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Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...
'' is a series of
role-playing video games A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
that originated in 1986 with the release of the first game in the series. Although the games are not related in terms of story, many aspects of the gameplay are consistent throughout the series. Each game in the series add new elements to the gameplay, such as longer quests,
character classes In tabletop games and video games, a character class is a job or profession commonly used to differentiate the abilities of different game characters. In role-playing games (RPGs), character classes aggregate several abilities and aptitudes, ...
, or different ways of story-telling. One of the major aspects of the ''Dragon Quest'' series is that it retains the same setting and general gameplay throughout the series, instead of reinventing itself with each new installment. This has been seen as both a positive and negative aspect by critics of the series.


History

''Dragon Quest'' was created by
Yūji Horii (also written as Yuuji Horii; born January 6, 1954) is a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the ''Dragon Quest'' series of role-playing games, supervising and writing the scenario for ''Chrono Trigger' ...
, who became the series' main scenario director. Yūji Horii originally used the full-screen map of '' Ultima'' and the first-person menu battle and stats oriented ''
Wizardry ''Wizardry'' is a series of role-playing video games, developed by Sir-Tech, that were highly influential in the evolution of modern role-playing video games. The original ''Wizardry'' was a significant influence on early console role-playing g ...
'' screen to create the gameplay of ''Dragon Quest''. ''Dragon Quest'' is often cited as the birth of the JRPGs. Each game in the main series builds upon its predecessor, but the gameplay never strays from the series' origins. When asked about the game's resistance to change during an interview, Horii explained that he wants to "keep it simple and keep things organized, after twenty years I've found this to be the best way." During the same interview, Horii also stated that he would never want to make an
action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...
for the series. He said "The reason why is because I want to make the game fun and simple and relaxing, so that you can just sit down and take it easy. People who don't like to think very much can just push the button and still get by. The people who like to think and strategize have to option to do that as well." Although ''Dragon Quest IX'' was slated to have an action-oriented combat style, it was changed back to menu-based combat in 2007, two years before its release in response to backlash from fans.


Common elements

In each installment of the ''Dragon Quest'' series, players have been able to control a party of up to four characters. The number of party members depends on the game, as well as the number of enemies that can appear in one battle. ''Dragon Quest'' featured only one-on-one encounters, whereas ''
Dragon Quest II ''Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line'', titled ''Dragon Warrior II'' when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System ...
'' expanded the party to three characters and the number of enemies was also increased. ''
Dragon Quest III ''Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation'', titled ''Dragon Warrior III'' when initially localized to North America, is a 1988 role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix. It is the third installment in the '' Dragon ...
'' further increased the party size to four characters, which it has stayed at. Players must move their parties through different towns, dungeons, and the
world map A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of map projection, projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensiona ...
in order to progress throughout each game. Typically, the party must enter a town or dungeon and defeat a specific enemy or retrieve an item to progress the story.
Non-playable characters A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
exist in the game for the party to interact with. NPCs are responsible for giving the player useful information, selling items, saving the player's game, or healing the party, usually at an inn for a fee. Heroes in the series often must defeat a main
antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...
to complete the adventure, and there are always several tasks they must do before that, often involving NPCs from different towns. In ''Dragon Quest'', players had to go through a menu in order to use stairs, open treasure chests, and speak to NPCs. The localization of the game also included some gameplay improvements such as being able to see the direction your character is traveling and the ability to save your game through a battery backup instead of
passwords A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...
. While improvements were made in later versions, the series retained the same basic interface. ''Dragon Quest'' features "puff puff" massage girls the player can opt to get a service from. In earlier games, the background would turn black and text would be displayed; in some later games, gags have been used. These were removed from some North American translations, but not others.The original NES games and the DS
remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
s have this removed while the PS1 and PS2 games, ''Dragon Quest IX'' and GBC remakes include this. ''Dragon Quest IX''
Also, in later games monsters and characters can use this as an attack. The effect can cause enemies and characters to lose their turn.


Exploration

Until ''
Dragon Quest VIII A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often ...
'', exploration was all from an overhead view, while battles were in a first-person perspective. ''Dragon Quest VIII'' changed this system by featuring fully
three dimensional Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informa ...
environments and battles in the third-person. Earlier ''Dragon Quest'' games were released using solely
2D graphics 2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models (such as 2D geometric models, text, and digital images) and by techniques specific to them. It may refer to the branch of computer s ...
. Starting with ''Dragon Quest VII'',
3D graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the ...
were introduced, however the graphics were extremely limited compared to those released in ''Dragon Quest VIII''. Since then, every game, including the remakes for the
Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...
, has included some level of 3D gameplay. ''Dragon Quest'' games often feature different forms of vehicles for the party to explore the world map in. These vehicles allow the party to cross terrain that cannot be walked over. These include ships, which give the party the option of traveling on water. ''Dragon Quest IV'' featured a
hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...
, which enabled the party to travel over mountains.


