Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past

The seventh mainline Dragon Quest game and the first to be released in the US in nearly a decade when it launched in 2001 is one of the less-talked-about games in the franchise.  But does it have enough to offer for genre enthusiasts, or does a barrage of high-profile releases from then-rival Square on the platform just push this one into irrelevance?

Enix was never an enormously popular name in the west, but they gained a substantial following in the 90s for publishing Japanese RPGs - still a relatively niche genre at the time, but it began to grow in popularity after games like Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star rose to prominence.  After finding some success there, they got talked into funding a western-developed game - a tie-in to the short lived animated show "King Arthur and the Knights of Justice" - which underperformed both commercially and critically (being released the same month as Chrono Trigger likely not doing it any favors either).  This, plus low sales of their products overall, caused Enix's North American branch to close down in 1995.  They would open another localization subsidiary in 1999 through a joint venture with Eidos, though it was also short-lived, closing down in 2003 after Enix merged with Square and both companies' IPs starting to be published worldwide under the new Square Enix banner.

Dragon Warrior VII was the last Dragon Quest game to be published under the Enix banner in North America, and it was a bit of an odd man out on the Playstation. Dragon Quest had gone dormant in North America for almost a decade by that point, and it came back in 2001 - well after the launch of the Playstation 2 and at a time when Square was the undisputed biggest name in the JRPG genre.  So not too many people outside of Japan took notice of it, and among those who did it saw a fair bit of criticism for its slow pacing and very dated design sensibilities - no surprise as it still looked and played very much like a menu-heavy 8-bit game at a time when Square (and others) were pushing the boundaries of cinematic flair and more dynamic gameplay styles in their RPGs.  Nevertheless, the game did very well in Japan, becoming the single best-selling game on the platform there.

The game's development was a very protracted one - it began development on the Nintendo 64 shortly after Dragon Quest 6's release before abruptly shifting to the PlayStation in 1997, citing the higher storage capacity of the Playstation's CD format as a major motivator.  That, plus numerous delays owing to having a relatively small development team and wanting to give fans their money's worth after such a long wait, meant it spent five years in development - quite a lot for the time period.

You can tell right out of the gate that they strove to fit in as much content into Dragon Quest VII as they could; though they may have overdone it just a little.  In the original PS1 release it's a good two hours before you even fight a single monster; you spend quite a lot of time setting up the main characters and venturing through a long puzzle dungeon before you solve your first stone tablet puzzle and get sent into the past, where the majority of the game's action takes place.  While there, you generally complete a quest, gather some stone fragments, return to the present, go back to that same (newly-restored) area in the present and venture through it again to gather new treasures and stone fragments, and then it's back through the entire shrine dungeon before you're off to a new area to do it all again. Basically, you're going through every area in the game at least twice to collect key items, and since there's a total of eighteen areas in the game... yeah, it adds up.  The 3DS version does alleviate this slightly by making the initial shrine dungeon much shorter to get through, but you're still retreading quite a bit of familiar ground.

Something I do quite like is that they carried on 6's distinct characters well here - all of the are quite talkative, have distinct personalities and they interact with one another quite a bit in plot scenes (and there's quite a lot of funny party banter activated by the Talk command).  Each location you go to is quite distinct as well, with their own unique culture and quite a lot of colorful accents and lingo, which really makes the whole world feel more like a real place you're venturing through.

Also returning from Dragon Quest VI is the Vocation system.  Once you get about a quarter of the way through the game you get the ability to take on Vocations, which are essentially a secondary job class for your character, giving them percentage based stat bonuses and penalties while equipped and allowing them to learn new skills by completing battles.  Naturally it is a good idea to have a character's vocation choices compliment their innate abilities - making Maribel a Fighter isn't the best choice, for example, as she has stats geared more toward spellcasting and limited equipment choices.  There are still three "tiers" of Vocations, with Intermediate and Advanced tiers requiring you to master several prerequisites from lower tiers, as well as a whole new set of Monster vocations (which I will detail further in a bit).  Like 6, any skills and stat bonuses you learn from mastering a Vocation are permanently added to that character, so you end up with quite a large variety of abilities among your team by the end.  In the original PlayStation version, you could also unlock hidden skills by mastering certain Vocations back-to-back with one another, which could potentially unlock some very game-breaking abilities (like Sword Dance) relatively early on.  The 3DS version does away with this, though, making it so that Intermediate and Advanced vocation skills (and stat bonuses) are only available while your character is actively in that vocation, and shuffling the formerly-hidden skills into the normal sets for Intermediate and Advanced Vocations, which makes them considerably less abusable.  Also like 6, each location in the game has a level cap that, once exceeded, will no longer allow you to power up your Vocations there, so staying in one spot and making your entire party into gods isn't really an option. (However, the 3DS version adds a new mechanic in Traveler's Tablets, which unlock mini-dungeons that generally have significantly higher level caps than the areas you locate them in).

