions when some of the other major characters join him on expeditions or battles, word bubbles will briefly pop out of them, containing their opinions or quips on the current events, for then disappear forever. They have also context sensitive ones, such as being low on health or being knocked out. They can also alternatively be directly spoken to, the closest thing to the classic party chat.
In Dragon Quest Builders 2, while the previous word balloon system makes a return, it also possible to directly chat with Malroth, and any other character temporarily accompanying them, every time the Builder is outside their base of operation, being pretty much identical to a simplified party chat.
Other languages
| Other languages | |
| German | Reden (V,VI) Beraten (VIII) Plaudern (XI) |
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