The sequel to the first Sword of Hope, The Sword of Hope II was developed and published by KEMCO in Japan in 1992, but wasn’t localized and released into North America until 1996. Europe (and the rest of the world) didn’t receive a release of the game at all.

In Sword of Hope II you once again play as Prince Theo, only this time you can lead a party of up to three adventurers, and are on a quest to retrieve The Sword of Hope and defeat the evil demon Zakdos.

The game plays similarly to the first Sword of Hope, with a very simple first-person viewpoint; available exits shown as directional arrows; turn-based combat, magic, spells, puzzles, NPCs, monsters, and the occasional boss battle.

Sword of Hope II does unfortunately commit one cardinal sin of RPGs, and that is: when you commit a character to attacking a particular monster – if that monster is killed by another party member before they get to it – then their move is wasted and the game simply says “That monster has already perished”. The game isn’t smart enough to carry the attack over onto any other monsters that are still attacking… Which, personally, I really dislike, and don’t think should ever happen in a game of this kind. So I have to mark it down for that at least…

Other than that ‘fault’, the combat is pretty good overall. Party members level up quickly and add a variety of spells to their roster, as well as being able to use weapons and armour without much restriction.

Another downside to the game – in my opinion – is that items you buy from shops all have very truncated names, and it’s sometimes difficult to work out what they actually are. I bought “HMP GRNT” for 250 gold, but had no clue what it was. It turned out to be a piece of armour, but I still don’t know what the name is supposed to be… “STL SWD” for 250 gold is obviously “Steel Sword”, and “CPR BMRG” for 300 gold I’m assuming is “Copper Boomerang”… The truncated names can be a real problem to decipher at times, which is not great…

The Sword of Hope II feels a bit sloppy overall. With a bit more thought and care, I’m sure the developer could have come up with a better solution to the name issue. And the wasted move problem could also easily have been fixed. If you’re willing to put up with these faults, then you might find Sword of Hope II to be an enjoyable and absorbing game. It’s certainly not a bad game, but it’s not a great one either. It’s just a middle-of-the-road JRPG, with rickety presentation and very old school sensibilities. Gimme Final Fantasy Legend over this, any day of the week…

Both Sword of Hope games were re-released on one cartridge, in Japan only, in 1998, under the title of “Selection I & II“.

More: The Sword of Hope II on Wikipedia