Two legendary JRPGs packaged in one.
I’d give 1 a 7/10 and 2 about a 5. Neither of these aged well id say but its nice to see where it all began.
I’d give 1 a 7/10 and 2 about a 5. Neither of these aged well id say but its nice to see where it all began.
very happy to have finally played the SFC versions of these games. most DQ games Ive played were their SFC counterparts so I always felt like I had to experience this one eventually. both games are amazing, I love the simplicity of DQ1, makes for a very comforting game to beat in a day. DQ2 has an amazing world that I never get tired of exploring, despite the difficulty spike at the end. I felt a newfound appreciation for these game again. will certainly try out the GBC versions some day
Dragon Quest I: 7/10
Dragon Quest II: 4/10
It's also true that I should replay II better since I re-liked it with the Switch version (which is an awful smartphone porting).
Dragon Quest II: 4/10
It's also true that I should replay II better since I re-liked it with the Switch version (which is an awful smartphone porting).
Pretty good, probably the best versions of these games (the GBC version, which i can't find here hehe) . I have to remark that getting the ship in II for the first time and exploring the world made it feel pretty massive compared to the first game, pretty magical illusion i gotta say.
It almost feels cliche to say that Dragon Quest 1 and 2 are showing their age. I think I could get through even the worst of grind-y JRPGs with some gumption and a fast forward hotkey. This package is probably the best way to play these two games if you don't want to play the awkward looking mobile ports (which are the same as the versions on switch). DQ3 remake is coming soon-ish and I'm very glad I played these when I did. These still hold up because the foundation of JRPGs is built around these games. I need to play something with a little more quality of life features next, though. Or at least better menus.
(Emulated with an English patch.)
Dragon Quest 1 and 2 come from a different era of RPGs without quest markers or obvious railroading toward a destination. The developers plop you in a starting town and tell you to figure it out...and that's sort of the joy of it. From your first Slime to the Dragonlord, it really does feel like a quest, as you level up, gather hints from NPCs, and solve puzzles. I played both 1 and 2 with a journal to take physical notes, and I think that's how it's meant to be enjoyed, to be quite honest.
Dragon Quest 1 and 2 come from a different era of RPGs without quest markers or obvious railroading toward a destination. The developers plop you in a starting town and tell you to figure it out...and that's sort of the joy of it. From your first Slime to the Dragonlord, it really does feel like a quest, as you level up, gather hints from NPCs, and solve puzzles. I played both 1 and 2 with a journal to take physical notes, and I think that's how it's meant to be enjoyed, to be quite honest.
Solid remakes of Dragon Quest 1 and 2, too bad those games aren't that good.
dragon quest her zaman güzeldir (herhalde, sadece bunu oynadım)
Dragon Quest 1 was a cute little game i finished in a couple of hours. While I didn't GREATLY enjoy the experience, it was really enhanced by reading a manga called, "The Road to Dragon Quest." A wonderful step into the world of Dragon Quest. The second game, however, i stopped in the middle of because of all the GRINDING. Grind HERE grind THERE i wanna GRIND my brain into mush. So i ended up dropping it. It WAS however, very cool that Alefgard was revealed to be inside a bigger continent.
This game is awesome, one of my favorites in my collection, it's really great remakes of the first two dragon quest games, highly recommend!
My favorite version of Dragon Quest I and II. I like it a lot as it updates these two games using the DQV engine for SFC, it also balances and modernizes them a bit, but I think it's mostly because I really like the feeling of playing a good Super Nintendo game :) Be that as it may, I'd like to talk about these 2 games in depth, so this time I'll do a double review.
- Dragon Quest -
The birth of a legendary franchise. The first Dragon Quest, certainly is a memorable game and an enjoyable experience, but it is also a very archaic and rudimentary game.
In this game we only control one character in the entire adventure, which results in rather simplistic and a bit boring combat to be perfectly honest, however, the magic of the first Dragon Quest lies not in its combat, but in its great little sense of adventure and its interesting world full of mysteries.
