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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 Dragon Quest series and acts as a Distant Sequel to the original. It was originally released on the Famicom on January 26, 1987. After the events of that game, the descendant of Erdrick married Princess Gwaelin 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, Rendarak. His name was Hargon, an Evil Sorcerer bent on world destruction. He chose Moonbrooke Castle to launch his reign of terror.

Hargon's army swept in and decimated the castle, its inhabitants, and the King within minutes. A lone, injured guard escaped and walked to the nearby fortress of Midenhall Castle. No sooner had he told the king of Moonbrooke's defeat that he perished. Now, as a descendant of Erdrick, the Prince of Midenhall must venture out to meet his two cousins and stop the evil hand of Hargon. With a larger world and many new monsters (who now travel in groups), the heroes have a much harder and more dangerous adventure than their ancestor.

From a historical perspective, DQ2 is an odd duck - while its influence on its own successor is all-encompassing (every major gameplay system, or near-as-dammit, in DQ3 was designed with consideration from the feedback Chunsoft got concerning DQ2 and its trouble areas), and while it was in many ways comprehensively superior to its predecessor, because said successor so thoroughly outclassed it in turn and went on to become the real cornerstone of the franchise and the wider concept of the JRPG, and because DQ2 itself still had a lot of rough edges due to its incredibly short development time (barely six goddamn months) and still being somewhat "in the reeds" design-wise as a result of being such an early RPG, it has become the uncomfortable middle child of the Erdrick Trilogy. It is still important, but it is often forgotten in favor of the other two and not played or discussed as often. If it has any enduring claim to Trope Codification, it is in setting the model for party progression - if a JRPG isn't using the DQ3 "make and/or swap out the whole party yourself" system, it will instead follow DQ2's model of "travel to certain new locations early in the game, some plot happens, gain one new party member each time", and late-game party customization often hybridizes the two.

This is reflected in its porting and release history - it did get an 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. 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. The game was re-released as part of the Dragon Quest 1+2+3 Collection for the Nintendo Switch on September 27, 2019. Of these, English speakers got the GBC, smartphone, and Switch versions, the latter two of which remain widely available.


Examples:

  • Absurdly High Level Cap: The cap depends on each character with the Prince of Midenhall's being 50, the Prince of Cannock's being 40, and the Princess of Moonbrooke's being 35. In the mobile/Switch version the cap is Level 50 for all characters. Though, the game can be beaten at about Level 30.
  • All in a Row: The Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke always walk behind the Hero.
  • Alliterative Title: The iOS, Android and Switch re-releases add the subtitle Luminaries of the Legendary Line.
  • Almost Dead Guy: One Moonbrooke guard escapes the besieged castle, limps all the way to Midenhall, and promptly dies after delivering the news. Given all the overworld threats, how urgent the message was, and that he's just some castle guard, he easily qualifies as Badass Normal and Determinator. He doesn't fade in the remakes, he just lays there dead. Although the king makes sure he gets a proper burial.
  • Ant Assault: Iron Ants appear as early-game enemies. They aren't strong, but they're still a step up from Slimes and Mauluscs. Their Palette Swap variants include Army Ants, which can call for help, and Somnol Ants, which can put one of your party members to sleep with Snooze.
  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • If, for some reason, you don't find all the keys...worry not! The Princess of Moonbrooke learns the spell of Click 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 your 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 Power Shield will cast 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 Kazing.
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: After Hargon and Malroth have been destroyed, the King of Midenhall retires, and the Hero becomes king.
  • Bat Out of Hell: Drackies make their return in the game, while a new version, Drackmages, make their debut in the game, though Drackolytes and Drackymas are not present in the game. In addition, the sigil of the Children of Hargon is a black bat with an evil smiling face, which is present on the Spirit, Mean Spirit, Magus, Shaman, Sorcerer, Deadnaut, Chasmonaut, Hargonaut, Wrecktor, and Whackolyte enemies.
  • Big Good: This game is the first appearance of Rubiss, which would be used in later games.
  • Betting Mini-Game: Just a simple lottery, but notable because it was the first such minigame in the series. It also set the standard for the series' fabulous grand prizes. 25% off everything in stores? Aw yeah.
  • Blatant Lies: In Tantegel, you find that the king is missing. After obtaining a Gold Key, you can find him in a room above the local armoury, claiming to be a simple armourer, all while wearing full royal regalia. Upon beating the game, if you return to Tantegel, the king "reveals" his true identity and brags about how he had completely fooled you.
