#easily some of my all time favorite gdq runs

[pidgefudge]

THE VIDEO GAMES ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ IM WAY TOO EXCITED

[demonfox38]

Completed - Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest 1)

No more janky TV photos. Just a janky GIF.

I don’t think it would come as a shock to any of you that I enjoy a good amount of Twitch. Like, finally sacked my cable subscription because all I watch is YouTube, Twitch, and Pluto.TV. Now, my streamers of choice are either GDQ participants, Kusogrande hosts, or people who are otherwise mellow while grinding to get milliseconds off their PBs. As a result, I was spending a fair amount of time last month watching NESCardinality plug through "Dragon Warrior" randomizer runs. (Which, if you haven’t seen his GDQ run of "Dragon Warrior", you should. Because holy shit, the level of RNG manipulation going on in that is phenomenal.)

Here's the thing, though—I hadn’t beat the game myself. At least, not until recently.

Any cursory knowledge into JRPGs will easily bring up the "Dragon Quest" series. There’s a lot of repeated anecdotes, regarding it. It’s Japan’s favorite RPG series. When one comes out, a significant amount of people take the day off. It’s got art by Akira Toriyama and music by an absolute shithead. Slimes. And…is that it?

Playing the game itself, it’s not immediately evident why "Dragon Warrior" didn’t catch as much fire in the US as a series like "Final Fantasy." (Maybe "Persona" in the modern era.) It’s not like "Hydlide", where eye-searing graphics, a single poorly-looped song, and obtuse mechanics doomed it to Funcoland reject stands. "Hydlide" may be apropos as a comparison game in one distinct way, however. Both "Dragon Warrior" and "Hydlide" were originally adapted for the Famicom in 1986, with "Hydlide" having earlier PC incarnations before that. The US adaptations of these games came out in 1989. Those titles were competing with the likes of "Mega Man 2", "Ninja Gaiden", "The Adventures of Bayou Billy", and "Faxanadu." That’s like putting Byzantian cave scribblings of Christ next to the works of Italian Renaissance artists.

Plus, let’s face it. The average Nintendo Entertainment System gamer at the time was either:

10 and under, or…

Let’s just say, not capable of playing something that required more thought than moving to the right and shooting/jumping over things.

The big saving grace for "Dragon Warrior" came from a brilliant promotional idea. With a load of extra copies of the game on hand, Nintendo decided to give them away as a bonus for subscribing to "Nintendo Power." Big dick energy. I mean, I know a lot of modern-era services give a game away a month for subscribing to them, but to have something physical back in the early 1990s? That was pretty cool. Cooler than burying the unsold extras in a desert, anyway.

With games of this age, I do like to try playing them knowing only what’s given to me in materials enclosed with the game. Ya know. Feel what the pain was for the kids at the time. So, I downloaded the game’s manual and poster, then gave it a shot. With those limitations in mind, this game does surprisingly well! The manual’s author was really doing their best to help babies through their first RPG, and the map was helpful in figuring out pathing and grind spots. (Oh, and also advertise a little for "Dragon Warrior 2." Nudge nudge, wink wink, right?) Even if I didn’t have that, the game is clear enough to make objectives known. Granted, there’s a fair amount of fetch questing to be done, so it doesn’t hurt to have a pad of paper at hand to take notes.

I highly disagree with the manual writers on one thing, though. Saving the princess does not have to happen at level 12. Frankly, with the bullshit around her and with what little she provides in gameplay value, you might as well save that task for after getting Edrick’s armor.

Who is Edrick?

Uh…guess I should start with a plot summary, huh?

So, a while back, this dude named Edrick (or Loto, or whatever the translation picks in your version) brought peace to the land of Alefgard with a shining ball of light. Some territories need four balls of light; Alefgard was good with one. But, ya know. Peace doesn’t last forever. So, when the ball of light and the kingdom’s princess are nicked by a dork calling himself the Dragonlord, monsters start pushing everyone’s shit in. Despite no proof (yet) of your heritage, you set out with the king’s blessing to collect Edrick’s treasures and stab anything that looks at you funny. Maybe keep an eye out for the princess. Standard hero stuff.

I’m not gonna lie. There was this initial wave of dread I felt after my first battle with a Slime. 1 gold, 1 EXP. You wanna know how rough that is? A stay at the first town’s inn? 6 gold. A single healing herb? 24. A copper sword? 180. Like, fuuuuuck. Granted, the economy gets a little better once you can push past the first area, at least in terms of housing. It goes from needing 6 battles minimum to rest to 2 battles. Still, the economic crunch is real. God help you if you screw up without saving for a while, too. The king needs tax money, and apparently, he’s getting that by yanking half of your cash off your corpse.

