Here you’ll find mysterious pyramids with traps galore, where your sneaky foes will try to separate you from the king you’re protecting, or suddenly throw up a squad of archers. Some are straightforward scraps or efforts to eliminate monster-spawning portals before the critters overwhelm you, but many take a different form. Sure, the game starts throwing in more demanding challenge monsters later on, but we’re still talking padding, not an integral part of the action. The new wilderness areas aren’t actually much to write home about: basically they’re large areas packed with roaming monsters ready to tackle, with the occasional stranded guy or girl who needs assistance, and the odd chest hidden here and there. That’s backed up by decent storytelling and – shock, horror! – varied level design. Just in terms of the raw gameplay, this is the most enjoyable Warriors game I’ve played, but also arguably the richest. We even get some interesting tag-attack mechanics, encouraging you to think harder about who you field in your four-hero squad. This, combined with the almost constant need to switch between heroes, use their powers and activate their high-tension attacks, gives the fighting a more varied, flexible feel. Now some summon critters will give you a perk or protect you from poison, while others will instead transform you into a monster, giving you a few seconds of heavy-duty powers. In the original, monster medals had one primary function: summoning monsters to fight alongside you.
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In addition, the team at Omega Force has made some smart improvements here and there. While it’s still a very different kind of game, it feels more like a proper Dragon Quest than Hyrule Warriors feels like a Zelda. The JRPG underpinnings were always there in Dragon Quest Heroes’ skills, progression and crafting systems, but now they seem to have come to the fore. The battled are bridged by wilderness areas you can roam through, and urban areas crammed with facilities and stores. The plot is smarter and more central, and there’s greater room to explore. The sequel takes more inspiration from its JRPG parent. First and foremost, though, it was a Warriors game. Or its collectible monster medals, used to summon monsters to fight alongside you. Dragon Quest Heroes still pulled in some smart ideas, such as the ability to build up Tension through spectacular combat and launch, RPG-style special attacks. Related: Marvel vs Capcom Infinite latest newsĪs in a Warriors game, the trick wasn’t just in learning your heroes and their combos, but in making sure you were in the right area at the right time, tackling the key objectives.
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For all its colourful cartoon visuals, based on Level 5’s work in the more recent Dragon Quest games, it was still primarily a brawler, where you took a team of heroes through a series of battles – hacking, slashing and spellcasting their way through hordes of monsters. The original blended Dragon Quest with a Warriors game, but leaned more towards the latter. And now it’s followed by a sequel that, in every way, is better still.
![dragon quest heroes 2 mini medals dragon quest heroes 2 mini medals](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonquest/images/f/fd/DQVIII_-_Mini_medal.png)
Outshone by Koei-Tecmo’s collaboration with Nintendo, Hyrule Warriors, it was actually the better game stronger visually, more varied, and with more interesting game mechanics. Well, in the case of the original Dragon Quest Heroes, another game that never quite received the attention it deserved. Put them together, and what do you get?īuy Dragon Quest Heroes 2 from Amazon UK | On the other, we have Dynasty Warriors, Koei-Tecmo’s huge-scale battlefield brawler, which has extended its reach over the past decade to take in other franchises from Gundam to The Legend of Zelda. On the one hand, we have Square Enix’s Dragon Quest, still a massive franchise in its homeland, a rival to Final Fantasy, but a bit of a cult curio here in the West. Two series, both huge in Japan but never quite reaching the same level over here.