This game holds up significantly better than I had expected. Part of the expectation for the contrary was because of the normal stigma that comes with being an old RPG, but even more so because I've devised something of a sadistic playing order for the mainline Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games that intertwines both series chronologically by their Japanese release dates. And I was under the impression that Final Fantasy I was a far worse game than Dragon Quest II based on various internet murmurings, one specific example to follow. But now that I've played this, I very much disagree, this game takes the cake.
Before I go over certain comparisons though. What the junk is with Nasir Gebelli? That's to say, why the heck haven't I ever heard of this guy before. All three NES Final Fantasy games had an American programmer at the helm and yet I never knew about this guy. One can imagine that this is a neat fact that many fans of the series would use as cool Scott Pilgrim party scene style trivia. But nope! The lacking acknowledgement this guy gets leaves me thinking that I wouldn't have been shocked to see a sparsely-detailed Wikipedia page on him. However, thankfully, if you get curious about the "Programmed by NASIR" text in these games you've got all the information you'd need there. Cool stuff!
Now, considering Dragon Quest II was out for almost an entire year before this game's release, I'd say it's safe to assume that there was not only the expected JRPG inspiration from DQ1 here but also DQ2 as well. Perhaps the most prominent feature of the latter being, the boat! For a hot minute I was under the impression that DQ2's boat is superior because of the aforementioned internet murmurings saying how it's so much more impressive because you can dock it anywhere. However, I think that's overlooking an important aspect of game design: a sense of direction. Once you get the boat in DQ2 the game completely throws you into a big map with relatively few things to do and says "have fun". And yes, that sense of discovery was part of the fun for me, but there were many times I got annoyed by how everything you needed to do just felt like it was thrown all over the place. Final Fantasy on the other hand never has this issue, not only are the hints reasonably informative, but at several points the game makes it clear that you have to accomplish something in order to access more of the map. First you need to build the bridge by Corneria, then you need to build the canal by the dwarf cave, and then you need to get the airship. And what better way to give a sense of direction earlier on, by only allowing you to dock in certain areas. This makes it so that by the time you are open to the entire map, you know it like the back of your hand and don't find yourself getting lost. The game still gives you a sense of freedom with regards to the order you finish things in as well, so that aspect of discovery isn't absent.
It's neat that a sense of worldbuilding was already here in this first entry too. The dungeons you go to are rather distinct, and the handful of NPC races providing some more variety instead of always being simple RPG townspeople is neat. The D&D-style spells system ended up being pretty fun too since it gives you incentive to reuse old spells rather than just spamming your most powerful ones via a shared pool of MP. It does result in there being a lot more spells to choose from than what you really need by the end of the game, but it's fun to play around with and serves as decent game balancing. Having far more equipment that can cast spells was cool too, DQ2 had only four or so, and definitely could have used a few more considering how weakly the three party members balanced in battle.
Unlike my playthroughs of DQ1 and 2 though, I ended up playing the WonderSwan Color version here, for a handful of reasons. The biggest being that some of the bug fixes present were really nice, while still leaving behind certain janky aspects that add some extra fun to the game like the Peninsula of Power and the ridiculous critical ratios for weapons. Outside of the graphics looking more like an SNES entry in the series, and the WSC's pleasant PSG sound chip being put to good use, there's other QoL changes like a dash button which makes moving through dungeons a lot faster. That in particular also makes going in and out of doors more satisfying with their rougelike-like field of view and all. Unsurprisingly, this version didn't keep that weirdly cinematic main menu from the original and features a new fancy logo that brings it more in line with the later games. Depending on who you ask, this is the most faithful rerelease of the game (that isn't the Pixel Remaster, perhaps).
It's a rather satisfying port, and honestly I probably wouldn't mind playing the NES original in the future, considering how much of the original experience is intact. Hence, I'm a little bummed that DQ2's ports don't really do the game justice. Yeah, that original incarnation is a lot more polished than FF1's, but I dislike the way the battle theme in the SNES version is handled where the game audio pauses like it's loading in the song off of a CD, and the mobile/Switch version is just plain ugly. Yes, that former point sounds persnickety as shit, but man, you hear that theme for 99.99% of the game and the composition was obviously meant to coincide with the battle transition. But eh, whatever, it's DQ2, and I have given it way too much attention here.