We start the adventure with a single simple mission; defeat the evil Dragonlord, and that is the only clear objective we are given at the beginning, as the game invites us to be ourselves the ones to explore and discover more of its world. The first time I played this game, something as simple and as ambiguous as that was just what I needed, and I'm not exaggerating. I came with the idea that RPGs were just about following a relatively linear story and learning complex systems that at some point had to get good and interesting, and that to me sounded like a pretty long process, and more considering how slow RPGs are (ironically nowadays I think the opposite and I recognize that it was a very closed view, but I still think that giving freedom to the player is something important).
So playing this game I was quite intrigued and pleased to explore the world, without having a really clear and established path, having that freedom was really important, I loved getting lost in the world and discovering it on my own. Something important about Dragon Quest's design is that losing a battle doesn't mean game over, but the game will always give you a second chance, you will keep the whole experience and the only real penalty of a defeat is losing half of your money. A deal that I consider more than fair, as it meant to me that I could make a mistake without fear of wasting my time, and compared to other games of the time, these on the other hand would return you to the last save point or directly to the beginning of the game erasing all your progress.
Exploring the world, every time I met an NPC and they would tell me a hint or a tip, I remember to write it down in a notebook so I wouldn't forget it. I even drew some of the dungeon maps that were there because in this game the caves are kind of confusing and have no light, so making something to help orient you is very helpful. I really liked this as it somehow added to that sense of mystery and adventure, and most of all immersion. Eventually I had to consult a guide as there are items you get with clues that are very ambiguous, like the mark of erdrick. But still, I think what an average player can discover on his own is considerable, unlike games like Zelda 1 and 2 or Castlevania 2, where a guide is more necessary.
The music by Koichi Sugiyama is decent, but nothing out of the ordinary, I have to say that the battle theme doesn't appeal to me and it's something you'll hear very often. However, it was here that one of the most legendary and iconic themes in the world of video games was born and a personal favorite that whenever I listen to it transports me to a world full of fantasy and adventure.
Conclusion
The game that started it all, with a rather humble proposal even for its time, but that was a great success in the history of video games to simplify the hitherto very complex RPG and be the first of its kind to be in a home console. I'm not exaggerating when I say that up until then Famicom and NES games had barely any text and story within the game, but DQ was the first to offer such an amount of text and personality through it.
- Dragon Quest II -
Dragon Quest II is an open world RPG that was a giant step forward in terms of everything for the series. Although the game has some problems, on the other hand, it is what I consider to be the true first JRPG in form and the "blueprint" that all JRPGs at the time would try to emulate.
But well, let's start from the beginning. The story is still almost as simple as in the previous game, but at least in this game we already have an introductory cinematic that gives us more motivation to stop the villain, still, that and meeting the other heroes are the only major events that happen in the whole game, so don't expect much in that sense.
Once again, what captivates me and what I love about this game is its large world to explore and the sense of adventure it generates. I really like how the world is gigantic and so open from the start and you can traverse a lot of it in any order you want once you get the ship. It really is a great expansion and improvement on the first title, and the large world to explore gives you a great sense of adventure, and exploring by ship is just enjoyable. One aspect that I really like is how every time you get a different key many previously inaccessible paths open up, it makes many places that at first seemed unimportant get a new meaning, often being like a kind of reward for the player for remembering those places and staying curious. There are many things that you can discover on your own, however, there are a lot of other things that are achieved in very specific ways that with the ambiguous clues given by the NPCs will not be enough to deduce it, so you will need a guide at certain points.
The combats follow the same bases of the previous installment, but it evolves and becomes really interesting by introducing for the first time a party! That will consist of a warrior and 2 mages, which greatly improves the combat system compared to the previous DQ. However, another big flaw that Dragon Quest II has is how frustrating it can feel because of how unbalanced it can be sometimes, because now the enemies also come in groups and some have annoying attacks, and many times the groups are big, but the main reason is that only our hero can equip himself with good weaponry, while the two mages will have to make do with barely decent equipment, or the fact that getting items that recover MP is very difficult. Although to be honest, it's not as terrible as people paint it. I highly recommend withdrawing from the dungeons when you run out of MP or feel that you are not going to overcome it, I also recommend in combat to use more the "Defense" command and spells that alter states to make the battles more manageable, as I feel that only the final dungeons of the game are the difficult part of this and those that will require grinding.
