Dragon Warrior
I am covering a true classic now and a game from one of my (if not the) most beloved RPG Series ever. Yes no other than the original Dragon Warrior! I've actually been making my way through Dragon Quest V and well I always wanted to do a review for at least the original one, so here I am covering the game. The reason why I called the fifth one Dragon Quest is because that's what it's called in Japan and unfortunately that game and the sixth one never made it to the states. I'm playing the fifth translated on a emulator if you were wondering how. I could really ramble on and on about this series of RPGs, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum. The Dragon Quest series is immensely popular in Japan and so popular that when they came out kids would cut class and adults would call in to work so they could get a copy. It was then decided that the games could only be released when there was no school. I love Japanese culture. All they care about is thier videogames hehe and while we are on that topic (well sort of) I love Canadian culture too! All they care about is hockey and beer.
This game was released in the states in 1989 and this actual game was rather popular, but mainly because it was given away with subscriptions of Nintendo Power. It recieved a lot of exposure that way even though I'm not sure how many people stuck with the game because it required a lot of work and patience from the player. As the box says mere finger speed and sweat are no match for the challenges of this game...It also says a quick sword is not required, but instead deductive reasoning is. I don't totally agree with that though. I mean if our hero is engaged in battle with a monster I don't think reasoning is going to work, but hey the box was trying to make this game all bad ass sounding. I give it credit for that. The game begins in the throne room at Tantegel castle where King Lorik informs the descendant of Erdrick what his task is. This hero (who will now be called Cyrus, clever eh?) is told that he must recover the ball of light that was stolen and bring peace to the land by defeating the Dragon Lord.
Yep this game is full of that wonderful old english language. I have to watch myself so I don't speak like this after playing.
The benevolent king offers Cyrus here three treasure chests. They don't provide too much aid though. Cyrus obtains 120 gold, a torch and a magic key. The magic key being the most worthless because it must be used to leave the throne room otherwise the game cannot continue. I really wonder what the point of this is at all! Maybe the King wanted to keep this whole situation tight lipped so he locked his throne room, but everyone outside in the town seems to know who you are and what's going on
anyways! It's one of those keys that breaks after one use too. What a waste. Oh well before we leave Cyrus speaks with the soldiers to see if they have any useful information. One tells him that the Princess was captured half a year ago and that she must be rescued. Okay so that puts our task list at a whopping three. The other soldiers offer a few tips. It's time to head out. This game is really menu driven as Cyrus must make a concious effort to go down stairs and actually take treasure chests (the search command does not). This is that deductive reasoning the box talked about I guess. Downstairs there is a few more folks Cyrus can chat with, but none of them give any information that is entirely too useful, but nontheless some of it is interesting. A merchant tells us that Dragon Lord's minions destroyed a entire town! They apparently aren't joking around here. 
Outside the castle is our first look at the beautiful land of Alefgard and it's accompanied with the beautiful overworld theme. This is definitely one of my favorite tunes of all time. I can't really say why I like it so much, but I do. A lot can be seen from this location. There's Tantegel Castle, the town of Brecconary and Charlock castle - the home of the Dragon Lord. It's just there right in clear sight taunting Cyrus. If only he had a boat, but then again Cyrus would be no match for the hordes of monsters in that area unless...well let's see what weaponery Cyrus can buy in the town since he doesn't have any. He has no armor either. At the shop Cyrus realizes that he's been had by the king. The gold given to him is only enough to purchase a mere bamboo stick or a simple club! He then has the option of buying basic clothes for armor. The King couldn't even give him enough for leather armor! It's almost as the King wants him to fail. I mean he must be rich, he is a king anyways. Well I guess Cyrus will battle the hordes of monsters with the oh so not powerful club. The King provides his soldiers with spears and all they do is walk around the castle and Cyrus here who is going to try and bring peace to the land is given enough money to buy a club! I just can't get over it! The King could of at least given enough money for the copper sword! It's only 180 gold anyways. Well Cyrus will save the rest of the money for the Leather Armor (he only needs another ten gold after buying the club). Cyrus will now see what the citizens of this town have to say. One of them tells us about a town to the north west and another wishes him luck on his quest. Worthwhile chatter, but then this lady blurts out No, I am not Princess Gwaelin. This is pretty stupid because I personally think if the princess was in this town right next to the castle she would have been found already!! The way she answers though it's almost as if our hero asks her if she is. This whole exchange was simply mind boggling, but oh well. Stranger things have happened. Next a soldier asks Cyrus if he has proof that he is a descendant of Erdrick. This is something that is going to haunt poor Cyrus even more later.
