Summer Paws

Rating:  8 😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻

Ages 1+, no reading, just point and click, can be a little frustrating to find that last cat, but overall just simple and cute.

I bet you thought you were going to get DragonQuest/DragonWarrior 3. Nope. I'm off to a convention this weekend and I've had grandkids visiting so I need a short and sweet review for a short and sweet game.

Summer Paws was one I picked up on a whim. It was on sale for only a couple of dollars and it looked cute. It's on Switch and Steam. I played it on the Switch so I'm linking to the Switch store.

In this game, you visit islands and look for sleeping kitties among all the awake ones. Click on them and they wake up. You can shift the camera view, zoom in and out, open windows, close umbrellas, and basically click on everything. It's a very kid-friendly game, even for little ones. I only played it with the controller, but tapping on the screen would probably work even better.

The controls were a bit touchy and some of the cats were really hard to find, but overall this short game was very cute and surprisingly relaxing to play. No time limits, no tricky jumping, just looking for sleeping cats so you can wake them up to join in the fun.

NES DragonWarrior 2, aka DragonQuest 2

 Rating: 9 😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸

Ages: 5+, requires some reading, simplified combat, epic storyline, a few mild innuendos (watch out for the bunny ear bikini women!)

So, when I bought DragonWarrior 1, I also picked up DragonWarrior 2 and 3. Then played through all three.

DragonWarrior 2 is a much larger game than DragonWarrior 1. They took the success of the first one and made it bigger and better. The story is much deeper and more complex. They added in two other characters to join your hero on his quest. That was one of my major beefs with the game, though. In adding more characters and more story, they made it more confusing. It took me too long to figure out I had to go several different places looking for the lazy prince to get him to join my party before I could progress farther. The open-world had a few more hard barriers to progressing, one of which was recruiting the prince and princess to my party which was hard when I couldn't find them and couldn't remember who gave me the hints about it. This is where Google and walkthroughs can help, but I also like figuring it out for myself. Until I get too frustrated. So it got dinged one star for being just a bit too obtuse about things.

It plays very similarly to DragonWarrior 1 - simple controls, turn-based, and all the rest. There is more strategy involved in how you line up your party and what attacks and equipment you use. The game requires more brains than coordination, which I appreciate.

The story is satisfying. This time you are saving a larger world, a century after you saved Alefgard from the evil DragonLord. Now you are facing off against a bigger, meaner, bad guy. And it will take more quests, more battles, more buffing before you have the strength needed to save everyone and bring back life and light to the world.

I have the cartridge for this one for my NES. The original version requires a LOT of grinding. The upgrade is a huge improvement allowing the player to focus more on the story and less on marching around in circles near the towns so when the monsters almost kill you, you can run fast into town and heal up before heading out to grind more.

One of the best improvements was the ability to name the Prince and Princess. The game does have a random list of a few names it assigns them, but I like to type in my own names. So my hero is always named squid (yes, I don't capitalize it because that requires more typing with the joystick which is a pain in the butt and my least favorite part of the game), and I named the prince Fred and the princess Arbodee.

So pick up a sequel that is everything bigger and better than the original.

NES DragonWarrior 1, aka DragonQuest 1

Rating: 10 😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸

Ages 5+, requires some reading, simple combat, epic storyline

 

This game holds a very special place in my heart. This was one of the first games I ever really played; well, not counting Telengard, Solitaire, and a bunch of weird ones we had on our Commodore-64 years and years ago.

For the history of this game, first released in the US for the NES in August 1989, check out the wikipedia article. And a note on the name: DragonQuest was the name in Japan, DragonWarrior was the name it was released under in the US.

I played through this game back in the 1990s on an NES we borrowed. I still have the cartridge with the system in my other room. It captivated me. I could wander around and explore, fight monsters (and usually die when I wandered into an area too difficult for my character's level), talk to townspeople, go on quests or not, as I chose. It really was one of the very first open-world games. No hard barriers, except the one for the final boss, just soft barriers to steer you along the path of the storyline. But even that storyline wasn't linear. I could fumble around without clues and hope to stumble into a piece of story or I could talk to people in the game and get the clues and try to figure it out from there. But it didn't make too much difference what order I did things in.

I also loved that combat was totally turn-based and only required me to push the A-button then choose my action from a very short menu. The monster would patiently wait for me if I needed to run to the bathroom or take care of a screaming child (which happened many times during my game play over the years).

I was thrilled to discover DragonQuest/DragonWarrior 1 recently on the Nintendo Switch. And bonus! It was a few dollars to buy. That was a no-brainer purchase.

Just a side note: I adore the Switch. I can sit in my recliner and play games without worrying about cables. The controllers feel like old friends. The buttons are still pretty simple, especially for the retro games.

My son played the original cartridge on the NES while I played the Switch version. Other than adjusting the balance of experience points, money, and leveling mechanics, the game is the same. Okay, most of the art and sprites have been updated because those 8-bit graphics would look horrendous on the ginormous tv I play the switch on. Pixels as big as your face! Nope, not gonna happen. But they did clean it up and it's a pretty game, very retro pixelated graphics reminiscent of the original. They also switched the music to a more orchestral version.

With the re-balancing, they reduced the amount of grinding needed to gain levels and money for equipment. Monsters give you more gold and more experience per fight, so you don't need to chase down and slaughter quite so many. Of course, if you have had a bad day and need to work out some frustration, spend a few hours hunting down slimes and mashing A until they die. It's very therapeutic.

The story for DragonQuest 1 is pretty simple and short, but it still has surprising depth. There are a couple of dragons to fight, a princess to rescue, and a world to save. And loads of other monsters to battle, peasants and merchants to talk to, secrets to uncover, and the whole world of Alefgard to explore.

If you enjoy games where you don't have to have good reflexes and enough coordination to make tricky jumps, where the story is an epic fantasy quest, DragonQuest/DragonWarrior 1 is a great choice.

Available on the
Nintendo Switch as a download. You might be able to locate a cartridge for an NES system, if you own one of those, through GameStop or eBay or other collector's sites.

Introduction

 Hey, everyone! Welcome to my game review site.

This is where I post the games I've found that I enjoy playing along with a review of what worked for me, what didn't, and any other fun tidbits I discovered about the game.

My hand-eye coordination has never been too great, so the games I like are rarely the popular ones. I'm a bit picky about story and character, too. I prefer games that let me explore and play at my pace. Most of what I play is on Nintendo, because that's the system I own (NES, GameCube, Wii, and Switch, along with a collection of old gameboys). I've got a few games on my Mac laptops and a couple on my Android phone, so those might sneak in, too.

I promise I don't play Candy Crush or those dreadful Facebook games that force you to bribe your friends into playing, too. I prefer single-player games that don't require pay-to-play mechanics. I do have a weird sense of humor so that affects my tastes, too.

My plan is to post once or twice a month, or whenever I run across a really fun game.

So buckle up, and join me for the ride!

And yes, I am a gramma.