Dragon Fantasy

I play a lot of RPGs. This shouldn't be a shock to everyone, but what should be is the fact that I generally don't find a tough one. Generally, the strategies and techniques that people have developed or know as rules to live by (Save often, level evenly, micromanage abilities and points, etc.) work, and remembering these techniques generally keep you alive through the plot. For games like Dragon Warrior with a limited plot and heavier gameplay, you have to focus more. Dragon Fantasy is kinda like that, only with a lot more choices and difficulty to worry about. A good example of this is the great amount of weapons and armor I can choose....coupled with the fact that this world's economy really is making the stuff hard-to-get. And you need these items too, considering the monsters. It's a lovely challenge, but it's not for beginners of any kind.
The graphics are 8-bit, and the music is the same midi work from the old kind of RPGs when large maps roamed the earth and random encounters ran rampant along the countryside, ripping apart the common adventurer with a destiny in twain. And they're not kidding here; you'll be listening to the battle music for quite awhile as the monsters, with their magic use and high-HP counts even in early monsters make the battles last much longer, especially bosses. Did I mention this game was hard? I believe I had, but it's not like it hasn't tried to spread out items in large quantities to give you a fighting chance. That being said, this game clearly was made to put more emphasis onto it's gameplay-a very important design choice. When a game decides to focus on gameplay, you're generally assured an interesting time, just that the atmosphere is a little shallow.


The Good:

- Strong, old-school combat system using nothing special, and it doesn't need to.
- Simple story which gets you right in the game.
- Enough information to keep you interested, while keeping you in the dark enough to keep the player surprised.

The Bad:

- So much harder. Totally not for novices.
- Hearing the same old-school music loop continuously will grate anyone's ears.
- If you haven't played a non-graphic intensive RPG in awhile, it might be a little bright.