Overall 8.8 Graphics 6.9 Sound 6 Addictive 5.6 Story 5.5 Depth 6 Difficulty 7
8.6
Dragon Warrior; An oldie, but a goodie Jordanv78
Dragon Warrior for the NES was released in North America in the Summer of 1989. (Released as Dragon Quest in 1986 in Japan) The title was changed to avoid infringing on the trademark on wargame publisher Simulations Publications's pen-and-paper RPG DragonQuest. Being one of the first games that started fans in the RPG genre it is often remembered.
Story
"In olden days of yore, the realm of Alefgard was cloaked in darkness.
According to legend, a brave warrior, Erdrick, brought light back to the land
by defeating an evil being. He used the Ball of Light bequeathed to him by
a friend to drive off the enemies of Alefgard. He then gave the Ball of
Light to King Lorik, who unified Alefgard. The land was at peace for many
generations. In the time of King Lorik XVI, the Ball of Light were stolen
from Tantegel Castle by the evil Dragonlord, and once again the Kingdom of
Alefgard was plunged into darkness. Many travelers fell prey to the
merciless fangs of monsters, and the beautiful was transformed into
poisonous swamps that hindered travelers. It was also rumored that several
Towns and Villages were destroyed; wiped off the face of the land by Ghosts
& Dragons.
Many brave warriors tried to recover the Ball of Light, but none of them
returned from Charlock, the Dragonlord's dark castle. The people longed for
peace, but did not give up hope. The great Seer Mahetta predicted that "One
day, a descendent of the valiant Edrick shall come forth to defeat the
Dragonlord."
That's basically the entire opening intro. After that, and speaking with the king in the beginning of the game, the actual story doesn't really come up that much during the game. You hear small snippets from townsfolk but nothing of any huge substance. Given this is an early RPG game on the NES you wouldn't really expect much more of a story than that and really it's enough to get you interested. Remember, that a lot of early RPG's required you to use your imagination. They were trying to cater to the fans of text based RPG games like D+D.
Depth
As I said before, this game doesn't have a whole lot in the backstory department. The depth comes from mainly the size and difficulty of it's dungeons and it's monsters. This game, like many requires quite a bit of what we today call grinding. If you are used to RPG's (especially early ones) Then this wont be a huge surprise to you. It has enough to keep you interested, so definitely not something that I consider a drawback. The biggest task is to get the items needed to get to the Dragonlords Charlock Castle, and finding the items of Erdrick's lore. Without using guides....this will take you a LONG time. I will say that the game does feature a lot of different enemies. 30+ different kinds. Although a lot of the "different kinds" I speak about just feature palette changes of about 15 or so original enemies just using different strategies to defeat the hero. Still though it's pretty advanced for it's time. There is no party in this game. This game doesn't have any adventures join you on your quest. The map is pretty large, so that is a bonus in it's favor and many of the dungeons are long and maze-like. Before you get the "Outside" spell this can be a pain as you have to make sure you get out before dying..which is easier said than done in many of the dungeons. Especially if you run out of magic (MP) as there are no "potions" to increase your MP while in a dungeon.
Addictiveness
If I'm honest with myself this game really doesn't have a lot to keep you on the edge of your seat. You have to be a fan of RPG's to really appreciate this. As said before this game was first released in Japan in the mid 80's. What keeps you coming back for more is just the joy of saying you completed your quest and in the determination of finding all the items needed. A lot of people might get bored well before leveling up to the 20+ levels needed to defeat the Dragonlord.
Sound
For an early NES game, it's good. There isn't a ton of variety in the music, but it's not as repetitive as many games of it's time in this genre. The music and efx that it does feature are well done.
Difficulty
A lot of the difficulty is based on finding your way through maze like dungeons to find items needed to get to the Dragonlord. Also finding Erdrick's token and his armor are VERY difficult if you don't have a map. I remember this is one of the first games that Nintendo Power published a entire map of this game. If you didn't have this map you were searching around for hours trying to find the spot to "search" for Erdrick's armor, and token all while fighting VERY powerful enemies. Doing so when this game released required you to save the princess which gave you an item that told you of your coordinates on the map in relation of where you where to Tantagel Castle (Starting Castle) ...which was frustrating because there is nothing in the game to tell you of the map coordinates...lol
Like many games of it's time it required you to make note of ANYTHING of interest that the towns people would tell you. Break out a pen and paper because you will be taking tons of notes and making maps of all the Dungeons.
