Which Dragon Warrior game is a must play?

My son and I built a mini nostalgia machine. We have around 700 Intellivision, NES, SNES, Genesis, Playstation and other games loaded on this little thing. Once I got all the mandatory games you need to put on a device like this, I started looking at RPGs I never got around to playing and Dragon Warrior is one of them. My first experience with Dragon Warrior/Quest was playing 11 last year and I loved it. As a kid, I completely skipped over the Dragon Warrior series so it's a blind spot I'd like to fix.

I'm obviously not going to play all of them since I don't have that much spare time. But which one of the classic games (1 - 7) is considered a must play?

DQ5 is the easy choice, followed closely by 4. They both have fantastic stories while managing to offer fairly distinct experiences.

1 will feel incredibly dated but is worth playing to see the starting point of the series if you're interested in that but avoid 2 like the plague. It's probably the worst mainline game IMO.

6 has some really great characters but in my memory is incredibly grind-heavy. 7 is also pretty good but it's excessively long. Like it's rewarding and I think the story and characters are great but it's a ridiculous amount of game that they tried to stuff in there. To me, 7 represents the height of Playstation multi-disc RPG excess.

Besides 4 and 5, I'd also highly recommend DQ8 but I guess that's out of your zone for this nostalgia machine.

Are you looking for anything in particular? Something similar to 11 or much more retro than that?

My partner and I are slowly making our way through all of the mainline Dragon Quest games in chronological order, so I might be able to give you something useful. I've been playing Dragon Quest games for most of my life at this point, so I'll try to keep my passion in check and keep things concise.

DRAGON QUEST 1: Extremely retro, extremely bite sized. I mention this as you bring up not having much spare time. You can beat DQ1 in a weekend. These days it's comparable in scope to an indie RPG.

The original NES release was officially translated (Dragon Warrior). Gameplay-wise, this version has extremely dated controls (you have to go into a menu to talk to people, open doors, go down stairs...). Graphically, the only huge differences to note are that it does have illustrated backgrounds and each encounter starts with a flashing screen typical of 80s games which warrants a photosensitivity warning IMO.

The SNES remake was never officially released in English, but has a fan translation. The controls are vastly improved and the graphics obviously updated.

The Gameboy Color version is the one I played as a kid and the one we replayed recently. This one has no control issues and no flashing screens. Unfortunately it doesn't have the illustrated backgrounds, just monsters on white screens.

I would recommend playing Dragon Quest 1 simply because it's so short that even if it doesn't do much for you it won't take long to beat. I don't know how well it works these days without the nostalgia, but if you're like me you'll at least find it fascinating to see how the JRPG genre has evolved since the early days.

DRAGON QUEST 2: Slightly less retro and slightly less bite sized. Dragon Quest 2 is, in my opinion, an incredible leap forward in storytelling. Unlike the original you have a party of three characters with their own personalities and backstories, although with the exception of the Princess of Moonbrooke the backstories are pretty minimal.

The version differences are basically the same as the original Dragon Quest. Again I played the GBC version, but check out screenshots as you may prefer the SNES version (or if you want street cred and can deal with flashing you may want the NES version).

I really enjoyed Dragon Quest 2, possibly more than 1 and 3, which seems like it's a very unusual opinion. Maybe it's just because I was blindsided by how fast the storytelling techniques evolved, or because I felt like they hit a perfect balance between the extreme retro nature of DQ1 and the more expansive design of DQ3 onwards. I forget how long DQ2 was now - I know it felt like it was three times as long as the original (in a good way), and the world map is probably four times as big. Googling around, it looks like the time estimate is about 10-20 hours. I'm a little worried now that I'm just going to end up recommending every single Dragon Quest to you, which is not what you asked for.

DRAGON QUEST 3: Even less retro, even less bite sized. We played the fan translated SNES version, which looks gorgeous (similar to Final Fantasy 6) and plays very modern.

