Why RPG Developers Should Ripoff the Original Dragon Quest

Comments · 152

• TH

  @TheCrawl · 4 years ago · pinned

  Hey all! Here are links to the video and game I brought up in the video:<br><br>&quot;It&apos;s Six Random Characyers and a Single Floor Dungeon That&apos;s The Whole Game&quot; on Steam: <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1452000/Its_Six_Random_Characters_and_a_Single_Floor_Dungeon_Thats_the_Whole_Game/">https://store.steampowered.com/app/1452000/Its_Six_Random_Characters_and_a_Single_Floor_Dungeon_Thats_the_Whole_Game/</a><br><br>@HPRshredder Dragon Warrior 1 review: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKyzJXkwmfM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKyzJXkwmfM</a>

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• FI

  @FiggsNeughton · 2 years ago

  &gt;puts on cursed belt<br>&gt;push reset button<br>&gt;quest complete

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• HP

  @HPRshredder · 4 years ago

  That is really solid advice for devs. For anyone who&apos;s ever taken an art history course; you usually spend a little while learning about the processes of artists on their journey to become professionals. Often they do something called &quot;copying the master&quot; where they find a work and attempt to duplicate it exactly to learn through the process of creation. Going back to the source and trying to understand what makes a classic game classic from a development perspective is sort of like the video game equivalent of creating a &quot;Master Copy&quot;<br><br>Personally, my favorite thing about Dragon Quest was is way it begins and teaches you. You don&apos;t even have the ability to heal yourself until you level up. Then once you do level up, you save money by refilling MP rather than staying at the inn, making you more efficient. You can grind the lower-level enemies forever if you want to, but the monotony drives you to explore. Go too far though; and you die. I think that is just about the core of what makes an RPG addictive. It&apos;s finding that balance between grinding, rewards, and progression.

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• DO

  @dopaminecloud · 2 years ago

  What can be achieved in small titles like dq1 as well is that each location can serve a unique role with minimal overlap. Shrines as signposts for key-item progression, a mere 3(!) caves on the overworld, 2 of which are optional. Only two real dungeons. 5 towns, 3 of which you can visit within the first 20 minutes of play. It is so incredibly terse that the entire negative connotation of rpgs being tedious sounds insane to apply. Beyond that the game is generous too. Level ups very quickly and significantly grow your stats and each new spell is a game changer. New area too scary? One level up and a single piece of armor later and you&apos;re completely fine. It&apos;s snappy in pace but still presents the feeling of overcome real barriers rather than gliding along a stat curve so smooth you can&apos;t feel it by having these sharp steps in power.

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• GR

  @GreatistheWorld · 3 years ago

  As someone who’s gotten into Dragon Quest in the last few years, I think developing an RPG without drawing from DQ’s lessons is like developing an FPS while never playing Doom. There’s a tightness, elegance and perfectly-dialed friction that frankly any genre can learn from. There could be a video like this for every Dragon Quest installment

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• XX

  @XXXXD · 4 years ago

  One of my favourite gameplay driven story telling comes from Dragon Quest 5 , right after you leave the docks you are ambushed by slimes hero cant do nothing and then Papas joins in to completly wreck them .

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• MA

  @matt-on-tech · 4 years ago

  Great points. Reminds me of late last year, I played an old Genesis RPG called Sword of Vermillion. Very basic, but a breezy and enjoyable experience. Not every RPG has to be 50 hours long, that&apos;s for sure!

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• RA

  @Ratty524 · 2 years ago

  Dragon Quest is such a well-designed, concise game that too many people underestimate. It does have its flaws that mainly boil down to the game being too simple for its own good, but its attention to detail and anti-frustration features are something even most modern RPGs could learn from.

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• DU

  @dubistdran5781 · 2 years ago

  just saw this video and the point at around <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aEmVshZRRc&amp;t=397">6:37</a> is totaly true, I work with RPG Maker MZ and make a solo RPG (You can have a Pet and Summons if you don&apos;t want to be alone) But LIMIT your Scope! I don&apos;t have pressure caused by Time on me, cause it is a Hobby for me. But Even I had to cut short on a few things that I might add later if I ever finish my project. I wanted to make a Turn based RPG with Elements of Morrowind and the Type based Battle System of Pokemon, and omfg this is way harder than one may think. I have made a Crime System where guards attack or arrest you when you have a bounty and citizens report your crime when they see you commiting one, working on crafting right now, did most of the Abilities ( nearly 50 DIFFERENT!) &nbsp;1 for Player and the same for NPC&apos;s cause you level via using skills. Then there is my big Weakness, the Visuals, I bought many things and still had to do change some stuff to make it work. Then there is Dialog even for every unneccessary NPC, which all are attackable so you need for every skin an own troop, &nbsp;than there are overworld encounters which are mostly non-monster stuff, like Bandits and other Humanoid creatures... which have different skin colour and Skins overall... Which all need a troop again, and because you can see them in the Overworld I can&apos;t randomize it...Everything needs to be done by Hand... Oh and of course there are mixing Enemies in the Troops... I could go on and on and on... I have around 50 or 60 hours in, and still doing the groundwork (I have 2 Citys and 2 Dungeons and 2 Routes if you would consider them this, but still...), yeah I nearly finsihed the groundwork.. for now, but please if anyone is reading this. Know what you can achieve in the time you set yourself and what is neccessary for your core gameplay to work.

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• DO

  @doomscribe98 · 2 years ago

  DQ was the first RPG I played on a console, Dragon Warrior rather. I used to rent 1-4 on a regular basis, crossing my fingers that my save would be intact. Between that and CRPGs it was a golden age…every series was different but revolved around similar mechanics.

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• SH

  @shanedunn8932 · 4 years ago

  Haha I just bought the DQ mobile port to do the very thing this video is about. I realized too many &nbsp;RPG Maker ideas I had were too grandiose while I&apos;m still an intermediate level user, so I played through it and now I&apos;m starting a new project with the same simple scope - one protagonist, a few relics to collect, one hub, maybe five small towns and a big overworld. &nbsp;Great video!

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• SE

  @SeveredLegs · 2 years ago

  My favorite old DQ game is actually DQ2. A real sense of exploration for the first time in those days. Tough as nails, but extremely rewarding. There&apos;s a lot of nuance in the game for it being so simple. Part of the fun of the game is figuring out little things that instantly progress the story, like using the Mirror of Ra to turn the princess from a dog back to a human. Nothing flashy or developed. You&apos;ve turned her human, she&apos;s part of the party now.

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