The game takes place over roughly thirty years of the main character's life, from when he is born through to when he gets married and has a family. The title introduced a gameplay dynamic in which monsters from random encounters may offer to join the player's party. This concept was used in later "Dragon Quest" games, as well as in the "Dragon Quest Monsters" series as the primary way to form a party. The game's monster-collecting concept had been used before in the "Megami Tensei" series and appeared in many later franchises such as "Pokémon", "Digimon" and "Dokapon". In turn, the concept of collecting everything in a game, in the form of achievements or similar rewards, has since become a common trend in video games. "Dragon Quest V" has also been credited as the first known video game to feature a playable pregnancy, a concept that has since appeared in later games such as "Story of Seasons", "The Sims 2" and "Fable II". In 2019, an animated film adaptation, "", was released in Japan. The film was later released digitally for other regions through Netflix.