Questions on Dragon Warrior/Quest games ...

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Trev
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Questions on Dragon Warrior/Quest games ...

Post by Trev » Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:36 pm

Which one(s) would be a good intro for someone who has never played any? Having recently become hooked on Fortune Street for the Wii, I'm curious about all these characters I know nothiong about. Any thoughts and opinions on any of the games would be welcomed.
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Post by Anonymous » Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:58 pm

Cant really speak from personal experience in regards to dragon quest series.. but im always OCD about starting as early as possible in a series, and do them in order whenever possible.. Even if that means something sucky in between.. Be it tv series, films or games.. Can sometimes be annoying to suffer through a bad one to get to the nice stuff again..

It made me stop watching DS9... Bloody soap opera...

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Post by sneth » Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:24 am

DQ1 will introduce you to the monsters and a little bit of the lore.
DQ2 is where the series got serious with the party system, and really expands on the lore. One of my favorites.
DQ4 is an epic adventure. One of the best in the series, but it's hard on the NES. The remake is so so graphics, but not as brutal.

DQ ,5,6,7 - I like 6 on SNES for the retro aspect of it. DQ7 if you want a newer game.

DQ 8 is a serious undertaking. this is when the play hours goes way up, but the game is outstanding.


I would say start with 1, but it's been so long since I've played it. I think it's one of those games where your childhood built a much more detailed story than what's in the game. These weren't text heavy at first.

You actually start to see how much Square was copying Enix in the early days in order to keep up.

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Post by Trev » Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:28 am

One concern I had about starting w/the first one was how user friendly menus & such were ...

For instance, when I was playing the original Final Fantasy months ago I was so annoyed that if I wanted to max out items I had to buy them one at a time. Or how the AI would attack empty air if the original enemy had been defeated. Things I take for granted now, having been spoiled on more modern rpgs.

Do the early Dragon Warrior games have quirks like these?
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Post by sneth » Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:02 am

The first dragon warrior game is based around a solo Hero. You gain spells as you level, and you pretty much just buy the gear at the next town. This might be why I always preferred gaining skills through leveling.

It's a short game compared to Final Fantasy. The world was big when i was younger, but it's pretty manageable now.

Read a walk through so you can take it all in, and take it in quickly. There are 2 items that are damn near impossible to find if you dont have a guide.

I loved the story of Erdrick.

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Post by Martin III » Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:20 pm

Trev wrote:Or how the AI would attack empty air if the original enemy had been defeated.
This is hardly a quirk of older RPGs. Most older RPGs have characters automatically attack the next enemy when one is defeated, and on the other end, many modern RPGs have them do as you describe (e.g. the Golden Sun series, the Grandia series, The Last Story).

I've always liked how this design choice forces you to think about your choice of targets instead of just spamming Attack.

I've been thinking about checking out the Dragon Quest series myself lately... It really annoys me that Dragon Warrior I isn't available on Virtual Console. Guess I'll just have to get my NES back in working order...

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Post by sneth » Tue Jan 08, 2013 5:01 pm

There is DQ1/2 on the gameboy color if you want to play it on the go. Music was updated a little. The color palette goes down, but the sprites got more detailed in many cases.

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Post by Trev » Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:00 pm

Martin III wrote:
Trev wrote:Or how the AI would attack empty air if the original enemy had been defeated.
This is hardly a quirk of older RPGs. Most older RPGs have characters automatically attack the next enemy when one is defeated, and on the other end, many modern RPGs have them do as you describe (e.g. the Golden Sun series, the Grandia series, The Last Story).

I've always liked how this design choice forces you to think about your choice of targets instead of just spamming Attack.
Perhaps, but I was specifically talking about the the first NES Final Fantasy where the characters will never adjust to attack an ememy and instead waste their turn if the original target is gone. It's annoying, and the remakes have wisely eliminated this.

It's behavior that I've personally rarely see in many modern rpgs as default. Possibly because, imho, it too random and sets the player up for punishment that they often can't control.

It is interesting to hear that the Last Story adopts this, as I thought it was real time? I did mean to check out, but I still haven't finished Xenoblade, lol.
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Post by Martin III » Wed Jan 09, 2013 12:24 am

Trev wrote:It is interesting to hear that the Last Story adopts this, as I thought it was real time? I did mean to check out, but I still haven't finished Xenoblade, lol.
The Last Story plays out in real time, yes, but you execute limit-break-style special moves by selecting them from a menu which pauses the action. An amount of time (determined by the move selected and a few other factors) passes between selecting the special move and its actual execution, and if the target you selected dies during that time, the character will waste his special move on empty space. Magic attacks seem to behave similarly. This doesn't make much difference since The Last Story is unquestionably one of the most brokenly easy games I've ever played as it is, but nonetheless, the mechanic is there.

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Post by Trev » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:24 am

Martin III wrote:
Trev wrote:It is interesting to hear that the Last Story adopts this, as I thought it was real time? I did mean to check out, but I still haven't finished Xenoblade, lol.
The Last Story plays out in real time, yes, but you execute limit-break-style special moves by selecting them from a menu which pauses the action. An amount of time (determined by the move selected and a few other factors) passes between selecting the special move and its actual execution, and if the target you selected dies during that time, the character will waste his special move on empty space. Magic attacks seem to behave similarly. This doesn't make much difference since The Last Story is unquestionably one of the most brokenly easy games I've ever played as it is, but nonetheless, the mechanic is there.
Sounds somewhat similar to the chain attacks in Xenoblade. It also pauses the action while you set them up. I haven't yet noticed what happens if the orignal target is destroyed though ... possibly because I only use them when the scene is already so chaotic I can't tell whats going on anyway. :P

That's a shame to hear that the Lost Story is so easy. :( From start to finish, how long would you say it takes on average? Are there many side quests or extras?
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Post by Martin III » Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:27 pm

Trev wrote:That's a shame to hear that the Lost Story is so easy. :( From start to finish, how long would you say it takes on average? Are there many side quests or extras?
Between 20-25 hours for the main quest. There are a considerable number of side quests and optional chapters, and with those added on I'd say it could go as long as 30 hours, maybe 35. (I didn't bother with any of those, myself, since my characters were already overpowered just from the mandatory stuff. But folks tell me they add another 5-10 hours, and just looking at the amount of side quests, I'd say that's about right.)

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Post by JohnnyDude » Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:10 am

Beware the NES versions of you want to avoid old RPG quirks. I've played 1 and 4 on the NES...

In 1, you have to go to the menu to do anything in the overworld. So, if you want to talk to someone, you open the menu, then select "talk". This is true for doors, treasures, and even stairs! I hear the remakes improve this.

I like DQ4, which fixes a lot of these, but there is a very confusing design decision with the battle AI. When the party fills up, suddenly you can only control one party member, and the other members are left to a very inept AI. Your healers won't heal enough, and magic users will waste ineffective status effect spells on bosses ad infinitum!

That "hardcore gaming 101" site had a very comprehensive review of the series and could point out which revisions or remakes are better.

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Post by 3DO Experience » Fri Jan 11, 2013 3:57 am

I really have to suggest starting with the very first one. Sneth's first post is right on. I have found the best version to be an English patched SuperFamicom version of the game. There are even more than one version of the patch so you can go American or more accurate to the original Japanese. PM me if you can't your hands on these.
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Post by Trev » Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:20 am

Thanks for all the replies guys. :)
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