In summary, this game isn't one of those NES difficulty games, but there are some very cryptic moments without any sort of guide.
Graphics
The graphics aren't what I would call "Great" overall for NES standards, but for it's time they are well done. Most of the graphics to this game are in the enemies/battles. Otherwise it's a top-down perspective of your lone warrior. I appreciate the detail that they put into that aspect of the game as most of the time will be spent fighting monsters.
In Summary
For me there are many great (and frustrating) memories of playing through this game as a child. It has kept me coming back for more some 20+ years later as I have played through it several times over the years as I always like to go back to my roots as an RPG gamer. Fans of Pokemon games will appreciate it's simplicity in this manner. Although there are many RPG games on the NES I prefer over it (Including the Dragon Warrior Sequels) I still love to play through this game as it will give you many hours of mindless maze hunting and grinding enjoyment.
Review Rating: 4.5/5
Submitted: 12-20-12
Updated: 01-15-15
Review Replies: 0
5
Dragon Quest: Thou Wilst Be Bored janus
In olden days of yore, the realm of Alefgard was cloaked in darkness. According to legend, a brave warrior, Endrick, brought light back to the land by defeating an evil being. He used the balls of light bequeathed to him by a friend to drive off the enemies of Alefgard. He then gave the balls of light to King Lorik, who unified Alefgard. The land was at peace for many generations. In the time of King Lorik XVI, the balls of light were stolen from Tantagel Castle by the evil Dragonlord, and once again the kingdom of Alefgard was plunged into darkness. Many travellers fell prey to the merciless fangs of monsters, and the beautiful countryside was transformed into poisonous marshes that hindered travellers. It was also rumored that several towns and villages were destroyed; wiped off the face of the land by ghosts and dragons. Many brave warriors tried to recover the balls of light, but none of them ever returned from Charlock, the Dragonlord's dark castle. The people longed for peace, but did not give up hope. The great seer Mahetta predicted that "One day, a descendant of the valiant Endrick shall come forth to defeat the Dragonlord.?Who is this brave soul? There is only one possible answer: You. Your quest is to find and defeat the evil Drangonlord. The time has come. This is the start of your adventure.(From the Dragon Warrior instruction booklet)
And so your quest starts inside Tantagel castle, where the Ball of light was stolen. Your goal is to get it back from the Dragonlord before he destroys the world.
Graphic: 7/10
The graphs are average for the time. Final Fantasy has better ones (people and overworld map, mainly), but those in Dragon Warrior are more realistic - you was very slowly when crossing high hills and damaging tiles like barrier floors and poisonous marshes. Also, the dungeons are dark unless illuminated with a spell of a torch, which adds a dose of realism not seem in many RPGs.
Battle wise, enemies are mostly pallet swaps. They are well-drawn but are absolutely motionless; you don't even see a puff of smoke as in Final Fantasy. Also, you don't see the Hero acting; you just see the enemy flashing
Sound: 3/10
The music is rather primitive and loops too quickly. Even The Legend of Zelda has better music. One positive note: the deeper you get in a dungeon, the deeper the music becomes. In the Dragonlord castle, it gets a little creepy.
Story: 5/10
The game is pretty straightforward: you are a descendant of Endrick and must complete his quest to get the Ball of Light once more. No depth whatsoever (it's a fairy tale), but it's better than Final Fantasy I and III, where the good people just happen to pop by. In Dragon Warrior at least, your purpose is very clear.
Depth: 2/10
People doing Tool-assisted speedruns (TAS) were able to complete the game in less than 20 minutes by only doing the essential: fetching Endrick's equipment, not visiting any village and defeating the Dragonlord. That tells you everything there is to know about the depth (or rather, its lack) of Dragon Warrior. There are *some* sidequests (the golem, rescuing the princess), but they are not very interesting.
Difficulty: 9/10
SHOOT ME!! This game is excruciatingly difficult. You are completely on your own, so you have to manage your magic very wisely if you want to cure yourself. Also, just to get to the first dungeon where you find Endrick's instructions, to have to grind, grind, grind... for HOURS before you can remotely hope to be strong enough to withstand the monsters around. And since you can only fight blue (sometimes red) slimes - one at the time -, then you will have to be very, very patient.
