Esper Dream 2: Aratanaru Tatakai (NES, 1992)
Graphics-9 Sound-8.5 Control-7 Challenge-7 Story-6.5
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Mixes DQ/FF-style RPG exploration with real-time battles (similar to DSII: Xanadu, Radia Senki and Tales of Phantasia; some hidden items and basic traversal tools, gear and spell inventory)
Non-random encounters (some are forced though) and the battle arena layouts randomly change - generally they're pretty simple though
Movement speed options (you'll generally want to just select max speed in the menu and keep it there unless you're underleveled and want to be extra careful not to run into encounters)
Teleport out of battle or back to the library at any time using a default spell
Some cool spells and weapons (stop watch (flute when used by NPCs - doesn't always work on regular enemies though), mines (work kinda like the bombs in bomberman) - strong, smart bomb spell, star gun - splash damage, spell that removes all but one enemy from the battle) and NPC abilities (the conductor sometimes freezes enemies in place with a clock) and your arsenal is fairly large for the NES
Fight alongside NPCs (they can't die = no babysitting, have to find/rescue them and they don't follow you into other chapters)
You can flee from all regular battles by walking off screen (fairly easy to do by mistake unfortunately) or in forced/boss encounters by using the default teleport spell)
Great spritework and art direction overall, Nice underwater raster effect and parallax in the mountain area, Pretty impressive music (VRC6 audio expansion) and very good use of color
Can talk to your ally to find out where to go next (not that helpful at times though)
Very good final boss (6 (!) phases and it's a large+detailed sprite), good first boss (sea dragon) and some decent (red blobs, metal god without cheesing it; some with 2 patterns/phases)
More fleshed out world with various scripted events during exploration/questing (introductory in-game cutscene to each area/world)
Decent dialogue for the time, Decent boss introductions
Fast resting
Some interesting level gimmicks (breakable blocks during battle (use the mines) - would've been more interesting if used outside of battle for progression or hidden items though, weather/magnet effect in minus town)
Minus world has one-way vertical (holes) and same floor (conveyor belt) paths creating some minor navigational puzzles
Can quickly switch between spells with select (not weapons though)
Final area contains two variations of its theme (one faster and more intense version for the rooms with a boss in them)
+/-
Partially non-linear structure with difficulty/level gating (while you can visit either of 4 areas from the get go* and there is some dynamic difficulty balancing based on your level in areas 2 and 4, forced encounters are static and there's stuff like dark rooms or invisible enemies where you need a later spell or item (get the tool to see invisible enemies around the middle of area 2) to see where you're going/what you're shooting at, mostly linear progression through areas - the fifth one seems more open ended but makes you go back and forth to do the quests in order). Some optional backtracking to previous areas (item trading sequence to get the best armor in the game)
*while there are 5 exits the third scenario/area is already finished by the hero from the previous game (meant as a joke/reference?))