The monster recruitment from 5 and 6 is gone in 7, as it was criticized by many fans as being superfluous; not to mention that by 2000 there was an entire spinoff series (Dragon Quest Monsters) based around recruiting monsters and forming teams with them.  Instead, monsters have a small chance of handing over "Monster Hearts" after you defeat them in battle, which can be used at Alltrades Abbey to change a character to a Vocation class based on that monster, gaining their appearance in the process.  Some hearts can also be found as items in certain dungeons or as prizes from minigames, or by completing Traveler's Tablets.  Monster vocations also have three tiers of power (though they aren't labeled as such in game) and once again, you only get to use the skills, elemental/status resistance properties and stat bonuses of more powerful ones while you're actually in that vocation.  Using a Monster heart to change vocations or create a custom Traveler's Tablet also consumes it, so one should consider carefully before doing so. 

Dragon Quest VII, like the rest of the series, sticks to what made it a hit in the first place - turn based gameplay, an impeccable level of polish, open-ended exploration and a captivating storyline.  It refines a few ideas introduced in VI, but tells an entirely new story with plenty of creative twists and some excellent worldbuilding of its own.  It also largely exhumes the movie-like presentation most other RPGs on the platform went for in favor of having an enormous volume of gameplay content, though even fans of the franchise will likely admit that by the turn of the millennium its minimally-animated presentation was starting to look a bit dated.  This, paired with Heartbeat's closure not long after the game's release, is probably why Square Enix commissioned Level-5 to develop the next game, which resulted in a significant visual and audio upgrade going forward.  VII is thus regarded by many fans as another "middle child" for the series, but even a relatively overlooked Dragon Quest is still a good time for fans of classic style RPGs.

Developer: Heartbeat, ArtePiazza (3DS)
Publisher: Enix, Square Enix, Nintendo
Released: 2001, 2016, 2017
Platforms: Playstation, 3DS, iOS/Android

Recommended Version: The 3DS version is a substantial improvement over the original release, with a much more refined presentation on level with Dragon Quest VIII, doing away with random encounters in favor of visible enemies on maps, tighter pacing in general, new content, rebalanced gameplay and several convenience features including a stone tablet "radar" and reminders of the storyline and your next objective - a very welcome thing and something I wish more RPGs in this format would do.  

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation

Dragon Quest's sixth entry had a tough act to follow after the strong reception of V, but tries its best to put a new spin on the format with a new take on the class system and some seemingly Zelda-inspired world exploration.  But does it prove to be another worthy Quest, or is this one dream that should be forgotten?

Dragon Quest V brought the series to a new console generation in style, with a layer of emotional and very personal storytelling not yet seen in the franchise to that point; to this day it remains a fan favorite, and series creator Yuji Horii has even cited it as his favorite story in the entirety of the franchise.  But of course, setting a high bar comes with an equally hefty price - trying to top or even equal it in later entries without feeling too derivative of that previous high point is a tricky endeavor, and of course you'll never be able to satisfy all of a particular game's fans no matter how hard you try; ask any Final Fantasy fan where the series' highest point was and you'll get answers going all the way back to the 8-bit days.

Dragon Quest VI follows in its predecessors footsteps by setting up a mystery right off the bat, then having the player slowly uncover what it all means over the course of the adventure.  It plays out quite differently here, though, seemingly beginning in medias res with the hero and two companions facing the main villain and being soundly defeated, then trying to play it off as simply a dream.  As the story unfolds you begin to encounter the characters from said dream (though they have no recollection of this event at first), and find yourself traveling between two parallel worlds - a more idyllic and happy one where you preside, and a more dystopian and ruined world where you at first appear intangible and are unable to interact with people on any meaningful level until certain events pass.  Throughout the game you frequently travel between both worlds, making progress in one to reach new areas in the other - not unlike A Link to the Past, released a couple years prior.

