#dqi-ii

The faerie village is new in this version, right? But it ties the trilogy together so well! Even though it's not the same village as DQIII... I like spending time there with my friends Day-Dreamer, Arm-Twister, Over-Seer, and Goolian. The free inn doesn't hurt either.

I AM WORKING ON IT, MISTY FAERIE! Time to go rescue the Princess. Since I already learned Dragon Slash, I made short work of the green dragon. The soul sigil is a game-changer. It basically adds the coup de grace or let loose functionalities from DQIX and DQVII, respectively.

I love how they inserted Gwaelin into every single cutscene! She's supposed to help in the battles too, right? So far all she's done is talk, but that's fine. I learned the Japanese word yuusha-sama. I intend to carry her throughout the rest of the game. She's so funny, and some of the silent protagonist syndrome is alleviated by her saying everything for the both of us. Alef asked for no pickles.

Oh my god, then we got stuck in the Weirdwood maze for 30 minutes before the cutscene where Gwaelin dispels the illusion finally triggered. Gwaelin likes the faerie village too! We (it feels great to have some semblance of a party) rescued the faerie leader, Dream-Whisperer. She revealed that she ships Alef and Gwaelin, which made Gwaelin very pleased.

I love how they're both into it. Gwaelin is in it for the long haul!

I didn't realize the victory tour was BEFORE returning to the king. But I happened to stop by a few places like the faerie village and Tantegel. I'm not fighting the Dragonlord again just to see more of it lol. Alef leveled up to level 44 after the first phase. I beat his second form on my second try, though I needed to use four sage's elixirs.

I loaded the postgame just to get the one monster I was missing (LUMP SHAMAN!!!). I also finally got the Snoop spell, which I missed because I refused to bring Gwaelin back to the castle. This remake was pretty solid, especially the story and characterization of NPCs. I wish there were more things to buy! I spent about 100,000 gold, but by the end I had almost that much just sitting in the bank.

Well that was a short game! I beat the Dragonlord after about 19 hours. This version shows the destruction caused by the monsters in devastating detail. Technically spoilers below!

I had a fun time playing Pokopia for about 60 hours. Really made me want to try Dragon Quest Builders. But first, let's knock out the rest of the Erdrick Trilogy! I'm playing the PC version of the HD-2D remake on my Steam Deck. No issues so far, although the text is a bit small.

I played the HD-2D remake of DQIII last year, finishing it in December 2025, which was my first time playing DQIII. I actually have played DQI before... mostly. About 11 years ago, I played the smartphone version. Two things I remember clearly: fighting a nasty chimera in some western ruins (oh my god, I just looked it up and apparently the chimera was a normal enemy and I'm actually thinking of the boss knight aberrant at Damdara) and the cave where the green dragon lives. I didn't quite finish it, giving up at the final fight with the Dragonlord! But not this time! I'll be ready this time! So far, I'm about five hours into the remake. I feel like I should remember more of Alefgard from DQIII, but so far only Rimuldar is familiar. I also played Caravan Heart last year, and I actually remember the overworld from that.

This game does look better visually than DQIII so far (as it should, since it's newer). The fancy shader effects are a bit overdone, but at least I can turn some of that off in the settings. My main gripe with these HD-2D games in particular is the scale of the human characters. Just look at that old man in that bed! All the regular buildings are huge mansions!

I love the pre-rendered battle backdrops and the monster sprites. Party member (just the one in this game) back sprites look nice too. DO THE MONSTERS HAVE TO BE *THAT* SMALL?!?!?! Of course the screen fills up a bit when you encounter multiple/bigger enemies. But can't the camera be a LITTLE closer?

I love this female guard. I assume the little squad trying to rescue Gwaelin is new in this version (or just a couple of generic male guards in previous versions). The reveal that the captain is her father did move me. Also, I found the other guard hiding in his home in Kol after deserting lol.