One of the oldest and best-loved RPG video games around, Enix's classic Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest in Japan) still stands as a historical masterpiece.

In a fantasy world were everyone (including the narrator) speaks Olde English, you play as the descendant of Erdrick, a legendary hero who saved the world from the evil Dragonlord. The game begins with you standing before King Lorik of Tantegel, as he explains to you your quest — you are to forge out into the world, recover the treasures of Erdrick, and slay the Dragonlord, to regain the Orb of Light which will restore peace to the world once more. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as it sounds, and so you wander forth on your journey. Along your way you meet various people who give you clues as to where you're supposed to go next, and what you need to be looking for, as well as obtain clues as to the whereabouts of the King's missing daughter, Gwaelin. The game has few "subplots" as modern gamers view them, but it's still an interesting and entertaining ride — if you're patient or determined enough to endure endless levelling to survive it.

The graphics in Dragon Warrior are ancient-looking nowadays, but I argue they're good (and more importantly, functional) for their time. It's easy to determine what's what on the overworld map, from trees to mountains to swamps, and while towns might not be pretty, they're simply designed and navigated, with signs clearly indicating weapon/armor shops and inns. Towns/castles are shown as 2D blocks on the map, as are bridges, and while the game screams 2D to the modern player's eye, veterans should be able to see past this and enjoy the game all the same — at least on the graphical front. Battle takes place in a box that appears over the normal walking screen, in which you have a first-person view of the monster. There are a relatively small number of monster sprites, and a large number of monsters — meaning many palette-swaps for the more powerful versions of essentially the same beastie... which of course is an RPG staple to most of us. The hero himself (as well as everyone else) is squished into a one square unit, in which he moves his feet and arms even if he's standing still. The color-scheme is incredibly simple and limited, with no character being made up of more than three colors, but to the game's credit, the hero carries his weapon in his right hand and wears his shield on his left — and turning him him in either direction will grant you a view of the object on that side, a tiny bit of realism many later RPGs wouldn't take into account.

Dragon Warrior's music is simple and repetitive, but enjoyable all the same, having been done by famous Japanese composer Koichi Sugiyama. The overworld theme has long been a personal favorite of mine, though it wouldn't gain another measure until the game's eventual release with it's sequel on the Super Famicom in Japan. There are only a few songs (one for Tantagel castle, one for all the towns, one for the map, one for dungeons, etc...), and they do get incredibly repetitive... my solution is generally to put on the Dragon Quest Symphonic Soundtrack and listen to the songs as they're truly intended to be heard. Other sound effects don't exist outside of battle, barring the tune of the Fairy Flute which is obtained during your quest, and the sounds of opening doors and going up and down stairs. The battle sounds are quick, simple, and boring — though you will learn to either look forward to or dread the "slash-slash-WHAM!" noise of Critical Hits, depending on whether it's your turn or the monster's.

One of the major things about Dragon Warrior that might make a lot of modern gamers steer clear of it is the menu system; while the commands are mostly self-explanitory, it's complicated in comparison with the later games in the series, with separate commands for opening doors, going up or down stairs, searching, and taking treasure out of chests. Battle is thankfully not complicated, with only four options: Fight, Spell, Item, and Run. Even talking to people is a menu-driven process, by walking up to a person, bringing up the menu, and selecting "talk." All this aside, if you don't mind having to slog through a few slow menus to get anywhere, you'll do fine — even if you have to keep going up and down stairs because you forgot something. The game is otherwise simple to navigate; one button selects, the other cancels. As to the actual gameplay, it's fairly easy... until you try to go outside an area that's safe for you. Monsters generally stay within certain areas, so if you, say, stay within the area of Tantegel Castle, you'll be safe from everything but the occasional Slime, Red Slime, or maybe a Ghost. As you gain levels and build up money, it becomes essential to explore new areas, fighting ever more powerful monsters to gain more exp, and more money — but all of this is standard RPG fare. The part about this that makes Dragon Warrior difficult is that you never gain any companions. From the beginning to the end, you can only rely on yourself to keep you alive, making it absolutely imperative that you level up to gain new spells, as well as build up money for better weapons and armor. There's no such thing as coasting through this game — you'll build up or you'll die. That said, building isn't too hard, unless you get impatient. It's mostly just tedious — and God help if you if you want to count on Metal Slimes to help you build up later on.

One reason I prefer the NES version Dragon Warrior is the Olde English dialogue. It's only a personal preference, but in the more recent Game Boy Color version, most of the characters had different names and the dialogue was "modernized." Now, taking for granted that the names were actually restored more to what they had been in the Japanese version, I guess I just played the NES version too much when I was younger — I tend to think Gwaelin and Erdrick are more fantastical and poetic sounding that Lora and Loto...

For being nearly two decades old, this game still offers a lot to players — it's fun, challenging, and engaging. Overall, Dragon Warrior shows it's age... but for some of us, that's the charm of it.

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