Dragon Warrior - Retroview

Review Breakdown
Battle System	9
Interface	6
Music & Sound	8
Originality	7
Story	6
Localization	3
Replay Value	9
Visuals	4
Difficulty	Moderate
Completion Time	6-12 Hours
Overall
This is about all the plot you'll get from this game.

   A little over a decade ago, I remember how great it was when my brothers and I got an NES, complete with Super Mario Brothers. A little afterward, we got a subscription to Nintendo Power, and thanks to a little offer at the time, we got a little RPG known as Dragon Warrior, called Dragon Quest in Japan (the company that created Dungeons & Dragons, now owned by Wizards of the Coast, already owned the name “Dragon Quest”). We all certainly didn’t know the series was a cultural phenomenon in Japan, but we could all agree on one thing—it was a pretty cool game. While my brothers no longer take interest in RPGs, I still do, and I decided to take a little nostalgic ride on the game that started console RPGaming as we know it (at least in Japan; Sega’s Master System already had Phantasy Star in America).

   Since this game was released back in 1989, it naturally bears a horrid localization; the only positive thing about it is the hacking job the translators did on the menus, with no compressed names or anything of that nature, or too big a font. Still, many town and character names got changed to something out-of-this-world, such as Chateau Ladutorm to Tantagel Castle (which was, by the way, named after Tintangel Castle in southwest England), Laura to Gwaelin, Ladutorm Town to Brecconary, Maira to Kol, and many others; Garinham was pretty much the only name you could see closest to the original, which was Garai. Were I in charge, I would’ve kept more of the original names, only slightly changing things that sounded too Japanese (I would’ve probably localized Loto as Lot, Lott, or Lothar, for example).

   Although the dialogue was changed to give the game more of a medieval feel, I feel that the translators should’ve gotten real Shakespearean scholars to do the work (though that would’ve probably confused some players, but then again, the dialogue isn’t really helpful to gameplay). I should add that most of this title’s dialogue is rather disloyal to the original script of Yûji Horii, who included many an obscene joke (Nintendo replaced some with a few lame “Nester” jokes, Nester being an old spiky-haired comic character of Nintendo Power) in the game’s Japanese scenario.

   Since nobody knew who he was at the time, Akira Toriyama’s artwork on the game’s box and in the instruction book vanished during localization, although one can still notice signs of his designs in the monsters they encounter, noticeably the slimes, dragons, and wyverns; still, at least his name wasn’t written out of the ending credits. Then again, Toriyama’s box artwork was a tad bit too comical-looking, and if I were in charge, I would’ve gotten someone like Don Bluth to do all the American art (and probably commercials, as well) and thus keep the intended cartoon style of the series, rather than replace it with dull fantasy art from a nobody. As for the game’s graphics themselves, one could say they were quite inferior, although they were worse in the Japanese version (no shoreline, the sprites looked different, and so forth), and were improved during localization; the graphics aren’t too bad an eyesore, though, though it’s a shame Toriyama-san didn’t include a few anime cuts, which most certainly could’ve been done (just look at “Phantasy Star”).

   Oh yeah, and the Japanese version's password system was replaced by a save feature. We don't like writing down long passwords, do we?

A blue wolf? I must be hallucinating...

   My long rant on localization aside, it’s time for the story. The game stars you, of course, as a descendant of the hero Erdrick who receives from King Lorik of Tantagel a mission to rescue Princess Gwaelin and defeat the evil Dragonlord. Clearly, the whole rescue-the-princess and defeat-the-bad-guy-who-wants-to-take-over-the-world concepts are quite cliché, although this was one of the first RPGs to use those ideas, and thus inspire future role-playing games to do so. It could be worse, though, as we could simply be forced immediately into the game with no idea whatsoever of what the story is, and for me, as long as there’s a little introduction (i.e. blah, blah, blah, in ancient times, blah, blah, blah), that’s plot enough for me.

   As you start the game, you’ll notice a few of the flaws in the interface, which can somewhat confound those that have never played this game before. For one thing, if you want to talk to somebody, unlock a door, descend stairs, search for an item, or open a treasure chest, you must bring up your little menu with the commands to do so. It would have been more convenient if some of the commands had been combined, you automatically descended stairs, and if there were a simple shortcut to doing any of them on the field; the system this game, uses, however, is nonetheless tolerable.

   In addition, as with most early RPGs, this title requires a significant amount of leveling up and gold acquiring, the latter because the vast majority of items in stores are arse-expensive, and the former because enemies can drastically increase in difficulty if you stray too far away from where the easy antagonists are. In fact, I would consider this game roughly 90% leveling up and getting gold, and 10% actual exploration.

Is that town stuck in a hole?

   On the brighter side, most enemy encounters, should your levels be sufficient, are far more than tolerable, what with the game’s simple one-on-one turn-based battle system. Sometimes enemies surprise you when you encounter them, but your command, an attack, magic spell, item, or escape is fulfilled immediately after you input it. I didn’t really find any problems with Dragon Warrior’s battle system, although one could say that the escape option (which I didn’t use often) doesn’t always work against normal enemies.

   Another bright side of Dragon Warrior is the music, composed by Koichi Sugiyama, a well-venerated individual over in Japan. The series’ theme song is quite unforgettable, as is the ending music, and though all the tunes bear a blippety-bloppety feel, you can definitely whistle along, and they’ll sound much better then.

   Finally, since Dragon Warrior is a short game, taking only about six to twelve hours to beat for novices and experts alike, its replayability is naturally good, as well, and goodness knows this game isn’t linear like most modern RPGs, that you're not forced to get the Silver Harp before the Fairy Flute and vice versa, and so forth.

   Overall, Dragon Warrior is truly an enjoyable, unforgettable classic, if you weren’t born with a Playstation in your lap, one that any modern RPGamer and old-school gamer could certainly agree would set the stage for things to come, despite how the opinions vary, and one that my brothers today still call “cool.”