The Sword of Hope II has its faults, but is still one of the most satisfying games I have ever played.
The game is divided between moving around the Riccar kingdom and battling demons. When out of battle, a status screen displays your surroundings and provides access to various options. You can use the Look command to find secrets or to exam the environment, the Open command to open doors and chests, or the Hit command to strike objects or people you don't like. You can also equip or use items, use magic, or examine a character's power from this screen. Moving is done by selecting a direction to move from under the location portrait.
During battle, a player has the option of striking opponents with a weapon or magic, attempting to escape, or selecting "Auto" and letting the computer do everything for you. I don't recommend the last option. Certain characters can cast magic, and learn specific spells at each level.
The game starts at a fairly easy difficulty, but dramatically increases in one of the early areas. The greatest fault of the Sword of Hope II is that when entering a new area later in the game, it becomes necessary to level grind. New enemies which have varying resistances to magic and which strike for more damage are likely to repeatedly defeat your entire party. Luckily, every time you die, you're returned to Riccar Castle, fully recovered, and you can teleport back to certain locations. Eventually, your party will become strong enough and equipped with gear that's good enough to get you through the new area.
Another fault is that the game is very linear. There's only one way to beat the game, you encounter the same characters at the same times, and you level up the exact same way every time you play it. Even the equipment doesn't provide much variation, since one weapon or piece of armor is better than the last. Actually, some weapons and pieces of armor carry different effects, but unfortunately, they aren't documented anywhere, not even in the game booklet.
Despite this, the Sword of Hope II has a lot to offer. Good character development, satisfying victories, a great soundtrack, and a world filled with lore and strange locations make this one of my favorite games to which I come back again and again. It may pale in comparison to other games with similar mechanics, but keep in mind that this game was released two years before the first Pokemon game.