The Tower of Druaga (1984)

Preliminary: Despite the incredible list of games influenced by this, the videos I watched and modern reviews I read didn't get me too excited. It looked drab, and like an overrated-because-it's-better-known action-adventure that'd be no better than all the underknown gems I've been coming upon during this project. I do like top-down action-adventures, but it just looked blah, maze-based which I usually don't love, and more straightforward than its fans make it out to be. I thought it'd just be a clunky-controlled arcade-action maze game overrated because of the games it influenced, rather than what it was. But I was so wrong!

Look: 8/10 If only the look of the floors changed... I get it it's all the floors of just one tower, but cmon... ha. It'd be nice if the UI had the current Floor included, it's easy to lose track heh. One thing that does change, and is well-done, is that your equipment upgrades are actually visible on your sprite. So cool! The new swords, the new shield, especially this badass new helmet

That and the UI at the bottom of the screen (love those item sprites) and, well, even the enemy/character sprites, brought this up a bit. If only the level design was more interesting and varied, but I suppose they replaced that with involved, lengthy gameplay with a Continue feature! Can't blame em.

Sound: 8/10 The jingle is phenomenal and so Zelda-esque (tho gets repetitive). Sheesh, the sound effect of walking gets really taxing over time... I wish it were clearer if/when there are sounds for when Treasure chest appears, etc. As long as you have this at a low or distant volume, it's quite pleasant--even the unnecessary walking sound effect and repetitive jingle--as a distant arcade adventure vibe.. like being in earshot of an arcade. Me mentioning Mario and Zelda is gonna get annoying in this review, but the ending-of-Floor jingles has a very Super Mario victory vibe to it. Love that one in particular. Even if the look doesn't change much, I love that Floor 57 has a different (but also great!) bgm. Great found-Ki jingle and great end-of-game-screen jingle! The sound definitely grew on me the more and more I played (and the more varied it got near the end, especially... I can only imagine how exciting that would've been after days and days of trial and error to figure out how to get to Floors 57+ and then the music changes more often with it! how rewarding it must've felt). This is still the era I don't include Sound fully in scores unless it helps the score, but definitely a noteworthy Sound.

Play: 9/10 Never a big fan of randomized levels because sometimes it results in impossible situations (especially before you get the Winged Boots aka Jet Boots). Like if the Key and starting point are on opposite sides of the screen on Floor 2 (oh using the Pickaxe would have alleviated that, nvm). And is it just me, or is there no way to go past the staircase door with Key in Inventory without going down it? Like, what if I haven't collected a treasure I wanted to, but I have to pass through the door? I can't seem to find any info online about avoiding this frustration in the arcade version. But so far, it hasn't inhibited finishing the game... if it ends up being a vital treasure tho... Combat is undeniably clunky too, tho the Feel and ideas behind it harken later favorites. And some of the Treasures, it's very unclear whether you grabbed it, whether there is a jingle associated with it, some of the Treasures combine and it's unclear, and some of the Treasure solutions are just downright buggy (Floor 24 swinging sword as soon as you start was buggy for me)... and like Zelda, no clue how anyone would solve some of these. Great for those of us nowadays, with guides available, and becomes a fun "do this weird thing in an otherwise already fun task of avoiding enemies, getting a key, and getting to the exit.

Pro-tip: Pressing and holding the button so you keep your sword in front of you is totally fine (well, for the first level... I soon learned how vital it is to flee or have your sword put away so your shield can protect you--much like Zelda)

Another pro-tip: Much like in Zeldas, the trick to Wizards is to block their attack then attack them before they disappear again. Seems obvious but might spare you some time and frustration (and coins, haha).

Feel: 9/10 Wow Zelda owes so much to this--the hold-sword-out mechanic, the music!!!!, and the look. I love the floors concept reminding me of the early dungeon crawling RPGs that first got me into this chronology project. I love the upgrades (and I love that upgrades in action-adventure and platforming games are becoming the norm in '84). Some of the upgrades seem overpowered at first, like the Red Necklace letting you walk through the fires, or the Pickaxe that can break down as many interior walls as you'd like. But as you get to later levels, they clearly were conscious of the difficulty and upgrade progressions and these seemingly overpowered upgrades feel necessary and rudimentary ha. I particularly love the Gauntlet+Sword upgrades building on each other for faster/stronger swords, well-done (tho probly super frustrating without a guide letting you know which treasures are needed for later treasures, etc... hey, if I only had so many games to play, that feature would make this a very replayable one) I love that you have to collect all the Swords (not that they do anything? in the meantime) in order to get the "Master Sword" so to speak ha. Sheesh, I could go on and on--the Wizards that appear and disappear and shoot the magic at you! Mario and Zelda owe so much to that! (And also like those games, as you get to the second half, they exploit the heck out of mechanics-heavy enemies like disappearing/appearing shooting Wizards :-p Much like Zelda, to get the Treasure/move on in some parts, you have to defeat all the Wizards, or certain enemies, or in a certain order.... I could say it again and again, but Zelda owes a lot to this.) Even the way the flame come out of the Dragons reminded me of Super Mario World the dinosaurs' flame mechanic. Oh and apparently the Lizard Man character was later used in Soul Calibur (also by Namco).

Attachment: 8/10 Yesssss for the arcade's Continue feature--I love when arcade games had that this early (Moon Patrol comes to mind). Makes for a nice adventure feel, and makes me feel like I can push through this whole game! Despite not exactly loving it. Hm, 60 floors... Here goes nothing.. Dang, the difficult is so hard already on Floor 7. Unless I'm missing some mechanics about the enemies, those fires, etc. To think there's 53 Floors to go! Tho still not a fan of the randomized item/enemy locations, and the time limit+maze gameplay focus, it's oddly alluring (and the time limit factor grew on me around Floor 20: it added a "ahhhhh! move your buns!" feeling near the end of some complicated/longer Floors..... and even the randomized aspect grew on me, because at least the solution to getting the Treasure stays the same, and the randomization adds some fun to the levels I don't even wanna collect the Treasure anyway... certainly would add to the replayability too if I was around when this came out and wanted to explore every inch of it). I got into the serotonin loop of figuring out what was basically a straightforward puzzle game for each maze, how to get the treasure and the key and get to the door without running out of time. "What do I need to do for this one?" A lot of the solutions had a secret-esque feel to them, and I wound up having to refer to a walkthrough every few levels to figure out how to get the [worthwhile] Floor's Treasure. On my third night of playing, about 3-4 hours in, I finally got better about recognizing the sound for chest appearing, for when and how to draw the sword (helps that I can draw it faster now ha), and most the mechanics of the game. Biggest complaint, as I get to Floor 59 (and its insane difficulty), is the mediocre combat system (namely the attacking mechanism, particularly against melee enemies). Otherwise, wow. And at last, Floor 60! Druaga was kinda funny on 59 ha. He throws a crap ton of spells at you! But otherwise, owing to the mediocre melee combat, it was just like fighting a knight again just go back and forth with sword out. I still don't fully understand why I sometimes died/lost more energy when running into a knight with sword drawn than other times, but whatevs. It was fun! I'd probly hate this if I had to solve all the puzzles, especially the last 2 Floors, via trial and error (and a crapton of coins). Those last 2 floors are particularly unforgiving, with death not just taking a life but also sending you back a floor etc. Then again, you wouldn't even be able to defeat those last enemies without all the secret/hard-to-get treasures that build up to the ultimate weapons in the game. I suppose that's what made this so replayable back in the day, trial and error, and I bet finishing the game would have been so damn exciting. The Continue feature certainly would have helped, as you figure out how to make it through all the Floors with the equipment necessary to beat the game! What an RPG, dungeon crawler, action-adventure, and text adventure concept come to life in this game! With guides and infinite coins nowadays, this game shines as one of the best 1984 game. I was getting really sick of 1984, been stuck in it for months because there were a lot of throwaway games that year during the Crash, but I'm glad I kept pushing through--because I've been coming upon a bunch of gems. At last, Ki!

What a neat little puzzle at the end there (tho can only imagine how frustrating it would've been getting that far, then zapped back, without a guide ha). And, the ending screen with a great rewarding jingle and cute ending/credits screen (cool for an arcade game, plus with the adventure concept clearly state in this. Amusement Creater heh)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm so excited to be getting into the later 80s, the NES era, etc., where written guides will be available. I find it so fun following a guide and feeling like I'm checking off lists. It's been a reason I play games since I was a kid, probly cuz of my early connections with Final Fantasys and Legend of Dragoon. Just glad to be getting that feeling more in '84 and on games.

Completion: 100% Completion! Playtime: ~ 4.5 hours

A completely amazing game in concept, that is butchered by poor hit detection, unfair randomness, obscenely high difficulty after the mages are introduced, and hidden secrets that are necessities rather than optional goodies (and the requirements for revealing these secrets seem to go farther and farther away from what is measured game design for each floor).

I only managed to play to floor 5 of 60 until I lost my sanity, since I have spent more time trying to beat that floor than it took me to beat the final boss of Hollow Knight. It's only challenging in frustrating ways, such as two mages spawning on opposite ends of you at the same time, practically meaning that you are dead no matter what you do.

It's hard to deny that this game laid the groundwork for the action RPG genre, but it's also hard to pretend that it even comes close to the quality of other Namco arcade titles, such as Pac-Man.