Dragon Quest VI marks a return to the party customization of 3, though in a slightly different form.  Each character you recruit fits a particular archetype similar to previous DQ games - The hero is a good all-around fighter and caster, Carver is a tough but slow fighter, Ashlynn is a powerful but physically unimpressive mage-type, et cetera - but after a point in the story you gain access to Alltrades Abbey and can take on Vocations - essentially a second job class to accompany your primary one.  Your character keeps their innate abilities, but as they level up their vocation by fighting battles they will gain new abilities.  While equipped, their vocation will also grant percentage bonuses and penalties to stats as well as an innate trait- for example, the Marital Artist class will give a boost to Agility and a hefty MP penalty, but while equipped that character will also have a greater chance to land a critical hit based on the vocation's level (maxing out at a 1/8 chance at rank 8).  Merchants are a relatively weak vocation with substantial penalties to all stats (except Wisdom), but grant a bonus to earned money from battles, and the infamous Gadabout class returns as well, with enormous penalties to stats, a tendency to goof off during battle and several skills of dubious quality, but the are a prerequisite to a powerful intermediate vocation called the Luminary.

Intermediate and Advanced vocations are another new twist on this system.  After mastering two (or three) specific basic Vocations, that character will have the chance to take on an Intermediate vocation, which is typically a hybrd of the prerequisite classes; not unlike the prestige classes in games like Wizardry.  Dragon Quest III's Sage class is one of them, combining the Mage and Priest together into a powerful and versatile caster class.  Others include the Armamentalist (Warrior + Mage), Gladiator (Warrior + Martial Artist with a bonus chance to dodge attacks), Paladin (Martial Artist + Priest, with a chance to instantly kill on a melee hit), and the aforementioned Luminary (Dancer + Gadabout).  Each advanced vocation also gets its own skill sets, and maxing out its level will grant a bonus to that character - for example, maxing out Sage grants that character a permanent 20-point increase to their maximum MP.  Going even further beyond that, there is a special advanced class called the Hero which is quite powerful, but requires mastery of four Intermediate vocations to equip and use, as well as two hidden ones that are more gimmicky by design, but grant hefty bonuses when mastered.

In the original Super Famicom version of the game, the monster recruiting mechanic returns, though with the prerequisite of having a Monster Master in your party; something a lot of players dismissed as superfluous in light of the vocation system making characters much more powerful and versatile than any monster in the game.  As a result of this, the DS (and mobile) ports did away with that aspect, instead relegating the Monster Master to more of a status/elemental attack themed support class and having a small number of optional recruitable allies in the form of "Slime Buddies" - all are variants of the series' iconic Slime monsters, and while some can become surprisingly strong, I mostly just stuck to keeping Healie the Healslime in my party as a between-battle healer and ignoring the rest.  Moreso because you only have space for one monster in your party by the end if you keep all the human characters in your active team.

Perhaps as a means to try and further distinguish Dragon Quest VI from its predecessors, a new level of polish was added to the game's interaction element.  Characters in towns almost always have new dialog after major story events, which does have the nice effect of making your actions feel like you're having a tangible effect on the world.  The infamous "but thou must" choices of earlier games are also done away with - you actually get different bits of dialog depending on your choices, and at times they even may make events play out slightly differently - for example, if you agree to help Madame Luca early on, she'll give you ten free herbs and Milly will join you as a temporary ally, whereas if you refuse you'll get no reward and have to brave the next dungeon with just the hero and Carver.  You end up following the same overall plotline regardless of your choices, but it is a nice touch at least; not to mention a bit self-aware given how much of a mocked trope inconsequential choices in JRPGs have become.

So, while Dragon Quest VI is something of a forgotten middle child for the series, that doesn't mean it's a bad game; not at all.  It's got no shortage of content, more character customization than any prior game in the series and they went all-in with the polish, adding a sense of immersion and palpable consequence that even most modern games lack.  It just doesn't quite have the strong emotional hook that 5's story had, and the later games on optical disc based platforms would of course offer far greater length and depth than could be provided on a 4 MB cartridge.  Still, DQ6 is another solid, entertaining Dragon Quest game that's worth playing if you have the means.

Developer: Heartbeat, Square Enix
Publisher: Enix, Square Enix
Platform: Super Famicom, Nintendo DS, iOS, Android
Released: 1995, 2011, 2015
Recommended Version: The DS version is a substantially upgraded improvement over the original Super Famicom version, though it is a bit hard to come by these days (and usually goes for hefty prices when you do).  The mobile versions are based on the DS port, though, so that may be the best way to buy it until it gets another rerelease.