Finally, you can only warp back to Tantagel, whatever your means is (Wing of Wyvern or the magic spell). It's pretty annoying when you just want to warp back to the previous town to load up on potions and rest.
In conclusion, I don't recommend this game. It's much too slow and the music is too annoying to be worth your time. Dragon Warrior II is much better than this game; Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda are also excellent alternatives.
Graphics 7 Sound 3 Addictive 3 Story 5 Depth 2 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 08-24-14
Updated: 08-25-14
Review Replies: 3
6.5
Original RPG warmaker
Dragon Warrior was the original Role Playing Game with a built in battery for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game follows the story of a descendant of a famous warrior who is now tasked to defeat the new darkness in the continent. The Dragonlord is your named enemy and you fight monsters, level up, improve your stats, and buy new weapons and gain information through various towns and cities, all in the name of the defeat of this terrible scourge.
The game is good for the time. It doesn't age well and it's very one dimensional after you get the idea. The story telling is basic but good enough to pass muster and the RPG side of things don't make you go fetch this that and the other. Later RPGs, notably Dragon Warrior III, fall into a trap of "Get this for this particular person." Dragon Warrior I stays true to home where every item you seek drives your own development, not that of random characters you don't see again.
GRAPHICS: The designs of monsters are good for the time. They flipped the orientation and color to make three types of monster per image and it plays well because different monsters have different skills. I remember being floored by the overworld map and how huge it was. It also lets different cities have different themes and feelings. There's a town surrounded by walls, there's a town destroyed long ago, and so on. Each continent has different enemies and fun towns to investigate. The graphics of the towns are respectable and the terrain makes sense.
SOUND: Magic and battle sounds start to blend together and the music is repetitive. There's nothing special here except it was the first of its kind.
ADDICTIVENESS: Personally, I hate the word addictiveness the same way I hate the word 'obsessed." This game is not addictive only because it is fairly straight forward without much change. You can explore, see new things, but the general game play is 1. Fight bad guys for a while, 2. Level up and get more P, 3. Buy new weapons, 4. Go to next area to fight new bad guys. Most of the game is spent grinding out levels so you can go fight the ultimate bad guy and go win. I find I can beat the game at Level 21, so I don't need to do all sorts of leveling and spend that much time grinding down the road. The linear set up is a great story and it's fun to play but once you beat this guy, you'll be good for ten years until you go back and play for nostalgia's sake.
STORY: The story is good. It's creative and there's a princess to save from a dragon and some extremely minor side stories based on the various towns and cities you go to. Characters have things happen to them and the villagers are mildly realistic in their mini comments. I like the way the story plays out because it is simple enough to follow but the pieces you need to find to create the rainbow bridge make it interesting enough you don't get lost in game play.
DEPTH: See "ADDICTIVENESS." The depth is decent because there are different weapons, different bad guys with different attack strategies and the final dungeon is a mess of false doors, repeating stairwells, and nasty enemies that can mess you up. There isn't much in the way of side quests so you can focus on the task at hand. You also aren't distracted much but a lot of little missions to complete the main mission. It's straight forward enough to keep you on the ball.
DIFFICULTY: When I played this as a kid, I got so frustrated because I didn't understand grinding. The late 80s were a time when RPGs didn't exist and we had no idea why we couldn't beat the next step. It came eventually but this was the first of its kind and it killed me. I took my time this last play through and it was easy, if not time consuming.
Dragon Warrior won't capture anyone's attention if you didn't grow up with it. It's a simple story that requires too much time to really engage anyone under 30. It's worth a play for nostalgia but I recommend anyone trying NES RPGs to find something else to cut their teeth. It's a good game, but only as a repeat.
Graphics 7 Sound 3 Addictive 5 Story 8 Depth 6 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 02-02-15
Review Replies: 2
8
Dragon warrior 1, the quest begins Tymast
This is the game that started the dragon quest(Dragon warrior in the states). You are a lone hero who sets out to defeat the evil dragonlord. While it may seem a bit dated by today's standards, so much of what has made the DQ series enjoyable is present here, right down to the deceptively smiling slimes.
The game play is relatively simple, kill enemies get gold/exp, level and buy equipment. There are many places to explore, caves, towns, ruins and the dragon lord's castle itself.
