History VideoGame / DragonQuestII

* SinsOfOurFathers: Subverted. The Dragonlord's grandson chooses to not antagonize Erdrick's grandson and helps him instead. In the PlayableEpilogue the Dragonlord's grandson [[spoiler: says that the feud between their respective ancestors is not his problem and expresses a desire to become friends with the heroes]].
* SpoilerCover: The front box art of the American version shows a mural of Malroth behind Hargon atop the altar. The Japanese also shows Malroth standing behind Hargon and the heroes.

* VillainOpeningScene: The game opens with a long sequence depicting Hargon's attack on Moonbrooke. The scene was added in the North American version. It became canon in the remakes, with new music. (The US NES version simply used the battle theme.)

* ChokepointGeography: You cannot access a second continent until you get the Prince of Cannock. Then you cannot access a third continent without the Princess of Moonbrooke. Once you get to the third continent, you can get a ship that opens up the rest of the world except for the final area. Then you need the Eye of Malroth in order to reach Rendarak Plateau which is surrounded by impassable mountains.

** There is only ONE MP restoring item (Wizard's Ring/Prayer Ring). However it could break at any time and could only be won via the Lottery.

* SmashMook: The Cyclops, the Gigantes, and (if you count bosses) the Atlas. These enemies do one thing only and do it well; smash your party into goo with a club.

** The point of the Falcon Blade is probably to increase your chances of killing {{Metal Slime}}s and Metal Babbles, since you can only deal ScratchDamage to them regardless of attack power. It essentially doubles your potential damage to them.

* EvilOverlooker: The Japanese box art has Hargon's giant head grinning down on the heroes while Malroth's face looms over all of them.

* InterfaceSpoiler: In Wellgarth there is one shop that has a blank spot in the list of wares, and townspeople speaking of the Jailer's Key being sold at a shop. Hmmm...

* MissedHimByThatMuch: The Prince of Midenhall and the Prince of Cannock spend the first minutes of game looking for each other. The Hero arrives at Cannock Castle and finds out the Prince has gone to the Spring of Bravery. In the Spring of Bravery, he is informed the Prince has gone back to the castle. The Hero walks back to Cannock Castle and is said the Prince has headed towards Midenhall Castle to find ''him''. The Hero goes back to his home, and is said his cousin has returned to Cannock to meet him. The Hero makes his way back to Cannock, but he finds out the Prince has not yet arrived, so he heads towards Leftwyne, a town located midway between Midenhall and Cannock, where he ''finally'' runs into the Prince.

** Can go beyond NintendoHard to plain unfair. The Gold Batboons/Bat Demons will randomly cast Sacrifice/Kamikazee, [[RocksFallEveryoneDies wiping themselves out and taking your whole party with them]]. [[{{Unwinnable}} There's no way to prevent this.]] Yes, that's right. You can get a GameOver ''through no fault of your own''. And they can do this ''in the very first round before you even have a chance to do anything'' if so inclined. At least the Rockbombs in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' and beyond would wait until you pounded them to near-death.

** From the NES version: The Dragon Potion, an item which allows you save your game anywhere (even the interior of a dungeon or tower) [[labelnote:note]]but it only saves gold and character levels, on reload you appear at the last place you physically saved at.[[/labelnote]]. It is a rare drop from ''Metal Babbles'', provided you can find them and kill them. Multiple times.
** The infamous "Mysterious Hat". The only enemies who can drop it are the Magic Vampirus (a normal late-ish game enemy that's only in a few select areas) and two of the bosses in the final boss rush. It has a notoriously low drop rate well below 1%. This item is so infamous that ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' creator Satoshi Taijiri originally got the idea of trading collectibles in video games while grinding countless hours for the thing, only for his friend to somehow get two.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: If you look closely at the surprisingly beautiful front box art of the American version, it shows a mural of [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Malroth]] behind [[EvilSorcerer Hargon]] atop the alter.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Malroth (Sidoh in the Japanese version). In the original NES English translation, at least. Absolutely nothing in the entire game even hinted at his presence aside from a quest item called the Eye of Malroth (called "False Idol" in the mobile/Switch remake). In the Japanese version and further English translations, Malroth is revealed to be the demonic god that Hargon worships. In the SFC/GBC versions, the AlmostDeadGuy does mention that Hargon's master plan is to revive a demon god to destroy the world, but considering any further references to said demon god don't show up until when said demon god appears, it still feels like this trope.

** Since there are no MP restoring items and only one item that can revive a character, some items can replicate magic spells with no MP cost. The Shield of Strength will cast Healmore/Midheal on the character who uses it as an item in battle, for example. This lets you save MP from healing and use it for other spells, like buffs/debuffs and Revive/Kazing.

* BossRush: In the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, your attempt to scale Hargon's castle to bring down the Big Bad is interrupted by fights with his most powerful servants, Atlas, Bazuzu, and Belial. To make matters worse, you can't defeat them then leave to save and heal and return. They come back if you exit the dungeon (unless you are playing one of the remakes, where they stay dead after getting killed).

