MrPopo wrote:That's smart of you to be planning the GBC version of DQII.
Agreed, that's the only way I ever bothered proper with that game as it's just so crude even I think for its time it wasn't the best then too.
I suggest anyone wanting a stab at the old Nintendo era stuff to do it on the portable side as they add in better save routines to save you the hell of always going back to down and saving, refine the translations a bit, refined out some annoyances like tapping 'stair' to walk down/up those things and other ancient quirks with the games.
Exhuminator wrote: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.
That's what I thought he was leading into. I frequented my local state university's anime club when I was in middle school, and they showed a few episodes of Dragon Quest there. I remember it being pretty dreadful. Was bored out of my mind for about two hours. I didn't really know much about the games at the time, though, and I also didn't care for Cowboy Bebop back then, so it's possible I wouldn't feel the same way about it now.
As for references to Dragon Quest in other media, there was a gag manga that was running in Shukan Shounen Jump, around the time that I was living there, called Inu-Marudashi (about a preschooler who refused to wear clothes below his waist) and one week they made the bully-type into the Dragonlord, and Inumaru and his friends were the heroes. Many hijinks ensued. It was a pretty good parody.
Is DQ4 NES doable? I really like the aesthetics of the NES titles, but it definitely sounds like the GB versions of the first two are a lot better from what you guys have said over the years. Maybe by 4 though they worked out the kinks and it's cool?
I took other routes for the NES Final Fantasy's as well. Did the PSX/GBA/PSP versions of 1-2 (the PSP version of 2 is the only one I beat of that, it was really good). But I did emulate and beat FF3 NES which was insane.
DQ4 has the saving annoyances of the earlier, also as you get more party members it's more rigid on how you can set them up and you can not control them in a party. On the DS you have free control over everywhere you pick up throughout the game and you can being portable save anywhere. A few other little modernizations but the game on the whole for an 8bit title was so so late it more or less is just an 8bit quality rendition of a 16bit DQ title that should have been put on the Super Famicom in the first place. It's notably better than DQ1-3 was on NES.
I think you'd be safe either way, but I'd think if money were a deciding factor you can get the DS or Android/IOS version of DQ4 for around $15 while the NES game is a good $60 title.
The NES version of DQ4 is very playable. The balance is pretty good, so you aren't in a position like you are in DQ2 where you have to traverse several extremely hard dungeons with lots of instant death and fragile party members. By DQ4 you have fairly regular access to good healing items and spells, along with resurrects, and multiple party members good for physical damage. The biggest shortcoming of DQ4 is that one of your healers has Beat/Defeat and likes to use it; since all your party members are AI controlled it ends up making that healer pretty useless in the long run. However, the AI control also means that when your healers decide to heal (like the good one will) they will do so based on the state of the party when their turn comes up, rather than you needing to anticipate.
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Agreed with Dragon Quest IV being very playable even today. The points MrPopo brings up are absolutely correct. You're probably going to end up using Nara as your main healer because Cristo can get so stupid sometimes. He does have a multi-heal spell, though, which is useful stuff to have.
Really, the most overpowered character in the game is Alena. Give her the Stiletto Earrings and watch stuff die. Fast, strong, and a critical hit rate that's insanely high (and has its own special formula just for her)!
Also, the last boss battle absolutely defines the word "epic". It doesn't get much better than that as far as NES RPG final bosses go.
Anyway, I probably played through the game ten times. At least. I love it to death, just like Dragon Warrior III, which is also still very playable. (And Dragon Warrior II isn't that bad, but it's definitely rough around the edges in spots.)
Dragon Quest/Warrior IV is by far my favorite even if I have a big soft spot for the original. As it stands now the only versions I have of either are on mobile devices and 4 is a straight conversion of the DS release which is a good thing.
I think again that's why I said you're better off really with the DS/mobile over NES version of DQ4. It's not that 4 is bad or even really worse off, it's just certain AI stuff you're at the mercy of which sucks, especially healing, where as on the mobile/DS one you control your entire party directly so you can use what you want, not what the brain dead AI feels is best.
I also got the free Dragon Warrior that came with a Nintendo Power subscription. I passed it way back then, and then it pretty much stayed on the shelf. It was my introduction to RPGs, but I quickly became more enamored with the Final Fantasy series and never returned to Dragon Quest. I did buy Dragon Quest VIII for PS2, but I only played a few hours. I keep meaning to get back to it because I really loved the art and music.
I picked up a copy of Dragon Quest VIII the other day from Amazon Warehouse Deals sadly it's the NTSC-J though so I have no way of playing it lol. Eventually I'll get around to getting a copy for my PS2 though.
Was big time into the Dragon Warrior Monster 1&2 on the GB/GBC back in the day but I never got around to completing either one .
As for the Dragon Quest games I don't think I've ever spent more then a few minutes playing one although I do have the original on NES as well as a few of the DS ports.
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