Hyrule Chozo

Review - Dragon Warrior III (GBC, 2001)

A grand adventure dressed in 8-bit, turn-based clothing

In the early 2000s, Japanese developer Enix decided to re-release three classic 80s RPGs from their popular Dragon Quest series (known as Dragon Warrior in North America) on the Game Boy Color, gussied-up with improved visuals, streamlined gameplay and additional game modes.  The result was two excellent GBC cartridges, Dragon Warrior I & II and Dragon Warrior III.  I played and loved the former (you can read that review here), and much of this review can be boiled down to “like that, but more.”

This is very much an RPG in the old-school style, and the extent to which you can appreciate that will determine how much you get out of the experience.  There are no flashy cutscenes, no active-time battle system and no voice acting - in short, nothing you would call “pizazz.”  If what you come to RPGs for is high-fidelity visuals, high-energy combat, or deep character development, you will probably be disappointed here.  However, if what you want is exploration and discovery, wrapped in charming visuals and solid mechanics, Dragon Warrior III may just do the trick.

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Jenova Chen on Wasting Your Money

natebarham:

Though I’m not sure I agree that two-hour experiences are the future of gaming, this comment from Journey developer, Jenova Chen makes me want to give my money to ThatGameCompany as often as possible:

When we make games we assume that the gamers are adults. They’re paying us money to experience something. We shouldn’t put them in a grind to waste their time because time is also money.

Yes, yes it is.

I’ve never played Shadows of the Colossus, but based on reviews and impressions, it sounds like it’s a better game. As an old school Nintendo fan boy, I was pretty unimpressed with the entire Prime series.

I don’t know that it’s so easy to call SotC the objectively better game (if such a thing exists).  It certainly got a bit more praise from critics, but both games were highly lauded, and they were obviously shooting for different things.  I don’t know if being a Ninty fanboy would help or hurt someone’s impression of the Prime series, but it was actually my first Metroid game, for whatever that’s worth.

However (and I hadn’t thought about it until now), the games are similar in many ways.  Both evoke feelings of solitude and isolation.  Both have minimalist stories with little or no dialogue.  Both have heavy emphasis on exploration.  Both utilize gorgeous natural environments and chilling music to great effect.  Both were among the very best looking games for their respective consoles.  I suppose this explains why they compete for my love.

Shadow of the Colossus was definitely a fantastic game, probably one of the most beautifully executed that I’d seen in that generation. Too bad it wasn’t released on the current generation. That would have been a feast for the eyes.

Well, there is the HD collection, of course, but I’ve seen videos of it, and I honestly don’t see a huge difference from the original.  Having never played current-gen games, I already think it’s a feast for the eyes, and am not convinced that moving the game to the PS3, with it’s high development costs and complex architecture, would have been a positive move.

anxietyofninfluence replied to your post: soapy-illusions replied to your post…

I’ve never quite understood grinding, myself. I get the impression its cathartic/relaxing? Have any thoughts on it?

Interesting question.  You are certainly not alone, as grinding is a pretty universally maligned design choice.  I alluded to that in the post that you replied to, and a couple of months ago, I even wrote a whole piece entitled “Mandatory Grinding is Bad Game Design.”  However, the word “mandatory” there is a big one, because what I was complaining about is when games (in this case Castlevania: Circle of the Moon) put up false walls and force you to grind to an arbitrary level before allowing you to progress.  That is just a cheap way to pad out the game’s length without adding anything interesting or fun.

But for me, the Dragon Warrior/Quest brand of optional grinding is much more enjoyable than this.  Part of why I appreciate it is simply that I am bad at videogames.  I usually play games on the easiest difficulty setting, and just barely scrape by.  Optional grinding allows players like me to set the pace and difficulty of the game as we see fit.  If I’m feeling adventurous, I can run off into that next dungeon straight from the last and hope I can make it through.  If I’m feeling more cautious, and not in the mood to die and lose progress, I can grind a couple of levels, save, and then try the dungeon with more confidence and less stress.

So I don’t really enjoy the act of grinding so much as I enjoy its place as a mechanic in a game.  The act itself is dull and repetitive, of course, though I do sometimes get lost in what is a brainless, but basically enjoyable haze.