Dragon Force II Expo & Basics MiniTut

(Remember, you can always turn off annotations with the right-most button on the movie player).

Finally tracked it down! Dragon Force was one of the Sega Saturn's most highly regarded killer apps, but for some reason the sequel never found release outside Japan. I always wondered if it sucked or something and that's why neither Sega nor Working Designs translated it, but after a few hours with the game I can safely shove that notion aside. Although the art and music direction apparently changed hands between Dragon Force and the sequel, those aspects aren't too bad, and the gameplay still shines just as much as in the original Dragon Force. Actually, it's...identical, with a few improving tweaks.

Unfortunately we won't see a fan translation anytime soon, let alone an official translation and re-release. Whereas most of the game assets in Dragon Force were uncompressed, it looks like Dragon Force II's file system is a nightmare, with just about everything compressed -- probably to make room for tons of voice acting audio files this time around. A more fully-featured Saturn emulator with RAM dumping capability would probably be the first pre-requisite to starting work on a translation project.

Sooo...I figured the next best thing would be a mini tutorial video on how to actually play the game. I haven't seen a gameplay FAQ anywhere that covers the basics, so I figured this would be a start for non-Japanese Dragon Force fans eager to experience the game without the huge frustration of trial-and-error experimentation just to perform the most simple functions.

Huge apologies for the choppy video and audio; the state of Saturn emulation is way behind Playstation emulation. Only SSF can play Dragon Force II accurately from my experience, and like all Saturn emulators, it eats up huge chunks of CPU power (especially on my circa 2005 AMD Sempron Processor). Whenever I get a computer with a more powerful processor in the next few years, this game is on my short list for some kind of special treatment; maybe a playthrough series showing off key battles.

Dragon Force II was released for the Sega Saturn in Japan in April 1998. Unfortunately it looks like Working Designs and Sega of Japan had become "estranged" by that point, so Dragon Force II just didn't stand a chance: http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dforce/dforce2/reviews/dforce2rdrev1.html

What a shame.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Dragon
• Force
• II
• Sega
• Saturn
• dragonforce
• dragon
• force
• gameplay
• game
• play
• video

[ZuDuka1]

you don't seem to know how to manage your troops that well...

[FaustWolf]

@ZuDuka1 Hey, now, just wait until the game's all in English. ;)

[darkninja0200]

is there a way to get this game in english?

[FaustWolf]

@darkninja0200 Not yet ;) Check out some of the more recent videos on this Youtube channel.

[Alianger]

looks like the battles are more engaging in this one! isn't it a bit more choppy though?

[FaustWolf]

@Alianger Battles are way better in this than in the original IMO, thanks to the multiple troop types and the depth that adds to the game. The choppiness is due to the slower PC I had back when I recorded this. CamStudio eats up a ton of memory, as does the SSF Saturn emulator. I'm hoping the next preview won't turn out quite so choppy...looks beautiful in motion when you don't have other programs competing with SSF for memory.

[oneshot5561]

@Enkidu09 its cause its not runing off the sega saturn but an emulator

[Enkidu09]

I love DF 1 but this really looks shitty ...

[ZuDuka1]

@FaustWolf well imo the second fight, i'd have dispersed my soldiers and waited till they were mostly dead and regroop/ that "hold the line" thing, then attacked the gen. but i have yet to play this so it's all good

i just hope that a traslated version does come out!

[vyseskies]

english.. U_u

[dannylko]

lmao, at 2:08 it looks like dhalsim