Dragon Quest I, II and III - The Original Trilogy

[Jonnas]

So, to complement the other thread, I figured we should have a space to discuss the first three games. The Eldrick trilogy (or Loto. Roto?). The games that kickstarted this immense franchise by Enix, helmed by Yuji Horii, drawn by Akira Toriyama, and composed by Koichi Sugiyama.

Originally released in Japan for the Famicom in 1986, 1987, and 1988 (respectively), these titles gained immense fame and prestige in their home country. They eventually made it into American NES'es in 1989, 1990, and 1992 (respectively) renamed as "Dragon Warrior" due to pesky rights issues. They would be rereleased for multiple other consoles, most notably the Super Famicom (remakes), Game Boy Colour (one of their few English rereleases) and Mobile Phones (the first time these classics legally made it to Europe!).

While I don't expect to see much nostalgia for these games here, I do hope those of us who did somehow play them can share our impressions and experiences.

Dragon Quest I

The first RPG for consoles, the game that started it all. A simple knight is given a simple quest by the King: kill the evil Dragon Lord, rescue the princess. Like the legendary Eldrick would've done. You can see the evil lord's castle from your starting position, standing ominously from across the water... what perils will you need to go through in order to complete your quest?

I played it for the Game Boy Colour, and I really liked it. It was released during a time where the JRPG genre wasn't codified yet, and as such, it doesn't necessarily follow its conventions. You don't have party members or classes, it's just you. There's no save points, instead there's a central hub where you can save. You need torches to explore caves. You can sleep with a townsgirl who swoons over you. It even has multiple endings (a game from 1986)!

It's very tightly designed. Each area has the right monsters to gate you out, each spell has the right use to help you clear obstacles, and while there's an encouraged order to your quest, you can theoretically do whatever you want, whenever you want. Each macguffin you find only clues you in into where next to go. In many ways, it feels like a turn-based Legend of Zelda.

It's a very interesting title in many ways, and a strong recommendation from me.

 

Dragon Quest II

100 years after the first game, in a far away land, it is said that the evil wizard Hargon seeks to summon the ancient demon Malroth. The Kingdom of Midenhall, said to descend from Eldrick (some hero from 100 years ago) says nay, and sends its crown prince to stop the warlock. Along the way, he recruits two cousins to help him along the way.

This is a much bigger game in scope. While DQ1's world was a tightly designed continent, the world here spans multiple continents, and features multiple small adventures across wildly different locales. Your quest now takes you to towers, palaces, and other eventual mainstays of the genre. You now have a full fledged party instead of needing to travel alone.

Personally, I prefer the first one, but this one was also pretty fun. My biggest criticism is that the world is perhaps bigger than what the developers were prepared for. For example, the world map is needlessly difficult to find (the kinks weren't quite ironed out yet). I also felt the adventure drags a bit more than needed near the end, but it might be just me.

Still, pretty solid, ambitious game.

Dragon Quest III

This is the big one. The FFVII of Dragon Quest. The camera in the Hero reveal trailer lingered a bit longer on this guy. This is one I haven't played... yet. I've started it recently on the GBC, and is a big reason as to why I made the thread.

Featuring one of the longest intro movies I've ever seen in a game, we see that our hero's father was a legendary knight called Eldrick Ortega, who set out to defeat the evil lord Baramos. Unfortunately, Ortega perished in an epic volcano fight. The day our hero turns 16, he/she sets out to finish what their father started... and they start by recruiting some blokes at the local pub. Not unlike Final Fantasy I, then.

The game starts proper with a comprehensive personality test: I got "Romantic" (knowing me, it's fitting), which is apparently a good personality for magic. I'm currently deciding on how to form my party, and reading up on it, Fighter/Mage/Cleric seems good. I'll keep you posted.

...

Anyway! What are your experiences with these three games? Classic? Archaic? Wondrous? Dour? ..Romantic? Let's hear your thoughts.

[Grazza]

I've completed the first two and played a lot of the third one, but am afraid I can't contribute much as I simply can't remember a great deal about them.  I do know I quite liked the novelty of controlling just one character in the original game, and also liked the 2nd one enough to play all of it.  Whilst I played a lot of DQ III, I eventually gave up as I couldn't work out where to go on the map or what to do.  That's unlike me with Dragon Quest, but I just couldn't be bothered with it, possibly because I was tired of playing them on Android.