The structure is very different in DQ3 - unlike in 2, all your party members are manually created at the beginning, kind of like a job system Final Fantasy. This gives you some fun control over party composition, especially since you can do multiclass stuff later on. Unfortunately since the characters are manually created, the only personality they have is the one you're able to infuse them with yourself. If you're like my partner this is no problem, if you're like me you miss your cousins from DQ2.

Narratively DQ3 is way more sprawling and maybe less cohesive than the first two games. Where 1 and 2 felt like concise stories about the hero(es) going on a quest to defeat The Big Bad, DQ3 goes on lots of tangents and side stories that make it feel more like a Greek epic. That's either your thing or it isn't. For me it felt just barely too long, but I may have just been getting Dragon Quest fatigue. This was my partner's favorite, for what it's worth, and it seems to be a fan favorite.

If the idea of playing with party composition and a story that is much more episodic than 1 or 2 appeals to you, definitely go for this one.

DRAGON QUEST 4: I can't give you a perfect impression of this one from a retro perspective as we played the DS remake. The only other options in English that I know of are the Android / iOS and original NES versions.

Structurally this one takes a left turn again: while all the party members are pre-configured, written characters like DQ2, the game is divided up into 5 chapters that follow each individual character or group of characters until they all meet up in the fifth chapter. The upside of this is that each character gets to be much more fleshed out, but the downside for me personally was that I got so involved in each party member's storyline that in the final chapter I found myself saying "oh, right, I forgot about you" over and over as I reunited with each of the characters who I hadn't seen in sometimes up to 15 hours of in-game time. It's definitely still effective though, as I had a hard time forming a final party as I didn't want to leave anybody out.

It's hard for me to be objective about this one because I am definitely suffering Dragon Quest fatigue at this point. I think (though I'm not certain) that by DQ4 they had streamlined some of the NES controls, so you might not have to pull up the menu to open doors or talk to people anymore if you do decide to give it a shot. I will say Chapter 3 does something extremely cool that flips JRPG conventions around in a really creative way, especially considering this was 1990. Easily the highlight of the game for me, although it's just a little 5 minute gameplay subversion and not some kind of permanent paradigm shift.

DRAGON QUEST 5, 6, and 7: We have not played these yet. Technically I have played maybe 20-30 hours of Dragon Warrior 7 for the PSX. It's one of the longest Dragon Quest games, I think most people say it can be up to 80 hours. Supposedly there is a lot of fun game breaking stuff you can do with powerful class combinations in the original PSX version, which sounds cool.

DQ5 seems to be considered one of the best, so I'm excited to get into that one after I take a break from Dragon Quest. It wasn't released in the states officially until the DS remake though, so you'll have to see if there's a fan translation for the SNES. I know there's one for the PS2, which is what I plan on playing.

Worth noting that while it isn't retro in the way that 1-7 are, DQ8 is also considered one of the best, and is most similar to DQ11, so you'd probably like that one. Depending on what hardware you own (and what your computer is capable of emulating), the 3DS remake or the PS2 original may be easier to get. Major differences there are that the PS2 version has real orchestral music, and the 3DS version has visible monsters on the map instead of random encounters.

That ended up not being concise at all, my apologies! Hopefully there was some helpful information buried in there.

Consider watching this insane, RNG manipulation speed run (less than 40 minutes) for Dragon Warrior 1. You'll get the gist and be awed. I really liked DW1 back in the day, but I don't know that it's worth playing these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgh30BiWG58

Dragon Warrior Monster. It's pokemon but with creatures from the dragon warrior universe!

100% Agree but I think it important to expand on that. Dragon Warrior/Quest Monsters isn't just pokemon but Dragon Warrior. It is so much more compelling as the breeding system adds a ton of depth. Breeding in pokemon just results in making the same pokemon, and if you're a crazy person who cares about IVs and EVs is an endless grind. Breeding in the DWM/DQM games is how you obtain many types of monsters and lets you really work to build your ideal team. It is the killer feature of those games and it is a damn shame that there are very few other games taking a similar approach. (Siralim takes a lot of that but the game part is very different and while there is a ton going on there, it is pretty difficult and also there is so much its very unapproachable, Monster Crown is looking promising, but still EA.)