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

The fourth game in the Dragon Quest franchise and the last to be released on the NES/Famicom changed up the format once again, going for a chpater-based approach that would later be copied in games like Wild Arms.  But does Dragon Quest IV prove to be another worthwhile entry to the classic franchise, or does it just fizzle out compared to other games from the era?

Dragon Quest continued on with no sign of stopping throughout the 80s and 90s, getting four entries in as many years on the Famicom and NES alike.  This would be the last one localized for a good while, though, as Enix passed on bringing over 5 and 6 from the Famicom and 7 would see release on the Playstation, while an advertised remake of 4 for the platform would go unreleased due to the company set to localize it going out of business.

The fourth game is also one of the rarer games on the NES platform; little surprise as it saw release in 1992, when the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis rivalry was reaching new heights.  Even RPG fans tended to overlook it, as games like Phantasy Star II and III and Final Fantasy II (actually IV) were coming out on those platforms.  But of course, those who only had an NES to play found a surprisingly good game if they picked up Dragon Warrior IV.

The first three Dragon Quest games all were set in the same world, but this was not the case for the fourth entry, which is set in an entirely new one (albeit retaining many of the series' iconic monsters).  Still, while the core gameplay and overall presentation remain much the same as previous Dragon Quest games, the fourth entry definitely changes up the format in an interesting way.  Rather than just having one story to experience, Dragon Quest IV has five.  The first four are short stories each featuring a different protagonist pursuing their goals, while the fifth and sixth star the game's protagonist and have him allying with the protagonists of the other stories throughout the game.  Later remakes add another chapter to the game as well, serving as an alternate ending and having the heroes ally with the game's final boss to defeat the true antagonist behind all of the game's events (a concept that many of the Final Fantasy remakes would also utilize).  Interestingly, one of these characters in particular (Torneko) would later become something of a face for the series, even getting his own spinoff on the Playstation called "Torneko: The Last Hope" that utilized the engine from the Mystery Dungeon franchise.

Some new elements are added to the gameplay too.  One prominent change (at least in the original NES/Famicom release) is that the player can only control the main character in the latter two chapters; the rest are simply commanded by the AI, though the player can give them general commands to heal, cast spells or simply attack, et cetera.  While this does speed up the game a bit by cutting down on the amount of time you spend inputting commands, the option to assume manual control would be nice; indeed, most of the remakes do allow this, so it seems even the developers heard a lot of fan complaints about it.  The player can now search bookshelves, jars, and so forth to find items, in particular the series staple of "Hero Medals" that can be traded for rare items.  A casino appears that allows the player to gamble and earn some extra cash and prizes.  Finally, the player is given a "Wagon" for use on the overworld, which allows them to swap party members on the fly, rather than having to return to town to do so.

Being a game of the era, though, it does fall prey to a few of the same pitfalls.  The game is still a long and grindy one, with frequent encounters that give only a pittance of XP, requiring you to stop at several points and farm experience and gold for a good while before you stand a chance against a particular boss (which really got me at the end for the final boss; I had to gain at least five levels before I stood a chance, and with battles only giving about 100 experience a pop, that took almost a full day to do).  Limited inventory space is also an issue, particularly as you can only carry a small handful of healing items at a time and have to rely on magic for the rest, so dungeons are a test of your level and endurance than anything else.  Save points are also relatively few and far between in the original release, though some later versions do add a quick save feature that let you save progress from almost anywhere (but erase your save on load).

Even with a few shortcomings, though, Dragon Quest remains one of the standout RPGs of its time period.  With a narrative unlike anything else seen on the NES and quite a lot of content to explore, it was a fine last hurrah for big-name RPGs on the system.  Later remakes only did it more favors, adding in a few modern conveniences, cutting down on the grinding element and even expanding its story, and its legacy was enough to get the hero included in the new Super Smash Bros. game as a downloadable character.  Definitely worth a look.

Developer: Chunsoft (NES), Heartbeat/ArtePiazza (Playstation), Cattle Call (Nintendo DS)
Publisher: Enix
Platform: Famicom/NES, Playstaiton, Nintendo DS, Android/iOS
Released: 1990, 1992, 2001, 2007, 2014
Recommended Version: I've only played the NES version personally, though I am aware that most later ports make significant improvements to the game's presentation and gameplay style, as well as allowing you manual control over your allies.  The iOS and Android ports are currently the cheapest ones available and the most fully-featured.

