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RPG Web site: Are you able to describe your historical past with the Dragon Quest sequence earlier than engaged on Reimagined, each as an worker and as a participant? 

Takeshi Ichikawa:

By way of my Dragon Quest historical past as a participant, the primary ever Dragon Quest I performed was the unique Dragon Quest Monsters. The primary mainline title I performed was truly DQ7 — the unique model on PlayStation. Contemplating that the gameplay of Dragon Quest Monsters is kind of totally different from the mainline sequence, once I performed Dragon Quest VII afterward — as you could already know, the unique Dragon Quest VII takes fairly a little bit of time earlier than you even get to your first encounter or battle with monsters. The exploration earlier than that, I bear in mind it being very lengthy, and it simply felt so lengthy to me as a boy. To be frank, I truly ended up not ending it at the moment. I gave up.

However I did revisit it as an grownup, the place I used to be capable of correctly benefit from the wealthy and darker narrative that Dragon Quest VII provided. Along with that, I additionally performed a whole lot of different mainline titles and spin-off titles as effectively, together with Dragon Quest Heroes and Dragon Quest Builders.

As an worker, I labored on each Dragon Quest Builders 2 and the multiplatform model of Dragon Quest XI S as an assistant producer. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined would be the first title for me to function the primary producer.

RPG Web site: Why did Sq. Enix determine to remake Dragon Quest VII for a second time, and why now, particularly so quickly after the HD-2D trilogy?

Ichikawa:

2000 was the yr the unique model of Dragon Quest VII on PlayStation was launched, and it has been 25 years since then — 1 / 4 century. While you take a look at the varied components that make Dragon Quest VII fascinating, it actually has this distinctive aesthetic, it has a darker story & narrative, and we felt that now was the good time to repackage that and ship that for contemporary audiences.

To reply your second query, the rationale why we did not actually put a lot time in between the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake and Dragon Quest VII Reimagined — we noticed that a whole lot of our followers and audiences had been fairly happy with the HD-2D remakes of the Erdrick Trilogy, so we actually wished to maintain that pleasure going for this franchise. That is why we’re following up with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined.

RPG Web site: Reimagined has a brand new visible model with doll-like or diorama-like characters and environments. How did that visible model come about, and was Mistwalker’s Fantasian an inspiration in any respect?

Ichikawa:

I might wish to keep away from discussing the names of particular titles we obtained inspirations from, however I can discuss in regards to the means of how this doll-like — we name it the handcrafted model — the way it took place. To begin off, this does not simply apply to Dragon Quest VII, however Akira Toriyama has labored on the character designs for the entire Dragon Quest sequence. And whenever you take a look at the character designs for Dragon Quest VII particularly, you will discover the characters are drawn a bit shorter than different mainline titles within the sequence — not simply shorter, however drawn in a extra ‘lovable’ means. So we actually wished to leverage that ingredient of the character designs. The visible model dialogue began from that perspective, and we wished to determine one of the best ways as an instance these components of design.

In our ideation section, we noticed that there have been fairly a number of artistic endeavors, like visible media and video video games, that employed a doll-aesthetic or doll motives into their works, and we noticed that these had been regarded rather well, too. So, that is how we arrived on the determination to make use of the handcrafted model for Dragon Quest VII Reimagined.

RPG Web site: Dragon Quest VII is very well-known for its short-story ‘vignette’ storytelling model, the place every island has its personal story, loosely linked. What do you consider this model? Which situation is your favourite?

Ichikawa:

I am keen on the vignette model that Dragon Quest VII employs. One of many massive strengths that it has is that it permits the sport to embody very distinctive traits for every particular person story that it has. If I had been to choose a favourite quick story — a favourite island from the sport — I’d say the L’Arca area. The way in which the story begins, from a purely visible perspective, it actually grabs the participant’s consideration, since you see these townspeople who’re changed into animals. It seems fascinating, and it seems form of cute, however as you progress by the sport, you be taught that they are truly going by some fairly horrible issues. I really feel prefer it’s one of many tales the place it actually shows the strengths of Dragon Quest VII.

RPG Web site: Not all of Dragon Quest VII’s eventualities made it into Reimagined. Are you able to clarify your strategy to the way you determined which quick tales to maintain and which of them to take away?

Ichikawa:

As you already know, the narrative in Dragon Quest VII is instructed in a ‘vignette’ format. In our efforts to streamline the general story development and supply a extra participating narrative, we determined to chop subplots — or islands — that had little to no direct relevance or affect on the primary situation. Along with that, sure islands are nonetheless within the recreation, however they’ve been restructured into an elective format. So, when you acquire the pill Fragments for these islands, the participant will get to decide on whether or not or not they need to progress that storyline.

Additional, we did not simply take away islands or make changes to present ones; we’re additionally including utterly new storylines that we by no means launched within the earlier releases, each 3DS and the PlayStation model. We consider new gamers and returning gamers get to have a contemporary narrative expertise with Reimagined.

RPG Web site: In addition to changes to eventualities, what different changes have you ever made for Reimagined?

Ichikawa:

The very massive and common idea that we had from the early phases of growth was that we actually wished to concentrate on three massive parts of this recreation to reimagine the sport expertise. The three being the visuals, the narrative, and the battles. We have already touched on the visuals and narratives. Our common strategy to the fight model was that we wished to make the usual encounters with mob enemies fast & streamlined, whereas making the boss battles fairly deliberate and strategic. For the usual encounters, we have made a whole lot of changes or additions that make the general recreation development and the battle development streamlined. One instance is that if the extent distinction between your characters and the mob enemy is nice, you’ll be able to truly simply instantly defeat the enemy on the sector as an alternative of encountering it in an precise battle. 

Your entire vocation system has been revamped as effectively. So, every vocation is extra distinctive and individualized. Along with that, we’re additionally including a Moonlighting function, which permits every celebration member to mix two totally different vocations directly. What that permits is it that it provides the participant a possibility to once more be extra deliberate and strategic in boss battles, the place it would require extra thought. 

RPG Web site: I used to be going to ask about fight, so that you preempted me, however I do have one particular fight query. Are you able to clarify why you modified it from a basic round-based system to particular person turns per character? 

Ichikawa:

On this model, battles circulate in a means the place it’s important to enter instructions for every character for every flip that they get. The primary purpose why we wished to try this was, as a result of, by doing this turn-based format, it provides the gamers extra leeway to adapt and strategize primarily based on the scenario of that battle.

RPG Web site: Along with situation changes, Reimagined makes a number of different modifications from basic Dragon Quest components. For instance, characters can not “die” and fall right into a coffin, they usually not must be revived. There are not particular person inventories to handle, like there have been in basic video games, the place every character had their very own set of things. The person interface and menus are additionally very totally different from what Dragon Quest sometimes has had. Are you able to clarify why you determined to make these modifications, and do you suppose you threat disappointing longtime Dragon Quest followers with these modifications? 

Ichikawa:

The objective with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is to ship a title that satisfies each audiences. After I say each, I imply not simply the present Dragon Quest followers who’ve already performed a previous model of Dragon Quest VII, but additionally individuals new to the sequence who’ve by no means performed a Dragon Quest title.

That mentioned, we positively do not need to disappoint present followers both, and there have been many cautious discussions and concerns. We’re reimagining Dragon Quest VII, however wished it to additionally really feel pure to those that have performed Dragon Quest VII prior to now. One factor we did to try this was by preserving the distinctive aesthetics. By way of the extra detailed changes, that is one thing that we additionally mentioned with Yuji Horii, the creator of Dragon Quest.