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Dragon Quest

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This article is about the series. For the first game in the series, see Dragon Quest (video game).
File:Dragon Quest VIII Japanese Box Art Fairuse.jpg
The box art of the recent release, Dragon Quest VIII.

Dragon Quest (Japanese: ドラゴンクエスト), formerly known as Dragon Warrior in North America, is a series of role playing games created by Enix, now Square Enix. Installments of the series have appeared on the MSX, Famicom (NES), Super Famicom (Super Nintendo), Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 video game consoles, as well as on several models of mobile phone. As of 2005, the Dragon Quest series has sold over 35 million units worldwide.

Dragon Quest's North American name change was necessitated due to a trademark conflict with the role-playing game DragonQuest, which was published by veteran wargame publisher SPI in the 1980s until the company's bankruptcy in 1982 and purchase by TSR, which then published it as an alternate line to Dungeons & Dragons until 1987.[1] In 2003, Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark in the US, signalling the end of the Dragon Warrior name.

Overview

File:Aira dq7.JPG
Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama designs the characters and monsters in the Dragon Quest series.

During the mid-1980s, Dragon Quest was created by Yuji Horii. The series monster and character designs were by famed Dragon Ball manga artist, Akira Toriyama. Most of the music for the Dragon Quest series has been composed by Koichi Sugiyama.[2]

The series is extremely popular in Japan. Following the release of Dragon Quest III in 1988, the Japanese Diet requested that Enix only release new installments of the Dragon Quest series on Sundays or holidays, to prevent children from skipping school to wait in line for the latest Dragon Quest title.

The official mascot of the Dragon Quest series is a blue slime. The Dragon Quest's blue slime is shaped like an onion or Hershey's Kiss. The blue slime has appeared in every Dragon Quest game and it is usually the first monster you encounter. It can also combine with other slimes to become the Kingslime, a large blue slime with a crown. In addition it's popularity has netted it a spinoff, Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest.

The games themselves feature a number of religious overtones: bishops are often seen wandering around the overworld of Dragon Warrior Monsters and have the ability to heal. In Dragon Warrior VII, the Demon Lord, otherwise known as the Devil (known as Orgodemir in the game), is the final boss, and there is also a sidequest to fight God himself.

Dragon Quest is such a cultural phenomenon in Japan that there are live-action ballets, musical concerts, and audio CDs based on the Dragon Quest universe.[3] The London Philharmonic Orchestra has performed for several Dragon Quest music albums.[4]

File:Blue Slime.png
The slime monster appears in Dragon Quest games and merchandise.

Outside Japan

Dragon Quest is not nearly as successful outside Japan, having been eclipsed by Final Fantasy and other RPG series. Due to Enix America's closure, Dragon Quest V and Dragon Quest VI were never officially released in North America. In Europe, none of the games except Dragon Warrior Monsters have seen release. The lack of official localizations for Dragon Quest games has inspired many fan translation projects. Completed fan translation projects include: the Super Famicom remake of Dragon Quest I & II, Dragon Quest V, and Dragon Quest VI

The first four Dragon Warrior titles suffered from substantial censorship in their North American localizations, largely in keeping with Nintendo of America's content guidelines, which placed severe restrictions on religious iconography and mature content. Both graphics and text were edited, replacing coffins with ghosts, crucifixes with five-point stars, and "Priest" with "Healer," to name but a few. However, the graphics, sound and menus of the first two games were given an upgrade for their American release.

How to play

Basic gameplay

The Dragon Quest system is similar to the basis of the Ultima and Wizardry video game systems. The game player's party walks into a town and buys weapons/armors/items in order to defeat monsters easily. When the player's party is out of the town, the party is vulnerable to monster attacks. When the player encounters monsters, s/he has several options from which to choose. The player can attack and defeat the monster(s) with weapons, magic, or items. The player can also attempt to run away from a fight, however the option is not open during a boss battle. After a player wins a battle by defeating all the monsters, the player's party members gain experience points (EXP) in order to gain a new level. When a certain character gains a new level, the stats of the character are upgraded.

When the player's party dies in battle, they will lose half of their gold and the leader of the party warps back to the nearest church. The leader then needs to revive his/her party members. In order to revive certain characters, you have to pay the priest. For insurance if you want to keep most of your gold, the recent Dragon Quest games have a bank to store your money.

To save a game's progress, most of the time the player has to go to a town's church and talk to a priest/nun. Also, sometimes the king can grant the player's save request in earlier Dragon Quest games.

Basic items

File:NES Dragon Warrior 3 battle.png
A typical Dragon Quest battle screen as seen from Dragon Warrior III. (NES)

These items appeared in most of the Dragon Quest games:

  • Medical Herb — Herb that heals wounds and restores HP (Hit Point(s))
  • Antidote Herb — Cures poison-related ailments
  • Wing of the Wyvern (Warp Wing or Chimera Wing) — Throw it into the air to return to a town or castle that you previously have been to.
  • Holy Water/Fairy Water — Sprinkle on yourself to temporarily block off weaker monsters.
  • Moon Herb — Herb that cures paralysis
  • STRseed — Upgrades Strength
  • DEFseed — Upgrades Guard stat
  • Life Acorn — Upgrades Max HP
  • Mystic Nut — Upgrades Max MP (Magic Point(s)
  • Leaf of the World Tree (WorldLeaf) — Revive one dead character.

Games list

Flagship titles

Spin off series

Fan translation games

  • Dragon Quest VI (Super Famicom) — fan-translated into English by NoPrgress in 2001
  • Dragon Quest V (Super Famicom) - fan-translated into English by DeJap Translations in 2001
  • Dragon Quest I & II (Super Famicom) - fan-translated into English and Spanish by RPGOne in 2002
  • Dragon Quest III (Super Famicom) - fan-translated into English by RPGOne and into Spanish by RPGOne in 2005

Manga and anime

See also

References

  1. ^ "The GameSpy Hall of Fame: Dragon Warrior". Gamespy. May 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  2. ^ "The Designers Of Dragon Quest". IGN. May 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  3. ^ "The Dragon Quest Symphony". IGN. May 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  4. ^ "Dragon Quest III Symphonic Suite Review". RPGFan. May 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)


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