[Hero-of-Time]

I'd love to play through each of them but I don't have the means to do so. I don't have the original games, I don't do emulation and I don't have a device that could play the iOS/android versions in a comfortable way.  

[S.C.G]

Damn, I was lucky to get my (presumably repro? but I din't know at the time) cart only copy of Dragon Warrior I&II for £6.92 in 2015.

And my legitimate boxed copy of Dragon Warrior III for £20.50 in 2010...

This must have been when I was seeking out portable Dragon Quest games years ago, now it looks like you can get a pair of repro carts of both for £20 but from China.

I'm not even going to quote the prices of the legimate boxed copies, I had no idea that it had become so rare.

When I bought them, sure they were getting harder to find but they weren't going for silly money, the few copies of DWIII on the GameBoy are all in the US on eBay.

It must have been US only releases for both of them, if ever there was a time for Square-Enix to capitalise once again with a collection, now is surely the time?

[Dcubed]

2 hours ago, S.C.G said:

Damn, I was lucky to get my (presumably repro? but I din't know at the time) cart only copy of Dragon Warrior I&II for £6.92 in 2015.

And my legitimate boxed copy of Dragon Warrior III for £20.50 in 2010...

This must have been when I was seeking out portable Dragon Quest games years ago, now it looks like you can get a pair of repro carts of both for £20 but from China.

I'm not even going to quote the prices of the legimate boxed copies, I had no idea that it had become so rare.

When I bought them, sure they were getting harder to find but they weren't going for silly money, the few copies of DWIII on the GameBoy are all in the US on eBay.

It must have been US only releases for both of them, if ever there was a time for Square-Enix to capitalise once again with a collection, now is surely the time?

They released ports of the mobile versions of DQ1-3 on both 3DS and PS4 in Japan... I suspect that they'll do the same on Switch when DQ11s comes out...

 

They're not the greatest versions of these games, but hopefully they can fix them up and release them in English on Switch?

Edited July 3, 2019 by Dcubed

[S.C.G]

If Square-Enix were just to release a collection featuring the roms of Dragon Quest I, II & III in both their original and portable forms, that would be fine.

Then they could also port across the Zenithia trilogy (IV, V &VI) followed by the 3DS ports (or playstation ports) of VII and VIII then port across DQIX from the DS...

...by that point we might as well have DQX as well seeing as we didn't get the online game out over here in the West.

All of those will go nicely alongside Dragon Quest XI when it releases, plus we've now got Dragon Quest Builders 1&2 as well...

...what the heck, why not a spin-offs collection as well?

We're not asking for much Square-Enix... just the ENTIRE DRAGON QUEST COLLECTION! (on Switch and other platforms)

Ah well, we can dream.

Back to the original trilogy... I've now got Dragon Quest I & II staring right at me, in all of its repro glory (I swear I didn't know when I bought it!) and well, it's tempting.

I did test it out on my Super NT with Super GameBoy 2, it looked and sounded incredible and has some fantastic borders, I think some pictures are required...

There's my "totally legit" copy of DWI&II playing through the Super Game Boy 2, via the Analogue Super NT.

It's all about the borders, such great artwork, normally I'd prefer to play without borders but these definitely add to the experience.

The border for the Overworld area.

And one from inside the town, also Tantegel definitely sounds Cornish to me.

There are the carts side by side, I'm glad at least one of them isn't a repro but I'm not complaining either way.

Front of box for Dragon Warrior III with a bit of wear to it, looks nice in a box protector. (compatible with Game Boy Advance) Who knew?

And the back of the box which has one heck of a write-up on it. Those were the days... when they really tried to sell you the game by telling you about it.

So erm... I think I should get out my Analogue Super NT and start playing Dragon Warrior I & II...

Then that'll hopefully spur me on to get the Game Boy Interface sorted to use with the GBA Player so that I can properly enjoy Dragon Warrior III.

Let's hope those cart batteries hold out!

