Alright, Dragon Quest is an RPG.

That's the description, it's very much nothing else except an RPG. It is, in fact, the Mac Daddy of 'the RPG formula'. I don't know if this is factually the case, but it feels completely right to say and, going by Wikipedia's definition of 'Mac Daddy' as 'an incredibly virile man', it's still factually correct as this game probably has its DNA smeared through the veins of every single video game you've played on Steam in the last week.

You get no opening cutscene, just a mission, you leave, you buy equipment, you kill monsters, you get marginal experience points, you buy more equipment. You repeat this until you can get to the next town, then you repeat until you can reach the next town. You gather the objects of destiny, you grumpily check Game FAQs for an actual useful World Map, you march into the final Boss, spam The Big Heal button like god intended and then you watch the credits all the way through while wondering if all the grinding is wearing down your gamepad buttons. There's even a single alternative objective for you completionists out there.

Mathematicians wonder whether numbers exist or if we invented them, but I know the answer. The number 3 exists out there in the number dimension, casting its glory down through the cosmos and next to it is Dragon Quest. No man actually wrote it, its particles were first detected in the early 1960s, but it took the power of the Famicom to finally proved the theory right. Then America got the better version that could save.

I'm not saying you need to play this game, in fact, I've made the point very clear that you already have. Hundreds of thousands of people play Dragon Quest every day, just with brokers and their 401k's, this version just requires you to walk in circles for about 7 hours instead of 35 years.

Didn't expect to have as much fun with this one as I did! Played the mobile version and boy it is CHILL AS HECK.

Now, one might look at DQ1 and call It generic, very much like someone who would look at a Mondrian painting and say "I could do that". To that man, a true art connoisseur would answer: "YE BRO BUT YOU DIDN'T".

DQ1 can't be generic because it is the FIRST JRPG. It is THE SKELETON of JRPGs. It is crazy how much Yuji Horii - the games director, designer and writer - set in stone for the genre with his first try. You got:

A nice open map to explore with AMAZING MUSIC!!

Super chill towns where you have to talk to EVERYBODY to have any idea about what the hell you gotta do next!!

Big satisfactory feels when you see the numbers go up!!

Guards that stand next to each other that give out identical dialogue!!!

Bosses with unexpected true forms!!

Now, didn't I just describe like ALL your favorite RPGs? Well that was Horii-sensei spitting out the flames in 1986!

The game has great pacing on mobile due to better controls and less random encounters. It can be a tiny little bit grindy sometimes but I can 100% assure you that you'll have a better time grinding DQ1 on the bus than checking Twitter (the world is crazy right now dude!). Also that comes from someone who usually DESPISES grinding!!

Also can I just go ahead and say that Dark Souls probably wouldn't exist without this game? The non-linear, open ended nature of DQ and the sense of progression and of getting strong enough to wipe out enemies that used to be a knightmare with ease were almost certainly an influence.

Anyways, DQ1 is IMHO a must play for JRPG fans.

Being the classic JRPG, Dragon Quest I naturally follows the classic JRPG plot: the Princess has been kidnapped, it's up to you to save her and kick the dragon-themed bad guy's butt.

And by "you", I mean "You. Period."

Dragon Quest I does not have complicated gameplay. Roughly 80% of the game is spent having your lone hero smashing in skulls so you can become powerful enough to smash in all of the skulls standing between you and your next destination. While only the final dungeon cannot be reached simply by walking, travelling far from familiar lands without training is a great way to get your skull smashed in by ghosts and skeletons and scorpions. The plot consists simply of rescuing the Princess and gathering the items necessary to create the bridge into the Dragonlord's castle. The hero's only companion in his journey is the aforementioned Princess once (and if) he saves her, and because he's so much of a badass he doesn't even make her walk behind him—he carries her in his arms all the way back to the castle. Once you've gotten yourself levelled up, equipped with the best gear, and have forged the path to the Dragonlord, you march right in and smash his skull in. And that's the game.

There's not much to the game. Grinding early on is quite a chore, especially when you'll need to prepare for the higher tiers of monsters you'll encounter the further you go from the beginning. At least there is a nice sense of growing stronger, being able to face foes who once smashed your skull in easily and then smashing their skulls in easily. It's sweet to get a beefy stat boost on a level-up, and once you get up to the two strongest armours grinding becomes easier thanks to their HP regeneration.

While Dragon Quest I certainly shows its age and its charm doesn't quite hold up when you spend an hour every now and then smashing in skulls, it's still an alright game and an interesting piece of history. If anything, it makes you appreciate how performing a monotonous task over and over can make you into a total badass capable of tackling the most difficult challenges without any backup.