The first DQ had nice tunes, I would say barely decent, but this is where I think I fell in love with DQ's music. Although the amount of songs is few, they complement the game very well and give it a certain charm, I especially like the town theme, the first overworld theme and the credits theme. The credits theme is without a doubt still to this day one of my favorite (if not my favorite) ending songs in video games.
Conclusion
This game already feels more like a proper JRPG, whereas the first DQ felt like a failed attempt at that as far as the combat system is concerned. The world is vastly larger and more entertaining to explore, the music is of outstanding quality, the combat is much more interesting and the variety of monsters is vastly expanded. The difficulty and how ambiguous it can be are pretty notable flaws, but I'm sure no one here plays NES games without a guide, so that's more a characteristic of all adventure games of the era rather than being a unique flaw of DQII.
It's often looked down upon because people think that after the first DQ, the obvious and direct evolution would be a game like the first Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest III, but I think people forget that those two games are just Dragon Quest II, but refined, as the game that really cemented and laid most of the groundwork for the JRPG genre and all future titles in the series (and even Final Fantasy), is this one.
Double Conclusion
This was my "official" entry playing the Dragon Quest franchise, and that time I played these games years ago, my interest in Dragon Quest became very strong, and I'm glad I stayed there to have discovered DQ in full and see its evolution from its roots, I think it's something that was extremely worthwhile.
Yeah, maybe they are bad games nowadays, that's why I gave them such a low rating, but for me they are great games and true classics, that if it were up to me, I would rate them a 9/10.
Through the simplest and most primitive, the charm and simplicity of the early Dragon Quests brought back my interest in RPGs, and that's something I'll always remember and is the reason I'm grateful for these two titles. Undoubtedly important games that contributed significantly in making me the player I am today.
- Dragon Quest -
The birth of a legendary franchise. The first Dragon Quest, certainly is a memorable game and an enjoyable experience, but it is also a very archaic and rudimentary game.
In this game we only control one character in the entire adventure, which results in rather simplistic and a bit boring combat to be perfectly honest, however, the magic of the first Dragon Quest lies not in its combat, but in its great little sense of adventure and its interesting world full of mysteries.
We start the adventure with a single simple mission; defeat the evil Dragonlord, and that is the only clear objective we are given at the beginning, as the game invites us to be ourselves the ones to explore and discover more of its world. The first time I played this game, something as simple and as ambiguous as that was just what I needed, and I'm not exaggerating. I came with the idea that RPGs were just about following a relatively linear story and learning complex systems that at some point had to get good and interesting, and that to me sounded like a pretty long process, and more considering how slow RPGs are (ironically nowadays I think the opposite and I recognize that it was a very closed view, but I still think that giving freedom to the player is something important).
So playing this game I was quite intrigued and pleased to explore the world, without having a really clear and established path, having that freedom was really important, I loved getting lost in the world and discovering it on my own. Something important about Dragon Quest's design is that losing a battle doesn't mean game over, but the game will always give you a second chance, you will keep the whole experience and the only real penalty of a defeat is losing half of your money. A deal that I consider more than fair, as it meant to me that I could make a mistake without fear of wasting my time, and compared to other games of the time, these on the other hand would return you to the last save point or directly to the beginning of the game erasing all your progress.
Exploring the world, every time I met an NPC and they would tell me a hint or a tip, I remember to write it down in a notebook so I wouldn't forget it. I even drew some of the dungeon maps that were there because in this game the caves are kind of confusing and have no light, so making something to help orient you is very helpful. I really liked this as it somehow added to that sense of mystery and adventure, and most of all immersion. Eventually I had to consult a guide as there are items you get with clues that are very ambiguous, like the mark of erdrick. But still, I think what an average player can discover on his own is considerable, unlike games like Zelda 1 and 2 or Castlevania 2, where a guide is more necessary.
The music by Koichi Sugiyama is decent, but nothing out of the ordinary, I have to say that the battle theme doesn't appeal to me and it's something you'll hear very often. However, it was here that one of the most legendary and iconic themes in the world of video games was born and a personal favorite that whenever I listen to it transports me to a world full of fantasy and adventure.
