Dragon Quest 2 is More Important Than You Think 

I got the NES version back when I was around 10 years old. I was so proud of myself that I'd managed to get all the way to the end on my own. It was only as I got to Rhone that I realized that I was a higher level than I expected. Turned out my mom had been grinding exp for me while I was at school every day. I couldn't even be upset about that.

I'll comment more on the game later but I wanted to say this first. Rest in Peace Akira Toriyama. You may have left this world but your legacy will never be forgotten.

The analysis of the Cave of Rhone is EXACTLY what makes this game so great. Truly a legitimate challenge. Right up there with stuff like Ninja Gaiden. I think the only reason that I actually beat the game is because I critical'd the final boss unexpectedly. This is a game where, even as an adult, you'll feel legitimately proud of yourself if you beat it.

This game was ungodly hard and demanded the utmost grinding. I got dragon quest 4 within the same year, and it was a breath of fresh air and so much better. Loved that.

If you look at old fanart of the game, there are always memes with thr Prince of Cannock in a casket being carried around by his cousins.

The pig-faced orcs were from OG D&D in 1975, you can find them in grayhawk

FORTY MINUTES ON DRAGON QUEST II??? I'm in.

Its no wonder why dragon quest became the biggest RPG series in Japan through the 80s and 90s. With each game being bigger and better then the previous one.

Masahiro Sakurai's youtube channel is what taught me the significance of Dragon Quest. He's a really good window into japanese gaming in general.

I thought you abandoned this series because it was over a year since the first one, good to see you continuing it. Hopefully the third video doesn’t take another year to release.

Playing this for the first time, i was surprised just how thoughtful and fleshed-out the world was. I can still picture the layout of most of the towns. Talking to NPCs and taking notes to solve riddles was a great compliment to the snappy battles.

So many memories, this was a great game. My brother played through and beat it several times. When he got to the final boss battle gauntlet, he didn't realize where he was at first. He encountered Atlas, the first of the five Henchmen of Hargon and his jaw dropped. He was like, "Oh shit! Atlas!" and immediately called his friend to get tips. From there, he went on to beat the game. I miss those simpler days. I also miss Akira Toriyama himself, his artwork is so iconic and stylistic that no one has been able to emulate it. Requiescat in Pace Toriyama-san, thank you for your contributions to the world through all the anime and video games you had an impact on. We will never forget you sir.

Fun fact: The Brazilian eShop has DQ1 and DQ3, but not DQ2. Other franchises have similar omissions still

went big mode on 8 and 1-3 of Dragon Quest this year, and they've been stellar! Glad to see another video about it.

Cant wait for DQ3 one of my all time favorite games! Another super high quality retrospective! Loved the vid!

My first time playing Dragon Quest II was when it was released for the Switch. I really loved it as it felt so much more grand than the first game. The only downside is that last chapter of the game, when you finally get to the Dark World. I can't imagine not having quick saves, the enemies are absolutely brutal. Can't wait for episode III!

An interesting thing I wanna point out about the puff-puff girl in this game: The line with her accusing the protagonist of being gay is actually a mistake, specifically from the fan translation of the Super Famicom remake. The line in the original Japanese is something more like, "So what if I'm an okama?" The mistake is understandable since okama is a tricky word that can mean gay man, effeminate man, or transgender woman depending on context. There's a very interesting article on Legends of Localization about this word that brings up this very NPC, and how she's been changed and translated in various rereleases of the game. It's called "The Japanese Word 'Okama' in Video Game Translations" if you want to look it up, I think it's a great read.

