What's So Great About Dragon Quest? - Birth of the JRPG

[Music] dragon quest was created by yuji hori and developed by chunsoft a japanese development company now not only known for the long-standing and ever successful dragon quest series but also the pokemon mystery dungeon spin-off and the danganronpa visual novel games as well inspired by western rpgs such as wizardry and ultima for personal computers hori wanted to create an rpg that could be enjoyed by a wider audience than the complex pc games of the era as the nes was gaining popularity as a console with a wide audience of both hardcore gamers and casual players who just wanted a home arcade experience hori knew that the gameplay of those western rpgs would need to be simplified especially to accommodate the limited inputs of the nes controller at the time of dragon quest's release in 1986 the rpg genre was pretty much exclusive to pc primarily being developed by americans and focusing on dungeons and dragon style characters the biggest inspiration for hori's concept came primarily from the party-based gameplay of the wizardry video game series however for the sake of simplicity and in order to be easily understood and enjoyed by all types of players the development team changed the format from creating classes for original characters to instead assuming the roles and stories of various party members this shift in style formed the basis of the japanese rpg format that we know today the first dragon quest game and the subject of this video rolled all of those wizardry roles into one character for simplicity's sake but later found a way to conveniently divide responsibilities among a few characters to avoid over-complicating the party-based format historically speaking this was the first big rpg on the nintendo entertainment system some of the only other long-form adventure games on the market were the first two legend of zelda games otherwise nintendo fans were more likely to have a library full of arcade puzzle games or action platformers dragon warrior as it was localized in north america didn't perform incredibly well in western markets but dragon quest was still a huge success in japan inspiring a revolutionary growth of interest in fantasy rpgs that would lead to the creation of massive franchises like final fantasy and pokemon later down the line let's discover how hory and chun soft introduced role playing to the masses as we uncover what's so great about dragon quest [Music] as a tremendously early rpg in the history of home gaming dragon quest's first responsibility was clearly conveying all of its major aspects to players who had rarely if ever seen a game of this style this game was so early in the idea of story in a video game that even the manual has to alert the player to press a button to continue when the text stops scrolling the manual is really straightforward with the rest of its information as well compared to the only other full-blown rpg on the nes at the time ultima 3 the pictures and brief descriptions in dragon quest's manual get all of the information across very clearly without too much studying ultima is also much less user-friendly and while it introduced a party-based rpg system to the nes library before dragon quest 2 it was a bit too much for the market at the time already being a very involved and hardcore role-playing game on home computers trying to convey all of that on a small nintendo interface caused a lot of clutter and severely impacted gameplay while the manual can be virtually mandatory in order to fully understand the game as you're getting started it is really impressive how simple and straightforward the general concepts of a fantasy rpg have been made by comparison one of dragon quest's inspirations ultima 4 quest of the avatar for pc strongly suggests the player read a book on the history of the game's world consisting of over 30 pages of very necessary information it's well written and not so obscure that you couldn't figure out the majority of the game's features without a little trial and error but still creates a huge threshold of knowledge which players have to have enough interest in if they want to enjoy the game to its fullest dragon quest doesn't have as intense of a reading prerequisite and could easily be picked up by someone who likes fantasy movies or understands the general concepts of the genre one notable difference of this early rpg versus the ones you may have found on personal computers at the time is the fact that despite the open world format dragon quest is still a game which you have to almost complete entirely in order to beat it at least that certainly makes it more feasible for you leveling up your character to learn all of the spells finding the special armor and gaining access to any other tools that may help you defeat the dragonlord actually feels more like a legend of zelda game than might magic or wizardry for instance while this slowed the experience down due to the combat requirements and set expectations for the game's leveling system it also helped bridge the gap between adventure and rpg on the nes with the only other popular game to really attempt that being zelda 2 with its leveling system and magic abilities this was one of the few leisurely games to be enjoyed by players who didn't mind burning the candle slowly the experience was still visually and musically impressive for the era and would be one of the few nes games in the console's entire library that relied a bit more on thought and strategy than many of the reflex based puzzle and action games that were easier to make on the limited hardware of the late 80s despite its slower than average pace this game definitely doesn't require as big of an investment of both time and focus as would be expected by final fantasy or the later nes ports of very early computer rpgs thinking back on two of the other earliest jrpgs final fantasy and fantasy star it's notable that dragon quest is the only one to remain faithful to its medieval fantasy design rather than the combination of fantasy and science fiction that we see in other early rpgs from both eastern and western developers the flavor text and use of medieval jargon actually does well in keeping the atmosphere of the game alive without cramming it down the player's throat one of the most distinct aspects of dragon quest's design and a feature still present and honestly more noticeable in modern adaptations would be the game's artwork created by akira toriyama shortly after he had begun the dragon ball manga to put the impressive graphics into perspective while we may have received this game in north america a few years later dragon quest was actually released under a year after the first super mario brothers game western rpg fans could also find themselves a copy of fantasy star 1 or 2 for