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.