Dragon Quest in retrospect: The grandfather of the console RPG genre

Dragon Quest is one of the greatest RPG franchises of all time, and without it, role-playing games as we know them today may not exist. Though Yuji Horii was inspired by some of the Western RPGs of the day, the way he and his team at Enix designed Dragon Quest would ultimately inspire the overarching design of JRPGs, even in the modern day.

Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and even Pokemon have Enix and the Dragon Quest franchise to thank for how they approach aspects of their gameplay and design. Whether in large or small ways, turn-based JRPGs, and even turn-based Western RPGs, owe a debt to Dragon Quest.

We’re starting a new series of retrospective reviews here at Sportskeeda. We’re going to take a look back at some classic games and examine how they hold up to this day and what their overall impact has been on video games.

As a lover of JRPGs, I’m going to look back at not only my first RPG but a series that has immutably changed RPGs forever — Dragon Quest.

---

Dragon Quest is where my love of RPGs began

In the late '80s, RPGs were not especially popular in the United States on consoles. Many RPGs were on the PCs of the era, and some of them were ported to the NES, but they were simply not making a serious impact.

My introduction to role-playing games began with Nintendo Power. The first issue came with a copy of Dragon Warrior, which the Japanese would know as Dragon Quest.

Dragon Warrior was this new, fascinating thing that was so different from the other NES games I had been playing. Batman, Kid Icarus, and Super Mario Bros. 3 were mostly straightforward experiences.

A friend of mine up the street didn’t think it was worth anything, so he gave me his copy of Dragon Warrior. I was already in love with reading, so I quickly fell for Dragon Warrior. It was obtuse, difficult, and often very challenging. It was unforgiving and slow-going.

By exploring the world, talking to townsfolk, and grinding through fight after fight, you slowly grow in power. You rescue a princess, acquire powerful artifacts, and ultimately reach the Dragon Lord. The bane of humanity, he gives you a chance to join him instead of doing battle.

Admittedly, I did this the first time I got there, just to see what happened. It was my first experience with a game that had “multiple endings.” In fact, Dragon Quest Builders is based on that bad ending. Life was never the same after that. My primary genre of choice became RPGs. They’re longer, more story-driven games, and it’s very much like an interactive book. There’s a lot to love.

While the story of this particular game was quite simple — save the princess and defeat the Dragon Lord — it was more complex in its gameplay. You had to find secret, hidden pieces of equipment, figure out a way past the Golem, search through dungeons, and battle powerful foes.

It is a long game in a casual playthrough, despite being a relatively simple, short game. It only has a couple of monsters that can be counted as “bosses” and not a great deal of direction in terms of what you should be doing. That’s what makes it so great, though.

---

Turn-based battle systems have Dragon Quest to thank

Dragon Quest has used a turn-based battle system since its inception, with many of them being first-person. Third-person camera views have also been utilized in more modern releases, but in the beginning, that was not the case.

It was a very simple, easy-to-understand system. You couldn’t see the hero, only the enemy. In this game, it was always 1-on-1, the protagonist versus, say, a Slime, a Droll, or a Dragon.

You can see your stats and a series of potential actions you can take. Normally, you strike first, but occasionally, enemies can get a drop on you. You can even cast spells, eventually! It’s worth noting that enemies can often cast the exact same spells you could.

The protagonist and his foe will take turns clashing. You can attack with your weapon, cast a spell or use an item, while the enemy can attack, cast a spell (if they have a spell pool), or in some cases, use a special attack like Dragon Breath. Success means you gain XP and GP; failure means you go back to the starting castle.

Virtually every major retro RPG has this game to thank for the style of combat they employ. Of course, there are exceptions, like the Mana franchise. The Mother series, Final Fantasy, SaGa, and many other series ultimately employed some form of turn-based combat engine.

Though Final Fantasy would evolve beyond creating the ATB system, even modern RPGs, created in the last several years, still consider the turn-based system.

There were, of course, turn-based games before Dragon Quest. However, the particular design of the battle system was emulated and utilized in hundreds, if not thousands, of RPGs after this one came out.

---

While enjoyable, it’s not a perfect game; far from it

While this RPG is an excellent game, the NES title we knew as Dragon Warrior is far from a perfect experience. At this point in time, RPGs didn’t give you a way to restore MP (Mana Points) in a conventional sense. You have to go to an Inn or trek back to the Soothsayer in the starting castle, who restores a set amount of MP each time you talk to them.

This, combined with a very limited amount of inventory space, means you have to go slow and steady. You can’t spam your spells because you have a very sparse mana pool. In addition, every time you die, you only go back to the starting castle. It's not the last place you rested your head.

One point that is both good and bad is the stat growth in the game. As you level up, you gain stat point increases. However, you can influence this.

The stat growth you see in-game can be influenced depending on your character’s name. There are many ways to check what a name will give you now, but at the time, there was no ready access to the internet.

You could handicap yourself and not even be aware of it. Depending on what you name your protagonist, you can give yourself a low-strength growth, and if you want to focus on attacking with weapons, you’re going to have a bad time.

Without knowledge of the game, you could wander the world forever and never find the three Erdrick items you need. You really have to know how to talk to everyone.

These days, there are tons of FAQs to guide you. However, at the time, not having a strategy guide could frustrate many players.

---

What was Dragon Quest’s cultural impact?

Whether in the 1980s or 2010s, Dragon Quest has made a serious cultural impact, not just in Japan but worldwide. Many games attribute Dragon Warrior as a game that led them to play RPGs regularly.

At the time, there was a reference to Dragon Quest’s Erdrick in Final Fantasy 1. You could find a tombstone in Elfheim that read, “Here lies Erdrick, 837-866, R.I.P.”. However, in the American version, it was changed to Link.

Ichiban Kasuga’s (the protagonist of Yakuza: Like a Dragon) favorite game is Dragon Quest. The entire game uses a similar turn-based battle system, as well as musical references to the series.

Thanks to the popularity of this franchise, Dragon Quest games are not sold during the weekdays in Japan. This was long thought to just be a rumor, but DQXI’s producer Yuu Miyake confirmed it to be true.

“In short, yes that is true. When Dragon Quest III came out, tons and tons of kids skipped school to go buy the game. The police actually said, ‘You guys need to do something about this. This is not okay.’ [This was] back in the era of Enix, and so Dragon Quest started being sold only on Saturdays. Actually, it’s the only [series] sold on Saturday.”

The government did not actually make a demand, but police officers complained about the problem of people skipping school and work when DQ3 came out. It’s such a popular franchise that many would eagerly skip out on work or school just to play. That is the level of popularity and power this franchise possesses.

---

In conclusion

While the first game, which we knew as Dragon Warrior, was incredibly flawed, it was a challenging and enjoyable experience.

The game is easily accessible now. You don’t have to own an NES to play it. It has been re-released a number of times, most recently for a low price on the Nintendo Switch.

While it might be obtuse and frustrating at times, it’s a game cherished by many and is considered the gateway to the wonderful world of RPGs. Without this game, many of our favorite roleplaying games would be starkly different, if they even existed at all.