PS II vs DQ II, One of the Best and a Great Sequel

Phantasy Star II and Dragon Quest II are two very good RPGs. Since I’m following these series in order, there will be a few instances where a Genesis or SNES game will be compared to an NES game. This is going to be a problem for the Dragon Quest Series because it had four games on the NES.

I won’t be focusing on graphics as much as I did with other games. This will primarily be about gameplay and story. I like both of the stories in these games, but one is clearly better than the other.

This is one of those cases where I clearly like one game over the other. Not that either one is a bad game, I simply enjoy playing one of them over the other. I had more fun with one, and I would rather go back and play one of these games over the other.  

Game Descriptions/Overviews

Both games are continuing the story from the previous games. They take place in the future, as far as the series timelines are concerned. They aren’t too different from each other, but it does feel like the Dragon Quest series was one step behind the Phantasy Star series.

Phantasy Star II is a pure science fiction story, as the developers dropped all the references to Greek Mythology from the setting. It is a standard “man turns their life over to the computer, and the computer decides to wipe out humanity.” There are, of course, references to the first game and the enemy for the series. It is all really well done.

Dragon Quest II is a high fantasy story that does a good job of continuing the story from the first game. It expands the Dragon Quest world, adds more towns and kingdoms, and I enjoy the changes to the gameplay. It is a more complete game than the first game.

The basics of these two games are very similar. They’re both RPGs from the 1980s, so they have the same or similar game mechanics. Let’s go over the major differences between these two games.

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Main Differences 

There are a few major differences between these two games. Aside from the obvious graphical differences, there are also differences in setting, gameplay, and story.

Phantasy Star II and Dragon Quest II have very different settings. Phantasy Star II is a science fiction story where you’re fighting against mutants and robots. Dragon Quest II is a high fantasy story where monsters and magic exist.

The biggest difference between the gameplay in these games is the party system. Aside from having different party sizes, Phantasy Star II has more playable characters. You also don’t really go on a quest for them like you do in Dragon Quest II. In Phantasy Star II, you return to the main character’s house at seemingly random times, and one of the new characters shows up, gives you their motivations, and joins your party.

The two games tell their stories in different ways. Phantasy Star II plays out like an investigation where you’re trying to find out what is happening so you can stop it. Parts of the story are told through comic book cutscenes, which I like more than the in game graphics of Dragon Quest.

Dragon Quest II doesn’t deviate from the main story after you’ve found your party members. You know what you need to do right away, and the only thing you learn is the location of the items you’ll need to win. It also uses in game graphics to tell its story.

Those are the big differences between the two games. There are a few smaller ones that I’m sure will come to mind as I keep writing this post. For now, let’s go through the core gameplay and see some of the similarities between these games.

Comparing Core Mechanics (Combat, Story, Visuals, etc)

These games have similar combat and plot points. The graphics are considerably different, and I won’t spend much time on them because Phantasy Star II is significantly better looking. Some NES games look as good as games on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, but this isn’t the case with these two games.

Just to get this out of the way, I’ll briefly go over the differences in art style and how the games use visuals to tell their story. Phantasy Star is a more serious looking game and uses comic book cutscenes to advance the plot. While Dragon Quest II is more cinematic than the previous game in the series, it keeps the cartoonish art style, which I do like, but not as much as the art style in Phantasy Star II. I think the graphics reflect the plots of these games quite well.

Phantasy Star II and Dragon Quest II are both turn based RPGs. They have similar game mechanics in that they’re party based, you can use magic, and some characters are better with weapons than others. Phantasy Star II has more playable characters, and you can assemble a party of four from a pool of eight characters. Dragon Quest II sticks with three party members, and you don’t get more as the game goes on.

Both of these games follow a similar plot structure. There is some inciting incident, then you gather your party and the key items you’ll need, and finally, you fight your way to a fight with the cause of all the trouble. Phantasy Star II has more twists to its plot, and it is more of an investigation with fewer key items because it isn’t a fantasy story. Dragon Quest II is about defeating an evil force that is attacking the land.

You’ll have to gather more mystical items, which goes along with the focus on magic instead of technology. It is a more straightforward story where you know about the bad guy from the beginning, and you have to find what you need to defeat them. After you’ve gathered your party members, the plot doesn’t really deviate from the main story.

I’m sure there are more similarities and differences between these two games. If I come up with more of them, I’ll add them in at some other time. RPGs at this time weren’t too different in terms of gameplay, so the stories were what set them apart from each other. Let’s go over which game I think is better and which one I would rather play.

What Does Phantasy Star II do Better?

Phantasy Star II has a better story and gameplay, and I enjoy its setting more than Dragon Quest II. While the graphics are better, I don’t think that is a fair point of comparison at this point. This, like the other comparisons I’ve done, comes down to personal preference, and I enjoy Phantasy Star II more.

