That’s why they didn’t bother giving it an exciting new name or anything. I was hoping 7th Dragon 2020-II would at least let me fight dragons in the rest of Japan instead of just Tokyo, but it’s basically 2020 with another rash of dragons to fight. The dungeons have changed a bit and there’s a new Idol class now but apart from that it really is the same game. That’s good news for people who liked 2020, and for people like me who aren’t feeling particularly adventurous right now. Going from 7th Dragon to 7th Dragon 2020 was a shock to the system, but from 2020 to 2020-II is barely a jump. They could have bundled both games together as one and no one would be able to tell where one ended and the other started.
What’s the story this time? Well we killed the big bad dragon Nyarla last time (a year ago in the game world) and thought we’d gotten rid of dragons for good. Unfortunately it turns out there are 6 other dragons like Nyaa-chan out that and one of them, known as Fomalhaut, has set his eyes on our planet for his next meal. Is he out to get revenge for Nyaa-chan or is the Earth just that tasty? I’d go in there and ask him myself, but he’s put up a poison barrier around his joint, most unsporting.
There’s also the little matter of my team having been knocked back to level one “due to the after-effects of last year’s battle.” Yeah, that’s as good an excuse as any. It’s not much of an obstacle, really: after 13 hours of playing, I already up to level 33 again. Or I was, until I took the chance to reclass. Last time I reclassed I switched classes around a bit, e.g. my Destroyer became my Trickster, my Trickster became my Psychic, etc. This time everyone stuck with their normal classes. I just wanted to have my SP back to I could spend it more efficiently. Losing 10 levels isn’t much of an obstacle, especially with the nice equips I have, and I’m enjoying the slight extra challenge.
Same party as last time except I made my Trickster a Samurai.
As for complaints, I have none about 2020-II. None that I didn’t already air for 2020, that is. It really is the same thing – the same railroading and lack of freedom, the same puny number of dragons. If anything they’ve improved a few things. For example there are fewer lengthy, boring meetings before every bit of story progression. There are fewer NPC quests and the ones that do exist offer better rewards. You only lose 10 levels when you reclass instead of 15. Even minor enemies give decent SP so random battles aren’t much of a chore. If I reached deep down into the bottom of my heart I could probably find something to nitpick about, but unlike with 2020 I knew exactly what I was getting into with this game so fishing for flaws now would be petty of me.
Still, I’ve only beaten 58 dragons out of 255 and played 13 hours. There’s still room for the game to go up or down quality-wise. A lot will depend on where they do with this “White Americans are dumb and evil, but Japanese-Americans are fair and noble due to their Japanese blood, tainted as it is by their long association with the inferior American pig-dogs, but eventually all true Japanese will open their eyes and abandon cowardice and impurity to stand on the side of true justice!” thing they’re been foreshadowing from the start. And you thought the Japanese had forgiven the Americans for dropping a couple of nukes on their heads. I’ve also got a new character pegged as a potential traitor. If everything goes the way I’m expecting I’m going to dock the game a few points for a total lack of surprises. But who knows, maybe they’ll surprise me.
Enough jawing for now. I’ve got some dragons to kill and a Shibuya to save!
pretty much my exact feeling, the game’s way past “paying tribute to the original” and all the in the “totally just copy&pasted half the game” level; it honestly felt more like an expansion than a full on sequel. That said, what’s good about the first game’s still there so I still enjoyed my time with it, just wish they’d added more contents and changed stuff up a bit more. (Like maybe stop setting the god damn game in Tokyo) Since the IP owner is Sega, there’s still hope that they’d find someone else to continue the franchise…or so I keep telling myself.
I would love a new setting, more dragons, more classes and more stuff to do, but honestly I would play 7th Dragon 2020-III and IV and V, so they don’t even need to be original, just keep the fires burning.
I played a little ways into this about…a year or so ago. I think I started it too soon after finishing 2020, though, as it’s been on hiatus for quite a while because I got tired of the sameness.
I’m actually playing the original 7th Dragon now, and having fun with that. I’ll probably get back around to finishing 2020-II sometime after finishing it.
Yeah, even for a sequel 2020-II is way too similar to the game that came before. I’m really glad I waited this long to pick it up.