[Grazza]

I said in the thread for IV, V and VI that the first six games could really do with a graphical update - make hi-res textures and apply them across the board.  The games haven't really been updated since the DS days, and I think doing so for Switch would give them a boost of appeal.

[Ike]

That's deffo a repro @S.C.G 

[S.C.G]

7 minutes ago, Ike said:

That's deffo a repro @S.C.G 

Which one?

This is the bit where you tell me "both" and my heart sinks a little bit isn't it?

Even so... I still love having these games on carts.

[Ike]

4 minutes ago, S.C.G said:

Which one?

This is the bit where you tell me "both" and my heart sinks a little bit isn't it?

Even so... I still love having these games on carts.

DWI&II, it should have the black cart and that it says "GAME" in the indent instead of Nintendo Gameboy.

DWIII looks fine from what I can see.

[S.C.G]

1 minute ago, Ike said:

DWI&II, it should have the black cart and that it says "GAME" in the indent instead of Nintendo Gameboy.

DWIII looks fine from what I can see.

I thought that was probably the case... well, I'll keep a look out for a genuine copy but I'm not hopeful at getting one for a good price so the repro will do.

I've always loved that boxed copy of Dragon Warrior III though, it's got the map and instruction booklet as well.

I have hardly any boxed Dragon Warrior games but I'm glad this is one of them.

So erm, which is the best version of Dragon Warrior III that you've played? I've heard the GBC version isn't perfect but it looks pretty decent to me.

I thought I'd ask you seeing as you know a lot more about the series than me, I've just maintained a healthy interest in the series while meaning to play more of them one day.

[Jonnas]

Yeah, I was about to say, DQI&II should have colour, instead of looking like the OG Gameboy.

Anyway, I formed my party: since I wanted a magic pair, and since names can only have 4 letters, why not name them... Maye and Boey? As I was forming the Fire Emblem pair, I got an Honest personality for Cleric Boey and a Sexy personality for Mage Maye. Perfect All I was missing was the Fighter, and to follow the theme, I called her Lynn. Defiant personality. Once again, right on the money.

Personalities influence growth rates. Sexy is apparently really good, Romantic is pretty decent, while Honest and Defiant are average/mediocre. I don't particularly care much for this (I can change their classes and personalities later, I hear), I just wanted something that sounded fun from a lore perspective.

And so, Romantic John, Defiant Lynn, Sexy Maye and Honest Boey set out to learn the lay of the land... which is mostly killing slimes and ravens. The animations look pretty cool (interesting, I hear the first game to do this was the Super Famicom version of DQVI... which means the GBC version of DQIII was likely the first one to add animations to this game!). And that's about it, I'm playing in relatively short bursts, and forming the party took most of the time

Edited July 3, 2019 by Jonnas

[Ike]

14 minutes ago, S.C.G said:

So erm, which is the best version of Dragon Warrior III that you've played? I've heard the GBC version isn't perfect but it looks pretty decent to me.

I thought I'd ask you seeing as you know a lot more about the series than me, I've just maintained a healthy interest in the series while meaning to play more of them one day.

The GBC version is based of the SNES version, same with DWI&II, with some concessions to work on a GameBoy but has more content (the Monster Models and a new dungeon). You lose some stuff graphically, like the battle backgrounds, but it's still a really good version. Certainly no where near "not perfect", but depends on personal preference, I guess.

The mobile version cut some content like the Pachisi and doesn't have some of the post game dungeons I believe.

I've never actually beat DQIII it's my secret shame but I got a bit motivated to play after beating DQXI and if people are playing here then now might be a good time to jump in.

The mobile ports are mostly fairly solid though, the mobile version of DQI is probably the definitive version I would say. Updated graphics, music and translation, but the weird squished sprites are pretty horrible which they kept in the 3D and PS4 ports for some reason. I thought SE would release them over here after DQXI, the localisation is already done after all, but apparently not.  I can't play anything after DQI due to touch controls. DQI is short enough I can just about stand them.

[Glen-i]

All three (and the fourth game) are ones I haven't played through. Seeing as I'm a Ninty gamer whose first experience with DQ was IX, that's probably not too surprising.

