Dragon Warrior 1 Playthrough, Part 1

About a month ago, I got an itch. Not the kind of itch you try to carefully scratch with split fingers to avoid breaking the skin, but rather one that pops up only once every 10 years. It's the kind of itch that makes me want to take a sharp blade to all of the Hershey's Kisses in the cupboard. That's right, I need my Dragon Warrior fix.

I've tried not to make a habit of indulging in shameless bouts of nostalgia in my blog, but the original Dragon Warrior holds a particularly special place in my psyche. I saw the game like a tall mountain, one that was deeply imposing but at once sprinkled with romance. I imagined myself approaching this mountain in spartan dress, little different than the clothes that were actually on my back in the late '80s. From the base of this mountain, I began slowly chopping my way through the slimes, scorpions, and wolves that littered the slopes. It was a slow, tedious process, but it always moved upwards and every day I was stronger than the one before.

While I loved the climb, my deeply impatient child brain saw the summit as actually unreachable. To be honest, I'm not sure that I ever actually finished the game pre-adulthood. I remember when one of my neighborhood friends excitedly bragged about how his dad had rigged up a NES controller to automatedly move the character back and forth fighting slimes. Ah, the things that will make a grade schooler jealous. Perhaps because of this story, I don't know that I ever actually finished the game when I was a kid.

But now I want to play it again. This time, however, I want to really dive in, much as I have with other games in this blog. Fortunately, it's been long enough since I last played that I only have a vague recollection of the game's narrative and secrets. I won't be able to get far without collecting all of the hints from the villagers again, so most of the adventure should be preserved.

Which version am I playing?

"What's this about Dragon Warrior," you say, "don't you mean Dragon Quest?" I do not, sir, and I ask you kindly to refrain from your naked pedantry. Having been introduced to the game in the '80s and not speaking a lick of Japanese, it was the "Dragon Warrior" moniker that presented itself to me in my formative years. It's true that the series has been using the Dragon Quest trademark in the US since 2002, but I still remember it most fondly for what it was in the past.

To add some historical context, the original Dragon Quest was released in 1986 in Japan and has not, to my knowledge, been translated. The game that I know of as Dragon Warrior was subsequently released in North American in 1989. While the some of the graphics are noticeably different from the Japanese version, various online sources claim that the games are virtually identical in other respects.

Since those original releases in the '80s, there have been many Japan-only remakes and several English-language ones, including for the Game Boy Color (2000), mobile (2014), and Switch (2019). Typically, these games -- I think the most apt word is "modernizations" -- leave the core gameplay intact but manipulate the graphics, simplify the menu interface, and reduce the difficulty so that it plays more like modern JRPGs. While I am entirely sympathetic to this - there's a limit to my own patience with grinding - I do think it takes away from the mystique that I remember so fondly, so I'm going to stick with the original.

Getting started

So, let's kick this thing off, yeah?

Dragon Warrior! Immediately after the splash screen, I get to one of the hardest parts of any RPG... picking a name.

Choosing a name for the hero

I mean, let's be real here. Most people's actual names aren't going to sound right in a quasi-medieval fantasy world. "Behold the mighty warrior, descendant of Erdrick, pledged to defeat the terrible Dragonlord and retrieve the Ball of Light. Go forth, ... Jimmy... and complete thy quest!"

Yeah no, a real name is off the table. I suppose I could come up with a Tolkienesque fantasy name like Theragrin or Daebamore, but I feel only slightly less silly doing that. Also, I tend to sour on such names after a few dialog bubbles. Instead...

What? Isn't there already a character named Erdrick in the game? Yeah, but I'm his descendant, so you know it could happen. Maybe I'm Erdrick IV or somesuch. Whatever, let's keep going.

The backstory

As the curtain rises, we're in a conversation with the king. He's telling us the game's backstory, or at least one version of it. He says that Erdrick (my ancestor) once fought demons with a Ball of Light. In the king's telling, the Dragonlord appeared later and stole the Ball of Light, bringing chaos to the land.

