In an ideal scenario, this would be me talking about both games in Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake. At the time of this blog, I am still playing through Dragon Quest I, and looking at my runtime, I am about halfway. So, this blog is only going to focus on my impressions so far. When I get through it and play DQ II, I would like to share my thoughts on the complete package. But, as it stands, this is a fun experience and not what I was expecting.
Solo Adventure
I went into DQ I not knowing that this was a solo adventure. The previous Dragon Quest games have had my hero join up with other characters. In Dragon Quest III, your partners are random, and only one has any impact on the story.
The game gives you the impression that an early quest would have you partner up with a group. You and another group of ‘wannabe’ heroes are looking for evidence of Erdrick, the hero from DQ III. I was certain that after you complete the quest, they would ask to tag along. Now, since I haven’t finished the game, these characters may return and offer some help. For now, I can’t be sure that they do.
But, be that as it may, I don’t mind that this is a solo journey. From a story perspective, it makes sense. The game revolves around you being part of a famous lineage. Having other characters tag along doesn’t suit the story. It does make me wonder how much of a connection, if any, there is between DQ I and DQ II.
Not an easy game, so far
One thing about the solo adventure is that I find DQ I to be on the higher side of difficulty. Your hero has to do it all. You can’t rely on teammates to assist. In an ideal world, my hero would have at least one Mage to heal and to cast defensive magic. Instead, I’m having to focus a lot of my time making sure they are healthy enough not to die.
For most fights, I am underleveled. I recently finished a difficult fight against a dragon. This was a tough battle because it had an attack that did well over 100 points of damage. It’s a meaningful fight, so I was expecting a challenge, but when I saw it do that much damage, I knew I was not prepared.
Because of that, I have to recommend that people focus as much time as they can on grinding. It’s nice that the game autosaves after each fight, so you don’t lose too much progress. While the game does have that feature, there is no healing/main save point before boss fights. It would be nice to rest and recharge my character before a boss fight. As a replacement, I now tend to aim to level up my character, then jump back into a boss fight so that my HP and MP are at max. If there is an easier way to do this, then the game doesn’t highlight it (or I missed the explanation)
More to explore
An aspect of the game I’m loving is the exploration. With the modern aspects of highlighting exactly where you need to go next, it does take some of that away. But even with the clear indicators, I love walking around this world. I’ve found locations earlier than I should, and it’s been a nice treat.
Sure, I can’t afford the 18,000 coin sword in stock, but it’s giving me that incentive to come back when I do. At the same time, I know there is something bigger and better out there. That’s something I enjoyed about DQ III. There were locations on the map that had no direct connection to the main game. I should expect to find more of those as I continue exploring.
I wish you got more from battles. At the moment, the experience and gold that you get from fights are too small. I’m in the mid-20s, and groups of foes are only dropping 100-300 XP, with an equal amount of coins. Yes, I am coming across groups of Metal Slimes, but they sure do love running away.
What’s with the dialogue?
The story is the weakest aspect of the game. Even with the necessary grinding, I can understand the reasoning. It’s a sign of how they used to design games in the 80s. It’s the same thing about the story. It’s a sign of the times. The first half of the game is about finding and rescuing a princess. Now in the second half, it’s about finding the evil force that’s threatening the world.
The story is ok, but there is one aspect that bothers me. I don’t like the way characters talk. As a design choice, the game uses an old-English delivery of lines. It’s a lot of “thou” and “thy” that seem out of place. It’s an odd choice because DQ III doesn’t use Old English prose. It’s a bizarre move since the dialogue in that game is very different. We are further in the future, so the way people talk shouldn’t sound so formal.
It’s hard to believe this line delivery is the same for the Japanese version. While they might use a different dialogue, I doubt it’s this way. If this was a design choice by the Western localization team, it was the wrong decision. It’s unnecessary and distracts from the story.
Making me love the Dragon Quest franchise more
Dragon Quest III’s remake was one of my favorite games last year. I enjoyed every hour I spent with it. I’m having a lot of fun with DQ I, and I know I’ll enjoy DQ II. Outside of the dialogue, the rest of the game is fantastic. Yes, you need to play DQ III to enjoy most aspects of this package. Even with that, this is a worthwhile RPG experience. Now, I cannot wait for SquareEnix to show Dragon Quest XII to the world in 2026, finally!
