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NES Child Star

As this is a direct followup to a previous review, instead of following the traditional structure of saying what's good and bad about this game, I'll instead focus on what this game did differently than its predecessor and how it affected my experience with it. Let's begin.


And over the generations, not a whole lot changed, really.


Where I feel Dragon Fantasy followed the Final Fantasy approach to its gameplay (getting an item and finding where to use it), Dragon Fantasy II followed more closely to the drum of Dragon Warrior in that you are told that such an item is needed for such a purpose and it's up to you to get the key item to open the dungeon that contains the item that you heard about.

Now perhaps the amount of battles you need to fight in order to get your first few levels are different, but for other reasons it seems Final Fantasy took off easier and has gained a larger following outside of Japan than Dragon Warrior, spanning many successful sequels in its time over multiple platforms. Perhaps people found the graphic style and the side view battles more charming, but for whatever reason, Dragon Warrior is heralded more as a cult classic than a true gem. The same I feel reflects the overall outcome of Dragon Fantasies I and II.

While it is true that Dragon Fantasy II - having come out later - is slightly more advanced in its execution of level design and perhaps even the battles, the larger world map, objectives you face and how you face them seem to grind against each other while the original seemed more fluid. You'd really have to play the game to truly "get it", but everything this time around seems a little more stilted.

This time, instead of starting off alone, you get your full party of mute protagonists and start on your quest. While this allows you to make the kind of party you want and should aid to an even greater sense of replayability, there was a certain charm in finding new party members who had their own reasons for doing the stuff they were doing that was sadly absent this time around. The fighter had a sister who joined you after you rescued her and it all seemed to flow nicely and had a sense of genuine progression.

Dragon Fantasy II, on the other hand, has you going on one quest at all times with only small divergences (such as rescuing someone from a swamp dungeon guarded by a boss) to mix it up. Until you get items like the Boat and the Jumping Shoes, your sense of exploration isn't truly being satisfied, so you'll spend the first couple of hours walking the same grassy fields with your mute protagonists. It just feels so tragically hollow, with dungeons and towns sort of blending together.

Of course, once you get the Boat and eventually the Hot Air Balloon, you can explore to your heart's content. Sadly, because the world is so big and everything up to now has blended together, you'll quickly find yourself lost and aggravated whenever the game tells you that you have to go somewhere distant.

The game's later dungeons, however, are really where Ephiam's newfound experience in level design truly starts to shine, with my favorite being the exterior of this ice castle thing:


If only cool stuff like this came earlier instead of waiting until the last hour of the game.


Perhaps I'd enjoy the game more if my interests leaned heavier towards Dragon Warrior instead of Final Fantasy, but if you can keep your wits about you during the slogs, the battles are still as much fun and are as well thought out as the original game. It's really hard to say that the backbone of what this game has going for it is any less significant than the original, but the feeling is just slightly off from what I experienced with Dragon Fantasy and the overall game suffered accordingly.

Still a fine play if you happen to have a walkthrough or previous experience with it.