What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?

Dragon Quest (Switch)

June 11th, 2022

It's Saturday, so I tried to do a decent update on this site today! I started a fairly basic Game Index page, figuring it would be easier to do it now while there's not too much I've typed about than it will be a month from now. So far, I'm not completely satisfied with it, but I'll think about what I can do and come back to it later.

Last night, though, I cleared Dragon Quest! I didn't think I was going to beat the final boss last night, but the final dungeon was a lot more straightforward than I expected. I just kind of went in, wandered around, found the boss, and defeated them by an extremely slim margin.

I kept expecting that the game would have more tricks up its sleeve than it actually did, which isn't a bad thing. It was nice to sit back and wander through an early, basic, and charming RPG on a week where I wasn't feeling so well. It drove me kind of crazy that the Switch port had choppy scrolling, since a modern machine should be able to handle a mobile version of a Famicom game, but even that wasn't enough to ruin the game. Dragon Quest was nice.

June 10th, 2022

I definitely kicked butt playing Dragon Quest last night! I'd been worried that I was missing some sort of big hint in the previous towns about where the Golem I needed to fight might be, but found in a place that made complete sense during the course of normal gameplay. I sometimes expect that older games are going to be way more cryptic than they actually happen to be.

From there, everything fell into place. I got the last key item I needed, levelled up a few times and got the high cost equipment I needed, and am ready to go to the Dragonlord's castle the next time I play. I might get this game cleared this weekend.

June 9th, 2022

I was still extremely sleepy last night, so I basically found one key item, leveled up once, and quit playing Dragon Quest last night. I know exactly where I need to go next, but if I just end up levelling up again tonight, that is fine, too. Progress is progress.

June 8th, 2022

I stayed awake, but the Switch port of Dragon Quest did not run better in docked mode. It was still a decent and relaxing way to pass some very sleepy time, though. I rescued the princess, leveled up, and have a vague idea of where I need to go next. I think I'm close to the end already, but since I knew it was a short game, that's not so shocking. I'll probably at least level grind a bit more tonight.

June 7th, 2022

I mostly slept again yesterday, so today's goal is to stay awake and get on a normal schedule so I can go back to work tomorrow. It's somewhat challenging!

Before my real bedtime last night, though, I played the Switch port of the first Dragon Quest for a little bit. It is a low cost port of a very old game, which I understand, but it runs really badly. The choppy scrolling on the overworld was driving me crazy. It's still plenty pleasant and low stress, but this game is old enough that making it work on a modern console should be a breeze. Oh, well. I'll probably keep going over some hot tea today. Maybe I'll see if it can run any better in docked mode.