Game Debate #59: Dragon Warrior

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

 

[spacepup | 2,404]

At the risk of getting shunned (I know we have a lot of huge DQ/DW fans here ha) - I'll share that I gave it a 5, based on the current descriptions for these ratings.  It kickstarted a great and longstanding franchise, and some of the later games, I actually quite enjoyed.  But the first one just never really interested me or hooked me quite like, Final Fantasy, for example.  

I love RPGs in general, and have no problem with some of the older / more archaic ones, but IDK.  

The game is decent, it's not that it's a terrible game or anything - but I just never really have much desire to return to it.

[WhyNotZoidberg | 585]

5/10 but everyone should still play it.

[mbd39 | 2,017]

It's been too many years since I've played this to even give it a rating, and I know it's super primitive even by old console JRPG standards. In terms of historical importance it ranks up there with Pac-Man and Street Fighter 2.

But it is interesting as a speedrun game. Speedrunners can beat it in like 20 minutes by manipulating rng.

 

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by mbd39

[B.A. | 1,139]

This is a tough one.  I wouldn't recommend anyone to play it for the 1st time right now, yet it is still in the top 3-4 games for me personally based off of nostalgia and it's place in my foundation as a video game fan.  

Getting it from Nintendo Power as a kid, and being my 1st RPG, I loved it!  Super primitive by todays standards, but it will always be special to me. 

[Sumez | 2,933]

Not really having any means to import this game back in the days, I played it way after playing many of the JRPGs that derived directly from it, and the one thing that surprised me the most at that time, was how much less archaic it felt than you'd immediately think.

It's very very simple, yes, sure. But take a game like Dragon Quest II, which probably directly influenced the genre for the next few years even moreso than the first DQ, that game adds a lot more basic complexity with its multi-character parties etc. I also greatly prefer that game out of the two, but as a result of its complexity, it also feels a lot more burdened by all the things you need to manage, all the waiting around during combat, and so on. Basically, all the things you'd expect feeling maybe a little "too" old school about a really old school RPG.

But Dragon Quest 1, amusingly enough, seems to try much harder to distance itself from that complexity and dryness of other (western) RPGs at the time. The one-on-one combat is super fast and smooth, and the fact that it's just a window that pops up on top of your map, instead of a separate screen somehow makes it feel less intrusive. Ditching inventory management entirely in favor of simply upgrading your equipped gear whenever you find new one is incredibly refreshing. Like the console, or even "arcade-like" take on the RPG genre.

So even though at the end of the day, the game pretty much comes down to grinding just exactly enough exp and money to be strong enough to even survive against the Dragonlord in the first place, which arguably gets really boring for a large portion of the game, it's just so amazingly charming in its simplicity.
It completely excels at something I actually think all the first three DQ games excel at, and something I really miss from a lot of later JRPGs, in the way it just throws you right out into the open world, allowing you to go anywhere. And if you want to make progress, you have to keep your eyes and ears open, and pay attention to everything NPCs say.
In a way, the structure reminds me of classic point'n'click adventure games in the way you make progress by gaining access to places or items around the world, which is very satisfying compared to the almost entirely story driven progress of nearly anything past Final Fantasy 3 (the actual 3).

But yeah, there's quite a bit of walking around back and forth in the same place just to get more exp and gold. Not even DQ2 (which has a bit of a reputation for its difficulty) is nearly as bad about that.

 

7/10, it is what it is, but it's pretty good at being what it is.

[DefaultGen | 5,400]

4/10, pretty much impossible to rate this game without putting it in historical context. There are times where it's great: I'm killing new dudes, I'm gaining levels, I'm finding new things. Then there's the rest of the game: walking back and forth in a line grinding to level up.

Its simplicity lends to continuing playability though. An old RPG like Wizardry can bog you down with menus or Ultima can bog you down with archaic systems like food, where your character just permanently dies if you didn't buy enough. Dragon Quest is 35 years old and anyone who's ever played an RPG can pick it up and play without even reading a manual, so that's surely a point in its favor.

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

Yea, I love this game. I know it's basic and grindy. But it's fun to me. I OBSESSED over the Nintendo Power coverage before I finally got it.

7/10

[Hammerfestus | 3,823]

Top 5 all time favorite game for me.  Put in work, buy stuff, put in more work, kill dragon, bring king back his balls.  What more do you need?

I love the atmosphere and the simplicity and the feeling you get when your grinding pays off and you make it across the next bridge.  
 

10.  

[Estil | 1,261]

2 hours ago, WhyNotZoidberg said:

5/10 but everyone should still play it.

I did for the first time in 2013...my first ever RPG!  Better late than never getting into the RPG genre right?

[Jeevan | 8,909]

Easy 10!  I try to play the Dragon warrior nes games annually, So much time spent on this genre because of this game.

[Gloves | 11,761]

As a kid, maybe a 7. I played Final Fantasy first and it's the better game of the two, by a fair margin.

As an adult, hovering around a 5. I don't have time for grinding an NES RPG and if I did, this one is probably the most boring to do so on. It does get some decent nostalgia points, as well as points for audio; the sound effects are memorable, as well as the music.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

It's pretty simple, but that's what I liked about it. I probably wouldn't have played it as a kid if I didn't get a free copy from Nintendo Power, but I'm glad that I did. 8/10.