However, if you read the Dragon Warrior Manual, it actually says that the Dragonlord stole the Ball of Light before Erdrick even appeared on the scene. Erdrick then made his way to the Dragonlord's castle and disappeared without a trace.

I think this really highlights how little thought was put into the narrative aspects of the original Dragon Quest. This is definitely a long way from modern JRPGs, which sometimes seem more like visual novels than games.

And to be honest, I don't recall thinking much about the backstory when playing Dragon Warrior. The only reason I even know about this inconsistency is that I felt obliged to give some background to my playthrough.

There's one more detail I should mention in the backstory of Dragon Warrior. You may notice that there's a vacancy in the king's throne room. That spot to his left is not reserved for the queen, but rather Princess Gwaelin, who has been kidnapped by "the enemy". The king is apparently too upset to mention it to me (I mean, it's not like I could go and save her or anything), so I get the info from a guard. I guess I better keep my eye out for a young woman in a robe and jewelry.

The Dragon Warrior menu interface

There is at least one aspect of the Dragon Quest remakes that I do appreciate, and that's the improvements in the menu interface. This first installment was particularly egregious. Watch as I navigate the king's throne room.

Part of the problem is that the NES only had two action buttons, one of which was always needed as a "Cancel" option. This meant that the designers essentially needed one button to do everything. Thus the sprawling menus.

But still, did I really need to select a "STAIRS" option when I walked over the staircase? Also, why are "SEARCH" and "TAKE" separate options? Doesn't the former imply the latter?

Tantegel Castle

Having barely escaped the throne room menus with my fingers intact, I am now free to explore the castle. Here's the part of it I can see.

That's nearly the whole thing, though importantly I can't access the whole thing. That's because I used my last key to escape the throne room. (Why the king saw fit to lock me in the throne room to begin with is a mystery.)

The castle residents are mostly unhelpful. Some are griping about how the Dragonlord has killed their friends (wah wah), and some are giving basic gameplay hints (doors are opened with keys!). Oh, and one old guy tries to blind me with a flash of light. This all seems profoundly unhelpful, so I decide to see what's outside of the castle.

Brecconary

As it turns out, there's a town just across the way. Fortunately, I'm able to cross the divide without any monster encounters.

Brecconary has all of the same characters as Tantegel (they look the same, anyway), but they tend to be more helpful. Services rendered in Brecconary include a shop with weapons and armor, an item shop (the southeast building), and an Inn where I can pay to restore my health. What's more, the townsfolk give some helpful information, like directions to a neighboring town (Garinham) and a hint about where to get keys.

There are at least two locations in the town that will have to wait until I can get my hands on some magic keys, including a mysterious building in the northeast quadrant.

Purchasing Equipment and Items

Now that I've explored the town, it's time to prepare myself for my quest. The king gave me 120 G to start out, so let's take a look at what I can buy with that.

I should note here that I find RPGs to be the most fun when I don't rely on outside information, so I won't be using any strategy guides, FAQs or even the game manual to guide my purchases. This means I will immediately rule out anything I don't know what it does; i.e., the Dragon's Scale, which I will try out when I have more gold to burn. I can also rule out the Copper Sword (costs more than I can afford) and the Torch (I already got one from the throne room).

At minimum, I figure I should get a weapon and some kind of body protection. Unfortunately, the Club and the Leather Armor combine to be just a bit more than I have, so I decide to get a Club (60 G) and Clothes (20 G), plus an Herb (24 G) to heal myself in case I'm caught too far from an Inn (I have no healing magic at the start).

I could have gone with the Leather Armor and the Bamboo Pole, but do happen to remember that Dragon Warrior almost always lets the player attack first. This means that I can expect to average more attacks than my opponents in combat, and thus a strong offense is preferable to a strong defense.

Into the World

With my Club in hand clothes on my back, I'm ready to venture out into the wilderness of Dragon Warrior. In part 2 of the playthrough, I'll try out some actual combat!