** The Falcon Sword. For the first time in the series, a character could strike twice in a row. Unfortunately, the Attack buff was only PLUS FIVE (Seven in the remix, but still, whoopdeedoo).[[note]]In comparison, the Sword of Destruction, which is available at the same time, gives more than 11 times the attack buff of the Falcon Sword. Granted the [=SoD=] is cursed, but even comparable level non-cursed equipment is 7 or 8 times more powerful than the Falcon Sword.[[/note]]
** In the original, depending on your cash flow, this is Cannock's best weapon, despite being weaker than the Iron Spear's single strike (by 15, sure, but do the math, especially when you factor in critical hits). However, it is REALLY expensive, even with the Gold Card, and you may not even bother once you're rich enough in the final area, [[NintendoHard because you'd have to go through the final area all over again.]]
** The point of the Falcon Sword is probably to increase your chances of killing {{Metal Slime}}s and Metal Babbles, since you can only deal ScratchDamage to them regardless of attack power. It essentially doubles your potential damage to them.

** Prince of Lorasia to Prince of Midenhall (NES)

* EvilWeapon: Sword of Destruction[=/=]Demon Sword. Really high attack, but curses the user. There's also other "Evil Gear" in armor.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Malroth (Sidoh in the Japanese version). In the original NES English translation, at least. Absolutely nothing in the entire game even hinted at his presence aside from a quest item called the Eye of Malroth. In the Japanese version and further English translations, Malroth is revealed to be the demonic god that Hargon worships. In the SFC/GBC versions, the AlmostDeadGuy does mention that Hargon's master plan is to revive a demon god to destroy the world, but considering any further references to said demon god don't show up until when said demon god appears, it still feels like this trope.

* LighthousePoint: The Lighthouse, located on an island south of Alefgard, houses the Star Crest.

** The trap would be rather obvious to onlookers. You see an enemy on-screen move into a room, and said room contains a wizard - he then says he will guide you to the place where you shall find the Crest. The treasure chest he leads you to is empty, instead you are ambushed by four Gremlins and need to defeat them before getting the Star Crest.

** There is only ONE MP restoring item (Wizard's Ring). However it could break at any time and could only be won via the Lottery.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: If you have a completely full inventory when you come across the Silver Key, do NOT decline to drop one of your items to make room for it, or else the chest holding the key will disappear. The "Open" spell keeps this from being a GameBreakingBug, but it does mean a lot of extra grinding before you can open silver doors.

* SinsOfOurFathers: Subverted. The Dragonlord's grandson chooses to not antagonize Erdrick's grandson and helps him instead. In the PlayableEpilogue the Dragonlord's grandson [[spoiler: says that the feud between their respective ancestors is not his problem and expresses a desire to become friends with the heroes.]]

* TotalPartyKill: The Gold Batboons and their equivalents in the remakes are a late game random encounter enemy that can cast the spell Kamikazee. They rarely cast it, but if they do, your entire party will be instantly killed no matter what. You can't do anything to safeguard against it, and you don't get a saving throw. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. The enemy technically dies too, but even if the last enemy casts it and the whole field on both sides is wiped out as a result, you still lose.

* HelloInsertNameHere: The Prince of Midenhall. The Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke have their names randomly selected from an internal list. [[spoiler:You can rename them yourself after recruiting them by highlighting the save file and holding Left/Right + A.]]

''Dragon Quest II'' (originally titled ''Dragon Warrior II'' in North America, and receiving the subtitle ''Luminaries of the Legendary Line'' in some later versions) is the second installment of the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series and acts as a DistantSequel to [[VideoGame/DragonQuestI the original]]. After the events of that game, the descendant of Erdrick/Loto married Princess Gwaelin/Lora and sailed away from Alefgard. They founded the kingdom of Torland where the couple and their children happily lived out their days. Generations later, chaos broke out with rumors of a powerful evil being emerging from the southern impassible cliffs of the frozen plateau, Rhone. His name was Hargon, an EvilSorcerer bent on world destruction. He chose Moonbrooke Castle to launch his reign of terror.

* ChokepointGeography: You cannot access a second continent until you get the Prince of Cannock. Then you cannot access a third continent without the Princess of Moonbrooke. Once you get to the third continent, you can get a ship that opens up the rest of the world except for the final area. Then you need the Eye of Malroth in order to reach Rhone Plateau which is surrounded by impassable mountains.

* GrimUpNorth: Hargon's base of operations is located on Rhone, a high, snowy plateau surrounded by an impassable range of mountains, and the game's only ice-themed location.

** Adding to this, in the NES version, the run option wouldn't always be effective in Rhone Plateau (even if all characters are maxed out in levels).

** The remix is easier, mostly thanks to extra stuff/boosts in the remix, but Rhone Plateau remains pretty hard regardless.

* SchizoTech: In a medieval world, it might surprise you in the Cave of Rhone to find robots! The Hunter Mech and Killing Machine make their first appearance in this game.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The King od Midenhall kindly provides his son with gear and some money to get started with his quest, and records his progress every time the hero drops by.

* TotalPartyKill: The Gold Batboons and their equivalents in the remakes are a late game random encounter enemy that can cast the spell Sacrifice. They rarely cast it, but if they do, your entire party will be instantly killed no matter what. You can't do anything to safeguard against it, and you don't get a saving throw. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. The enemy technically dies too, but even if the last enemy casts it and the whole field on both sides is wiped out as a result, you still lose.