Might have to look into that fan translation of the SNES versions...

There were SNES versions, right?

[Jonnas]

On 04/07/2019 at 7:25 AM, Glen-i said:

Might have to look into that fan translation of the SNES versions...

There were SNES versions, right?

No... they were Super Famicom versions

Anyway, after exploring the area, finding a cave or two, another town, and a few key items, I feel like I just went through the "intro" part of the game, since the first area seems to be so cut off from the rest of the game. From here on out, I think I'll keep game progression to spoilers.

Spoiler

Finding out the underground tunnels were connected to everywhere was a welcome surprise. The concept of the Thief Key confused me until I realised other people have proper keys for their own doors, I just have one that allows me to break in

I just blew up an ancient wall with a Magic Bomb, unlocking a second dungeon in the process. If I understand correctly, the rest of the world will be unlocked once I find the Gate. And judging from that World Map... it looks a lot like real life earth! Interesting development.

On a less spoilery note, I love that having simple character personalities just allow us to project some behaviour onto them, and let our imagination do the talking. As far as I'm concerned, Maye keeps teasing Boey at every corner, while Boey insists a man of the cloth shouldn't do anything out of wedlock. Meanwhile, Lynn hasn't been playing ball with the group, stubbornly insisting she works better alone, and John keeps thinking of the epic adventure ahead.

I had the opportunity to change Lynn's personality into "Tomboy", and I figured this can signify some character development. She's come a bit out of her shell, and now understands she doesn't need to be belligerent to prove she's tough.

So far, this has been an adventure that's very easy to digest. I can immediately see some strict (and much needed) improvements over the second game, which might just be all it needed to gain the popularity it did.

[Jonnas]

I barely had time to play this past week, but I did make some progress.

Spoiler

I made my way through that labyrinth to find the gate that would take me to Italy Romaly. Interesting how the gate is invisible in the open world! I'm told that the Romalian King is lazy, but all he did was task me with retrieving his stolen crown... I wonder if any intrigue will come of this?

Near Romaly I already found a couple of Dragon Quest traditions: gambling and silly mini-games. The silly mini-game is a board game that integrates in-games rewards and challenges (and one of the patrons actually says "Someday I will be a winner is you"), whereas the gambling is... a cockfighting ring. Well, it's wild monsters, but still, it's surprisingly dark. What matters is that I won big.

I went further north and found the village of Kanave near Switzerland, and the stolen crown should be in the nearby Eiffel Shampane Tower. There's also a locked western gate and I'm told that the coastal city of PORTOGA lies behind there. I'm giddy with anticipation.

(Surprisingly, I already have the ability to teleport between cities I previously visited. That was quick!)

I stopped playing here, but here's something neat that happened: in a cemetery in Kanave, there's this guy standing on a grave, talking about a great martial arts master who's buried here. Since I can search the ground near graves (and I previously found something on another grave), I assumed this meant I could search this master's grave once the guy leaves. So I come back to the cemetery during the night and I see that man unconscious on the same spot... and a risen skeleton nearby. I didn't expect to find a boss battle here, but I healed myself, prepared for battle, walked up to the skeleton, and-

"That guy thinks I was a master in life, but nah, I just used the iron claws you can buy at the store". The bloke himself was actually sleeping. I legitimately laughed out loud at this anti-climactic payoff.

Oh, and then I straight up robbed a man's store while he was sleeping. And here I thought Link was a delinquent...

ts;dr: Dragon Quest III manages to pack a lot of charm and character into very little. It keeps putting a smile on my face at every turn.

As for my party, John is currently working out with the "Toughness" item, becoming Diligent in the process. Maye has started to employ a whip as her main weapon, which is kinda kinky. Boey has grown Sharp, or at least accustomed to Maye's teasing, and started to answer with some snark of his own. Lynn has remained a Tomboy for a while, but after John gave her a Rabbit Tail, she's become Happy. That's nice.

(I don't know how far this headcanon is taking me, but I'm having a blast)

Edited July 18, 2019 by Jonnas

[Jonnas]

Made some significant progress!

