RF Generation Message Board

Here's a funny video that has a walkthrough of the whole game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FfSNhiG3ZY

On our last show I made an uninformed case against the GBC version. Here, Derek Alexander makes a strong case that it is actually the preferable version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo5MpZenkdU

If playing the NES, may I suggest using a controller with turbo on it? I'm using my favorite NES controller, the NES MAX, and it is making the trash mob grind a whole lot more tolerable.

Participants
grayghost81
singlebanana
addicted
duke.togo
douglie007
disposed hero
link41
buriedonmars
reddmcknight

Checkpoints and Recommended Level*
Week 1 (3/1 - 3/9) - Key Shopping in Rimuldar - Level 9
Week 2 (3/10 - 3/16) - Rescue Gwaelyn - Level 12
Week 3 (3/17 - 3/31) - Slay the Dragonlord - Level 20

*Recommended Levels courtesy of the Explorer's Handbook.

ah yeah, Dragon Warrior!

I ordered a copy of the Super Famicom version to try a new flavor as I have beat the NES version many times.

Sounds awesome!  Can't wait to hear your thoughts. Thought about trying a handheld version. Any of them worth playing?

I've leveled up a character to level 13 on the NES on original hardware for the playthrough but I really wanna mess around with the Super Famicom version and the handheld versions.

Japan got a pretty sick collection for the Wii too. I'm an amateur pirate at best, but I cannot for the life of me find the iso for it on the web. 

I'm in... if I only I can finish 3

I have the Game Boy Color version, but I've never put time into it. I may pop it in for a bit just for a comparison.

I've been getting into the Dragon Quest series over the last couple of years, so it will be nice to experience the series' roots. I'm going to play the NES original.

I found my NES copy so I'm going to join you guys this month!

I went ahead and got a head start on this game last night. I gotta say, I thought I was going to have a hard time getting into this one, but I'm enjoying it a lot so far. Sure, it's fairly primitive in comparison to other RPGs and it has its quirks, but it's not hampering the experience much for me. Although this game may be before my time, I'm still accustomed to the grind of early RPGs and don't have a problem spending hours fighting hordes of enemies. One thing I like about these older RPGs is just how satisfying it is every time you level up or get a new piece of equipment. It's also amazing to me how many of the series' conventions that still exist to this day got their start right here. To be honest, Dragon Quest as a series hasn't changed or evolved nearly as much as many other franchises over the years, and I really appreciate just how closely it sticks to its roots.

As far as my progress goes, I've explored the world map a bit but I'm not sure exactly where I'm supposed to go. I've already been to the cave and the town northwest of the starting castle, and I'm currently at level 5 if I remember correctly. I'm pretty sure I need to go somewhere in the east, but I've explored that region a bit and couldn't find any towns, so I'll probably need to reference a map.  However, all the wandering around has been good for grinding XP and gold.

Also starting out today and have been enjoying what I thought would be a total borefest. I should've given this game a shot a long time ago.

Glad that you guys are enjoying it so far!

Yes, you want to head NE to the town of Kol next Disposed. You will want to grind up a bit first and I suggest around that town you have been to NW of the castle. The Magicians there drop about 10 gold each and I typically try to upgrade everything before moving on. After you cross the 2nd bridge to the east, the enemies get much stronger. Level 5 is tough going against Skeletons, Scorpions, and Magidrakees. :)

I will go ahead and say I'm in for this one. Based on what I'm seeing, I'll be able to bring the GBC game to work with me and play on lunch breaks, and probably finish this in a couple weeks. Will be nice to finally be able to say I've played this game in some form, especially since DQXI looks really good, and I kinda want to play it.

Good to know magicians drop more gold. The slimes and others don't drop much at all. :P

So I have played about an hour.. so much. Grinding

I've been playing this early, and have progressed pretty far. I'm at level 20, and getting ready to go for Erdric's armor. The SFC seems more approachable than what I remember the NES version being. Enjoying it quite a bit!

Made it to the town of Garinham after acquiring Erdrick's tablet. My character also made it to level 6.

Well, I was way ahead already, and I finished the game out tonight. Let me mention that when you get past the last boss, take some time to go back to the towns for a few neat things.

Spoiler (hover to show)

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/wQWgF6Q.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/2m2fD7g.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/OsQM9Dn.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/7XljOob.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/akd1wSx.jpg[/img]

Great game, and I'm glad I tried a different version this time. The Super Famicom game smoothes out a few parts, and makes it a very enjoyable experience. I'd highly recommend giving it a shot.

