Author Topic: dragon warrior/dragon quest thread (Read 728 times)

cavein2000 · « **on:** January 25, 2006, 12:49:37 AM »

Curious about Dragon Warrior 2 - 4. Also I'm pretty sure the famicom Dragon Quest games are the Japanese versions of these games, no? Anyway, I played Dragon Warrior 1 as a young'n. How do the rest of the games improve upon the first? Are the graphics much better? I think it would be difficult to go back and play through the first again (even though I recently played through FFI), so I wanted to see if 2 - 4 offered something more.

GUTS · « **Reply #1 on:** January 25, 2006, 08:15:46 AM »

Well 3 is my favorite by far since you got to create your own characters. It's better on the Gameboy Color, so if you have the GBA player for your Gamecube I'd get the GBC version. They added in a bunch of new hidden things to find, the graphics were smoother (none of that scrambled top/bottom border that NES RPGs were plagued with when scrolling vertically).

Part 4 is really good too, it's divided into 5 chapters where you play as one each of the 4 characters, then in the 5th chapter they all come together in a party for the bulk of the game (kind of like Wild Arms). It still has the day/night cycle from part 3, but they took out the awesome character class changing ability and made your other 3 character auto fight in battles with no way to turn it off (so that gets annoying sometimes when they won't do what you want them to).

Part 2 is a little too old for me to still enjoy, too much level grinding and not enough places to explore. It's nearly as archaic as the first one, just with 3 characters instead of one and a slightly bigger world.

Keranu · « **Reply #2 on:** January 25, 2006, 10:25:31 AM »

I actually enjoy the first one myself

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cavein2000 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 25, 2006, 11:41:21 PM »

Hey, I did enjoy it very much when I was younger... kind of my first rpg. I don't think I'd have the patience to play it now though -Especially the little alarm clock like sound effects that are made every time you encounter an enemy - Yikes!!

Dark Fact · « **Reply #4 on:** February 12, 2006, 10:11:54 AM »

The only Dragon Warrior game I've ever played was the first one on the NES. I dunno why, but it's just that I couldn't muster up the discipline to play any of the other ones.

I've seen pics of Dragon Quest I for the Famicom and the NES version changed the appearances around for the better, in my opinion.

Oh, and you can't go wrong with the slime!

overdrive · « **Reply #5 on:** June 24, 2006, 09:57:12 AM »

DW2: A bit better. Like GUTS said, it's still slow-paced, but has its moments. I love the moment you get your ship and the cave to Rhone is a BRUTAL dungeon (although made easier on the Super Famicom's Dragon Quest 1-2 compilation.

DW3: Very good game. I found the beginning to be slow, but after you get through the Tower of Shanpane, the game really picks up in tempo. The class-changing thing is cool, but none of your other characters besides the hero have any personality. The hero really doesn't either.....but at least he has a purpose, the rest of the characters are just random people recruited.

DW4: A personal fav of mine. I love the chapter system and the game (for the most part) moves at a good pace. Like mentioned above, the only problem is that in the final chapter, all allies are auto-controlled, which was stupid.

Paladin · « **Reply #6 on:** June 24, 2006, 01:25:09 PM »

The Dragon Quest Games are personal favorites of mine. While the first one can drag on when you need to level it was still my favorite RPG on the NES until the 3rd one came out.

The 2nd one is probably the one I like the least. Its not a bad game its just that it is even worse to try and figure out where to go since the world is bigger and sometimes you don't get cules. Another complaint is that the other 2 characters are pretty useless for about half of the game as they can't really take a hit or even deal one. After a while they come into there own but it really bugs me that they have to be babysit for a while. Other than that everything is an improvement over the first though I still like the first better.

I'll have to agree with Guts in regards to the 3rd entry as it is my favorite one on the Famicom. It really does a one up on the first two. I can't think of anything that is better in the first two than it is here. Being able to raise your own characters and then class change them can make some super powerful characters that you really start to need at the end as it gets kinda rough. In my opinion its in the top five RPGs for the system.

