[Ginkasa]

I just beat Dragon Quest II.

To be honest, I don't feel quite as fondly towards DQII as I do to I even though I have to admit in most ways II is the better game. Honestly not sure why. It might be due to my experience the first time I played the game on the GBC with the Dragon Warrior I&II collection. I remember playing I and being really excited to move beyond it and play II, but felt a little disappointed. I got stuck at one point and paused for a long time until I finally came back and beat it. That feeling of disappointment and not being able to move forward has just stuck with me I guess.

But the game is really a big leap forward from I in a lot of respects although I wouldn't quite call it fully formed Dragon Quest yet. You have a party this time - three playable characters instead of just the one. You start off with just the Prince of Midenhall - the seeming main character. Unlike the Hero from I (and all future main characters), II's hero only has physical attacks. No magic. You later gain the Prince of Cannock who can kind of do both physical and magical attacks (but lags behind Midenhall regarding physical attacks) and the Princess of MoonBrooke who is primarily focused on magical (but of course she can swing a stick if she needs to).

You also face more than one enemy at a time. This plus the expanded magic spell list adds a lot more strategy to how you approach battles. Physical attacks of course only hit one enemy. Some spells hit a set of like enemies and other spells can hit all enemies. Choosing which enemies or sets of enemies to prioritize in your battles is the main brunt of strategy.

The negative aspect of the game, at least in my opinion, is that once you get the ship the game just becomes a massive easter egg hunt across the entire world. Unlike I which was small enough to remain focused (or the pre-ship parts of II which provide pretty decent direction), there is no clear direction to go once you get the ship. You just explore and collect the random hints in random towns to try to find the macguffins (or even what the macguffins are) or maybe you just find macguffins randomly as you explore. It reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy I after you get the airship. Just a lot of back and forth and aimless wandering.

Overall, though, I would say it is a decent RPG, especially the recent Switch and mobile versions which cut down on some of the frustrating difficulty (like they removed the final boss's ability to cast FullHeal on himself) and reduces the amount of time needed to grind. I would still say that in the end I prefer DQI for being a much more focused, nostalgic experience. II is just a weird bridge between the simplicity of I and the full features of III and beyond.