It's remarkable how well this holds up given it's the first in an entire sub-series and they've barely changed it in the 30 years since this game. It's a solid little roguelike with a charming protag, catchy music and an approachable and easily understood progression and mechanics that would only get more refined in the myriad sequels.
Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8
This is the first in the long, varied series of Chunsoft’s Mysterious Dungeon (or if you’re a prude, Fushigi no Dungeon) series. All of the games in the series have one thing in common: lots and lots of dungeon crawling. I’ve never actually played Rogue, keep in mind, but it’s hard to imagine this being anything different. You run around in a series of randomly generated dungeons, consisting of lots of rooms connected by small corridors. Randomly generated dungeons at their finest, here! And you fight monsters, and collect all manner of randomly generated treasure, and do it lots and lots of times.
This game involves Taloon (or Torneko, if you played its Playstation sequel, Torneko: The Last Hope (or the nonexistent English-language Dragon Warrior IV for Playstation)) leaving his home of Endor in search of fantastic treasures and whatnot. He eventually reaches the Mysterious Dungeon, and decides to poke around for a bit. And there you have it.
This is the first in the long, varied series of Chunsoft’s Mysterious Dungeon (or if you’re a prude, Fushigi no Dungeon) series. All of the games in the series have one thing in common: lots and lots of dungeon crawling. I’ve never actually played Rogue, keep in mind, but it’s hard to imagine this being anything different. You run around in a series of randomly generated dungeons, consisting of lots of rooms connected by small corridors. Randomly generated dungeons at their finest, here! And you fight monsters, and collect all manner of randomly generated treasure, and do it lots and lots of times.
This game involves Taloon (or Torneko, if you played its Playstation sequel, Torneko: The Last Hope (or the nonexistent English-language Dragon Warrior IV for Playstation)) leaving his home of Endor in search of fantastic treasures and whatnot. He eventually reaches the Mysterious Dungeon, and decides to poke around for a bit. And there you have it.
Pretty simple all things considered, not very hard compared to other games in the series (let alone PC roguelikes of its era), but it makes it a pretty good game for a beginner to approach. It's surprisingly good, and even better when you've played Dragon Quest IV and know Torneko very well.
cute, concise, and enjoyable roguelike. not too difficult, doesn't take too long to beat, and its systems are simple but sweet.
Holds up surprisingly well for the very first entry in an entirely new series (and genre?) of games. The gameplay is smooth, I love the constant upgrading of your shop as you bring back more money, and the difficulty is very well balanced.
My only real gripe with it is that you have to backtrack out of the dungeon when you find the treasure. It's really not that fun to retread your steps when you've already become so powerful that most enemies on the floors you passed don't really have much of a chance to kill you.
My only real gripe with it is that you have to backtrack out of the dungeon when you find the treasure. It's really not that fun to retread your steps when you've already become so powerful that most enemies on the floors you passed don't really have much of a chance to kill you.
The very first mystery dungeon game! It's simple and almost plays like a tech demo or proof of concept for the mystery dungeon "genre" as a whole, but it's pretty difficult which helps the longevity. I had fun with it.
Getting through the first (non-tutorial) dungeon is an exercise in patience and a little bit of luck. Find a good weapon and shield, do a few runs to farm scrolls to level them up, and try not to die. +5 to +10 should be enough.
The hard mode dungeon, which unlocks after beating the main game, hides item names for herbs and scrolls, levels up enemies, and you can't bring items in from the outside... so there's no way in hell I'm going to even attempt that one.
Getting through the first (non-tutorial) dungeon is an exercise in patience and a little bit of luck. Find a good weapon and shield, do a few runs to farm scrolls to level them up, and try not to die. +5 to +10 should be enough.
The hard mode dungeon, which unlocks after beating the main game, hides item names for herbs and scrolls, levels up enemies, and you can't bring items in from the outside... so there's no way in hell I'm going to even attempt that one.