Spoiler

As intended, I climbed Shampane tower to find the crown thief at the top, the game's first boss battle. Amusingly enough, he tried to run away, and it's implied that our fight took place all across that dungeon (we started in one spot, and we were in another when we were done), which is surprisingly cool. I then had the option to let the guy go, and I accidentally said Yes. Ultimately, it fits John's Romantic personality, but I hope I didn't screw something up.

Unfortunately, he managed to hit a massive strike on Maye (I don't think there was anything I could've done to defend), killing her. Since there's no revival item or spell in the game, she missed out on a whopping 800 EXP. I hadn't saved in a long while, so I had to sit through it (and then I let the guy go!). Sure, I managed to revive her at the church, but she's now 800 XP behind the party, which is annoying.

But then I gave the crown back to the king and... he made me Romaly's king! I tried saying No several times, but I guess I needed to say Yes This was hilarious, as the UI changed completely, with messages like "You found nothing fit for a King", my sprite looked kingly, the NPCs dialogue changed... but I couldn't leave the city, and my teammates weren't there. So I tracked down the previous king and gave him back the throne. So this was the payoff to the "lazy king" subplot Lots of small unexpected things. There was good timing with Maye's predicament, too, so I can assume she was recovering during the kingly shenanigans.

After that, I travelled to Norway Noaniels, a city that was under an elven sleeping curse. I went to the elven village nearby, and the cause was a sad tragic tale of a forbidden love between a human and an elf. I went through a dungeon, retrieved a jewel, and broke the curse. This was way shorter than I anticipated. I'm left with a clue that my father Ortega was seen east from here a few years ago.

Treat this journey like a Saturday morning cartoon and it'll be super jolly.

John was displeased with the Romaly business, and realised that he should return to his Romantic roots, the idealistic path of a travelling adventurer. Lynn's happiness faded quickly after these events, and decided to become Diligent herself. Maye was bedridden throughout the Romaly episode, with Boey at her side, which actually made her Happy by the time she got out. Later on, the tragic backstory of Noaniels made Boey into a Romantic as well.

And it is with a Romantic Boey and a Happy Maye that she learned the spell... Bang.

...Things have gotten surprisingly spicy.

[Jonnas]

Due to some unexpected events, I haven't been playing this as much as I wanted to (and worse, I've barely even started Fire Emblem Three Houses), but I've been making some steady, if slow, progress.

Spoiler

I've been to Arabia Assalam, where I've gotten the quintessential "Puff-Puff Massage" (it's been there since the first one, after all), looted the Pyramids of Egypt Isis for a key, snuck into Cleopatra's the Queen of Isis's room during the night, and then used the key to gain access to Portugal Portoga.

And let me tell you, Portoga is a great fantasy counterpart for my country. Small coastal city that nevertheless makes great boats, the King seeks spices from the Orient, there are two NPCs called Carlos and Sabrina (typical PT names), and the town's layout looks like a mishmash of tourist spots from Porto and Lisbon. Really lovely, this place has lived up to its potential.

I thought the King was going to give me a boat to fetch the spices, but no, he knows a guy that'll smuggle you eastward Even this sneaky business feels like home. But anyway, this is how I reached India Baharata. I rescued a girl from the thieves I let go the other time, and got the spices in return (but letting the thieves go again was an inevitable choice. I guess I didn't miss anything the first time!). I explored the region further, and found the Dharma Temple (where I can class change later on), a locked entrance to Japan Zipang, and the town of Russia Muir... where people seemed to recognize me and call me Pokapa? That was creepy, so I waltzed back to Portoga.

At this point, the King gave me a ship for the spices, and now I've practically unlocked the rest of the world!

I explored south and ran into South Africa Tedanki, which was the first ravaged town I saw during the entire game (oh yeah, that guy Baramos who was mentioned at the beginning of the game. First time I've seen any influence from him). Curious thing is, the town is only destroyed during the day, with the citizens coming back to life during the night, unaware of their fates... Intriguing.

Oh, and Baramos' castle is apparently located in DR Congo Gondo Volcano. Good, now I know where the endgame is. And that nugget of knowledge was the last thing before I saved.

