Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 5 - The Voyage Home

 

Today on DQII: I've obtained the ship, and now it's time to make the voyage back to Alefgard and find the Sigils. Excited to see how Alefgard is realized in this remake.

We are leaving space dock, and it's a good thing we got permission to take this boat because otherwise we'd have to sabotage Excelsior to get away.

They really hype up this boat. Our heroes have a banquet and all they can talk about is the boat. With this, I can explore pretty much the entire world map. However, as far as location counts go DQII's world is a lot smaller than, say, DQIII's world. I'll be at Rhone Plateau before I know it. The goal of the next phase is to find the Sigils scattered around; all I have left otherwise for known dungeons are the Sea Cavern, Rhone Cave, and the endgame.

Cannock feels bad about how excited he is, given everything that's happened to our heroes. This gives Moonbrooke an opportunity to express that the guys are helping her cope with the destruction of her kingdom:

The characterization in this game is really putting it over the top. While DQ HD-2D wasn't my favorite version of that game at all (I'd reach for the SNES or the phone version over it), it's already without question that this new version of DQII HD-2D is far and away better than any previous version. DQII had the most room for improvement and the most potential to be fixed/molded into something great, so I'm glad that it was.

The ocean looks quite purdy in this version, and now I can travel anywhere. There aren't that many places to go, but it's still a great moment.

This is where I usually do my mid-game grinding in other versions of the game. Rather than having to run in circles, now I can use Whistle to start battles and grind away. Ocean foes give a lot more EXP than land foes up to this point.

Question is...how did these oddball four enemies form an alliance? It's the weirdest alliance since Steve "Mongo" McMichael teamed up with Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit in the Four Horsemen. Which makes the gargoyle Arn Anderson, probably. Then there was Ric Flair (why were there always five guys in the Four Horsemen?)

"I respect you, booker man!" says the wyvern. The gargoyle then slaps the wyvern right in the head. I don't know what's going on anymore.

After an hour or two of grinding that should put me ahead for a while (so I can get back to Holy Water repelling my way through the game), I set out. Alefgard is the first destination and it's right here in your face, so it only makes sense to go through it first.

Note: Didn't realize it at the time, but if you warp to Midenhall and sail south from there, the boat enemies are much stronger and give like 4x as much exp. Don't remember this being the case on the NES, the enemies were uniform across the entire ocean. So it's much better to grind in that area instead.

Here's Tantegel, and it looks pretty glorious. Being able to reuse so much with Alefgard between these three games no doubt helped the development time a lot. The DQ1 version of Tantegel:

Somehow MOUNTAINS sprang up to the north between the two stories.

Tantegel ain't what it used to be, as I get my fortune told by a seedy girl in an alleyway. Next I expect to run into a topless hooker with 3 breasts. If my cab driver's name is Benny, I'm outta here. Five kids to feed, MY ASS!

As a kid I usually named the DQ1 hero "Erdrick" by default anyway. Makes sense that it became a title as time went on.

Sounds like the hero in question and Princess Queen Gwaelin only founded Midenhall, which actually started out as Maidenhall because it was named after Gwaelin. Then their kids branched out and founded Cannock and Moonbrooke, and so on.

Damdara is, oddly enough, still in shambles. You'd think repairing this place would have been a priority after the Dragonlord was defeated.

Garinham is doing a lot better, and the latest in the esteemed line of Dandy Bards spends his days trying to romance women with his musical talents.

Next, I get the greatest of weapons. It's overpriced, but I'm going to have this equipped for a long time. ::"Sledgehammer" plays::

After that, I cross the Rainbow Bridge, which helpfully requires no fetch quests in this game:

"I WANNA BE!"

"YA SLEDGE-HAMMAH!"

Our heroes arrive at Charlock, which is as old and run-down as it's ever been now.

"WHY DON'T YOU CAAAALL MY NAY-AYM! OWWWWWWW"

Anyway, here's Charlock. This place was a grand citadel under Zoma, now it's just a decrepit hovel. #BringBackZoma

New boss fight that wasn't here before. These two guys are trying to get the Dragonlord's latest descendant to join the forces of Hargon, but he refused. And wait, who is this Belial guy? Someone else new for this version, and no doubt another Hargon minion.

This boss fight is no problem with my characters grinded up (probably 5-7 levels higher than I need to be at this point). They both have a lot of HP, and that's about all that's going for them.

The last level of Dragonlord's Castle is this particularly memorable room. It's the same as before. It's almost like he's got a little chapel outside the castle for himself, rather than a throne room. Unless the surrounding area was destroyed when the Dragonlord moved into the place to begin with. Curious about the lore here. I've been spoiled by Hidetaka Miyazaki games like Elden Ring where every little thing has an in-universe explanation. Where's the VaatiVidya for Dragon Quest II?

D..Dragonlord-sama! Sugoi!

