Suppose I wanted to play the entire Dragon Quest series starting from the first one, what would I need? Is there a compilation of these on PSN or WiiWare? I know a couple were just released on the DS (4 and 5 I believe). I’d like to try to play this series but a masochistic part of me wants to start with the first game… any and all advice and help is appreciated.
1 and 2 were released on a single cart for the GBC, so if you get a GBA or a GBA SP you should be able to play it. I don’t remember if the DS fat played GBC games, but I don’t think so. DQ3 was also released for the GBC.
DQ4 and 5 are on the DS and 6 is coming.
7 was on the PS and 8 was on the PS2.
Looks like you should be able to get 1, 2 and 3 pretty easily on eBay. Just make sure you’re searching for Dragon Warrior instead of Quest, unless you can read Japanese.
Awesome! thanks for the prompt reply!
Say hi to the Metallic Slimes for me! They confused my 10 year old self… and then proceeded to kick his butt.
Emulators are also an option. DQ 1-3 received Super NES remakes that never made it stateside but you can download fan translations for all 3. Content-wise they are pretty much the same as the GBC remakes but the SNES graphics are, of course, better.
I played the first (the GBC version) a couple years back just to say I did it. It was fun but the second was more of the same and I didn’t finish it.
The third one adds some nice things to the mix and is a pretty huge game.
What are the generally accepted favorites? I’ve only played VIII, and clocked an unbelievable number of hours on it, but I wouldn’t know where to begin with the back catalog (since unlike Juntei, I don’t think I have the stamina to tackle all of them).
If you have a DS, it’s probably best just to start with IV or V. I think most people would agree that V is better than IV, but IV, V and VI form a trilogy and IV has its own charms. Eurogamer loved them both, but each offers a slightly different take. In IV you play four short chapters with different main characters who come together in chapter 5 (the bulk of the story) but for the most part it plays like a standard Dragon’s Quest game. In V you play one guy through three parts of his life, from his youth to his life as a grown man, where the main thrust of the game is that he captures and trains monsters to fight at his side.
Both have enjoyable, simple stories and great translations. IV especially has a fun translation for those who were fans of the original Dragon Warrior’s thees and thous, since they’ve decided to translate each land with its own regional accent.
As for stamina, I wouldn’t worry too much. Both IV and V have a playing time of around 20 hours.