I am a big fan of RPG style games. I love getting immersed in the mythical and fantastical worlds these games create. From the industrial metropolis of Midgar to the Kingdom of the GreatTree, I relish the experience of guiding my band of adventurers on their quests.

It should come as no surprise that for my mission to play as many NES games as possible I'd sooner rather than later play Enix's Dragon Warrior.

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Aside from having an opportunity to go down memory lane, another great aspect of being a video game collector is finding a game in the wild and bringing it home to find strangers' save files. I think many other collectors will say that these retro games are parts of technology history, and I can't disagree. However, I also feel that these games are a part of someone's personal history. What would one of the save file owners say if they knew that a copy of his or her game is still being enjoyed today?

Once I decided whose file to delete (I wished I didn't have to delete any, but the game only has three save slots) I was thrown into the midst of my quest to retrieve the Ball of Light from the Dragonlord to reestablish peace in the world.

It begins!

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Why do I always have to save the darn princess? Can't she learn to stay out of trouble?

I must admit that the game is quite charming. It follows the classic plot scheme of introducing the evil lord who has stolen an antient artifact and is now ravaging the world. Of course it is your duty to put an end the reign of chaos and save the damsel in distress. The main character is a descendent of Erdrick, the previous warrior to stop the Dragonlord, and in good old RPG fashion, that pesky evildoer is at it again but now it's your turn to show him a thing or two.

The game starts off with King Lorik telling you that you must return to him after achieving a set amount of experience. Great, I just started the game and already have to level grind. So grind I did. When traversing the world map it is easy to venture off into an area with monsters that can easily take you down so one must tread with caution. I spent a few hours leveling my character so I could head into the regions to the north where the strong baddies from early in the game roam.

Like many early role playing games, Dragon Warrior is predominately a text based adventure with the exception of showing a character sprite when traveling across the overworld. Battles take place with a picture of the enemy in the centre of the screen. The player's stats are shown to the left, commands appear above the enemy, and the play-by-play of battle events are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Evidently, these games took many cues from pen-and-paper RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons.

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After roughly three hours of playing I reached level 6 and the second town. I could have probably reached the locale sooner, but I wanted to reach a sufficient level and be adequately equipped. The gameplay was enjoyable and refreshing when juxtaposed with modern RPGs. I liked reading the battle text and relying on my stats and upgrades to get me through to the next part of the story. These games certainly exploit a creative imagination. The music set the tone for journey of epic proportions. Just listen to music that plays in the overworld.



It makes you want to take up arms and become a legend!

I will return to this game again to finish off the story.

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