BrightGalaxy
1998
Looking back on the games I played over the course of my childhood, I've noticed that some of my most memorable gaming expirences came from Rare. Before I discovered Banjo-Kazooie, I played and beat the GBA port of Donkey Kong Country 2 and the DS remake of Diddy Kong Racing, but out of those two games I found Diddy Kong Racing DS to be much more interesting. I frequently looked up information online on how to unlock everything that the game had to offer. Apon doing so, I eventually discovered that there was a whole other version of the game that came before it with a few characters that weren't in the DS version. This is how I discovered the existence of Banjo. It wasn't until I connected my Xbox 360 to the internet for the first time a few years later that I would rediscover Banjo-Kazooie and download the demos of this game and its sequel Tooie. Not long after, I was able to purchase both of them and enjoy them to my heart's content. The Banjo-Kazooie games quickly became some of my all-time favorites, leading me into developing a fascination for the developers that made them. I've even attempted speedrunning this game on the 360 version multiple times with my best time being around 5 hours. Having just finished another playthrough of this masterpiece, I will say this is easily Rare's best collect-a-thon and one of the best 3d platformers ever made.
There are a lot of positive things to say about Banjo-Kazooie. The graphics are nice, the characters are funny & memorable, the worlds are enjoyable to explore, and the size of said worlds are just right. One big issue with some of the games that came after this one such as Donkey Kong 64 & Banjo-Tooie are that the worlds are just too damn big and require a lot of backtracking. WIth Banjo-Kazooie, all the objectives & goodies are scattered throughout the levels in a way that isn't intrusive. The only exception being one jiggy you'll have to backtrack for in the middle part of the game, but unless you're aiming for 100% completion it is totally optional.
As far as negatives go, the controls can be a little confusing. It could be since my last playthrough was a couple years ago, but I had some trouble remembering the imputs for a few moves or just accidently doing the wrong thing. It was never something I thought about until I played this version but that's probably because of the obtuse design of the controller. The other issue is something that the 360 version fixes which involves having to recollect the Jinjos and musical notes if you died. It can be very aggrivating to go through the process of getting them all again, especially if you die in any of the later worlds. However, the reason this issue exists is because of hardware limitations so its somewhat excusable.
Banjo-Kazooie is Rare's most iconic IP and rightfully so. Its tight level design, beautiful worlds, and memorable cast cement this game as the best 3d platformer on the N64. Between Banjo-Kazooie & Mario 64, I'd say the bear & bird duo gave the Italian plumber a run for his money.
There are a lot of positive things to say about Banjo-Kazooie. The graphics are nice, the characters are funny & memorable, the worlds are enjoyable to explore, and the size of said worlds are just right. One big issue with some of the games that came after this one such as Donkey Kong 64 & Banjo-Tooie are that the worlds are just too damn big and require a lot of backtracking. WIth Banjo-Kazooie, all the objectives & goodies are scattered throughout the levels in a way that isn't intrusive. The only exception being one jiggy you'll have to backtrack for in the middle part of the game, but unless you're aiming for 100% completion it is totally optional.
As far as negatives go, the controls can be a little confusing. It could be since my last playthrough was a couple years ago, but I had some trouble remembering the imputs for a few moves or just accidently doing the wrong thing. It was never something I thought about until I played this version but that's probably because of the obtuse design of the controller. The other issue is something that the 360 version fixes which involves having to recollect the Jinjos and musical notes if you died. It can be very aggrivating to go through the process of getting them all again, especially if you die in any of the later worlds. However, the reason this issue exists is because of hardware limitations so its somewhat excusable.
Banjo-Kazooie is Rare's most iconic IP and rightfully so. Its tight level design, beautiful worlds, and memorable cast cement this game as the best 3d platformer on the N64. Between Banjo-Kazooie & Mario 64, I'd say the bear & bird duo gave the Italian plumber a run for his money.
McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure is a Sega Genesis classic that reminds me of a time when going to McDonald's was a treat. The salty fries, crunchy McNuggets, different themed resturants, the toy I'd get when I opened my Happy Meal, the delicious McDonald Land cookies they desperately need to bring back, and lastly seeing Ronald & friends were all what made eating at McDonald's a joyous expirence. McDonald's used to be a happy place during a happy time before they modernized it making most resturants look like a soulless husk of what they used to be. I could go on about my McDonald's nostalgia, but we're not here to talk about a supersized corporation. We're here to talk about a video game using characters made by them. That game being McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure made by the one & only Treasure.
You play as Ronald McDonald who is on a mission to find all the pieces of a map that will lead him to some treasure, hence the name of the game. As far as the gameplay goes, its a pretty simple platformer. You'll run, jump, and climb across the platforms to move onto the next level. At the end of each world, you will fight a boss. You might be wondering, How does Ronald fight enemies? Does he feed them an endless supply of big macs? Nope, he uses magical wizard powers that I did not know he was capable of. A missed opportunity from Treasure, but I digress.
As a platformer and as the first game that Treasure created, its decent. It's no Mario but as far as platfomers & licenced games go around the time this game released, I'd say its one of the better ones. It doesn't overstay its welcome and its relatively easy compared to a majority of games made during the 4th generation of consoles.
In conclusion, I had a fun time playing through it. It may not have anything on Treasure's later games like Gunstar Heroes, Sin & Punishment, and Ikaruga, but its an interesting title in their catalogue definitely worth playing.
You play as Ronald McDonald who is on a mission to find all the pieces of a map that will lead him to some treasure, hence the name of the game. As far as the gameplay goes, its a pretty simple platformer. You'll run, jump, and climb across the platforms to move onto the next level. At the end of each world, you will fight a boss. You might be wondering, How does Ronald fight enemies? Does he feed them an endless supply of big macs? Nope, he uses magical wizard powers that I did not know he was capable of. A missed opportunity from Treasure, but I digress.
As a platformer and as the first game that Treasure created, its decent. It's no Mario but as far as platfomers & licenced games go around the time this game released, I'd say its one of the better ones. It doesn't overstay its welcome and its relatively easy compared to a majority of games made during the 4th generation of consoles.
In conclusion, I had a fun time playing through it. It may not have anything on Treasure's later games like Gunstar Heroes, Sin & Punishment, and Ikaruga, but its an interesting title in their catalogue definitely worth playing.
1992
McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure was not the first advergame made for McDonald's. There were two other games before it, one made for the Famicom that I will probably get around to playing eventually and this game, M.C. Kids. However, this was this first McDonald's game I heard about as I watched the AVGN video on M.C. Kids many years ago. I had pretty much forgotten about it until McDonald's released Grimace's Birthday for the Game Boy. All of a sudden memories came back to me and I took interest in playing this and the other advergames released for McDonald's over the years.
Instead of some random aliens being the villian, our antagonist is the Hamburgular who stole Ronald's magic bag. Instead of going to look for the bag himself, Ronald, being the selfish clown he is, decides its a good idea to let two children go on a dangerous journey to retrieve it. Those two children being, the M.C. Kids.
Compared to other platformers, it is fairly unique in the sense of how you progress through the game. In each level, you will be tasked with finding all of the cards of Ronald's pals in order to move onto the next world alongside just beating the level. It may not be the most ideal as far as design goes, but its different enough in that its not "just another Mario clone."
With that being said, its a decent platfomer and most of the cards are fairly easy to find even if you have to backtrack a little to get them sometimes. Difficulty-wise, it was definitely harder than Treasure Land Adventure but not as difficult as the majority of the NES library. There were a few annoying cards to get but overall it wasn't too bad. The final boss on the other hand has a weird limit that was both confusing as it was infurating.
The biggest glaring flaw the game has is that in order to beat the final boss, you need to reach the farthest right side of the goal in as many levels as you can. The fewer times you do this, the less ammo you will have against the final boss. You run out of blocks, you don't get them back. It's like if you needed to reach the top of the flag pole every time you beat a level in Mario if you want a chance at defeating Bowser. It's the dumbest design choice I've seen in a video game and it makes what was a fun platformer a worse expirence.