  • Boring Return Journey: The game does not conclude with the defeat of Malroth. You complete the game by returning to visit the King of Midenhall and you can go anywhere you like before doing this, including visiting towns to receive thanks from all the people you've saved. While getting to the Big Bad involves thousands of random battles, after his defeat, there are none to be found, even in the dungeons, since apparently defeating the boss results in the elimination of all his mooks.
  • Boss Rush: In The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, your attempt to scale the Hall of Hargon to bring down the Big Bad is interrupted by fights with his most powerful servants, Atlas, Pazuzu, 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).
  • But Thou Must!: After the party have destroyed the Big Bad, the King of Midenhall asks the Prince if he will accept the throne. If you answer "No", he will reply "Don't be silly. Will you accept it?" until you take up his "offer", whereupon he will happily say "That is your decision."
  • The Cameo: The trio of heroes from this game appear as summonable helpers in the arcade game Dragon Quest Monster Battle Road Victory, both supporting the player and their monsters with defensive buffs and finishing their enemies off with Kazapple — a spell that didn't exist until Dragon Quest IV. The Cousins also pop up in Fortune Street spinoffs.
  • Canon Name: The English localization of Dragon Quest IX gives the cousins' names as Princeton and Princessa. In Fortune Street (at least in Japan), they're known as Cookie (Cannock) and Pudding (Moonbrooke) — how Toriyama-esque.
    • In Dragon Quest Tact, they are given the names Rickerd and Peronel.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: An NPC in Midenhall castle is implied to be head over heels for the Prince, and even wanted to confess to him before she knew he was going to go on his quest. She never gets brought up again, so the player never learns if she eventually confesses or not.
  • Chokepoint Geography: 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/False Idol in order to reach Rendarak Plateau which is surrounded by impassable mountains.
  • Chromatic Arrangement: Midenhall wears blue, Cannock wears green, and Moonbrooke wears... varying colors, actually. The original, original art (seen above) was obviously meant to be pink (of course), but the sprite in-game was, thanks to NES palette restrictions, white and fairly dark purple. Later depictions have gone all over the place on certain details, but have generally cleaved closer to the original sprite due to fandom mental inertia. Her most recent depiction, in the 25th anniversary movie, Fortune Street and onward, goes for a knee-length white dress, maroon-red hood, and purple hair.
  • Combos:
    • The Falcon Blade. 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 remakes, but still, whoopdeedoo).note 
    • In the original, depending on your cash flow, this is Cannock's best weapon, despite being weaker than the Iron Spear/Lance'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/Loyalty Card, and you may not even bother once you're rich enough in the final area, because you'd have to go through the final area all over again.
    • The point of the Falcon Blade is probably to increase your chances of killing Metal Slimes and Liquid Metal Slimes, since you can only deal Scratch Damage to them regardless of attack power. It essentially doubles your potential damage to them.
  • Competitive Balance: The three playable characters: Midenhall has the higher offensive and defensive stats by far, but he knows exactly zero spells; Cannock is weaker and definitely less resilient, but he can still deal decent damage and has access to several healing and attack spells; finally, Moonbrooke has the lowest physical attack of the trio, but she learns the most powerful magic in the game.
  • Convection, Schmonvection: In the Undersea Cave, lava pools don't hurt your party unless they are standing right on it. And even so, the heroes can cast Safe Passage to walk over lava without getting burned or choked to death.
  • Curse: Hargon really likes his curses. He curses the entire castle of Moonbrooke after its fall, turns the princess into a dog, and as the heroes draw closer to his kingdom, he curses the Prince of Cannock to become bedridden, prompting a side quest to cure him (Remake only. Furthermore, you can beat the final boss without him, hard as it may be).
  • Dem Bones: The Deadnauts, Chasmonauts, and Hargonauts make their debut as the game's Skeleton enemy, wielding shields that have the Children of Hargon sigil on them.
  • The Dragon: Hargon has three: Atlas, Pazuzu, and Belial. Also, Hargon himself is one for Malroth.
  • Dub-Induced Plot Hole: Lorasia was localized as Midenhall, losing some of its significance. Lorasia is named after Princess Lora, but this is lost on those who know Princess Lora as Princess Gwaelin.
  • Dub Name Change:
    • Prince of Lorasia to Prince of Midenhall (on all versions except the GBC version)
    • Likewise, the Prince of Sumaltria become the Prince of Cannock.
