dragon warrior 1 (or dragon quest 1) is a game that is very dear to me. it’s not only the first JRPG game i’ve ever played it’s the first RPG i’ve ever played period. the game came out in 1989 in the US and i feel like i got it for christmas that same year. my memory is always hazy on exact dates, but that seems about right. i can recall nearing the end of the game and getting stumped by something. i ended up calling a kid on the phone from school (4th or 5th grade time period) and was able to finish the game with his help. there was a video done by the AVGN about how back in the olden days before the world wide web you had to rely on nintendo power to provide hints on how to finish the games. that’s definitely true, back then it was nintendo power, strategy guides, and word of mouth from friends. i guess you could have called one of those hint hotlines too but i never knew anyone that did that.

anyways, the original dragon warrior means more to me than even final fantasy 1. i see FF1 as a natural evolution of dragon warrior, while from my perspective dragon warrior 1 is the grandfather of the genre (as far as JRPGS released in the US are concerned). dragon warrior is a beautifully simplistic. there’s multi-part quests that are subtlety explained to you and not all in your face explaining what needs to be done step-by-step like games are now. i’d rate the game as having a medium difficulty. the game is merciful with deaths since you only lose half of your gold and keep all of your experience. i like how you have to face enemies that have you outclassed to progress in the game. if you only fight enemies that are less powerful than you or about on the same level, it will take forever to gain gold and levels. i also like the system of learning new spells simply be leveling. the music is great even though there’s not much variety. i’m not much of a fan of the caves in the game, but thankfully there aren’t too many of these. even back when i was a kid i used maps from the strategy guide to navigate them.

the strategy guide…was more like a booklet ~15 pages or so that came included with an issue of nintendo power. i absolutely loved this thing. the illustrations were incredible. i probably looked through this guide and read the descriptions of monsters and items multiple times. the dragon warrior strategy guide fascinated me probably even more than the full fledged final fantasy 1 strategy guide (which was also awesome).

as i mentioned above, i did finish this game when i was a child. as a kid i don’t think i ever played it again after finishing it. however, i’ve probably replayed it as an adult (most likely without finishing) at least 4 different times since then.

i’m playing it again now in hopes to finishing it once more. so far, i’ve defeated the green dragon and retrieved the staff of rain. most wisdom says to wait until level 12 to fight the green dragon. i became impatient and did it at level 11. i died the first two times, but on the third try the sleep spell kept the dragon asleep for the entire battle…which made things pretty easy. the sleep spell definitely comes in handy when fighting more powerful enemies. the stopspell is useful as well for enemy spellcasters. i’m not sure how far i’m into the game yet, i’d guess a third of the way through? i remember there only being 20 levels of experience so there can’t be too much more. correction: there are 30 levels of experience, i don’t think i ever knew that…

update 5/19/2013:
i’m nearing the final stretch of the game. i attempted the ruthless trek to cantlin at level 13 and failed miserably. i was able to do it at level 14 with lots of running and the use of fairy water. previously, where i mentioned that i liked how the game forces you to face enemies that outclass you…this segment of the game makes me change my mind. at this point in the game you are severely outmatched. even at level 15 w/ the silver shield i have a fairly difficult time gaining exp and gold outside of cantlin. old tricks like using the sleep spell aren’t nearly as effective anymore. the starwyvern is particularly troublesome. this is probably the first part of the game where i felt that the act of progressing was tedious. part of the problem is having to retreat to heal constantly and relying on the nearly useless heal spell (at this point). luckily, i will get the healmore spell in a few more levels.

update 5/20/2013:
i bought the flame sword, but didn’t notice too much of a difference. i believe all my prior frustration was due to my own fault. a much better location to gain experience in is the desert region around haukness. the enemies are much easier to defeat and you don’t really need a nearby inn to heal if you have healing armor. the only minor annoyance in the area is the demon knight. at level 16 i did a hit and run for erdrick’s armor in haukness. i’m at level 17 now and will probably head for erdrick’s token soon.

update 5/24/2013:
starwyvern become easier to deal with at level 19 and they’re no problem at all at level 20 w/ erdrick’s sword. i did another hit and run, this time to charlock castle to retrieve erdrick’s sword. the strongest enemy to run from me thus far has been the wraith. i think the only enemies that can cause me problems now are the blue and red dragons, the armored knight, and the stoneman. i’ll probably finish the game tomorrow.

update 5/25/2013:
i finished the game earlier today at level 23. blue dragons weren’t much of a problem actually. red dragons were difficult if i didn’t get a successful stopspell cast since the red dragons can cast sleep. i didn’t run into any armored knights. i was actually thankful when i ran into wizards because i could handle them without any problems. the dragon lord’s 2nd form was pretty tough to beat, but it was manageable by casting healmore often. this will be at least my 2nd time finishing this game and it still lives up to the fond memories i have of it.

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