Besides how horribly designed the final boss was, I mostly had fun with the game. I don't know if I'd ever play it again though. Overall, I'd say M.C. Kids is a game worth playing at least once, especially if you're into those weird advergames.
Instead of some random aliens being the villian, our antagonist is the Hamburgular who stole Ronald's magic bag. Instead of going to look for the bag himself, Ronald, being the selfish clown he is, decides its a good idea to let two children go on a dangerous journey to retrieve it. Those two children being, the M.C. Kids.
Compared to other platformers, it is fairly unique in the sense of how you progress through the game. In each level, you will be tasked with finding all of the cards of Ronald's pals in order to move onto the next world alongside just beating the level. It may not be the most ideal as far as design goes, but its different enough in that its not "just another Mario clone."
With that being said, its a decent platfomer and most of the cards are fairly easy to find even if you have to backtrack a little to get them sometimes. Difficulty-wise, it was definitely harder than Treasure Land Adventure but not as difficult as the majority of the NES library. There were a few annoying cards to get but overall it wasn't too bad. The final boss on the other hand has a weird limit that was both confusing as it was infurating.
The biggest glaring flaw the game has is that in order to beat the final boss, you need to reach the farthest right side of the goal in as many levels as you can. The fewer times you do this, the less ammo you will have against the final boss. You run out of blocks, you don't get them back. It's like if you needed to reach the top of the flag pole every time you beat a level in Mario if you want a chance at defeating Bowser. It's the dumbest design choice I've seen in a video game and it makes what was a fun platformer a worse expirence.
Besides how horribly designed the final boss was, I mostly had fun with the game. I don't know if I'd ever play it again though. Overall, I'd say M.C. Kids is a game worth playing at least once, especially if you're into those weird advergames.
2023
Between Ronald, the Hamburglar, Birdie, and the other McDonald Land characters, Grimace was always my favorite one out of the bunch. I thought he looked cool and he always gave off a friendly, wholesome vibe even if he was originally introduced as a villain. Upon hearing the news that McDonald's was celebrating Grimace's birthday, I was pleased because McDonald's has finally begun to start acknowledging the McDonald Land gang again, even moreso that they used my favorite character for their promotion.
The story is pretty much in the title. Its Grimace's birthday and he wants to celebrate, but his friends are missing and he has to go find them. Along the way, you collect as many shakes as possible for everyone who is attending the party.
It's both a platformer and a skating game. You go from point A to point B grinding on rails and collecting shakes in the process. Like some of the previous McDonald's games that came before it, it is an entertaining platformer. I'd list more of the positives, but for how short this game is there isn't much else to say.
My only problem with the game is as mentioned, it is too short. Around the time I thought I was halfway finished with the game, I saw the ending play and the credits roll. I came in expecting to beat it in at least 45 minutes to an hour, but it took me about 20 minutes and probably even less than that if I had to guess. I know its sole purpose is to advertise a limited edition milkshake, but I would have appreciated if they made it just a little bit longer.
In the end, it's a neat little promo they made and it shows that they put a lot more care & effort into advertising the Grimace shake than they ever needed to. Sadly, I never tried out the Grimace shake and it took me serveral months after the celebration for me to get around to playing this game. I may have been late to the party but I still got to celebrate the birthday of my favorite purple goofball from the McDonald Land crew.
The story is pretty much in the title. Its Grimace's birthday and he wants to celebrate, but his friends are missing and he has to go find them. Along the way, you collect as many shakes as possible for everyone who is attending the party.
It's both a platformer and a skating game. You go from point A to point B grinding on rails and collecting shakes in the process. Like some of the previous McDonald's games that came before it, it is an entertaining platformer. I'd list more of the positives, but for how short this game is there isn't much else to say.
My only problem with the game is as mentioned, it is too short. Around the time I thought I was halfway finished with the game, I saw the ending play and the credits roll. I came in expecting to beat it in at least 45 minutes to an hour, but it took me about 20 minutes and probably even less than that if I had to guess. I know its sole purpose is to advertise a limited edition milkshake, but I would have appreciated if they made it just a little bit longer.
