Okay so this guy does a video series called You Only Live Once. He plays random games and he plays until he dies once, then the run is over. Here's his run of Dragon Warrior, part 1 (of 4 so far)
I actually like this guy's videos but I figured Syd would hate him because he's totally ignorant of one of his favorite RPGS
slapolakinkaido
Title: Illegitimate Son of God
Joined: Jul 14 2009
Posts: 1565
Posted:
Jan 20 2012 06:41 am
I never liked this game. I thought it was lame as shit. I did go all the way through it, but I never bothered with any of the sequels.
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24886
Posted:
Jan 20 2012 07:22 am
This game isn't bad. It's tough if you don't have the patience for it. This guy is terrible at though. It is only sheer luck that he hasn't died yet.
You're missing out by not playing any of the sequels. They get a lot better. In particular, they get rid of using stairs and opening treasure chests as menu-based commands and get rid of single use keys in favor of different classes of keys. Dragon Warrior III is probably the most fun classic style RPG (i.e. it uses D&D inspired turn-based combat) on the NES.
The problem with Dragon Warrior 1 was that XP requirements were exponentially increased with each level yet the enemies didn't exponentially increase the amount of XP they offered. What starts off at a good pace eventually becomes a grind at the end.
username
Title: owner of a lonely heart
Joined: Jul 06 2007
Location: phoenix, az usa
Posts: 16135
Posted:
Jan 20 2012 12:22 pm
DW1 is only good to those who played it when they were young, i.e. sentimental nostalgic value. the sequels did refine the gameplay and graphics to make it playable towards a mainstream audience.
its kind of like watching a directors first feature film vs their second or third one. the first one is rough around the edges while the sequels have better post production values (see: Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels, to Snatch)
Klimbatize wrote:
I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load
Andrew Man
Title: Is a Funklord
Joined: Jan 30 2007
Location: Annandale, VA
Posts: 5603
Posted:
Jan 20 2012 11:43 pm
Man, I fucking love the original Dragon Warrior. Very nostalgic for the music...
Man, I fucking love the original Dragon Warrior. Very nostalgic for the music...
This.
It is one of my all time favorites.
lavalarva
2011 SNES Champ
Joined: Dec 04 2006
Posts: 1929
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 01:22 am
Dragon Warrior is a grindfest. Though it's surprisingly kind of fun even then.
Dragon Warrior II sucks. If you really want to play it anyway, at least go to GameFAQs and load the World Map, the game mostly assumes you have it.
As for Dragon Warrior III, if you're to use an emulator, play the Super Famicom remake, although I prefer the music of the NES version.
Preng
Title: All right, that's cool!
Joined: Jan 11 2010
Location: Accounting Dept.
Posts: 1690
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 02:44 am
I didn't have an NES, but I did acquire the first three Dragon Warrior titles during their Game Boy Color remakes. In retrospect, I enjoyed all of them, although the I was indeed grindy, and III is definitely my favorite.
lavalarva, was the Super Famicom remake ever completely translated into english?
lavalarva
2011 SNES Champ
Joined: Dec 04 2006
Posts: 1929
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 03:31 am
It was never released in English, but there's a patch for the japanese game.
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24886
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 07:39 am
GPFontaine wrote:
The problem with Dragon Warrior 1 was that XP requirements were exponentially increased with each level yet the enemies didn't exponentially increase the amount of XP they offered. What starts off at a good pace eventually becomes a grind at the end.
Getting the harp makes leveling easier. The most brutal grinding is at the beginning, when you buy armor and the pole, and then need the Copper Sword.
I would always go southwest along the coast towards the mountains at the beginning. You can fight slightly stronger enemies down there and level up faster at the start of the game. I always start down there and grind for a bit, saving up gold to buy better equipment and getting a couple of spells before I really venture into the game proper.
lavalarva
2011 SNES Champ
Joined: Dec 04 2006
Posts: 1929
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 02:33 pm
Dragon Warrior, I don't think has much replay value. What made the game fun the first time for me was exploring, which made leveling up far more bearable.
I was always the type to go around everywhere underleveled and reach the next town by running away a lot, and then grind there to get a ton of experience
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24886
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 03:19 pm
@om*d wrote:
I would always go southwest along the coast towards the mountains at the beginning. You can fight slightly stronger enemies down there and level up faster at the start of the game. I always start down there and grind for a bit, saving up gold to buy better equipment and getting a couple of spells before I really venture into the game proper.
Southwest? Towards Hauksness? That seems like it would end badly. How earlier were you doing this? Before grinding Ghosts and Magicians?
Dragon Warrior, I don't think has much replay value. What made the game fun the first time for me was exploring, which made leveling up far more bearable.
