Dragon Quest: Difference between revisions
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*[[Hero (Dragon Quest I)|Hero]]: A descendant of the Legendary Hero [[Erdrick]]. He arrives from an unknown location to help the land of [[Alefgard]]. | *[[Hero (Dragon Quest I)|Hero]]: A descendant of the Legendary Hero [[Erdrick]]. He arrives from an unknown location to help the land of [[Alefgard]]. | ||
* | *Erdrick: He rescued Alefguard years earlier. He has left a message for his descendant, in the cave which bears his name. | ||
* [[Lorik]]: The king of [[Tantegel]], and ruler of Alefgard. | * King [[Lorik]] XVI: The king of [[Tantegel]], and ruler of Alefgard. | ||
*[[Lady Lora]]: Daughter of King [[Lorik]]. Imprisoned in the [[Swamp Cave]] south of [[Kol]], by the servants of the [[Dragonlord]]. | *[[Lady Lora|Princess ]]Gwaelin: Daughter of King [[Lorik]]. Imprisoned in the [[Swamp Cave]] south of [[Kol]], by the servants of the [[Dragonlord]]. | ||
* The [[Dragonlord]]: The villain of the story, he has stolen the ball of light in order to lock Alefguard in perpetual darkness. | * The [[Dragonlord]]: The villain of the story, he has stolen the ball of light in order to lock Alefguard in perpetual darkness. | ||
Revision as of 18:38, 21 August 2010
- This article is about the original game in the Dragon Quest series. For series information, see Dragon Quest (series)
Main series games | |
---|---|
Dragon Quest | |
North American boxart | |
Developer(s) | Chunsoft |
Publisher(s) | JP Enix NA Nintendo |
Designer(s) | Yūji Horii Koichi Nakamura Yukinobu Chida |
Artist(s) | Akira Toriyama |
Composer(s) | Koichi Sugiyama |
Series | Dragon Quest |
Platform(s) | NES/Famicom, MSX, NEC PC-9801, Sharp X68000 Super Famicom, Game Boy Color (hybrid cartridge), Mobile phone |
Release date(s) | JP May 27, 1986 NA August 1989 |
Genre(s) | Console role-playing game |
Mode(s) | Single player |
Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) (GBC) |
Media | NA 640-kilobit NES cartridge JP 512-kilobit Famicom cartridge GBC/SFC/MSX cartridges |
Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) is the original Dragon Quest game and the first in the Dragon Quest series. It was developed by Enix and released in 1986 in Japan for the MSX and the Famicom. The game was localized for North American release in 1989, but the title was changed to Dragon Warrior to avoid infringing on the trademark of the pen and paper game DragonQuest. The North American version of the game was greatly improved graphically over the Japanese original, and added a battery backed-up save feature, whereas the Japanese version used a password system. Nintendo was impressed with the Japanese sales of the title and massively overproduced the cartridge; the end result was that Nintendo gave away copies of Dragon Warrior as an incentive for subscribing to Nintendo Power, the company's in-house promotions magazine.
Dragon Quest was one of the first turn-based role playing games to have widespread success and is considered a pioneer in the development of the genre. Along with Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest would spawn a successful franchise that would become the de facto standard for role playing video games.
Gameplay
Dragon Quest is one of the first console RPGs (role playing game). The player controls a single character who is able to travel from town to town exploring on his quest. He can equip various weapons and armor and battles enemy monsters in one-on-one combat. As more enemies are defeated, the hero becomes stronger and able to explore greater distances as he completes his quest. Ultimately, the hero must defeat an evil boss marking the end of his adventure. This game formula was replicated in most, if not all, console RPGs.
Characters
- Hero: A descendant of the Legendary Hero Erdrick. He arrives from an unknown location to help the land of Alefgard.
- Erdrick: He rescued Alefguard years earlier. He has left a message for his descendant, in the cave which bears his name.
- King Lorik XVI: The king of Tantegel, and ruler of Alefgard.
- Princess Gwaelin: Daughter of King Lorik. Imprisoned in the Swamp Cave south of Kol, by the servants of the Dragonlord.
- The Dragonlord: The villain of the story, he has stolen the ball of light in order to lock Alefguard in perpetual darkness.
