Dragon Warrior

Descendant of Erdrick, listen to my words. It is told that in the past ages Erdrick fought demons with a Ball of Light. Then came the Dragonlord who stole the precious globe and hid it in the darkness.

Now thou must help us recover the Ball of Light, and restore peace to our land. The Dragonlord must be defeated. Take now whatever thou may find in these Treasure Chests to aid thee in thy quest. Then speak with the guards for they have much knowledge that may aid thee.

May the light shine upon thee...

In the year 1986, one of the greatest RPG franchises was born. Dragon Quest was released for the Famicom on May 27th, of that year in Japan. The game was extremely popular, thus leading to a North American release in August 1989 on the Nintendo. The game and many of its future sequels were originally known as Dragon Warrior in the United States, due to another RPG company having a trademark of the Dragon Quest name in North America. Dragon Warrior was created by Enix, who later merged with another major video game company known as Square Soft. In result of the merger the company became known as Square Enix, and shortly thereafter acquired the rights to the Dragon Quest trademark in the United States.

Dragon Warrior begins in the throne room of King Lorik. He tells of your legendary ancestor Erdrick, who fought demons with a Ball of Light. However an arch enemy known as the Dragonlord has stolen the Ball of Light, and it is your task to bring it back. You also discover later on that the Dragonlord has kidnapped King Lorik's daughter, Princess Gwaelin. The King allows you to take the contents of three treasure chests, and also advises you speak to his guards, who may provide information to aid you in your quest. One of the chests contains gold, just enough to buy Clothes and a Club at the nearest town. When visiting towns it is best to speak to each person, and search all areas for possible hidden entrances. Most towns in the game contain shops which sell weapons and armor needed for battle, as well as other items like herbs and torches. Every town has at least one door that is locked and unable to open. You will be able to enter those doors later on after you acquire Magic Keys.

Besides speaking to villagers and searching for clues and hints in the towns, the other major aspect of the game is battling monsters, which you will do most of the time. When doing battle with monsters, a menu screen pops up asking how the player would like to proceed. There are 4 choices on the menu battle screen, Fight, Spell, Run, and Item. When defeating a monster, you earn Gold and Experience Points (EXP). The gold is used to buy weapon and armor upgrades, or other items. The EXP you obtain during battle is saved into a database, and continues to add on with each monster you defeat. Eventually your character gains levels of experience, and reaching higher levels makes you stronger, and also gives you the ability to learn several spells. When taking attacks from monsters, you lose Hit Points (HP). Your character only has a certain amount of HP, which does increase when your levels rise after gained EXP. When your HP is low it can be replenished by staying at Inns, which are located in most of the towns. The way to save your progress is by speaking to King Lorik in his castle, which is known as Tantegel. If you are defeated in battle, your character transports back to King Lorik's throne room. He gives you another chance to continue, but you lose half of your gold. That is why saving the game often is very important.

Tantegel Castle and its surrounding towns are located on a continent called Alefgard. There are several different towns you can visit, as well as caves which contain monsters. A torch is needed to enter a cave, and you often find treasure in the depths of the caverns. Later on after leveling up your character learns a spell called Radiant, which lights up caves and dungeons better than a standard torch. When first starting out, it is best to stay close to Tantegel Castle until your character is strong enough to venture out. Dragon Warrior truly is one of the finest Role Playing Games ever released on the Nintendo.