As I said in an earlier review of dragon warrior, you need to speak to the king in starting castle to save, when you cross bridges the enemies will become stronger (and bring stronger rewards for their defeat) Torches are needed while walking in caves early on, while you do gain a light spell it's best to save the mana for healing or the offensive burst if needed. Swamps are another problem you'll take minor damage crossing them, as well as barriers(green dotted squares, and blue with diagonal lines). One of the hardest parts of the game is due to how saving works, it makes traveling a bit more dangerous and much work can be lost so always carry a chimera wing, that will zoom you back home.
Towns have shops where you can purchase equipment, items and find a place to sleep/heal (inns usually). I've always prefered doing a little extra grinding for the 2 step increase in armor and weapon, as well as using caves to "farm" items and gold.
As far as items, medical herbs heal, antidote cures poison, torches cast light (tho light spell creates a bigger circle) the water is useful for preventing random encounters of monsters that are weaker then you are.
Overall If you are looking for a good oldschool jrpg, you cannot go wrong with this game, in fact nintendo power once had Dragon warrior as a give away for a subscription, along with maps and a strategy guide, a wise move considering this was my starting point for 20 some odd years of playing role playing games.
Graphics 7 Sound 7 Addictive 9 Story 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3.4/5
Submitted: 01-16-10
Updated: 05-08-11
Review Replies: 1
3.6
Most over rated RPG ever? perhaps... TetraDigm
Dragon Warrior. Ah the epic quest to save the princess, prove your worth, and slay the evil Dragon Lord. Perhaps one of the worst RPGs for the NES. It holds a special place in many peoples hearts as being a classic from their childhood, but most likely they just never got the chance to play Final Fantasy, or Crystalis very much.
Depth: 1
Now this game, it is long. Like 20-40 hours long depending on how bad you are at it. Its not long because its an expansive world, filled with many different powerful enemies, dungeons, and cities. Its long because there is only 1 small world map, 3 dungeons, 5 minuscule towns, 1 main castle and 1 short 8 floor end dungeon. How did they manage to make this barely any content last? Why we throw strong monsters at you! But lots of them? No. A total of 38, 40 with the final(only) boss, monsters that all do basically the same thing: attack, sleep, heal, or a combination of those. The way they are stronger? They simply pump massive stats into the monsters in the next area so you HAVE to grind for 3 hours just to buy the next sword, shield or armor you want. On that subject, 7 weapons, 7 armor, and 3 shields? Would it have been so difficult for them to have put some effort into this? They did the bare minimum and threw it out saying "okay, its done.". This game lacks any depth whatsoever. The few NPCs who have anything of value to say are obvious as you have to go off the beaten path to get to them, but they just tell you straight out "go here".
Story: 1
Lets be honest here, there is hardly a story to speak of. You start the game and you're off to kill the Dragon Lord. With hardly any money, and the worst equipment in the kingdom. Seems legit. You wander to a town, get told to go to another town cause ain't nuthin' useful here. You go to that town, get told the same thing. In between theres a few people who say meaningless dribble, and a few who tell you to find the princess(paraphrasing here), find certain items, do certain things. All in all its a dull and lifeless story that consists of find the princess, kill the dragon.
Addictiveness: 2
Back in the day, I only had a handful of games. It was between this, Ultima Exodus, Skate or Die, and some crap I don't remember. This was the winner for the simple fact that it isn't evil like Ultima. This game is not addicting, unless you enjoy killing the exact same enemy for an hour because you cant kill the other enemies in the area yet and you want to be close to the key place. Its about as addicting as running headfirst into a wall.
Sound: 3
Cant remember the exact number of songs, I think it was 8. They were all rather repugnant to the ear however, and the terrible sound effect that go along with are no better. The sound effects themselves aren't terrible, its just that I have to hear them every single time I attack and get hit and it gets very annoying.
Difficulty: 7
The game is quite difficult for 1 main reason:
You only have about 3-4 monsters you can face. Oh sure you can always go back and kill slimes and ghosts, but they wont give you the money for new armor and weapon, and you cant kill the monsters in the next area because they are simply so overpowering they will kill you in 2 hits, until miraculously you level up and buy new armor and a weapon, one level mind you, and you are taking almost no damage and killing them with the quickness. Then its back to the same routine.
