Dragon Quest Builders 2

I didn't think I would enjoy Dragon Quest Builders 2 so much, a miniscule construction game based on an iconic JRPG franchise with decades on the clock. Although its combat system turns out to be quite simplistic and its controls occasionally frustrating, this second installment turns out to be both a great construction game and an engrossing RPG, filled with striking areas and characters.

Never having played the first Dragon Quest Builders, I never felt that it was essential to understand the ins and outs of this sequel. The game distills tons of references to the Dragon Quest series that will prove particularly tasty for any discerning enthusiast - familiar enemies, mythical locations and bosses, and a nostalgic victory theme. Even its minimap invariably takes you back to the first franchise games. If you have no idea why your main ally is called Malroth, I strongly encourage you not to try to find out more about him so that the surprise is total.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a real RPG with leveling up, gear, magic items, dungeons and boss fights. Far from simply integrating lots of elements from Dragon Quest into a Minecraft clone, Omega Force and Square Enix offer us a J-RPG honoring this iconic saga, with an additional construction / exploration dimension. I never had the feeling that compromises had been made on any of its aspects, which in itself was quite a success.

When you're not building lounges, throne rooms, or wheat fields, you travel through environments with stunning vantage points to defeat monsters, collect magical items, and recruit new allies. As the adventure progresses, you will also have access to various side quests, visit shrines and solve puzzles in order to unlock rare items, and also get your hands on loot caches.

A bland combat system

Combat is arguably the weakest element in the game, and it's a shame that this central aspect turns out to be so bland, when so many others work so well. This is a real-time system with no parry, dodge or strafe keys. Therefore, you are content to attack basic enemies and take their punches, while special attacks from main bosses can only be avoided by running and doing weird circles until their animation ends. . Charging your main special attack also takes so long that it turns out to be less effective than just hammering the keys (which made me give it up most of the time).

Some boss fights, however, benefit from unique and fun mechanics, and it's not uncommon for you to fight dozens of monsters alongside your personal army of NPCs. While these clashes turn out to be a little chaotic (like "I don't know what's going on, but it's pretty cool"), there is nothing inherently unpleasant, although I never felt that my skills were actually tested in an interesting way.

Fortunately, the construction and exploration aspects can largely compensate for this situation. If the freedom offered by Minecraft, allowing you to let your imagination run wild and build without limits, proves to be pleasant, Dragon Quest Builders 2 regularly encourages you to transform wasteland as well as abandoned or ruined cities into real ones. colonies, building specific structures and services there. If I felt that I had sufficient freedom to reclaim these places, the goals I had to achieve were the fuel of my creativity. Watching a vibrant community come together over time is a much more rewarding progression mechanic than anything that involves up close or stat or gear upgrades, especially when those big projects are the building blocks of the game. central elements of each area of the game.

A lovely world

The script and the dialogues as a whole turn out to be quite simplistic and sometimes seem to be aimed at a very young audience (to their detriment). But things do get more interesting towards the end of the adventure, with increasing dramatic intensity and a gripping storyline. The three main islands that you visit, which each have their own theme, atmosphere and history, are obviously not unrelated to this success. From the parched plains of Furrowfield to the dusty Khrumbul-Dun, drawing inspiration from the Old West side, you'll have access to a wide range of challenges, meet new charming NPCs who will join your ranks, and explore tons of environments. with varied and spectacular landscapes. Each of the elements has been designed with special care, and taken as a whole, these islands form one of the RPG worlds that I have enjoyed exploring in recent years.

However, I would have liked the exploration to be a little less delicate. Even setting aside the frustrating combat system mentioned above, the controls didn't turn out to be particularly intuitive or well thought out. During the adventure, my main enemy was not one of the servants of the terrible Hargon, but rather the fact that the key to change tools is also the one used to speak or activate. Therefore, when an NPC approached me while I was using my hammer, I was forced to listen to him tell me about his day for the umpteenth time before I could resume my work. While you do have a few options for modifying the controls, those are sadly limited. Providing a complete key mapping would have been very valuable, knowing that L1 and L2 are not used for much as they are.

As in the original, the story is only the pretext to throw you into the game world, well developed but very simple in its development: we will take on the role of the Builder in a world corroded and corrupted by the forces of evil, despite the efforts of those who preceded. Unable to live in harmony, humanity offered the perfect pretext for the seed of suspicion, violence and avarice to be metaphorically planted in the world, allowing Hargon to take power and subjugate men to the will of monsters.

In this gloomy scenario, after a violent shipwreck which we miraculously survived, we find ourselves in a deserted island which will be our task to repopulate. However, we are very far from the knowledge of the previous builder and first of all we will have to travel between the various islands so as to learn as much as possible, to bring as many people as possible to our cause and as we have also started with the secrets of construction. Malroth and Lulu will be the pillars of this adventure, although he is mainly the first to support the hero by becoming neither more nor less than his bodyguard: without memory but fearless and incredibly strong he will fight alongside us during the exploration .

The basic structure of Dragon Quest Builders 2 is the same as we remembered. It is explored, fought and naturally built, following the same formula that made Minecraft popular. However, all these aspects have been enhanced by Square Enix which in making its progress has in several cases grabbed the proverbial two pigeons with one stone.

Let's start with the aspect that affects everyone from the first seconds: the interface. If you remember the original title well, it was probably one of the most cumbersome aspects to manage because it was a real potpourri where weapons, armor, hammer and materials were managed through a single overlay toolbar, creating not a little confusion especially during the most excited phases of the game. A simple trick was enough to literally put everything back in its place and now you have a very precise command mapping and slots dedicated to the main equipment. Once built, weapons can be permanently assigned from the basic to the dedicated inventory without having to go crazy every time to take them. The gloves, the hammer and in general all those essential tools for every good manufacturer have in turn their own space and you can switch between them by simply pressing the dedicated button. The quality of life is affected and we thank you.

Next step: NPCs become really useful elements to the community, proving essential to carry out some jobs forbidden to us and then learning the art of construction (more information in this study). Without falling into the spoiler, I take the example of the first island of which we have already had a taste, Camposolco: as the name suggests, it is a place that bases its well-being on agriculture, boasting among the best experts on the merit. Reduced to a barren land and poisoned by the Sons of Hargon, who were then forced to serve, with the arrival of the Builder the inhabitants gradually regain consciousness of who they were and make their skills available to us. By offering fertile land, they will plow it for sowing and then water it to encourage the growth of what has been sown.

By increasing the level of the settlement you can also give them indications on what to sow in a certain field. Furthermore, although one or more units are available to defend the village, some of the inhabitants will take part in both the casual clashes - if they are nearby - and those imposed by the continuation of the plot. It doesn't matter if they don't have weapons, they'll make their fists talk and make a solid defense anyway. Finally, by bringing the settlement to the maximum level, all the inhabitants become expert builders who can support you in your task if you give them the way. That is, if you provide them with the necessary materials: this means exploring the outside world.