I got the original Dragon Warrior (nee Quest) from that old Nintendo Power subscription deal. And I loved it, so I got the second game as soon as I knew it even existed. And I beat it. It came with all those nifty maps, and I relied on them to get through, but get through I did. Even though it was back in the pre-internet days when I was pretty much on my own, I still did it. The best part of that first playthrough was that during those five final boss fights in Hargon's castle, my main hero got a series of critical hits where he literally one-shot four of the five bosses, including Hargon and Malroth themselves.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a good re-imagining of DQ2

i’m playin dragon quest 2 on snes right now in half way though and this video just made me more pumped, thank you

Been looking forward to this video for awhile now! I’m not really into RPGs, especially JRPGs, but Dragon Quest is such a history rich franchise and your first video left me wanting more. It’d be cool to see this evolve into a series like ShaneBrained’s Fire Emblem retrospective

Yes i have to agree DQII is a magical game. Albeit difficult. Especially after finishing DQI (The map of DQII is similar to DQI). Im not looking at it through rose colored nostalagia glasses as I played and finished the Super Famicom version just 2 years ago. It has one of the saddest introductions of a character in your party in a RPG. Wont spoil it, but it involves a "certain mirror."

I'm currently doing a playthrough of the original 4 games on NES in order and its fantastic to see the jumps in evolution of graphics, gameplay, and Enix learning how to code on the NES. Just wait until you see what they got away with graphics- and effects-wise in 4 and how fluid it is compared to the other three.

Nothing struck fear in my heart like walking into that Lighthouse when I was "sure that I was leveled up enough" -- only to stumble into 5 dragonflies who all attacked first with flames.

It was a LONG wait from your first DQ retrospective to this one. Hope the DQ3 video is already in the works! Thanks for all the effort you’ve put into this series of videos!

The reason that the battle screen was changed to black was so that both background tiles and sprites could be used for the monster graphics. This allowed the monsters to have more colors than they normally could.

In Earthbound Begginings / Mother 1, the overworld music also changes with party members. When Ninten is alone, it's a song, and it changes when he's not alone. The name of the song is "Being Friends", and the fact that I recognized it from Super Smash Bros. Melee (which also introduced me to Earthbound as a whole) made me stand there for like 1 minute listening to it. It's something so simple, but left a strong impression on me.

Many kids including myself probably got their intro to RPG with the 1st Dragon Warrior/Quest from the free game that Nintendo offered for the 1st year Nintendo Power Subscription. Spend so many hours on that game. So when DQ 2 came out the excitement was crazy. Just the intro of the game got me hooked. Took my time to play the game and enjoy most bits of it. Discovered the crazy amount of gold duplicating and selling the Thunder Staff which made purchasing items easier.

I played the Switch version of the Erdrick trilogy, and I pretty much agree with everything you said here. DQ II feels like an important middle step between the simplicity of I and the incredible experience that is III, which kinda leaves its legacy in an odd place. It's a game that I'd recommend the least for people to play, even though it's a clear step up from I.

I heard the DQ1 battle music and just thought: COMMAND COMMAND COMMAND COMMAND that GDQ run was epic

I get personally offended when people dog on DQ2. It’s my favorite in the series. I’m not sure why, but the music is probably it.

new Derrick video? Don't mind if I do!

I actually just finished playing DQ2 for the first time. I had a great time with it. It has that quality that all great games of its era have, of being a lot more than the sum of its parts

I played the trilogy on the Switch release, and contrary to most, I loved the art style in the fighting scenes. See, instead of sprites they used the original Toriyama drawings which I loved seeing during fights, so that’s an improvement to me, as sprites were a downgrade from the original art. Looking forward to your video about III, and can’t wait for the remake of III and in the future for XII :))

This video was an absolute pleasure to watch! I now have an intense desire for you to make a detailed video on every dragon quest game!

Loved this retrospective so much. Please, keep them coming. Great job on this.

Was beginning to think Derrick found another job instead of GVG! Is he part-time now? Considering the higher focus on his personal streams instead of making content for GVG, I wouldn't be surprised. Thanks for the video! Can't wait for DQ3 HD and DQ12 later this year.

Perfect timing. I literally started this game for the very first time 3 days ago. Just got to Alefgard. Love it so far! Edit: Well damn... I haven't been using a guide yet, but it looks I'll have to pretty soon. All of that sounds incredibly tough and obtuse lol.