Graphics: 8
For an NES game, this actually looked rather good. Well, the game itself looked terrible. Bleeding sprites and tiles, barely any detail or animation, HOWEVER, the enemies were very well done. That's probably what took the majority of the space for this game since God knows it wasn't used for the 5 or 6 maps. Unfortunately, the enemies were all pallet swaps. Although there were 40 enemies, there were only 15 individual enemy pictures. The rest were just flipped, changed in color, or had a weapon/shield added. I suppose it was to be expected, they wanted to pump these things out as cheaply as possible back then, but they could have at least given me something different to stare at for hours on end while I grind on the same enemies again and again.
Overall: 3.6
This games really not worth playing. You likely wont have much fun, and almost certainly wont bother to beat the game once you get half way through and realize that its going to take you another 15 hours just to get strong enough to kill the Dragon Lord. People will always try to put a spin on this, how this game was a pioneer, or a classic, but the fact is it was neither. Games like this had been made before it. Better games. RPGs weren't created in the 1980's, they were just turned into better forms. Except this. This was terrible.
Graphics 8 Sound 3 Addictive 2 Story 1 Depth 1 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.2/5
Submitted: 06-24-13
Review Replies: 13
9
RPG that started it all ivardds
This was the first RPG I ever played. I instantly fell in love with the genre. This game may not have the best graphics or even story but it has an extreme nostalgic value for myself.This game is pretty basic. You control one warrior who happens to be the decedent of the great warrior Erdrik. It is a standard RPG where you will have to grind for certain periods of time in order to advance through the game. You start the game by needing to rescue the princess who has been kidnapped. However, even after rescuing her you still must defeat the Dragonlord. I recommend this game to any true RPG fan, to find out what game really started it all.
Graphics 6 Sound 6 Addictive 8 Story 8 Depth 7 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 08-17-15
Updated: 08-18-15
Review Replies: 3
6.5
Not the best, but it's still decent. AquaTurtle20
Dragon Warrior. One of the classic RPG games which were pretty much Dragon Ball Z, but more of a fantasy than pure fighting. While this is just the first one of the nine, ( As of 8-12-15, and not including other games like Dragon Quest Monsters, or the Japanese-exclusive (for now) Dragon Quest 10.) I find this game to be not that good. It's kind of good, but not that good. And before you ask, yes, I DO know about the SNES and GBC remake, but hey, I'm review the NES one, just because there's no difference other than larger maps, better graphics, better soundtrack, etc.
Graphics:
The Graphics are pretty much like your average NES game. It seems to have the environment of Final Fantasy (removing the ocean, there's no flight or sailing in this game.) But the graphics of The Legend of Zelda. One thing I do like is your Character starts out without a Sword and Shield, and when you get one, your character sprite actually has the Sword and Shield...too bad if you get a different Sword/Shield they look no different. 7/10
Sound:
The Soundtrack isn't really the best, but it's not annoying, bad, irritating, or any of the sort either. But it can get repetitive. There isn't that much soundtrack in the game. 6/10
Addictiveness:
This game is actually a little bit addicting...for your first play through. BUT it's still kind of fun, despite what I said above, it's just not too good. Problems can include that in order to open locked doors, you have to go to the menu, and then open the door with the option. There aren't that many enemies (Most of them are 1 of 3 different enemies of the same type, just stronger or weaker.) You can get magic as you level up, but there isn't that much. This game also plays the "name game", you will have different attributes depending on your name. Oh, and there's only one save point: The main castle. And when you die, that's where you restart. All the time. The overall gameplay is simplistic. 6/10
Story:
It's your typical Medieval Fantasy story. The Princess has been captured! You must save her! Then you must defeat the Dragon Lord, who stole Erdrick's Ball of Light and wants to take over the world! The entire story is just pure cliché. Saving a captured Princess? Antagonist wants to take over the world? Yep. Also, they mention "You're the descendant of Erdrick"...Yep. Well, actually, I guess I enjoyed one part of the ending, but other than that, the story is just...yeah. I think you get the picture. 3/10
Depth:
The game is pretty long, at 25 hours, with a couple of other areas you can go to. You can find one particular weapon and Armor piece which can't be bought in stores, and there are some items which are required to progress through the story. 8/10
Difficulty:
The game isn't too hard...unless you never boost your levels. Because through the game, enemies are going to deal a lot of damage to you. Some will even give you a disadvantage. And just a quick note of advice: Some monsters know a
Sleeping spell, which normally works nearly all the time. If you see one, RUN. 8/10