    • Shido to Malroth.
  • Dungeon Town: The Castle of Moonbrooke has become ruins plagued by monsters and haunted by tortured souls after Hargon's devastating strike.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: As with the first game, the Japanese version of 2 features a Password Save system; 3 was the first entry with a save battery in the cartridge. The North American version has a normal save system.
  • Enemy Mine: A minor example; in the Dragonlord's Castle, you'll find his descendant, who gives you a hint toward defeating Hargon rather than fighting you.
  • Everything's Deader with Zombies: The game marks the debut of the Walking Corpse, Corpse Corporal, and Ghoul monsters, which cast low level magic in the form of Sizz and Dazzle, as well as poisoning the Scions of Erdrick with Poison Attack.
  • Evil Living Flames: The Dancing Flames make their debut in this game and attack the Scions of Erdrick with fire breath attacks. In addition, the game also introduces its icy counterpart, Frostburn.
  • Evil Overlooker: The Japanese box art/Switch cover art has Hargon's giant head grinning down on the heroes while Malroth's face looms over all of them.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Hargon is a corrupt wizard bent on world destruction.
  • Evil Weapon: The Sword of Ruin has really high attack, but curses the user. There's also other "Evil Gear" in armor.
  • Expansion Pack World: The game reveals that the country of Alefgard from DQ I is just a small part of the planet.
  • Expy: The "classic" version of the Princess of Moonbrooke looks suspiciously like a palette-swapped version of Nausicaa with slightly longer hair. This may explain the explicitly blonde redesign that popped up for the SNES remake. (The artwork for the Wii compilation and related material opts for making her hair aggressively purple.)
  • Forced Transformation: The Princess of Moonbrooke gets turned into a dog before you meet her, forcing you to find out how to break the curse before you can recruit her.
  • Game-Breaking Bug: One fan translation of Dragon Quest I+II on the Super Famicom had this- if you try to do the Prince of Cannock's newly added quest, the game will enter a dialogue loop and will not allow you to advance, as seen here.
  • Get on the Boat: The series' first. Which lets you explore the world, even returning to Alefgard!
  • Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: 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/mobile/Switch versions, the Almost Dead Guy 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.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Oddly enough, both Princes wear goggles as part of their headgear.
  • Grim Up North: Hargon's base of operations, the Hall of Hargon, is located on Rendarak, a high, snowy plateau surrounded by an impassable range of mountains, and the game's only ice-themed location.
  • Haunted Castle: Moonbrooke is haunted by the flaming spirits of those slain by Hargon's forces. This includes the King himself. Talking to him after saving the Princess leads to a rather depressing conversation.
  • Healer Signs On Early: The Prince of Midenhall never learns any magic; however, both of his cousins have healing magic, and one of your first tasks is tracking down the Prince of Cannock.
  • Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The Prince of Midenhall. The Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke have their names randomly selected from an internal list. You can rename them yourself after recruiting them by highlighting the save file and holding Left/Right + A. In the mobile/Switch version, however, if you disagree with the king's random name selection for the cousins at the beginning, you can also name them yourself if you wish.
  • Interface Spoiler: In Burrowell 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...
  • Jack of All Stats: In this case, it's NOT the main character who qualifies; it's the Prince of Cannock.
  • Jumped at the Call: The Prince of Midenhall. Even shown literally jumping from his throne to listen to the Moonbrooke guard in the Japanese manual.
  • Just a Kid: The Prince of Cannock's reason to his younger sister on why she can't come with your party. Given that the party is only about 16 or so, she can be assumed to be rather young. She likely didn't have any formal training either, which would have made her a liability.
  • Lethal Lava Land: The Undersea Cave, a volcanic cave formed by a submarine eruption.
  • Level Cap: 50 for the Prince of Midenhall, 45 for the Prince of Cannock, and 35 for the Princess of Moonbrooke.
  • Lighthouse Point: The Lighthouse, located on an island south of Alefgard, houses the Star Crest/Sigil.
  • Lightning Bruiser: The Prince of Midenhall; his main weakness is that he can't cast magic.
  • Lost in Translation: Lorasia is changed to Midenhall, losing the association with Princess Lora, the original name for Princess Gwaelin.
  • Luck-Based Mission: The final battle with Malroth amounts to whether or not he decides to cast Fullheal. Unlike Hargon, Pazuzu, and Belial, who will only use it when near death, Malroth can use it at any time and completely at random.