Conclusion
The game that started it all, with a rather humble proposal even for its time, but that was a great success in the history of video games to simplify the hitherto very complex RPG and be the first of its kind to be in a home console. I'm not exaggerating when I say that up until then Famicom and NES games had barely any text and story within the game, but DQ was the first to offer such an amount of text and personality through it.
- Dragon Quest II -
Dragon Quest II is an open world RPG that was a giant step forward in terms of everything for the series. Although the game has some problems, on the other hand, it is what I consider to be the true first JRPG in form and the "blueprint" that all JRPGs at the time would try to emulate.
But well, let's start from the beginning. The story is still almost as simple as in the previous game, but at least in this game we already have an introductory cinematic that gives us more motivation to stop the villain, still, that and meeting the other heroes are the only major events that happen in the whole game, so don't expect much in that sense.
Once again, what captivates me and what I love about this game is its large world to explore and the sense of adventure it generates. I really like how the world is gigantic and so open from the start and you can traverse a lot of it in any order you want once you get the ship. It really is a great expansion and improvement on the first title, and the large world to explore gives you a great sense of adventure, and exploring by ship is just enjoyable. One aspect that I really like is how every time you get a different key many previously inaccessible paths open up, it makes many places that at first seemed unimportant get a new meaning, often being like a kind of reward for the player for remembering those places and staying curious. There are many things that you can discover on your own, however, there are a lot of other things that are achieved in very specific ways that with the ambiguous clues given by the NPCs will not be enough to deduce it, so you will need a guide at certain points.
The combats follow the same bases of the previous installment, but it evolves and becomes really interesting by introducing for the first time a party! That will consist of a warrior and 2 mages, which greatly improves the combat system compared to the previous DQ. However, another big flaw that Dragon Quest II has is how frustrating it can feel because of how unbalanced it can be sometimes, because now the enemies also come in groups and some have annoying attacks, and many times the groups are big, but the main reason is that only our hero can equip himself with good weaponry, while the two mages will have to make do with barely decent equipment, or the fact that getting items that recover MP is very difficult. Although to be honest, it's not as terrible as people paint it. I highly recommend withdrawing from the dungeons when you run out of MP or feel that you are not going to overcome it, I also recommend in combat to use more the "Defense" command and spells that alter states to make the battles more manageable, as I feel that only the final dungeons of the game are the difficult part of this and those that will require grinding.
The first DQ had nice tunes, I would say barely decent, but this is where I think I fell in love with DQ's music. Although the amount of songs is few, they complement the game very well and give it a certain charm, I especially like the town theme, the first overworld theme and the credits theme. The credits theme is without a doubt still to this day one of my favorite (if not my favorite) ending songs in video games.
Conclusion
This game already feels more like a proper JRPG, whereas the first DQ felt like a failed attempt at that as far as the combat system is concerned. The world is vastly larger and more entertaining to explore, the music is of outstanding quality, the combat is much more interesting and the variety of monsters is vastly expanded. The difficulty and how ambiguous it can be are pretty notable flaws, but I'm sure no one here plays NES games without a guide, so that's more a characteristic of all adventure games of the era rather than being a unique flaw of DQII.
It's often looked down upon because people think that after the first DQ, the obvious and direct evolution would be a game like the first Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest III, but I think people forget that those two games are just Dragon Quest II, but refined, as the game that really cemented and laid most of the groundwork for the JRPG genre and all future titles in the series (and even Final Fantasy), is this one.
Double Conclusion
This was my "official" entry playing the Dragon Quest franchise, and that time I played these games years ago, my interest in Dragon Quest became very strong, and I'm glad I stayed there to have discovered DQ in full and see its evolution from its roots, I think it's something that was extremely worthwhile.
Yeah, maybe they are bad games nowadays, that's why I gave them such a low rating, but for me they are great games and true classics, that if it were up to me, I would rate them a 9/10.
Through the simplest and most primitive, the charm and simplicity of the early Dragon Quests brought back my interest in RPGs, and that's something I'll always remember and is the reason I'm grateful for these two titles. Undoubtedly important games that contributed significantly in making me the player I am today.