It's bad enough the King cheated Cyrus of out gold and then there's this. This quest won't be easy.
In case you aren't familiar with this series Erdrick was the hero who first brought peace to this land. Well that's all that can be done here. Cyrus' next task is to go north to Garinham I suppose and see what he can learn there. First though I think Cyrus will get that ten gold he needs for his leather armor by battling some of Dragon Lord's minions outside town. In just a couple steps Cyrus is approached by a slime. All combat in this game is one on one and that's kind of cool and well fair. Cyrus defeats the slime rather easily and is rewarded with one experience point and a single piece of gold. Cyrus is really racking them up. He then defeats a Red Slime which yields one extra piece of gold. After a few more battles Cyrus' increases his level! Hurrah and he just about now has enough for the leather armor!
Battling, leveling up and equipping the leather armor. The red text also warns us that Cyrus has very low health.
One of the people somewhere told Cyrus that if he is tired he should rest at a inn, so that might be a good idea now. Unfortunately Cyrus finds out that room and board is six gold! Uh oh maybe he should of stayed at the inn first, but then again Cyrus is trying to bring peace to the land! Wouldn't you think that he would be allowed to stay for free at Brecconary at least? The place doesn't even have a bed either for crying out loud! Looks like Cyrus will have to try and accumulate the gold from fighting outside. This is going to be risky, but must be done and the leather armor should provide some good protection hopefully. Anyone who says this game isn't exciting is full of crap.
Cyrus just can't catch a break, when it seems like the game is over Cyrus appears before the King and is granted another chance.
Those red slimes still could do two damage with their attack and encountering them twice caused Cyrus' death, but the always benevolent King Lorik grants Cyrus another chance. Actually when Cyrus dies the King always gives him another chance. That doesn't mean Cyrus should just continue to die though because the King takes half of Cyrus' gold before he is revived. I seriously hate King Lorik. All he is good for is saving Cyrus' progress as was told by one of the soldiers in the castle. So Cyrus will do that, but otherwise he would rather have nothing to do with the King. He even scolds Cyrus, but it's his fault he couldn't give Cyrus 20 more lousy gold pieces to buy a actual sword. Yes a warrior's weapon, a club most certainly is not. Well Cyrus has full health and since he had only three gold the King only could take two gold! The joke is on him though he did have to take the bigger half since Cyrus had a odd amount of gold. I guess Cyrus shall head north now and on his way he sees a cave while engaged in a battle agasint a red slime (and yes Cyrus got his revenge!). 
What treasure and dangers could this hold? There is only one where to find out and that's by entering. Wow it's dark in here maybe that torch would come in handy, but heh since I beat this game several times and the cave has no monsters, I can find my way through here though with the crappy un-precise game pad it is a bit harder to navigate and confusing. Well after a little ways Cyrus stumbles upon a chest that contains a tablet. It was left by Erdrick and tells Cyrus how to reach the isle of the Dragons(where Charlock castle is). Erdrick left the items with three worthy keepers and Cyrus is to seek them out when a new evil arises. I guess that's now so add another task to the list. Erdrick could of maybe told us what the items were, but I guess he wanted it to be a surprise. Yes, even more excitement! Well Cyrus will continue you onwards north and then west to Garinham. This turned out to be a really small town, but some really useful information is found here. A old man says the Princess is rumored to be in a cave and a middle aged man tells Cyrus she was taken eastward.
Of course there had to be somebody who blurts out something worthless. Observe the picture on the right. I don't believe he's in the game and wasn't that the boy in the nintendo comics in Nintendo Power? This traveler obviously had nothing worthwhile to say, but I don't think it's as bad as that lady in Brecconary. Still his choice of words were pretty odd too. The weapon & armor shop has some nice equipment, but it's all mostly extremely expensive! A hand axe is 560 gold and half plate armor is 1000! That's a lot of slimes to kill. Maybe the King will assist me more in my quest haha that was a good one eh? Cyrus might as well head east and see what he can find and maybe he can pile up some gold along the way.
