"In olden days of yore, the realm of Alefgard was cloaked in darkness. According to legend, a brave warrior, Edrick, brought light back to the land by defeating an evil being. He used the Ball of Light bequeathed to him by a friend to drive off the enemies of Alefgard. He then gave the Ball of Light to King Lorik, who unified Alefgard. The land was at peace for many generations. In the time of King Lorik XVI, the Ball of Light were stolen from Tantegel Castle by the evil Dragonlord, and once again the Kingdom of Alefgard was plunged into darkness. Many travelers fell prey to the merciless fangs of monsters, and the beautiful land was transformed into poisonous swamps that hindered travelers. It was also rumored that several Towns and Villages were destroyed; wiped off the face of the land by ghosts and dragons.
Many brave warriors tried to recover the Ball of Light, but none of them returned from Charlock, the Dragonlord's dark castle. The people longed for peace, but did not give up hope. The great Seer Mahetta predicted that "One day, a descendent of the valiant Edrick shall come forth to defeat the Dragonlord." Who is this brave soul? There is only one possible answer. You. Your quest is to find and defeat the Dragonlord. The time has come. This is the start of your adventure."
Enix's greatest contribution to the NES was the Dragon Warrior series. Since Final Fantasy II and III were not imported to the US, Dragon Warrior 1 through 4 constitue the best known RPG series for the Nintendo. In the first Dragon Warrior, you must guide the descendant of Edrick through his quest to save Princess Gwaelin and defeat the Dragonlord. On the way you will explore a few towns and dungeons, acquire the legendary sword and armor of Edrick, and fight an almost endless supply of monsters while advancing in levels with glacial slowness. While I found the later Dragon Warrior games to be well done, the first was tragically boring. About 99% of the game consists of wandering in a small circle and killing monsters. Nearly every element of Dragon Warrior is in dire need of more variety.
While exploring the game, one sees things from a top down perspective. The hero walks around towns, interacts with shopkeeps, and explores the wilderness in a world that is colorful but barren of interesting things to see and do. During the combat, a window showing the approaching monster pops up and turn based combat begins. The monsters themselves get all of the detailed art in the game, and range from pink ghosts complete with top hats to fire breathing dragons. Most of the graphics are not truly ugly, but there is very little diversity to be found.
Dragon Warrior's sound and music are tolerable. The combat noises are fairly crisp, and the music, while not particularly good, does not instantly hurt the ears. In the later Dragon Warrior games this is perhaps the most improved aspect of play. Dragon Warrior IV in particular should be lauded for it's musical score.
Gameplay, as stated previously, consists of monster bashing for hours, then advancing the plot a tiny amount. There was really no good reason to have drawn out the fighting to the degree seen in this game. Offhand I would say that I spent a total of 7-8 hours doing nothing but wandering in a circle in the last area in order to gain the experience needed to fight the Dragonlord. This game has a few interesting plot elements to be encountered, but they do nothing to alleviate the tedium of making the hero more powerful. Aside from these flaws, the gameplay is typical of an early Console RPG. The hero gets some spells and magic items items to aid in his travels, and the plot progresses predictably enough.
Summary
| Graphics : 75% | Colorful but very sparse art. |
| Audio : 65% | Listen for a while, then put the stereo on. |
| Gameplay : 29% | Endless monster killing with standard CRPG plot and gameplay elements. |
| Personal Curve : 70% | It is a classic. A very, very tedious classic. |
Overall: 60% : I don't relish giving Dragon Warrior a poor review. It is a very early game and the sequels show tremendous improvement. Still, none of that made it any less dull for me to play. If Edrick's descendant advanced in levels at around four times the rate he does, I would have left with a far kinder impression. Play this game only if you have a very strong desire to see the whole Dragon Warrior series through from the beginning. Otherwise start with Dragon Warrior 2. Dragon Warrior is perhaps best remembered for the games that follow in it's footsteps, as from this game sprung a well made series, and despite it's flaws it still remains something of a classic.