Battle

Each ''Dragon Quest'' game in the main series is a role-playing video game and features
turn-based In video and other games, the passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. This is usually done in one of the two ways: real-time and turn-based. Real-time Real-time games have game time progress cont ...
battles. During battle, players can issue commands to the party and then the characters and monsters will take turns attacking each other. Certain characters are also able to use magic or skills, and these commands can either damage enemies, recover hit points or remove status ailments, or raise and lower statistics of party members or enemies. Until ''
Dragon Quest IX ''Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies'' is a role-playing video game co-developed by Level-5 and Square Enix for the Nintendo DS. Published by Square Enix in Japan in 2009, and by Nintendo overseas in 2010, it is the ninth mainline ent ...
'', battles were randomly occurring in the series. While moving the party through either a dungeon or the world map, there is a chance that an enemy group will attack. In ''Dragon Quest IX'', enemies are visible on the field and players must touch them to enter a battle. Characters earn
experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experi ...
s for each monster the party defeats in battle. As characters earn experience points, they gain levels and their stats increase, making them stronger. These stats include hit points, magic points, strength, agility, and vitality. In certain games, including ''
Dragon Quest VII ''Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past'' is a 2000 Japanese role-playing video game developed by Heartbeat and ArtePiazza, and published by Enix for the PlayStation. It was released in North America in 2001 under the title ''Dragon ...
'', characters will also earn different types of points from battles. In ''Dragon Quest VII'', every battle characters are victorious in earns them class points, which allow them to increase their class levels and eventually master that class. Winning battles also grants gold to the party, which can be spent on items at stores, at inns, or at churches in order to heal or revive characters. ''
Dragon Quest IV ''Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen'', titled ''Dragon Warrior IV'' when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game, the fourth installment of the '' Dragon Quest'' video game series developed by Chunsoft and publish ...
'' introduced a "Tactics" system, where the player can set the AI routines for
NPCs A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
, which is seen as a precursor to ''
Final Fantasy XII is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. The twelfth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was first released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. It introduced several innovations to the series: an open wo ...
s " Gambits" system. ''
Dragon Quest V ''Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride'' is a role-playing video game and the fifth installment in the ''Dragon Quest'' video game series, second of the Zenithian Trilogy. Originally developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix Corporation, ' ...
'' gave players the opportunity to catch and raise various monsters that appeared in random encounters. These monsters could be added to the player's party and participate in battle, earning experience points just as human party members do. This feature would span its own series of games titled ''
Dragon Quest Monsters ''Dragon Quest Monsters'' is a spin-off series of the ''Dragon Quest'' games. Published by Square Enix (formerly Enix), it sets the player in a medieval/fantasy world filled with magic, monsters and knights. Unlike the original ''Dragon Quest'' ...
'' Monster catching would appear in ''Dragon Quest VII'' briefly by having a monster park minigame in which players could put monsters caught after battles.


Character classes

Beginning with ''
Dragon Quest III ''Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation'', titled ''Dragon Warrior III'' when initially localized to North America, is a 1988 role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix. It is the third installment in the '' Dragon ...
'', the series has featured different forms of character customization. Players were given the option to create a party of four characters consisting of the main Hero and three characters made by the player. Classes such as Warrior, Mage, Cleric, or Merchant could be set upon the character and that character's statistics and skills would correlate with the given class. ''Dragon Quest VI'', ''Dragon Quest VII'', and ''Dragon Quest IX'' all featured similar class systems, building off of the original system from ''Dragon Quest III''.


Abilities

Characters in the ''Dragon Quest'' games can use a wide variety of abilities, spells, and skills. The original game only featured a few healing and damaging spells, but each game expanded on the list. ''Dragon Quest VI'' introduced , a class of non-spell special abilities. Most spells cost
magic point Magic or mana is an attribute assigned to characters within a role-playing or video game that indicates their power to use special magical abilities or "spells". Magic is usually measured in magic points or mana points, shortened as MP. Different ...
s, while many skills have no MP cost.


