Which Retro RPG is Better?: Phantasy Star vs DQ II

Phantasy Star and Dragon Quest II have more in common than you might think. They have similar plot structures, gameplay, and game mechanics. While they look very different and have different settings, they’re fairly similar to each other.

I like both of these games, but they do have problems. Most of them have to do with the time that they were made. RPGs from the late 1980s and 1990s have a style that isn’t as user friendly as the games made today.

I don’t have many memories of these games. For Dragon Quest II, it was me playing it on a computer in the mid-1990s, and quickly moving on to something else. For Phantasy Star, it was trying to figure out which system it was on, and eventually found the collection that Sega released for the Game Boy Advance.

I wouldn’t say that I liked either game when I first played it. In the late 2010s, I played each of them. I had a better experience with them, but I enjoyed Phantasy Star more.  

Game Descriptions/Overviews

Both of these games are turn based RPGs where you have to go on a quest to assemble your party. They have similar plot points where there is a catalyst to start the story, then you have to gather resources to fight the big bad guy, and finally a confrontation that ends with peace being restored. There is a little more to this, but that is the basics.

Phantasy Star starts as a revenge story set on three planets. It turns into a fairly standard RPG plot where you have to defeat the source of all evil and restore peace to a solar system. I like the change to a science fiction adventure.

Dragon Quest II is a high fantasy story where demons start attacking three kingdoms. The descendants of the legendary hero from the first game join forces to fight a bad guy and then restore peace to the land.

A lot of what separates these games is graphics, storytelling, and minor changes to a basic formula. It comes down to personal preference on which game you want to play. Now that we have the overviews out of the way, let’s get into the major differences.

Main Differences 

The major differences are in the setting and graphics. There are a number of minor differences that I’ll go over in the next section, but these are the two I’m going to focus on here. I might think of something else as I write this, and if I do, that’ll be added to the end.

Phantasy Star is a science fiction game, while Dragon Quest II is a high fantasy story. Their plots aren’t too different, aside from the inclusion of elements from their specific genres. This also has an impact on the enemies and weapons.

In Phantasy Star, you’ll be fighting robots and mutants, while in Dragon Quest II, you’ll mostly be fighting the same fantasy creatures from the first game, with some new additions. They’re all creatures, though, and you won’t see robots. While both games have swords and magic, Phantasy Star includes guns and laser weapons.

The graphics are extremely different, even with Dragon Quest II having more cinematic moments than the first game in the series. Phantasy Star’s graphics are overall better; it has comic book cutscenes, the enemies are more detailed, and the battle scenes look better.

The dungeons play into the graphics. Phantasy Star used a first person perspective, which I don’t like all that much. Dragon Quest opted for a standard overhead view, which I prefer because it is easier to see what’s happening.

The core mechanics are basically the same. Both are turn based RPGs where you go on a little quest to assemble your party. Phantasy Star has four playable characters, and Dragon Quest II has three. All those characters fill a role such as Healer, Mage, or Warrior.

Both stories start with a catalyst for the characters going on their quest, followed by gathering key items, getting your party members, and a final confrontation with the big bad guy. This is something you could say about every RPG from this era, with a few exceptions.

What Does Phantasy Star do Better?

Phantasy Star does so many things better than Dragon Quest II that it will be hard to narrow this down. I will focus on a few key points to avoid repetition. The cutscenes, enemies, and combat screens are better in Phantasy Star.

Overall, Phantasy Star is graphically better than Dragon Quest II. This isn’t all that surprising since the second Dragon Quest game has essentially the same graphics as the first game in the series. While both Phantasy Star and Dragon Quest are bright and colorful, Phantasy Star is more detailed, has better cutscenes, and the battle screens look better.

I like the creativity of the enemies in Phantasy Star, and the animations look cool for the time. It is a nice mix of robots, Greek mythology, and mutants. It makes the play feel like it’s set in an alien world, which it is.

The battle scenes look much better in Phantasy Star. It would be closer if Dragon Quest II had kept the same style as the previous game, but they went with a black screen. It is a little disappointing, and the reason I like Phantasy Star’s battles a little more.

The overall story isn’t all that different. Both games have the same narrative beats, but Phantasy Star uses comic book cut scenes to tell its story. These work much better than Dragon Quest II’s use of in-game graphics.

The core gameplay for both games is essentially the same. That is why I focused so much on the graphics. I do like the setting and story in Phantasy Star a little more, but that has to do with me liking the science fiction plot more than a traditional high fantasy story.  

What Does Dragon Quest II do Better?

There isn’t much that I think is better in Dragon Quest II. Many of the things I like about this game are done better in Phantasy Star. One thing that I can clearly point to is the dungeons.

Phantasy Star tries to fake 3D by having the dungeons switch to a first person perspective.

Several retro games have tried this, and I’ve disliked it every time. It makes navigating the dungeons confusing, and it can cause a lot of frustration. Thankfully, you can find maps of each dungeon online.

Dragon Quest II has the same overhead view that was the standard for retro RPGs at the time. I like this much better as it is easier to navigate a dungeon. If I had played more dungeon crawlers as a kid, I would’ve had a different opinion of Phantasy Star’s approach to dungeons.

I can’t think of anything else at this point. Dragon Quest II isn’t a bad game at all. I simply think that Phantasy Star did a better job with the formula.

Which is Better Overall and Why? 

This one was close, but Phantasy Star is the better game. It is really a personal preference on this one, and much of it has to do with my loving science fiction more than high fantasy. There are also some little things that Phantasy Star does better.

I like the creativity and the detailed artwork in Phantasy Star. The little animations for enemy attacks look great, and I like that the battle screens are more interesting. While I like the artwork in both games, I think Phantasy Star’s looks better.

The story is more fun for me. The space faring adventure in Phantasy Star is a welcome change from the generic high fantasy plot of Dragon Quest II. Both have similar plot structure, but I like the revenge tale told in Phantasy Star.

There is nothing wrong with the way that Dragon Quest II is set up. It is a big improvement over the first game. At the end of the day, I would rather play Phantasy Star.

Which Would I Rather Play?

I would rather play Phantasy Star. This one was closer than it seemed, and it all comes down to which setting I liked more. I prefer the science fiction setting in Phantasy Star instead of the high fantasy setting in Dragon Quest II.

Both of these games share a similar gameplay style. I find the story in Phantasy Star to be more enjoyable, and I like the setting more. It is a nice change of pace from the standard high fantasy game, which felt like a template from the late 1980s.

On the home console, there weren’t too many RPGs that took the route that Phantasy Star did. There were a few games on personal computers that did, but I didn’t know about them or have access to them as a kid. Seeing the setting in the Phantasy Star series was something different.

Conclusion 

This was much harder than I imagined it would be. Going back and playing Dragon Quest II made me want to do this comparison. I had already compared it to the first game, and while writing that, I thought this would be the next best game to compare it to.

Phantasy Star can be seen as an improvement on what Dragon Quest did, as well as a change of setting. I doubt that the two development teams copied from one another. Since many RPGs from this time drew inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons, there were bound to be similarities.

Aside from a few minor things, these two games are nearly the same. At the end of the day, I like the Phantasy Star series more than the Dragon Quest series. It will be interesting to see how Dragon Quest II compares to Phantasy Star II and other RPGs.

If you liked this post, you might want to check out the others in this Vs series, such as Dragon Quest I vs. II or Phantasy Star vs. Dragon Quest.