Dragon Quest II HD-2D, Part 6 - The Cannock Dynasty

 

Just going to take a minute to say, this DQII remake is really, really, really good. It was a game with potential that was in dire need of fixing and improvements, and...they did everything it needed, and then some. It's so good that it retroactively elevates the original, and I no longer think of that as a series-worst game (I'd play the original version of DQII over the original versions of DQ6 or 7 any day of the week...largely because it can actually be played in a day, rather than requiring the better part of a month like the others).

I wasn't super crazy about DQ1 HD-2D and some of the changes it had, a lot of which didn't work. That midgame difficulty-spike (which was more of a wall) with the five-on-one, and various other issues, kept it from being my favorite version of DQ1. However, it's still an important game and worth playing as a lead-in to this much better game. Kind of like what FF7 Remake is to FF7 Rebirth. Not great in a lot of ways, and a bit tedious to get through at times, but an important playthrough regardless to lead into a much bigger and better quest.

As for DQ3 HD-2D...it is what it is, was perfectly decent although, again, I didn't like some of the changes. It's interesting, the worst aspects of the 1 and 3 remakes tend to be new things created for them, while the best aspects of 2 tend to be new things created for it. Especially dialogue scenes and the like.

Just some thoughts on this about halfway through. It's a pretty damn good game and I respect what they accomplished here.

With Cannock in the hospital, the other two set off alone. If this were the NES version, they would be NO WEAKER THAN BEFORE. Cannock is that bad.

There's only one thing that can heal Cannock now: Being ridden by a redhead The leaf of the World Tree, which can revive anyone.

We deliver the bad news to the Cannock parents. At this point the game didn't give me an objective marker, and I was left to wander lost without my third party member. All I was trying to do was get the fourth one, and instead I just lost one, like Lauryn Hill.

plz tell me where Yggdrasil is

And luckily for our heroes, a leaf is falling right now! The World Tree is basically ovulating. Imagine if Cannock had fallen ill a week later and Yggdrasil was out of cycle and he just kinda died.

Sasha, the Sassiest Princess, is also seeking the ovulating tree. She won't join yet though.

Here it is. The dangerous part was crossing the treacherous eastern waters with two characters.

Triggering this event, her showing up at Yggdrasil, was another problem. I missed a conversation or two and was left wandering again. Once she showed up, it was a joyous moment. Now I can get this lame side-chapter over and done with and get my full party back.

Running around with two characters... what is this, Final Fantasy Four Heroes of Light?

The big treasure loot of the World Tree. It's a good attack upgrade, and can revive people in battle (probably with a low % chance of working, so meh). Maybe we should let the sickness kill Cannock and then bring him back with this? Assuming rigor mortis doesn't set in by the time the spell actually works.

The real treasure of the World Tree: This view. What a tremendous glade. This is what HD-2D should be all about, right here. Looking the way we remember things like Chrono Trigger looking in our youth (watch them announce that game next, now that I've willed it into being)

Our heroes avail themselves of the ovulating tree's leaf, and we're off to Beran to heal Cannock.

"Stuff it in his mouth and hope for the best" is pretty much how all of Cannock's girlfriends handled their lovemaking sessions, as well.

They grind it up and have him sip it. Just make sure it isn't one of those gas station "Feel Free" bottles that get you addicted as hell and put you in a recovery ward. "Nature's morphine" is bullshit. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

...yeah, it's morphine. Dammit. I can't have this guy going into withdrawals while we're storming Rhone Cave.

That gets me not one, but two new characters. Now we're talking. It's almost like the game starts for real here. I'm probably about halfway done, maybe more, and I'm going to pick up speed from here on out.

Another good time to mention that the dialogue and interpersonal interactions in this game are a real pleasant surprise, and what we have here is a real banger of a game. This is easily my favorite of the remade trilogy, based off of the interactions between the characters and the fleshing-out of the story. Not bad for what used to be the least-enjoyable game of the three. It had the most room to grow.

"We don't need the National Guard to deter violence from Hargon's followers! As we can clearly see, the area immediately around me is perfectly safe! Keep those armored gunmen off of our streets!"

This is why I don't do "man on the street" interviews.

