Dragon Warrior was a game that to be honest is one I never intended to buy. I was around seven or eight at the time and had asked my Grandparents to buy me a subscription to Nintendo Power. What I didn’t know at the time was Nintendo Power had a crazy deal going on; Subscribe to the magazine and get a free copy of Dragon Warrior along with a strategy guide and map. When it all came in the mail I was a bit taken back by it. I wasn’t sure how or why I got this game, but that didn’t stop me from jamming into my NES and seeing what it was.
I admit at first the game confused me. My head was buzzing with questions: why can’t I jump? Why can’t I swing my sword? Why does this menu have an option for stairs? I hate to admit it, but it wasn’t until my Step Dad starting playing it that I realized what the game was. Up until this point I hadn’t touched an RPG game, no I still used to jumping, shooting, or something like the Legend of Zelda.
What ended up following was my Step-Dad would play and grind the game while I read the strategy guide and told him where he needed to go, what items he needed to find, our how much gold he would need to upgrade to the next weapon that would be available in the town. By doing this and watching him I started to see what an RPG game was and I fell in love with it. It also helped that I was able to catch a Dragon Warrior cartoon (or anime I guess) which was lossely based more on Dragon Quest III. I remember the main hero Abel being so cool that I named my character in Dragon Warrior, Abel.
By the time he was about halfway through the game, I had made my own save file and was grinding slimes, dracky, and looking forward to challenging the Green Dragon in order to save Princess Gwaelin. Leveling up and getting new gear and learning new magic was so cool to me. These days I may be a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series, but Dragon Warrior (or Dragon Quest as it’s known in Japan) was the game that started it all for me. Unlike Final Fantasy I haven’t played every Dragon Quest game, something I hope to remedy very soon. Out of the ones I have played I would have to say Dragon Quest III is my favorite, with Dragon Quest IV a close runner-up.
Dragon Quest is definitely an older game and these days some people might be put off by the long grind of the game in order to level up and get gold. However, all of that can be somewhat remedied with the Game Boy Color version of the game which makes the grind a bit more bearable. Still, to this day I can turn the game on and relive some great memories of my childhood.
Hopefully, soon I can start Dragon Quest XI
Gameplay: 8/10
Sound/Music: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Story: 9/10
Replayability: Moderate
Overall: 37/40 [A]
