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Dragon Quest -- RPG of a Nation
CygnusZ
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Registered User regular
Dragon Quest was originally released for the Famicom Computer on May 27th 1986. Although originally not a big hit (although it was featured in Shounen Jump), it eventually moved on to large scale success largely through word of mouth. When the sequel, Dragon Quest II, was released Enix did not anticipate that demand would be so high for the game. As a result, the game sold out completely in a few months leaving many fans without a copy of the game. The release of Dragon Quest III was marked with elementary and middle school children skipping school to get a copy of the game. Not only that, after the release of the game a string of incidents were reported of children having their copies stolen or being extorted out of them by bullies. (From the Japanese Wiki)
Dragon Warrior was released in the United States in 1989 and was promoted through a Nintendo Power deal. By this time the series had already gained mainstream appeal in Japan. Although Dragon Warrior was a success due to the tie-in deal with Nintendo Power, the sequels did not do as well. Enix released Dragon Warrior I - IV in the United States before shutting its doors.
Dragon Quest I - III would be considered fairly generic by today's standards, but we must remember that these are the games that set the standard for the industry. Dragon Quest I features a lone hero venturing off to grind levels and kill the dread Dragon King. Dragon Quest II played quite similarly to the first installment, but featured a party system. The protagonist was a strong fighter, his prince companion a cleric and his princess companio a wizard. Dragon Quest III expanded the number of party members to four and gave the player a system for creating party members. They could be a wide variety of classes, from Soldier to Wizard. Sage, a class which could use both Wizard and Priest spells was a hidden class that was obtainable only via getting a secret object. The SNES remake added the Thief class to the mix. Although both released in the same year, Dragon Quest III remake won game of the year over the nearly twice as long Dragon Quest VI.
Dragon Quest IV -- VI all feature innovative storytelling techniques. Dragon Quest IV is divided like a book, into five chapters (six for the remake). The first 4 chapter all feature the supporting cast in their own story, and the last chapter finally gets around to the journey of the hero. Dragon Quest V has the generational system, where you start a child, become a man and finally get married with children of your own. Dragon Quest V is Dragon Quest creator's Yuji Hori's favorite installment of the series. Dragon Quest VI tells a strange story, where the world itself has been split into a "real" world and a "phantom" world. Without getting into details, it's a lot like Chrono Cross and far ahead of its time.
Dragon Quest VII and VIII were released for Playstation and Playstation 2 respectively. Dragon Quest VII starts off with a world covered in ocean, and the protagonist must restore the world one island at a time by traveling to the past. This leads to the game being made up of often emotionally involving short stories. Dragon Quest VIII is a much more traditional style RPG with a very conservative story. However, it does a world that absolutely comes to life with the artwork of Akira Toriyama. The original release of the game does not have an orchestral soundtrack or voice acting, but the US released does.
My favorite Dragon Quest game is the fifth one. In this game you play the role of a small boy as he grows into a man and eventually has children of his own. When it was released on SNES the graphics were kind of second rate for the time, but the gameplay mechanics were solid and the writing was good enough that it made the player feel very attached to the characters. It was the first jRPG to feature a "monster taming" element. Yes, you heard right, Pokemon's predecessor is Dragon Quest V. In 2004 the game was released on PS2. It has not only vastly improved graphics, but a fully orchestral score and 4 party member system.
The original DQI
DQVr
ABUNAI MIZUGI (DQ2 easter egg)
So let's talk about DQ!
Dragon Warrior was released in the United States in 1989 and was promoted through a Nintendo Power deal. By this time the series had already gained mainstream appeal in Japan. Although Dragon Warrior was a success due to the tie-in deal with Nintendo Power, the sequels did not do as well. Enix released Dragon Warrior I - IV in the United States before shutting its doors.
Dragon Quest I - III would be considered fairly generic by today's standards, but we must remember that these are the games that set the standard for the industry. Dragon Quest I features a lone hero venturing off to grind levels and kill the dread Dragon King. Dragon Quest II played quite similarly to the first installment, but featured a party system. The protagonist was a strong fighter, his prince companion a cleric and his princess companio a wizard. Dragon Quest III expanded the number of party members to four and gave the player a system for creating party members. They could be a wide variety of classes, from Soldier to Wizard. Sage, a class which could use both Wizard and Priest spells was a hidden class that was obtainable only via getting a secret object. The SNES remake added the Thief class to the mix. Although both released in the same year, Dragon Quest III remake won game of the year over the nearly twice as long Dragon Quest VI.
