Dragon Quest 1, 2, & 3 coming to Switch

[Akibiyori]

Got my copy of this collection yesterday, happily receiving the all English packaging version. Unable to help myself, I played through the first Dragon Quest immediately. It is the same pleasant 4-5 hour experience that the previous remakes are (versus the original NES version’s 12-15 hour slog of endless grinding.) Progression and balance seem similar to the prior remakes. I still lost a first attempt at the Dragon Lord, getting bad luck with Healmore on the first form but really my HP wasn’t ideal and my agility was just off the mark for the second form. Finished at level 19 this time.

On to Dragon Quest II now. I acquired the ship after three hours. This version seems to have accelerated leveling more than previous versions - the Prince of Midenhall shouldn’t be at level 16 by the point I’m at currently, he should be more like level 12 or 13. That said, this game is more about effectively using spells like Snooze, Dazzle, and Fizzle anyway…and using Defend - my Prince of Cannock rarely goes down the way he is well reputed to do! That’s what I really like about this one among first generation JRPGs, it nails down meat and potatoes battle mechanics in a way none of the other series do at the time. I think the quicker leveling may be an attempt to try to mitigate the grinding one needs to do late in the game - I shall see how much this affected it as I progress towards the end. Oh, a massive difference in this version? Zoom/Return works like it does in the later games, meaning you can choose any previous town you visited instead of where you last saved (this might actually be another reason leveling was accelerated - you may spend less time wandering the sea, aimlessly or not, so you’re fighting less often during the ocean-bound part of the game.)

As for the technical side of things, the scrolling and frame rate on Dragon Quest I and II are indeed pretty bad. It looks like 20 fps with frame stuttering. I’m really not sure why these are like this as a quick look at Dragon Quest III seemed to display at a straightforward 30 fps. Character and effect sprites also clash with the settings - they look like different resolutions. Why? I don’t know. Both of these issues are less apparent in portable mode than they are when docked but, as I understand it, weren’t the sprites modified from the normal looking mobile versions to be this way? Obviously, they couldn’t have had the size in mind if that’s the case. It’s not a huge deal to me though - I’m kinda used to ugly (or at the very least, not so pretty) Dragon Quest games at this point.

The music is nice in these versions, although in my quick look at Dragon Quest III I noticed they replaced the proper prologue music from the previous remakes with the Ramia Shrine music. Why?

The localizations in these versions of I & II are really fun, leaning heavily into the faux-King James English of the original NES versions to good effect, just like the parts of these games in the Tickington portion of Dragon Quest XI. Well done and quite enjoyable.

Despite the visual issues, the frame rates on I & II being the more significant of them I think, I still recommend this collection. They may not be the best versions but the games play great overall - it still feels like proper classic Dragon Quest.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Akibiyori

Got my copy of this collection yesterday, happily receiving the all English packaging version. Unable to help myself, I played through the first Dragon Quest immediately. It is the same pleasant 4-5 hour experience that the previous remakes are (versus the original NES version’s 12-15 hour slog of endless grinding.) Progression and balance seem similar to the prior remakes. I still lost a first attempt at the Dragon Lord, getting bad luck with Healmore on the first form but really my HP wasn’t ideal and my agility was just off the mark for the second form. Finished at level 19 this time.

On to Dragon Quest II now. I acquired the ship after three hours. This version seems to have accelerated leveling more than previous versions - the Prince of Midenhall shouldn’t be at level 16 by the point I’m at currently, he should be more like level 12 or 13. That said, this game is more about effectively using spells like Snooze, Dazzle, and Fizzle anyway…and using Defend - my Prince of Cannock rarely goes down the way he is well reputed to do! That’s what I really like about this one among first generation JRPGs, it nails down meat and potatoes battle mechanics in a way none of the other series do at the time. I think the quicker leveling may be an attempt to try to mitigate the grinding one needs to do late in the game - I shall see how much this affected it as I progress towards the end. Oh, a massive difference in this version? Zoom/Return works like it does in the later games, meaning you can choose any previous town you visited instead of where you last saved (this might actually be another reason leveling was accelerated - you may spend less time wandering the sea, aimlessly or not, so you’re fighting less often during the ocean-bound part of the game.)

As for the technical side of things, the scrolling and frame rate on Dragon Quest I and II are indeed pretty bad. It looks like 20 fps with frame stuttering. I’m really not sure why these are like this as a quick look at Dragon Quest III seemed to display at a straightforward 30 fps. Character and effect sprites also clash with the settings - they look like different resolutions. Why? I don’t know. Both of these issues are less apparent in portable mode than they are when docked but, as I understand it, weren’t the sprites modified from the normal looking mobile versions to be this way? Obviously, they couldn’t have had the size in mind if that’s the case. It’s not a huge deal to me though - I’m kinda used to ugly (or at the very least, not so pretty) Dragon Quest games at this point.