Played I, V and II. Def 1 and V. II smacks of the Japanese mentality in the 80's of making sequels hard just because.

I always thought DQ3 was the definitive classic DQ at this point. It the first one I played. I never finished it as a kid but I've beaten it a few times now and I love it.

All of them? But if you’re limited for time 1 or 3 & 5.

The first game isn’t that long but it’s worth poking at it and is cool because it’s a solo adventure. If you want a party though, go with 3.

5 is probably my favourite 2D JRPG (though FF6 is probably my favourite on another day) because the story is so much fun and there are some cool mechanics to play with.

4 is also really good, 6 opens strong but becomes super unfocused at a certain point. 2 is fun if you played 1 as you’ll revisit a lot of the same locations.

Think it's a shame you aren't considering playing DQ8; that game was pretty damn good (and that's coming from someone who generally dislikes the series).

From the first seven, I don't have a horse in the race on which you should play, but I'd strongly recommend against playing DQ7. It's a tortuously long game that falls short of most of it's contemporaries from the generation it came from in just about every department. Avoid at all costs.

P.S. Maybe DQ4? Aside from it's final boss being a shitshow, it was pretty alright, now that I think about it.

Thanks for the answers guys, it gives me a great starting point. This is a Raspberry Pi 4, so I am limited by hardware (and storage space) to Playstation at the most. I'll start with 4 for now and maybe eventually try out 7 when I get around to it.

4 is the best starting point. 3 and 5 are also excellent.

I've played them all. I echo that you should play 1 because it's like an 8 hour game there is no reason not to. It's good, historically significant, and very interesting how mechanically different it is.

3 is easily the best video game to be released at the time it was released. It is the Super Mario World of jrpgs. It rules and is very inviting to replay it over the years.

4 is somehow as good as 3 is in a totally different way. It's little chapter based storytelling experiment is incredible and so many games to this day could learn lesson from it.

5 is very good if maybe a tad overrated in my opinion. It's got hooks to it that might interest the non DQ player. If you are coming from a FF mindset it is maybe the easiest recommendation.

Sounds good. Like a few people are saying, though, 7 is unbelievably long. It's legitimately one of the longest RPGs ever made - right up there with the likes of Persona 5. Good game, but know what you're up against.

@ryuku_ryosake: Man, I have played 4 and 5 but never 3 and this is making me want to.

Thank you a million for reminding me about this game! I used to play it a lot when I was a kid. It was probably the first ever video game I played, and it was amazing. This game, most likely, caused me to have a special interest in dragons.

It would be super cool to play this game now. I don’t have the NES now, but it will try to install an emulator. If I manage to run it well on my PC, this weekend will be dedicated to this game for sure.

I’m surprised I’ve forgotten about this game, even though my house is full of dragon stuff from https://dragon-vibe.com/. It should have reminded me about the game.

Thanks again!

I've played DQ 1-7 within the last few years.

DQ1 is the most historically interesting, and the modern versions of it even out enough of the rough edges that it's moderately fun and breezy as far as these things go. DQ2 really only matters in comparison to the first one. DQ3 is kind of a chore, as it was the first instance of the jobs system and there isn't much story other than the cool opening cutscene. DQ4 is kind of essential, as it did a lot with playing around with the narrative and party structure and Torneko is the best. DQ5 is the only game that is more essential than DQ4, it's the one they based that animated movie off of and that's for a reason. DQ6 exists, it's fine and has some neat stuff but is also a bit too big. DQ7 is an active waste of time, as in it's 70+ hours of straight nothing.

In all honesty, if you're coming from DQ11 then you should probably just play DQ8, even though it's a bit newer than your stated console range. So in terms of relevance, the order should be: 8, 5, 4, 1. Though, as a word of warning: the final boss in DQ4 has like 16 stages and at least half an hour.

Dragon Quest 3 is probably the first one I'd recommend, at least the SNES version. It's pretty complex and creative, fairly fun overall (you might wanna emulate to speed some things up) while also giving a decent history lesson and the audiovisual upgrade there is very nice.