Just finished DWI for the first time ever. And it was a nice experience. My friend keeps telling me to skip DWII and go right to III because there is just so much "broken" with II. So how does DWI compare with DWII?
Dragon Warrior I vs II
Just finished DWI for the first time ever. And it was a nice experience. My friend keeps telling me to skip DWII and go right to III because there is just so much "broken" with II. So how does DWI compare with DWII?
Dragon Warrior II is just harder and not as straightforward about where you need to go next. Especially once you get a boat, then you could sail around the world all day not knowing where anything is. It's one of those games you should use a guide for unless you want to play it for years.
The remakes of II on Super Famicom and Game Boy Color are a little bit easier to handle than the NES original but they still don't tell you much about where to go. I managed to complete it but of course I used tips online about where to find certain items.
Last edited by Rickstilwell1; 07-31-2014 at 05:45 PM.
[quote name='Shidou Mariya' date='Nov 17 2010, 10:05 PM' post='4889940']
I'm a collector, but only to a certain extent.
Not as extreme as Rickstilwell though.[/quote]
The reason I think it's broken has a few reasons behind it. It's intensely much harder than the original especially on the back end of the game, especially the run up to the finish as it could be seen by any modern gamer is despicably cheap and harassing. The gameplay is barely refined over the original yet adds the party system so it comes off pretty wooden and confusing. There's some but not a huge benefit to the extra characters except you can do more per turn since you can attack and heal or whatever. But also like the original there's no finger pointing you where to really go next very clearly so it makes you often feel stupid, confused and lost on what to do next or how much to advance in an area so you're not just squashed like a bug going forward. It's bad in that they didn't do much to change the staples of the first to give it a more comfy and logical flow and DW3 does do this as it plays so much nicer as it's just better refined while DW2 feels like it was just rushed out almost slapping a long game and party system into the design of a small single character small environment.
Personally I would never own or play DW2 again at all unless it was the GBC version, maybe the translated SFC cart if you're into warezy hacks as I heard it's ok too. I'd think your best bet unless you're a masochist would be to get the Prima DQ1+2 guide and the GBC game and not so much cheat, but use the general map and town names to see where to go next so you don't get fed up with it as it's balanced far nicer. I only own DW1 and DW4, four is just straight up epic, it's on the level of the early 16bit Final Fantasy titles in style and it's cool it's uniquely done in chapters where each is like it's own micro-RPG that takes a few hours until the huge one at the back end where the hero picks up the leads of the other 4 chapters into one super party to use.
I only beat DW2 on the GBC and even then it was years after I got the game (when originally released). The last part is still a grind, though I hear (and would believe, seeing DW1) not nearly as much as the NES.Originally Posted by Tanooki
I would definitely not get a warezed cart of the SFC version. The patch contains AT LEAST one game-breaking bug (but I think you can avoid if you never go to the Inn at Boran ever). I wouldn't blame the ROM hacker though. He was maybe one of the most determined I've ever seen in his time (but later died due to terminal illness. I can't remember and I want to say diabetes but I think it was something worse.), and was fixing bugs as fast as his testers reported them but I hear the game was still a real pain to hack. Didn't help emulators weren't that great at the time and could lock up the game randomly (inaccurate APU emulation was one known cause of games freezing), hindering testing.
If you do get/play it, GBC version is the way to go. Double exp and gold makes the grind half as long. I liked Dragon Warrior when it was the only RPG out, but other RPGs were released making Dragon Warrior look like a mediocre experience in comparison. Pretty much what everyone else said about Dragon Warrior 2. It's not really much of an enhancement to the series.
Dragon Warrior 3 though is a great game and even though the first isn't that good, I do recommend everyone who's going to play the third game to atleast play the first before it, because it's pretty amazing how the two tie together and that's the best part of the original imo. There's a great localization of the Super Famicom version at romhacks. Beautiful looking game.
The fourth game is great. Never played the fifth and sixth although I have the DS versions. Dragon Warrior 7 is easily the best in the franchise. Dragon Quest 8 is where the series starts to go downhill and while I say this, that doesn't mean Dragon Quest 8 isn't good. It's a good game, just a drop in quality from the seventh, because it really doesn't compare.
Dragon Quest 9 though the quality plummets imo. Such a boring game imo because they try to push story a lot more story on the player, but the problem is, the story sucks. The game also uses the same point system that Dragon Quest 8 brought to the table, sadly, and classes now have you putting points into this or this, etc, etc. The quest system in Dragon Quest 9 is way too fetch questy and is the only way to get extra classes, and then the worst thing about it is that there's a limit on how many quests you can have available at one time, making it all the more time consuming. Pair all that with only being able to see a couple feet in front of the characters either direction, a staple in DS games that the dev wants to try to push a lot of detail into the characters so keeps the camera zoomed in, a staple that I don't like, and a battle system that's horrendously slow. Every time a character or enemy makes an attack, they'll run up to the enemy, completely stop, half second pause, then attack or do the skill. Dragon Warrior was rarely a graphics and story focused series, but after the merger with Squaresoft, it's like that's what it started to turn into, and that's why there was a drop in quality with each release.
Everything in the above post is opinion unless stated otherwise.
