Dragon Warrior / Dragon Quest
Nov 20, 2007 23:07:36 GMT -5
Post by Discoalucard on Nov 20, 2007 23:07:36 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/dragonquest/dragonquest.htm
Long time readers may recall I did not care much for Dragon Quest VIII when it came out. But I started getting into Blue Dragon a few months back, and then my 360 died...so I was in the mood for some RPGing, grabbed DQVIII off the shelf, and gave it another shot. This time, though, it actually clicked with me, and ended up giving the whole series a new chance.
I still scoff at the people that lambast Final Fantasy for its cutscenes and then praise Dragon Quest for its "gameplay" - a lot of it still involves lots of grinding and fetch questing. But there are some very notable qualities to the series, and it's a pretty refreshing antidote to the direction that a lot of JRPGs seem to be headed in.
I still don't think much of DQ1 and 2. 3 is good but I don't see why it's held as the best of the series outside of nostalgia - it's roughly on the level of the first Final Fantasy, and I think I'd still take that. 4 chapter-based story is pretty cool, and 5 and 6 actually have decent stories that rank up there with some of the better 16-bit RPGs. But 7, even after delving way more in depth than when it first came out, is still a load of trash. And 8...well, even though it finally modernized the graphics, interface, writing, and combat, lacks some of the cooler character building mechanics and story hooks of the earlier games. Man, if they ditched those stupid DS remakes, and just redid DQ6 like DQ8...that'd be ace.
So this is what I've been working on the past few months. Please remember that this is very much a work in progress! Last time I posted an article that was clearly half-finished, I got people lambasting me because of stuff I blatantly missed. Well, obviously, because it's not done yet. That being said, any feedback on inclusions or omissions, please post them.
Anyway, stuff that definitely needs fixing before this is finalized:
-The intro. There's none right now.
-More indepth stuff on the SFC remakes
-Need to add more stuff on DQV. It's the only one I haven't gotten very far in yet.
-I also haven't gotten the PS2 remake of DQV yet.
-Need to fix up some character portraits.
-Need a couple more pictures from DQVIII, mostly of Jessica's costumes and the puff puff parlor. One of my roommates moved out and took his PS2 with him, so I'm outta luck for that for the moment...
Additionally, there's also the question of spinoffs. Dragon Quest has a ton, and I think that, for the moment, I'm just going to create a quick summary page that briefly goes over them, and leave more indepth analysis for the future. This is mostly because I don't have any huge interest in them, and I'd rather not burn myself out. Also, there's some obscure-ish stuff I'd need to track down first (PSOne remake of the Monsters GBC games, Torneko's third Mysterious Dungeon game for the PS2, plus shell out the cash for Shounen Yangus and DQM Joker...seriously, why the hell is that game $40?) Anyway, there's nothing yet at the moment.
Long time readers may recall I did not care much for Dragon Quest VIII when it came out. But I started getting into Blue Dragon a few months back, and then my 360 died...so I was in the mood for some RPGing, grabbed DQVIII off the shelf, and gave it another shot. This time, though, it actually clicked with me, and ended up giving the whole series a new chance.
I still scoff at the people that lambast Final Fantasy for its cutscenes and then praise Dragon Quest for its "gameplay" - a lot of it still involves lots of grinding and fetch questing. But there are some very notable qualities to the series, and it's a pretty refreshing antidote to the direction that a lot of JRPGs seem to be headed in.
I still don't think much of DQ1 and 2. 3 is good but I don't see why it's held as the best of the series outside of nostalgia - it's roughly on the level of the first Final Fantasy, and I think I'd still take that. 4 chapter-based story is pretty cool, and 5 and 6 actually have decent stories that rank up there with some of the better 16-bit RPGs. But 7, even after delving way more in depth than when it first came out, is still a load of trash. And 8...well, even though it finally modernized the graphics, interface, writing, and combat, lacks some of the cooler character building mechanics and story hooks of the earlier games. Man, if they ditched those stupid DS remakes, and just redid DQ6 like DQ8...that'd be ace.
So this is what I've been working on the past few months. Please remember that this is very much a work in progress! Last time I posted an article that was clearly half-finished, I got people lambasting me because of stuff I blatantly missed. Well, obviously, because it's not done yet. That being said, any feedback on inclusions or omissions, please post them.
Anyway, stuff that definitely needs fixing before this is finalized:
-The intro. There's none right now.
-More indepth stuff on the SFC remakes
-Need to add more stuff on DQV. It's the only one I haven't gotten very far in yet.
-I also haven't gotten the PS2 remake of DQV yet.
-Need to fix up some character portraits.
-Need a couple more pictures from DQVIII, mostly of Jessica's costumes and the puff puff parlor. One of my roommates moved out and took his PS2 with him, so I'm outta luck for that for the moment...
Additionally, there's also the question of spinoffs. Dragon Quest has a ton, and I think that, for the moment, I'm just going to create a quick summary page that briefly goes over them, and leave more indepth analysis for the future. This is mostly because I don't have any huge interest in them, and I'd rather not burn myself out. Also, there's some obscure-ish stuff I'd need to track down first (PSOne remake of the Monsters GBC games, Torneko's third Mysterious Dungeon game for the PS2, plus shell out the cash for Shounen Yangus and DQM Joker...seriously, why the hell is that game $40?) Anyway, there's nothing yet at the moment.