I had been playing the game (original NES) in between other stuff for a few months now but now I am going at it full time. I was level 12 before I started doing any of the actual "story" stuff, so I was able to bust through a lot of it before I hit a brick wall.

I don't mind the grinding...yet. I'm using a turbo controller and listening to podcasts, music, or watching youtube videos while doing it. The RETURN spell at level 13 makes life a whole lot easier for grinding runs so you can go back and 'bank' your work by saving.

I'm level 14 now and messing around trying to either beat the green dragon in the swamp cave or to have a little luck on the axe knight hiding Erdrick's Armor. So far, the RNG gods hath not been smiling upon me in either endeavor.

Is the game kind of a slog? Yeah. But it's like comfort food for me. At times I wish I had just played one of the other versions but for me this is an absolute labor of love, and I can't wait to discuss why that is on the podcast.   

The benefits of having the flu.. more time to game in bed.  Just finished it, still a fun game.  
[img width=700 height=340]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190303/6a2aa7c93f687f54a7f825571825998c.jpg[/img][img width=700 height=340]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190303/f1f270e2a92c519c8eea7913ad7b0d46.jpg[/img]

Nice! What did you play it on Doug?

I played the snes translated rom and I put it on my SNES classic for easy travel between rooms.

I finished the game yesterday. I was in a real groove with the grinding (had it down to about one level per half hour) and was tempted to go for the level cap, which is 30, but I decided against it and slayed the Dragonlord pretty easily at level 23. Sharp contrast to Saturday when I was level 14 and had quite a few major things left to do in the game. Yesterday I must have played for damn near six hours. I cleared out my entire "Watch Later" list on YT which had over seventy videos in it! It's funny, without all the grinding you could probably beat this game in about an hour. I really wish there was a new game plus mode where I could replay the game from the beginning with my level 23 character and his 70,000 gold fortune.

During my entire playtime, I was never bored or frustrated. Even when I got REKT trying to mess with something I wasn't strong enough for, I know all I had to do was grind more. By the time I reached the Dragonlord I felt like a badass, and that I had earned my status as such with a ton of work.

Is anyone besides Rich and me playing the NES version? Now that I've finished the game so far ahead of schedule, I'm definitely going to take a look at the other versions for the purpose of comparison in our live discussion.

I added checkpoints for the rest of the month. There is nothing to spoil, and people seem to be going at their own pace which, with all the grinding, is really the way to go. Also, different versions of the game play 'faster' than others, so having said that, go at your own pace and if you rescue Gwaelyn by mid-month you should be good to go. 

Congrats Shawn!  Yeah, right now I have done all of the quests and opened the Rainbow Bridge to the final encounter. I'm around level 16 and should get Healmore at 17, which will make grinding that much easier.  I know that it may sound odd, but I find the grinding quite relaxing and could do it for hours on end.  When I saw the video about how much quicker the GBC version was, I was honestly a little disappointed. I don't know, I guess seeing all of the hours of work payoff feels like a greater accomplishment to me. With such a skinny plot, I feel like speeding it up would make it feel awkward. There's really not much to search for in this game and it seems that longer times between these quests is more fulfilling. I don't know, maybe I'm off my rocker here. :D

I'm also playing the NES version, I'd also like to give the other versions a try sometime in the future.

I'm currently very close to level 9 with the mountain cave being my grinding spot of choice at the moment. I found the Fighter's Ring but am reading conflicting reports on whether it is useful or not. Some sources say it increases critical hit chance while others say it is worthless. I feel like I've been getting more crits with it equipped, though that could be my imagination. I'll probably grind here a bit longer before moving on.

I'm also playing the NES version.

I'm playing the NES version.  I guess I'm "truly hardcore" according to the Happy Video Game Nerd, lol. I'd also like to know what the Fighter Ring does. Seems like the internet is confused about what it is for.

I made it to the village of Kol and also upgraded to the large shield and half plate. I'm almost ready to make it to level 10.

Might I join in, or is it too late? I have the Japanese Version on PS4...

Dude, it's never too late!

I didn't know about this version. Feel free to throw up some screenshots if you think it's worthwhile!

I love Derek but I have this thing about using the word 'unplayable' inappropriately. It means something very specific, and is not interchangeable with 'grindy.' I posted the video anyway to get more people on board if anyone was intimidated by the NES version.

I'm very glad we have people playing all the different versions. Ports and version differences always fascinate me and I can't wait to talk about them on the podcast.   

Yeah, grindy is more appropriate than unplayable.  Unplayable would suggest the game is broken.

Does anyone know what the references to Nester are?  There seems to be a least on person in every town that refers to him.  Does that have something to do with Nintendo Power?