The music is nice in these versions, although in my quick look at Dragon Quest III I noticed they replaced the proper prologue music from the previous remakes with the Ramia Shrine music. Why?

The localizations in these versions of I & II are really fun, leaning heavily into the faux-King James English of the original NES versions to good effect, just like the parts of these games in the Tickington portion of Dragon Quest XI. Well done and quite enjoyable.

Despite the visual issues, the frame rates on I & II being the more significant of them I think, I still recommend this collection. They may not be the best versions but the games play great overall - it still feels like proper classic Dragon Quest.

Like you, I also started working my way through this collection recently. The first game in particular has a special place for me. The original Dragon Warrior was my very first RPG, having received it way back in the NES days for free with a subscription to Nintendo Power. It was fun replaying that game for the first time in 30+ years.

For whatever reason, I only owned/played Dragon Warrior 1 and 4 in the NES days, so 2-3 are entirely new to me. I started playing 2 the other day, and it is definitely an improvement over 1, with deeper gameplay and several members in your party.

[Akibiyori]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Like you, I also started working my way through this collection recently. The first game in particular has a special place for me. The original Dragon Warrior was my very first RPG, having received it way back in the NES days for free with a subscription to Nintendo Power. It was fun replaying that game for the first time in 30+ years.

For whatever reason, I only owned/played Dragon Warrior 1 and 4 in the NES days, so 2-3 are entirely new to me. I started playing 2 the other day, and it is definitely an improvement over 1, with deeper gameplay and several members in your party.

Dragon Warrior was one of the major NES titles I never encountered at the time along with the original Final Fantasy, which is for the best as I wouldn’t have understood them then; I was just beginning to read when my Dad sold the NES (because we got an SNES.) Dragon Quest VIII was my introduction to the series and in those 17 years I think it has become my favorite series.

DQII is interesting because of how it blows up the proportions of the first game - more places to go, more things to get, and it’s all open to you once you get the ship. Your experience could be fairer or harder depending on what you find early in your explorations (especially true in the NES version.) I was lucky enough to get both of the keys fairly quickly and reap the rewards they unlocked - in particular, the Princess’ best weapon. Still, for a first time, there is whole heck of a lot of back and forth and searching through areas with a fine toothed comb.

Oh yeah, this version of the game does indeed eliminate the need to grind at the very end, though I think they may have been a tad too lenient. It’s now easier to be overpowered for the end of the game (this for someone who knew exactly where they were going and what they were doing, eliminating a lot of fighting that would occur if it was a first time through the game.)

Dragon Quest III is the point where the series fully established its identity and its episodic structure. It’s impressively sized for its time, really makes you feel like you’re going on a classic epic adventure. One of the best soundtracks in the series. Just misses my top 5 but only barely!

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Akibiyori

Dragon Warrior was one of the major NES titles I never encountered at the time along with the original Final Fantasy, which is for the best as I wouldn’t have understood them then; I was just beginning to read when my Dad sold the NES (because we got an SNES.) Dragon Quest VIII was my introduction to the series and in those 17 years I think it has become my favorite series.

DQII is interesting because of how it blows up the proportions of the first game - more places to go, more things to get, and it’s all open to you once you get the ship. Your experience could be fairer or harder depending on what you find early in your explorations (especially true in the NES version.) I was lucky enough to get both of the keys fairly quickly and reap the rewards they unlocked - in particular, the Princess’ best weapon. Still, for a first time, there is whole heck of a lot of back and forth and searching through areas with a fine toothed comb.

Oh yeah, this version of the game does indeed eliminate the need to grind at the very end, though I think they may have been a tad too lenient. It’s now easier to be overpowered for the end of the game (this for someone who knew exactly where they were going and what they were doing, eliminating a lot of fighting that would occur if it was a first time through the game.)

Dragon Quest III is the point where the series fully established its identity and its episodic structure. It’s impressively sized for its time, really makes you feel like you’re going on a classic epic adventure. One of the best soundtracks in the series. Just misses my top 5 but only barely!