Granted, the steep economy also unconsciously gives the player a good incentive to grind. So, that’s some okay game design. I also like how the game plops you outside of town and flashes the final game’s dungeon in the corner, like "Hey, idiot. Figure out how to go here." Good stuff! Even the battle system becomes smoother, once you figure out what the monsters know and what you can do. Stopspells for magical bastards and Sleep for heavier hitters go a long way. Just don’t be surprised when the game gets rude. Critical hits and enemy dodges are calculated separately, so I saw a few dreadful "Excellent move! The enemy is dodging" messages chains. I also had a Red Dragon that decided I had gone far enough into Charlock and decided to take a pre-emptive turn, put my dude to sleep, and take him from full health to nothing in four or five swings. Just real cool. The coolest.

Speaking of messages! The translation in this game is weird, to say the least. It’s trying to lean into a "Ye Olde English" pronoun/verb set that goes very thick. Like, dragging damage numbers and rewards several lines down in the textbox area thick. I’d imagine that would be really irritating if English wasn’t your first language. Style can be helpful for world building, but brevity wit etc.

Despite the game’s age, several changes were made for the U.S. release to help it out. There’s a graphical overhaul that might not be appreciated in game, but it is pretty evident in comparisons with the original Famicom version of the game. I still prefer the "Final Fantasy" battle layout and artistic style better, but the effort did help spruce the game up. It also has an internal battery for saving instead of a password system, which is great for children in 1989 but maybe not for adults in 2022 that are struggling with a dying battery. If you were wondering what dickhead in the world likes passwords over internal saves, congratulations! You found me!

I’m just saying—if I didn’t have access to a dude that knows how to resolder shit, I’d be in trouble. Like, there are circumstances where passwords get stupid long or unwieldy, but I’m not opposed to a decent password system for simpler games. Also, I’m sorry to report that your "Pokémon Gold", "Silver", and "Crystal" saves are all gone now. GBC-era batteries just weren’t meant to keep time for over 20 years.

One thing that surprised me about my mindset during this game is how many alternate scenarios kept going through my head. Like, 2010s dark fantasy scenarios. Maybe it was a reaction to the cutesy monster art and vanilla-sweet story? Or, maybe I was thinking about the "Nanashi no Game" series and how that’s all about corrupted "Dragon Quest" styled games? Just saying. There’s a lot of potential possibilities for something to go wrong here. Like:

So, it’s nice that the king resurrects the player. But, at half his gold, no matter the cost? Imagine what it would be like to be a citizen of Alefgard, in such circumstances. Who does the king decide to bring back, and why? Could he keep an army of resurrected guards for all eternity, as long as he keeps getting their bodies back? What about the peasants? Are they destined for eternal work and poverty? How do you handle the king deciding not to bring your mom or grandma back? What’s exactly the limitation of his power, here? Somebody’s sword in his chest?

The hero is constantly being badgered to prove his worth not through his actions, but his bloodline. Doesn’t that shit get old? What happens if someone else takes that token of truth first? (Yeah, yeah, "Chrono Trigger" fans. Settle down.) He wants to colonize his own land, but what does that look like? Taking over Charlock? Going further and never coming back? Does he perpetuate the bloodline bullshit, or does he go democratic? Does he ever think of going back and getting his money/vengeance from the king, or is taking his daughter revenge enough?

You can decide to not save the princess. It’s totally doable. She only helps you find Edrick’s Token, and that’s always in the same place. What happens, then? How is she not blind and mentally disturbed from being held captive for months in a dark cave? What does she do if the Dragonlord dies, but nobody goes to find her? What does the dragon guarding her do? Does it lose heart? Does it bond to her? Does she become the next Dragonlord?

I mean, I’m not alone in thinking of these things. "Dragon Quest Builders" is basically asking that question. Well, in the more basic "What if the hero had taken the Dragonlord’s offer?" way, but still. Someone else was thinking about it. Someone was also trying to get some of that sweet, sweet "Minecraft" money too. The spirit of Taloon lives on.

If you’re interested in gaming in a historical sense, then "Dragon Warrior" can’t be passed up. The circumstances around the game are still influential for JRPGs, particularly in Japan, so it may be helpful to understand where the "Dragon Quest" series started and why it became successful (even if it was a bit by force.) It’s also a cheap game to get a hold of, both digitally and physically. At least, better than most NES RPG prices tend to be.

You do have to be patient with grinding, however. Also, I’d classify this as a podcast game. Ya know, something you play while you have the audio muted and other audio playing on another device. A weird call? Maybe. I mean, the intro theme is good, but a lot of the music is otherwise a set of short loops with mediocre scoring.

…You’ve really, really got to be careful when you make the triangle channel a lead in an NES song. I’ve only heard it work, like, once. It’s got no volume control, man. The sound’s either on or off. Very unnatural. Annoying when it goes too long.