I was still SUPER in the mood for more Dragon Quest after beating DQB yesterday, so I started looking up ways to play the original legit. I didn't really wanna wait a month for a copy of the Super Famicom remake to come from Japan, so I turned the the Virtual Console. I nearly bought it on the Japanese Wii VC, but it turns out the Japanese 3DS eShop has 3DS remakes of the first three DQ games, so I bought it there instead for just 6 bucks :)
It's Dragon Quest, but FAR easier than the original. This took me about 6 hours to beat, and even though I got lucky on a few fights, especially the Dragon Lord, I was still able to beat the Dragon Lord at level 19 on my first try. This is a fairly streamlined port that really narrows down the level curve (like every level after 17 or so is just 4k EXP, which is like 12 fights against the monsters in the Dragon Lord's chamber). It also gets rid of the menu system like talking, stairs, open, and replaces it with a mechanical and graphical style far more reminiscent of the DS remakes of DQ's 4-6 where A is just your universal interact button. They also dumb down some things, like the Fairy's Flute, Loto's Armor, and even the hidden staircase behind the Dragon Lord's throne being marked with shiny, unmissable stars, but for what it's worth, the location of Loto's talisman is still hidden (although you still get a big interaction '!' above your head when you walk over it).
Verdict: Recommended. It's Dragon Quest like it always was, but way easier and palatable. There is some grinding still, but this is far more beatable in an afternoon/evening than an entire weekend+ affair like the original was. It's pretty to look at and the music is great, so it's a great version to play if you can either read Japanese or just know the game well enough to ignore all the dialogue x3
The plan from here is to move onto DQ2, which I also bought from the eShop for around 9 bucks, so I can partake in this month's TR in a way that won't be an insane time vampire like the original NES port is x3
It's Dragon Quest, but FAR easier than the original. This took me about 6 hours to beat, and even though I got lucky on a few fights, especially the Dragon Lord, I was still able to beat the Dragon Lord at level 19 on my first try. This is a fairly streamlined port that really narrows down the level curve (like every level after 17 or so is just 4k EXP, which is like 12 fights against the monsters in the Dragon Lord's chamber). It also gets rid of the menu system like talking, stairs, open, and replaces it with a mechanical and graphical style far more reminiscent of the DS remakes of DQ's 4-6 where A is just your universal interact button. They also dumb down some things, like the Fairy's Flute, Loto's Armor, and even the hidden staircase behind the Dragon Lord's throne being marked with shiny, unmissable stars, but for what it's worth, the location of Loto's talisman is still hidden (although you still get a big interaction '!' above your head when you walk over it).
Verdict: Recommended. It's Dragon Quest like it always was, but way easier and palatable. There is some grinding still, but this is far more beatable in an afternoon/evening than an entire weekend+ affair like the original was. It's pretty to look at and the music is great, so it's a great version to play if you can either read Japanese or just know the game well enough to ignore all the dialogue x3
The plan from here is to move onto DQ2, which I also bought from the eShop for around 9 bucks, so I can partake in this month's TR in a way that won't be an insane time vampire like the original NES port is x3