I'm at level 15 and still enjoying the game a lot.  Part of my enjoyment might be how the game is helping me get through a backlog of podcasts that have piled up since Christmas.  Good times, regardless!    

I'm 90% certain those references might be because Nintendo Power gave the NES version away for free to new subscribers back in the day. I could be wrong though.

Definitely a Nintendo Power reference

https://hn.iodized.net/12.htm

The SNES remake had all the Nester references taking out.

I've been making a big push to make some progress in this game this weekend. I just killed the Green Dragon and rescued the princess. I got lucky on the dragon fight. I cast the sleep spell on my first turn and he stayed asleep for most of the fight. I started to head towards Cantlin, but the enemies on the way seemed to be a little out of my league right now, so I'll probably need to grind another level or two. I'm currently level 12 with the Magic Armor, Large Shield, and Broad Sword.

I finally got started tonight. Did some grinding up to 4 then wandered out a bit and grinded some more to level 8. Just earned enough to get myself and Axe and the battles are finally going relatively smooth. Feels like I may have been getting some very unlucky RNG with lots of misses, creatures blocking my escape and just big hits to my HP nearly every time. I havn't done a ton of exploring yet (because I've had some trouble battling and actually died several times and rebooted a save), but I feel like tomorrow I'll be ready to venture out and see if I can't uncover some new equipment or towns. Would love to find this town that sells magic keys if nothing else.

I finished the game this morning.  Actually had my character leveled up to 20 on Friday but it was a busy weekend.  I enjoyed it overall.  It was nice to play an RPG that didn't have a ton of choices and branching paths for a change.  Just straight up get to the next town and grind for the better equipment.

I liked the look of many of the enemies, even though a lot of them are just pallet swaps.  That Demon Knight has to be the laziest one.  He is just a black outline of a Wraith Knight.  Still, it was a nervous moment the first time I ran into one.

That's the only real negative thing I have to say.  I don't want to give away and story spoilers (even though there really isn't much to give away) so I'll save some comments to later.  Glad I finally played a Dragon Warrior/Quest game to completion.  I'll never forget the first time a Magician ran away from me because I was too powerful!  Yeah, you git outta here!

Found the city to buy magic keys tonight. Was sorely disappointed with ALL of the doors I opened, lol. Had some higher expectations for loot hidden behind magically locked doors I guess. After that I grinded for a very long time. Enough to get me to level 13 and equip myself with the Magic Armor and Broadsword. Was finally able to defeat the Green Dragon and get the princess back home to her father before I ran out of play time. Gonna pick it up again tomorrow, but it finally feels like maybe I'm at a point I can progress the game a bit rather than just grind endlessly.

Wellllllllllllllllllll..... I wouldn't say that. If I have any complaint about this game is that the questing for items and such ends a little too early and you are basically just grinding levels to fight the end boss. The game can be beaten at lvl 20, but if you want more comfort, it's best to grind out a few more. I had all of the items sans Edrick's Sword by lvl 15, so you can imagine how much grinding it takes. Just hit lvl 19 and have to bust out 3k more XP for level 20. Oh well, back to last castle to grind blue dragons for 60 XP each...

I agree about the keys. Seems like a lot of emphasis to basically only open one door for an important item (Stones). However, a lot of the locked doors hide NPCs that are crucial to determine what to do next in your quest (if you don't already know). The thing I dislike most about the doors is that they reappear when you leave a town. That's super annoying.

I agree. I am amazed at how well the graphics on this game hold up. Sure, the world map isn't outstanding, but they took a lot of effort to make the enemies look amazing.


Right?  Another great moment is when you hit for over 100 damage for the first time. :)

@singlebanana- you weren't kidding. Sooooo much grinding tonight...BUT I did also get to play the game too. I got the Erdrick Sword, Armor, Tablet, Rainbow Drop and Harp tonight. Got myself to level 17 also. Might try and take a run at the Dragonlord when I'm level 18 tomorrow and see how that goes.

Defeated the Dragonlord at level 22. What a game! Glad I finally gave the series a shot.

More grinding tonight up to level 21 and then took down the Dragonlord with no trouble at all.

Final Thoughts:

I'm all for grinding and have spent far too many hours grinding in some of my favorite games, but I think Dragon Warrior takes it to an extreme that was too much for me. I don't feel like I'm exaggerating when I say 99% of your play time is spent grinding. I've recently played and beaten some other early rpgs (Wizardry and Bard's Tale) and even though both of those games require a decent amount of grinding also I feel like they just have more satisfying gameplay loops and are far better paced when it comes to gameplay vs story vs exploration. When I grind in other games I still like to be in that world and take in all the music/sounds and be with those characters. I got to a point several times over in Dragon Warrior where I put on a movie/TV show to help pass the time. The game wasn't engaging enough on it's own unfortunately.