This one is for Dragon Quest 2 and this unfortunately had to be the worst experience I have had with a jrpg up to now. The most worthless excuse for party members and do not become useful until late game/ last boss battle if you grind seamlessly for a ridiculous amount of time. I get this is an older game, but I feel like there wasn't much improvement and this was a remake too for the super famicom. The difficulty spike for the last dungeon/area was unreal. I see why people have this at the bottom of their dragon quest games list. It gets one and a half stars just for using the name Dragon Quest and the sense of accomplishment you get for actually completing the damn thing.
Giving me the good ol' flashbacks of playing the older final fantasy games. Really enjoyed this one even though I had to grind a good bit a few times, but I didn't mind it the combat is short and sweet and to the point and this was the best way to start getting into jrpgs like this. Wish I did not see this on the website with how people are talking about the Dragon quest 2 final dungeon. Good lord man what am I in for?! Regardless, I see why Ichiban Kasuga kept talking about it in LAD 7. I'm definitely a fan now!
Dragon Quest I: Good!
Dragon Quest II: Fuck you!
Dragon Quest II: Fuck you!
I don't think there's a rating I could give this rating that would really convey what I think about it. If I was to rate it based on how much fun I've had with my overall personal experience with both of these games, I would say 3.5/5 would be accurate.
But that might not be saying much about the actual game itself, since I made heavy use of save states and fast forwarding and had a walkthrough on me at all times. These games can definitely be beat without those, but it'd take exponentially more time and investment that I personally can't afford to spend. It's definitely a game made for the era of game manuals, magazine hints, and sharing info and rumors with friends. There were a handful of pretty arbitrary "inspect this specific tile to get the item" moments that the NPC hints don't help with very much, and other design choices that would be very obtuse to get through even if you were playing in the right cultural landscape (can 4 tiles of poison really be considered a whole swamp?).
Dragon Quest I was the roughest for me. I've seen some variation of "a one hour game with X hours of grinding" floating around in relation to it and I definitely think its true. And while I didn't like grinding in theory, I can appreciate it in a narrative level. This is essentially a power fantasy, a lone warrior who has the blood of the hero in them and sets forth to gather all the ancient artifacts necessary to save the world, growing in power along the way until they can perform the same heroic feats as Erdrick himself. Leveling up truly feels like an accomplishment, you can immediately feel how much stronger you have become and even get a new spell if you're lucky.
Speaking of, I found it very interesting that most of your spells are essentially replacements for items you'd otherwise need to find or purchase (Radiant for torches, Return for wyvern wings). You only really have 3 main actions in battle - physical attack, magic attack, heal - and so with tougher enemies it can feel like trial and error until you find the right order to perform them in.
Trial and error is also how you find your next destination most of the time, as NPCs at most hint at a general direction you should be walking to. The map isn't awfully big, but your walking speed is very slow and the encounter rate is very high.
I was very impressed with Dragon Quest II right off the bat. I was not expecting an opening cutscene, and I wasn't aware this was the game that introduced groups of enemies. The difficult felt steeper at first, but it all makes sense once you find out that there's multiple party members now. The little fetch quest to recruit the Prince was pretty nice, wasn't expecting a scripted (as much as they could) sequence that went on for that many steps. The puzzle to recruit the Princess was nice as well, even if less elaborate. The party members don't quite have archetypes just yet (single vs multi target focus is the most I can call them), but they still feel somehow distinct from each other. The main character being the most unique since they don't have any spells. The multiple party members and multi enemy encounters really increase the scale and tension of the battles, I'd say it's on par with something like SMT when it comes to teaching you to use status effects by making your life miserable if you don't.
The first continent feels like a very polished experience. The environment was shaped in a way where you don't have as many choices at once and so don't feel as overwhelmed as DQ1. That said, that all goes away when you unlock the boat and I'd say it gets worse than the first one in terms of finding where to go. The NPCs that give you hints are now spaced hundreds of tiles and encounters apart. One of the five crests was found not by interacting with anything inside a building, but with one of the trees right outside it (stuff that involved finding non-exit tiles really weren't my favorite). There is an item that helps you find them, but it is literally hidden on an arbitrary point in the sea (literally) of similar looking tiles.