Two save slots
New magic is gained automatically when leveling up and there's no choice in how to build your stats besides buying armor and weapons for more DEF/AP
Diagonal movement in battle but not otherwise
Can't give orders to NPC allies
No 2-player
No platforming and no level hazards to avoid during battles
Not much of a choice in what to buy in a new area since the newest gear is pretty much always the strongest
No ability gating (scuba gear and esper eye (shows invisible enemies) work like key gates)
The flamethrower works like a beam weapon (strong though)
Can't tell regular enemies apart from their footsteps outside of battle
The supposed ultimate weapon in minus world (area 4) is just a little bit stronger than what you had and fairly easy to get
Gain a healing spell pretty late and it's pretty expensive to use
Final area is a straightforward enemy/boss gauntlet
OP barrier spell (too cheap)
-
Sometimes uneven difficulty ("This enemy is tough!" - uhm no, ostrich boss in world 2 is very tough unless you level up 1-2 times and/or use auto-fire - pretty easy chapter 2 besides that, minus town is pretty tough early on, tough minus world boss (metal god) without spamming healing items and barrier spell - same with the area 5 boss except it's a bit easier, final boss' last phase is pretty cheap without barrier+restorative items)
No area maps - not needed early on but worlds 4-5 are large and maze-like
Some control/interface issues (movement speed is slower during battle (x-axis movement is also faster than y-axis movement for some reason) - a bit too slow considering you can't strafe/dodge/block (makes combat turn into more of a button mashing fest when facing faster enemies, there's a temporary barrier spell but it's not the same), have to keep pressing the button to speed up text, minor pauses between text boxes during some dialogue, can only buy one of an item at a time, can't skip the level up jingle, somewhat sloppy hit detection at times, tile-based movement outside of battle)
Some unavoidable attacks (fast enemies at beginning of encounters - always start in the middle of the arena, magnet enemies)
Rushed story progression at times (gets better later on)
No puzzles besides some spatial reasoning ones in area 4-5
Loose scrolling makes it hard to avoid some encounters (see Secret of Mana)
Some trial & error (ESP powers aren't explained in-game, some vague hints ("you need something special" - gee, thanks), area 4 boss)
Some tedious aspects (some unnecessary backtracking (scuba gear + key to house, area 5, back to plus town for the best armor), some grinding for equipment, enemies don't drop gold consistently enough, repeats the forced encounters quite a bit - too much in areas 4-5, enemies and encounter icons sometimes end up where you can't reach them for some time since you can't jump nor climb - can at least use the mines to reach enemies during battle, the star NPC's shield move is annoying in that you can't pick anything up during it - sometimes prevents you from exiting a battle for a few seconds)
Some scripting oddities in chapter 2 (if you don't talk to the right NPC and/or enough times you can't go to the next area even though it seems pointless when some of them just tell you the train has stopped, something you could already tell by the audio or going back down to it)
Feels a bit unfinished how your avatar walks in place if you try to move during pauses in scripted scenes
Some enemies are repeated across multiple areas
Some slowdown and flicker
Can't choose not to give the rings to the stranger in the final area
No hard mode or second quest
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Mixes DQ/FF-style RPG exploration with real-time battles (similar to DSII: Xanadu, Radia Senki and Tales of Phantasia; some hidden items and basic traversal tools, gear and spell inventory)
Non-random encounters (some are forced though) and the battle arena layouts randomly change - generally they're pretty simple though
Movement speed options (you'll generally want to just select max speed in the menu and keep it there unless you're underleveled and want to be extra careful not to run into encounters)
Teleport out of battle or back to the library at any time using a default spell
Some cool spells and weapons (stop watch (flute when used by NPCs - doesn't always work on regular enemies though), mines (work kinda like the bombs in bomberman) - strong, smart bomb spell, star gun - splash damage, spell that removes all but one enemy from the battle) and NPC abilities (the conductor sometimes freezes enemies in place with a clock) and your arsenal is fairly large for the NES
Fight alongside NPCs (they can't die = no babysitting, have to find/rescue them and they don't follow you into other chapters)
You can flee from all regular battles by walking off screen (fairly easy to do by mistake unfortunately) or in forced/boss encounters by using the default teleport spell)
Great spritework and art direction overall, Nice underwater raster effect and parallax in the mountain area, Pretty impressive music (VRC6 audio expansion) and very good use of color
Can talk to your ally to find out where to go next (not that helpful at times though)
Very good final boss (6 (!) phases and it's a large+detailed sprite), good first boss (sea dragon) and some decent (red blobs, metal god without cheesing it; some with 2 patterns/phases)
More fleshed out world with various scripted events during exploration/questing (introductory in-game cutscene to each area/world)
Decent dialogue for the time, Decent boss introductions
Fast resting
Some interesting level gimmicks (breakable blocks during battle (use the mines) - would've been more interesting if used outside of battle for progression or hidden items though, weather/magnet effect in minus town)
Minus world has one-way vertical (holes) and same floor (conveyor belt) paths creating some minor navigational puzzles
Can quickly switch between spells with select (not weapons though)
Final area contains two variations of its theme (one faster and more intense version for the rooms with a boss in them)
+/-
Partially non-linear structure with difficulty/level gating (while you can visit either of 4 areas from the get go* and there is some dynamic difficulty balancing based on your level in areas 2 and 4, forced encounters are static and there's stuff like dark rooms or invisible enemies where you need a later spell or item (get the tool to see invisible enemies around the middle of area 2) to see where you're going/what you're shooting at, mostly linear progression through areas - the fifth one seems more open ended but makes you go back and forth to do the quests in order). Some optional backtracking to previous areas (item trading sequence to get the best armor in the game)
*while there are 5 exits the third scenario/area is already finished by the hero from the previous game (meant as a joke/reference?))
