Dragon Quest Heroes II – Review
Follow Genre: Musou, Action, RPG
Developer: Omega Force
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform: PC, PS4
Tested on: PS4

Dragon Quest Heroes II – Review

Site Score
8.6
Good: Art style, Story, Giant party of characters, RPG elements
Bad: A lot of rehashed monsters
User Score
9.0
(3 votes)
Click to vote
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Rating: 9.0/10 (3 votes cast)

Back in 2015 Dragon Quest made the step of becoming a part of the ‘Musou’ series, otherwise known as the Dynasty Warriors series. Lately more and more franchises have been turned into a Dynasty Warriors experience, which not only limits itself to game franchises, but also anime series, such as Attack on Titan and Berserk. Nonetheless, Dragon Quest is nearly as old as console gaming itself, and for it to break free from its otherwise fixed formula proved to be a joy for those who were looking for something new within a familiar series, or simply Dynasty Warriors fans who love RPG games as well. We were not surprised to a see a second installment released, we simply didn’t expect it to be this soon. Nonetheless, we were ready to dive into the hordes of goofy looking monsters once again.

Dragon Quest Heroes II Banner

Story

You’ll be playing as Teresa or Lazarel, cousins of one another, who live in a world where peace has reigned for a thousand years. Nonetheless, as is the case with many good adventure stories, there is a prophecy that warns the world what will happen when a new war breaks loose, namely the destruction of the world and all who live in it. While a war seems rather far from home, things take a turn for the worse when all of a sudden the soldiers of Dunisia are at Harba’s doorstep to declare war. You, one of Dunisia’s citizens will take up arms against your fellow countrymen because you just know this must have been one big misunderstanding that can be resolved, especially seeing the prince of Dunisia is a childhood friend of yours. You know the prince is a hothead, but he would never go to war without a proper reason.

It’s been a rising trend to see deeper storylines in Musou games, and the Dragon Quest Heroes is probably the first series to create such a ‘deep’ and original storyline for this type of games. Other story driven Warriors games were often based on anime series, and thus followed the storylines of said series, and didn’t really bring anything new to the table, safe for a few new scenes the anime did not show yet. Thanks to this, Dragon Quest Heroes II is a very likeable game for those who want a bit more story value in their Musou games. Nonetheless, don’t expect the same level of story development as you would receive in a traditional RPG or Dragon Quest game for that matter.

Dragon Quest Heroes II 1

Graphics

Graphically Dragon Quest Heroes II is simply a delight. While most Dragon Quest games already look fun and quirky by themselves, the Heroes series lets the characters truly come alive, thanks to the fluent attack patterns, the open world, and the many beautiful towns you can visit. Like many other Musou games, this title has a few great features, such as a constant supply of enemies, which fill up certain areas of the map, thus offering you a lot to see, and you’ll also have a giant cast of characters at your disposal, all with very flash moves and variations. The downside is that many enemies are overused and rehashed in another color the further you progress, and that many environments may be crowded with enemy lifeforms, yet they sadly feel rather flat and void of any clutter and extra decoration to give them a lot of actual details.

The cutscenes in this game are done very beautifully, making it feel like a 3D rendered anime series. The latter creates the proper atmosphere, as you’ll get these pretty scenes rather often the further you progress with the storyline of the game. Those who didn’t know by now, the artist behind these great animations is none other than Akira Toriyama, who is also behind Dragonball Z

Sound

Overall you’ll be treated to a somewhat upbeat soundtrack, with a few tranquil intermezzos. In towns, shops and even in combat you’ll get fast tempo music, which gets you in the proper mood, be it an explorative mood, or one that aids you to bash a lot of the bad guys’ skulls. Many signature sounds are used to mark the end of combat, or when other achievements are met.

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Voice acting is also a big part of the game, where you have the option to  choose between the original Japanese voices, which are superb, or the English dub, which is strangely enough on par with the original voice cast. The English voices are all with a heavy British accent, which is not often done for games such as this, but for some inexplicable reason this adds a lot to the game’s atmosphere. While the game is not fully voiced, which is a shame, you’ll get enough banter to plow through.

Gameplay

Dragon Quest Heroes II is, just like its predecessor, a mix of the classic gameplay of a Dynasty Warriors game and one of a more classic RPG title. You’ll mostly be pounding your enemies’ butt, while roaming around in a decent sized world, progressing through a fairly thick storyline for a Musou game. Nonetheless, even though combat reigns supreme in this title, the proportion of the RPG elements in this game will make RPG fans feel right at home. At the beginning you’ll just have the chance to pick Teresa or Lazarel, which is pretty much the same as the ‘boy or girl’ option in the newer Pokémon titles. That being said, both characters start out in the warrior class, which means you’ll be able to equip the same weapons, and safe for a few elemental attacks, there is no real difference between both characters. Keep in mind that the one you pick, always has to remain in your party when playing through the game. Thus it’s best to pretty much choose the one you like the most, as you’ll be looking at him/her for the remainder of the game.

Don’t worry though, the game will offer you the chance to switch classes, which is basically a synonym for being allowed to wield different weapons, and utilize different skills. While this option is great of you get tired of the warrior class, and want to try something more along the lines of support, ranged or more nimble, it’s a missed opportunity not to implement this from the beginning, allowing you to pick whatever you like right off the bat. If you feel like a warrior wasn’t the way to go, you can still switch fairly early in the game, but you’ll have to start over from level 1, which can cause an annoyance if you wish to continue the story missions, with a fairly weak character. You’ll level a lot quicker though.

As mentioned before, this title tries to implement some RPG elements, which doesn’t solely include leveling your characters, changing classes and finding new gear. For example, this is a Musou game in which you don’t go from battle to battle, after selecting the newly unlocked battle from a menu. In Dragon Quest Heroes II, you’ll be treated to a semi-open world map, in which you’re able to roam around, explore, and head towards your next destination, or simply solve side quests as you please. Of course, the actual story missions are in secluded arenas, much like the normal Dynasty Warriors titles. Side-quests are often completed by collecting items or killing monsters on the open world map.

Combat works very much like typical Dynasty Warriors games, in which you’ll just hack and slash your way through hordes of monsters, with a few bosses along the way. You’ll be able to use your basic attacks, as well as some charged attacks and of course some special moves. The latter use mana points, which slowly recover over time. You can easily unlock new special skills and then switch up your ‘loadout’ per character in your party, by rearranging their skills. Keep in mind, you can only take three extra people in your party, outside of your chosen character with which you started the game. As this game offers you many party members, choosing can become hard, and it’s also hard to keep everyone leveled up, as those sitting on the bench will get no experience points. Nonetheless, it’s a lot of fun to try out the different characters, as well as different classes for your main characters, as every character and/or class feels very different in the way they ‘handle’ themselves.

Conclusion

Many may argue that this game isn’t really as deep as a normal Dragon Quest experience, but for a Musou game the story is actually quite decent, as well as the overall character development. You’ll be treated to many hours of fun, be it by following the story, exploring the world, or solving side quests to level up your character and try out different vocations. If you’re a fan of Dragon Quest, and also like a good Musou game on the side, then you’ll be able to properly sink your teeth into this one.

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Rating: 9.0/10 (3 votes cast)
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Dragon Quest Heroes II - Review, 9.0 out of 10 based on 3 ratings

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