Other than that, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a masterpiece. No joke. If automation was to take my job right now, at least I’d have something to lose myself in during these long summer months.
A charming and addicting mixture of Minecraft, Harvest Moon and Dragon Quest. It is part action adventure and part sandbox / building game. It is the best spin off of Dragon Quest and I was surprised how good this game was. It is the kind of game you can spend hundred hours and still enjoy it. The building is greatly integrated into the story. In each chapter you build new stuff and buildings as you get new resources, tools and ideas. Even when you finish the main story you have a lot to unlock, to build and to explore. You can experiment with new rooms and buildings as you build your own island to you hearts content. There are countless possibilities. The action adventure parts are a welcome addition but would be not enough for a good game if rated alone. It is however a fitting combination together with the rest. There is also a crafting system for better equipment, tools, armor and consumables ranging from healing items to meals that give you benefits. The characters are charming and I like the interactions between the main character and Malroth. In each chapter there are people with their own stories and goals you support. It is so heart-warming when you archive the goals and everyone comes together to celebrate. Like I said you unlock new possibilities by levelling up, progressing in the story, finding resources or building some new things. There are also hidden objects that allow you to rebuild them once you find them. Also the boss battles are excellent. You have to use special tactics here and it always feels great to overcome the menacing battles. For me this is the best building game I have played in years and an insider tip. I will definitely buy Dragon Quest Builders 3. There are of cause some minor complaints. Talking and changing tools use the same button. Often you start a conversation when you just want to change your active tool. There is just 1 save file and some scripted scenes feel like taking hours. Special warning: It has not a Shakespearian story or is that deep. It is more the enjoyable vehicle to carry on the game and I liked it for this. I even think a really deep story would be unnecessary. Overall the negative points don't matter. It was an enjoyable and relaxing experience. One of the most positive surprises in gaming for me and a recommendation even more if you like Minecraft and Harvest Moon.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is just what the previous game should have been. You will live a new adventure in a world made of blocks with many new features and a compelling brand new co-op multiplayer mode. You can build just about anything, with fantasy as the only limit to your creations.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 takes what was great about the first game and expands on it meaningfully, focusing on community development and large-scale building. While the combat is less-than-stellar, the overall result is a more unique experience that offers much to work with on the Isle of Awakening.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a cute, fun, deeply enjoyable and satisfying trek through a ruined world that only needs an irrepressible spark of creation to burst back to life.
I had a really good time traveling through the world that has been brought to life within Dragon Quest Builders 2. If you’re looking for a good game that has plenty of content to keep you logging in every day, then this is one title you’ll want to check out.
Dragon Quest Builder 2 struggles goes through the same dilemma the main character goes through during the game. Without destruction, you cant possess the love of creating something from the ground up. Without the creation, you don't have the process of trying something new and tearing down the old ways. Juggling to be an RPG with a deep story while using the building mechanics of games the Minecraft. For the most part, both come together beautifully but at moments one side takes over when you need the other side to enjoy the game for what it could be. The second game in the series, hence the number 2 at the end of the title learned a lot from its predecessor. Like after boss battles your base is rebuilt from before a giant Dragon decided his foot should be in the amazing bedroom you just spent hours working on. Little things like this made DQB 1 infuriating to the point the building process was not the main focus. This time the building process can go as far as your imagination. Want to build a train station in the middle **** pyramid? Hey! We got you! A pool with a bar to have your favorite cocktail? No problem busy! But we will need to finish this 3-hour questline first. This is where the game struggles on the balance of an RPG and building. I had moments after unlocking new crafting options the game would push me into a boss fight or we would have to leave the island. I felt like a child shown a new shiny toy at the store and then it was put back on the shelf. You can have this toy later but first, we have to go to a place where you have to start with no toys and a crazy slime monster will talk to you. Which is cool, but I really liked that toy. Omega-Force has experience crafting amazing stories with their work in the Dynasty Warriors games. There is a deep connection between the main character and Marloth. Which was a great call back to the original DQB game. Creating a warm-hearted story that trumps the first one in a lot of ways. You feel the struggle the characters are going through and some of the decisions they had to make to survive. But not the bodybuilder guys, they are just weird and a little creepy at times. There may have been a few times I cringed at the dialog and didn't need to speak to 10 different characters to move the story along but overall well done on their part.