Aside from some particularly frustrating grinding and pathfinding moments, I've had fun with these games and understand better why they became a foundation for the whole genre. I can also understand some more references in Dragon Quest Builders 2, which was admittedly my main motivation for playing this.
But that might not be saying much about the actual game itself, since I made heavy use of save states and fast forwarding and had a walkthrough on me at all times. These games can definitely be beat without those, but it'd take exponentially more time and investment that I personally can't afford to spend. It's definitely a game made for the era of game manuals, magazine hints, and sharing info and rumors with friends. There were a handful of pretty arbitrary "inspect this specific tile to get the item" moments that the NPC hints don't help with very much, and other design choices that would be very obtuse to get through even if you were playing in the right cultural landscape (can 4 tiles of poison really be considered a whole swamp?).
Dragon Quest I was the roughest for me. I've seen some variation of "a one hour game with X hours of grinding" floating around in relation to it and I definitely think its true. And while I didn't like grinding in theory, I can appreciate it in a narrative level. This is essentially a power fantasy, a lone warrior who has the blood of the hero in them and sets forth to gather all the ancient artifacts necessary to save the world, growing in power along the way until they can perform the same heroic feats as Erdrick himself. Leveling up truly feels like an accomplishment, you can immediately feel how much stronger you have become and even get a new spell if you're lucky.
Speaking of, I found it very interesting that most of your spells are essentially replacements for items you'd otherwise need to find or purchase (Radiant for torches, Return for wyvern wings). You only really have 3 main actions in battle - physical attack, magic attack, heal - and so with tougher enemies it can feel like trial and error until you find the right order to perform them in.
Trial and error is also how you find your next destination most of the time, as NPCs at most hint at a general direction you should be walking to. The map isn't awfully big, but your walking speed is very slow and the encounter rate is very high.
I was very impressed with Dragon Quest II right off the bat. I was not expecting an opening cutscene, and I wasn't aware this was the game that introduced groups of enemies. The difficult felt steeper at first, but it all makes sense once you find out that there's multiple party members now. The little fetch quest to recruit the Prince was pretty nice, wasn't expecting a scripted (as much as they could) sequence that went on for that many steps. The puzzle to recruit the Princess was nice as well, even if less elaborate. The party members don't quite have archetypes just yet (single vs multi target focus is the most I can call them), but they still feel somehow distinct from each other. The main character being the most unique since they don't have any spells. The multiple party members and multi enemy encounters really increase the scale and tension of the battles, I'd say it's on par with something like SMT when it comes to teaching you to use status effects by making your life miserable if you don't.
The first continent feels like a very polished experience. The environment was shaped in a way where you don't have as many choices at once and so don't feel as overwhelmed as DQ1. That said, that all goes away when you unlock the boat and I'd say it gets worse than the first one in terms of finding where to go. The NPCs that give you hints are now spaced hundreds of tiles and encounters apart. One of the five crests was found not by interacting with anything inside a building, but with one of the trees right outside it (stuff that involved finding non-exit tiles really weren't my favorite). There is an item that helps you find them, but it is literally hidden on an arbitrary point in the sea (literally) of similar looking tiles.
Aside from some particularly frustrating grinding and pathfinding moments, I've had fun with these games and understand better why they became a foundation for the whole genre. I can also understand some more references in Dragon Quest Builders 2, which was admittedly my main motivation for playing this.
Dragon Quest 1
I've previously dropped this game three times: once on NES after fiddling around a bit, once on SFC after hearing the English patch was buggy, and a second time on NES when the grind went from monotonous to torturous. It turned out that the secret recipe for finishing the game called for (1) a version of it with a content:grind ratio that can be represented as a whole number, (2) playing in Japanese so I can tell myself I'm practicing my reading, and (3) a little turbo for spice.
It's a solid enough game. The writing has these cute little flourishes: everyone talks about 「勇者ロト」, "the hero Lot," but in the message he left on his tombstone, he introduces himself as simply 「ロト」, "Lot."
It can't be overstated how many kindnesses this version* offers the player. Higher stats, more EXP and gold, stronger spells—it's gone from a brutal grindfest to something a mildly patient player could play without turbo (though the encounter rate grates). There is one change for the worse: movement is now performed in half-tile increments, despite the world (visually and collision-wise) still being made up of whole tiles. Why?