For this review, I played the original 1986 Japanese version which was fan-translated to English by Polinym with no other changes to the game besides translation.

Look: 8/10 I love the way the wizard characters sprite looks like they're shaking their staff like a maraca. And yesss the way the water changes colors when you use the Rainbow Drop. I love the RPG Maker vibe tiled sprites, which probably made so many young people feel ready to make their own RPGs. Oh and I liked the battle screens that pop up. Nice font for the ending credits too, though it lacked the FF-style beautiful epic ending screen that I always look forward to in JRPGs (it wasn't a precedent yet tho!).

Sound: 8/10 I can't believe I didn't pay attention to the Sound back then. So many good tunes and sound effects! So influential for later town vibes and world map exploration vibes etc. I really like the town music... and the inn resting sound effect. The combat music... the combat success sound effect... I guess I do really like the Sound in this! Maybe the chronology project helped me appreciate NES-era music a bit more, though I still gotta give credence to C64-era SIDs. I suppose I'll note that, ideally, there'd be more variety of music, but that's not really their fault. What music there is, is high quality. And it surprisingly doesn't get as irritatingly repetitive as it should (tho, again, maybe I'm just trained from playing early and mid 80s games haha). I still wont include it in the rating... mostly to give this a 5 star but also because this is still the era where I usually don't include Sound unless it helps a score.

Play: 8/10 I love how straightforward the battle system is. I also love how fast-paced the menu system is (when compared to games released around the same time). Not in love with the Torch-needed dungeon exploration where they took advantage of that, especially with the clunky navigation where you essentially have to press a direction 2-3 times when you're stopped for your character to actually go that way. I soon caved and just used maps to make it more fun, since it was kinda reminding me of first-person RPGs which I've never cared for.

As I noted in my 2021 review of the NA release, I find it silly that some things don't auto-equip (actually, I didn't notice that in this playthrough? I wonder what Ring/item it was I didn't get in this playthrough), but now that I'm used to early 80s RPGs and action-adventures, I am thankful for the auto-equip of most equipment and thus simplification of equipment management. I like how it's just one-person party, single-player, non-linear but with a clear progression of grindability, with a Zelda-style "home base" you return to if you die and like with Zelda, you retain certain things experience in this case. There isn't even a true save function in this version! Tho of course I used savestates cuz no way I was going to use the password system haha. It's sad how the early NES lacked that ability which the microcomputers allowed, because I do expect save functionality considering Hydlide and others did. Even Super Mario 3 lacking it... tsk tsk.

Feel: 9/10 Playing this game a second time, and with the ability to speed up training with emulator (cuz why not, it's my second playthrough and there's not much of a real story to this), and only doing the necessary things, I realized how much of this game really is just grinding. Not in a bad way, but like, I always thought of you having to go up northwest to Garinham early in the game, but really that's just for better equipment and grinding locations. True foundations to the JRPG world. I really like how they did the home base situation, especially with the MP restoration guy and the existence of Wings/Return spell. Well-done

Lol at some of the item locations, even the necessary ones like Fairy's Flute. Oh mid-80s Japanese Famicom games and your absurd concept of "secrets" Similarly, I absolutely love the idea of testing the limits of a town. Like, in the original RPG Maker, I loved to create edge-of-map or edge-of-town secret items and chests--little did I know back then that was a trope going back to the original JRPG. It gets borderline over-used, and of course it's frustrating when you do find out you stepped one tile too far and go back to the overworld, but it's fun testing the limits of maps and gets me excited for the early 3D era too.

Some definite faults in that it feels like you're just constantly trying to get the next piece of equipment, which makes you wonder whether it was worth investing in, say, that Magic Armour you immediately got replaced by Erdrick Armour ha. Tho I suppose, if I didn't have a guide tell me how to get Erdrick Armour, that Magic Armour would've been critical for the exploration aspect.