It's silly to nitpick little annoyances from a game like this that is so early and foundational, so only one other thing really stood out to me that was a much more minor annoyance. I spent too much time in menus. I had a B button that was unused on the map. Would have been so great to use it to talk to an NPC or use a stair case or search a vacant area or open a door instead of constantly navigating a clunky menu system for that stuff. The stairs seem especially odd since you automatically enter towns, caves and dungeons when you step on them.

There is a lot to love about this game too though! Like Buried on Mars mentioned the character sprites for the baddies were pretty stellar, especially considering how early this game was. Everything from Slimes to Dragons looked great and many of the enemies that were supposed to be imposing looked the part.

One thing that sucks in a lot of later RPGs is when you have a buttload of spells, but most of them are not very useful. Not the case in Dragon Warrior. Other than HURT (which was useless even in early game) every spell in my arsenal had a use and their MP cost was very fair for the result. I didn't feel like I had to conserve my MP for special moments like I do in a lot of RPGs, but instead I could use my spells whenever I felt the desire to. Always had just enough to help me out of tough spots and get me safely to a new town or occasionally RETURN back to Tantegel castle.

Story Spoilers:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Even though the story was light I liked it a lot. I liked that saving the princess was merely a mid-game objective and not your final goal. I thought it was quite clever that she gives you her "love" as a usable item to check your exp progress on location. The fact that you can make a decision to join the Dragonlord instead of confront him is awesome (even if it doesn't turn out well). Collecting legendary items and armor is always fun, and it was great that they really were the best equipment in the game and you didn't end up fighting the Dragonlord with something other than Erdrick's Sword and Armor. Solid final castle stage which was challenging to navigate, but not quite to the point of frustration.

There were some solid music tracks in the game including the overworld theme which is maybe the one you hear the most so that was important.

While it's unlikely I'll play this again I'm really glad you guys finally compelled me to finish it. I've really been enjoying exploring the roots of the rpg genre with games like this, Wizardry, Bard's Tale, Ultima, Final Fantasy, AD&D games and a few others. So while this game overall wasn't a favorite of mine I feel like it added an important piece to my gaming knowledge and appreciation.

[img width=640 height=479]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7826/33500240998_4d3064177d_z.jpg[/img] (https://flic.kr/p/T3iuw3)

The stairs also took some getting used to for me as well. Why could it not have been just automatic? lol

I feel like I made some significant progress yesterday. I made it to level 15 and am currently at Charlock Castle with the Erdrick's Sword, Erdrick's Armor, and Silver Shield equipped, which I believe is the best equipment in the game if I'm not mistaken. I haven't made an attempt at the Dragonlord yet, but I'll probably need to grind out a few more levels before I'm ready to take him on. I'm hoping to knock this one out this weekend!

Yeah, you have the best armor/weapon set. Not sure the DL can be beaten under level 20, but who am I to challenge the great Disposed Hero??  Ha ha!

A guy on Nintendoage finished it at 19 couple days ago.

Seems like 18 is the absolute minimum unless you do some extreme RNG manipulation. I wasn't really planning on attempting it before learning Healmore anyway.

So I'm assuming that Charlock Castle is the best late-game grinding location? I know metal slimes can be found elsewhere, but I've only encountered a couple and haven't had any luck killing them.

I did all my power-grinding in Hawksness. I figured I could one or two shot everything there for an average of 40 exp a pop. Very low risk of status effect spells.

Didn't try the castle, though. Let us know if that's better!

I did all my grinding from 15-21 just outside Cantlin so I could drop into the Inn as needed.

So between this playthrough and my nes playthrough of dragon Warrior 3.. I'm back on the DQ train, finished up DQ6 and started 7.  Maybe I'll be up to 11 by the time it comes out on the switch.[img width=700 height=340]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190316/5d5782b3d35f595808abb42af0f2539c.jpg[/img]

I ended up moving down to the area south of Hauksness for my end-game grinding for the time being. The enemies seemed significantly easier and give almost as much XP as the tougher enemies that you encounter in Charlock & Hauksness, so I think it's a bit more efficient. There's also the off chance of killing metal slimes, which is nice when you can pull it off. Out of the dozens I've encountered, I've killed a whopping two of them so far!

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/GRJcKuF.jpg[/img]

Finally knocked this one out this morning! I think I have quite a bit to say about it, so I'll make a longer post later, but I'm glad to have finally played this game after all this time.