Finally, we get to the mechanics of the game. The fighting and actual building took a step back. Besides a new move, not much changed here and the battles were at times too easy. Hack away at something and ran away before you got hit on the bosses. At times use a magic potion to heal up. Oh, then there is block placement when building. When building something at eye level you will need to either jump like a mad man or move to a first-person view. This can become disorienting when working in cramped areas or large structures. The plus side of the first-person view is that you can reach blocks three times higher than you. Not sure why but it helped me several times. If you can get pass simple fighting mechanics and at times some over the top cheese then this RPG/crafting game is for you. Omega-Force added enough to make this worthy purchase in the series. Go out there and build to your heart content! Just ignore the creepy bodybuilders getting massages.
Back in 2016 Dragon Quest Builders was released, and was a surprise hit for me. Mixing JRPG's with Minecraft resulted in a fun and addictive game that let you build various buildings with a purpose, but also gave you freedom to create different variants. The story was quite adult and amusingly sarcastic at times. You had to rebuild cities in different locations with each having different obstacles, keeping the challenge fresh longer. There was an open world, with some exploration. My negatives for that game would be that there was a limit on how large the area of the city was where you could build a community, and that it was way too easy to reach the max. level of the city. So... how does Builders 2 fare?
Story:
It is noticeable that Akira Toriyama had influence in the making of this game, because it has become a typical cringy JRPG story with animé roots in it. Gone are the subtle adult conversations, gone is the sarcasm and gone is the intelligence. The characters have become typical animé stereotypes (dumb hot girl that needs you, tough anti-villain, goons that have the intelligence of a carrot). The survivors of the Dark Lord from Builders 1 are terrorising certain islands, and you are once again a builder that everyone treats like **** Only this time you got a buddy! He is Vegeta rip-off, and follows you around to act as the tough guy.
Gameplay:
The gameplay style is similar to Builders 1, with the addition of more room recipes, a buddy that follows you and helps you fight & collect resources, and a waaaaaay bigger world. In fact it is so large yet barely filled up that i wonder why they had to make it so large. The fact that they added fast travel points every 250 blocks should have made a developer wander: 'Why does it need to be so big?' In my opinion, more is not better. Using what you need, and making that fun is the best recipe for open world design.
Building:
So, more recipes and city building. The city no longer upgrades through experience points but by collecting lucky charms that erupt from the inhabitants arses. With every level new villagers arrive that start **** you about the lack of something. They harvest your food, but also eat it. So now you also have a job to keep them fed... great... Dragon Quest Soup Kitchen. Oh, and the building recipes are only given through a drip feed, so it takes hours and hours before you know the ones that you want to build. I would have preferred the way minecraft does this, where everything can be obtained from the beginning.
Technical state:
Works great.
Verdict:
More of the same with new stuff added. However, my two big negatives have not changed. The area of the city where you can build (and where NPC's interact with it) is still too small. The city levelling is now a choir as you need lucky charms from your slaves... i mean neighbours. Also, the drip feed of recipes takes too long. The story has declined in quality, and the increase in size is more of a choir than an enhancement of the enjoyment. To me, it is an average sequel. Not good, but also not bad. I give it a 6/10.
Overpriced garbage. Unreasonable number of QoL issues and horrendously BORING gameplay not to mention the worst combat ever. you have a shield but you can't block, and dodging is practically non-existant so any battle against >1 opponent becomes mash triangle and spam healing items because your NPC followers WILL be garbage and useless, and leveling won't help because each area has a cap. so enjoy that. Also whoever thought the interact button and the tool switch button should be the same should be fired. The list goes on but this game was supposed to be enjoyable and I just found everything FRUSTRATING.
Combat isn’t just bad, it’s so invasive you can’t even enjoy the building aspects of the game without being constantly interrupted. There are numerous gameplay improvements over the first game, but it somehow ends up being less fun. Each area drags on forever, makes it difficult to build creatively, and the entire game feels like a glacial tutorial. It doesn’t help the controls are imprecise and frustrating.
The first DQ Builders had a LOT of problems, but it also had a ton of heart and a surprisingly dire, emotional story. DQ Builders 2 has some cute moments, but the story is predictable, repetitive, and full of poop jokes. I only finished it because I liked the first game and hoped this one would improve, but it never did, and I have no desire to continue building after the ending.
SummaryDRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2 is a block-building role-playing game with a charming single player campaign and a robust multiplayer building mode that supports up to four players online. Create your customized character, team-up with your fearless friend Malroth, gather the skills required to become a full-fledged builder, and combat the Child...