Out of curiosity, where are you from? I'm American, so none of the NES Dragon Warrior games were ever really considered major releases. None of my friends at the time even knew what the game was. I believe the original Dragon Warrior moved a few hundred thousand copies in America, mainly driven by being given away with Nintendo Power. Dragon Warrior 2-4 came out in the U.S., but sold horribly - tens of thousands of copies or less. DW 2-4 are so rare you have high quality sealed copies of the American versions going for tens of thousands of dollars these days. They sold poorly no DW/DQ would see America again until VII. Japanese game companies did a horrible job at marketing JRPG's to American and European gamers up until at least the SNES days with FF6 (3 in America), and more famously the PS1 days with games like FF7.

[Akibiyori]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Out of curiosity, where are you from? I'm American, so none of the NES Dragon Warrior games were ever really considered major releases. None of my friends at the time even knew what the game was.

America, I just mean “major” in the overall historical sense about the NES and what people think about its most important or recognized titles today in retrospect and how everyone remembers playing certain games that weren’t exactly super popular but through rentals or people you know or some random thing your parents brought home for you you’d have a kind of canon of minor classics (or infamous disasters) that people recall next to the more obvious big names. I remember playing a lot of the oddities and hidden gems that people talk about today, yet I never happened upon either Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy back then (I became an RPG fan after a chance rental of Final Fantasy IV, or “II” as it was then, and especially after Final Fantasy VI.)

[LexInHD]

Original 80's owner of Dragon Warrior on the NES here. The games and franchise were definitely NOT a notable or recognized brand until the Playstation came out, which led to JRPGs suddenly becoming a big part of American video game sales. That being said, I didn't really get into them until I bought the Android releases in the 2010s and I think it's a shame that the older titles aren't available on PC.

[Akibiyori]

Originally Posted by LexInHD

Original 80's owner of Dragon Warrior on the NES here. The games and franchise were definitely NOT a notable or recognized brand until the Playstation came out, which led to JRPGs suddenly becoming a big part of American video game sales. That being said, I didn't really get into them until I bought the Android releases in the 2010s and I think it's a shame that the older titles aren't available on PC.

Yes, I think everyone knows the series struggled in America. Still, considering the series’ enormous popularity in Japan and its massive overarching influence on an entire variant of the RPG genre, it’s pretty safe to say Dragon Quest is a “major” NES game.

[emailking]

Does Part 3 have monster medals? Does it have

[Show spoiler]Grand Dragon

?

[Akibiyori]

Originally Posted by emailking

Does Part 3 have monster medals? Does it have

[Show spoiler]Grand Dragon

?

I’ve only just completed the Pyramid but I can say there is no Pachisi and there are no Monster Medals. Others say the only bonus dungeon is the Super Famicom version’s, there’s no second bonus dungeon from the GBC version.

As far as enemy strength and character progression, this seems in line with the previous versions - leveling hasn’t been boosted the way it has been in DQII, enemies will very likely use status attacks if they have access to them (so early areas like the fairy cave have the terrible Mushroom/Vampire groupings that are very likely to kill members of your party and piss you off!) It’s pretty legit I think but I can see how it would be disappointing. I played the GBC version a few months ago but didn’t bother with post-game - I never liked post-game content added to old games, it feels artificial and out of place (and the monster medal stuff is the kind of pointless, tedious collectathons that shouldn’t be encouraged.)

So it’s basically the SFC version without the board game (admittedly a pretty fun addition) and animated enemy sprites in battle.

[Akibiyori]

Damn, Baramos is incredibly difficult in this version of the game. It’s pretty hilarious that they eased up DQII so much and yet here in DQIII you’ve practically got a superboss level fight (but not really!) for what wasn’t nearly so bad in the original NES and the GBC version. It seems what it’s going to come down to is getting lucky with Sleep or I’m going to need Healus. This is absurd!

EDIT - Goodness! Finally got him. This battle is all about using Snooze. You’ve got to get Baramos sleeping, get all of your buffs and debuffs set, then go all out - attackers attack and you need two support characters to try to keep Baramos asleep, which doesn’t always work. You have little chance to heal, you really can’t let up the assault, he’s gotta go down. Fizzle might help a little but he’s got the breath attack which is worse than Kaboom. It’s really about preventing Baramos from assaulting you as long as you can.

[emailking]

I used to just overlevel for fights like that, but then they started punishing you for that with the class/skills system in later games.

[ChadFL]

After finished DQ1, I finished DQ2 a few days ago. This was my first time ever playing the 2nd game. I found it enjoyable overall, albeit very easy, even without over-leveling. I've heard they really tones down the difficulty on this version of DQ2.

Never played DQ3 either, but taking a break from the DQ 1-3 trilogy before getting to that one. Playing Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for now. I beat that one back on the PS3, and thought I'd replay it. It's definitely one of my favorite RPG's of all time.

