Dragon Quest
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Dragon Quest (Japanese: ドラゴンクエスト), formerly known as Dragon Warrior in North America, is a series of role playing games created by Enix, now Square Enix. Installments of the series have appeared on the MSX, Famicom (NES), Super Famicom (Super Nintendo), Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Sony PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 video game consoles, as well as on several models of mobile phone. As of 2005, the Dragon Quest series has sold over 35 million units worldwide.
Dragon Quest's North American name change was necessitated due to a trademark conflict with the role-playing game DragonQuest, which was published by veteran wargame publisher SPI in the 1980s until the company's bankruptcy in 1982 and purchase by TSR, which then published it as an alternate line to Dungeons & Dragons until 1987.Template:Ref In 2003, Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark in the US, signalling the end of the Dragon Warrior name.
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Overview
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During the mid-1980s, Dragon Quest was created by Enix employee, Yuji Horii. The series monster and character designs were by famed Dragon Ball manga artist, Akira Toriyama. Most of the music for the Dragon Quest series has been composed by Koichi Sugiyama.Template:Ref
The series is extremely popular in Japan. It's so popular that, following the release of Dragon Quest III in 1988, the Japanese Diet passed a law forbidding the release of new installments of the Dragon Quest series on any day other than a Sunday or a holiday, to prevent children from skipping school to wait in line for the latest Dragon Quest titleTemplate:Ref.
The unofficial mascot of the Dragon Quest series is a blue slime. The Dragon Quest's blue slime is shaped like a piece of garlic. The blue slime has appeared in every Dragon Quest game and it is usually the first monster you encounter. It can also combine with other slimes to become the Kingslime, a large blue slime with a crown.
The games themselves feature a number of religious overtones: bishops are often seen wandering around the overworld of Dragon Warrior Monsters and have the ability to heal. In Dragon Warrior VII, the Demon Lord, otherwise known as the Devil (known as Orgodemir in the game), is the final boss, and there is also a sidequest to fight God himself.
Dragon Quest is such a cultural phenomenon in Japan that there are live-action ballets, musical concerts, and audio CDs based on the Dragon Quest universe.Template:Ref In fact, the world-famous London Philharmonic Orchestra has performed for several Dragon Quest music albums.Template:Ref
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Outside Japan
Dragon Quest is not nearly as successful outside Japan, having been eclipsed by Final Fantasy and other RPG series. Due to Enix America's closure, Dragon Quest V and Dragon Quest VI were never officially released in North America. In Europe, none of the games except Dragon Warrior Monsters have seen release. The lack of official localizations for Dragon Quest games has inspired many fan translation projects. Completed fan translation projects include: the Super Famicom remake of Dragon Quest I & II and Dragon Quest V.
The first four Dragon Warrior titles suffered from substantial censorship in their North American localizations, largely in keeping with Nintendo of America's content guidelines, which placed severe restrictions on religious iconography and mature content. Both graphics and text were edited, replacing coffins with ghosts, crucifixes with five-point stars, and "Priest" with "Healer," to name but a few. Reference to sex through a ceremony known as "puff-puff" were removed, as well.
How to play
Basic gameplay
Dragon Quest borrows heavily from the Ultima and Wizardry video game series. The game player's party walks into a town and buys weapons/armors/items in order to defeat monsters easily. When the player's party is out of the town, the party is vulnerable to monster attacks. When the player encounters monsters, s/he has several options from which to choose. The player can attack and defeat the monster(s) with weapons, magic, or items. The player can also attempt to run away from a fight, however the option is not open during a boss battle. After a player wins a battle by defeating all the monsters, the player's party members gain experience points (EXP) in order to gain a new level. When a certain character gains a new level, the stats of the character are upgraded.
When the player's party dies in battle, they will lose half of their gold and the leader of the party warps back to the nearest church. The leader then needs to revive his/her party members. In order to revive certain characters, you have to pay the priest. For insurance if you want to keep most of your gold, the recent Dragon Quest games have a bank to store your money.