Right now, it seems like the best option is to search for the key that can open any prison. It's apparently located in the southern island of Australia Lancel (Because of course it is, that's where the developers chose to put a prisoner-related item). Other options include Zipang (since I can just board the island now) and that suspicious New World continent to the west of Portoga.

tl;dr, I'm on a boat!

The party hasn't changed much. Boey has gotten Vain and Silly as time went on, and John has had moments of Fearless recklessness, but these four guys have settled well on the roles I imagined for them. I'm internally debating on whether I should class change any of them.

[Jonnas]

@Ike, I have the feeling I already know where you got stuck when playing this game. The game suddenly took off the kiddie gloves when giving me clues on where to go, and I found a pretty vital Key Item almost by accident.

Spoiler

So, Lancel has this weird insulated desert I can't explore right now, but the townsfolk assure me that the Final Key isn't here: rather, I should buy some Hide Herbs to infiltrate the United Kingdom Edinbear Castle, in an island to the north of Portoga. Sure enough, those posh Edinburgers don't let "bumpkins" like myself enter, but the Hide Herb makes me invisible. Once inside, the residents are surprisingly cordial and talkative, while somehow finding new ways to remind me of how much of a hick I am. Anyway, I solved their stupidly simple puzzle ("Unsolved for generations!", according to those wankers), and got the "Dry Vase", which is supposed to open up a sea shrine with the Final Key inside. Assuming this is supposed to be Atlantis, I tried to use it on the ocean, to no avail.

I continued my travels, and came across the New World, which contained New York a newly founded land to the east. The bloke there asked me to spare him a Merchant to get the town started, so I created a female Merchant (called her "Anna" to keep the FE theme rolling) and dropped her there, we'll see where this goes. The guy advised me to visit the Sioux Soo tribe in the inner part of the continent, and don't you know it, they were the original owners of the Dry Vase, pilfered by those imperialistic Edinburgers. How topical.

On my way to the west coast (there was a tower there), I happened to stumble upon a suspicious set of rocks smackdab in the middle of the ocean. I got a hunch, so I used the Dry Vase, and... ta-da, that was, indeed, the shrine! Final Key get! Ran into the spot pretty much by chance. And then I beat the tower. I should also mention the icy island to the north of this continent is called Greenlad... they didn't even try with that one.

At this point, I've been aware for a while that my longterm goal are these 6 coloured orbs scattered across the world. So, I took the opportunity to take care of loose ends throughout the world: found the Red Orb in Argentina the Pirate's Fortress, solved that mystery in Muor (turns out, I missed a room: they had just confused me with Ortega), got the Green Orb from a prison in Tedanki, visited Japan Zipangu and defeated the monster that was terrorizing them (getting the Purple Orb in the process), and now I'm solving the mystery of Brazil Samanao, whose king has suddenly gone despotic.

Personality-wise, I've been paying more attention to how they influence growth rates. As a result, Boey has been alternating between Silly and Romantic, Maye has stayed Sexy, Lynn has become Sexy herself (guess her training has made her pretty fit ), and John became Solitary (a development that makes some story sense). I've been avoiding personalities that run too contrary to how I imagine these four, at any rate.

[Jonnas]

I decided to make my push to the final boss during my holidays... and it took me quite a while, still I won't post any spoilers this time, just know that the game really picks up near the end, it actually got so much better.

I don't know what else to post about it. Yuji Horii is a fantastic scenario writer, he's so good at coming up with both silly fun stuff and grandiose moments, I can really see how much influence this series has had in the gaming industry, and even in Dragon Ball (blatant nods to King Piccolo, power levels as a concept has to have come from this series as well, etc.).

Plus, like the other games I played, it's very well balanced. You never get too rich, your spells never become game-breaking, and but you never feel weak, either. And the different dungeons are just as creative as the scenarios, it's amazing how much variety they managed to fit into such a basic system of combat and movement.

One thing I should mention, is that while I can easily see how this game was as groundbreaking as it was at the time, I also hesitate to give it a 10/10 now, since it does a lot of things right... but not exactly new anymore for me. This might be how younger generations feel about Ocarina of Time.

Finally, there's now a post-game bonus dungeon... which I'm sure to tackle soon.