Psaro

Psaro
Dragon Quest character
Psaro in Dragon Quest IV for the Nintendo DS
First appearance	Dragon Quest IV (1990)
Designed by	Akira Toriyama

Psaro is a character in the 1990 video game Dragon Quest IV. He is the primary antagonist of the story, leading a charge to wipe out humanity for the sake of demons, particularly due to his infatuation for an elf named Rose, who suffered under humans. He wishes to find and kill the human prophesized to one day defeat him, which causes him or his minions to come into contact with one or more of the multiple main heroes of the game who later come to support the prophesized hero in their quest.

Concept and creation

Psaro was created for Dragon Quest IV, and his design was created by Akira Toriyama. He is one of the game's chief antagonists. When choosing a protagonist for Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, Yuji Horii suggested that Psaro be used. The game's producer Kento Yokota felt that an antagonist being a protagonist made for a more refreshing approach for a story.

Appearances

Psaro appears as the antagonist of Dragon Quest IV, spending most of the time as a character who is mentioned but not seen. Before the events of the game, Psaro leads an army against humanity to free demonkind from them by destroying them. Among his army was a monster named Aamon, who intended to betray Psaro. Psaro later falls in love with an elf named Rose, rescuing her from humans and building a fortress to protect her which, along with the surrounding area, eventually become a drawven town named Rosehill. Despite Rose's call for Psaro to live in peace with humanity, Psaro persisted in his plan. Aamon eventually convinces Psaro to allow his animosity to take over, assuming the title "Psaro the Manslayer" and preparing to resurrect the Lord of the Underworld, Estark, unaware of Estark's desire to destroy all life, demons and humans alike. He was also aware of a prophecy that said a human hero would defeat Estark, leading Psaro to hunt down this human to kill them.

Reception

Psaro was a popular character among Dragon Quest fans. Inside Games writer Gen Gamachi discussed how emotional the story of Dragon Quest IV made them, particularly due to the similar stories between the protagonist and Psaro. He noted that he and the hero have experienced similar tragedies despite their different positions in the story, stating that this has engendered special feelings towards him by fans. Excite News writer Kukanshakyo described Psaro as a famous boss battle due to his changing forms, which he felt make players "tense and hopeless" as they wondered when the fight would be over. He also regarded him as the saddest boss in the series. RPGamer writer Mark McLaughlin discussed Psaro and his tragic story; while he felt it was cliche, it was innovative for its time. He also discussed his own feelings over the loss of his father, as well as abuse he suffered from his mother and father. He discussed how he "held on against the darkness," hoping he would not become someone like Psaro himself.

RPGFan staff, including Michael Sollosi, Alana Hagues, and Zach Wilkerson, did a podcast discussing Psaro. Hagues felt that Psaro was a major contributing factor in why Dragon Quest IV was such a beloved game. She argued that he was a more fleshed out villain than others on the NES at the time, believing him to have more development than other villains on the NES like Ganon in The Legend of Zelda and Cloud of Darkness in Final Fantasy III. Solossi agreed that he was part of the game's success. All three felt that he was a sufficiently intimidating figure in the game, which is enhanced by how much he is alluded to until he is eventually revealed when he destroys the hero's town. Hagues felt that this presentation of Psaro as an unseen character for much of the game, which she felt was different from a number of role-playing game villains that they'd discussed in past podcasts. Sollosi argued that Psaro is done similarly to the villain of the film Jaws, where he stated that a villain is scarier when they are unseen. He made the point that, despite Psaro's appearance in chapter 5, being able to see the mayhem he caused after the fact without seeing him cause it made him a more effective villain. Despite noting that his actions were evil, Wilkerson felt that not being able to see much of the bad actions, or him not being directly involved in some of them, helped make it easier to sympathize with him in the end. Sollosi also felt that he was more sympathetic than most video game villains, saying that despite his atrocities, the fact that he did it out of love and later grief made it more understandable, a sentiment that Hagues agreed with.