After saving the world at the end of Dragon Warrior the hero
and the princess left and started their own kingdom. Peace reigned and everyone
was happy. The happy couple had three children who each got their own lands to
rule. Under their fair and just rulership the land enjoyed peace for 100 years
before trouble started again. This time an evil sorcerer called Hargon attacked
Moonbrooke Castle in his plans to use the dark gods for world domination.
Fortunately a lone solder escaped the carnage to warn the king of Midenhall.
Unfortunately the king is far too old for questing but luckily his heir is on
hand to save the world.
What this all boils down to is pretty much saving the world
by finding five artefacts and killing the bad guy. Fortunately Dragon Warrior 2
has some minor improvements that will make the game more fun to play for fans
of the first part as well as please newcomers. It's still not up to Final
Fantasy standards but at least Enix bothers to translate their games, something
Square wasn't very interested in during their early days. The bad news is that
the graphics remain pretty much the same as the original with only a few
improvements here and there. Seeing as the first game already had dated
graphics this does not make for a very visually impressive game. The gameworld
is many times larger than the original though so the game packs a far greater
challenge.
The biggest change from the first game is the addition of
party members. You can now have two other members in your party to help you in
your quest. Of course, this means that you'll no longer fight single enemies
but can be attacked by large groups of monsters. Although your main character
is a warrior and cannot use any magic, his companions can and the game packs a
few new spells to make life easier for you. The interface has also been cleaned
up a bit and while remaining pretty much the same as in part one most of the
more tedious aspects has been improved. You no longer have to use a command to
use stairs for example. You also no longer have to worry about torches as all
the caves and dungeons are well lit. You can still only save at certain spots
but now almost every town and castle has a save spot so you don't have to
backtrack vast distances to save your game. If you're really lucky you can also
lay your hand on a potion that enables you to save anywhere. This can only be
used once and the potions are very hard to come by so don't rely on them.
Buying and selling is still a bit annoying as you have to buy
or sell items one by one but at least the shopkeeper will tell you if an item
you want to buy can be used by a character. This saves a lot of buying useless
equipment hassles. Just to add a little bit of spice to the game you can now
also play some lottery mini-game if you find the tickets. Winning can reward
you with some very neat prizes although it's not very easy. There are also lots
more puzzles and quest than there was in part one although things can still get
pretty tedious at times.
The sounds in the game are still very annoying and after a
few hours of play can seriously get on your nerves. A bit more variety would
have helped a lot. Not all the tunes are bad but you hear them so much that
they really start to grate. Sound effects are still pretty much non-existent
Controls are the same as the previous game and it still felt very stiff to me.
The cleaner interface made for less cumbersome actions but it's still not
perfect. You do get to travel around in a boat due to the larger gameworld but
the hordes of random encounters can sap your fun very rapidly.
The game has a decent enough storyline but the formulaic
gameplay doesn't make for a very compelling experience. Most of the time
finding the items is a bit tedious due to the amount of random encounters and
some of the clues can also be very obscure. I played the game for more than
twenty hours to acquire all the crests and items, but then couldn't find the
final bosses hidden castle. My only clue was that it's hidden somewhere
peaceful. Having to fight every second step also sucks the fun right out of the
game.
If you enjoyed the first game and can put up the dated look
then Dragon Warrior still has a lot to offer. The gameplay is much better than
the first part and there are quite a few parts in the game where you have to
puzzle things out. You also get to visit some familiar locations and the
dialogue is still sometimes entertaining. Having allies also makes for tougher
battles and there are now loads more creature types to battle. Overall, the
game packs enough improvements to make it worthwhile for fans of the genre.
[8]
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