Old RPGs are what idle games wish they could be.
They place context and an explorable map around a simple loop of: 1. Grind 2. Get weapon 3. Use weapon to grind more.
The exploration is incredibly intuitive, I only resorted to GameFAQs on two occasions: Once to verify I was right (I was), and secondly because I was stupid and forgot to note down a hint (which you should do). The design of this game is so tight that if the philosophical idea of game design could be wrapped around a watermelon, said melon would explode.
Play dragon quest, you will enjoy it, if you don't, you just haven't gotten to a stage in your life yet where you will enjoy it.

replayed this after replaying 1, i feel like this game has big 2 steps forward 1 step back energy.

a party system :)
dogshit encounter rates :(
stat buff and debuff spells :)
the fucking cave to rendarak :(

i think overall i am a really big fan of the changes this game makes, and if you have the patience to beat the first one you probably have the same level of patience to beat this one. if you take on most or all random encounters you face, which will be a fuckton, you probably wont have to go out of your way to grind levels at any point of the game. i also think supplementary things to listen to in the background like your own music or podcasts and maybe the occasional guide usage helps with these early dq games. despite vividly remembering the gripes i had with this game the first time i played it, i still think it's worth a shot if youre into these really simple early jrpgs

I love that the bosses in this all feel like a unique challenge rather than a guy with different roll timings on his moveset. Has an ephemeral atmosphere all its own and the most original soundtrack in any souls game. The game was insanely punishing for players when it first came out but going back to it after playing other souls games, its on the easier end of the spectrum. From developed this game not expecting it to be a commercial success, and as such they were willing to try new things which is the game's biggest strength. I loved the multiplayer and having my asshole caved in by some guy with the scraping spear. My personal favorite fromsoft game.

One night my power went out after beating the game and when i went to load up NG+ my character was just a bald floating head that couldn't attack or take damage, which I think they should've kept for dark souls

Before this starts, let it be known that I was one of the people skeptical and shitting on this game on announcement. This was beaten on Hard/Classic

Pros
- The gameplay, I cannot stress enough how good the gameplay is, couple this with the stellar map design and its perfection, the map objectives are nicely varied and even if some share an objective the way the map is designed will make sure you approach every single one in a different way.
- The new mechanics and the balancing of classes allows literally every single class to fulfill their niche in a way the other games didn't allow. Infantry units have access to chain attack, Cavalry units have the usual highest movement, Flying units are unaffected by terrain, Armored cannot be inflicted with Break (a status that can straight up prevent you from countering), Healers have either access to all Tome/Arts/Staff weapons at once or Chain Guard with both options being extremely useful and not to mention that staves are much more potent here. All this allows for an extremely varied team composition which is miles better than the Wyvern Lord.exe shenanigans of 3H.
- Emblem Rings, I thought at first these would break the game but turns out they're surprisingly balanced, couple this with the enemy being able to use them allows both you and opponent to change the tide of the battle which makes bosses genuine threats. Speaking of, giving bosses extra health bars makes them feel like actual bosses so kudos to that.
- This might just be me but I quite enjoyed the cast, almost all of them are likable, not to say I didn't dislike some of them or flat out not care: there are a few like that but its a really solid cast overall in my opinion, with some having surprising depth in supports. Artstyle be damned they're great.
- This isn't really a pro but the story wasn't anything too special. HOWEVER I did see a lot of people throw around it being Fates level and I'm sorry I could not disagree more. Its a coherent and consistent story. I also quite enjoyed the final stretch of the game, it is simply a nice simple story that has its moments, definitely not whatever you hear being thrown around online about comparing it to Fates. Lastly, I say this as a major 3H fan: not every game in the series needs to follow 3H, making that the basis for every game onwards is a horrendous idea and a big reason why I ignored all the "its not 3H 2" reviews.
- The music FUCKS harder than usual
- The voice acting for both JP and EN is pretty damn good, the EN especially but if 3H was anything to go by, I probably should've see that coming.
- Immense replayability due to the way fixed and random growths work allowing you to use a different set of characters for your next playthrough, almost all of them can be made viable to varying degrees. Some are still better than others but that shouldn't stop you.
- The animations, good lord the animations.
- Yunaka and Panette :)
- You can adopt an infinite number of cats and dogs :)

Cons
- While I appreciate the game having the limited gold like previous titles which made them challenging and encouraged resource management, it feels extremely weird here due to the sheer amount of options you're able to spend the gold on but never having enough to do it all, feels like an oversight honestly. Spending money to boost the level of a Kingdom to the max is absurd for the amount the game gives you (there are 4 Kingdoms). Again, this did not impact my enjoyment nor does it affect the actual gameplay but it just made feel like I wasted 20,000 gold on raising each kingdom to LV 2. Your other option is to use Anna who mind you, have to second seal into a class shes actually good in and rely on her luck stat to get money.
- Skirmishes, especially on Hard mode are insane with all the enemies just straight up charging at you AND scaling to Alears level no matter the area, making it extremely challenging to even survive or attempt to raise a weaker unit, its also one of the few ways to make extra gold and even then you barely get any which is made even more tedious due to Gold Corrupted being rare.
- Tempest Trails are awful and not worth it unless you have the patience. Those being the only way to power up Engage Weapons does not help one bit.

All in all, the cons barely affect the pros of it. Absolutely incredible game and I cannot recommend it enough to longtime FE fans, easilly the most fun I've had in FE in a good while. Calling this game a love letter to the franchise is an understatement.