I was always the type to go around everywhere underleveled and reach the next town by running away a lot, and then grind there to get a ton of experience
i agree
Klimbatize wrote:
I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load
SoldierHawk
Moderator
Title: Warrior-Poet
Joined: Jan 15 2009
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 6113
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 04:24 pm
Syd Lexia wrote:
@om*d wrote:
I would always go southwest along the coast towards the mountains at the beginning. You can fight slightly stronger enemies down there and level up faster at the start of the game. I always start down there and grind for a bit, saving up gold to buy better equipment and getting a couple of spells before I really venture into the game proper.
Southwest? Towards Hauksness? That seems like it would end badly. How earlier were you doing this? Before grinding Ghosts and Magicians?
Well you could say the same thing about attempting to fight near endgame level enemies on the Peninsula of Power in Final Fantasy. But that sure works. And beats the CRAP out of farming frigging Ogres in Pravoka and Elfland.
William Shakespeare wrote:
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
@om*d
Title: Dorakyura
Joined: Jul 10 2010
Location: Castlevania
Posts: 4226
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 05:42 pm
Syd Lexia wrote:
@om*d wrote:
I would always go southwest along the coast towards the mountains at the beginning. You can fight slightly stronger enemies down there and level up faster at the start of the game. I always start down there and grind for a bit, saving up gold to buy better equipment and getting a couple of spells before I really venture into the game proper.
Southwest? Towards Hauksness? That seems like it would end badly. How earlier were you doing this? Before grinding Ghosts and Magicians?
I mean the area that is highlighted on this map:
You end up fighting an occasional magician/ghost but its mostly scorpions and drakees, and an occasional magidrakee as well, if I am remembering correctly. It has been a long time since I have played through the game.
slapolakinkaido
Title: Illegitimate Son of God
Joined: Jul 14 2009
Posts: 1565
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 06:22 pm
SoldierHawk wrote:
Syd Lexia wrote:
@om*d wrote:
I would always go southwest along the coast towards the mountains at the beginning. You can fight slightly stronger enemies down there and level up faster at the start of the game. I always start down there and grind for a bit, saving up gold to buy better equipment and getting a couple of spells before I really venture into the game proper.
Southwest? Towards Hauksness? That seems like it would end badly. How earlier were you doing this? Before grinding Ghosts and Magicians?
Well you could say the same thing about attempting to fight near endgame level enemies on the Peninsula of Power in Final Fantasy. But that sure works. And beats the CRAP out of farming frigging Ogres in Pravoka and Elfland.
I wonder if the Peninsula of power was a glitch, or if the game creators actually meant for it to be there?
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24886
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 06:41 pm
@om*d wrote:
I mean the area that is highlighted on this map:
Ah, the immediate southwest. That makes more sense. Fighting scorpions is way better than fighting magicians. Magicians are fucking assholes.
I would always go southwest along the coast towards the mountains at the beginning. You can fight slightly stronger enemies down there and level up faster at the start of the game. I always start down there and grind for a bit, saving up gold to buy better equipment and getting a couple of spells before I really venture into the game proper.
Southwest? Towards Hauksness? That seems like it would end badly. How earlier were you doing this? Before grinding Ghosts and Magicians?
Well you could say the same thing about attempting to fight near endgame level enemies on the Peninsula of Power in Final Fantasy. But that sure works. And beats the CRAP out of farming frigging Ogres in Pravoka and Elfland.
I wonder if the Peninsula of power was a glitch, or if the game creators actually meant for it to be there?
I'm not certain that it exists on purpose. Since the game is divided into 8 32x32 squares and the northern part of the Peninsula lies just inside it, it's more likely that they just made a mistake and decided to leave it in because of how much people liked it.
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24886
Posted:
Jan 21 2012 09:56 pm
It was accidental. Final Fantasy 1 on the NES is FILLED with programming errors.
I would always go southwest along the coast towards the mountains at the beginning. You can fight slightly stronger enemies down there and level up faster at the start of the game. I always start down there and grind for a bit, saving up gold to buy better equipment and getting a couple of spells before I really venture into the game proper.
Southwest? Towards Hauksness? That seems like it would end badly. How earlier were you doing this? Before grinding Ghosts and Magicians?
Well you could say the same thing about attempting to fight near endgame level enemies on the Peninsula of Power in Final Fantasy. But that sure works. And beats the CRAP out of farming frigging Ogres in Pravoka and Elfland.
I wonder if the Peninsula of power was a glitch, or if the game creators actually meant for it to be there?
I'm not certain that it exists on purpose. Since the game is divided into 8 32x32 squares and the northern part of the Peninsula lies just inside it, it's more likely that they just made a mistake and decided to leave it in because of how much people liked it.
I've been playing the PS1 version lately, mostly because buying potions one at a time is extremely annoying. However I'm glad they left that peninsula glitch in. I just don't like how they changed the name of virtually every monster in the game.
