‘Dragon Quest VII Reimagined’ is chill, abridged, and a variety of enjoyable

People on the web prefer to say “God gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers,” and I believe that assertion applies to folks like me who love RPGs however cannot earnestly suggest them to buddies as a result of so many are a number of dozen hours lengthy.

This downside is usually worsened by remakes or re-releases of previous RPGs, which add new content material that extends their already substantial playtimes. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined from Square Enix is an enchanting exception to this pattern, because it takes a famously 100+ hour sport from 26 years in the past (which already bought an expanded remake on 3DS in 2013) and truly condenses it down right into a format that is much more digestible for gamers who do not need to dedicate that a lot time to a sport.

Square Enix went as far as to chop whole areas and storylines out of the sport, and in addition accelerated the improve mechanics. The finish result’s a a lot leaner, faster, virtually entry-level model of DQVII. It’s an important sport for Dragon Quest first-timers like me, however admittedly, it left me desirous to see what was left on the chopping room flooring.

A singular island-hopping journey

It’s an actual looker.
Credit: Square Enix/Steam

We can debate the need of remaking Dragon Quest VII for a second time this century, however there isn’t any query that its premise and construction make it one of many extra compelling video games within the venerable RPG collection. For that motive alone, I’m glad Square discovered a option to get this sport in entrance of individuals once more.

At the beginning of the journey, the silent protagonist and his buddies dwell on a small island with a few cities, a fort, and a mysterious shrine. As far as they’re involved, that is the complete identified world. There aren’t any different islands or continents within the huge ocean, and nobody actually is aware of why and even cares to ask about it. Before lengthy, although, you will end up utilizing the aforementioned shrine to journey again in time to islands that used to exist, saving them from no matter perils they confronted, after which going again to the current to search out them restored.

While DQVII does have a foremost plot hanging over all of this, in apply, it feels extra like a brief story assortment than many different RPGs. Each island has slightly narrative to inform that you could get by way of in an hour or two, and as a reward, you get to revisit the island once more within the current to see how your actions prior to now affected it. It’s an innately charming option to construction a sport, and it makes DQVII Reimagined much less intimidating.

Another side of DQVII that makes it stand out in comparison with later entries (just like the also-excellent Dragon Quest XI) is that its story has a considerably darker tone. You aren’t at all times capable of resolve each individual’s downside cleanly. Several tales finish in both outright tragedy or at the very least in a bittersweet style; one that actually caught with me concerned going to the current to search out the long-dead corpse of an inventor I helped prior to now nonetheless being attended to by a robotic that did not perceive the idea of loss of life.

It’s typically unhappy with out ever resorting to overly edgy techniques, and in a means that marries properly to the late, nice Akira Toriyama’s colourful and personality-laden artwork path.

It’s exceedingly chill, virtually to a fault

I just like the fight, however there isn’t any denying that it may be fairly low-impact.
Credit: Square Enix/Steam

The considerably clashing narrative tone and bubbly character designs really feel in step with Dragon Quest generally, because the whimsical, humorous vibe the collection has at all times had additionally contradicts its nature as one of many definitive “sit back and watch numbers go up” video video games.

DQVII carries ahead the identical fundamental turn-based fight the franchise has had since day one. The first-person perspective of the older video games has lengthy since been changed by a extra fashionable third-person view with wonderful assault animations, however mechanically it is nonetheless a sport about doing no matter you may to make the maths work in your favor.

You can accomplish that both by grinding to develop into overpowered or by fastidiously outfitting your characters with sure gear that can make in any other case random battle results happen extra ceaselessly. Either means, you are manipulating numbers in service of creating larger numbers come out of enemies if you assault them.

I completely dig this strategy, as do many different folks, judging by the enduring reputation of Dragon Quest each in Japan and elsewhere. There’s no denying, nevertheless, that I spent a lot of DQVII Reimagined with auto-battle turned on and the fight velocity set to the max, primarily watching the sport play out in entrance of me as an alternative of actively taking part in battles.