In the end, it's a neat little promo they made and it shows that they put a lot more care & effort into advertising the Grimace shake than they ever needed to. Sadly, I never tried out the Grimace shake and it took me serveral months after the celebration for me to get around to playing this game. I may have been late to the party but I still got to celebrate the birthday of my favorite purple goofball from the McDonald Land crew.
In 2021, Rockstar announced a group of remasters for the three games that put them on the map. Those remasters being the "definitive editions." Shortly after the announcement, they were released and they got absolutely destroyed by critics and fans of these games for being lazy, buggy cash-grabs. Over time, they did release updates that ultimately improved their performance making them a lot more playable than they were on release. Having played both the originals and more recently these "definitive editions," it seems they have fixed these remasters quite a bit, but they are still far from perfect.
Despite its imperfections, there is surprisingly a lot of good that this collection does. In fact, they are the reason I gave this collection the score I did. The first thing I can think of right off the bat is the addition of checkpoints. My biggest complaint when I was playing through the original versions were the lack of checkpoints. I couldn't count how many times I had to rebuy weapons and drive back to the missions across all 3 games. Just having checkpoints alone made playing these games MUCH more enjoyable than my inital playthrough of the originals on Ps4 (which they sadly took down). They also added a marker that tells you where you need to drive during missions. This feature is another major QoL improvement that greatly increased my enjoyment as I got lost quite a bit and would fail missions because of that. There is also the weapon wheel from GTA V, but personally, I just stuck with the old-fashioned way of going through my weapons. Regardless, it's still a nice feature to have.
Even with these positive changes, there are still reasons to dislike it. The graphics lack the charm the originals have, the games still have some glitches and aren't as polished as they should be, and the inclusion of checkpoints are misleading. While I didn't encounter anything gamebreaking, one thing I noticed is that enemies sometimes stand still for no reason at all and their behavior seems off. It didn't happen every time but it was frequent enough to catch my attention. There was also a weird jumping bug I encountered in San Andreas, but luckily it only happened once. While San Andreas has checkpoints, III & Vice City's "checkpoints" aren't really what they claim to be and more like a retry button. I didn't mind this too much as most of the missions in those games are pretty short, but it is highly misleading and comes across as incredibly half-assed & lazy. As for the graphics, they have made an attempt to alieviate that by adding a classic option in the Netflix version. It isn't perfect but its a step in the right direction. I just hope they port it and add more patches to the console versions too.
Compared to its inital release, its clear that Rockstar has fixed these versions to a significant degree, but ultimately they still deserved more love & care than what they got. Do I think this collection is worth $60? Absolutely not! It might have added a lot of positive QoL changes but the lack of polish alone is enough to avoid this at full price. I would recommend getting it on sale, especially since it does quite often. For new players and less skilled ones such as myself, its a good way to expirence these games. As for those who've played the originals, they might want to stick to them.
Despite its imperfections, there is surprisingly a lot of good that this collection does. In fact, they are the reason I gave this collection the score I did. The first thing I can think of right off the bat is the addition of checkpoints. My biggest complaint when I was playing through the original versions were the lack of checkpoints. I couldn't count how many times I had to rebuy weapons and drive back to the missions across all 3 games. Just having checkpoints alone made playing these games MUCH more enjoyable than my inital playthrough of the originals on Ps4 (which they sadly took down). They also added a marker that tells you where you need to drive during missions. This feature is another major QoL improvement that greatly increased my enjoyment as I got lost quite a bit and would fail missions because of that. There is also the weapon wheel from GTA V, but personally, I just stuck with the old-fashioned way of going through my weapons. Regardless, it's still a nice feature to have.
Even with these positive changes, there are still reasons to dislike it. The graphics lack the charm the originals have, the games still have some glitches and aren't as polished as they should be, and the inclusion of checkpoints are misleading. While I didn't encounter anything gamebreaking, one thing I noticed is that enemies sometimes stand still for no reason at all and their behavior seems off. It didn't happen every time but it was frequent enough to catch my attention. There was also a weird jumping bug I encountered in San Andreas, but luckily it only happened once. While San Andreas has checkpoints, III & Vice City's "checkpoints" aren't really what they claim to be and more like a retry button. I didn't mind this too much as most of the missions in those games are pretty short, but it is highly misleading and comes across as incredibly half-assed & lazy. As for the graphics, they have made an attempt to alieviate that by adding a classic option in the Netflix version. It isn't perfect but its a step in the right direction. I just hope they port it and add more patches to the console versions too.
