Customer Reviews

Dragon Warrior II

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dragon Warrior 2 expanded on the original Dragon Warrior in several ways. The world map was four times larger, you could enlist the services of two additional warriors, the storyline was more complex, and the enemies could attack you in larger and more dangerous groups.

Having been released during the middle of the NES's lifespan, one should not expect to find dazzling graphics and masterful soundtracks here. However, the graphics are generally easy enough to understand and serve their purpose even though they are tile-based and generally bland, especially in the dungeons--most of which look exactly alike. The music score is decent, particularly the dungeon and castle music scores. The dungeon music can actually be a bit frightening, especially since the enemies themselves are so deadly.

Dragon Warrior 2 is quite challenging, as there are many places to explore. The game starts off quite linear at first, but once you rescue the Princess of Moonbrooke and get the ship, the game opens up considerably. There's also a reasonable variety of weapons, armor, and magic spells available to you to help you defeat the enemies.

However, this game has several flaws:

1. Difficulty. Even to this date, Dragon Warrior 2 is one of the hardest RPGs in existence. In this game, literally almost every battle has the potential to be your last one. The enemies will notoriously gang up on a weakened character. And the enemy groups are also often much stronger than you are. Some enemies can drain half of your MP in one attack. Other enemies are too strong to be located in some dungeons (such as Dragon Flies in the tower with the Water Crest). Also, the dungeons are very, very difficult. The Cave to Rhone is easily among the most dangerous dungeons in any RPG. There are invisible holes, snaking passages, obscured rooms, and corridors that repeat themselves, so you would be wise to make a detailed map of the more difficult areas.

2. Weak play control. The menu screen was simplified from its original version in Dragon Warrior 1, but it is still not so easy to navigate. Buying, selling, and trading items is also quite difficult because you have to remember who has what beforehand. Being able to view your item list more easily while you shop would have been nice. Also, the Return spell is a bit of a pain to use since it warps you back to the last place you saved, even though that might not be the village or castle you want to return to.

3. Not enough space. Even though you have three characters who can carry up to eight items a piece, you will often find yourself throwing items away or abandoning treasure chests because you simply don't have the room. In addition to the characters' regular weapons and armor, there are four keys that open four different types of doors. These keys cannot be thrown away, so they must sit in your inventory taking valuable space even if you don't use them. You also might want to equip a Dragon's Bane on every warrior to reduce the effectiveness of the enemies' spells. So that's another space gone. This lack of space further contributes to the game's difficulty because it means you have less room for restorative items.

Having said that, this game is reasonably fun to play. The level curve is rather steep, so this game should appeal to RPG veterans. The storyline is reasonably engaging and there's even a bit of humor in the dialogues you can have with the townspeople. Unfortunately, Dragon Warrior 2 has not aged well, as it was really just a good game for its time. A lot of DW2's weaknesses have been fixed in later RPGs, so the casual RPG player may wish to skip over this one. However, you can't really go wrong with playing this game, as it's actually a pretty good game. Just remember that it's a bit on the difficult side, so be prepared.

Dragon Warrior II for the NES is better than Dragon Warrior I. If that statement sold you on the game, then you don't need to read any further. For those of you still not convinced, keep reading.

First, let's discuss what makes DW2 a good game. This game is a huge step up from Dragon Warrior I, featuring multiple party members battling multiple enemies with a much wider array of spells and equipment. With DW2, the series introduces most of the traits that it is recognized for today. It has a huge (for the time), open-ended world that you're free to explore, it has a "classic" difficulty curve, and a simple but efficient story. This is the RPG genre at its most refined. Before class changes, before lengthy cutscenes, and before heaping helpings of melodrama, this game is pure and simple. Your quest is to find and kill the evil Hargon. It's a little more complicated than that, but only barely. I actually appreciate that--the game isn't weighed down by its own plot. This game is about adventure and combat. Let's talk about those two things in depth.

I said that DW2 has a "classic" difficulty curve, and by that I mean it's damn hard, but it's hard in that sort of "if I try just a little bit harder I'll win" sort of way. Adventuring around the world and looking for the various items you need to complete your quest is fun, but it's definitely a challenge. The adventure is its own puzzle, and you have to put together the clues given to you by townsfolk to continue. Finding some of the crests that you need to progress later in the game can be awfully aggravating, though. Sometimes you'll need a bit of luck and determination, unless you cheat and look up the solutions online.

