Treasure comes in conveniently placed boxes

Word. Gathering herbs from chests in caves is where it's at.  Herbs are for healing.  How they stay fresh in those caves, I have no idea.  You would think you get them in the fields and things walking around outside.  

Is the whole "herbs = healing" an Asian influence, or a medieval one?

Anyways...

In other news, I found the Fighter's Ring and I'm leveling up to use the Swamp Cave tunnel.  I don't think the Fighter's Ring is required to beat the game, but it's a help, giving you some combat bonuses which make a big difference early on.

I actually find the level curve in this game is excellently tweaked to pull you in, giving you the power to smack down stronger enemies right before it gets boring.

The game is surprisingly playable despite the primitive UI, but the walking speed is slooooooow. Fortunately, I'm playing on an emulator and you can set a key on the controller to be fast-forward.

Unfortunately, it makes the music play annoyingly fast, too. And the score is actually one of the best parts of the Dragon Warrior/Quest series. (They hired a famous composer for TV music to make the game music - another innovation this game is responsible for.)

Back to the image - the finding of power ups and items in chests is a definite trope in gaming.  I'm not sure how much it predates this game.  I know that in pen and paper gaming, you find all kinds of random treasure, only some of which is in a chest sometimes.

I think this game (and others) used the cheat thing as just a sort of icon - a visual shorthand to represent "some treasure is here".  It's funny how that shorthand has simply continued to carry over even into 3D modern games where any dungeon or castle is just littered with conveniently spaced boxes to open, like a birthday party where you have to kill monsters instead of blow out candles to get your gifts.