Dragon Warrior, Memories: First RPG I Played and Loved

I don’t remember how young I was when I first played this game. What I remember the most, was that there was a saved file (new idea back then), and the warrior on that file was way more powerful than my warrior. It confused me. How would the same character on the same game be so different from one saved file to the next?

I didn’t play Dragon Warrior (now known as Dragon Quest) for a long time after first experiencing almost instant death-by-bat. I had wandered out too far, because I didn’t know what I was doing. I was trying to get to the next town, and I didn’t know that I was supposed to buy equipment and level-up before exploring that far. I think I said something along the lines of, “This games sucks!” and then slid a different game into the NES.

A few years later, after I became a little more patient (just a little), I was able to understand how the game worked. My young brain was so happy when I learned that I could buy weapons to fight with, armor to help against enemy attacks, and herbs to heal myself with (so I wouldn’t be sweating the last several steps back into town after a hard fight).

It was awesome. Really, take a minute to appreciate how great something like that was at the time, and still is. It was different than the other other games, because it was an investment. It was the first game I played where I could walk around, with the game turned off, and still brag about my character being a higher level than my friend’s character (or contemplate catching up to my friend’s level if he was ahead of me).

It was a topic of conversation. We would say things like, “Hey, did you get to the town that’s full of monsters yet?”

“I saw a new town, but I died before I could go in. Is it by a desert?”

“Yea, that’s the one.”

“It has monsters in it? That’s nuts! I thought it was a normal town.”

“Nope, you better gain another three or four levels before you go in. I’m talking dragons, like they’re as common as every other monster. You can’t rest there, either!”

“Holy crap! I can’t wait to get home so I can get some more experience, stock up on herbs, maybe upgrade my weapon when I can afford it, and then explore the area some more.”

Those are the kind of games I like, and those are the ones I miss when I play more modern RPGs. I know that there are still games being made that are like the ones I used to play, but somehow the feelings I used to have continue to elude me. I think it has a lot to do with being an adult now. My friends and family are scattered across different states, and we’re all playing different games, IF we’re playing games at all. It seems like we all get urges to play different games at different times, and of course there are times when we’re too busy to play games at all. I’ve had to add game playing to my to-do list, just to make sure I get a break sometimes.

I think that maybe the only way to get that kind of gaming experience back, the one where I’m comparing character growth and progress within the game world with my friends, is if I decide to play an MMO. I’ve only experienced one MMO, and that was Final Fantasy XI. I played it for a while, enjoyed it for a while, and then started feeling like it was one fetch-quest after another, dragging me along on an endless cycle for the sake of a continued monthly subscription. I’ll save a more in-depth discussion of my time playing Final Fantasy XI for a future post, so make sure to follow my blog so I can get your comments.

Let me know what your favorite RPG experience was. Did you get the same thrill as I did when you first learned how an RPG was supposed to be played? Did you understand it right away, or were you turned off by the gameplay? Did you run back to Super Mario Bros like I did? Tell me about it.