Since JRPGs have always been my favorite genre of video games, it always seemed like a no brainer that I would at some point go back and play the granddaddy of them all. As such, this is a game that has always been in the back of my mind as something I should play, but given its age, I always thought it would be too primitive for me to enjoy. While it is primitive compared to many other games, I'm glad to say that it never felt quite so archaic that is was unplayable.

On the contrary, many gameplay elements felt like standard fare for an early RPG, and in some ways it actually seemed ironically streamlined and progressive. The fact that you only had one party member and only ever fought one enemy at a time made battles simple and fairly quick. Equipment dealers automatically buying back your old equipment helped make item management less of a hassle. Granted, technical limitations of the time were likely responsible for these 'features,' but it felt refreshing when compared to some other titles. And sure, the game has some quirks. For example, the menu system was clunky, and many of those options could have just been relegated to a simple button press as every other JRPG has done since.

And what about getting teleported back to the king whenever you die instead of getting a game over? I thought that was a nice touch, and I believe is something that has persisted throughout the series (although the king got changed to a church in later entries). I liked that it was a tradeoff that gave you the choice of keeping your progress but losing half your money, or just reloading your save if the financial loss was too much. Admittedly, during the early game, I pretty much always chose to reload my save because all of the gear was so expensive and I needed the cash, but after I had bought everything and money was practically useless, dying just didn't seem like a big deal anymore.

I tend to agree with both points about the grinding. On one hand, I did find it to be relaxing and addictive, and I often found myself saying I would just do one more battle then quit for the night, only to keep playing for another 30 minutes or so. This is where the game's simplicity works in its favor; if the battles were longer and more complicated, grinding would have felt far more tedious than it already did. However, at the same time, it is also a little disappointing to look back at the game and realize that there really wasn't much to it other than the grinding. There are very few actual important events that take place, and the grinding really feels like an attempt at padding the game's length.

The final boss was a bit of a disappointment, at least in terms of actual battle mechanics. It's pretty much just a war of attrition to see who will die first with no real strategy other than heal whenever my HP got low, and at level 19 it was really just a matter of luck. I guess there weren't many options considering how primitive the game is, but I still wish there was a bit more to it. The boss sprite and exclusive boss fight theme were cool though, and the fact that it was a two-phase fight was kind of neat.

After having played a few Dragon Quest games now including the most recent iteration, it's really cool to see so many familiar themes that have persisted throughout the series' entirety. Many of the classic enemy designs are still used in the modern titles, and I even recognized some short audio cues, such as the level up chime. After seeing how so many of the classic RPG franchises have evolved (for better or worse) and have changed so drastically, it's nice to see a series that sticks so closely to its roots.

While there are many valid complaints that can be levied against the game, I still found a lot to enjoy and really liked the game overall, and I'm willing to overlook most of its faults considering the time that it was released. For 1986, this game is really nothing short of amazing and is one of the real innovators of the gaming world, laying the groundwork and foundation of an entire genre. If I had been 10 years old in the late 80s, I could see myself getting way into this game and losing an entire summer to it, so it's no surprise that some of you guys have this love for it. Although I'm really glad I finally played it, I don't think I would ever revisit the NES version, but I would really like to instead play one of the remakes for a more streamlined experience.

This was a fun ride and I'm glad to have finally experienced it after all this time. Thanks for picking this one, guys!

It's nice to hear the perspective of being new to DQ1, and I think you are right in your thoughts on it. Looking back from where we are now, it seems stripped down to be sure, but I was of the right age back then and it was a new experience. I had played some C64 text adventure games, so it wasn't a totally foreign experience for me, but the graphical element was really nice.

If you ever feel the urge to go back, I really can't recommend the Super Famicom version enough. Nicely streamlined, better graphics that still feel true, nice takes on the music, and much less grindy.

Now I want to track down the GBC version at some point.

Here is our question of the month guys!  We are recording this weekend, so be sure to answer by Saturday to have it read on the show. And please remember to keep your answer to a Twitter-like response re: length. :)   

What console or PC game from your past do you cherish the most and why?

Mega Man 3. It's my comfort food that I can slam through in less than an hour whenever I just want something I know will hit the spot. Best Soundtrack, Best Master Robots, Best Levels, Rush, Sliding, E-Tanks, even has the Mega Man 2 Master Robots in it (if you're into that sort of thing). Amazing game through and through.

Lightening Force. Not only is it an amazing game, with incredible graphics, and an outstanding soundtrack, but it's the game that got me really into shoot-em-ups, and remains my favorite of the genre today.

Great choice, Crabby! MM3 is also my favorite in that series.