(snes version)
A lot of what Dragon Quest is known for both mechanically and tonally was set up here--it's lighter than the original, with a greater emphasis on ~adventure~ and imaginative locations and fun little episodes, as well as more complex battles--and there were lots of moments where I could see the vision and was tricked (for a few minutes at least) into thinking it might be a masterpiece. Discovering the land from the first game, the bunny girl colosseum, the prince getting sick...was soul-breakingly mean but also charming, the haunting metaphysics of the final dungeon...so many places and moments that will stick with me.
Unfortunately this thing just ain't tuned quite right! It's a real blockbuster style sequel to the deeply contained, considered original, casting its net wide and catching less. It's too big for its own good, too bloated, and the near spiritually perfect number crunching of the first is now kind of a mess. Worst of all, in-between those great moments is...not much, emotionally. It's like 80% tonally empty, melancholic weight replaced with the dull reality of adventuring the world.
More water, more mountains, more slimes, and less to show for it all.
A lot of what Dragon Quest is known for both mechanically and tonally was set up here--it's lighter than the original, with a greater emphasis on ~adventure~ and imaginative locations and fun little episodes, as well as more complex battles--and there were lots of moments where I could see the vision and was tricked (for a few minutes at least) into thinking it might be a masterpiece. Discovering the land from the first game, the bunny girl colosseum, the prince getting sick...was soul-breakingly mean but also charming, the haunting metaphysics of the final dungeon...so many places and moments that will stick with me.
Unfortunately this thing just ain't tuned quite right! It's a real blockbuster style sequel to the deeply contained, considered original, casting its net wide and catching less. It's too big for its own good, too bloated, and the near spiritually perfect number crunching of the first is now kind of a mess. Worst of all, in-between those great moments is...not much, emotionally. It's like 80% tonally empty, melancholic weight replaced with the dull reality of adventuring the world.
More water, more mountains, more slimes, and less to show for it all.
Like the previous game, emulator speed up is an absolute must. Even more so with this game because it's so damn long and there's loads of backtracking.
With the first game I never had a moment where I was considering quitting but with this one, I considered it many times. It just quickly becomes so dreadfully boring and frustrating.
Some positives: I appreciate how much they tried to improve upon its predecessor.
With the first game I never had a moment where I was considering quitting but with this one, I considered it many times. It just quickly becomes so dreadfully boring and frustrating.
Some positives: I appreciate how much they tried to improve upon its predecessor.
the road to rhone can suck the fattest dick
Remember when I said Dragon Quest 1 aged surprisingly well and didn't have too much cryptic NES bullshit? Well apparently DQ 2 wanted to regress in game design, because this game has a LOT of cryptic NES bullshit after the first quarter, and it's somehow MORE grindy. This game is double to triple the length of DQ 1 but instead of having anything interesting it's just a bunch of McGuffin hunting. I didn't have a guide for almost all of DQ1 (the pacing thing kinda confused me I looked up that bit but only to know which directions I should be going), but for DQ2 once you get to the boat the game doesn't direct you AT ALL, the game goes from feeling freeing to aimless and I had a guide on me for pretty much the rest of the game. Shit like a very crucial key item being on some random ass dog, having to backtrack CONSTANTLY (somehow more than the first) to other towns once you get new keys. I think this game does take some right steps in the direction for the series, party members, bigger world, slight more emphasis on story, etc, but it's CLEAR they really didn't know how to handle a good chunk of these concepts yet, which I hope are cleared out in DQ 4 (since I'm skipping 3 in wait for the HD remake supposedly coming out).
They made some of the end game grind easier but not enough to fix the game.
I made it to the very end of this game and quit. The bulk of the game is basically just more Dragon Quest 1, which isn't a bad thing. The final region is a massive grind that's not worth the effort.
ñe
This is such a dated format of collecting knick knacks. What has become of our great genre? Fuck edward or whatever the green idiots name was. Mid.
PRO TIP: el juego no ha sido playtesteado y se nota
Rendarak can rot in hell.
Harder and and deeper than the first game, probably invented jrpg companions and finally had a more involved story
Para la putísima mierda de mapa que pones a la mitad del juego, mejor no pongas nada.
This was kinda fun until you get the boat, the misdirection starting there fucks up the game entirely, i don't feel like to finish it
played this after III and I which makes it evident this is where the growing pains are. the skeleton of a better game is here in that the JRPG mechanics are as airtight as ever but it really suffers with some balancing issues; the prince of cannock wasn't well thought out in his role as a party member (supposed to be a "jack of all trades" character but the game doesn't commit to making him a strength powerhouse or a full on mage so he's kind of just mediocre at both), the endgame is an insane gauntlet that sort of requires some good RNG with encounters or else you wont be fully equipped to deal with the final boss and it's a pain to traverse the open world without a reliable fast travel after a certain point
a lot of the missteps can be attributed to a short dev time and luckily a lot of the ideas presented here are fine tuned and made 100x better in DQIII but in hindsight maybe i shouldve saved III for last instead....
a lot of the missteps can be attributed to a short dev time and luckily a lot of the ideas presented here are fine tuned and made 100x better in DQIII but in hindsight maybe i shouldve saved III for last instead....
Sin duda uno de los juegos que sentó las bases de los J-RPG, ha sido una gran experiencia y a pesar de que el 'lore' no está muy allá, se disfruta igualmente, puede que algún día vuelva a jugarlo, pero ha logrado agotarme mentalmente.
super coñazo quest II
If you ever play it, make sure to download the manual.
A lot of people see DQII as the great successor to DQI. Well, I can't share this opinion, but this is most likely, because I've played the first three DQ games back to back in a couple of days.
It feels like a weird in-between step, redoing and trying out a few things that also became standard later on, but it all doesn't feel that well made yet. Doing a direct comparison with DQIII is giving everything a beta-ish feel.
I blame that on the rushed development.
Otherwise, the game is not that different from the first part, but it is unpleasantly unbalanced.
Yes, Dragon Quest I is grindy. Dragon Quest II is grindy and unbalanced.
It feels like a weird in-between step, redoing and trying out a few things that also became standard later on, but it all doesn't feel that well made yet. Doing a direct comparison with DQIII is giving everything a beta-ish feel.
I blame that on the rushed development.
Otherwise, the game is not that different from the first part, but it is unpleasantly unbalanced.
Yes, Dragon Quest I is grindy. Dragon Quest II is grindy and unbalanced.