Dragon Quest waves hello.
PLAYERS: 1
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
DEVELOPER: ChunSoft
GENRE: RPG
RELEASE DATE: August 1989
The name Dragon Warrior carries very little cachet with anyone other than Americans who grew up playing RPGs on the NES. The name Dragon Quest is known by every Japanese man, woman, and child. Yet, both are one and the same series. In Japan, Dragon Quest is beloved by all for its tried-and-true game mechanics, wonderful character designs by Akira Toriyama, and charming stories by series creator Yuji Horii. In America, the Dragon Warriors were generally seen as paltry substitutes to the real RPG series, Final Fantasy. This is a shame. Although the graphics and mechanics were viewed as outdated even in 1989 when the game was released, there is a quaint charm to the game’s simplicity that I find far more unique and entertaining than Final Fantasy’s constant reinventions.
There’s very little to explain about Dragon Warrior: You’re a hero given the task of defeating the Dragonlord and saving the princess. You grind and grind and grind some more until you have the strength to face the Dragonlord and verily beat him unto death. Thankfully, the battle interface is surprisingly smooth. The randomness of the battles, while relatively annoying by today’s standards, were common back then. For those that have not attempted this magnanimous quest, I have included a journal below of my most recent exploits within the game. It’s been at least ten years since I last played it, though, so please be merciful in your judgments of my playthrough…
5 minutes: Comstock is my hero’s name. Not sure what it means, but it just came to me and it fit perfectly. The king’s giving me a speech about who I am and what my mission is: save the princess and kill the bad guy? I’m only one man, king! He sure does like to ramble and use ye olde Englysh. Why is there a separate menu option to open a door or use the stairs? This isn’t a computer RPG, Enix. Get with the mid-Eighties console scene. The graphics are horrendous, but charming in a squatty, pixelated way. Why are there no shops or anything in the main town? I have 120 gold and I’m looking to spend, spend, spend. Guess I’ll try and find some shoppes in a different town.
10 minutes: Good thing the town Brecconary is right next door. Maybe they’ll have some good items. Well… with my 120 gold, I can either purchase leather armor or a club, but not both. If I had 10 more gold, I could have both, which means I need to do some fighting. Enemies always have gold because they like to loot the corpses of already vanquished warriors; bastards.
20 minutes: Well, I bit off more than I could chew. After fighting my fair share of Slimes (and conquering them, like a boss), a Drakee came along and plowed me to “Thou Art Dead” status. To be fair, the Slimes hardly took off any damage or they would just biff their attacks completely. I assumed I could handle my Drakee and get my new club. Alas, since I died, half my gold has been taken as penalty. Now I have to grind even more, DAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! WHY AM I SO WEAK, WHY DO I ONLY HAVE 15 HIT POINTS TO START, WHAT KIND OF A WARRIOR AM I!
30 minutes: Apparently I suck at playing Dragon Warrior. It would seem that a weapon should have been my first purchase. Comstock can’t hit the broad side of a slime to save his life. How can I miss all these attacks??? Why did I pick the wrong piece of hardware to purchase first? Oh wait, I know: I should have purchased the game back in 1989, as it came with a mini-strategy guide to help stupid Americans like myself. It’s time to start over and buy a club. Hopefully it will guide my blows square and true.
50 minutes: This game is brutal. I started over (with the name Blahilk – sorry, Comstock) and bought the club first, which definitely helps to hit enemies. Unfortunately, because of your low hit points, it doesn’t take more than two or three battles before you need to go drop six gold at the inn to replenish your health. What this amounts to: more grinding. In order to buy more equipment, you need more gold, which means you need to fight. In order to continue fighting and not lose half your gold should you die, you need to sleep and regain your health at the inn, which costs six gold. It’s a vicious, brutal cycle that will require hours of steadfast perseverance. Hours that, at this moment, I do not have to spare.
Accepting an antiquated form of what we call an RPG is essential to enjoying this game. I personally have a fondness in my heart for the original Dragon Warrior, outdated though it may be. There’s something about grinding in the open fields that brings me back to a simpler time. I won’t say it’s for everyone, especially more impatient gamers. I would actually recommend the Game Boy Color remake Dragon Warrior I+II if you wanted to delve deep into the game, as it updates the graphics and makes the battles faster. If you’re a die-hard NES junkie and you haven’t explored one of the most influential RPGs of our time, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Drop a few dollars and buy this landmark game.
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10 replies on “#199 – Dragon Warrior”
I agree 100% with you, Dylan. This game is freaking HARD! Unnecessarily hard! I remember playing the NES version once and getting so frustrated with having to sit and grind over and over again that I just threw my hands up and wept like a little girl. I was no Dragon Warrior. Years later, I started playing the GBC rerelease and really got into and almost beat the game. But alas, more grinding was necessary.
I don’t agree with some gamers who lament the loss of these “old-school” RPG’s. I instead thank God that “grinding” is a thing of the past.
This is certainly a fun and addictive. I think the game is now almost twice as monsters DQM 1, which was my biggest complaint with the installer before. I am still not a fan of the synthesis in relation to breeding system in Dragon Warrior Monsters 1 and 2.
Way to go. Your affection is infectious. Understand though, that I’m spoiled, having cut my teeth on Ocarina. Even the original Zeldas don’t do it for me… as I’ve mentioned. Sorry.
And what the heck is a brecconary
People who find RPGs to be hard amuse me… ;D
I don’t find current RPGs to be hard, per say; challenging, yes, but not hard. I find old-school RPGs that drop you into the middle of the action with zero direction to be hard. This is nothing new. Even as a child, I found this method of game direction ridiculous. Nothing’s changed, except, thankfully, the way both Japanese and Western developers designed RPGs/
I just can’t get into these games. The first person perspective, single member party, obtuse control system, and ridiculous amounts of grinding are unbearable. Give me the first Final Fantasy any day over this garbage. I don’t even care that I have to buy my 99 potions one at a time.
This game is the standard in the RPG world. Only Zelda reigns above!
In what way is the action adventure game Zelda an RPG? The only one in the series that could be fairly called an RPG was the one most Zelda fans hated.
Ah, my first RPG. So many great memories. Much like Zelda, the ability to save my game on the cartridge and not need to remember a stinkin’ password was something special. These were the first two games I played with this functionality, and I was hooked. Back then grinding was fun. My time was in so much more supply then that I didn’t find it troublesome to spend an afternoon hunting for Goldmen, or getting to that next level to see if I could unlock my next spell. Playing from scratch now would definitely be a chore.
I had this game back in the day. I remember taking the time to grind all the way to level 32. You max out on experience points and can’t level higher at this point. At level 32 I sold erdrick’s sword for a bamboo pole just to see if I could still beat the dragonlord. It was a long battle, but I succeeded.