Dragon Quest IV -- VI all feature innovative storytelling techniques. Dragon Quest IV is divided like a book, into five chapters (six for the remake). The first 4 chapter all feature the supporting cast in their own story, and the last chapter finally gets around to the journey of the hero. Dragon Quest V has the generational system, where you start a child, become a man and finally get married with children of your own. Dragon Quest V is Dragon Quest creator's Yuji Hori's favorite installment of the series. Dragon Quest VI tells a strange story, where the world itself has been split into a "real" world and a "phantom" world. Without getting into details, it's a lot like Chrono Cross and far ahead of its time.
Dragon Quest VII and VIII were released for Playstation and Playstation 2 respectively. Dragon Quest VII starts off with a world covered in ocean, and the protagonist must restore the world one island at a time by traveling to the past. This leads to the game being made up of often emotionally involving short stories. Dragon Quest VIII is a much more traditional style RPG with a very conservative story. However, it does a world that absolutely comes to life with the artwork of Akira Toriyama. The original release of the game does not have an orchestral soundtrack or voice acting, but the US released does.
My favorite Dragon Quest game is the fifth one. In this game you play the role of a small boy as he grows into a man and eventually has children of his own. When it was released on SNES the graphics were kind of second rate for the time, but the gameplay mechanics were solid and the writing was good enough that it made the player feel very attached to the characters. It was the first jRPG to feature a "monster taming" element. Yes, you heard right, Pokemon's predecessor is Dragon Quest V. In 2004 the game was released on PS2. It has not only vastly improved graphics, but a fully orchestral score and 4 party member system.
The original DQI
DQVr
ABUNAI MIZUGI (DQ2 easter egg)
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=cjlSMGVEXJA
King: The poor girl doesn't even have a silk robe on.
She looks so pitiful without anything to wear.
I'll give you my treasure. Here's, take this high leg
bathing suit.
Ah, it looks great on you. I'm so happy I lived
this long. Why are you looking at me like that?
I'm so embarassed...
King: The poor girl doesn't even have a silk robe on.
She looks so pitiful without anything to wear.
I'll give you my treasure. Here's, take this high leg
bathing suit.
Ah, it looks great on you. I'm so happy I lived
this long. Why are you looking at me like that?
I'm so embarassed...
So let's talk about DQ!
CygnusZ on
0
Posts
What do you guys think the future of Dragon Quest is? Should they go off into Action RPG terrority? Can the series keep on surviving on tradition, or should it be doing more to innovate?
I'm talking about the original famicom release, not Dragon Warrior.
What's the difference other than naming conventions? As far as I know, they're the same game.
LoL: BunyipAristocrat
A few things. The most obvious is that the graphics of Dragon Warrior are vastly improved compared to Dragon Quest. Another difference is the difficulty. Dragon Quest was much more difficult than Dragon Warrior, although the SNES/GBC remakes are both easier than Dragon Warrior.
But more to the point, the game's commercial success and cultural importance is different. Dragon Quest would move on to be something of a cultural phenomenon (not due to advertising, but by word of mouth), becoming known as the national RPG. Dragon Warrior would be successful due to the Nintendo Power deal, but the sequels would not be met with tremendous success and the entire series would languish in obscurity.
I would like to say, while I did sell all of my NES games/systems a long time ago, I am 99% sure my copy of Dragon Warrior had guards with the two horns on their helmets and no faces. Since I have no way to prove this, I will just pretend otherwise, but I really think I didn't have updated graphics.
Steam, PSN, XBL, Xfire and everything else JamesDM
Here's a comparison video.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqb_aUjR3hU&feature=related
In DQ1 the protagonist didn't even have a different sprites for walking in different directions.
For the record the introduction sequences DW2 and DW3 were created for the American releases, though they were remade for the Japanese SNES releases.
Everything in the english version looks right except the guard sprites, the bolded font is correct and all the rest of the sprites.
Steam, PSN, XBL, Xfire and everything else JamesDM
Two things about this vid:
1.) I find it neat that apparently the monster names weren't changed much for the original US release of Dragon Warrior(ie: Ghost is still Ghost, Drakee is still Drakee, etc)
2.) And oh my god, the player here used the magic restore shortcut so they wouldn't have to pay for a night at the inn! I did that too, and it is delightful to see it
I don't care about turn-based battling, but PLEASE throw some sort of fast-speed battle option into DQX for those who want it.
