It’s hard to believe that these titles are only 10 years old, considering how far role-playing games have come over the years. In fact, Dragon Warrior actually defined the beloved RPG genre for video game consoles. It began the whole system of turn-based battles against monsters, land roaming, and building character experience through fighting. And, now, all of this is back for younger players to enjoy for the first time, and for older players to relish once again.
It must be stated that these games, while they have been improved, are essentially the same as they were earlier, with these exceptions: names of people and places have been altered–which will disappoint only those who have played the originals–and the graphics are more detailed than before.
The differences between the two titles play almost like a history lesson in RPGs. In the first game, players travel as a single character who’s set to rescue a princess and slay a dragon. In the second game, players manage a party of four heroes, each of whom has his or her own unique talents in magic or weaponry (or both). The game pits them against multiple enemies at a time, as opposed to a single foe. Also, the addition of a save-anytime feature eliminates needless retread.
Overall, Dragon Warrior I & II is a great value, and perfect for anyone who’s interested in taking a trip, whether it be cross-country or down memory lane. –Robb Guido
Pros:
- Brings back memories of the old days
- Focus is on gameplay
Cons:
- Simplistic by today’s standards of graphics and story
- Lots of wandering
Back in 1989, Dragon Warrior was one of the first titles tointroduce the concept of role-playing games to the world of video gameconsoles, which was then almost exclusively populated by arcade spinoffsand action games. Now, more than 10 years after its initial release,Dragon Warrior and its first sequel have been spiffed up withenhanced graphics and are now united together on one cartridge for theGame Boy Color.
In the first installment, you play as the descendant of the legendary Loto,a valiant Dragon Warrior. Your quest is to save the land of Alefgard fromthe evil clutches of DracoLord. Along the way, you must battle dragons,retrieve stolen sacred objects, and of course, save imperiled royalty.Dragon Warrior II will have you playing three different characters,all descendants of the original hero of the previous game, in a worldthat’s grown larger. You’ll need to use strategy and teamwork between yourcharacters to defeat foes who often outnumber your party.
List Price: $ 35.99
Price: $ 224.95
If you’re too old for Pokemon and like Zelda DX, try this!,
I’m a complete newbie in this series, having matured from playing Pokemon, and then enjoying Zelda DX for Gameboy Color. If you fit in that category, then you should give this game a chance. It’s a good thing that Enix made 2 games on one cartridge, because Dragon Warrior 1 by itself wouldn’t have been worth the price of a Gameboy cartridge in today’s market. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a good game, it’s just short compared to recent RPGs. What really makes it stand out, though is that it stands up even today. The storyline is a bit flat, but it beats Pokemon’s story by an anteater and a half.
Dragon Warrior 2, though it doesn’t have backgrounds when you’re fighting monsters except when you’re fighting bosses, is a much deeper and more involving game. Now, you can fight more than one monster at a time and respond with your own party of three members .
(not FOUR members which Amazon’s reviewer above foolishly stated, probably thinking of Dragon Warrior III…)
The world in DW2 has grown about 4 times larger (it looks like it has grown a lot more in the map, but that’s because they shrunk land area of the original continent by about half), and you can sail by boat to different parts and islands. There is also a much greater evil to defeat. It obviously takes much longer to beat too…
One of the things I like about DW1, but particularly in DW2, is the very small amount of “Dungeon Crawling” you have to do; in my opinion “Dungeon Crawling” is simply cheating on the amount of time it takes to play a game that doesn’t have a lot of actual land to cover. While there are caves and towers, you’ll be spending most of your time in the normal world. Unlike some more recent RPGs which cause you to Dungeon-Crawl for no specific reason (like Zelda DX), this one focuses more on walking around like you would in real life.
And the ending to either DW1 or DW2 is not dissapointing, but quite satisfying; When I finished DW2, I started playing DW1 again because took me a long time to beat DW2.
Which brings me to my next point; it’s really enjoyable to have these two games on one cartridge, because you can see all of the connections and changes between the 1st and the 2nd; when that guard says about Alefgard “that kingdom has changed much over the years”, he’s not kidding.
A WARNING though; even though the box cover features somewhat cute characters and so do the introduction cutscenes, this is not for people who do not appreciate involving storylines, so be forewarned!
I must say, I’m eagerly waiting for Enix’s Dragon Warrior III remake which looks even better than these games!
Was this review helpful to you?
|The best just got better,
I always loved the Dragon Warrior seris on the NES. So I picked this game up as soon as it came out. Even if you already own these games on your nintendo, you should get this game boy 2 pak. The games are vastly improved from there NES counterparts. For example, remember having to pull down the menu and push stairs just to climb stairs in Dragon Warrior 1? Not any more it’s automatic now like every other game in the world. Also the graphics are better the their NES versions. The game also comes with a neat map poster that shows the whole land of both the games. Who could resist 2 great games in 1 cartridge ….
Was this review helpful to you?
|