dragon quest 1 notes
following are some personal notes I took while playing the NES version of dragon quest 1 (dragon warrior)
- an inn visit will cost around 2 encounters of nearby enemies worth. when you're likely to reach these inns/towns, those encounters will be a considerable threat. at first, even managing to afford an inn can feel risky.
- each "problem" in the game (enemy strategies, light, hazards, healing) is introduced long enough for you to feel the strain of it then develop counter-strategies, then presents a solution that trivializes it. (heal, sleep, radiance, stopspell, herbs, fairy dust, wings...) typically as a spell or item.
- this follows the rhythm of encounters too, where new enemy types will be scary, but you gradually grow to overpower them in stats.
- no matter what, you are always progressing. death leads to retreading ground, which makes you more likely to re-investigate familiar areas, find secrets and put together clues. in addition to XP and gp accumulation.
- the lack of "game overs" on death encourages taking risks in exploration and pushing the boundaries of where you can travel, while the 50% GP loss increases the tension of taking that risk, making such things exciting and memorable.
- always putting total XP in view means there's a tangible sense of all your accumulating effort.
- battles being (mostly) simple and quick affairs of resource attrition keeps the game focused on its exploration layer, but still provides the flavor and excitement of battles.
- having only a single party member allows the game to have a significantly simplified and quick / easy to use UI.
- magic keys enhance the sense of mystery in the game and create another dimension where grinding=more exploration. creates deeper layers to familiar areas, which fits into how you will re-tread them.
- shop prices being high means you always have a "project" to work on that feels personal - getting better equipment. even if you're stuck or without leads, you always have a project.
- the level of friction in the game is only ever just enough to make you (or at least, me) be thoughtful and engaged. if you're studying the game, the enemies, the systems, the number relationships, you'll find ways to optimize things, turn situations to your favor or identify weaknesses quite quickly. lots of "round peg round hole" problems, but the room's just a bit dim so you have to be being mindful.
- following that, there's an aspect of knowledge progression that's tuned to be gentle yet crucial relative to your xp progression, which becomes increasingly important as you put together the rumors spread across the town and solve the game's riddles. dragon quest wants you to study it, and leads you into that gently.
- the scenario is constructed as a wide and messy web of relationships, rumors and hearsay entangled between villages. to me this makes it feel quite "small town-y" in a way many games don't, especially because many NPCs can have quirky or even standoffish things to say on top of it. villages feel colorful and lived in even in this small world.
- enemies running and the rate xp and money rewards scale keeps pushing you to seek out stronger encounters and invalidates grinding trivial ones. each new power tier of enemies seems to approx. double gold rewards, 1.5x xp rewards, while being about 1.5x more powerful. each level seems to cost about 2x the XP than the last. weapons and armor go up in cost on an exponential feeling scale. (addendum: by the end stages of the game, this curve seems to be about 1.2x xp, which leads to privileging mid-game encounter grinding until the very last dungeon of the game.)
- level up bonuses are varied and distinctly impactful (an immediately appreciable increase in power level), making each level up feel both meaningful and exciting. when you level up, you know you can try pushing your exploration boundaries again. (same with equipment upgrades)
- on average though, you can seemingly expect to deal about 10% more damage with each level up, and about 1.5x more damage with each weapon upgrade. (addendum: I'm not sure this trend stays until the end of the game, I believe it slowed to around 1.2x or so. but notably - would always make observable changes to the rate you defeat enemies.)
- both enemy and player hp scales up slowly, seeming to prefer to increase defense. this keeps the meaning of hp and damage values feeling more consistent, though it still scales up slowly. this also makes the fixed-value healing and damage spells stay relevant for longer.
- the heal is weak, which keeps herbs feeling like a valuable item to stock through the late game. having weak healing makes fights dangerous and have a pretty immediate sense of inevitability. it also makes the sleep spell very important, and very scary when it doesn't work or an enemy resists it.
- the music and sfx does so much to reinforce the tone of the experience and how it all gets to feel cozy. someone else has probably said this much better! x)
- similarly, the art and map design builds at this with its simple, "idyllic countryside" vibe. the map design evokes real world geographic forms in simple ways to make the world feel both real and peaceful, in the way staring out at a vista of rolling hills feels peaceful.
- the UI design echoes this, having a simple yet pleasing and dynamic composition of windows that stay in similar positions and shapes. for example, the main menu and battle command are in the same place. the player hp window and the message window are the same that's used both in battle and elsewhere. it feels predictable and safe, easy to model in your head all at once.
- this goes similarly for the map design in villages. without so many nested maps of different interiors, you can behold a whole village nearly at a glance. it's a "high information" style that reduce any sense of ambiguity or uncertainty, while not going so far as to be maximalist either thanks to its simple presentation. (this goes for the UI too essentially)
- in other words, it's a thoughtful, transparent and forthcoming sort of minimalism. this priority is echoed in every area of the game's design and presentation and gives a sense of familiarity/comfort.
- the enemy poses are often dynamic or may have an element of evoking perspective, such as the skeleton or the goldman, adding excitement to the battles.
- enemy visual designs are overall cartoony and friendly, but will subtly contrast that with certain enemies to keep things feeling surprising and varied. for example, the scorpion and the druin are quite creepy and threatening, while the magicians are mysterious and have a more pulp fantasy feel. this adds a sense of depth and interest to the world.
- high variance in encounter frequency, ambushes, enemy attack selection and damage means you never know if things may suddenly take a turn for the worst and keeps the tension high - sometimes you just have a "bad run" as much as a string of luck may let you push to the next town.
- especially in conjunction with survival resources (healing, strategic spells) being scarce. it's not so scarce it feels severe typically, but enough that just a few things going wrong can suddenly put leave you in a high pressure situation.
- only the player can critical hit, making it a "lucky break" mechanic. it has a drastic effect too, ending most encounters instantly.
- "A goals"(quest/exploration) and "B goals"(XP/gear) that mutually reinforce / interweave into each other and makes sure you always have something to do. (addendum: I wrote this on a different day as when I made a similar point towards the start hehe. but I like the terminology here.)
- the world and it's geography is something you become intimate with due to the centralized hub-and-spoke structure. it first feels huge, but as you power up and acquire traversal tools (return, repel, radiant) it becomes faster, fitting play needs and creating a sense of "traversal progression"