Dragon Warrior two! Three person party! Multiple monsters! Usable stairs! Hooray! Today's game is the follow up to one of my favorite role playing games, so come on and read about Dragon Warrior 2!



There isn't really a big story of how I got Dragon Warrior 2. I was asked what would be a good present for me, I knew there was a compilation of Dragon Warrior 1 & 2 out on gameboy. I then was given this amazing gift. Dragon Warrior being one of my favorite role playing games, how could I not love the direct sequel? I certainly like it. I was so far into the gameboy version. I think I had a boat. Some serious third disk slump set in and I just quit playing. I feel so bad about that. So many hours upon hours playing and grinding. What makes it great is you can take it with you. I've probably played Dragon Warrior more on there out of the familiarity that I have with it, instead of braving Dragon Warrior 2 like I should have.



Dragon Warrior 2's storyline picks up sometime after the first game. Monsters attack and destroy another kingdom, one guard makes it to your fathers kingdom to tell the tale, you're then told to go save the world. In so many words. Not exactly a deep premise, but its all I need. Just a decent outline of my objectives and a big world to explore. Major differences being multiple monsters to fight, two additional party members, and you can go down the steps just by walking on them.



The major and most notable change over Dragon Warrior is that when you walk on steps, you actually walk up or down the steps. No need to press a button to open a menu and select stairs like in the first game. I don't know whose idea the stairs selection was, but it was a bad idea. I still love the first Dragon Warrior, but seriously, why can't you just walk onto steps and go down them automatically? Dragon Warrior 2 makes me so happy.



Besides the above humorous major and most notable change, you now can (spoiler?) get two other party members. A green prince and a pink princess. In my most recent playing of the NES game I refound how wonderfully and humorously you get those two. It had been so very long since I played a new game on Dragon Warrior 2 that I forgot. Once again, spoiler, the first character you get is the green prince. You're led all around the first part of the game world from town place to place to place trying to find this guy. Everyone says "Oh, you just missed him. He's somewhere else now." As humorous as that is, finding the princess made me smile even more. I was lost trying to find her. I had found a mirror. I had found the kingdom that was destroyed. But I just couldn't figure it out. Then a guard mentions her being transformed. When you use the mirror on a puppy dog back in town, it transforms into the princess! Hooray for a full party! Your main blue guy is a warrior type. The green prince has attack magic and weaker physical attacks/defense, and the princess has stronger magic but the weakest attack/defense. Part of a fully balanced party. Another thing Dragon Warrior does differently than other series is the way your characters die. You walk around with ghosts on the nes and coffins on the gameboy version, instead of them following behind you. You have to go find a priest to revive them at a cost. When all your characters die you lose half your gold and are sent to the last place you saved at. Keeping all your items and experience. I like that.



On my replay, I've made it just "this much" farther than where you get the princess. I'm stuck on this tower and can't figure out what I'm supposed to do. I made the rule of not looking things up to make it more fun and more about me playing the game. On my the Dragon Warrior 1 & 2 compilation, I'm so far out into the game I have no clue what to do next. I remember a few years ago, I looked up what to do and was so excited when I figured something out, but then put down the game again. Its been about a month since I played where I was on the original Nintendo, and once again, I'm feeling that "what the heck do I do now?" feeling. I just grinded my characters up and bought the best armor and equipment I could. The princess got one of the greatest spells in the history of video games. Instead of just attacking one party member she attacks all of them! It seemed like on the gameboy color one, one of the other two had a sycle or boomerang weapon that could also attack all of your enemies. I had every intention of finishing out Dragon Warrior 2, so I could move on to Dragon Warrior 3, but now I feel stumped. I wanted closure. I wanted to see how the game ended on my own merits. I've failed myself.



So yeah. Dragon Warrior 1 & 2 on gameboy color is probably your best bet for picking this up. You can get the Nintendo cartridge on ebay or at yard sales. Might not be as expensive as III and IV, at the very least if you see it pick it up. Sequels for Dragon Warrior go all the way up to number eight on playstation 2. Lots of spin offs like the Dragon Warrior Monsters series. I really enjoy Dragon Warrior's RPG gameplay system. Especially in these early titles. Also just to mention it again, Dragon Warrior is known as Dragon Quest in Japan and was corrected with the PS2 Dragon Quest VIII. I still refer to these games as Dragon Warrior, because I'm stubborn.

I love the box art for the nintendo version.


Gameboy color re-release of 1 & 2


Japanese stuff





Did you guys ever play Dragon Warrior 2?
As usual, more screenshots in the gallery.

Additional:

Would you guys hate me if I skipped beating two once again and moved on to Dragon Warrior three? I've not spent much time with three or four, but I did like what I played and anxiously look forward to an excuse to replay them. So commenters, e-mailers, message senders, do you want me to skip two and go on to number three?