Trouble is brewing once again in Alefgard and around! After 100 years of peace the evil wizard Hargon has come forward to conquer the world. Only yourself, the prince of Midenhall, and your cousins from Cannock and Moonbrooke – you are all descendants of the hero from Dragon Warrior I and Princess Gwen of Tantegel – can stop evil from spreading once more.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics are a nice improvement from DW I. For starters, the world map is, according to the instruction manual, four times larger. Alefgard as such still exists although it’s entirely optional it was nice to bring it. You can even revisit Charlock Castle! The rest of the world is much better-drawn: the grass is greener, passable mountains are clearer and trees are greener. Even poison swamps look more dangerous. You also FINALLY get a vehicle: a ship. I found its design to be more realistic than the ones in Final Fantasy with its many sailings but also its slower moving – Final Fantasy I looked like the ship had an engine. Finally the city icon you see on the map has also been improved. There is either a large castle of a few houses rather than a small square with a castle or a village on it.

Cities are also larger and have much more to offer. Finally, you won’t need to buy keys since there are not that many doors to open. For the few doors you do find you will need one of three keys: silver, gold and jailer (only the latter 2 are needed). Some might even require special keys for you to advance… There is also a novelty in DW II: the lottery ticket. You get it at random when you purchase something, when fighting monsters or in treasure chests. You will get another one if you get two identical symbols or a special prize when you get 3 of the same symbols. Finally villagers will FINALLY help you in your quest by telling you all sorts of useful things, including some that might not even be useful until later. Oh, and the warp spell/item will get you back to the last city where you saved rather than your first city.

Dungeons have also substantially been improved. You finally don’t need those costly torches to makes your way inside. In fact they are now so large that you often need to go inside a “dark area” to make the rest of the dungeon appear – it looks like a grid inside tower dungeons, so don’t worry if you don’t see the whole floor when you look at FAQ maps. It makes transition between screens much quicker than even Final Fantasy III. Some tiles (even inside towns) will boast barrier floors (with diagonal lines or chain-like patterns), against which only the spell stepguard can protect you.

The battle system is also an improvement from DW I. You can fight more than one monster, all of which are well-drawn. There are many pallet swaps, but they at least get another accessory (a club, a lance, a wand…) which was a clever thing to do. You also come armed with many more spells – attack, heal or support – which makes strategizing all the more interesting.

However I found the battle system to be inferior to Final Fantasy II. You absolutely don’t see your spells, nor do you see your allies. All you see in a text of what is happening – only Dragon Warrior VI had some animation inside battles. Plus the battle screen is completely black; even Final Fantasy I had a few graphics on the top of the screen.

Your team’s design was also inferior to the FF series. Even though you see your whole team walking, they are much more pixelated than FF II, with barely any definition of their bodies. They are only marginally better than DW I.

Music: 8/10

Wow, now THAT is an awesome improvement.

The soundtrack as a whole is so much better than DW I. First the music loops after a longer time, which is always welcomed. The battle theme sounds more dramatic, as does the final battle theme. There are now two main overworld themes; the first one sounds more epic and a slight variation from the Alefgard theme, while the second one sounds a little too joyful for an overworld theme but doesn’t loop after 15 seconds. You will even hear the Alefgard theme; it loops about as quickly and only has a few more effects.

Along with better arrangements they are more varied too. DW II starts the tradition of distinguishing different types of dungeons, mainly caverns and towers. The former sounds a little annoying but is so much superior to DW I, while the latter has a very mysterious beat coupled with… an electric razor. The distinction between castles and ordinary towns is also neater.

However the sound effects are still as primitive. The only worthwhile distinction is between enemy’s attacks and yours. And other than breath attacks, all other kind of attack (whatever the weapon or the spell) sound exactly the same. FF II had it much better.

Addictiveness: 7/10

This game’s design has been able to keep my interest up much more than the previous opus.

For starters you have two teammates. This makes level grinding more tolerable and you, the main hero, don’t have to be a jack-of-all-trade since you don’t have any spells. Hell, by looking very carefully you can even get the Thunder Sword and hit a metal babble with more than one hit point.

