Dragon Warrior (1986)

Decided to get all the RetroAchievements for this one, which included getting to the Level 30 cap, which is an incredible grind. Fortunately I found that using fast forward on the emulator doesn't disable hardcore mode on retro achievements (save states and other tweaks do).

I'm looking forward to seeing how DQ/DW evolved, because despite some fun unique things, it's a step below Final Fantasy on the NES.

I first played this game on the NES when I was about 5 years old, and I didn't understand anything. Nevertheless, I kept playing it and I memorized the music and the map. A couple of weeks back I saw the digital version on sale at the Nintendo Store, and I decided to pick it up. I was ready to understand the game and beat it!

I was kind of disappointed that there was really not much to understand. The story is just a very generic: save the princess and the kingdom/ world. There is no character development and nothing to really fall in love with. Nothing made and impact, and I will probably forget about this game soon.

On the other hand, compared to the NES version, there are many improvements worth mentioning. Graphics were smoother, characters were more polished, as well as the drawings in the battle scenes. The music got improved and it sounded more like musical instruments instead of a computer trying to play. And most importantly, the gameplay was waaaaaayyy easier than the NES version. Now I didn't have to give a command for everything: going up and down stairs, opening chests, talking to NPCs, among other things.

I got this game for nostalgia reasons. In the beginning I was very happy to listen to those melodies again and to see the monsters, but after a couple of hours, the game lost its charm.

Very basic JRPG.

This was one of my first and favorite NES games from my childhood. I vaguely recall when my parents got it for me, and the maybe gold box. I still have the poster that came with it though I do not know what happened to the cartridge; I think it was sold after I had moved on to the SNES. I do not remember whether or not I beat it; I probably did.

Many years later in 2012-13, I started a Dragon Quest marathon with the SNES version of this game. I grinded on the basic enemies until I could afford a copper sword and then set off on adventure. Ended it at level 22 with the best equipment. This is a fun great classic. The only real flaw is the lack of direction. It can be a chore to find the right person to talk to who will tell you what obscure thing you have to go dig up. Not sure if it is nostalgia speaking, but my opinion is that this game is better than Final Fantasy and that it was not until FF6 that the FF series caught up to and surpassed the Dragon Quest series.

I decided to go back and play all the classics I never finished and first up was Dragon Warrior. When I was 9 my dad stayed up all night right after we got the NES version and finished it. I wandered around in the game back then and got pretty far along but never beat it.

I picked up the Android version and the graphic--and especially soundtrack--improvements were a nice upgrade. It was somewhat simplistic but was still a lot of fun to play. It was such a nice short sweet game.

I recommend playing this if you want to go back to JRPGs roots, but play the iOS or Android version for quality of life improvements.