Plot
Legacy
Remakes
In the Game Boy Color remake Dragonlord's name was changed to Draco Lord, and Erdrick is now known as Loto. Several conveniences were added, such as a vault for storing gold and items, and a streamlined menu system. Monsters yield more experience and gold after being defeated to reduce the amount of time needed to raise levels and save up for purchases.
The Super Famicom remake was marketed exclusively in Japan due to the absence of Enix America Corporation, but it was unofficially translated into English and Spanish through emulation by online fan translation group RPG-One in 2002. The Game Boy Color and mobile phone versions are based on the Super Famicom version.
Sequels
Dragon Quest was followed by Dragon Quest II which met with similar success. Dragon Quest II featured the same timeline and setting as the original, a concept which was further extended into Dragon Quest III. Together, the first 3 games comprise what is known as the Erdrick Trilogy.
Spinoffs
As the first game in the series, Dragon Quest has served as a significant influence in almost every spinoff game. In particular, many of the enemies developed for Dragon Quest (Slime,Dracky,Chimaera,etc.) are featured in almost every other game in the main series and otherwise.
Trivia
- The bonuses awarded for leveling up depend on the name chosen for the hero.
- There is no party, only a single player character. Although his sprite changes when the princess is rescued, to show him carrying her, the princess does not participate in any battles.
- Enemies attack the hero 1-on-1, never in groups.
- There are no vehicles; one can only traverse the overworld map on foot, or by using a Chimera wing or Zoom spell to travel to Tantegel Castle.
- Tantegel is the only save location in the game. Likewise, the Zoom spell can only return to Tantegel.
- Acquired weapons, armor and shields will automatically replace the previous item, which is then discarded or sold to the store. This is changed in the remakes.
- There is no helmet slot.
- Keys are consumed when used; new ones can be purchased at one of the "key houses" in Tantegel, Rimuldar, or Mercado. The first key in any quest must be purchased in Rimuldar, since the others are behind doors that require a key to open.
- There are separate shops for buying holy water, unlike later games where it is sold in item shops.
- Caves are dark, and must be lit up with a torch or Radiant spell. These have limited range, which diminishes as the spell or torch wears out. The range is effectively reduced in the remakes, since the scale of the caves is larger, but the range is not increased to compensate.
- In the original versions, there are special menu commands to climb stairs and open chests (done automatically in later games), and in the Japanese version to select directions for certain commands, since characters do not have facings in these versions.
- The original Japanese Famicom and MSX versions of this game (and Dragon Quest II) have a "Spell of Restoration" (password system), in place of the "Imperial Scrolls of Honor" (battery save system). The password does not save current HP and MP, or the contents of the chests. So all of these will be reset on a reload.
- In fact, the contents of chests aren't saved in the North American NES version either.
- In Japan, many characters, locations, and spells had different names. In Japan Erdrick was originally called Roto (or Loto), King Lorik was called King Lars, Princess Gwaelin was known as Laura, and the Dragonlord was known as King Dragon. Tantegel Castle was called Ladutorm Castle, Brecconary was called Ladutorm town, Garinham was called Galai, Kol was called Maira, and Cantlin was called Mercado. Charlock Castle was not named in the Japanese version. Spells generally had nonsense names. The Game Boy Color release of Dragon Warrior in the USA had a more accurate translation of many character and town names.
- A myth persists that the term for the heal spell, Hoimi, became the official term for heal in Japan, though this is not actually the case. Around the release of Dragon Quest IV, Enix held a public ceremony to "induct" the word into the Japanese language, but this was for publicity only, and the word is not commonly used.
- Loto's Sword is used during an optional boss fight in Final Fantasy XII and is also the prize for winning that battle. This also marks the first time the mix of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest has happened in the light of both Square and Enix merging to be noticed in the Western world (though the crossover had happened a few time previously in Itadaki Street, a set of board game video games only available in Japan.)
Soundtrack
As with every Dragon Quest, Koichi Sugiyama composed the music and directed all the associated spinoffs. Dragon Quest I's symphonic suite was bundled with Dragon Quest II's symphonic suite and a disc of original compositions as Dragon Quest in Concert. Here is the track listing for the Dragon Quest I portion of that release:
- Overture March (3:59)
- Château Ladutorm (3:25)
- People (3:36)
- Unknown World (2:07)
- Fight (2:12)
- Dungeons (3:40)
- King Dragon (3:08)
- Finale (2:40)
References
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors). |
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia-ja (view authors). |