Two steps ahead, one step again. That’s the place I saved touchdown as I clocked over 70 hours in Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, which, whereas nonetheless enjoyably epic in scope, is nowhere close to the marathon-length saga of the unique PlayStation model nor its barely pared-down 3DS iteration. After the spectacular Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, and the even cooler Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, it appeared Sq. Enix was poised for nonstop success with these. And, to be clear, VII Reimagined will get loads proper. But it surely’s obtained asterisks. Actual asterisks.
The unique Dragon Quest VII world has at all times numbered amongst my favorites in fiction. There’s something timeless about its idea—an island stuffed with people who not solely imagine they’re the one folks on the planet; they’ve damned good proof to help their principle. The world is, kind of, nothing however an ocean save for this lone stretch of land, however that’s not the way it was presupposed to be.
Because the younger adventurers on the heart of DQVII’s story quickly discover out by touring again in time, this was as soon as a thriving planet stuffed with different realms. By taking up quests inside every of those bygone areas, the protagonists’ present-day period slowly corrects its course, and the world is step by step reborn. Every narrative arc is pleasant, wealthy with presence and populated by memorable characters. There’s a whimsy to all of it, as Dragon Quest VII revels in holding its biggest-stakes plotline on the backburner, asking gamers to immerse themselves in all these disparate vignettes. Dragon Quest has typically felt like a multi-season shonen anime, and VII is the crown jewel therein.
I’m going to make a sweeping assertion. It’s one thing that my fantastic RPG Website colleague, Adam Vitale, as soon as identified to me—and it’s caught with me ever since. For 1 / 4 of a century and counting, folks have complained that DQVII is badly-paced. However this isn’t true. Every of those separate chapters is well-paced inside itself. Every chapter may be very a lot introduced as its personal slice of the so-called “fundamental plot.” The truth that the save-the-world-stakes inevitable endgame ultimate act takes so lengthy to kick into motion is, as they are saying, a function and never a bug.
Why did I carry that up? As a result of Sq. Enix, themselves, don’t essentially appear to agree. They streamlined the sport’s introductory part for the Nintendo 3DS, after which, with Reimagined, they gutted a number of chapters. They eliminated islands. They pulled the plug on a few of this wonderful worldbuilding; I suppose it’s as a result of some internally view the sport as inherently unapproachable, in any other case. By fixing the “pacing” with DQVII, I’d argue that they’ve considerably missed the purpose. And that’s a disgrace. That’s, within the ultimate telling, exactly why I say Reimagined is a “one step again” form of launch.
What about these two steps ahead, then? Why did I nonetheless stroll away from this remake comparatively happy? The diorama-style backgrounds are a deal with, and the doll-like character designs work so effectively for the supply materials imagined by the late Akira Toriyama. The English voice appearing is essentially on-point; it’s my favourite within the collection since Dragon Quest XI on that rating. Reimagined takes full benefit of its bigger-budget strategy to remaking a traditional (relative to the Erdrick trilogy’s HD-2D angle) to ship what is definitely the best-presented model of this traditional story. It is a lush recreation, and the splendidly numerous environments that the hero and his associates will set sail towards are all so well-realized that I used to be constantly in awe.
Fight can also be extra partaking than ever earlier than. Reimagined introduces the Moonlighting mechanic, which permits your social gathering members to tackle not one vocation—as per prior norms—however two at a time. By mixing and matching separate job courses on this style, you may customise your staff’s lineup to your coronary heart’s content material. I spent hours tinkering with the system, doubling a mage right into a healer, or a party-buffer right into a lethal damage-dealer, or what-have-you. Sq. went all out on this, and if there was nonetheless simply as a lot recreation to DQVII as there was in 2000, that’d have been all the higher.
There’s an issue right here, nonetheless, and it’s one thing which I’ve seen no small variety of fellow reviewers point out. Broadly talking, Reimagined is simply too simple. It’s principally a frictionless expertise. Common encounters are a breeze, although some later-game bosses can actually put up a combat. That’s nice and all, actually. As a consequence it’s extra jarring than something when the sport lastly reckons that it’s time to place up its dukes towards gamers. With out stepping into spoiler territory, anticipate that to happen within the again half of the story.
This may, to a level, be mitigated. I’d be remiss if I didn’t insist that everyone offers the harder-difficulty modifiers a attempt from the get-go, as a result of, fortunately, all of this may be tweaked initially of the journey (and at any level thereafter). Except you need all of those neat battle system evolutions to fall by the wayside, otherwise you simply need to blitz by means of the sport for its (excellent!) tales as rapidly as doable, you’re going to need to make these changes, as you’ll primarily be shifting gears from “cakewalk” to “partial cakewalk.”
Reimagined isn’t the paradigm shift that I had hoped it could be, however it’s nonetheless fairly good. Nonetheless, the following time I replay my low-key favourite entry in Enix’s legendary franchise, it’s going to be on PlayStation once more. I need these 100-plus hours. There’s something magical about letting a recreation like Dragon Quest take you on a whirlwind tour, to the purpose that you’ll, at occasions, genuinely really feel misplaced in all of it. However after that? Yeah, I can see myself returning to 2026’s revisit a pair extra occasions, as effectively. There’s sufficient that’s new and powerful and singularly considerable about Reimagined that it serves as a worthy companion piece; it’s simply by no means going to interchange a recreation with such unrestrained ambition as its forebear.
A lot of DQVII’s story includes its younger heroes craving for journey and discovery, to seek out the reality of their world and to tease out its secrets and techniques. In some methods, Reimagined’s aesthetic—from its diorama-like presentation and characters customary after wood dolls not misplaced in a baby’s toy chest—evokes the nostalgia of being younger and dewy-eyed and filled with marvel. However, that’s not all that being younger is about, isn’t it? Being younger is making errors. Getting misplaced. Getting annoyed if you don’t perceive. Not understanding in case you’re making the suitable determination. All through its story, DQVII’s protagonists go to many locations and see many sights and endure many challenges. When a lot of these challenges are sanded down or eschewed utterly in favor of a smoother expertise, maybe all we’re left with is a glowing, saccharine nostalgia, and its incongruity with the sport that after was.
Model performed and screenshots captured are from the PlayStation 5 model.
Disclaimer: Evaluate code for Dragon Quest VII Reimagined offered by the writer Sq. Enix.