Starting something new - Dragon Warrior 2

I'm just getting into Dragon Warrior 2. Here are a few thoughts on it after only an hour or so in...
So far, it's better than DW1 in every way - it simply improves on every aspect - from graphics to music to user interface to story to combat...

I thought the intro screen was really well done. The game opens with your main character approaching in a dark cave, with his torch eventually lighting the title, but only partially. Then two more characters approach, with their torches eventually living the full title (See image)

Fancy compared to part 1

One big component that DW2 adds is the ability to have up to 3 party members. DW1 had only one. This is a neat way to highlight that new major feature right in the intro screen. You start the game with just one, though.

But unlike DW1, this game doesn't just drop you in immediately. This one has a full on intro cinematic sequence. According to a text prologue, the hero and princess from the end of the first game did successfully settle a new kingdom of their own. Generations later, their heirs rule their own parts of that old kingdom, and we start the story in he kingdom of Moonbrooke.

Already, that's a LOT more back story than the previous game. But it doesn't stop there.

Everything's fine...

In the opening in-game movie sequence, we see the king and princess of Moonbroke chilling in their castle doing royal stuff when BOOM. The evil forces of the wizard Hargon show up and start fucking shit up.

Well, shit.

So the king and princess are about to get away and he has to turn back to fight off these demon things. They end up surrounding him and killing him. She gets away. Then you see the castle get overtaken and destroyed and as royal guard gets away in hopes of warning the nearby kingdom of Midenhall.

Well, shit.

You get to see him arrive in Midenhall and get brought before the king and the prince. He collapses after telling his story, and the king then basically turns to you and tells you that you're the one who is going to stop this wizard business.

Lazy.

So, basically, that's how the game starts. Your goal is to set off and figure out how to set everything right. You get some gold and a sword and an implied pat on the buns. Time to be a hero.
Priority #1 as a gamer? Talk to everyone in the castle, get the best equipment I can buy, and get a few levels while checking out the lay of the land.