And that ends my review on Dragon Warrior. I couldn't say the game was bad, but I couldn't say it was good either. I enjoyed how there were a couple of other non-campaign things to find, and a couple other things as well. But it could've been better. In fact, I heard this was going to have more than 1 hero...But that never happened. Too bad. It's still kind of good, though. Overall Rating: 6.5/10
Graphics 7 Sound 6 Addictive 6 Story 3 Depth 8 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 08-12-15
Updated: 08-12-15
Review Replies: 0
9.3
The start of something big.... LordGaldan
Dragon Warrior(Dragon Quest in Japan) was the beginning of a franchise and while it's not the best one by far, it is a decent RPG by NES standards. I feel that it doesn't get the love Final Fantasy franchise does, mainly because the earlier ones didn't have very good storylines, but that was corrected in later titles. Anyway, down to the review, the graphics are ok for NES, but then again, graphics are not why I purchase and/or play RPGs. The music is done very well, but then Koichi Sugiyama is a very good composer, to me, almost as good as Nobuo Uematsu. As for addictivness, I loved this game from the Dragon Warrior commercial spot and asked my mother if I could buy this and she said as long as I had the money, yes I could. As soon as I started playing, I was inexorably drawn to this game and the medieval speech was a big seller to me. I wanted to play this title over and over after I beat the game. The storyline is not that great, but then this game concentrates more on level grinding and combat over story, which I think is one reason the Japanese fell in love with it. It's very simplicity calls for it. The depth of this game is not that great, either, but depth wasn't what was focused on in its programming, I believe. And being simple in its gameplay, it's not all that difficult to play through. All that said, I believe this is a title that is more suited to a casual RPG gamer than a hard core one.
Graphics 7 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 6 Depth 7 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 07-18-17
Review Replies: 0
4.5
An influential game that has aged terribly NovemberJoy
RPGs aren't exactly a new thing - their existence dates back to before the video game industry existed. One of the first well-known RPGs was Dungeons and Dragons, a tabletop RPG meant to be played with a small group of friends. Electronic RPGs date back to the early 70s, being designed by college students on the earliest computers available, although these games typically never left the college they were programmed in. On the earliest home computers that had the capacity to play games, you would find things like Akalabeth and Wizardry, which would both go on to spawn long-running series. These games, however, were very complex for their time, and also very difficult both to play and to learn. In 1986, however, Dragon Quest was released in Japan for the Nintendo Famicom, and it became very famous. It was designed to be simple enough to be played with a controller, yet still have some of the complexities of the aforementioned computer RPGs, and it succeeded in that regard. It was a massive hit in the Japanese market, selling over 1.5 million copies total.
However, it took three years to be released in the United States, and their tastes were very different from those of the Japanese public. They preferred the fast-paced action of Zelda over the tactical gameplay of Dragon Warrior, and a better RPG for their tastes would come just a year later in the form of Final Fantasy, which was a massive success in the US market. Nintendo had produced half a million cartridges of the game, assuming that it would sell just as well in the US as it had in Japan, but it was not to be, and they eventually resorted to giving free copies of the game away with Nintendo Power magazines. Does it hold up at all to its Japanese success, or was the American market right to reject it?
First of all, the graphics...were not all that great. There weren't any other major console RPGs to set standards at that time, but the graphics of the original Dragon Quest were primitive even by 1986 standards. When the game came over to the US three years later, though, they saw fit to upgrade the graphics a bit, which was a welcome change. It has its own style, which looks very distinctive, and the graphics are generally passable for the overworld, but where the graphics really shine is in the monster designs. Every monster design you'll see is very original and very well-drawn, although they don't have any animation, but a lot of them are used multiple times for different monsters with minor details changed or minor things added, which is very disappointing.
The music is fairly standard for a 1986 game, and doesn't fully utilize the sound capabilities of the NES. The simplistic melodies get very grating on your nerves after a while, and it doesn't help that you have to listen to the same few songs throughout the entire game. There's one song for towns, one song for the main castle where you can save your game, one song for dungeons, one song for fights...there's very little variety here. The sound effects don't fare much better, being as simple as they can be for an NES game.