[dyne]

I LOVED the story in NNK but preferred the combat in NNK2. And those soundtracks. *chefs kiss*

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by dyne

I LOVED the story in NNK but preferred the combat in NNK2. And those soundtracks. *chefs kiss*

The look of the game in particular, always blew me away. It did back on the PS3 and once again does on the Switch. That Studio Ghibli look and feel are absolutely there. I wish they would cooperate on more video games. Their style is so uniquely cool.

I'll probably give Ni No Kuni II a play after finishing the 1st game again. Never got around to playing II before, but I did grab the game for cheap recently.

[Akibiyori]

Originally Posted by emailking

I used to just overlevel for fights like that, but then they started punishing you for that with the class/skills system in later games.

I assume the mentality when buffing Baramos was to make him seem legitimately final and he definitely does feel like that. He’s probably on par with Zoma but the difference is by the time you get to Zoma you can have at least two people capable of using multiheal (possibly three depending on if and how you use the Sage class) so he’s not nearly as overpowering.

Originally Posted by ChadFL

I've heard they really tones down the difficulty on this version of DQ2.

All of the remakes definitely tone it down but this one especially does because the leveling curve eases up so much. In the NES version, by the time you reach the Cave to Rendarak/Rhone, you might be level 18-20 with Midenhall and if you encounter the group of Green Dragons you’re probably going to die (very likely getting lost on a first go through in that version.) The area afterward leading up to Hargon’s castle is also much rougher because your key magic attacks do less damage (and I believe they miss more often on top of that.) Resource management is more difficult because you may not have any Wizard Rings/Prayer Rings (As I recall you can only get them from the Tombola game by chance but there may be one single ring that you can find out in the wild.) The final area has to be done in one go - if you save and turn off the game, all of the sub-bosses will be back the next time. Malroth can use Heallall at random in the original version, so if you’re very unlucky he’ll keep doing it and you’ll quickly run out of magic (in later versions they gave him more HP instead of Healall.)

[emailking]

Originally Posted by Akibiyori

I assume the mentality when buffing Baramos was to make him seem legitimately final and he definitely does feel like that. He’s probably on par with Zoma but the difference is by the time you get to Zoma you can have at least two people capable of using multiheal (possibly three depending on if and how you use the Sage class) so he’s not nearly as overpowering.

A real challenge is beating Zoma without weakening him. I managed it in the GBC version. I needed levels in the 70s though lol.

[emailking]

Originally Posted by Akibiyori

All of the remakes definitely tone it down but this one especially does because the leveling curve eases up so much. In the NES version, by the time you reach the Cave to Rendarak/Rhone, you might be level 18-20 with Midenhall and if you encounter the group of Green Dragons you’re probably going to die (very likely getting lost on a first go through in that version.) The area afterward leading up to Hargon’s castle is also much rougher because your key magic attacks do less damage (and I believe they miss more often on top of that.) Resource management is more difficult because you may not have any Wizard Rings/Prayer Rings (As I recall you can only get them from the Tombola game by chance but there may be one single ring that you can find out in the wild.) The final area has to be done in one go - if you save and turn off the game, all of the sub-bosses will be back the next time. Malroth can use Heallall at random in the original version, so if you’re very unlucky he’ll keep doing it and you’ll quickly run out of magic (in later versions they gave him more HP instead of Healall.)

As a kid I finally just gave up on Malroth. Figured I was doing something wrong. In college I had the internet and learned you just have to get lucky. So I tried until I finally managed it! So much easier in the GBC version lol.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by emailking

As a kid I finally just gave up on Malroth. Figured I was doing something wrong. In college I had the internet and learned you just have to get lucky. So I tried until I finally managed it! So much easier in the GBC version lol.

The learning curve playing Dragon Warrior games as a kid was definitely steep. I recall playing through DW 1 and 4 practically without a guide. At the time, there was no internet, guides were hard to come by and you were typically limited to Nintendo Power or some other game magazine tips. Wasn't even a case where I could ask my friends as JRPG's were so niche in America, nobody I knew was even aware Dragon Warrior existed.

[dyne]

Very true. I had one friend that played RPG's except he only had a Master System. One of only two people I knew had one. Eventually I would get one and it always felt like we were in a very exclusive group

[Akibiyori]

Originally Posted by emailking

A real challenge is beating Zoma without weakening him. I managed it in the GBC version. I needed levels in the 70s though lol.

I need to try that sometime. At the very least it would be a good way to make more use of the class change and personality systems to boost my party up. I should try this more often with a variety of games; I tend to be fairly conservative in terms of builds, even if I’m not overdoing anything.