I think I got Dragon Warrior II after I bought Final Fantasy, which made it much harder to play and enjoy for me. Dragon Warrior II felt like a very punishing game for me at that time. I soldiered on and beat it after many deaths, but in the end my taste for the Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest games had been soured. When I heard about Dragon Warrior III, I dismissed it without much thought and didn't pay much attention to the series until Dragon Warrior VII came out a few years back. I put about 30 hours into that one until I got tired, distracted, or both.
I bought DQ8 on sale about 2 years ago, and have yet to play it.
I told my girlfriend's brother, who got a Wii for Xmas, that DQ10 is being released for that system, and he was quite happy.
My Backloggery
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
I think it's worth your time. The game basically plays the same, but the story elements are greatly expanded on. The DS remake of IV should be a lot more easy and less time consuming than DQIII. The interesting thing is the chapter system, forcing you to use each of the supporting characters as the main character for about a three hour adventure. For example, the first chapter has you playing a castle guard who is investigating the kidnapping of some children while in the third chapter you play a merchant who is trying to become rich by running his own store.
This is my absolute favorite series, bar none. I've been with it since just after it's debut in it's NA. In my first ever issue of Nintendo Power, the Nov/Dec 89 issue, came with it a strategy guide for DW. It gripped me when I read it's contents. Later that day, in the freezing coldness of early January, I trekked to the local video store and rented Dragon Warrior thanks to the guide. As soon as I killed my first slime, and gained my first level 7 exp later, I was hooked for life. I've bought every North American DW/DQ game ever released since then and it's never once let me down.
DQIII is my favorite followed by DQIV and DQVIII. I am soooooo happy to finally be able to play DQV this Feb. After such a long wait and denials and cancellations... I can experience what I saw in EGM so long ago. Granted, in remake form, but given how faithful DQIV was to the NES version on the DS, I have nothing to fear.
I still remember how bloody hard it was to find DWII, III and IV for the NES back in 1991/1992. There were hardly any specialty stores for games back then around here so it was like a needle in a haystack. They are the prized games of my NES collection though. Worth every penny saved up to buy them as a kid.
It crushed me as a gamer when Enix closed down in NA. But you better believe I was pumped when Eidos of all companies published DW Monsters for the GBC back in 2000. I played that game so much. I maxed out the clock ingame. I attempted to bribe the EB clerk when there was only one game in stock that was held for someone else. I wanted my fix of DQ.
the GBC remakes/ports of DQI&II and III were heaven for me. It was like being 12-14 years old again. I love how they have been spruced up with the barest of modern conveniences, and that they still retain the same feel and warmth that all DQ games have.
(I've actually had a will to start up another game of the Torneko Roguelike game on the PS1 tonight, oddly enough.)
DQVII was... actually not as good as I hoped for some reason. I dont know what it was, but I was expecting just a little more I guess. Certainly not in terms of game length, but just... it's the only DQ game to this day that I feel less than stellar about. I still love it, but just something about it compared to the other ones is missing. I've never played V or VI before though, so that could change too.
DQVIII on the PS2 was just... wow to me. It was finally how I had visioned the series being from the start. One of the most visually realized worlds in any game ever made. The redone OST for outside of Japan and the absolutely fitting voice acting was just icing on the cake for me. It also helps that it had a fair bit of nods to the older games in the series.
Even DQ Swords, whom most outlets trashed as shallow and boring, I loved. I must have played around 50 hours on it, just trying to make the Sword Of Kings... There is quite a lot of stuff to do even in that game, after the main game is done. It's good stuff and I'd actually love to see another game in that vein in the future. Maybe with the Motion Plus attatchment for the Wii...
I'm supremely looking forward to DQ9 on the DS and it keeps looking better and better in my eyes. I'm also happy that DQ has returned to a console too, (DQ10) as I enjoy playing them on my TV moreso than on a portable. Not that the portable ones have lacked anything, just... I like a bigger screen.
I love DQ. Even if I ever stop gaming, that will be the one series of games that I will always keep up on.
As for the question above regarding the differences between III and IV? They are very much different in many ways. Much more characterization. Much longer game. It will obviously look and sound much better than the GBC DWIII cart too. DQIV is the start of another trilogy in DQ, so it wont have so many ties to the first 3, but...
Just buy DQIV. If you liked III, you'll likely love what they did with IV. The only POSSIBLE negative thing I could think of is that you cannot make your own characters like in III, but other than that, IV is superiour to III. (I still enjoy III more though, but that's just my personal taste.)