  • Lured into a Trap:
    • 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 Sigil. 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 Sigil.
    • A tool-assisted speedrun of the game has those four gremlins caught off-guard by the hero, despite the game presenting them as surrounding ambushers that caught the party by surprise.
  • Master of Illusion: Hargon. A good deal of the game is spent just trying to find a way to break through his illusions.
  • Mecha-Mooks: The Hunter Mechs and Killing Machines make their debut as the first Machine monsters in the series.
  • Minigame Zone: First game in the series to include mini-game areas, although back then it was a simple Lottery/Tombola Shop which could be found in almost every town.
  • Missed Him by That Much: 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/Wellspring of the Hero. In said Wellspring, 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.
  • Mummy: The Mummy Boys and Mummies make their debut in this game.
  • Mythology Gag: 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 Dragon Quest IX apparently weren't aware of the joke in the Japanese version and instead call him Prince Princeton of Cannock.)
  • Non-Indicative Name: You would think Infernos is a fire based spell but is actually a wind spell. Later releases would change this to Woosh.
  • Nostalgia Level: The Dragonlord's Castle has more-or-less the same layout as it did in the first game. You even find the Sword of Erdrick in the same place you found it previously.
  • Opening the Sandbox: First game in the franchise to include sailing. Your party obtain their ship when they reach Rippleport, whereupon you can finally explore the whole world, rather than just the central landmass, whatever you please.
  • Our Orcs Are Different: The Orcs, Orc Chieftains, and Orc Kings make their debut, fighting the Scions of Erdrick with their spears.
  • Permanently Missable Content: 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 "Click" spell keeps this from being a Game-Breaking Bug, but it does mean a lot of extra grinding before you can open silver doors.
  • Poisonous Person: The Bubble Slimes make their debut, poisoning the Scions of Erdrick with their Poison Attack, but are otherwise a nuisance. Other monsters such as Walking Corpses, Cobra Kings, Sentripedes, Killipedes, and Gnashturtiums can do the same, in addition to Poison Breath.
  • Princesses Prefer Pink: The Princess of Moonbrooke, though again, it is a rather dark shade.
  • Prolonged Prologue: One of the earliest examples - starting a new game in the original Famicom/NES version results in watching an unskippable 10-minute scene depicting the backstory before Midenhall gets to do anything. The detail of the Sole Survivor of Moonbrooke walking all the way to Midenhall feels like excessive Padding.
  • Puppy Love: In Leftwyne, you will find a boy and a girl. Talk to the girl and she will complain that you are interrupting a lovers' tryst.
  • Rare Random Drop:
    • From the NES version: The Dragon Potion/Rebirth Stone, an item which allows you save your game anywhere (even the interior of a dungeon or tower) note . It is a rare drop from Liquid Metal Slimes, provided you can find them and kill them. Multiple times.
    • The infamous "Mad Cap". The only enemies who can drop it are the Tyrannodactyl (a normal late-ish game enemy that's only in a few select areas) and two of the bosses (Pazuzu and Hargon to be specific) in the final boss rush. It has a notoriously low drop rate well below 1%. This item is so infamous that Pokémon 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. The remakes add one in a chest in the Cave to Rendarak.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: The King of 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.
  • Regional Bonus: For those who played this on the Japanese MSX cart, they got an extra scene of the Princess of Moonbrooke in a "Dangerous Swimsuit". And yes, this is what La-Mulana was referencing.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: All reptiles or reptilian creatures appearing in the game are hostile monsters (like Cobra Kings, Madusae, Terrordactyls or Green Dragons), or the Greater-Scope Villain himself, Malroth: a scaly, green monster with a snake for tail.
  • Retired Badass: The messenger didn't go to Midenhall to get the prince to help. He wanted THE KING. Unfortunately, the two kingdoms have probably been out of touch for a while, as Midenhall's king notes that he's a bit too old to be adventuring about. Have at it, my boy. He officially retires as the Prince of Midenhall gets his Awesome Moment of Crowning in the finale. Not a bad boost from your "parting gift" at the start. Justified, considering that he is a descendent of Loto/Erdrick along with his royal counterparts in the other kingdoms.
  • Religion of Evil: The Children of Hargon that Hargon himself leads, they worship destruction and seek to bring about the Destroyer Deity Malroth into the world.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: The entire party consists of royal cousins of a common ancestor, with two princes and a princess.
