Dragon Warrior (NES Game)

Dragon Warrior is a very simple RPG that spawned a host of sequels and imitators. I don't know what the first ever turn-based RPG was, but Dragon Warrior has to be among the first games to feature turn-based battle sequences.

At the beginning of the game after you enter your name, you'll find yourself standing before the king. The king will give you a little information about your quest and let you rummage through all the treasure chests in the room. You'll soon find yourself with a little money and practically nothing else. After a little time in some of the nearby shops, you will probably be carrying the cheapest weapon money can buy and possibly some very slightly protective clothing. Then you get to make your way into the world (pictured above) and go beat up some bad guys.

Your first enemies will usually be pretty easy to kill. You'll see a lot of slimes, drakees and ghosts. You'll need to kill as many of these baddies as you can so you can start levelling up. You'll also be picking up gold which will go toward your purchase of a decent weapon and some actual armor. The battles you'll find yourself in are randomly placed. Once you happen across a bad guy, you'll be greeted by the battle screen as pictured below:

As you can see, the battle screen is very simple. I usually can't stand to sit through games with endless turn-based battles. All your Final Fantasy games just seem so unnecessarily drawn out and boring. The reasons why I actually enjoy Dragon Warrior are 1) The battle screen is super simple and 2) the battles can move pretty quickly once you get the hang of things.

One of the big drawbacks of Dragon Warrior is that once you reach a certain level of experience and are exploring the parts of the world with more difficult monsters, it seems like you can't walk two feet (in scale, of course) in any direction without hitting a random battle. It makes it hard to remember where you were even going, especially if the battle takes several turns before it's over.

I feel compelled to point out, however, that this is not the sort of game I usually get sucked into, but I spent hours playing it recently when I intended to only play long enough to write this review. Somehow Dragon Warrior has compiled enough simple charm to make itself hard to put down. There's a tremendous sense of accomplishment when you level up or beat a monster who is slightly stronger than you. It sucks you in and you'll find yourself wondering how Dragon Warrior talked you into using the better part of your day to play it. It must be a good game because despite how I feel about turn-based RPG's, I still love Dragon Warrior.