Compared to its inital release, its clear that Rockstar has fixed these versions to a significant degree, but ultimately they still deserved more love & care than what they got. Do I think this collection is worth $60? Absolutely not! It might have added a lot of positive QoL changes but the lack of polish alone is enough to avoid this at full price. I would recommend getting it on sale, especially since it does quite often. For new players and less skilled ones such as myself, its a good way to expirence these games. As for those who've played the originals, they might want to stick to them.
2004
After finishing the 3ds remake of Dragon Quest VII, I became further interested in playing the rest of the mainline games in the series as well as some of the spinoffs. As of now I have every numbered game in one form or another with the exception of Dragon Quest X. One random day a few years ago I decided to get the mobile ports of this, Dragon Quest II, and Dragon Quest III. It took me awhile to beat it, but over the course of my playthrough I had mixed feelings about the journey that started it all.
The primary reason it took me years to beat this game was because I got very bored grinding. While it isn't a painfully long game, you will spend the overwhelming majority of your playthrough grinding for money & exp that will help in getting the best stats & equipment. It is a very tedious process and its why I intially dropped the game before deciding last year to finally go back and finish it. Even though it has been my least favorite Dragon Quest by far, it was the first of its kind on consoles and led to the many great JRPGs we have today.
Dragon Quest 1 is pretty much the basic template for how turn-based RPGs work. You got attack, magic, and the flee button if you aren't in the condition to fight enemies. You can purchase gear that will improve your stats. Lastly, there is a open-world to explore. Most turn-based RPGs follow the template that this game uses albeit with their own twist. Even if it wasn't the first ever RPG, it was the first for consoles and significantly boosted the popularity of the genre. For all of these reasons, I still have a lot of respect for the original Dragon Quest even if it shows its age a bit.
Dragon Quest 1 is a game that walked so future Dragon Quest games, Final Fantasy, and etc could run. It may not have stood the test of time gameplay wise compared to the games of today, but its contributions to RPGs and video games as a whole will never be forgotten.
The primary reason it took me years to beat this game was because I got very bored grinding. While it isn't a painfully long game, you will spend the overwhelming majority of your playthrough grinding for money & exp that will help in getting the best stats & equipment. It is a very tedious process and its why I intially dropped the game before deciding last year to finally go back and finish it. Even though it has been my least favorite Dragon Quest by far, it was the first of its kind on consoles and led to the many great JRPGs we have today.
Dragon Quest 1 is pretty much the basic template for how turn-based RPGs work. You got attack, magic, and the flee button if you aren't in the condition to fight enemies. You can purchase gear that will improve your stats. Lastly, there is a open-world to explore. Most turn-based RPGs follow the template that this game uses albeit with their own twist. Even if it wasn't the first ever RPG, it was the first for consoles and significantly boosted the popularity of the genre. For all of these reasons, I still have a lot of respect for the original Dragon Quest even if it shows its age a bit.
Dragon Quest 1 is a game that walked so future Dragon Quest games, Final Fantasy, and etc could run. It may not have stood the test of time gameplay wise compared to the games of today, but its contributions to RPGs and video games as a whole will never be forgotten.
Another day, another One Piece game review from me. This time its the other 3ds game that never left Japan, One Piece Great Pirate Colosseum!
Between Unlimited World Red, Unlimited Cruise SP (the only 3ds OP game I haven't played), Super Grand Battle X, Romance Dawn, and lastly Great Pirate Colosseum, I'd say this one is definitely the most interesting out of Luffy's 3D outings. It's a traditional 2D fighting game which for One Piece is exceptionally rare and it crosses over with a game that plays exactly like it that was also developed by Arc Sys for the 3ds, Dragon Ball Extreme Butoden.