Great video. I played the original when it came out here, after watching my dad play it. Later, when I started collecting retro games (maybe like… in 2005?) I got the remaining NES Dragon Quest games and decided to play them… oh boy… DQ2 started off so good! I loved it… then I got the boat and I just never knew where to go or what to do… I think I chipped away at the game over a span of what could have been years… having to read walk throughs to a point to try and remember where I was, and what I was doing. I did t have to grind too much at the end because I basically spent a year being lost and was a decent level naturally lol… I finally finished it, and it felt very rewarding… but I don’t know if I’d ever play it again. I never did play 3, but I did play 4, and 5 on the DS, and then 7 and 8 on 3DS.

Excellent video! Really enjoyed it. Thanks.

I really enjoyed this game. It's almost comparable to the Japanese Super Mario 2, in that it looks pretty similar to the first game, but goes way harder and pulls no punches. Everyone complains about the later part of the game, but honestly if you just keep trying you will make it through. It's a great iterative sequel.

Such a great video. Was a joy to watch, thank you.

This video was fascinating. I knew game development was shorter back then due to being able to reuse a lot more assets and the debugging not taking as long, but I didn’t expect them to start on the sequel the month before the original. And when the _entire_ game was so out of balance it was literally (and I do mean literally, not figuratively) unbeatable, it just took a month to rearrange some towns, enemies, weapons, and edit the values to a beatable state. I’d bet with another month they could have gotten it balanced to a satisfactory degree. I’m curious if they rebalanced the game in any other versions… if not, I’m sure there are mods that do that considering how popular Dragon Quest is. It’s also amazing to me how having multiple endings was considered. Sure the ideas were scrapped, but can you imagine how amazing the idea would have been at the time? I don’t recall any console rpg with multiple endings until the SNES era. I’m gonna look that up now actually…

Great video Derrick, really looking forward to the next episode. I've never played Dragon Quest 2, but I enjoyed hearing about your experience playing the game.

Great stuff, thanks for the vid!!

I originally played Dragon Warrior on the NES but was unaware there were any other games in the series until the GBC 2-in-1 port. Loved the fact you could revisit the continent from the 1st game!

I have such nostalgia for Dragon Warrior 2. DW1 blew me away and the wait for 2 seemed endless. I kinda loved the difficulty spike at the end of the game because it created the brutal march to Hargon’s castle…which just felt right to me as a kid.

I first played the game after playing Dragon Quest Builders 2. While it was really cool seeing where all the references came from, I found it to be a very enjoyable game in its own right.

Always here for more DQ

2 was rough, but I'm super happy to see dq content.

I'm playing Dragon Quest Builders 2 right now and I must say that the lore they dumped from this game is amazing. (Sadly, some of the dialogue drags on so long due to the fact that it takes forever to clear.) I do admit that Dragon Quest 2 (Dragon Warrior II) was the first challenging game I ever dealt with and the fact that it almost never got released due to how badly the difficulty went shocked me. I'm glad they delayed the game by months, but felt sad that they couldn't finish playtesting due to time constraints. At least the ports fixed the difficulty issues. Here's hoping for Dragon Quest Builders 3 in 2025! :D

Never really knew about DQ when I was younger. Started playing FF in my early teens. Started DQ 1, finished that and now I’m starting DQ 2! Looking forward to seeing the series evolve 😄

About the orc: in the original D&D Monster Manual (and a lot of pre-WotC art) orcs were depicted with pig-snouts and even the 5th edition Monster Manual describes them as having "piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks". It's just that in the West Warhammer/Warcraft style orcs overtook the popular imagination while Japan went with straight up pig-men. It's possible that DQ2 popularized the pig-man orc, but by no means created it.

Love this! Thanks for making it!

Amazing video on Dragon Quest/Warrior II. Well done.

I will never forget how much of a pain that cave before the last dungeon was... Not only that, when I finally got through the cave one of my first battles had 3 enemies, two of which could cast Thwack (AoE Defeat). They both cast it, killing everyone but the Hero, then the other enemy crit him, killing him too. This means going back to the last save point before going through that damn cave. Good thing is that I was playing the phone version, so I had just quick saved as soon as I left the cave. Loaded that and safely got to the resting place before the final dungeon. Even the new and more balanced versions can still be challenging.