Mini medals

Starting with ''Dragon Quest IV'', a new collectable item known as mini medals were introduced. These mini medals have since been used in every main ''Dragon Quest'' title. The medals resemble small gold coins with a five-point star in the middle. The player collects these medals throughout the game by opening chests, breaking pots and barrels and searching sacks and drawers. In ''Dragon Quest IX'', the player can also obtain some by completing quests or from a
spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment, and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** '' Spawn: Ar ...
point on the world map. At a certain point during the games, the player meets a character he can trade these medals for items. From ''Dragon Quest IV'' through ''VII'' this was a reoccurring character known as the Mini Medal King. While he is replaced in later ''Dragon Quest'' titles, he continue to be referenced. In ''Dragon Quest VIII'' he makes an appearance, but it is his daughter who collects the medals. In ''Dragon Quest IX'', although the medals are collected by a pirate captain, the dialog references his connection to the Mini Medal Kings. According to Horii, he wanted to have something the player went around collecting as the previous ''Dragon Quest'' games had crests and orbs respectively. However, he did not want to do the same thing over again by forcing the player to collect a certain number of items before they beat the game; mini medals instead have nothing to do with clearing the game.


Minigames

During gameplay, players may be able to participate in
minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...
s. Mini-medals can be found and traded for exclusive items, a feature that can be traced to ''Dragon Quest IV'' and was featured in remakes of earlier games in the series. In addition to mini-medals, the remake of ''Dragon Quest III'' allowed players to collect monster medals from their perspective monsters. The remake also featured Pachisi, or Suguroku in Japan, a
board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...
style minigame in which the player could win items. This game was based on Horii's other video game series, ''
Itadaki Street is a party video game series originally created by ''Dragon Quest'' designer Yuji Horii. It is currently owned by Square Enix and Kadokawa. The first game was released in Japan on Nintendo's Famicom console in 1991. Since then, new installments ...
''. Several games in the series feature casinos for players to win items by playing various games, including poker and betting on monster battles. The DS remake of ''
Dragon Quest V ''Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride'' is a role-playing video game and the fifth installment in the ''Dragon Quest'' video game series, second of the Zenithian Trilogy. Originally developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix Corporation, ' ...
'' features several new minigames, including Bruise the Ooze, Treasures 'n' Trapdoors, a version of Pachisi, the Slurpodrome, and the tombola.


Reception and legacy

The gameplay of ''Dragon Warrior'' is seen by critics as revolutionary. In an article for
Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...
, Kurt Kalata pointed out that the game "was also one of the most in-depth games seen on the Famicom at the time. Back in 1986, if you wanted a complicated game, you needed an expensive PC." A large aspect of the ''Dragon Quest'' games is the continuity of the series' gameplay. When comparing the four NES games, Kyle Knight of
Allgame RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...
pointed out that the games made little innovation in terms of gameplay and graphics, but that each installment was longer and had more depth to it than the one before it. In ''Dragon Warrior IV'', he argued, "you still have to work around the Dragon Warrior menu system. To open doors, talk to characters, or perform any other action, you have to go to the hotspot for that appropriate action, go to the menu, then click on the appropriate verb."
Chris Kohler Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nige ...
of ''
Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
'' noted that the remake of ''
Dragon Quest IV ''Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen'', titled ''Dragon Warrior IV'' when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game, the fourth installment of the '' Dragon Quest'' video game series developed by Chunsoft and publish ...
'' felt "like a retro game" and that "it'll seem very nostalgic and fun to anyone who has fond memories of poking through ''Dragon Quest IV'' on their Famicom". Mark Bozon complained of "simple and archaic menus" in his IGN review of ''Dragon Quest V''. IGN described ''Dragon Warrior VII's'' class system as "one of the best class systems seen outside a strategy RPG." In a preview for ''Dragon Quest IX'' on 1UP, Jeremey Parish noted that the character customization was a welcome departure from the series of games with only predetermined characters and wrote that "You can define your angel warrior's basic appearance to a degree, but he or she will look like an escapee from a
Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters colle ...
cartoon no matter what."


Legacy

''Dragon Warrior'' was listed on GameSpot's list of the 15 most influential games of all time, calling it the "most influential role-playing game of all time" and stated that nearly all Japanese RPGs today have roots in its gameplay. GameSpot also noted that the game's 2D graphics were imitated by most Japanese RPGs until video games began using 3D graphics. In another Gamasutra article, Kalata claimed that ''Dragon Quest'' was the first of its genre and that it "went on to inspire dozens of clones. Most of these are best left forgotten, but it did inspire two more notable franchises: Square's ''
Final Fantasy is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
'' and Sega's ''
Phantasy Star is a series of console role-playing video games and other supplementary media created by Sega. The series debuted in 1987 on the Master System with ''Phantasy Star'', and continues into the present with ''Phantasy Star Online 2'' and other ext ...
''". He also noted that when first localized for North America, it was not immediately popular due to "subpar" graphics and "stodgy interface".


Notes and references


External links


Dragon Quest Zenithia Trilogy Official Site
{{Dragon Quest series Dragon Quest
Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...