the sega genesis around the same general time as dragon warrior's arrival to north america and while the enemy sprites were certainly higher quality in those games the monster and overall character design of dragon quest was just much more pleasant fantasy star's monsters are less memorable and just a bit grosser for some reason too this difference allowed dragon warrior to stand out a bit more and reel players in with cute characters in the same way that pokemon would roughly a decade later not only is the game simply enjoyable to look at with smooth transitions bright colors and clear presentations of the world's items and characters but the graphics for each monster and battle are some of the best for this time this remains true even in comparison to dragon quest's rpg contemporaries on pc which were still limited to basic vector art or the severe color limitations of computers like the apple ii with each monster design players can instantly tell what it is they're fighting as well as being able to enjoy a style befitting the game's world beyond that you can quickly recognize new threats by the alternate color palettes on monsters you've already seen even without a special title for each level of monster you could easily be able to tell that there's something new going on with this encounter as you grow stronger weaker enemies like slimes and drakis are basically free experience points as you dispatch them in a single move as you progress even beyond that you'll become so strong that intimidated enemies will flee before a single turn of combat keeping the player from wasting their own time on a fight that isn't worth their energy the fact that weaker enemies run away from you really speeds up travel during later sections of the game when a spare experience point here and there is no longer as critical to your character's growth while player exploration is basically limited by a level cap due to difficult monsters beyond each bridge you cross there are also huge jumps down in difficulty once you've basically just done enough grinding to be able to afford the next level of weapon or armor all of a sudden enemies that were virtually impossible can be disposed of by the handful during these moments the game can be much more fun as you finally get around to some exploration and progress without the constant threat of overpowered enemies for example finally learning the stop spell ability and being able to stop warlocks in their tracks makes them enjoyably simple to defeat as you finally thwart this bully that's given you trouble up until this point there really isn't enough diversity in the combat from the start to keep things interesting for the whole game so the developers spread out all of the game's features so that there would be something to look forward to final fantasy honestly did it better supporting multiple levels of power for various spells both defensive and offensive but to be fair dragon quest was just trying to spread this genre to a wider yet more casual audience so limiting the player to simple powers is very understandable the slog of wandering around looking for adequate fights really just shows how much better level progression has gotten in open world games modern rpgs and even re-releases of these early dragon quest titles keep things interesting yet challenging as these games have become more attuned to the player's experience trial and error is necessary for the growth of any art form and chunsoff presented some of those first few ideas as a springboard for the rest of the rpg market to improve upon quest's experience was presented around the mindset of going on an adventure however the player sees fit while there is a princess to rescue from the clutches of a dragon it actually has very little to do with the plot can be skipped entirely and only marks roughly a halfway point once completed after saving the princess you'll be able to use the item she gives you to check the remaining experience points until your next level whenever you want she'll also guide you back to the castle whenever you're lost aside from the benefits this provided a player in terms of convenience this was also a formative concept for video games in terms of multiple major objectives or quests that stood apart from each other providing the basis for branching routes or optional objectives present in future rpgs the impact that dragon quest has had on the gaming market is undeniable especially for other games developed in japan or even for nintendo's consoles specifically for instance so much of the game's combat system found its way into pokemon roughly a decade later the four option interface status effects lasting two to five turns critical hits physical and magical damage even the general layouts of stores and locations to heal your characters the music even felt so immediately iconic that i had to double check it wasn't the same composer as pokemon as someone who easily gets overwhelmed by open worlds and the paradox of choice the developers at chunsoft accomplished exactly what they set out to do making this game very approachable for casual players all of the elements of grand role-playing games are there but condensed into a format where you only have to focus on a handful of objectives with a handful of options on how to approach it and a handful of ways to make the adventure your own while the options for individual choices are limited the combinations and free pacing of the player's journey make for an enjoyable and personalized adventure that is what's so great about dragon quest thank you all for joining us on this episode of what's so great about gaming as we witness the birth of the jrpg in dragon quest want to see some bonus content maybe support the creation of these videos if so check out the what's so great discord twitch or patreon links for all of those are in the description if you want to hear what's great about another game check out the link to our last episode gold9007 on screen or in the description and please take the time to subscribe to be involved in the discussions here thanks again for watching now go play a great game we'll see you next time

Channel: What'sSoGreatAboutGaming

Views: 42,970

Keywords: singleplayer, review, analysis, walkthrough, gameplay, commentary, video essay, secrets, 100 percent, 100%, what's so great about, jacksonryde, jackson, ryde, wsgag, What's so Great About Gaming, gaming, dykgaming, dykg, did you know, lets play, trailer, should i buy, before you buy, nintendo, switch, nes, famicom, original, dragon quest, dragon warrior, rpg, jrpg, strategy, open world, yuji horii, akira toriyama, dragon ball, goku, remake, remaster, classic, erdrick trilogy, hd-2d, 1986, flames of fate

Id: AiaqnmwNf0g

Length: 12min 33sec (753 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 11 2022