Dragon Quest is one of gaming’s oldest franchises,
spanning a history of over 30 years with 11
main entries and a variety of spin-offs.
The series is a massive hit and cultural phenomenon
in Japan, but has never really taken off in
the West.
Many people, even those who enjoy Japanese
Role Playing Games, or JRPGs, have never played
a Dragon Quest game nor know much about the
series.
I was one of those.
I knew it existed due to my old issues of
Nintendo Power magazine, but never picked
one up until Dragon Quest 11, the most recent
mainline title, was announced a couple of
years ago.
I have since played 3 games in the mainline
series, 8, 9, and 11, and absolutely adore
them.
While I am still very much a newcomer, I wanted
to share what I have learned about the series
for those of you who might otherwise overlook
this series in hopes you may someday experience
one of gaming’s greatest unknown giants
and fall in love with it as I have.
The history of Dragon Quest begins in the
early 1980s with series creator Yuji Horii,
who, while on a trip to the United States,
was inspired by some western rpg games he
saw, including tabletop RPGs like Dungeons
and Dragons, and computer games like Wizardry.
He and his small team of creators and developers
combined elements of these games together
and created what would essentially become
the grandfather to the console JRPG – Dragon
Quest.
The original Dragon Quest was released on
the Famicon (also known as the Nintendo Entertainment
System in the West) in 1986, and was published
by the developer Enix.
It was also released in the west under the
name Dragon Warrior in 1989 due to the title
Dragon Quest being copywrited by a tabletop
game in the US.
The original Dragon Quest was a critical hit,
and was the inspiration behind many other
games, including most notably, the Final Fantasy
series.
One thing that makes Dragon Quest unique is
that the character and enemy art for the series
was developed by Akira Toriyama, the creator
of Dragon Ball Z.
Now I admit that part of the reason I didn’t
get into the series earlier is because I am
personally not a big fan of his art style,
and boy did young me judge a game by its box
cover – but the art is actually what helped
this series become as big as it did.
The music from the series – composed by
Koichi Sugiyama – also was very popular
and inspired many other well-known game composers,
such as Final Fantasy’s Nobuo Uematsu, to
create many game scores we have cherished
for decades.
Each entry in the main Dragon Quest series
is its own contained story, so you don’t
have to play them in any particular order.
Instead, the games are linked together thematically.
For instance, battles are always turn-based,
you will recognize many enemies throughout
each entry – most famously the slimes – villagers
will repeat designs throughout (I promise
you it’s charming and not lazy), you save
in churches, gain a ship to sail across the
world about a third of the way into the game,
save the world from big evil bad person, and
oh my gosh, this series has the.
Best.
Puns.
So many puns.
The enemies.
The locations.
They’re all puns.
And they’re clever.
Like in Dragon Quest 9 a builder makes a replica
of his hometown, Zere, completely out of stone
from a mountaintop since he wished he could
have returned home before he died.
And the name of this stone copy of Zere?
Zere Rocks.
Xerox.
I love this series.
Dragon Quest games are also known for their
characters and story.
Characters are often quirky yet deep.
This series does not take itself too seriously
and manages to avoid the high doses of melodrama
I am used to from this genre.
But I am always amazed at how these bright,
colorful characters can make me smile one
moment and fight back tears the next.
Some games, such as the newest release, Dragon
Quest 11, and fan favorite Dragon Quest 5,
are more story-heavy and tell a bigger over-arching
narrative throughout.
However, this series is more known for its
almost tv-serial type nature.
For example, while Dragon Quest 9 does have
a bigger story that ties everything together
at the end, that isn’t really the focus
of the story.
Rather, each town you visit is almost a short
story in and of itself.
You grow to know a specific cast of characters,
know their hopes and troubles, and often get
to help them reach a conclusion before finding
the next town.
I love this balance, as some games who focus
so intensely on telling a straightforward
narrative feel awkward when you are also encouraged
to go explore and complete sidequests that
distract you from that narrative.
And the way Dragon Quest tells these stories
does not feel weak – and also allows them
to play around with different emotions and
tones in different areas that might not work
otherwise.
Now the Dragon Quest games are also associated
with other typical JRPG tropes, partly because
this series established them, such as the
games being long and you definitely getting
your money’s worth out of them, you needing
to level grind (may I suggest metal slimes
to make this process a lot easier on yourself),
and until the last few entries of the series,
battles were random encounters on the overworld
map.
This last point is partly why I have only
played the more recent games that didn’t
have random encounters in them, but now I
just want more Dragon Quest in my life, so
I don’t care about that anymore.
Oh – also – if random encounters bothers
you too, Dragon Quest 8 on the 3DS doesn’t
have random encounter battles so you can always
play it on that system instead of the PS2.
Please don’t let random encounters keep
you from playing this darling game.
I promise it’s worth it.
Also, while many other JRPGs have changed
over the years in their attempt to modernize
where they barely resemble a classic JRPG
anymore, Dragon Quest managed to modernize
while still fitting classically into its roots.
These games don’t feel sluggish, but they
also celebrate the traditional JRPG style.
They aren’t ashamed of who they are, and
there are people who are seriously grateful
for that.
Due to the series massive popularity in Japan,
Dragon Quest also offers a variety of spin-off
games.
You have the Dragon Quest Heroes series which
is a spin-off of Dynasty Warrior.
Dragon Quest Builders is like a mash up of
Dragon Quest with Minecraft.
Even the slimes have their own game!
The Dragon Quest games helped shape gaming
as it is today, so it’s sad that it doesn’t
get the recognition it deserves outside of
Japan.
But I see that beginning to change.
These games are more than just primitive look
back at how game design used to be.
No.
These games are incredibly enjoyable in their
own right.
They have perfected what it means to be a
classic turn-based JRPG.
And if you are at all interested in getting
into Dragon Quest, now is a great time.
The Hero aka: so many main characters from
each game, are now in Super Smash Bros.
Ultimate.
Some of the spin-offs I mentioned are easily
attainable and affordable.
Dragon Quest 7 and 8 are on the 3DS store.
The first 3 games are available on Switch.
And the one I would most recommend for newcomers
– Dragon Quest 11, is available on PS4,
Nintendo Switch, and soon to also be on Xbox
One and Steam in December.
The Definitive Edition for Dragon Quest 11
even lets you play the game in 3D or 2D mode
if you feel extra nostalgic.
I’ll specifically link the Switch version
below since that is the only console to have
the definitive edition out already.
But Dragon Quest 11 is such a charming game.
There are other youtubers who have done dedicated
reviews for it that have brought it so much
more justice than a general series overview
video like this one could, especially the
guy who did the Kotaku review.
I hope as the years go on, Dragon Quest will
continue to grow in popularity.
And with that more copies would be made in
the west and easier to obtain.
It would be great to find some of the older
games in this series for affordable prices
so more people could discover and play them.
Like seriously – I remember Nintendo Power
talking about the remakes of multiple games
in the series on the Nintendo DS leading up
to Dragon Quest 9’s release and I’m kicking
myself now for never picking one up.
Like what do you mean a used copy of Dragon
Quest 5 is $100??
I’m dying guys!
But anyways, I have loved binging this series
since quarantine began and really wanted to
rant about it.
If it interests you, please pick one up!
Let me know what you think.
And as always, thank you for watching.
Liking and subscribing always helps the channel
out, and I also have a Patreon I will link
below as well if you would like to directly
support the creation of these videos.
This has been the Girl with the Controller,
and I hope you have a lovely day!
