Dragon Warrior II Review (Nintendo, 1990)

The original Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior to us English speakers) was a big success in Japan. It was however the first sequel that caused the new franchise to absolutely explode in popularity. Dragon Warrior was a big success in North America. This was mostly due to it being packaged in with Nintendo Power magazine subscriptions. Enix saw it fit to deliver its sequel to this market as well. Unfortunately it didn’t have the advantages of the original title. In the end it wasn’t nearly as big of a success. Dragon Warrior II has become quite rare in modern times. I was one of the lucky ones who picked it up before prices went sky high. Enix improved on the foundation of the original title in several ways with this release. Unfortunately this is, in my opinion, the worst mainline Dragon Quest game so far.

Unlike most RPGs Dragon Warrior II is a direct sequel to its predecessor by taking place in the same world only a century later. The game begins in the castle of a new kingdom that has since sprouted up called Moonbrooke. It is under attack by the forces of an evil wizard named Hargon. The king is killed, and the princess’ whereabouts are left a mystery. A lone soldier escapes to another new kingdom called Midenhall. It is here that our main character, a prince and descendant of Erdrick the legendary hero who once saved the land from darkness, is tasked with defeating Hargon. In order to do so he will need to track down and unite his power with his relatives both the princess of Moonbrooke and prince of Cannock.

What’s interesting is that, although this game takes place in the same world as the original, the map is significantly larger due to the new kingdoms that have been since formed. You actually re-visit Alefgard where the original title took place, and even enter Dragonlord’s castle. The best moments in the game have you collecting a clue from his descendant on what do to next. The references are really cool in my opinion, and it genuinely feels like the same world despite the changes. This is how an RPG sequel SHOULD be done.

The first major upgrade you’ll notice to gameplay is that you can have three different characters in your party. Aside from the main protagonist the only other party members who join are the prince and princess. All three are descendants or Erdrick which continues with the themes of the original Dragon Quest. The trio of fighters are designed to compliment each other with different battle qualities, spells and stats. The hero is well rounded with decent offensive skills and a few magic spells at his disposal. The princess of Moonbrooke is geared more toward being a mage, and the prince of Cannock is a total fighter with no other abilities.

Unfortunately this is where the game suffers from terrible balancing issues. You can purchase the iron spear for the prince of Cannock in one of the first villages you encounter. It has the highest attack of any weapon he can use. It’s not that this weapon is particularly potent, rather, it’s left in the dust by the main hero’s arsenal early on. This means he’s almost completely useless by the end of the game. Though he can use the falcon sword (attacks twice but with less power) he’s extremely weak. The princess is also quite lacking as a character, but her magic makes up for this somewhat. The hero of the story is the only one who can put up a decent fight throughout the adventure and this is unacceptable. Why even bother including other characters if they’re barely worth inputting commands for?

This brings me to the difficulty which is another big problem. The first installment of this game absolutely required level grinding simply because your options were so limited. This sequel does as well, but you don’t need to rely on it as much. The game is simply hard no matter what you do; enemies are cheap and overpowered, and as I mentioned earlier the hero is the only character in your group that can carry his own weight. The final boss in particular has the ability to heal himself, and this makes an already difficult encounter even harder. Many hardcore fans refer to this as the most difficult Dragon Quest title and I can’t disagree with them.

Despite this the battle system really hasn’t changed very much. It’s still strictly turn based, but with more allies and enemies in each encounter things are quite a bit more complex. In addition there are significantly more equipment, items, and spells. The world map is also significantly larger with many more towns to explore. At one point in the game you’re given a ship which opens up the entire map for exploration. The problem is that you’re rarely given a clue as to where to go next. It can be confusing, and the fact that you’re left to your own devices is very annoying.

Dragon Warrior II is a pretty decent upgrade graphically in most ways. Outside of battle the environments are slightly more detailed with more pixels used in the scenery. Your party members follow you around, and each feature slight animations even when standing idle. By NES standards it really doesn’t look bad in my opinion. The graphics during battle sequences are one step forward and two backwards unfortunately. There are more enemies on-screen, and the spell effects have been improved. The main problem here is the fact that backgrounds have been removed. Now you just have a plain black screen in every encounter, and it’s a little disappointing to be honest. I’ve never been a fan of Akira Toriyama’s art work, but it works well with this game and the pixelated style it is limited to. Dragon Warrior II is an okay looking game overall.

Unfortunately the soundtrack is one of the most forgettable in the series. The developers relied too heavily on the source material here, and a significant amount of the music comes off as remixed versions of the original’s music. Unfortunately the cave, town, and world map themes are forgettable. They aren’t bad by any means, but they either sound too much like the original or just aren’t as good as the rest of the music. The battle theme is probably my favorite. It’s more menacing than in the original, but retains that slow tempo that adds almost a comical charm to it. The sound effects have thankfully mostly been brought over from the first game. These are iconic, and although they aren’t terribly realistic I’ve really grown to love them over all this time.