** If, for some reason, you don't find all the keys...worry not! The Princess of Moonbrooke learns the spell of Open which will open any door in the game. It is possible to use this to your advantage, seeing as how it can also open up 3 item slots for you characters.
** Since there are no MP restoring items and only one item that can revive a character, some items can replicate magic spells with no MP cost. The Shield of Strength will cast Healmore on the character who uses it as an item in battle, for example. This lets you save MP from healing and use it for other spells, like buffs/debuffs and Revive.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: As with the first game, the Japanese version of 2 features a Main/PasswordSave system; 3 was the first entry with a save battery in the cartridge.

** Can go beyond NintendoHard to plain unfair. The Gold Batboons/Bat Demons will randomly cast Sacrifice, [[RocksFallEveryoneDies wiping themselves out and taking your whole party with them]]. [[{{Unwinnable}} There's no way to prevent this.]] Yes, that's right. You can get a GameOver ''through no fault of your own''. And they can do this ''in the very first round before you even have a chance to do anything'' if so inclined. At least the Rockbombs in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' and beyond would wait until you pounded them to near-death.

This is reflected in its porting and release history - it did get an {{UsefulNotes/MSX}} port (complete with that salacious picture of Princess Moonbrooke), but that was more or less it until it got ported to the Super Famicom in a package deal with ''[=DQ1=]'', and even then, the porting felt rather perfunctory compared to ''[=DQ1=]'''s improvements (and nothing like the SFC port of ''[=DQ3=]''). It also got Game Boy Color and feature phone versions like its trilogy-mates, but again it was not particularly high-effort for a port. Finally, like the other games, it got a smartphone version in 2014, based on the SFC version but with ''[=DQ3=]''-size sprites... on the unaltered SFC maps, which makes things look oddly scaled. Of these, English speakers got the GBC and smartphone versions, the latter of which remains widely available.

* AlliterativeTitle: The [=iOS=] and Android re-release adds the subtitle ''Luminaries of the Legendary Line''.

* LuckBasedMission: The final battle with Malroth amounts to whether or not he decides to cast Healall. Unlike Hargon, Pazuzu, and Zarlox/Belial, who will only use it when near death, Malroth can use it at any time and completely at random.

* MiniGameZone: First game in the series to include mini-game areas, although back then it was a simple Lottery Shop which could be found in every town.

* SpoilerCover: The front box art of the American version shows a mural of Malroth behind Hargon atop the alter. The Japanese also shows Malroth standing behind Hargon and the heroes.

* TakingYouWithMe: The Prince of Cannock eventually learns the Sacrifice spell. As he's also the only member capable of ''reviving'' others with his magic in the original version, this is a last-ditch tactic. Unfortunately, certain RandomEncounters can also cast this for a TotalPartyKill...

** Played straight with Kamikazee, a spell that kills the user and all non-boss targets on the field, meaning it's the designated last-resort tactic. Problem is, the only playable character to learn this is the Prince of Cannock, and, barring remakes (where the Princess of Moonbroke can learn Revive), he's the only one that learns Revive. Even worse, you can only carry one Yggdrasil leaf at a time (a single-use revive item) and all revivals leave the revived character at really low HP, meaning spending more MP/items to heal back up. However, when used against you, Kamikazee is GUARANTEED to cause a Total Party Kill, since Kamikazee kills targets with perfect accuracy and to the enemy, 'all targets' means 'your entire party'.

* MythologyGag:
** Only in Japan. Tonnura (トンヌラ) was one of Cannock's possible names in the Famicom version. Supposedly, the name sounds "odd and stupid" to several Japanese people, which fit how weak the prince was on the FC. It became an in-joke as a "weak and uncool" name (but not "hated"), and popped up in a few later games. It is speculated that Yuji Horii came up with this from Ernest Tonnelat.
** Perhaps a western equivalent would be something like "Derp". (The localizers of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' apparently weren't aware of the joke in the Japanese version and instead call him Prince Princeton of Cannock.)

* LighthousePoint: The Lighthouse, located on an island south of Alefgard houses the Star Crest.

* LighthousePoint: The Lightouse located on an island south of Alefgard houses the Star Crest.

* RareRandomDrop: From the NES version: The Dragon Potion, an item which allows you save your game anywhere (even the interior of a dungeon or tower) [[labelnote:note]]but it only saves gold and character levels, on reload you appear at the last place you physically saved at.[[/labelnote]]. It is a rare drop from ''Metal Babbles'', provided you can find them and kill them. Multiple times.

* BossRush: In the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, your attempt to scale Hargon's castle to bring down the Big Bad is interrupted by fights with his most powerful servants, Atlas, Bazuzu, and Belial. To make matters worse, you can't defeat them then leave to save and heal and return. They come back if you exit the dungeon.

* MistakenForGay: In the original script, there's a bunny girl in Rippleport who offers Puff-Puffs for 100 Golds each, and if the princes turn down her offer she angrily accuses them of being gays.