Last year’s release of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake was absolutely superb. I know this because I’m actually still playing it, and that familiarity (on top of my fandom for the series) is one of the biggest reasons why my appointment playing Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake was one of the best, yet maddening, experiences I had at PAX West this year.
Square Enix gave us close to an hour with the game–roughly 30 minutes to play Dragon Quest and another 30 minutes to play Dragon Quest II and even though hardly anything has changed since Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, I already know this is going to be a game I’ll have trouble putting down. I already beligerently did that when my appointment with the game ended.
Dragon Quest I: The Return of Robbin ‘Ood
For those wondering why DQI&II are coming out after DQIII, it’s because DQIII is actually the first entry in the Erdrick Trilogy chronologically. Still, the entries have kept some of their redeeming qualities. DQI, for example, still features only one protagonist/hero that you’ll use throughout the entire game. Our 30 minutes with DQ1 had us exploring the first town we were in, before making our way to a cave in the south to fight Robbin ‘Ood and a bunch of his minions. Those who played DQIII should be very familiar with Robbin ‘Ood as he was constantly being a menace in the game and we kept letting him go after repeatedly defeating him throughout the journey.
Robbin’ Ood is back, because we keep letting this idiot get away.
Anyway, that boss was quite difficult because not only did you have ‘Ood to deal with, you had two cronies too. I kept using magic spells in the hopes of taking these guys out, but they didn’t deal significant enough damage, and I was forced to constantly heal myself before running out of healing items. Eventually, I brute forced my way using physical attacks, which ended up being the way to go in the first place. Before long, physical attacks ended up taking out the whole crew. ‘Ood did his whole “no I can’t go to the cops” plea, and I let him go again… because the game forces you to.
That was the end of the demo. Following that, Square Enix’s PR manager (shoutout top Chad Concelmo) gave me some props saying only half the invitees were able to do that and he was extremely interested in seeing if I could beat the boss in the DQII demo, because that saw an even lower success rate. That little bit of euphoria had me ready to tackle DQII.
Dragon Quest II: The Challenge That Never Was
After everything Chad said, I was ready to jump into Dragon Quest II. I was gonna make him proud.
This game brings the full party back, but the tower we had to get through was pretty challenging–so challenging that Chad said all the enemies in there were pretty formidable.
He was right. I was being as careful as I could, deciding when I wanted to engage in the random battles that occurred. I often tried running away, and in times where I couldn’t, I set up the heals as I navigated each floor. Unfortunately, my healer died, so I used that opportunity to “Whoosh” myself back to a previous town, revive the healer, and stay at the inn before heading back to that dungeon. This is one thing I wish the series could do away with, but I get it. Chad was also kind enough to let me know that I had a spell that would let me avoid most random battles while navigating the tower, which helped tremendously.
After only using one character in the original Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest II puts four people back in our party.
What it didn’t help with, though, was me being navigationally challenged. I was aimlessly walking up and down multiple floors struggling to find where I was supposed to go. I even had to have help a few times. Eventually, with like eight minutes left to go of demo playtime, I figured things out and dashed to my destination.
I shouldn’t have done that.
As careful as I was, because I was dashing, I ended up falling from the top of the tower to the bottom, having to start the climb all over. You had to apparently be slow and pixel perfect when it came to heading to where you’re supposed to go at the bottom of the screen, but alas. I fell. There wasn’t enough time to climb up again.
Chad’s a cool guy. I could’ve asked for more time, but I didn’t because this was also the end of my lunch hour and I had to make my way back to the expo floor quickly because I was running a booth. I felt like I let Chad down. I already let myself down. I couldn’t let my day job down by being any late to my booth shift.
Dammit.
The Quest Begins Soon
I really wanted to show Chad I was good at Dragon Quest, but I just put my foot in my mouth instead. Sorry, everyone. I look forward to my day of redemption when the game comes out.
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is slated for release on October 30 for the PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and both Switches, and I look forward to scaling that damned tower again.