The story in Phantasy Star II is much better. I enjoy science fiction more than high fantasy, so that played a big part in this. It also has more of a message in it, which was something lacking from the Dragon Quest series. There are also more twists to the story, and it feels like a grander adventure due to the space travel featured in this game.

Having more playable characters makes the gameplay in Phantasy Star II more enjoyable. It adds to the game’s strategy and lets you customize your party. There is also a plot point that concerns one of the characters in your party, which I don’t want to spoil here. Phantasy Star II does a better job of using its characters throughout the game, which makes the story and gameplay better.

Sega took advantage of the new console to make a bigger and better game. In 1989, there weren’t a lot of science fiction RPGs on the home console, and this one really showed off what the system could do. It does just about everything better than Dragon Quest II.   

What Does Dragon Quest II do Better?

I’m struggling to think of something that I can point to as being better in this game. Dragon Quest II does a lot of things right, and it is an improvement over the previous game in its series. For lack of anything better to say here, I’ll say that Dragon Quest II does a better job of continuing the story from the first game in the series.

The main characters in Dragon Quest II are the descendants of the main character from the previous game, which is a nice way to continue the story. I like this way of continuing the story more than in Phantasy Star II. In that game, the main characters have no connection to the previous group of heroes.

Aside from how the game continues the story, I can’t point to anything else that it does better than Phantasy Star II. It feels like a direct sequel rather than a story set in the same world/universe. Both games tell their stories very well, but I particularly like how Dragon Quest II picks up where things left off.     

Which is Better Overall and Why? 

Phantasy Star II is the better game overall. It is a more complete game, with a much better story and more enjoyable gameplay. At the end of the day, I had more fun with Phantasy Star II than I did with Dragon Quest II.

The story is what carries me through an RPG. I’m also a bigger fan of science fiction. There is something about it that I enjoy more than a high fantasy setting. Phantasy Star II delivers a great story with a fun twist to the ending. I also appreciate how Phantasy Star II continues the story from the first game.

There are more characters, which means you have more options to customize your party. You also have to make a party of four, and I prefer this size to just three. The inventory system and combat are also better than Dragon Quest II.

I love the graphics in Phantasy Star II. Because this is on the Sega Genesis, the graphics are vastly superior to Dragon Quest II. You could say the same thing about the first two games, so I’m not going to focus on this as much as I did in other games. I have to say, I love the graphics in each of the Phantasy Star games more than those in the first four games of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series.

This is a fantastic game. It is on par with the best RPGs on the SNES, and much better than the games on the NES. If I weren’t following the series in order, I wouldn’t be comparing these games to each other.

Which Would I Rather Play?

I was more interested in seeing how the story from Phantasy Star would be continued in the sequel. For that alone, I would rather play Phantasy Star II over Dragon Quest II. I also like the setting, story, and gameplay more.

Science Fiction RPGs were a rarity on the home console at the time. There were some games that combined fantasy with science fiction, but there were too many games that were purely science fiction. Phantasy Star II is a pure science fiction story that tells its tale very well. I love that they took the idea of humans creating a computer that turns on them, and combined it with the idea of Dark Force that keeps spreading evil in this solar system.

Phantasy Star II has more in common with the third Dragon Quest game. The gameplay is more complex than Dragon Quest II, and you have more characters to manage. I enjoy this more because it makes the story better, and you can customize your party to best suit how you want to play. It can also make the game more difficult.

Those are the big reasons why I would rather play Phantasy Star II. I had more fun with this game when I went back to play it. It is the better game overall, with more things I enjoy. It is a great story and a wonderful RPG.

Conclusion 

As I compare these games, I’m starting to notice things I previously overlooked. The Dragon Quest series seems to be following what the Phantasy Star series was doing. I’m not saying this was intentional, but it looks that way when you compare the games.

The first Phantasy Star has more in common with Dragon Quest II, and Phantasy Star II has more in common with Dragon Quest III. It will be interesting to see how the third games in the series stack up to each other. Both of these games are improvements on the previous games in their respective series, and it would’ve been interesting to see what would’ve happened if the Phantasy Star series had continued.

I knew things were going to get a little weird when the Genesis games were compared to the NES games. Things will get a little easier when it comes to the SNES and Genesis.

Phantasy Star is my favorite retro RPG series, so anything that I compare to it is going to have an uphill battle. Dragon Quest is still new to me, and I’ve enjoyed most of the games in that series. Granted, I’ve only played five of them so far. I’m looking forward to getting back into Phantasy Star III and IV, especially since I think III is underrated.

If you liked this post, please check out my other posts in this series, such as Phantasy Star vs Dragon Quest II or Phantasy Star vs Final Fantasy.