A commemorative Dragon Quest thread draws near!

[prfsnl_gmr]

Dragon Quest rules, and Dragon Quest IX may be my favorite JRPG. (I can say without hesitation that Dragon Quest III is my favorite 8-bit RPG.) I have beaten Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest III, Dragon Quest IV, and Dragon Quest IX. I loved each of them, and I am looking forward to working through Dragon Quest II on my GBC this summer. After that, I plan on tackling all of the NDS entire before proceeding to Dragon Quest VIII and VIII.

Also, don't forget Dragon Quest Wars, the DSiWare exclusive SRPG!

[Sarge]

There is a Dragon Quest thread. And I haven't posted in it yet. Whoa.

Yeah, I was a fan alllll the way back when it debuted here. I know it flopped (and I totally remember the NP promo, and was too stupid to jump in when I should have to get the game), but I loved it anyway.

The game I had the most access to was Dragon Warrior III. There was a copy I'd rent all the time, but darn it, my save always got wiped. I even left a note one time, hoping someone wouldn't kill it. No dice. I won in the end, though, because when the video store started clearing out their NES stock, I got to buy it. I still have that copy.

Dragon Warrior IV was a Christmas present one year. That was a good year. I think Mom dropped $40 on it (and Dad still doesn't know she spent that much on it, of her own money, too). I still have everything with it, box, manual, the whole shootin' match, so it's worth quite a bit more than that now.

I also remember the lean years, when Enix of America shut down, and we missed out on both Dragon Quest V and VI. I was ecstatic when Dragon Warrior VII crossed the pond. Now, I thought I'd been ripped off with the ridiculous length of the intro for that game, but once it got rolling, it was one of my favorites. It's sooooo long, though. Character growth was also tethered out even more, which was annoying going for those advanced classes. Still, it's got one of my favorite hooks ever for a Dragon Quest game.

Also, can we fix the thread title? I think it's supposed to be "commemorative".

[MrPopo]

My first exposure to Dragon Quest (although I didn't really process it at the time) was being at my neighbor's house and he was showing me a game he was playing; I recall one of the encounters was a Goldman, so it was definitely the Dragon Warrior cart. But I think the first Dragon Quest game I actually played was Monsters; I must have seen a preview in a magazine and the idea behind it seemed cool; like a deeper version of Pokémon. I was aware of the existence of the mainline Dragon Quest games, but I didn't check any of them out until after trying out Monsters (through emulation). I never got far with any of the NES titles since I didn't have the patience for them at the time, and the SNES titles didn't have very complete translations either.

I recall picking up Dragon Quest III on the GBC, and I think I did beat it. Then in college I picked up Dragon Quest VIII because I had been hearing lots of good things about it. And that's when the games fully clicked with me and I wanted to go back and beat all of them. So far III is the only one I haven't beaten on my NES, just the GBC rerelease.

[marurun]

I have Dragon Quest III on the GBC, but I ended up getting distracted by monster medallions. I think the collection aspects made me unable to get into the main story.

[PartridgeSenpai]

I mostly love DQ for its characters. That's why I LOVE the ones on DS I have, 4-6, and can't wait for the localizations of 7 and 8 on 3DS to come here. That's also why I really don't care for the first couple (though I'd give 3 a try if I ever came across it on GBC), and thought 9 was hella boring.

The Rocket Slime games are SOOOOO fun. Some of my favorite games on handhelds. There's just something so compelling about running around your own tank/ship and loading all the guns and fighting off enemy crew who fire themselves over. It's so hectic and fun. I'd totally buy the first one as well if it weren't like, non-existent :/

I LOOOOVE Fortune Street on the Wii as well, but I'd kinda hesistate to put the whole series under the Dragon Quest label, simply because they're not in a pretty big majority of Itadaki Street games. A stock exchange was exactly the upgrade Monopoly needed to make it a proper board game. Just the ability to profit off of other players' gains, as well as strategically sell of stocks to lower their max value so they can't actually win. I have on on PS2 as well that I got at a flea market, but I haven't tried it yet. I think it was one of the last ones they made that didn't have any Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest characters in it.

