cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/3558411
When you start playing Dragon Warrior you are given an important message by the king, the bad guy is back and you need to stop him. As you step outside the castle and are taken to the world map this is what you see.
That castle on the bottom right, surrounded by a poisonous bog, is your destination. If you could cross a few water tiles you could confront the Dragonlord right now. Unfortunately that cannot be done, and instead the game takes you on a journey through points 1 to 13 listed in the original image.
The effect is neat at the end of the game as well. As you approach the villain's lair you can see the castle where it all began.
I found they were on the Google play and wanted to play them all. Dragon Quest 1 went fairly well, beat it in about a week off casual play.
Dragon Quest 2 went poorly. Turns out there's a bug in the game that makes random encounters MUCH higher than it should be. Just getting to the first town took me a week because moving more than 3 tiles generated an encounter.
Still haven't beat 2 because of that.
I don't remember dragon warrior 2 being that bad. Maybe it's a ROM issue, maybe young me was more comfortable with a constant grind.
3 is special. It shows it's age, but it's very very good.
4 is a little more uneven, but I think it's the first RPG to change your perspective/main character across the story. Also it has the best story of any JRPG I have ever played.
If you haven't played 3 you absolutely should! I enjoy the first two games a lot but the third is something special.