  • Schizo Tech: In a medieval world, it might surprise you in the Cave to Rendarak to find robots! The Hunter Mechs and Killing Machines make their first appearance in this game.
  • Serial Escalation: True in some senses, but in others not as prominent as Enix wanted people to believe, back in the day. The world map, in particular, was an example - the game world was often touted as being "four times as large" as DQ1 and as including the all of the first map as a mere "part" of the bigger overworld... but this was achieved by shrinking Alefgard's landmass and removing most of its content. Only Tantegel, Charlock, and the South Rimuldar Temple can be visitednote , and the Alefgard landmass itself is less than half the size it used to be. In real terms, the game is bigger than DQ1, but not four times - it's not even twice the size, and is still one of the shorter DQ games.
  • She's a Man in Japan: Inverted for the NES version in regards to Rubiss. While the game treats Rubiss as gender neutral, one NPC refers to Rubiss as "he" and a "sorcerer", rather than a "sorceress".
  • Shout-Out: In the NES version, after speaking to the healer in the House of Healing he will tell you "Good luck, and hey, let's be careful out there."
  • Smash Mook: 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 Gigantes is also the page image.
  • Sins of Our Fathers: Subverted. The Dragonlord's great-great-grandson chooses to not antagonize the DQI hero's descendants and helps them instead. In the Playable Epilogue the Dragonlord's descendant says that the feud between their respective ancestors is not his problem and expresses a desire to become friends with the heroes.
  • Spoiler Cover: The front box art of the American version shows a mural of Malroth behind Hargon atop the altar. The Japanese version and the Switch cover art also show Malroth standing behind Hargon and the heroes.
  • Squishy Wizard:
    • The Princess of Moonbrooke is a physically fragile albeit competent spellcaster.
    • The Prince of Cannock also has elements of this early on, but grows out of it eventually.
  • Sword and Sorcerer: The Prince of Midenhall is a powerful warrior, but he has no magical abilities whatsoever. He is always accompanied by his cousins, the Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke, who are physically weak (especially the Princess) but wield powerful magic (especially the Princess).
  • Taking You with Me: The Prince of Cannock eventually learns the Kamikazee 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 Random Encounters can also cast this for a Total Party Kill...
  • Toilet Humor: You can scare a guy urinating in Leftwyne, who asks you if you wanted to make him dampen his britches.
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • The Prince of Cannock. In the NES, his best gear was roughly The Prince of Midenhall's early to middle-game gear, and due to everyone only having TWO non-HP/MP stats, he could die A LOT if you weren't careful. He was upgraded notably in the I+II SNES remake. This is taken to Rule of Funny levels in Fan Art based off his NES days. He's often waking up or sleeping in his coffin, or just dead.
    • The Princess of Moonbrooke also qualifies, but to a far lesser extent.
  • Total Party Kill: The Batmandrills 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.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: If you look closely at the surprisingly beautiful front box art of the American version, it shows a mural of Malroth behind Hargon atop the altar.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: The heroic party consists of the Prince of Midenhall, the Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke. All three of them are immediate cousins, though, so no love triangle shenanigans happen.
  • Undesirable Prize: The fifth prize at the tombola is the medicinal herb, an item that can be bought in many places, heals little HP and can be sold for a measly 4G.
  • Useless Useful Spell:
    • Averted with prejudice. If you don't utilize your arsenal of debuffs, you'll spend a lot of time dead. There's several brute force spells, but they are much more expensive to cast and aren't always a OHKO, meaning the enemy is still hitting you. Having both spellcasters repeatedly debuff while your hero kills the enemy party one by one is actually a pretty good tactic in the late game.
    • 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 Kazing), he's the only one that learns Kazing. 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'.
    • The Princess of Moonbrooke's Click Spell spares you the trouble of lugging around four different keys, freeing precious inventory space. Unfortunately, she learns Click Spell at level 23 (NES/SNES/GB) or 36 (mobile/Switch). Unless you have been power-grinding, the odds are that you have no doors left to open by that point.
  • Villain Opening Scene: 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 and "Requiem".)
  • When Trees Attack: Treefaces and Treevils make their debut in this game.
  • With This Herring: In order to ensure your journey is a successful one, the King bestows upon you... a Copper Sword and 50 gold. Thanks, Dad. Don't worry about the items and gold locked in the treasury; someone who loved dogs took the only key far away.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Just like the previous game, everybody Save Malroth, of course.


Alternative Title(s): Dragon Quest II Luminaries Of The Legendary Line

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