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Dragon Fantasy: The Black Tome of Ice
PC (Steam)
Significantly Better
3.5/5 stars
Back in those long-forgotten days of yore when a much younger me daydreamed about a collaboration between Squaresoft and Enix to create an RPG called ‘Dragon Fantasy’ for the SNES, we were faced with some unpleasant truths. The first of these truths was that 8-bit games that are a first attempt at a new intellectual property usually suck. The other side of the coin, however, holds the truth that franchises that started in the 8-bit era generally managed to blossom into something spectacular by the 16-bit era (though there were always exceptions).
The Muteki Corporation seems to either consciously or unconsciously embraced these truths, for after a rather dismal start with “Dragon Fantasy Book I” (a.k.a., “The Volumes of Westeria”), the follow-up, “Dragon Fantasy Book II,” which was later redubbed with the subtitle, “The Black Tome of Ice,” is actually much improved in almost every way.
Presentation
“Dragon Fantasy Book II” doesn’t have 8-bit and 16-bit style options. It is a purely 16-bit styled game. The visuals are much improved in every area, ranging from sprite designs to animations. Enemies are no longer presented as flat, un-animated images, but have their own sprites that are used both in and out of combat. The combat engine is less like ‘Dragon Quest’ or ‘Final Fantasy’ and more like “Chrono Trigger,” with in-place encounters that don’t feature any kind of transition animation, but merely happen against the environmental backdrop where they are encountered.
The soundtrack is even more improved over the first game’s. While I could hardly stand to listen to the grating, a-melodic horrors of “Dragon Fantasy Book I,” “Dragon Fantasy Book II” doesn’t have a single bad tune in its soundtrack, and I found myself fondly humming the battle music when not playing the game. THAT is a sign of an excellent soundtrack.
Unlike “Dragon Fantasy Book I,” which was relatively bug-free, “Dragon Fantasy Book II” crashed on me a number of times, forcing me to kill it from the task manager. There are a number of easily reproducible glitches that should have been patched, but haven’t been. It seems that the extra complexities of moving from the 8-bit era to the 16-bit era brought their fair share of bugs with them.
Story
I railed against “Dragon Fantasy Book I” for feeling more like a disjointed prologue than an actual game. It felt like the super-short scenarios in the original game were building up to a climactic final chapter that simply didn’t exist.
“Dragon Fantasy Book II” is that climactic chapter. Unfortunately, it isn’t ‘final.’
See, ‘Dragon Fantasy’ is a dreaded episodic game… but the Muteki Corporation didn’t go to any pains to make their customers aware of that fact. Based on hints dropped within “Dragon Fantasy Book II,” there will, indeed, be a “Dragon Fantasy Book III” at some indeterminate point in the future. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, it has been over three years since “Dragon Fantasy Book II’s” original release on PlayStation Network, with no sign of “Book III” on the horizon. It’s just as well, though, as “Dragon Fantasy Book III” is supposed to have a 64-bit style, and if the Muteki Corporation is the ship of Nintendo fanboys they seem to be, “Book III” will be an unparalleled disaster modeled on the likes of “Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage” and “Quest 64.”
Back to the matter at hand: “Dragon Fantasy Book II” does actually tell a rather interesting story. Players who suffered through “Book I” will receive some small comfort that knowing the backstory of the first game helps to flesh things out in this sequel. New players can take comfort in the fact that “Dragon Fantasy Book II” does summarize the events of “Book I” well enough that nobody should be confused.
“Dragon Fantasy Book II” picks up immediately where the “Intermission M” scenario in “Dragon Fantasy Book I” left off. Semi-retired/completely-bald Queen’s Champion, Ogden, the mysterious Woodsman, Woodsey, the layabout prince, Anders, and stowaway ninja girl, Ramona find themselves in an alliance with some not-so-bad pirates and have been hiding out at Port Awesomegrogg on a remote island to avoid the imperial navy. Time runs out for them, though, and they must flee the island for the southern hemisphere of the world, beyond the reach of the insane emperor of Sandheim (which is strongly hinted to be someone close to at least one of the characters.
The party finds themselves in the frozen kingdom of Tundaria at Port Frostsword. Attempts at cashing in an old favor by the pirates sees the party separated into three groups, in an obvious nod to “Final Fantasy 6.” Despite being separated, the characters all find themselves working toward a common goal, investigating the uncharacteristically warm weather in Tundaria, which all seems to lead back to a worn-out voidstone and Tundaria’s new queen.
Despite only being roughly 12 hours long (which is about 30-50% longer than the first game), “Dragon Fantasy Book II” manages to squeeze-in a competently written plot of its own, while simultaneously setting up a ‘true’ climactic final chapter that will presumably happen in “Dragon Fantasy Book III,” if it ever gets made.
The one and only significant flaw I can pick at in “Dragon Fantasy Book II’s” narrative is the fact that it is part of an episodic series. I played “Book I” and “Book II” back-to-back, so everything about the first game was fresh in my mind for the second. By the time “Book III” is released, gets discounted 75%, and floats to the top of my backlog, I doubt I’ll remember much of anything about these first two super-short episodes. Episodic games are supposed to release monthly, or a few months apart, at most.
Gameplay
As mentioned previously, “Dragon Fantasy Book II” is heavily modeled on “Chrono Trigger.” The overworld is encounter free, while every dungeon environment is scattered with a number of setpiece encounters that only respawn if the player leaves the dungeon and re-enters. This makes exploration much more enjoyable than true random encounters, and also makes grinding either completely optional or painlessly easy to do, depending on whether or not the player wants to grind.
Also inspired by “Chrono Trigger,” most area spells and abilities now affect a range around a specific target instead of just affecting ‘all’ enemies or allies (there’s still no friendly fire, though, thankfully). Unfortunately, there are no Unite Attacks, but this lack is made-up for by the fact that every enemy and ally has a much more interesting stable of spells/skills than in the first game.
Like “Dragon Fantasy Book I” (and “Dragon Quest 5: Hand of the Heavenly Bride”), the player can capture enemies to fill-out empty slots in the four-person party. The monster capturing system is dramatically improved over the first game, as monsters all have the ability to gain experience and level-up, wear equipment, and learn additional abilities as they rise in levels. These monsters, once captured, can be used by any party, so a monster captured by Ogden during his solo scenario can be used by Ramona in hers, provided she remembers to stop by the tavern to pick it up.
Because of the more interesting and diverse range of skills the player has at their disposal, combat has been balanced to be significantly more interesting than the bland slap-fights from the first game. Enemies and allies can use buffs and debuffs to great effect, and capturing certain monsters at certain times can lead to significant strategic advantages. “Dragon Fantasy Book II” never feels grindy or repetitive, nor does it ever feel boring. Unlike its predecessor, it manages to hit the exact sweet spot that does invoke the glory days of RPGaming on the SNES.
Overall
“Dragon Fantasy Book II” is better than “Dragon Fantasy Book I” in every way. Unfortunately, it’s still an incomplete experience due to the not-widely-advertised episodic nature of this ‘franchise.’ 16-bit RPG fans who want a shot of nostalgia will definitely get it from this game, though the short length and multi-year wait for the final(?) episode will put a damper on the excitement rather quickly.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 3/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 3.5/5
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