As far as gameplay goes, it plays like any other 2D fighting game. You have your punch & kick buttons and you can press them to create stylish combos, assist characters to summon that can lend you a hand in a variety of ways, a mid-air counter attack, and an ultimate move you can use to dish out big damage once your meter gets to a certain percent. There are plenty of gameplay mechanics to make it interesting and with how different each character's moveset is, it works.
Roster-wise, its nothing too special. Pretty much every playable character in this game is also playable in Burning Blood even if Gild & Lucci were DLC in that game. There are a lot of assist characters though, they consist of pretty much anybody you can think of including some of the characters in the Zou arc which took me by surprise considering how new that arc was at the time. The stages were probably what I found the most interesting. Sure it has the basic predictible ones like Alabasta, Corrida Colosseum, and Marineford, but a few I did not expect like the sea train from Water 7, the Gran Tesoro, and as previously mentioned Zou. Stack all of this on top of cross-play with DB Extreme Butoden and you have a stacked amount of content for a 3ds 2D fighter.
That being said, it definitely has its issues. It felt a bit sluggish and slow which gave the game a janky feeling. I watched footage of both DB Extreme Butoden & Great Pirate Colosseum and this game is definitely slower in comparison to Extreme Butoden. Also, the online mode is locked at the start of the game which is a really strange choice on the developers part.
The story mode was also slightly confusing but still perfectly manageable once I looked up what little info there is on it. Basically from what I gather is that you do some fights till you get to the end, but along the way you have to make choices that will make the characters in your crew happy. Consistent failure to do so will make them leave. This only happened to me once since I had zero understanding of what to do. After knowing how it works and randomly guessing on which answer to choose (I can't read Japanese), it wasn't too bad. Thankfully, the story mode is a lot shorter than Super Grand Battle X because that game's story got repetitive.
If you have Citra or/and a modded 3ds then I'd say its worth a download. Its far from perfect, but its still a fun fighter to mess around with that most likely gets insane when connected with the Dragon Ball game (I never bothered trying to, I don't even think I ended up unlocking the online either). On one final note, Arc Sys, MAKE ONE PIECE FIGHTERZ!!!!!!!!!
Between Unlimited World Red, Unlimited Cruise SP (the only 3ds OP game I haven't played), Super Grand Battle X, Romance Dawn, and lastly Great Pirate Colosseum, I'd say this one is definitely the most interesting out of Luffy's 3D outings. It's a traditional 2D fighting game which for One Piece is exceptionally rare and it crosses over with a game that plays exactly like it that was also developed by Arc Sys for the 3ds, Dragon Ball Extreme Butoden.
As far as gameplay goes, it plays like any other 2D fighting game. You have your punch & kick buttons and you can press them to create stylish combos, assist characters to summon that can lend you a hand in a variety of ways, a mid-air counter attack, and an ultimate move you can use to dish out big damage once your meter gets to a certain percent. There are plenty of gameplay mechanics to make it interesting and with how different each character's moveset is, it works.
Roster-wise, its nothing too special. Pretty much every playable character in this game is also playable in Burning Blood even if Gild & Lucci were DLC in that game. There are a lot of assist characters though, they consist of pretty much anybody you can think of including some of the characters in the Zou arc which took me by surprise considering how new that arc was at the time. The stages were probably what I found the most interesting. Sure it has the basic predictible ones like Alabasta, Corrida Colosseum, and Marineford, but a few I did not expect like the sea train from Water 7, the Gran Tesoro, and as previously mentioned Zou. Stack all of this on top of cross-play with DB Extreme Butoden and you have a stacked amount of content for a 3ds 2D fighter.
That being said, it definitely has its issues. It felt a bit sluggish and slow which gave the game a janky feeling. I watched footage of both DB Extreme Butoden & Great Pirate Colosseum and this game is definitely slower in comparison to Extreme Butoden. Also, the online mode is locked at the start of the game which is a really strange choice on the developers part.
The story mode was also slightly confusing but still perfectly manageable once I looked up what little info there is on it. Basically from what I gather is that you do some fights till you get to the end, but along the way you have to make choices that will make the characters in your crew happy. Consistent failure to do so will make them leave. This only happened to me once since I had zero understanding of what to do. After knowing how it works and randomly guessing on which answer to choose (I can't read Japanese), it wasn't too bad. Thankfully, the story mode is a lot shorter than Super Grand Battle X because that game's story got repetitive.