Speaking of metal enemies, they are much more available, and very early on (as soon as you reach Moonbrooke Castle). They are as scary-cat as ever, but that problem can be taken care of with savestates; you can use them either to keep them from running away or (for the metal babbles) make them cast Surround rather than Firebane. Don’t worry, your hit percentage won’t decrease that much.

Savestates also help winning the lottery, especially for the Wizard Rings, the only thing that can restore magic points. What’s more, you can use them so they won’t break. But for regular gameplay, getting those lottery tickets must have been something quite addictive since you can get free stuff, and good stuff at that.

Story: 9/10

Though the time of his deeds has long faded, still the name Erdrick commands respect among even the greatest of warriors. Stories of his lineage are legendary throughout the land and have been retold through the ages in the most remote villages and townships. Long ago a young man, who was a descendant of Erdrick saved the Kingdom of Alefgard by defeating the dreaded Dragonlord. The young man came to this land accompanied by Princess Gwaelin. Together they built TORLAND.

This legend has been handed down generation to generation from the ancient time. Princess Gwaelin brought forth three children. To the eldest prince was given the land of Midenhall. To the youngest prince the land of Cannock became his birthright. The youngest princess was given the land of Moonbrooke. The people of these kingdoms lived in peace for 100 years. One day, however, this peace suddenly came to an end. Hargon the Sorcerer attacked Moonbrooke Castle and attempted to rule the world by calling the ill-omened gods from the dark. Although terrible losses were suffered, one soldier escaped the sacking of Moonbrooke Castle. Though seriously wounded, he made his way to Midenhall Castle to warn the King. The King was old and could not go forth to do battle against Hargon, so he turned to his heir to accept this task. Yes, you are the heir to the King and a true descendant of Erdrick the Great. Before you lies a world of mystery and imagination.

(From the instruction manual)

So once again, you are on a mission to save the world. Fortunately, it’s not as straightforward as DW I

Depth: 8/10

Indeed your first mission is to first gather your cousins with you so you can move forward. After that you must collect five crests dispersed through the world so you can acquire the Charm of Rubiss, which will let you see the true nature of things.

But don’t think it will be that easy. The crest are sometimes VERY WELL hidden, and the only clue you can have is by blowing the echoing flute in a dungeon – it will play back should there be a crest around, a little like how you gathered the dragon eggs in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.

There are also a few sidequests like creating the water flying cloth, the Princess’ best armor, getting Endrick’s gear and exploring Alefgard. As I said above it’s entirely optional but I think it was very-well thought of. Hell you even encounter the Dragonlord’s grandson, who won’t fight you because he wants you to defeat Hargon, who is trying to steal his domain!

Difficulty: 8/10

Despite being easier than DW I, DW II is still a very difficult game.

First of all level grinding is still very painful since your characters, especially the princess, have a logarithmic experience curve – the higher your level, the more experience you need for the next one. Even fighting metal babbles (about 1030 experience each) will take a lot of time. Plus most other enemies, when you can defeat them, usually yield little experience and money, making the grinding all the more painful.

Also magic gets more and more useless as you progress; your attack magic will often fail against stronger enemies. Speaking of strong enemies they get vicious on the cave to Rhone (the second-to-last dungeon). They can attack twice, use all sorts of spells (that don’t fail, of course), have an impossible amount of defense that Defence doesn’t seem to bring down enough and even spew fire… in groups of 3 or 4. And without savestates, escaping from them will be very challenging.

Finally, although you are given more clues as to where to go, these clues are sometimes given so far in advance that you will likely forget them by the time you need them. Plus they are sometimes mistranslated. In the Spring of Bravery for example you are told that the Prince of Cannock went to Middenhall… while he actually went to Leftwyne.

Nevertheless I would still recommend this excellent game that is Dragon Warrior II. It is much better than its predecessor, be it for the graphics, the music or the gameplay. And the fact that it is a sequel makes it all the more interesting since you can get a glimpse back at the past by even exploring the previous final dungeon.