I'll probably play DQ2 eventually.
* I understand that this wasn't the first release to make these changes.
I've previously dropped this game three times: once on NES after fiddling around a bit, once on SFC after hearing the English patch was buggy, and a second time on NES when the grind went from monotonous to torturous. It turned out that the secret recipe for finishing the game called for (1) a version of it with a content:grind ratio that can be represented as a whole number, (2) playing in Japanese so I can tell myself I'm practicing my reading, and (3) a little turbo for spice.
It's a solid enough game. The writing has these cute little flourishes: everyone talks about 「勇者ロト」, "the hero Lot," but in the message he left on his tombstone, he introduces himself as simply 「ロト」, "Lot."
It can't be overstated how many kindnesses this version* offers the player. Higher stats, more EXP and gold, stronger spells—it's gone from a brutal grindfest to something a mildly patient player could play without turbo (though the encounter rate grates). There is one change for the worse: movement is now performed in half-tile increments, despite the world (visually and collision-wise) still being made up of whole tiles. Why?
I'll probably play DQ2 eventually.
* I understand that this wasn't the first release to make these changes.
Muy aburrido, el primer juego envejeció muuuuuy mal, y no jugué el segundo
Played the first game. Very basic JRPG that would have been impossible without a guide as it doesn't do a very good job of telling you what/where you need to be for certain things. Also grindy AF.
Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8
Yup, it's Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior II with some improved graphics and sound. That's all, really. If it's anything like the (already in english) Gameboy Color game, DW2 has been tweaked a little to not make it so unbearably slow and boring late into the game. Still, Dragon Warrior is cool, and don't forget it. Bitch.
Yup, it's Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior II with some improved graphics and sound. That's all, really. If it's anything like the (already in english) Gameboy Color game, DW2 has been tweaked a little to not make it so unbearably slow and boring late into the game. Still, Dragon Warrior is cool, and don't forget it. Bitch.
✝️
I forgot how much of a grindfest DQ2's endgame is
I liked these games. they are just video game RPGs and nothing else
The first one is great I had a lot of fun one of the chillest experience I've ever had.
The second game is fun until you realize your party sucks and the endgame goes through a huge difficulty spike and you have to grind the shit out of the levels before the big last dungeon and still hope that your party doesn't get 1hkoed even with the best equipment and an high level.
Still, it's an incredible upgrade of the first game technically wise.
The second game is fun until you realize your party sucks and the endgame goes through a huge difficulty spike and you have to grind the shit out of the levels before the big last dungeon and still hope that your party doesn't get 1hkoed even with the best equipment and an high level.
Still, it's an incredible upgrade of the first game technically wise.
Best way to play these two by far. Shame they didn't just port these to switch lol
A solid remake of the original classics. The first Dragon Quest is not that great, and can be finished in a handful of hours. The second Dragon Quest greatly expands on the first game and brings several improvements. The formula will be even more perfected however with the third game.
These Dragon Quest games are, ultimately, "cozy" games. It's true that these are basically takes on Wizardry and Ultima, but between Toriyama's cute visuals, Sugiyama's charming compositions, and Horii's simple (or "pure", as he's called it) design, we end up with perfect "bedtime" games to play on a handheld. Some may find it boring, but this is as chill and satisfying as adventure roleplaying gets. It's no wonder these games spawned a videogame dynasty.
you know it's a real one when you're suffering the entire time but you look back on it fondly
giving this game a rating under modern standards would feel like dropping a hydrogen bomb on a coughing baby
Fun, looking forward to the next game
Dragon Quest I: Remarkable only in that it's an RPG made under the severe space limitations of an early Famicom cartridge that manages not to be a miserable experience. Yuji Horii worked well under limitations, maybe more so than he has with the relative freedom afforded by the large storage space of discs for DQVII onward. The combat is so limited and the customization so nonexistent that it feels more like an adventure game than an RPG proper, but that's probably the best it could have been. There are a handful of clever puzzles and the game doesn't take long to finish.
Dragon Quest II: A miserable experience.
Dragon Quest II: A miserable experience.