Despite being the series that defined Japanese role-playing games, Dragon Quest took some time to get the widespread recognition it deserved in North America and Europe. Nowadays, the franchise created by Yuji Horii is a household name as much as Final Fantasy is, and the popularity of the franchise led to the successful release of the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, a very solid remake that was met with a warm reception from fans, thanks to its great visuals and how small choice tweaks made the classic gameplay more compelling.

Remaking the remainder of the Erdrick trilogy, however, needed something more than a new coat of paint and minor gameplay changes. The modern remakes of the two games available on mobile platforms and Nintendo Switch do a solid job updating the game’s visuals, but they essentially play like the originals. The classic formula can be compelling, but it is definitely a hard sell for those who never experienced these games before.

How the HD-2D remakes would be handled has been a burning question on my mind I had since I had the chance to test out Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake before its release. The answer took some time to materialize, but it is now clear: the team did an amazing job modernizing the two games, expanding them where required to make them like proper modern JRPGs with a distinct classic flair that only adds to the experience.

At their heart, the core narratives in the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake are unchanged. In the first game, players still follow the unnamed descendant of Erdrick as he rescues Princess Gwaelin, confronts the fiends commanded by the Dragonlord, and saves Alefgard, just as his illustrious ancestor did. The second game similarly retains its original premise, taking place generations later when Erdrick’s descendants have founded three prosperous kingdoms: Midenhall, Cannock, and Moonbrooke. Their peace is shattered by a new army of fiends led by the nefarious High Priest Hargon, three descendants of Erdric – the Princes of Midenhall and Cannock, and the Princess of Moonbrooke, embark on a new journey to slay the fiends and save the world once again

Though the premise of Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is identical to the original, the execution of the story is on a different level entirely. In both games, the differences between the remakes and the originals are massive.

The original Dragon Quest is a really simple game with little to no story where the hero was essentially traveling through Alefgard to collect items needed to defeat the Dragonlord. The remake fills in the gaps admirably, expanding the role of characters like the Princess Gwalein, and introducing returning characters from Dragon Quest III to better tie the game to the story of the original Erdrick. Many of the events that were briefly touched upon in the original are vastly expanded, such as the kidnapping of Princess Gwaelin, with the addition of some recurring characters that star in some small vignette scenarios reminiscent of more recent entries in the series that do an excellent job providing players with one more reason to revisit this classic. The expanded ending is also a very nice touch that leads the game better into its predecessor, with some small foreshadowing that pushes the player to start Dragon Quest II immediately after ending the game.

If the Dragon Quest I HD-2D remake is a solid modernization of a simple framework, the Dragon Quest II HD-2D remake is another matter entirely. Due to the original game’s larger scope, featuring multiple party members and a complex world, it was better suited for a massive narrative expansion. The development team was able to fire on all cylinders, competently expanding every main story event. This is done through deeper characterization of the party members and the introduction of a fourth party member, the Princess of Cannock, who only played a minor role in the original. With even more story elements added to better connect the entire trilogy together, including optional content that delves deeper into the lore, Dragon Quest II is undoubtedly the narrative culmination of the trilogy, truly bringing the experience in line with modern entries in the series.

While Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake considerably improves the narrative in both games, the gameplay changes are less substantial. The traditional JRPG foundation of both games is left untouched, with only some tweaks here and there that improve what remains a very classic experience rooted in the genre’s core mechanics. That is not to say that the two games play exactly like the original releases or their more recent mobile and Nintendo Switch remakes. While the foundation is the same, new mechanics make for more compelling experiences, even with some of the issues these changes have brought, especially in Dragon Quest I.

The biggest gameplay change anyone who played the first entry in the series will notice is that the game’s battles are no longer limited to one-versus-one duels. Right from the start of the adventure, the descendant of Erdrick has to fight enemy groups like in every other entry in the series. To balance this out, the Hero’s skillset has been expanded considerably with many skills that help him handle multiple enemies, such as Wild Side, which allows him to repeat a single action twice in a single turn, and gear that can be used as an item to unleash more special attacks and supportive buffs.

The Scrolls and Sigil mechanics also contribute to making the game more balanced by allowing the Hero to learn additional spells and abilities and receive some powerful buffs, such as the ability to unleash a more powerful variant of a spell or ability at low HP, enable critical hits for spells, restore MP when defending and more. Using the Sigils, which were only mandatory story progression items in the original, to introduce new mechanics without compromising the game’s relative simplicity is a great choice that highlights the excellent job the developer has done modernizing the classic gameplay while keeping the remake as faithful as possible.