Attachment: 9/10 I mean, I had originally given the NA version of this a 7/10 for attachment, unsure whether I'd return to such a rudimentary JRPG. Well, I did, and instead of just playtesting like I was allowed to do since I've beat it before, I beat it again! That says a lot. Plus, now that I know this game in context, it really is so fundamental to the style of adventure and RPG games I love. I loved the early PLATO RPGs, but didn't click with a lot of the early CRPGs. I liked Larn, which was a roguelike, but otherwise I haven't clicked with a straightup RPG in a while (some action-adventures/action-RPGs like Tower of Druaga and Hydlide, I did). Anyway, point being, Dragon Quest is decidedly the first of the turn-based, fantasy-setting, epic RPGs that I love. I realize the Ultimas were epic, too, but at this point, they were only released for computers... and the controls and obsession with brutal deaths (which I accepted in PLATO RPGs) prevented me from fully clicking. And Wizardry and others had too much of the first-person dungeon crawler stuff. Point being, this is the start of what I like, and I was nervous whether I'd click with it. After all, even highly rated early 80s RPGs, I was skipping over. But this sucked me right back in.

I love that even in the original Japanese version there is, essentially, a save function (an elaborate password that stores your current data). Really nifty and creative way to resolve the storage factor. Instead of the game storing your data, you write down a code--your writing is essentially the storage part!

Lol I love that the big epic Dragon Lord final boss is on some like beach/grassy/swampy strip of land (let's just use all our overworld ground sprites huh?) outside a very high up? floor of a castle :-p makes sense. Like

Looooove that you (ostensibly) have a choice of whether to ally with the Dragon Lord after all and get half the world haha. Kind of a lame final boss battle song though, after how quality most the sound had been. That final boss is no joke though! Be ready!! The grind was for a reason for sure. I thought this was the ending and was disappointed, flopped back on the planet

But then I realized the game wasn't very forgiving and wants you to go back to the Tantagel/original castle to end the game. Proper end to a quest--you don't magically just go back there like in some games! (Well, I do literally use a spell Return and then I'm back there lol plus all the enemies are gone and it's fun that you can wander the world, if only there were FF-style secrets and easter eggs around to make that worthwhile, besides the change in townspeople's dialogue thanking you). Now we get to carry around this spoiled princess forever? Anyway, certainly not as beautiful and epic as the FF ending screens, though that obviously comes later and this is the basis to the later JRPGs

What a huge influence this game had, what a foundation to what has been my favorite genre for most of my life, and how impressive it got me to play through entirely again despite being the very first/foundational/rudimentary version. Definitely will have to boost attachment for the NA release version as well. Not a perfect game by any means, but a worthy game.

Completion: Main Story Playtime: Now that I'm at the era of longer games I will actually finish, I need to turn on playtime tracking. Hm. Hard to estimate. I will have to get better about that for these long JRPGs.

This review from July 2021 is for the North American release. I now am reading that there were quite a few changes between the releases. (Now edited with some extra stuff after replay in October 2023)

Main difference I see so far is just that your character doesn't turn when you go a different direction and other rudimentary graphic tweaks. It still has the effective, yet ostensibly tedious (but now that I've played pre-1986 RPGs.... it really isn't tedious at all... in fact... now I see it as very efficient! haha. tho I don't see a reason you need to open a menu to open doors, just have an action button... but compared to other adventure and RPG games from this time.... this is a step up for the most part)

Look: 8/10 Albeit nothing special, I enjoy the overworld map and different terrains, as well as the way battles are presented as a small screen. Lots of classic RPG enemies have their graphic roots in this. Plus, I like how the main character looks. Nonetheless, nothing striking, none the enemies truly stood out, and the reuse of the same battle background was tacky.

Sound: 7/10 I did not include Sound in my rating for the game, though it surely would have brought it down. Nothing interesting about it. References to classical music with 8bit sounds. Normally I would be all about it, but I eventually turned off the music so it wasn't fair for me to fully rating. However, that's a bad sign ha.