Arguably, that is how the collection is supposed to be performed (after all, I turned off auto-battle for boss encounters), however I may perceive why fashionable avid gamers may query a sport you barely play within the conventional sense.

Towns are rendered fairly gorgeously right here.
Credit: Square Enix/Steam

For me, the enjoyable lies in always working in the direction of one thing. DQVII Reimagined features a related job system to earlier variations of the sport. You can equip totally different character archetypes like Mage, Warrior, and Priest to any character you need, and the extra time you spend with that job geared up, the extra abilities you unlock for it. Mastering sure combos of jobs will even assist you to equip extra superior jobs with endearingly game-breaking skills.

DQVII Reimagined makes one main change to this method, which is that after a degree, you may equip two jobs to a personality on the similar time, reaping the advantages of each without delay. This permits for higher flexibility in build-crafting (having a beefy tank who may heal is self-evidently helpful), but it surely additionally enables you to degree up jobs extra rapidly, granting entry to end-game variants in an environment friendly method.

I used to be actually a bit shocked at how rapidly you may grasp jobs and unlock new ones. You wind up not spending a lot time in any respect with any given job, which provides to the sense of mechanical selection, however does additionally make it really feel extra transparently such as you’re taking part in simply to refill a meter quite than absolutely participating with particular fight roles for prolonged intervals of time.

All of that mixes with the shortage of random encounters, as enemies now seem on the overworld. That means you may outright skip fights should you really feel prefer it, which works to extend the tempo of DQVII Reimagined. You may swing a weapon at enemies within the overworld, and in case your degree is excessive sufficient relative to theirs, you will immediately take them out proper there as an alternative of transitioning right into a turn-based combat.

This is maybe my least favourite gameplay mechanic within the remake, as I really feel that it is balanced a bit too generously within the participant’s favor. I spent large swaths of a number of late-game dungeons doing little or no turn-based fight as a result of I may simply take out enemies that means as an alternative.

I’m hardly ever the sort to complain a couple of sport being too straightforward. I’m an grownup man who not has something to show to anybody. I usually simply do not care about problem within the conventional sense. But there isn’t any denying that, by the tip of DQVII Reimagined, I yearned a bit for the principle story to supply extra issue than it finally does. Still, the expertise DQVII Reimagined gives is sufficiently nice and satisfying, placing it proper in keeping with different video games within the collection.

As good as this remake is, it’s going to by no means really feel full

These are actually lovingly rendered takes on Akira Toriyama’s character designs.
Credit: Square Enix/Steam

Before we wrap up right here, I do need to shout out the visible presentation in DQVII Reimagined. Toriyama’s exceedingly charming character designs have been delivered to life in full, luscious 3D, due to using bodily fashions that the builders really crafted after which scanned to be used within the sport.

The characters look incredible, and all the basic DQ monsters look nearly as good as they ever have. It’s a brilliant, colourful sport filled with verve all over the place you go, and a few of the extra fashionable visible additions, like depth-of-field results, work to boost the look. The PlayStation 5 model I performed additionally performs flawlessly.

Lastly, I ought to point out that this model of DQVII solely took me about 35 hours to finish. That’s a important discount in time in comparison with different variations of this sport, largely attributable to issues like elevated fight velocity and having the ability to skip fight encounters. However, I must also word that at the very least a couple of islands and storylines from the unique sport have been scrapped totally right here, whereas others have been made non-compulsory.

It leaves me in a bizarre spot the place I do sincerely actually like this model of DQVII, however as somebody taking part in it for the primary time, I felt a little short-changed. I now need to return to the unique PS1 and even the 3DS remake to see what was eliminated. I applaud Square Enix for having the gall to make a shorter model of an infamously lengthy sport, however there isn’t any query that this is not actually a definitive model of DQVII.

Still, even with these caveats, DQVII Reimagined is a good time and a enjoyable option to kickstart 2026 for RPG followers who need one thing that goes down straightforward quite than a 100-hour juggernaut.

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined launches on Feb. 5 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch 1 and a couple of.