Ah Dragon Quest Quest 2. Or as I knew it back on the Gameboy Color Dragon Warrior 2. My memories have faded with time but I can still recall things. How the game start with Hargon's forces like siege to the Kingdom of Moonbrooke. How one badly injured soldier escapes with his life only to pass away once he reaches Midenhall and warns the King of want happened. Those opening moments have stuck with me for years. Back then I was new to gaming so to see something like that happen in a video game showed me what the medium could be capable of. For weeks I'd bounce back and forth between 2 and the original game due to them being on the same cart. I remember early on I'd adventure forth to meet the Price of Cannock only to learn he wasn't in his Kingdom. Not wanting to have to trek all the way back to where he was I decided to restart the game. Then I remember being lost trying to find the Princess of Moonbrooke. I remember restarting once again because I thought I was missing something. Then I asked my best friend what I was doing wrong and he told me the solution I felt silly 😅. But the thing I remember the most was the trek towards Rhone. The game would throw group after group of enemies that could trash you no problem. Then you face Hargon's elite minions. First Atlas with his massive attack, then Pazuzu with ailments and breath, and finally Belial with strong attacks and devastating spells. After facing all these challenges I finally reached Hargon. The battle was tough but not as unforgiving as the gauntlet I faced to get there. I beat him and I was happy and decided to leave the area without any doing any post battle healing. Then as I try to leave each direction I turn is blocked by an impact crater. Then he appears. Sidoh or as he's known these days, Malroth. I knew about the various Dark Lords from Dragon Quest Monsters but I was NOT expecting one to how up right after beating one. I got my butt kicked. Several times He's hit hard and he can heal himself. I remember getting really mad at the last part. Then one morning I decide to play right before school and to my shock and joy THIS time I finally beat Malorth. I remember writing about this with such joy and passion in my class journal(kudos to my classmate Britney who would read over my journal each week and have to grade my writing while I covered my experiences with the games). I had beaten the likes of Blue, the final battle in Monsters, and Dragonlord but Malroth stuck with me. The joy I felt for taking down such a tough boss after the tough road to reach him felt so good. Dragon Quest 2 is far from my favorite Dragon Quest but I will remember it for the rest of my life for it helped shape my tastes in gaming 😎.

12:02 Well, about the Ork... Most people might not know this, but the original first edition DnD Orc did in fact have a pig like face. In that version, the pig features were mearly a way to emphasize the uglyness and deformed aperance of the orc, in a way that was easy and simple to draw, and really went to further then that. Over time this pig like aperance faded in the west, though some features like the snout like noses and and long lower k-9 teath that look like tusks remain Considering the creative process ( people giving Toriyama monster ideas and rough scetches, and letting him work his magic from there) its posible that one of the references for the orc was the original DnD 1e version, and rather then useing the LotR story or recent depiction of Orcs as guide, he went all in on the pig aspect and creted a whole new and unique depiction of Orc.

thank you again Torriyama San. great video GVG!

My first experience with this game was so long ago, I dont remember how old I was, but I had the Gameboy Color version, so I suppose I was spared any suffering from difficulty balancing, and I NEARLY got through the WHOLE game as a kid, until getting roadblocked at the first floor of Hargon's Castle. I don't know if it was because I did not pay attention or thought of it but I never thought of using the item that dispels the illusion, and finally years later I went back to the game and looked up a guide, and I was not happy about it at the time, but again, I'm amazed I got as far as I did without a guide.

This is a great video. I learned a lot of new stuff. Thank you. :)

I like the change in music when the party is complete.

I first finished Dragon Quest 2 on the Switch after futzing cluelessly with the GBC version as a kid, and now it's one of my favorite retro RPGs. Even with all the streamlining and difficulty adjustments, it's decently challenging! Inventory management matters, status effect spells are powerful, and different enemy encounters require different approaches to clear efficiently. And the scenario design is just perfect-the way most goals are spoken by a couple NPCs instead of just one, the way the openness of the game kinda breathes in and out... It's got the best quest in Dragon Quest.

Just started playing this game for the first time since I played the original on the NES. Loving this mobile switch port. Still a very good game .