If you have Citra or/and a modded 3ds then I'd say its worth a download. Its far from perfect, but its still a fun fighter to mess around with that most likely gets insane when connected with the Dragon Ball game (I never bothered trying to, I don't even think I ended up unlocking the online either). On one final note, Arc Sys, MAKE ONE PIECE FIGHTERZ!!!!!!!!!
The real final boss is the connection.
As I mentioned in my review for the first Dragon Quest, I bought the mobile versions of the original Dragon Quest trilogy on a whim years ago. Last year I decided to finally finish the first game, and now I've chosen to finish its sequel this year. Dragon Quest II is a sequel that is surprisingly a vast improvement to its predecessor.
In terms of gameplay, its exactly the same as the first game, but considering that Dragon Quest is a series known for following tradition that is no surprise. This time however, you're not alone. You get two party members to assist you on your journey, the Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke. Having these party members is pretty much a necessity as the character you play as doesn't have magic this time and the latter parts of the game, especially the final boss would be much harder without them. The other noteble addition is the ability to sail across the land on your ship which has been included in every other game in the series onward. These additions come a long way in making the game feel fresh and interesting in comparison to the first game.
Dragon Quest II is a massive step forward, but there were some things I didn't like about it. My first issue is something that bothered me with the original as well, and that issue would be the random encounter rate. While I can understand why they were a thing in the RPGs of old, it gets really annoying getting spammed with encounters every two steps I make, especially when I'm lost or trying to traverse a new area. My other issue is that the game can be pretty cryptic at times when it comes to finding all the things you need to progress. I looked up guides significantly more this time than I did for DQ1 mostly just to find out where to go or where to find a certain item.
As for grinding in this game? Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad. Enemies drop reasonable amount of exp to where if you do need to grind, you won't need to for long. It's probably just an improvement they added in later versions they made, but considering that grinding seems to be a gripe that most people seem to have, I expected worse.
Dragon Quest II is in my opinion an underappreciated game that laid a lot of the groundwork for the rest of the series. It felt much more like an adventure in comparison to its predecessor. Considering how the original trilogy is on basically everything these days, I'd suggest either emulating or dropping a couple bucks on either the Switch or mobile versions. It may not be as good as the entries afterwards, but with the amount of improvements it makes its definitely worth a playthrough.
In terms of gameplay, its exactly the same as the first game, but considering that Dragon Quest is a series known for following tradition that is no surprise. This time however, you're not alone. You get two party members to assist you on your journey, the Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke. Having these party members is pretty much a necessity as the character you play as doesn't have magic this time and the latter parts of the game, especially the final boss would be much harder without them. The other noteble addition is the ability to sail across the land on your ship which has been included in every other game in the series onward. These additions come a long way in making the game feel fresh and interesting in comparison to the first game.
Dragon Quest II is a massive step forward, but there were some things I didn't like about it. My first issue is something that bothered me with the original as well, and that issue would be the random encounter rate. While I can understand why they were a thing in the RPGs of old, it gets really annoying getting spammed with encounters every two steps I make, especially when I'm lost or trying to traverse a new area. My other issue is that the game can be pretty cryptic at times when it comes to finding all the things you need to progress. I looked up guides significantly more this time than I did for DQ1 mostly just to find out where to go or where to find a certain item.
As for grinding in this game? Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad. Enemies drop reasonable amount of exp to where if you do need to grind, you won't need to for long. It's probably just an improvement they added in later versions they made, but considering that grinding seems to be a gripe that most people seem to have, I expected worse.
Dragon Quest II is in my opinion an underappreciated game that laid a lot of the groundwork for the rest of the series. It felt much more like an adventure in comparison to its predecessor. Considering how the original trilogy is on basically everything these days, I'd suggest either emulating or dropping a couple bucks on either the Switch or mobile versions. It may not be as good as the entries afterwards, but with the amount of improvements it makes its definitely worth a playthrough.