The fourth one has an awsome story for its time, heck I still like it. As other people mentioned the auto battle kinda gets on your nerves but the AI isn't too bad they usually stick to stuff that works fairly well and the sage's stone really helps with healing so you don't have to depend on Cristo or deplete your own MP if you need a heal toward the end.

Overall the games really only improve as they go on. While the most people here seem to favor the 3rd one the 4th is really probably better in most areas. It just has some flaws that keep it from being the best. Although you didn't ask about it I would really sugest that you try out Dragon Quest 5. It really is a top notch game.

extrarice · « **Reply #7 on:** June 25, 2006, 01:23:28 PM »

Something I'd like to point out that hasn't been mentioned yet is that SQ 1, 2, and 3 are all related, story-wise, as are DQ 4, 5 and 6.

Ninja Spirit · « **Reply #8 on:** June 25, 2006, 01:29:08 PM »

I couldn't deal with the DW/Q series period, but I'd still like to collect all the Japanese Dragon Quest games for FC and SFC.

grahf · « **Reply #9 on:** June 25, 2006, 01:56:29 PM »

I would really suggest picking up the Gameboy Color copies of 1-3. 1 and 2 are on a multicart, and 3 is seperate. Dragon Warrior 3 has some of the best Gameboy Color graphics ive seen too, almost looks like the Super Famicom remake. I played them all on the NES when i was a kid, but i really enjoyed replaying them on GBC.

hizaygizirlz · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2006, 04:10:42 PM »

I passed DW I when i was little got it for free from nintendo power.

DW II is good i loved the opening sequence of the game.

DW III has a great level of customization and has a meaty intereesting story

DW IV is unbelievably cool, like an early poster said it has a 5 chapter system. Chapter 3 i believe stared a merchant named Talon? who was also in one more American game on the original PS (someone has to know the name) and i think a few different games in Japan. In any case a big part of this chapter was running a DW shop where you are buying and selling items in order to reach a certain money goal really fun.

To summarize III and IV are still worth tracking down or if u have a GBC get those carts and get IV for the regular NES

Paladin · « **Reply #11 on:** June 27, 2006, 12:39:45 AM »

I think your talking about Torneko: The Last Hope which is an alright game. Its not however like your typical DQ game its like Azure Dreams. If you like those kind of games and like DQ then it might be worth a look but its pretty average. Its a shame too since I absolutely love that chapter in DQ 4.

I was never in to playing handheld games when they came out on GBC so I never bothered getting them for it. I was content with my NES carts. I must admit that all this talk about them has sparked some interest though. I might have to track them down.

cavein2000 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 27, 2006, 12:02:47 PM »

Wow. Way to bring life back to this thread. I was going to pick up Dragon Warrior II-IV and just play em through. I've worked through worse level grinding I'm sure. The fact that they improve as you go is good incentive to keep playing.

extrarice · « **Reply #13 on:** June 28, 2006, 07:06:58 AM »

My wife ran into an interesting bug on the GBC version of DQ3: in the game, you sometimes get to play on a Parchisi (sp) board for bonus items, etc. Kind of a bonus level/minigame. Anyhow, she fought a monster on one tile, and after the monster was over, it gave her so much XP that her character was leveling up for 10 minutes straight. She went from lvl 10 to lvl 48 on that one battle!

cavein2000 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 28, 2006, 04:04:47 PM »

Quote from: "extrarice"

My wife ran into an interesting bug on the GBC version of DQ3: in the game, you sometimes get to play on a Parchisi (sp) board for bonus items, etc. Kind of a bonus level/minigame. Anyhow, she fought a monster on one tile, and after the monster was over, it gave her so much XP that her character was leveling up for 10 minutes straight. She went from lvl 10 to lvl 48 on that one battle!

Sounds like a good time...