Two save slots
New magic is gained automatically when leveling up and there's no choice in how to build your stats besides buying armor and weapons for more DEF/AP
Diagonal movement in battle but not otherwise
Can't give orders to NPC allies
No 2-player
No platforming and no level hazards to avoid during battles
Not much of a choice in what to buy in a new area since the newest gear is pretty much always the strongest
No ability gating (scuba gear and esper eye (shows invisible enemies) work like key gates)
The flamethrower works like a beam weapon (strong though)
Can't tell regular enemies apart from their footsteps outside of battle
The supposed ultimate weapon in minus world (area 4) is just a little bit stronger than what you had and fairly easy to get
Gain a healing spell pretty late and it's pretty expensive to use
Final area is a straightforward enemy/boss gauntlet
OP barrier spell (too cheap)
-
Sometimes uneven difficulty ("This enemy is tough!" - uhm no, ostrich boss in world 2 is very tough unless you level up 1-2 times and/or use auto-fire - pretty easy chapter 2 besides that, minus town is pretty tough early on, tough minus world boss (metal god) without spamming healing items and barrier spell - same with the area 5 boss except it's a bit easier, final boss' last phase is pretty cheap without barrier+restorative items)
No area maps - not needed early on but worlds 4-5 are large and maze-like
Some control/interface issues (movement speed is slower during battle (x-axis movement is also faster than y-axis movement for some reason) - a bit too slow considering you can't strafe/dodge/block (makes combat turn into more of a button mashing fest when facing faster enemies, there's a temporary barrier spell but it's not the same), have to keep pressing the button to speed up text, minor pauses between text boxes during some dialogue, can only buy one of an item at a time, can't skip the level up jingle, somewhat sloppy hit detection at times, tile-based movement outside of battle)
Some unavoidable attacks (fast enemies at beginning of encounters - always start in the middle of the arena, magnet enemies)
Rushed story progression at times (gets better later on)
No puzzles besides some spatial reasoning ones in area 4-5
Loose scrolling makes it hard to avoid some encounters (see Secret of Mana)
Some trial & error (ESP powers aren't explained in-game, some vague hints ("you need something special" - gee, thanks), area 4 boss)
Some tedious aspects (some unnecessary backtracking (scuba gear + key to house, area 5, back to plus town for the best armor), some grinding for equipment, enemies don't drop gold consistently enough, repeats the forced encounters quite a bit - too much in areas 4-5, enemies and encounter icons sometimes end up where you can't reach them for some time since you can't jump nor climb - can at least use the mines to reach enemies during battle, the star NPC's shield move is annoying in that you can't pick anything up during it - sometimes prevents you from exiting a battle for a few seconds)
Some scripting oddities in chapter 2 (if you don't talk to the right NPC and/or enough times you can't go to the next area even though it seems pointless when some of them just tell you the train has stopped, something you could already tell by the audio or going back down to it)
Feels a bit unfinished how your avatar walks in place if you try to move during pauses in scripted scenes
Some enemies are repeated across multiple areas
Some slowdown and flicker
Can't choose not to give the rings to the stranger in the final area
No hard mode or second quest