This proved to be pretty difficult as in the northern area Ghosts populate the area and can dish out four points of damage! Cyrus defeats one, but suffered some heavy wounds. I decided I would have him head towards a town to rest at a inn, but another ghost approached and three un-successful run attempts the game tells me thou art dead. Yep the King grants me another chance and helps himself to some of my hard earned gold! Though it's small pickings again. Oh how I hate him. Anyways the story often times comes to a complete stand still due to inadequate equipment and low levels so this game forces the player to hang out near the closest town and do the often dreaded act of "leveling up." I honestly don't mind doing that a whole lot for some reason, but I try not to do it if I don't have to. In this game though it is a must. So I think I'll spend some time levelling up and because I'm a nice guy (well I think I am) I will not subject you to the times I spend leveling up. So Cyrus gains two levels and now has learned some nifty spells as well. Cyrus can now chant the spells Heal and Hurt. The Heal spell restores a small amount of health while the Hurt spell inflicts a wide range of damage. It can do up to twelve damage. It's nice when it does twelve, but it sucks when it does like six. Cyrus still hasn't acquired a lot of gold though. I think I'll have Cyrus try to fight some Ghosts and gain another level before heading east. One cool thing about being able to cast spells is that a old man in the castle restores Cyrus' magic points for free! This means Cyrus can heal himself up and then get his magic restored! Doing this trick is a excellent way to save some money and lord knows he needs it. Too bad he's only in Tantegel.
Cyrus is now level five and he had a excellent Strength increase of five points! That most certainly helps him dish out more damage even with the pitiful club. It is now time to head east. He heads across a eastern bridge and these are like checkpoints, once he goes over one he can most certainly expect to meet tougher monsters. Cyrus had to combat a Magician and they know the spell Hurt as well. Magidrakees also appear now and know that spell too. I think this may also explain why I sort of have a fear of bridges hehe even the way the manual desribes them is alarming. Beware of bridges! When you cross a bridge you'll arrive at a area where stronger monsters live. After Cyrus crosses a second bridge he comes upon some new terrain. This terrain is designated as the poisonous swamp and each step in there reduces Cyrus' health by two points. Instead of seeing if there is something at the other end he'll just see if there is anything up north. A little ways north Cyrus discovers a town in the forest. It is the village of Kol and there is a lot of actually good information floating around here. Cyrus learns that the southern island is extremely dreadful, but the town of Rimuldar there sells magic keys! There is also a lot of talk about a Golem and that fairys know how to put it to sleep. That doesn't make much sense right now, but as the manual says Some of the things they tell you may not make much sense, 
but as you go forward in the game you'll understand the meaning of their words. I guess I'll have to just believe what the manual tells me. Of course someone here also asks for proof that I'm a descendant of Erdrick and apparently the Nester joke is still going around. I'm going to try and figure this one out hopefully as I progress through the game. Also for some reason that old man behind the cube desk thing surrounds himself with swamps and hillariously as you can see in the pic a soldier just walks right into it. I'm pretty sure he has no intention of talking to the old man either as he just says that the weapon Cyrus has is not enough to defeat the Dragonlord and he should come back when he has a better one. Obviously Cyrus will not defeat the Dragonlord with a club. There is also a bath that cures rheutism and well I don't think any kid playing the game would know what that is. I guess it doesn't matter because Cyrus can't take one anyways. The game comes to another stand still here as Cyrus needs a few more levels and definitely better equipment to survive in the south. I'm going to save up gold for the hand axe (yes finally a real weapon) and get either Chain Mail or Half Plate. This store also sells Full Plate, but it's 3000 gold! I don't think I'll be purchasing that soon. Fighting outside Kol is rather interesting. There are a variety of monsters lurking around here. Scorpions are common around here and they are rather tough, but even worse is the occasional Skeleton. If Cyrus encounters one of these he best run or he'll be destroyed (at his current status)!
Fighting around Kol was just so hard that Cyrus just broke down and bought a Copper sword. He just could not fight with the club anymore as it did damage in the range of 2-4 on just about anything. One thing I had done before at the beginning of this game is actually fought slimes until I had enough for the Copper sword, but that would have brought the game to a complete stand still before it even really started. I'm always thinking of the reader (awww) so I knew that wouldn't be that enjoyable. Well finally after many painstaking battles Cyrus has saved up nearly 1000 gold and can now purchase the half plate or so he thinks. The shopkeepers will gladly buy back Cyrus' old armor, but he must have the 1000 gold upfront otherwise there is no deal. This always seemed kind of strange to me and I wonder what their logic to this is. Regardless after another battle Cyrus buys the plate and it's a significant improvement in physical protection over the Leather Armor. After...
