Is Dragon Quest 1 still good today?

 A few weeks ago I managed to buy Dragon Quest 1 for myself on the Switch shop. It was cheap, and I was curious about it, so I gave it a go. I believe it is always good to go back to the classics, to study them and see how the building blocks of gaming were created and developed. But is Dragon Quest 1 still good?

First off, let me get the cons right out of the way. Yes, the game is a grind fest, and in fact two thirds of your playtime will be spent grinding for experience and gold. The story isn't paper thin, it's as thin as a sheet of toilet paper split in half. Your only clear goal is reaching the end boss, and everything else you have to find out by talking to particular NPC's in every town. There's only ONE character, there's no choosing your character class, and all your skills come at pre-determined levels. There's not even ten towns to visit. This RPG is as bare bones as it gets.

So logically, the game is bad, yes? One would think so, if we were to come at it from a modern perspective. A modern audience that's accustomed to labyrinthine plots, loads of characters to play as and/or character classes to experiment with, will be grossly disappointed in playing this RPG. All they'll find is a sub standard, bare bones JRPG that, if not for the grinding, could be completed in twenty minutes, tops.

Ahh, but we're not talking about any old JRPG here. This is THE JRPG! The one that practically kick started the whole genre! Every JRPG we have today can trace its influences all the way down to THIS one little NES/Famicom game!

To enjoy Dragon Quest 1, you have to come into it knowing what it is beforehand. You're not playing a game that can stand toe to toe with, say, Tales of Arise or Xenoblade Chronicles 2; you're playing the game that made those games possible! You're not playing the game that popularized the JRPG, you're playing the game that CODIFIED the genre!

So with that perspective, is Dragon Quest 1 still good? Yes, very much so! Is there grinding? Yes, and with it comes a true sense of progression that few games can match today! When I was playing DQ1, starting at level 1 with that Bamboo Spear, I was scared to stray too far from town because there were SO MANY monsters that were killing me in one or two hits. But then I did the grinding, and with the grind came experience and levels, and gold. I used the gold to buy better equipment, and the levels made me stronger. And in a little time, the enemies that were one shotting me were barely dealing scratch damage!

What about the lack of direction? Well, this is another instance of a seeming negative turning out to be a strong positive. Many NPC's give you a vague idea of where to go, but if you follow their directions, everything becomes clear. One NPC tells you he saw the princess get taken "east." So, you go east. You find a town, and in that town an NPC tells you about a cave down south. So you go south, you find the cave, and what do you come across? A locked door! So logic states "the princess is in there." So you go further south, because ANOTHER NPC told you that there's a town there that sells magic keys. You buy some, go back, open the locked door, and come across the dragon keeping the princess hostage!

Then you fight the dragon and die, because fuck you for thinking it'd be that easy. GRIND!

The game presents a challenge and a sense of accomplishment just for leveling up. As for the gameplay itself? It's that same menu-driven system that the JRPG has used for decades by now, so you're ALREADY familiar with it. The game is easy to learn, easy to master!

So is the game still good? I'd say: Yes, if you come at it from the right angle. Don't come into this game expecting it to hold up to what's available today; come into it wanting to experience the game that started the whole genre! This is one game that EVERY JRPG afficionado owes it to themselves to experience!