Well, when you think of relative speed, it is pretty slow. As far as jrpgs go the Dragon Quest series really ranks up there in terms of slow battles.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Can you think of any counter examples then? Because off the top of my head, I can think of plenty of games with a faster battle system (To name a few, FF games for SNES and beyond, Chrono Trigger, and any Shin Megami Tensei game for the PS2. And that's without thinking too hard).
C'mon you're saying THIS is slow? Both FF and CT are way slower. PS2 era Megaten is slightly slower ass well.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=G87sq12_e38&feature=related
He went into space recently.
What DQ is that?
Too bad he hasn't been able to revisit his former glory. Ultima 8 and 9 were garbage.
Some people could wear the box that came with the Dragon Edition of Ultima 9. Wear it like clothing. If that's not a sign of a great game, what is?
It had potential but was rushed out the door. Buggy as hell and horribly unoptimized. I had a pretty beastly rig when that came out and it still suffered slowdown.
I know, not quite fully Dragon Quest, but still.
Anybody else remember hunting the golden slime?
8 and 9 were essentially the reason Richard Garriott left Origin. They were apparently very overbearing and pushy when it came to deadlines which led to those two installments being incredibly buggy and creating alot of bad blood between Lord British and Origin higher ups.
As for his space trip I actually followed it pretty closely as I have always been interested in LB's exploits and space tourism. I would love to do it myself by lack the 35+ million it takes to secure a seat. Hey, for 100 mil you can fly around the dark side of the moon.
*edit*Man, I swear I am not a fan boi, I just truly think he got a bad rap for the whole situation.
Steam, PSN, XBL, Xfire and everything else JamesDM
DQ3 has a special place in my heart because it is actually the first rpg I ever played, back when I was geez, I dunno, seven. I kept playing it over and over again over a period of 3 or so years, but it took me a long time to defeat on account of the fact that I was terrified of dying and therefore had a strategy that consisted of repeatedly killing the weakest mobs I could find outdoors and then evading every monster in a dungeon until I got to the boss and hoping I could clobber him.
It's also the first game I ever played that was a victim of poor quality control, in this case hardware. Somewhere in the interim of that three year span I moved from one state to another, and naturally Enix's cartridge lost all the saves. I was fortunate enough to only have had to endure the pain of that text once, but others know just how terrifying it is to lose the record of your heroic deeds.
However, the ring will never leave your finger, and you will be unable to ever describe to another living person what you see.
DQ battles tend to be pretty short, usually only lasting 2-3 rounds. Sometimes they'll stretch out if somebody gets a nasty status afflication or something, but usually there's a clear victor pretty quickly. Even though you can kill the grunts fairly quickly, the bosses tend to be where the real challenge is. Going through the dungeon is more about rationing MP so that you stand a chance against the boss than actually making it through all the little battles. To be fair, DQ5 for PS2 is probably the fastest (and therefore best) version of the battle system.
Dragon Quest is pretty much directly based on Ultima and Wizardry. Look at one of those DQ videos I posted, and notice how in the original game when you had to talk it was necessary to indicate which direction you wanted to talk in. That's probably a direct rip-off of the original Ultima 1 interface.
I think I played that game when I was in third grade or so. It wasn't a walk in the park, but after beating Dragon Quest II it didn't seem all that bad. The SFC is pure sex though, and for all its simplicity the game stands up better to the test of time than DQ6. The really odd thing is that in the japanese version a medical herb hurts Zoma for around 50 damage.
WHAATT!!
9 was diarrhea, yes.
But 8 was awesome! It wasn't as good as 7, but damn man, Pagan was a fucking incredibly rich and beautiful twilight, depressing, trippy, and malevolent world.
It was a hard game, which is one reason why I enjoyed it, and other I assume hated it. The spell system was really inventive and fun. You really looked forward to progressing and earning more abilities in that game more than any other I can think of. I also haven't played a game since that I was so into exploring and taking my time to check out the scenery, people, and places.
I've never played a game that oozes so much mood and atmosphere. The whole game felt like a dream where you always think its close to turning into a nightmare; always that creepy feeling chasing you.
Sorry that was off-topic.
I didn't like dragon quests. They were too mechanical and mathematical. Though I was playing DQ 8 for a while and while it wasn't very exciting I was still hooked and wanted to keep going.
You know I'm right.
Going from 7/7.5 to 8? Like stepping off a cliff. Ultima that is.
I heard it was incredibly fun actually, but I just never got around to buying it... and have since sold my DS so I guess I'm SOL.
Steam, PSN, XBL, Xfire and everything else JamesDM
It's a pretty strong candidate for best DS game.