It’s common knowledge that the original Dragon Quest is one of the most influential Japanese video games of all time, giving birth to the Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) genre and inspiring notable series such as Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star. Dragon Quest was itself influenced by Western computer RPGs -- primarily Ultima and Wizardry – but creator Yuji Horii wisely chose to reduce the complexity and difficulty of the games he was inspired by, making Dragon Quest a fairly streamlined experience.
After the original’s mammoth success, Horii set out to make a sequel that would more closely resemble the Western RPGs that he loved so dearly. For starters, Dragon Quest II’s world is exponentially bigger than that of the first game (in fact, the entire land of Alefgard from DQI can be revisited in DQII and takes up just a small portion of its world). Another big change is the addition of two playable companion characters who join the hero on his quest. DQII’s scope is incredibly ambitious, but it unfortunately takes a few missteps that lead to an occasionally frustrating experience.
Dragon Quest II’s most notable problem is its difficulty balance, or lack thereof. Unlike its predecessor’s one-on-one combat, DQII pits a party of foes against you, and while having companions should theoretically even the odds a bit, the companions you pick up are woefully unprepared to take on the dark forces of Hargon. Your first companion, the Prince of Cannock, is ostensibly a warrior-priest – not as sturdy or powerful as the starting character (the Prince of Middenhall), but able to use a handful of spells. Unfortunately, Cannock never pulls his own weight, and his inability to equip most weapons and armor causes him to get cut down by most monsters with only a couple of hits. The second companion, the Princess of Moonbrooke, is physically frail, but commands some powerful offensive spells. So you have one powerhouse tank of a character in Middenhall, who is accompanied by a near-worthless weenie and a glass cannon. Many monsters are programmed to specifically target the weakest character, so you spend much of the game backtracking to town to revive your flimsy partners.
Things only get worse in the game’s final section, which is woefully unbalanced to the point of being entirely unfair. Monsters spam status effect spells such as sleep and poison, which soften your already tender party up for an easy wipe, but the absolute worst thing in the game is the inclusion of multiple instant death spells. One regular enemy can cast Sacrifice, which murders your entire party 100% of the time. If you’re unfortunate enough to be ambushed by a team of Blizzard monsters and they spam the Defeat spell, you party might be wiped from existence before you can even attempt to run. One dungeon towards the end is very long and mazelike, with pitfalls that drop you to zombie-infested “trap” rooms. It’s difficult enough without instant kill spells, so their inclusion is just baffling.
Difficulty gripes aside, DQII has a lot going for it. Graphics aren’t improved much over the first game, but there is more variety in monster design, and Akira Toriyama’s art style lends well to the 8-bit pixel art. Background art during combat was sadly compromised in order to fit more enemies on the screen at once, but it’s a small price to pay to increase the number of enemies significantly, and the size of the enemy sprites was not reduced whatsoever. The game’s music is fantastic, with some of the most memorable and iconic tunes in the entire series, and you’ll be humming the town, overworld, and battle themes long after turning the game off.
Your mileage may vary in regards to how much you enjoy exploring the world of Dragon Quest II, as there is a distinct shift towards non-linearity when your party acquires a ship about a third of the way into the game. Suddenly, you are presented with a dozen or so options of where to go next, and the game’s all-over-the-place difficulty can make it difficult to know if you’re at the right place. It can be quite daunting, but also a little exhilarating to make a dangerous trek through an unexplored island in the hopes of discovering a hidden town or monolith, and fortunately the game lets you cast a Return spell to return to a previously-visited location.
Dragon Quest II is generally considered to be one of the weaker games in the series, and while I’m inclined to agree, I think many of its strengths are overlooked, along with its significance to JRPGs. The original NES version of the game will likely not appeal to many people these days, but it has been remade several times, and all of those versions are much more accessible, with balance tweaks and a few layers of much-needed polish. The Super Famicom and Game Boy Color versions are a great way to revisit this somewhat infamous entry without suffering through the worst difficulty spike in the entire series.
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