I have found that the near necessity for beating Dragon Warrior II on NES or any other version is to do something most players wouldn't think of: Even though it is not the strongest shield for one character and one of the other characters can't equip it, it is important for all three characters to have a Shield of Strength in their inventory whether equipped or not. This makes it so they all can do self healing in battle by using the item, saving the much needed MP for more important spells especially when travelling through the last areas of the game. You can use the Shield of Strength to heal as many times as you want and it will never break or disappear.
[quote name='Shidou Mariya' date='Nov 17 2010, 10:05 PM' post='4889940']
I'm a collector, but only to a certain extent.
Not as extreme as Rickstilwell though.[/quote]
I played II about a year after I finished the first one, and I enjoyed it more than the first one. As mentioned, II gets brutal at the end and there's some definite cheapness with the final bosses. Both games are on my list to revisit, eventually.
I came across an English patched SFC DQ I/II. Is that what you're referring to? Can you fill me in on the game-breaking bug? I planned to play through them using this version and Google is failing me in the bug search. I wouldn't expect a serious bug to manifest on a translation patch, but I also don't know jack about ROM hacking.
Last edited by jperryss; 08-01-2014 at 08:11 AM.
Oh rom hacking can break stuff quite nicely. I was on the original team for Final Fantasy 5 when SOM2Freak did the translation alone for that group and early on in Tule there's this old man (looks like a pointy hatted yard gnome) and if you talked to him it would run his script, then pretty much anyone else's talking too for awhile then run through a bunch of broken graphic tiles and crash the game. Crazy stuff happens when you hack the game from the outside trying to force something into it.
I can't remember exactly but the broken event is the one involving the Prince of Cannock (I think it was called that, the second character) where he gets poisoned or something in the port town (I think it was called Boran). Normally you need to get a Leaf of the World Tree (the only item to revive a dead character. I think you can get it unlimited times by returning to the tree, but can only have one at once.) and bring it back to the prince. But for some reason I can't recall that event doesn't work properly in the patched SFC version.
This article covers the bug pretty well:
http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=0964
I was one of the kids who got a free copy of Dragon Warrior through Nintendo Power. I hated it, ended up trading it a friend for Ninja Gaiden II.
I recently obtained a SD2SNES, maybe I'll give the Dragon Quest series another shot.
Dragon Warrior II fan
The Dragon Warrior series is my favorite NES series. I love all four of the games, including Dragon Warrior II. I can sleep walk through the first one and I can almost do the same for the second one. I have played through the first two quite a bit more than the latter two. I "made" my wife play through the first two without maps and hints. I would give her a little help if she got stuck, but she was able to figure out almost everything from the in-game clues.
So in summation, do not skip Dragon Warrior II. If you find yourself not liking it after giving a good go of it, then you can cut your losses and go on to three.
Dragon warrior 2 is the only one of the original 4 I never finished. Could never get through that damn cave of rhone without getting destroyed. lol maybe i'll give the sfc remake I try someday. One day i'll play 5 and 6...though i don't have or really want a DS. lol
My Gaming Collection (Now at Google Drive!)
DW2 is the only i couldn't beat also. I could get to the final boss and never win. I was also stuck with the weapon that is cursed.
Oddly enough my original DW2 copy I bought as a kid still has my save game on it.
Just getting to boss was such a chore.
all other versions are vastly easier.
too bad also because it is a much better game than DW1
COMPLETED MY USA SMS SET!!!!
maltroth is very suspectable to chance, keep casting it and he will be put to sleep, stopspelled or unable to attack, thats how i beat him at the mid 40s the first time.
I myself enjoyed Dragon Warrior II more than I did the first one. The whole party thing and challenge this game had did it for me. I thought the first one was easy. I also loved just running around leveling up my party and buying the next best weapons to get ready for where I knew I had to go next.
SquareEnix just dropped DQ1 onto Android, apple too I think and just for $3. It's like a more revised version of the GBC release so it's clean and all that. I downloaded it, and it seems nice.
That's how I felt about Dragon Warrior II. I don't recall any "bugs" in my playthroughs (NES was a good 20 years ago or so, though I never beat it then, and the GBC playthrough happened a year or 2 ago). The game is pretty brutal at times, but it's very doable without a guide (I think it took me a week and a half/2 weeks of playing, so maybe 55 hours? without a guide).
I did ask a member on NA (Pendragon) for some help here and there as he's a well of knowledge on the entire series (I think I had to ask where the last crest, or 2nd to last crest was) and some advice on levels/gearing when things got a little difficult. I think Dragon Warrior 1 was more challenging in terms of figuring out what you had to do (some of the clues in the NES version are just beyond cryptic IMO), but both are fun games, albeit a bit grindy
Currently Playing: Super Mario RPG (Wii VC), Ghostbusters (Wii), DJ Hero (360, 5* All songs on Expert), Mario Kart Wii
I'd just recommend that if you start Dragon Warrior II, try to finish it quickly. What I mean is don't play half-way through, stop playing, and try to come back to it several weeks/months later, because as people have said, the game is wide open once you have the ship, and if you forget what you were doing next or where you were headed, you'll have a hell of a time getting plugged back in. That game just doesn't have a lot of the more convenient signposts or clues most RPGs do, and most of the later towns take a lot of trekking through maze-like mountain formations and other hazards, making it tough to just drop into towns and talk to everyone again. Just a suggestion.
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