Oh. No worries everybody, it's just the descendant. And he's a really nice guy, honest.

He tasks our heroes with finding the five Sigils, as is tradition. I think he's an optional superboss if you return later, as well.

I looked high and low for Erdrick's Sword in the castle, and it wasn't there. That's because in this version, you get it from the DGG himself. He doesn't mince words about how legendary the weapon is. He's also pretty chill about how his ancestor got slain by it.

Would still like to see an inter-quel game with the DQ1 hero and Gwaelin going around establishing towns, building Midenhall, etc. Rather than him just leaving the sword where he fought the Dragonlord, maybe he uses it for that game, befriends the Dragonlord's son, and then gives him the sword as a gift or whatnot. This could be a DLC to DQ1+2 HD2D.

Could also do a prequel game about Ortega's adventure. That one would probably be more action-packed than the 1-2 mid-quel, so if it came down to it I'd rather see that game. This could be the DLC for DQ3 HD2D.

I should just do a post for DLCs I'd like to see. Probably will soon, with more thoughts on these ideas.

It's seen better days, and is now all rusted. It isn't even called Erdrick's Sword. Guessing I can reforge it to make it a super-weapon in this version.

As everyone here is an Erdrick descendant, everyone can use his equipment, including the pure caster. This might end up making her even more OP than usual. Considering she attacks with spells, I think I'll do what I always wanted to do and equip Cannock with the Erdrick gear. He's the closest to the DQ1 guy out of these characters, and it always seemed fitting that he'd get the Erdrick gear. Midenhall always had better gear later on, Cannock didn't.

Here it is, in all its rusted glory. Unlike the Rusty Sword at the beginning of Secret of Mana, this is still one of the stronger weapons in the game even in rusty form.

Going back to where Erdrick's Sword was originally found, now there's a Battle Fork there. It isn't an upgrade to anyone, and Quina Quen isn't in this game, so IDK.

The Dragonlord's loot room drives me nuts. All the chests are either already-opened or locked with keys I don't have yet, and the one remaining chest is a damn cannibox!

This particular Mini Medal was probably the most well-hidden one I've seen yet, and I only found it by complete blind accident when an "inspect" popped up on this particular spot. It's in one of the many rocky outcropping areas on the sea, most of which just have a barrel or two to find. This...means medals could be literally anywhere, even in entirely nondescript dirt. I bet this particular medal caused grief for a lot of players going for 100%.

The next stop on The Voyage Home is the hot springs town of Kol, known for its steamy bathing shrine and loud bedsprings.

Moonbrooke takes some time to luxuriously sponge herself for a while in the hot spring, then walk around in a towel.

This guy has noisy upstairs neighbors, and has to listen to their clanging headboard and squeaky bedsprings all hours of the night. It's that damn hot springs! It puts everyone in the mood!

I need to leave Kol ASAP.

This guy can repair Erdrick's Sword into a super version, but only if we bring him Orichalcum. He's the world's finest swordsman already so we have that covered.

Next stop is way outside of Alefgard: This place called Beran. It's possible to get the fourth character earlier than normal in the story, but it requires beating a tough boss.

As for Alefgard, I'm pretty much done with The Voyage Home, though I didn't sack any of the dungeons besides Charlock. So I'll need to remember to sweep through there and raid everything a little later. The shops had lots of upgrades, whenever I can afford them.

"That's the Westboro Baptist Church. They are neither baptists nor a church, they're just assholes."

Luckily there are only like 80 people in that group and at this point I'm convinced they're just some sort of psy-op to make people angry, considering their wide range of targets.

I'm going to lose Prince Cannock for a bit, but I'll end up getting both him and his sister to join before long. First, I have to get past this boss that is brand-new to this version, and he's a doozy.

Brute Bat here is the toughest challenge up to this point, because he dishes out AOE Stopspell that can ruin your day if it works. No more heals for you, hope you have lots of Strong Medicine laying around.

He mentions someone we haven't seen yet, another new foe. Lord Pazuzu, eh?

Now we've got Belial and Pazuzu as new Hargon minions that have been alluded to. Interested to see who these new guys are. Unless, of course, they're just his old trio of underbosses (Atlas, etc) under new names. Which would make more sense, give those guys something to do in the actual story.

After the fight, Cannock comes down with the 'Rona. He shouldn't have taken a bite of that bat in the middle of the fight!

Overthrow the entrenched banking cartel and end the control of multinational asset management companies and their goals of One World Government under anarcho-tyranny, social credit, and CBDCs?

I don't know how doable any of that is but I'll see what I can do.

So that's pretty much it for the journey back to Alefgard, as I lose Cannock. In the original NES version, losing him was barely noticeable. A lot of people probably just went ahead and beat the game and forgot he existed. In this version it's a pretty big setback.

Next episode: I look for a cure for his Bat Flu, and in the process, gain... dos chicas.

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