Dragon Warrior

The Good
Contrary to a popular belief, Dragon Warrior was not the first Japanese-made RPG. Several companies (such as for example Xtalsoft) had been producing role-playing games on computers for quite a while. It was, however, among the first ones to be released on a console. One thing we can say about it with certainty is that it was the first popular Japanese RPG; probably also the first to be released in the West, where it could be enjoyed by console players who were tired of the complexities of Wizardry or Ultima.

Indeed, the utmost simplicity of Dragon Warrior can seem alluring. It is very easy to pick up and just plunge into action, because the game gives you almost no choices at all. It reduces role-playing to its most basic component: working in order to become stronger. That's a basic challenge; therefore the game's difficulty is actually a plus in my eyes. Otherwise, it utterly dismantles everything Western role-playing had accomplished before. The one thing it spares is a relative openness of the world - something later Japanese RPG gleefully demolished with their artificial exploration-impeding plot devices. Bear in mind, however, that much of the perceived non-linearity of Dragon Warrior is illusionary: try straying from the prescribed path and you'll immediately fall prey to tough monsters you have no chance whatsoever to defeat.

The Bad
When talking about classic genre-defining games, we need to make concessions to their position in history. It's easy to dismiss King's Quest as lacking compared to its successors; but we cannot forget that it was the first adventure with a visually stunning world you could physically explore. You can be bored by Wolfenstein 3D, but no other game of its time had the combination of lightning-fast movement and shooting with textured 3D levels. Playing the first Wizardry is not always fun; but at the time of its release, how many other games allowed you to create your own party of customized adventurers and descend into a deep, dangerous dungeon?

Well, here's the thing: Dragon Warrior is definitely not one of those classic genre-defining games. Even if we view Japanese RPGs as a separate genre, this game certainly didn't define it. It did nothing earlier Japanese computer RPGs hadn't already done: in fact, it mercilessly simplified everything even they did. Forget about party-building, character customization, or any variables in combat besides lethargic one-on-one confrontations that Ultima threw overboard years before. Why worry about choices or tactics if the game lets you fight repetitive random monsters over and over again? Instead of caring for variety or replay value, why not just make a game longer by forcing you to grind your sanity to oblivion?

We keep talking about how dumbed-down games are today, and in many ways we are right. But that doesn't mean every single game of the 1980's was a sophisticated construction full of esoteric wisdom. Dragon Warrior is, in fact, startlingly similar to today's casual games with their primitive mechanics stripped down to the bare bones: if it's an RPG then all you need to do is fight, level up, and know that a sword+1 is way better than just a sword.

There are some Japanese RPGs I like, but rarely for being Japanese RPGs. In fact, the best representatives of the genre managed to break away from the stifling formula in gameplay-related aspects, or at least were artistically and dramatically compelling enough to make us forget their boundaries. Only a year later, Final Fantasy brought back character classes, and Phantasy Star created a lovely world and had you manage a colorful anime party. Dragon Warrior is none of the above: it is a simplistic reproduction of very basic mechanics that does nothing new and nothing particularly well.

The Bottom Line
I have a soft spot for old games. I believe that many of them were better than today's blockbusters, and I do think that some groundbreaking titles of the past became undeservedly forgotten as time went by. What I don't think, however, is that Dragon Warrior was one of such titles. On the contrary: its radical simplifications only affected Japanese RPGs in a negative way, becoming a convenient template for lazy design.

The Good
Dragon Warrior was a leader of its kind. The turn based battle was something that had people wanting more. The classic graphics and sound made the gameplay interesting while fighting the endless battles to strengthen your character.

The Bad
If you think about the story, it seems pretty short. Find the princess in the cave thats right next to the castle, then fight the Dragonlord in the castle you can see across from your own, but it takes you forever to get your level up.

The Bottom Line
Dragon Warrior is definitely a game to play if you are a true RPG player. It has classic RPG roots. Turn based battles, weapon buying, item buying, its a very classic game. Very long but fun. I could never shake the game away, it calls to you while your not playing.

The Good
Dragon Warrior was the first real RPG for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). You play as a descendant of the great warrior Erdrick sent to save the princess and slay the evil Dragonlord. Standard RPG conventions abound: purchase equipment, fight random battles to gain levels, talk to NPCs in various towns scattered across the world... This is basically the template for all of the early Japanese RPG titles. I'll admit that I didn't play this game back when it came out. In fact, I didn't even own an NES and, unlike Final Fantasy or Crystalis, I never watched someone play this game either. My opinions therefore are not tainted with nostalgia nor are they informed by the time period in which this game was released.

Amazingly, Enix got a lot of things right. The difficulty here is fairly steep and so every small accomplishment feels monumental. Just making it intact to the second town in the game takes at least an hour and is cause for celebration. Also, surprisingly, the battles don't feel terribly repetitive in the early parts of the game even though they undoubtedly are. Battling cute, colorful slimes or fat bat-like creatures (called Drakees) is not nearly the chore it would seem, even when those battles have to be repeated ad nauseum in order to gain a few levels and a bit of gold for better equipment. But the best part about this game is the feeling of adventure and wanderlust it breeds in the player. Unlike other RPGs of the time, you aren't restricted in where you can go by feeble storyline annoyances such as a broken bridge that can only be fixed by finding a mystical tree, freeing a woodsman, etc etc etc. You can go most places right off the bat. The only thing holding you back is your low level, your lack of strength and defense. It could be said that this works in the same way, but I disagree. Having roadblocks all over the map greatly discourages exploration and makes a game feel very linear. While Dragon Warrior is in many ways as linear as any other early RPG, it never quite feels that way because the map is completely open. The one blocked off part of the map also leads to one of the less linear parts of the game: in order to reach the Dragonlord's castle, you have to collect several items to create a "rainbow bridge." They can be collected in pretty much any order. Another thing that can be done at various times in the game is rescuing the princess. There's nothing stopping you from battling her guard early and in fact so long as you have the sleep spell you've got a chance of defeating him. All of this adds up to creating an experience that is in many ways quite different from other early games of this nature. This game really sends you on an adventure, rather than a walk from one plot point to the next.

The Bad
There is plenty that could distract and annoy those weaned on recent RPGs. DW is a HARD game. It will repeatedly and gleefully kick your ass at every turn. It isn't a difficult game in that there are no real puzzles to solve or complicated things to do during battles, but if you aren't the right level for the area you are wandering around in, expect to have your ass handed to you. Secondly, many things that gamers now would take for granted are things that DW does not do for you. For instance, you have to select an option from a menu in order to walk down a flight of stairs. You can't just push yourself onto the stairs icon and have the game automatically sends you down to the next floor (or up as the case may be). You have very limited room in your inventory, you can only carry six healing herbs or torches and you need some light source in order to navigate the dungeons. Mapping dungeons is a requirement. Probably the worst thing about DW is that there will be times where you'll need to find certain items in order to advance and you'll have no idea where to look for them. Many of the people that have things that you need are completely unhelpful in telling you what it is they are looking for (like the guy who just says you failed your task every time you talk to him). Also, there will be one point in the game where you'll need to do some serious leveling up in order to advance and it will take a LONG time to do this. I never really minded all the level grinding in this game until I got to this part. It's about halfway through, right before you start looking for Erdrick's items. It was the one time where I actually resented the difficulty of the game and felt the tediousness of building levels.

The Bottom Line
Despite its many short-comings, DW really delivers a great and refreshing role-playing experience. While the storyline is fairly rudimentary and the gameplay is fairly basic, Dragon Warrior has a lot of charm, and its sense of adventure more than makes up for any of its problems. If you want to actually feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and wayfaring this is definitely the NES RPG to play.