The gameplay is fairly standard RPG fare - explore a large world, kill monsters, gain gold and experience, and rescue the princess. It starts off with the King giving you a long speech about you being the descendant of Erdrick before giving you two missions:rescue the princess and defeat the Dragonlord. It's not very deep, even for the time, but it works.
This first room, though, showcases some of the reasons why this game hasn't aged well. The command window, which you have to use for everything other than walking, feels clunky and unresponsive, and commands are required for the most mundane things that are done for you in most other RPGs. I understand opening the menu to talk to people or take items, but why do I have to open the menu to use stairs? Would it really have killed them to make the stairs activate when you walk on them?
Once you get out of the castle, you're introduced to the most prominent part of the game, and the part you'll spend most of your time doing: grinding. At least 75% of your time will be spent killing the same enemies over and over again until you gain enough experience and gold to equip yourself better and proceed onwards. It doesn't help that you begin weaker than a vegetable, which forces you to grind at least three or four levels before you can even think about safely venturing beyond the area you start the game in. To put things into perspective, you need to gain 110 EXP to get to level 4, which is the minimum level to safely venture out from the starting area, and the enemies around the starting area give 1 or 2 EXP each. That's a lot of fighting just to start the game properly, and the grinding never eases up.
The game is surprisingly open-ended, and most of your objectives can be completed independently of each other, although they all need to be completed. If you had the luck of a professional gambler, you could wander down to a swampy area in the far southwest and grab an important item necessary to proceed in the plot much later at LV 1, although you'll have to commit suicide to get back out. The game kinda just throws you in and expects you to learn how to proceed from the dialogue, which is a welcome change of pace from the average RPG, and it's one of the things that really stands out about this game.
To hammer in the point about the grinding in this game, consider what I've said so far. Now, consider the fact that the lowest level where you have a decent chance of besting the Dragonlord is LV 20, where you'll have to run from every enemy and pray that you get away from them. You have to gain a total of 26,000 EXP to get to LV 20, the most you'll be gaining from battle at the best grinding spot in the game is 50 EXP per enemy, and the most EXP you'll ever get from one battle is 115 EXP. No matter how you slice it, this game will require an incredible amount of grinding. I really can't push this point hard enough - the grinding is easily the worst part about this game, by far. It's hilarious, too, because it's been shown that someone with perfect luck can beat the game at level SEVEN.
Overall, this game is an important part of the history of RPGs, but it has not aged well at all. I've heard numerous people say that the original Final Fantasy is dated...If that's the case, then trying to play this game today is like unearthing a 10,000 year old bottle of milk from an Egyptian tomb and drinking it. Its presentation is not particularly impressive, the storyline is very simple, and the gameplay revolves entirely around exploring the fairly small world and grinding so you can explore more.
Overall Rating: 4.5 stupidly long grinding sessions out of 10
Graphics 7 Sound 5 Addictive 1 Story 5 Depth 7 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 12-19-16
Review Replies: 3
6.8
Dragon Warrior - an early foray into NES RPG's geeogree
Dragon Warrior (or Dragon Quest as it was originally known) was released to North America in 1989 (but made for Japan in 1986) making it one of the earliest RPG’s made for the NES. Final Fantasy came out at the end of 1987 in Japan. At least a year later. Keep this in mind as we review this game. For all its shortcomings it is one of the original console RPG’s and is responsible (along with Final Fantasy) for the birth of the console RPG.
Graphics 7/10 – the graphics for this game are quite good (again, consider the time it came out). I like the style that the first castle takes when you start in it. The over world is simple in design but I think it looks about as good as can be hoped for. The sprites in the towns and castle are fairly simple but clear in their design which is about as much as you could hope for.
Where the graphics really take off are in the monster design. There aren’t tons of monsters in this game but they are all very nicely designed and colored. The later iterations of the same monster usually takes on a different color, name and maybe a flip in the picture. This may seem a bit lazy on the creators’ part but remember this is one of the first games of its kind for the NES.
Sound 9/10 – I seem to review games that I think very highly of their music. Maybe it’s because so many of these games were developed either in Japan or very closely with the Japanese. Nearly every Japanese made or influenced game comes with amazing soundtracks. This game is no different. The music does get a bit repetitive as you play through the game but switching between the towns, the over world and fights keeps the song you hear fairly fresh. You don’t spend more than a few minutes hearing any one song most of the time.