I just finished this on NES yesterday - amazing how the save battery still worked perfectly. I used the same maps that you did at Mike's RPG center and can't imagine going through those caves on my own. The game was definitely too hard; but I ended up beating the final bosses with the hero at level 35. Overall, I definitely liked the first game better because Christ, almost every single random encounter in the second half of the game is so damn intense.

I literally just started playing this today lol

funny that I’m currently doing a play through rn lol perfect time for this vid ❤

Haha! You forgot you couldn't enter Wellgarth to find Roge Fastfinger without the Golden Key. And it's pretty hard to find even with the NPC clues. But honestly, I love that whole fetch quest. One thing helps you get the next, which helps you get the next, and so on and so on.

Personally I don't buy the "games aging poorly" argument: if you don't play an old game with the same eyes as when it came out you're retrogaming wrong, I think. But it's interesting how playing certain titles like DW2 at the time of release and doing so now are two different things. The player's dedication wasn't so divided because, unless your parents were rich or were divorcing and trying to make it up to you, the amount of games available was small and playing something so obtuse wasn't exactly a problem, because the adventure lasted. Nowadays... is it just me or does anyone else have more games than time left to play them?.. I got the Dragon Warrior NES quadrilogy in 2007 (all them loose) and set about playing them in order. The first one went without a hitch, but DW2... I remember that until I got the ship, things were going well, but then I got lost for weeks! Then I swallowed my pride and downloaded a pdf guide ("unveiled secrets", frankly that should have come with the original package...), as well as printing out the game map on four A4 sheets and gluing them together to make it A1 size. Even then it wasn't easy! I remember being simply DESTROYED on the way to Rhone by enemies casting my "favorite" spell, "Defeat". I played the first 5 games in the series all the way through and had a great time, but the second one is my "least favorite", so to speak. On a positive note, every RPG after it seems like a piece of cake.

yeah! did play the original Dragon Warrior 2 back then! I still remember my friend calling me and make me listen to the intro, we heard the character walk in, I was wondering what it was, until the music did start, I was very exited!!

40 min video by GVG is good for me! Especially a Dragon Quest video! 😊

DQ/Warrior was my first game. Ever. I just started playing the Switch ports. Can't handle the feels sometimes. I miss Akira ❤

I've been waiting for this! I love Dragon Quest Marathons!

23:00 - 24:25 Holy shit that’s more random and complex than Zelda II or Castlevania 😨

I beat the SNES version without a guide, and I LOVED it! I actually enjoy exploring every nook and cranny in a game like this, and I felt rewarded for doing so in a way I RARELY feel in much newer J-RPGs... But obviously, the better balance of the SNES version makes it a lot less of a hassle to explore every nook and cranny.

I love this game so much. It's my favourite Dragon Quest game

Wow! I never noticed the change in music when you got the complete party! Neat

I'm gonna try to get these classics whenever they go on sale next time. Dragon Quest is much better than the credit it gets, and deserves more love.

Eagerly awaiting the dragon quest 3 review. That was my first one!

I'm playing dragon quest 3 on my game boy color right now. Such an amazing game!!!

I grinded gold orcs and got the key spell after an extremely long time (had no idea the spell existed, mind you) because I did not figure out I could walk through the wall for the thief key. I searched EVERY square probably 30 times. 3 water flying cloths before I opened jail cells. This genuinely took over 4 years. I walked to and from a dungeon selling magic armor very slowly, because what else was I going to do. This game was kind of unique in that every party member had a different maximum level.

Played this game recently and it is still so very very good.

An underrated game within the original trilogy, despite choosing DQ III as the total package, II is a great game on its own and huge follow up for establishing the franchise.

Dragon Warrior taught me to read. Only took a few days of bothering my dad and a few weeks more of him forcing me to figure it out (at five years old) 😊

I liked the party march up intro screen.

