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.
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