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation

The third of the Dragon Warrior games and one that's held in regard as a classic by series fans.  But does Dragon Quest III still prove a worthwhile adventure today, or is this just another one for the history books and little else?

Dragon Quest was huge in Japan and still is today, continuing to get numerous spinoffs and sequels and having surprisingly few changes to its core gameplay despite leaps in technology.  It was not nearly as big in the west, though that didn't stop Enix from localizing three more games on the 8-bit systems alone, and while they may not have been hugely popular (particularly compared to the likes of Zelda), they nevertheless attracted a sizable following.

Dragon Quest III is regarded as one of the best RPGs on the NES platform by many, though, and it isn't hard to see why.  Taking the polished design of the previous two Dragon Quest games and incorporating some elements of the Final Fantasy series into the mix, it managed to introduce some replay value to its format on top of the lengthy adventure it already provided.  It even had a pretty clever twist at the end to tie it into its two predecessor games, though I won't give that away here.

The most significant addition to Dragon Quest III was that it contained a Final Fantasy styled class system.  While the main character themself has a fixed "hero" class, they could visit the guild hall and recruit up to three allies of any class they chose, letting them customize their party for the adventure ahead.  Several of these have direct equivalents to Final Fantasy classes - Soldier is basically equivalent to the Fighter, for example, wielding heavy weapons and armor but being unable to cast spells, while the Pilgrim casts healing spells, similar to the White Mage.  A few are unique, though, like the Merchant class; in addition to being decent fighters, they cause enemies to drop extra items and gold after a party victory, and in the remakes, even get some useful supportive skills like being able to call shops in the field and dig to find random items or money.  A class of dubious value in itself is the "Goof-off" or "Jester", which is a weak class that can randomly decide to take no actions during battle, making them unreliable and not particularly useful; however, they do have high Luck and are the only class that can upgrade to the powerful Sage class without requiring a special item, so keeping one around can be very beneficial in the long run.  Later ports of the game also add the Thief class, who again serves a powerful supportive role, letting the party steal items from enemies as well as temporarily disable encounters and find hidden treasures.

Later ports of the game also add much in the way of new content.  Not only are visual and music greatly overhauled, but much more is added to the gameplay, too.  More than 80 pieces of equipment are added, many of which are tied to finding hidden medals throughout the game world.  Bonus dungeons are added with many new monsters to battle and treasures to find, and the player can now search bookshelves, pots, barrels and the like to find hidden goodies.  Probably the most significant change, though, is that each character now has a "personality" based on a starting quiz which affects their stats, raising some and lowering others by a small percentage.  Some items and accessories found throughout the game can temporarily or permanently alter a character's personality as well, letting the player tweak the party to get more mileage out of their innate abilities.

The core gameplay of Dragon Quest remains essentially the same despite these changes, though - simplistic, turn-based action is the order of the day here.  It also thankfully is not nearly as grindy as its predecessors, though I still found myself hitting a brick wall boss at times and having to break away and level up for a few hours before I could beat them.  This got particularly frustrating toward the end, as I had to spend almost a full day of time farming Metal Slimes to get experience and levels so that I could stand a chance against the final boss.  This may have been addressed in some of the later ports as well (I mostly played the NES version), but I still found it to be a frustrating ordeal.

Despite that, though, I can't deny that this is probably the best of all the Dragon Quest games I've played.  It added some new twists on the format and lets the player customize their party to their liking, giving it an edge over most other RPGs of the era and some pretty good replayability.  The overall length of the journey, plus the amount of grinding and frequent encounter rate, make it one I wasn't overly keen on revisiting, though I imagine this situation is better in the remakes with some of the improvements made to them there.   Regardless, Dragon Quest III is a solid 80's RPG and worth a look for any serious genre fan.

Developer: Chunsoft, Heartbeat, TOSE, Matrix Software
Publisher: Enix
Platform: NES, Super Famicom, Game Boy Color, Mobile, Android, iOS, Switch
Released: 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2009, 2014, 2017, 2019
Recommended Version:  The remakes all have a lot more to offer in terms of content and game balance, though there isn't really a clear consensus on which is the best as they all offer some exclusive content of their own.  The Super Famicom and Game Boy Color versions do seem to have the best value for your dollar though, in the form of a new minigame ("Pachisi") that can affect your characters' stats, animations for monsters and some extra music tracks.  However, the GBC version is the only one of the two that is (officially) available in English; this version also adds a new playable class (the Thief) and some exclusive side content in the form of the Medal Album and a new optional dungeon and boss.