Ahh, Dragon Warrior! What peculiarly fond memories I have of you. Like most of the NES generation I lovingly slaved through the original quest. I fought countless Slimes and Drakees, saved a princess, and agonized over the question of “club and clothes or bamboo stick and leather armor?” The Dragon Quest / Dragon Warrior games are renowned for their steadfast refusal to adapt to the changing whims of the times.
Not too long ago I got onto a classic console RPG tear after I found Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls cheap and played through the first installment — I hadn’t so done so in something like 14 years. I picked up a used copy of Dragon Warrior VII after the unusually helpful clerk at a local game store demonstrated how the disks were almost pristine. The second disk hadn’t ever been played it seemed. It was almost like buying a brand new copy of a 5 year old game.
So, I took it home and started playing it a little bit at a time. Then, when Staci left for Florida, it became a lot of bit at a time. And, godamnit, I can understand exactly why the previous owner had never touched the second disk. The game is relentless in its commitment to making you loathe continuing. It almost dares you to keep playing. Finishing Dragon Warrior VII is a feat that should not be unheralded. Completely finishing it, well that is just about insane.
If you’ve played any of the series you know exactly what I’m talking about. You don’t get any of the breaks from the later installments of the Final Fantasy series. Early on in the game you will have to kill multiple enemies just to get enough money to stay at the inn. Buying new equipment is a time-consuming grind. And the talking! Dear lord the amount of text in this game is staggering!
The gist of Dragon Warrior VII is that long, long ago there used to be entire continents but through the devilry of the Demon Lord these were split apart and lost. By finding stone shards and forming maps you can go to these lost islands, correct whatever terror the Demon Lord had brought, and they’ll pop back into regular existence. At some point I wager I’ll probably have all of them back. I haven’t been able to make it that far yet. So the basic play style goes like this: find a few shards, plug them into a ruin, travel back in time, visit a few towns, brave a few dungeons, go back to the “real world” and see what good you’ve done. There you’ll find some more shards, maybe a fight a few people, and continue the cycle over and over again. Much to the game’s credit, this allows for an episodic feel that rewards the player repeatedly after a (relatively) short play session. It’s a double-edged copper sword though, because it really starts to get repetitive and the overarching plot only becomes apparent in little bursts.
Oh, and it’s slow. Real damned slow. How slow? When I first started the game I played for over two and a half hours before fighting my first battle. Better than two and a half hours running between two towns and a ruin doing nothing but talking to people and collecting items. The real world is a peaceful one, and with a few exceptions there are absolutely no monsters in it. No random battles is a nice break once in a while but that’s pushing the limits of sanity.
Yet, I can’t stop. I keep coming back to it. “Just a few more battles and I can level up in Mariner,” I’ll say, or, “Let’s just see what kind of island these shards make,” or, “Just a few minutes longer.” Much like a drug, it hurts you but you just can’t stop without your fix.