Play: 8/10 Very rudimentary item system, e.g., how would someone know you have to equip the Fighter's Ring while other equipment-type items automatically equipped. Also, not a fan of how small of an inventory you have, which I'm sure had more to do with the cartridge limitations than choice (or did it? considering the overall size of this game compare to, say, the first Zelda...). Despite these negatives, I can't deny my love for classic style console RPGs: using inns to heal, crossing a bridge and suddenly finding way OP enemies, linear yet open to exploration. 2 particular favorite aspects I enjoyed were the MP Sage near the start, which always felt like a home base (even with a large Overworld, it was never quite too far; plus, they were very forgiving with the Outside and Return spells) and I enjoy games with a home base feel. I actually liked the command concept, which allowed you to pass stairs as needed for other hallways, but that also was a negative sometimes like when trying to access Garin's Tomb and accidentally walking right past the stairs. Or when it turns out Search is different from Take or other such shenanigans. I really liked how linear the equipment progression was, I know I am in the minority when it comes to MMORPGs and other modern RPGs, but I do not prefer diversification of weapon options because of the demands that come with it (i.e., more equipment switching and bank space needed for, say, Old School Runescape just because people wanted the mace, the short sword, the long sword, and the scimitar all to have a valuable purpose). I don't want an inventory full of different niche weapons depending on what enemy I'm fighting: I want to know what is my ultimate weapon I'm striving for. Of course, once at endgames, some diversity and niche uses are necessary to make meaningfully challenging bosses, but when it comes to the casual storyline or grinding, I like when I know what my strongest weapon is and not to have to change it between each battle. Point being, I loved the clear-cut equipment progression; however, this was borderline a detriment just because of how banally simple it indeed was. Despite how insanely simple this game is, and fast (other than the grinds), I almost contemplated giving this a 9. But the glitchiness of map edges and whatnot... and while I love a game where grinding is rewarded, and simplicity reigns, I gotta admit it was disheartening that not using Sleep or not using StopSpell was in fact more effective than strategizing, because spells are so darn weak and inaccurate. So, while I like not having to strategize much, I'd like to have to strategize for epic boss battles--and if just holding X is my strategy, I may love that, but cmon... I should at least feel guilty/cheap for doing it... not like that's what you wanted me to do ha.

Feel: 9/10 I like that, despite a relatively large overworld, you felt like you had a homebase at Tantagel Castle. The storyline, albeit very simple, still drove me to continue playing. Plus, although I am not a fan of the over-the-top Victorian language "thy" "thou" etc, the dialogue was functional (reveals secrets/quests) and fun. Again, I am a sucker for grind-heaviness, and this game definitely requires grinds that reminded me of FF1 and FF2. Hypothetically, I could have totally overtrained, especially after getting the Magic Armor, and overtraining was something I certainly enjoyed doing near the beginning in FF2. Though I usually prefer linear RPGs over open-world, this one--like FF1 and FF2--does a good job of allowing you to explore overly dangerous areas, while still having certain items and quests unlock new areas so it isn't just straightup open world from the get-go (sort of like how GTA3 etc. slowly unlocks the different regions, while never completely voiding the open world feel -- I always loved that). My best memories of this playthrough were putting off my other games just to grind with the Magic Armor (and later the Edrick Armour) semi-paying-attention for an hour or 2 ha. in regards to the plotline, even for its time, the ending was disappointingly banal, and I could see the overall Feel slacking on future replays as I get exposed to more early RPGs than just FFs and Ultimas.

Attachment: 9/10 We shall see but I definitely see myself returning to this. Wish there were a bit more of optional boss/sidequest style content so that I would feel a drive to return to this for 100% completion, but I believe this is an ideal classic console RPG that I will find myself returning to and giving an Attachment rating. However, the very fact I am not positive about it (as opposed to Klonoa, for instance, which I am playing simultaneously) means this earns only a 7 for it for now.

Edit: welp, I replayed this and actually completed it. That says a lot. And derp, I never went to the Mountain Cave on this 2nd playthrough to get the Fighter's Ring! That's why I didn't notice that equip quirk. Anyway, definitely had to boost attachment. This is the definition of my type of RPG: turn-based, grind-heavy, hard but doable.

An informal review

Just finished Dragon Quest 1. Pretty good game. Was interesting to play with its old English and stuff.

It’s quite simplistic and if you compare it to modern games, maybe you’d be a bit disappointed. But if you compare it to games of its time, it’s quite impressive. And it’s still good to this day imo.

My biggest issue with it is the grinding. It soft-locks you behind certain levels at certain points. For instance how you need a midheal to get past a specific enemy at one point, and I had to grind several levels to get to that. In future games like DQXI, I could get really good at the mechanics and play really good and win against poor odds. In this one that’s rarely possible. I think at some point, I grinded for an hour or more just to get past a difficulty cap that required a higher level.

Lukcily the game was quite short and I could’ve easily beaten it in a day or two if I wanted to. I almost did actually :P

I’m excited to see what Dragon Quest II has on offer, but while I may buy that on my Switch as well, I’ll see if I may end up just emulating it later so I can skip a lot of the grinding.

Also, the Switch version of the games are ports of the mobile remake and they’re not good. I had framerate issues, the game crashed at some point, and the quicksaves only worked some of the time which meant I sometimes lost lots of progress (RIP me when I lost an hour of grinding progress)

I give the game a weak 7/10. Mostly because it’s very much a first game in an old franchise that doesn’t quite do all that well compared to other games I’ve played as well as the excessive grinding. If I adjust it for its time, I might raise that up to a 9/10.