Play Dragon Quest 2 (J) Online

Dragon Quest 2 (J) is one of those old-school JRPGs where you feel the grind right away—walking in circles outside the first town just to afford basic gear. You control three heroes this time instead of one, which sounds cool until you realize how much slower leveling feels when XP gets split.

The world opens up fast, maybe too fast. I remember wandering into high-level areas by accident and getting wiped out in two hits. The dungeons are mazes with annoying teleport traps, and without a map, you’ll be drawing your own on paper like it’s 1987.

It’s rough around the edges, but there’s something satisfying about slowly overpowering enemies that crushed you hours earlier. Dragon Quest 2 (J) doesn’t hold your hand, and that’s part of its charm—or frustration, depending on your patience.