The music really excels as you go into the final dungeon though. Each level is given its own varies version of the dungeon theme and the further down you progress into the dungeon the more sinister and evil sounding the music becomes. By the time you get to the last level the music is a lot slower and more sinister sounding. It’s a subtle effect but should become obvious as the player progresses. I also really like the battle theme. There is this sort of frantic nature to the music even though the battle is turn based so there shouldn’t actually be any hurry needed on the player’s part to participate in the battle.
Addictiveness 5/10 – I personally have come back to this game several times to play it through again. The game is pretty simple in its overall design and mechanics which makes it easy to learn and fun to play in my opinion. Part of why I could see other people not wanting to come back to this game is that it is quite grindy in places. In order to move on from one area to another it is quite often mandatory to go back to the easier area and grind an extra level or 2 as well as collect enough cash to buy the next level of weapons and armor in order to survive. The balance issues can be a pain and can easily make the game less enjoyable.
Story 5/10 – The story of Dragon Warrior is simple. You start the game in Tantegel Castle and you must speak with King Lorik in order to progress. He tells you about the Dragonlord who has stolen the Balls of Light and that you must defeat him in order to get them back in order to save the world. The Princess is also kidnapped and must be rescued. After rescuing her she gives you this useless ability to see how far away from the castle, and from her, you are. I’ve never really found this useful by the time you rescue the Princess because you can use a teleport to get back to the castle (I believe).
This isn’t the most creative story ever, but in the context that it is one of the first games like this for the NES I forgive its simplicity and rate it higher than it probably deserves.
Depth 8/10 – while there isn’t TONS to do in this game it is an open world game and you can wander around anywhere you want. The obvious limitation is the strength of your character which prevents you from venturing out too far early on. Also, this is an early RPG for the console so while there aren’t tons of weapons or spells or things like that there is enough of it to keep the game progressing. I also find that there aren’t useless or extraneous items that you quite often find in newer games which is kind of nice. I dislike getting armor or weapons that are only useful in very strict circumstances or are worse than things you can buy or find in earlier areas. Just seems strange to do that.
Difficulty 7/10 – this game isn’t overly difficult to play. The mechanics are pretty simple. There are only a certain number of weapons and armor to collect and you can only gain a handful of spells. The difficulty comes in progressing through the over world. The starting area is quite simple and killing green and red slimes becomes easy quite quickly. However, moving on from there can get you killed if you aren’t fully prepared. The game is not balanced to give you the required levels from beating an area to progress smoothly on to the next area. This is one of the worst flaws of the game. A lot of time is spent grinding easy enemies in order to be strong enough to take on the enemies of the later areas. If you skip doing this then you’re basically asking to die over and over and that can be really frustrating.
Overall 6.8/10 – this game is a good game. It has a simple story and the progression is fairly linear even though the world is wide open. The mechanics are straight forward and easy to learn. The obvious flaw I mentioned earlier is how much grinding is required. That is probably the biggest problem the game has. If you don’t take the time to grind through the current area you are in you risk dying a lot trying to beat monsters that are far superior to you. There are other positives though. The graphics and music are great for the era this game was made. It also spawned multiple sequels (5 I think) on the NES alone which goes to show how much of a success it must have been when it was made. Still, not sure how well it would translate to a gamer today who has never played an old RPG like this.
Graphics 7 Sound 9 Addictive 5 Story 5 Depth 8 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 04-13-16
Review Replies: 1
9
Oldie but still a goodie Alordo
What can be said about Dragon Warrior that hasn't already been said? It was the first RPG I ever played on my NES. I didn't own the game, but had borrowed it from a friend that never played it. They didn't like the lack of fast paced action. It helped to fuel that fire in me that I had from playing table top D & D. I remember the first time I beat a gold golem and got that lovely gold. I hunted those things like a mad man. Had a nice stash of cash for shopping after that. I had a lot of fun playing this game. I am glad to have found it here on Vizzed.
Graphics 6 Sound 8 Addictive 7 Story 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 1/5
Submitted: 03-23-16
Review Replies: 1
User Notice 
-2.png "Dragon Quest VI (English Translation)"){kind=spacer}
-2-full.png "Final Fantasy III (walk thru walls)")