The combat in DW2 is some of the most dangerous in any RPG. Some enemies *will* kill you if you screw up, even if you're at the maximum level. However, the solution is obvious: don't screw up. It might take a few tries to beat each boss as you learn what it does and what you'll need to do to protect yourself and exploit its weaknesses. Like any other puzzle, you have to learn how it works before you can start trying to solve it. Much like Dragon Warrior I, you'll find yourself memorizing the stats, weaknesses, and strategies for each enemy instinctively. The difference is that each strategy is more complex, because you have many more enemies per battle and three characters to work with. To me, the challenge of the game is a positive, but this is definitely not a game where you can hook up a turbo controller and hold A to win. Then again, this is an NES game, and NES games aren't known for their easiness.

Despite its many strengths, though, a lot of the stretch marks of growth are apparent. For example--and this is the case for the next 3 games to come--if you kill an enemy, the other characters will not change their target if they also wanted to attack that enemy, wasting their turn. The most annoying flaw, and one that will certainly bug you, is that each character has a dreadfully low EIGHT inventory slots per character. Up to four of those can be occupied by your equipment. This wouldn't be so bad except that many key items stick around in your inventory even once they've outlived their usefulness. Even that wouldn't be crippling, but many items in the game will cast spells when used as an item in battle, meaning that you'll naturally want to hold on to a lot of items. I normally wouldn't complain about an NES game's limitations such as these--after all, it was an 8-bit game with very limited memory--but it unfortunately hinders some potential strategies that the game could have had. DW3 and 4 offered a vault where non-essential items or items you wanted to save could be placed for safe-keeping, and later games (and most of the remakes) offered a "bag" that you carried with you where you could store unused items. DW2, however, has no such functionality, meaning that throughout the entire game, you will have at most 24 inventory slots.

One thing that really annoyed me personally when I played the game was the amazingly low number of save points. In DW1 the world is just small enough that going back to town to save and quit isn't so bad, not to mention that you get the Return spell soon enough. In DW2 (and in DW3 for that matter) there just aren't enough save points. You can only save by talking to a King, and there are only a few in the entire world. There are maybe one or two towns where an old man will offer to save the game for you, but by and large, you'll be relying on the Return spell like crazy to save. If you accidentally spent too much MP to cast it...well, you'd better hope you bought a Wing of Wyvern. There is an item called the Dragon's Potion that lets you save anywhere, but it's a rare drop from an enemy. It's great to have a huge world to explore, but if you don't have large chunks of time to dedicate to the game, you might be better off playing the Game Boy Color version. That version has a quick save feature in case you need to quit abruptly.

All of the flaws of this game are worth it, however, in order to play one of the true classics. Dragon Warrior II was a necessary step of evolution in the Dragon Warrior/Quest series, and a damn fun game in its own right. If you enjoy classic, hardcore RPGs, you should check it out. In fact, play the games in order, one through eight, to get the true experience of the series. You'll be surprised how fun they are even today, especially if you play the remakes of 1-6 on the Game Boy Color and Nintendo DS.

I'm giving this title 4 stars, because it's a classic.
This is a big step up from Dragon Warrior 10 years ago. However, I'm convinced it would bore most young gamers of today. Unlike DW3 and DW4 is not extremely hard to find. Features the use of a ship, new allies that you form, and multiple enemies in battle. As well as a cool teleport system, multiple save locations and a world 4x the size of Dragon Warrior.

Wow. Imagine your party is wandering around a dungeon at full health. The screen flashes....you anticipate battle, and four green dragons appear! The green dragons attack before you get a chance.....AND your party is wiped out....yeah.

I can just see that evil desinger making this game up, with enemies that always seem to be much stronger than the party. With very difficult to obtain items that recover mp, you need to carry healing items with you. But here's the kicker. You don't really have enough free slots to carry too many.

I might be giving it too many stars just cause I love Dragon Warrior games, this is a VERY frustrating game. I'm also an RPG veteran, and so it gets a little easier if you know what you're doing, but there are always situations in this game that you just cannot control (See above Green Dragon example...that actually happened) . Yet...I still love it cause it's dragon warrior. If you're a graphics hog this ain't for you. But if you're like me and you love Dragon warrior pick it up. Sometimes...it's actually funny to see your party get wiped out like that. Sometimes

You are a warrior that sets out to destroy the evil tyrant who has his mideons killing townspeople and releasing monsters. Along the way to the tyrant you meet up with two others, a strong soldier and a young magician. This game was a stepping stone between the original RPG Dragon Warrior and the amazing Dragon Warrior III. This game was the first to feature a party of warriors banded together by a bond to destroy the Dragon Lord. The game features a great big new world with lots of new enemies, tons of new items and equipment, with a few familiar faces and places, such as the original world from Dragon Warrior.