Dragon Quest I and II is a great way to experience these classics. This game is a must play for any fan of RPGs.
User Rating: 8.4 | Dragon Quest I & II SNES
Dragon Quest was always Enix's answer for Squaresoft's Final Fantasy. The Dragon Warrior series, as it was known in the US until not too long ago, sadly did not really get that much acclaim in the States. They are still classics however, and must plays for fans of RPGs. Dragon Quest I and II is a terrific value for these two classics. Gameplay: Dragon Quest is old school in every form of the word. This is a great thing in many ways, but a hindrance in others. First, let me point out that Dragon Quest I and II are essentially the same game graphically and gameplay wise. Many of the towns, and certainly the castles, all feel the same, but it is not in that that the meat of the game lies. The only real differences are in the story, and the storylines for both are superb, at least for their times. Like other games in this series, comparisons to Final Fantasy games are inevitable, despite its significant differences from that series. The difference is that Final Fantasy focuses far more on an individual storyline, and is much more linear. The strength of Dragon Quest isn't in its main story, but all the little stories and side quests that make up the world, it is more like creating a world than creating a story, and that's why I really love these games. That said, the intro for Dragon Quest II is one of the best in gaming history, it's full of emotion and truly quite awesome for the graphics they had to work with for the scene. The stories of both games are quite good, but these were originally made on the NES, so don't expect anything on the scale of Dragon Quest VI, although they are still quite good. The strength is again in the sheer size of the game world. There is a whole lot to do and a lot of exploring to do. Dragon Quest does not guide you by the hand to where you go and often you will spend hours just exploring, and hopefully not wandering into an area where an enemy will kill you with one hit (happened often to me *cries*). It is an experience, not just a game, and since it has both I and II on it, it is two experiences, in which you discover the quest, and you make it yours. The battle system is just like the other Dragon Quests/Warriors. You see the enemy on the screen, but not your characters. The enemies have almost no movement in this game, but its not really that big of a deal. It is standard turn based fare, and pretty well done at that. The main flaw with the gameplay is the archaic menu system. It forces you to go through menus just to talk to people or open doors, and is a rather annoying feature. In more recent Dragon Quest games this features is remedied with an "action" button, but these are the remakes of the originals and sadly do not feature such necessities. Graphics: Graphically these games are both rather lacking. The characters are rather blocky and for the SNES it is unimpressive, this is mainly because they are remakes/ports to the SNES from the NES but it would have been nice to see the game take full advantage of the SNES hardware (see Dragon Quest VI, Dragon Quest V looks just about the same as I and II). It's sad seeing the potential in Akira Toriyama's art wasted. Sound: The music in Dragon Quest I and II is incredible, Dragon Quest has always been known to be very awesome, and I and II are no exceptions. It is incredible what enix managed to do with just the SNES's capabilities for the music. Value: With both Dragon Quest I and II on the cartridge, this is a superb value for your money, just don't expect the massive depth of titles that came later on in the SNES years. Tilt: It's great to see how awesome Dragon Quest was even in the early days. With such an awesome history it's sad that the series hasn't gotten deserved renown in the states. Hopefully DQVIII can change this. 