To save a game's progress, most of the time the player has to go to a town's church and talk to a priest/nun. Also, sometimes the king can grant the player's save request in earlier Dragon Quest games.
Basic items
These items appeared in most of the Dragon Quest games:
- Medical Herb — Herb that heals wounds and restores HP (Health Point(s))
- Antidote Herb — Cures poison-related ailments
- Chimera Wing (Warp Wing or Wing of the Wyvern) — Throw it into the air to return to a town or castle that you previously have been to.
- Holy Water/Fairy Water — Sprinkle on yourself to temporarily block off weaker monsters.
- Moon Herb — Herb that cures paralysis
- STRseed — Upgrades Strength
- DEFseed — Upgrades Guard stat
- Life Acorn — Upgrades Max HP
- Mystic Nut — Upgrades Max MP (Magic Point(s))
- Leaf of the World Tree — Revive one dead character.
Games list
Flagship titles
- Dragon Quest I — Nintendo Entertainment System (1986)
- Released as Dragon Warrior in North America. (1989)
- Remade for the Nintendo Super Famicom (1993) and Game Boy Color (1999) as Dragon Quest I & II.
- Released a cellular phone game (2004) and for Satellaview (1998).
- Dragon Quest II — Nintendo Entertainment System (1987)
- Released as Dragon Warrior II in North America. (1990)
- Remade for the Nintendo Super Famicom (1993) and Game Boy Color (1999) as Dragon Quest I & II.
- Dragon Quest III — Nintendo Entertainment System (1988)
- Released as Dragon Warrior III in North America. (1991)
- Remade for the Nintendo Super Famicom (1996) and Game Boy Color (2000)
- Dragon Quest IV — Nintendo Entertainment System (1991)
- Released as Dragon Warrior IV in North America. (1992)
- Remade for the Sony PlayStation (2001).
- Dragon Quest V — Nintendo Super Famicom (1992)
- Never released in North America.
- Remade for the Sony PlayStation 2 (2004)
- Dragon Quest VI — Nintendo Super Famicom (1995)
- Never released in North America.
- Dragon Quest VII — Sony PlayStation (2000)
- Released as Dragon Warrior VII in North America. (2001)
- Dragon Quest VIII — Sony PlayStation 2 (2004)
- Will be released as Dragon Quest VIII in North America.
Spin off series
Fan translation games
- Dragon Quest VI (Super Famicom) — fan-translated into English by NoPrgress in 2001
- Dragon Quest V (Super Famicom) - fan-translated into English by DeJap Translations in 2001
- Dragon Quest I & II (Super Famicom) - fan-translated into English and Spanish by RPG-One in 2002
- Dragon Quest III (Super Famicom) - fan-translated into English by DeJap Translations and RPG-One and into Spanish by RPG-One in 2005
Manga and anime
- Dragon Quest: Abel Yuusha — loosely based on Dragon Quest III, 30+ episodes, 13 episodes dubbed in the United States
- Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken — loosely based on Dragon Quest II and Dragon Quest III, 37 volumes, 46 episodes, 3 movies
- Dragon Quest: Emblem of Roto — takes place prior to Dragon Quest I, 21 volumes, movie
- Dragon Quest: Maboroshi no Daichi — based on Dragon Quest VI
- Dragon Quest: The Heaven Saga — based on Dragon Quest V
- Dragon Quest: Warriors of Eden — based on Dragon Quest VII
See also
- Final Fantasy
- SaGa
- Chrono Trigger
- Star Ocean
- Tales RPG Series
- Video game music
- Fan translation
- Enhanced remake
References
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External links
- Dragon Quest Shrine (http://www.dqshrine.com) (fan site)
- Dragon's Den (http://www.woodus.com/den/) (fan site)
- Square Enix's Official Dragon Quest Website (Japanese) (http://www.square-enix.co.jp/dragonquest/)de:Dragon Quest