Also thanks to Nasir Gebelli, we have the first minigame in an RPG! The 15-puzzle... Neat I guess, though, it's not the first, like Wikipedia and others claim. And maybe this is the general consensus because the US version came out after Final Fantasy, but Dragon Quest II has its lottery minigame? Maybe I just don't know what a minigame actually is...
Before I go over certain comparisons though. What the junk is with Nasir Gebelli? That's to say, why the heck haven't I ever heard of this guy before. All three NES Final Fantasy games had an American programmer at the helm and yet I never knew about this guy. One can imagine that this is a neat fact that many fans of the series would use as cool Scott Pilgrim party scene style trivia. But nope! The lacking acknowledgement this guy gets leaves me thinking that I wouldn't have been shocked to see a sparsely-detailed Wikipedia page on him. However, thankfully, if you get curious about the "Programmed by NASIR" text in these games you've got all the information you'd need there. Cool stuff!
Now, considering Dragon Quest II was out for almost an entire year before this game's release, I'd say it's safe to assume that there was not only the expected JRPG inspiration from DQ1 here but also DQ2 as well. Perhaps the most prominent feature of the latter being, the boat! For a hot minute I was under the impression that DQ2's boat is superior because of the aforementioned internet murmurings saying how it's so much more impressive because you can dock it anywhere. However, I think that's overlooking an important aspect of game design: a sense of direction. Once you get the boat in DQ2 the game completely throws you into a big map with relatively few things to do and says "have fun". And yes, that sense of discovery was part of the fun for me, but there were many times I got annoyed by how everything you needed to do just felt like it was thrown all over the place. Final Fantasy on the other hand never has this issue, not only are the hints reasonably informative, but at several points the game makes it clear that you have to accomplish something in order to access more of the map. First you need to build the bridge by Corneria, then you need to build the canal by the dwarf cave, and then you need to get the airship. And what better way to give a sense of direction earlier on, by only allowing you to dock in certain areas. This makes it so that by the time you are open to the entire map, you know it like the back of your hand and don't find yourself getting lost. The game still gives you a sense of freedom with regards to the order you finish things in as well, so that aspect of discovery isn't absent.
It's neat that a sense of worldbuilding was already here in this first entry too. The dungeons you go to are rather distinct, and the handful of NPC races providing some more variety instead of always being simple RPG townspeople is neat. The D&D-style spells system ended up being pretty fun too since it gives you incentive to reuse old spells rather than just spamming your most powerful ones via a shared pool of MP. It does result in there being a lot more spells to choose from than what you really need by the end of the game, but it's fun to play around with and serves as decent game balancing. Having far more equipment that can cast spells was cool too, DQ2 had only four or so, and definitely could have used a few more considering how weakly the three party members balanced in battle.
Unlike my playthroughs of DQ1 and 2 though, I ended up playing the WonderSwan Color version here, for a handful of reasons. The biggest being that some of the bug fixes present were really nice, while still leaving behind certain janky aspects that add some extra fun to the game like the Peninsula of Power and the ridiculous critical ratios for weapons. Outside of the graphics looking more like an SNES entry in the series, and the WSC's pleasant PSG sound chip being put to good use, there's other QoL changes like a dash button which makes moving through dungeons a lot faster. That in particular also makes going in and out of doors more satisfying with their rougelike-like field of view and all. Unsurprisingly, this version didn't keep that weirdly cinematic main menu from the original and features a new fancy logo that brings it more in line with the later games. Depending on who you ask, this is the most faithful rerelease of the game (that isn't the Pixel Remaster, perhaps).
It's a rather satisfying port, and honestly I probably wouldn't mind playing the NES original in the future, considering how much of the original experience is intact. Hence, I'm a little bummed that DQ2's ports don't really do the game justice. Yeah, that original incarnation is a lot more polished than FF1's, but I dislike the way the battle theme in the SNES version is handled where the game audio pauses like it's loading in the song off of a CD, and the mobile/Switch version is just plain ugly. Yes, that former point sounds persnickety as shit, but man, you hear that theme for 99.99% of the game and the composition was obviously meant to coincide with the battle transition. But eh, whatever, it's DQ2, and I have given it way too much attention here.
Also thanks to Nasir Gebelli, we have the first minigame in an RPG! The 15-puzzle... Neat I guess, though, it's not the first, like Wikipedia and others claim. And maybe this is the general consensus because the US version came out after Final Fantasy, but Dragon Quest II has its lottery minigame? Maybe I just don't know what a minigame actually is...