I didn't even start playing Dragon Warrior one until 1996 when my local supermarket that rented video tapes and Nintendo games and had it for sale I didn't even know what it was I've always had fascination with dragons and I remember begging my grandmother for the money to buy it then once I got it and started getting into it I remember meeting someone that worked at IHOP when I was hanging out with a waitress friend and he knew all about the game and I offered to pay his manager his salary for an hour or so he can tell me everything about the game and I remember him taking the back of a paper menu and drawing me out a map and I had the best time finally getting to the dragonlord and beating him

Malroth's my boi in Dragon Quest Builders 2. He was turned from final boss to great character

Dragon Quest 2 started my love for the series, although it's the one I like the least after having played the other games over time. I remember getting it from a flea market for five bucks (this was 1996 BTW) and the guy there was talking about how great the game was. Man, what a time, haha.

i love when the overworld music changes. the happiest moment of life up until then

1:30 It also was partially kept so simple because it was made for a small cartridge. With DQ2 I believe they had 2-4 times more storage to work with.

I rented DQ1 a lot before getting it from the Nintendo Power giveaway back in the day. I was totally hooked and got DQ2 as soon as I could when it came out. DQ2 didn't seem that hard to me but it would be many years before I would find out how broken the game was. Regardless, I played the heck out of it. I got to the final save point in Rhone at level 15! Which was awesome but also painted me into a corner that was almost impossible to fight out of. Another fun challenge you can do is "simply" beat the game without healing Lars. The ending doesn't change but you get some extra dialog with Lars.

Me and my brothers had the first two games growing up. I remember my brother had sent away for a map/guide that was advertised at the end of the manual. It was the only way we could beat the game.

Going into it I didn't want to like it as much as I did. But as it went along I couldn't help but to fall for it. It's not perfect but it belongs.

Nice video, I look forward to your next one on Dragon Quest/Warrior III. For me I only tried Dragon Warrior for the first time around 2020 on an emulator (emulating the NES version). I played through the whole thing, enjoyed it & maybe a year later gave Dragon Warrior II a go. I like Dragon Warrior more than Dragon Warrior II, it has a certain "charm or quality" to it that I can't explain, however I still like 2 a lot. I like that the party members each play differently & I like that there isn't smart targeting as smart targeting takes away from how important decision making is in my opinion. I'm a weirdo that likes grinding, so too much grinding never turns me off. I think my lowest level character was level 27 when I exited Rhone. I also have a great screenshot on my phone where I got to that Shrine after Rhone for the first time, 2 characters 0 HP, 1 character left alive (the Princess) with 1 HP, 0 MP. I BARELY made it. I think I was level 44ish when I beat it, I also remember I had some certain choice words for Hargon/whatever the monster after him was called. When I beat them I think I said something like "What the **** are you gonna do about that SUCKA?! NOTHING, cuz you're DEAD!" In terms of exploration it was quite hard, I didn't look up any maps. I'd just go in my ship in one direction until I found new land, then I'd explore the new land. If it was land I already explored I'd get back on the ship & continue in the same direction after finding a way around the land & keep going until I got to the same starting point, then I'd move half a screen ~ three quarters of the screen & do another round. There were probably a couple 3 hour days of just sailing/figuring out the map/putting that map to memory so that I could find stuff more easily once I went back to progressing through the main quest. I didn't 100% use no guides though, I would say 90% of stuff I figured out on my own & 10% I had to resort to a guide to find something. I normally try to search very thoroughly before resorting to a guide, so my playtime was close to 80 hours when I completed the game. In 2023 I played through DW3 & imo it's better than 1 or 2. For me 3 > 1 > 2. That game took me probably 100 hours, but I think that's in part because I enjoyed it even more so I was willing to do more exploration & there are some other side stuff you can do that can make the hours go by.

III is such a huge step from II I look forward to the video on it.

Dragon Quest/Warrior 3 is my favorite video game of all time. If you liked 2, I'm confident you'll enjoy 3.

I remember having the original trilogy on Gameboy color as a child back when it was "Dragon Warrior" and 2 was the only one I never finished because dear God was it hard as hell. I appreciate it more now as an adult but man was it brutal.

As someone whose first proper RPG was Golden Sun. Having only 3 in a Party feels weird to me.

I hope you turn around using Beat and Defeat Spells more in the next NES games of the DQ franchise. They are incredible when used against certain enemies who are very hard to beat otherwise, like those big octos and bears in the latter half of DQ3. They can miss yes, but the MP cost is actually well balanced to account for that very well.

I love Derrick's videos!