Unfortunately, the Hero fighting enemies by himself in the Dragon Quest I HD-2D Remake creates some balancing issues. Certain enemies acting twice per turn or those repeatedly calling backup is nothing new for the franchise, but when you have to fight them with a single character, the issue becomes even more evident. Thankfully, the remake autosaves after every battle, so little progress is lost on defeat. In Dracky Quest difficulty, it is also possible to make the Hero invincible, so these difficulty spikes are offset by some of the remake’s mechanics and quality-of-life features, giving those who aren’t hardcore series fans the chance to complete the game without having to grind for experience points or gold to purchase better gear.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D Remake, on the other hand, doesn’t suffer from the same balancing issues. Expanding the original gameplay with the addition of another party member, combat strategy is now more varied than ever before, making the very traditional turn-based combat system more engaging. The Scrolls and Sigils systems are also present in the remake of the second entry in the series, providing players with more tools to deal with the challenges the descendants of Erdrick face in their long journey.

Besides the gameplay tweaks geared towards improving combat, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake doesn’t introduce any significant change to traversal, exploration and progression. Instead, both games expand on the frameworks of the originals by expanding the locations, introducing new treasures to find, including the aforementioned scrolls and the trademark Mini Medals, and new locations, including the seabed underwater region in Dragon Quest II HD-2D Remake. This region, in particular, has been seamlessly integrated into the main adventure, providing new locations to explore and new enemies to fight and the chance to collect the scattered memories of Alefgard, further deepening the lore of the Erdrick trilogy.

Though virtually untouched from the originals, exploration in Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is enhanced by some new quality-of-life additions, including the ability to show the location of treasure chests on the mini map and a secret spot indicator on the world map. These are extremely welcome features that help players collect all the treasure in a set location or region without having to explore every nook and cranny (and having to fight a lot of enemies on the way. With how traditional the turn-based combat system is, and how basic character progression is, fighting enemies inevitably gets stale after a while.

These new indicators aren’t the only new quality-of-life feature introduced in Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake that enhance the experience. The Shortcuts system, which was introduced in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake post-launch, is an excellent addition that allows the player to map four different actions to a special shortcuts menu, including items and spells. This function reduces the time players need to spend in menus to access common features, significantly improving the pace of moment-to-moment gameplay.

This attention to the player is well showcased by some additional options, which include the option of checking the enemy’s status at the beginning of a turn in battle, a camera setting which changes its zoom, a toggle for restoring HP and MP upon level up, perfect for those who want an extra challenge, the ability to switch between the three difficulty settings on the fly, and a slew of other standardized options such as dialogue speed and more. Being able to tailor the experience in so many ways is very welcome, as it can make two relatively hardcore JRPGs way more accessible for those who have never played a Dragon Quest game before.

Employing the HD-2D visual style of the remake of the third entry in the series, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake doesn’t look much different, which is hardly a problem. The 3D rendition of Alefgard and the continents that surround it is a joy to look at, its colorful visuals heightened by little details that make everything more vibrant, such as flowing waters, grass moving in the wind and so on. The high-quality sprites blend in perfectly with the locations, giving justice to the iconic character designs provided by Akira Toriyama. The original games’ soundtrack has also been rearranged to make the beautiful orchestral music composed by Koichi Sugiyama shine. Dragon Quest II’s soundtrack benefited the most, making some tracks such as the world map themes even more memorable.

The pleasant yet undemanding visuals result in a game that runs flawlessly on PlayStation 5. Much like the first HD-2D remake for the series, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake runs at 4K resolution, 60 frames per second in Graphics Mode, with no noticeable performance drop in the around 45 hours it took to complete both games. A Performance Mode is also available targeting 60 FPS and a lower resolution, though it is in no way needed, considering how well the game runs in Graphics Mode.

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake needed a lot of work to enhance and improve two objectively dated experiences. Though daunting, the development team at Artdink did an incredible job updating the two classics without revolutionizing them. And here possibly lies the only flaw some may find in this collection: the traditional town-dungeon-town progression formula and a classic turn-based combat system don’t provide much excitement, and will inevitably turn off some players a dozen hours into the adventures. However, those who aren’t fazed by a traditional experience will find a lot to love in the true definitive edition of two all-time classics.

Reviewed on PlayStation 5. Review code provided by the publisher.

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9.0

WCCFTECH RATING

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake