 |
||
Main Series Monsters Series Mystery Dungeon Series Slime MoriMori Series Other Goodies Affiliates
|
Dragon Quest IIAfter the first game became a huge success in Japan, it wasn't long before Chunsoft and Enix thought to themselves, "Hey, we're on to something here!" and decided to make a sequel. As one has come to expect from sequels, they should improve over their predecessors, and Dragon Quest II is no exception. With this in mind, it would seem that Chunsoft's main goal with the game was to make everything bigger. The story was more grandiose, players had a party of players to control and fought against groups of enemies, and the game world was much larger than that of the original Dragon Quest. Taking place a century after the events of the original game, the world has enjoyed an extended period of peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, a powerful wizard named Hargon decided to come along and ruin all that, attacking Moonbrooke Castle. One of the castle guards survives this, and makes his way to the nearby kingdom of Midenhall, where he asks its king for help. Seeing as the royal family are descendants of Erdrick, just like the hero of the first game, the king sends his son to investigate. Before long, he is joined by his cousins the Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke, as theywork together to defeat Hargon. Interestingly, they must talk with the grandson of the villain of the first game to find out just how to deal with Hargon. This results in the trio scouring the world for five crests that, once assembled, will create the Charm of Rubiss, and give them the strength they need to defeat the wizard. |
|
|
Above: Three versions of Dragon Quest II - (Left) American title screen for the NES version, (Middle) an in-game shot from the Gameboy Color version, (Right) combat in the SNES remake Seeing as there were three characters at players’ disposal in Dragon Quest II, this opened the door to a lot more possibilities in battle, as these characters were more specialized in their abilities. The Prince of Midenhall was particularly adept at melee combat, and he could use just about any weapon or armor in the game, but he had no access to spell casting. Upon joining up with the Prince of Cannock, players discover that this character is more of a hybrid between melee and magic in battle. He can’t use as many weapons or armor as the Prince of Midenhall, but this is compensated for with his magic skills. While not great, he does make for a decent healer, and can still pack a decent punch in battle. Lastly, there is the Princess of Moonbrooke, who is the mage in the group. Her melee combat is extremely weak, but she makes up for this with powerful offensive spells to obliterate her enemies with. Balancing the three’s strengths and weaknesses would be key to combat throughout the game. |
||
