March 2019 Playthrough - Dragon Warrior / Dragon Quest

[GrayGhost81]

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!

[GrayGhost81]

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 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.   

[BuriedOnMars]

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.'

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!    

[Link41]

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.

[singlebanana]

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?

Definitely a Nintendo Power reference

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

[douglie007]

The SNES remake had all the Nester references taking out.

[Disposed Hero]

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.

[Crabmaster2000]

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.

[BuriedOnMars]

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!

[Crabmaster2000]

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.

[singlebanana]

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.

[singlebanana]

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.

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.

I'll never forget the first time a Magician ran away from me because I was too powerful!  Yeah, you git outta here!

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

[Crabmaster2000]

@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.

[Link41]

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

[Crabmaster2000]

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.

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