By the time the seventh entry of the Dragon Quest franchise launched back in the early 2000s, players would have come to expect a signature formula to the turn-based JRPG series. A big overworld full of towns and ripe for exploration. Perilous random encounters that trip the player’s every second step outside of civilisation. A hero’s journey where the destined do-gooder triumphs over the ultimate evil. While its cousin Final Fantasy moved away from the simplicity of this RPG formula, Dragon Quest persisted.
Then, Dragon Quest VII comes along and performs a reset on those expectations. You start with a tiny world consisting of a single island and build out from there. Gradually, this world is populated by more and more islands, until a vast realm is given unto the player. The player fights to establish every new island, each unique in culture, theme, and disaster that needs solving. And then, after surveying the vast limits of the overworld, it all gets thrown into a black hole of timey-wimey wackery.
Fragments of the Forgotten Past is my favourite in this series. It has a grand scope full of ambitious narrative twists that all start with humble beginnings. A world that seemingly never stops expanding, even when the map is fit to bursting. Its heroes, positively ragtag – and certainly nobody thinks you’re a destined hero. Its runtime could make any full-time working parent weep. I loved 2016’s Nintendo 3DS remake of Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, and was quite surprised to see yet another remake of my beloved in less than a decade.
The cutscene reimaginings of DQVII’s dialogue are wonderfully expressive
After having spent 90 minutes of hands-on time with the upcoming Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, I walk away joyous at the heart and soul on display in this aptly titled reimagining. Sure, there are some here on the WellPlayed team that might suggest that I don’t need a second remake of a 150-hour JRPG within 10 years. I would say they are wrong, as I point to the surface-level artistic achievement as the most obvious argument.
Square Enix never seems content with a mere high-fidelity shake-up when remaking classic Dragon Quest titles, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined seeing yet another artistic overhaul. The classic black-boxout menus are gone and replaced with a much more modern and sleek interface that is sure to welcome newcomers. Fights are fully animated between both party members and their foes. Your party’s footsteps even track in the softer terrain. That may not sound much on paper, but it’s gorgeous to behold. The characters for this remake have been crafted using real dolls and then scanned into the game to complement a diorama-type effect to the presentation of this world. It’s cast in a sheen of plastic and porcelain that makes every detail emphatic with a hand-placed importance that draws the eye. Unlike the Dragon Quest HD-2D Remakes, this will also have a 360-degree top-down camera when in towns and the overworld, meaning that this world is begging to be explored in 3D. We’re going to have some good mini-medal hunting ahead.
Across the two gameplay sections of Emberdale and Wetlock, I got to experience two different party compositions and see some new gameplay elements. Seeing Prince Kiefer, Maribel, and co. looking so goshdarned adorable in their little doll-like appearance made me grin ear to ear. The monsters that roam the world and dungeons, too, have such notably charming character. To my hubris, I only fought every second or third, and paid for it by perhaps being a tad underlevelled by the time the bosses rolled around.
This fire-spewing noggin and I have some unfinished business in a few months
Emberdale’s section has the party of three warning the townsfolk about their vision of a nearby volcano erupting. Sure enough, something evil is afoot in the volcano, and we take a party of three below to sort it out. This ended in a confrontation with a glowing red Easter Island head called the Glowering Inferno. Stopping him means halting the devastating eruption, but not before he messed my shit up badly. Repeatedly. The worst person at the preview event. The professed fan…
Wetlock’s section fared a bit better for me. The party consists of Ruff, the little wolf-riding guy, old mate Maribel again, and Aishe, the dancing troubadour. An ally named Old Man Riffer joins, who plays a magical torban that has a mystifying effect on Wetlock’s inhabitants. With the heroes in town, he ends up allying with the party as we crawl the nearby cave dungeon to find the true tyrant responsible for the town’s misfortunes. We also get a bit of seafaring on the way to said dungeon.
The amount of grinning and surprise I experienced in a mere 90 minutes with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined has me thrilled. This team has such an impressive surface-level vision for this epic adventure, and my poking around under the surface has only proven positive. The moonlighting mechanic that allows for multiclassing seems interesting, too. It meant that the party had a robust suite of abilities during the Wetlock section of the preview, and I imagine crafty players might puzzle out some interesting skillsets with this system.
The menus look terrific this time, and the multiclassing is surely going to create strong party compositions
Now, if I could just open up a pocket dimension and dismiss the concept of time. Come February, if I vanish from the face of the earth for a while, it might just be this game.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined releases on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC on February 5.
Previewed on PS5 at an event hosted by Square Enix.