[Tanooki | 4,930]

7/10 -- It's a really really good game, but falls just short of being great.  It has a lot of nice mechanics going on there, but has a few crusty moments (toggle stairs to use them, running all the way back to the castle to save...dumb.)  Otherwise despite even being a 1 person party.  The game works, and well, also compared to the sequels it's not grind heavy either which is great so it works as a nice more bite sized RPG when you want fun, but not to commit days (hours wise) of effort.  Good story, memorable music that turned timeless.

[JeremiahJT | 75]

Perfect 10. My favorite NES game of all-time.

[fox | 1,665]

I played through the Super Famicom version patched.  So it had the benefit of better graphics and sound and likely translation.

 It is a very straightforward and basic affair, but that isn’t a bad thing, sometimes that is just what you need.  Nice it have an RPG you can beat in under 10 hours, sometimes you just want to jump into a game and go without it being a 50+ hour commitment.

Only downsides aren’t the forced grinding for levels/money and a couple sections are a bit too cryptic without a guide.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

2/10

Hopelessly obliterated even by later NES RPGs. It basically functions how it’s supposed to and has some good monster designs and okay music. That’s about it. Going for accessibility was a sensible idea at the time and clearly ended up being successful but they went too far, made it too simple, and the result was a game that had very little going for it once later games  built on what it did.

[JeremiahJT | 75]

Dragon Warrior is one of those games that I remember exactly how I got it.  For my 10th birthday in 1990, my father got me two Nintendo Entertainment System games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Dragon Warrior.  I do not remember if my friends and I thought that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was going to be a port of the arcade game or if we already knew better.  Either way it was the big hit at the birthday party that we played quite a bit.

We did try Dragon Warrior briefly, but nobody wanted to continue to play it over Turtles.  I remember my father telling me that the salesman said Dragon Warrior was the hot new game.  I am betting that they were having trouble moving the game and were doing whatever they could to get some sales.  Whatever the reason I am glad he convinced my father to buy it.

I of course did give Dragon Warrior a chance pretty soon after, along with my older sister, and really got into it.  It is the only game my sister ever played (she is five years older than me).  When Dragon Warrior II came out I rented it multiple times before finally getting my own copy as soon as I could get somebody to buy it for me.  Dragon Warrior is one of those games that had an immediate impact (well not birthday party immediate) and has stayed a favorite.

[Tanooki | 4,930]

A little extra, back in the day, Final Fantasy was the one I bought, a few years later in the 90s, Dragon Warrior was the one I earned.  My original copy of the game was my (still) best friends, he bet me his copy of the game if I could finish it that afternoon, that day... I did.   It's a great RPG, just short, which sometimes is a really really GOOD thing.  It's the one DQ game I put on my phone for a fast dragon quest hit.

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

10/10 from me.

I play RPGs for the story more than the graphics, mechanics, and how other games play out. But I also used to play them during my Commodore 64 days. Both tape deck and floppy drive days. So for me, games like this were a welcoming touch. Because the story was simple enough to understand what is happening, but beating it is not always a cake walk.

In the end I had beaten Dragon Warrior on the NES and GB, the SFC version of Dragon Quest in ROM format, and the Switch version of Dragon Quest. With the last one feeling like it is the weakest just because it removed the challenge to find items like the Fairy Flute. Which sparkles long before you are told about it, and why it is a very useful item. 

All I can say is that it does not cram too much, and shows how much respect the development team had for western RPGs that actually include both Wizardry and Ultima. Hence the reason why it is on the higher-end of my list. 

[Estil | 1,261]

1 hour ago, FenrirZero said:

I respect the development team had for western RPGs...

Sorry I couldn't resist    Even if the theme really aggravates Uncle Jesse from Full House  

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

1 hour ago, Estil said:

Sorry I couldn't resist    Even if the theme really aggravates Uncle Jesse from Full House  

Ironically, I liked the episodes that included Adam Cartwright. 

[Gentlegamer | 172]

I got this free from Nintendo Power and hated it. I traded it to a friend for Ninja Gaiden II. Best trade I've ever made.

Edited July 23, 2021 by Gentlegamer

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

I'll give it an 8/10 for how influential it ended up being - though the original game is pretty basic.

I got my copy from the Nintendo Power promotion, and I wore out the folds on the pack-in materials and the maps for Dragon Warrior 2.

DW2 is probably my childhood favorite RPG -- with the added party members and the ship  (I found the general world exploration of DW2 to be more fun, generally, than FF1 -- but that is another one that I read the strategy guide for until the pages fell out!)

 

My dad and I played DW1 and DW2 together quite a bit, back then.  And the DS releases became his go-to Father's Day gift for a number of years.

Currently having a lot of fun playing DQXI with my kids, after having replayed DQ1 and DQ2 on the Switch earlier in the year.

[Ferris Bueller | 495]

I think you'd have to be a certain age to have this affect you the way it did me and I'd need some older gamers to confirm just how revolutionary it was in terms of forwarding the progress of RPGs. But at the time, I was too young to find the hidden wall and that blew my mind when NP published the guide. I never looked at games the same way after that secret.