[TSTR]

The only one I've ever played is the first on NES, which I acquired when I got back into collecting for that system over 10 years ago. It also happened to be the first RPG I ever played. Never did beat it though, got discouraged by the endgame grind before the Dragonlord. Methinks it might be time to remedy that. I think I've got a translation of the SFC remake somewhere on my HDD, oughta load that on the PSP and get down to business this weekend.

[marurun]

Bonknuts on the PCE forum is preparing his Dragon Warrior port for PCE. Basically it's mostly emulation layer stuff (PCE shares a compatible CPU, though video and audio routines have to be mapped as they are rather different). He's worked up the BRAM save functions recently and is now working out with some others how to better colorize a new title screen and whether to do a CD release with remixed/redone music.

Sadly, the in-game graphics will largely be identical to the NES. No time to do a total re-do.

[Exhuminator]

Also, can we fix the thread title? I think it's supposed to be "commemorative".

This is what happens when I have the Friday tireds and try to start a new thread before my first cup of coffee.

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Last night I had a really crazy moment of synchronicity. I have a flashdrive full of anime hooked up to my HDTV. So I sat down last night and decided to watch one episode of a random anime. Well, I just so happened to choose the original 1991 Burn Up! OVA. And would you believe that of all the anime on that stick, this has got to be the only episode that has a detailed Dragon Quest joke in it? I mean, what are the odds I'd pick that episode, and see that joke on Dragon Quest's 30th anniversary? I don't know man, pretty spooky. Yes I know DQ is a big thing in Japan, so it's not that crazy. But it's not like I've seen DQ parodied in a lot of anime either.

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I've enjoyed reading what everyone has said so far. I'll give a brief run down with my personal history with the franchise...

First Dragon Quest I ever played was in 1990... and it was the original USA release of Dragon Warrior actually. A friend brought it over to my house, and I was very underwhelmed by it. Problem was, I'd already beaten Phantasy Star on SMS and played Final Fantasy on NES, so of course Dragon Warrior seemed quaint by comparison. It was many many years before I'd try Dragon Quest again. I'm talking about 20 years here folks. But the second time was the charm! I fell in love with the series starting in 2010. So here's the games I've finished since 2010, and what I'd rate them:

Dragon Quest I (GBC) 8/10
Dragon Quest IV (DS) 8/10
Dragon Quest V (DS) 7/10
Dragon Quest Swords (Wii) 8/10
Dragon Quest VIII (PS2) 9/10

Obviously I consistently rate these games highly. Because it's solid stuff. I plan to beat these eventually as well:

Dragon Quest II (GBC) - Doing this one this year.
Dragon Quest III (SFC)
Dragon Quest VI (DS)
Dragon Quest VII (3DS)
Dragon Quest IX (DS)
Dragon Quest XI (3DS)

I think the best things I can say about Dragon Quest, is that this is the most charming RPG series ever, and also the most consistent in design and quality. The flip side to that, is that if you've played one Dragon Quest, you've kinda played them all. Which is a good thing if you enjoy what Dragon Quest is... the ultimate JRPG comfort food.

[MrPopo]

That's smart of you to be planning the GBC version of DQII.

[Xeogred]

Last night I had a really crazy moment of synchronicity. I have a flashdrive full of anime hooked up to my HDTV. So I sat down last night and decided to watch one episode of a random anime. Well, I just so happened to choose the original 1991 Burn Up! OVA. And would you believe that of all the anime on that stick, this has got to be the only episode that has a detailed Dragon Quest joke in it? I mean, what are the odds I'd pick that episode, and see that joke on Dragon Quest's 30th anniversary? I don't know man, pretty spooky. Yes I know DQ is a big thing in Japan, so it's not that crazy. But it's not like I've seen DQ parodied in a lot of anime either.

There's apparently a 90's DQ anime actually, with a second season and quite a bit of episodes. Sadly I don't think it's subbed.

I've talked about DQ for years here off and on and it's still the same story... definitely a series I want to really dive into someday. I have beaten Final Fantasy 1-10 in some fashion, so it feels like the next step to take. I've dabbled into some of the DQ games. I'll probably give 8 a second shot someday. It wasn't bad at all but I was focused on other things or something, so I didn't play much.