Last year’s release of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake was absolutely superb. I know this because I’m actually still playing it, and that familiarity (on top of my fandom for the series) is one of the biggest reasons why my…
Last year’s release of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake was absolutely superb. I know this because I’m actually still playing it, and that familiarity (on top of my fandom for the series) is one of the biggest reasons why my appointment playing Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake was one of the best, yet maddening, experiences I had at PAX West this year.
Square Enix gave us close to an hour with the game–roughly 30 minutes to play Dragon Quest and another 30 minutes to play Dragon Quest II and even though hardly anything has changed since Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, I already know this is going to be a game I’ll have trouble putting down. I already beligerently did that when my appointment with the game ended.
Dragon Quest I: The Return of Robbin ‘Ood
For those wondering why DQI&II are coming out after DQIII, it’s because DQIII is actually the first entry in the Erdrick Trilogy chronologically. Still, the entries have kept some of their redeeming qualities. DQI, for example, still features only one protagonist/hero that you’ll use throughout the entire game. Our 30 minutes with DQ1 had us exploring the first town we were in, before making our way to a cave in the south to fight Robbin ‘Ood and a bunch of his minions. Those who played DQIII should be very familiar with Robbin ‘Ood as he was constantly being a menace in the game and we kept letting him go after repeatedly defeating him throughout the journey.
Robbin’ Ood is back, because we keep letting this idiot get away.
Anyway, that boss was quite difficult because not only did you have ‘Ood to deal with, you had two cronies too. I kept using magic spells in the hopes of taking these guys out, but they didn’t deal significant enough damage, and I was forced to constantly heal myself before running out of healing items. Eventually, I brute forced my way using physical attacks, which ended up being the way to go in the first place. Before long, physical attacks ended up taking out the whole crew. ‘Ood did his whole “no I can’t go to the cops” plea, and I let him go again… because the game forces you to.
That was the end of the demo. Following that, Square Enix’s PR manager (shoutout top Chad Concelmo) gave me some props saying only half the invitees were able to do that and he was extremely interested in seeing if I could beat the boss in the DQII demo, because that saw an even lower success rate. That little bit of euphoria had me ready to tackle DQII.
Dragon Quest II: The Challenge That Never Was
After everything Chad said, I was ready to jump into Dragon Quest II. I was gonna make him proud.
This game brings the full party back, but the tower we had to get through was pretty challenging–so challenging that Chad said all the enemies in there were pretty formidable.
He was right. I was being as careful as I could, deciding when I wanted to engage in the random battles that occurred. I often tried running away, and in times where I couldn’t, I set up the heals as I navigated each floor. Unfortunately, my healer died, so I used that opportunity to “Whoosh” myself back to a previous town, revive the healer, and stay at the inn before heading back to that dungeon. This is one thing I wish the series could do away with, but I get it. Chad was also kind enough to let me know that I had a spell that would let me avoid most random battles while navigating the tower, which helped tremendously.
After only using one character in the original Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest II puts four people back in our party.
What it didn’t help with, though, was me being navigationally challenged. I was aimlessly walking up and down multiple floors struggling to find where I was supposed to go. I even had to have help a few times. Eventually, with like eight minutes left to go of demo playtime, I figured things out and dashed to my destination.
I shouldn’t have done that.
As careful as I was, because I was dashing, I ended up falling from the top of the tower to the bottom, having to start the climb all over. You had to apparently be slow and pixel perfect when it came to heading to where you’re supposed to go at the bottom of the screen, but alas. I fell. There wasn’t enough time to climb up again.
Chad’s a cool guy. I could’ve asked for more time, but I didn’t because this was also the end of my lunch hour and I had to make my way back to the expo floor quickly because I was running a booth. I felt like I let Chad down. I already let myself down. I couldn’t let my day job down by being any late to my booth shift.
Dammit.
The Quest Begins Soon
I really wanted to show Chad I was good at Dragon Quest, but I just put my foot in my mouth instead. Sorry, everyone. I look forward to my day of redemption when the game comes out.
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is slated for release on October 30 for the PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and both Switches, and I look forward to scaling that damned tower again.
by Danreb Victorio