There we go, four characters. It's a big change from the original, but I'll allow it. If they were going to make changes like this, they should have made Gwaelin a party member in the first game. Would have balanced that game out a lot better, even if she was really weak and only good at backup healing. I would have made her a "light sage" - a weak version of Moonbrooke, which would go well with the hero being a better version of Cannock.

Can explain it by having people in Tantegel talk about how she's been studying magic, but hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. This would also explain why Moonbrooke is so strong in magic.

There are a BUNCH of potential objectives now, but one thing is more important: Getting Sasha equipped.

She comes equipped with a Magical Skirt. What kind of Magical Skirt are we talking about here? Just how magical is it?

Is it this magical?

Or perhaps this magical will suit her better?

Or maybe "plaid and turns into a belt if she sits down"?

Maybe she's a bit more of a Londoner.

Or perhaps the Magical Skirt is a full dress.

Sasha's class is "irrepressible princess". Not sure whether she should be in the third slot or the fourth slot. Right now she's even weaker than Moonbrooke from a defensive perspective, so fourth it is. Not sure what kind of character/class she is yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if she was basically a second Cannock (probably closer to the original version of Cannock, since this version is so beefed up)

She seems to have an assortment of spells. Getting the impression she's either Cannock Jr or "Cannock with more of a spell focus and less of a physical focus"

Except she also has a bunch of skills. So for all I know she might have a bit of a physical focus as well. Hard to identify her into a role currently.

One thing is for sure: Midenhall is really starting to look old hat now with his lack of spells, considering everyone else combines spells and physicality. If he's able to do some major damage output later with physical skills, it'll be alright. Editor's Note: Later he's the biggest damage-dealer by far so no worries here

I need some upgrades for these folks, and have basically no money left. Time to offload everything I've got.

"I'll give you 10k for all this stuff!"

Is that a lot?

Gear prices in DQ are no joke, and if I want the hot new armor from the Kol merchant, it's going to take even more than what I was able to raise.

The important thing is just getting Sasha's defense up, which means getting her out of that skirt.

Burrowell has a huge weapon upgrade for the two main meleers. No way I can get an Aurora Blade at this point, much less two.

And they kept the exorbitantly expensive Mink Mantle from the NES version, which was the BIS armor for the Prince of Cannock. If I remember right, in the NES version, it cost as much as the maximum you were even allowed to carry (64k, I believe). In this version, it's for the two women instead. Guessing this is because the Prince of Cannock can equip better things now.

Exploring the seas, I find some good loot...and some meh loot. What kind of leather dress are we talking here?

Is it...this kind of leather dress?

Next stop is this magnificent island palace, which is going to be my base of operations for the remainder of the game:

The Medal King! Or whatever he's going by now. This place also has an inn, a save point, and a shop where I can offload extraneous equipment I don't need to raise the all-important gold total.

I've really done a 180 on the whole Mini Medal collecting thing as of late. It was always something I didn't bother with or think about much, beyond making sure to stop by and get rewards for whatever medals I happened to stumble across. Going out of my way to rummage in everyone's lingerie drawers to find every possible medal was never really a priority. Well, lately I've gotten more into the whole concept of hunting down medals, especially with the lower medal totals for these remakes. DQ1 has 40, DQII has 80.

...haven't really put that newfound interest into practice yet, though.

Something worth noting is that there's a massive level-grinding spot available as soon as you get the boat. It's a Super Peninsula of Power, more or less. This island on the east side of the world is full of super-powerful enemies that are on the level of like, the final dungeon.

Technically you can grind here the minute you get the boat, however it's much better to get the Princess of Cannock first. She already starts with a level deficit. These enemies give something like 30x the exp of other fights at this point in the game, but expect some pretty rough fights to get it.

Here's the skill that lets one character tank hits for everyone else. This could be extremely useful if we get down to the wire with a postgame fight that requires Everquest-style "main tanking".

Other than that, the EXP here is so ridiculous that I'm inclined to not even do it beyond a few fights/levels (mainly to help Sasha catch up) because I don't want to break the game.

Leaving off with some good advice that lots of people could use.

Next time: Disaster strikes, as I must start the entire game over!

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