MeinMMO editor Jasmin has known Dragon Quest for several installments. She particularly remembers the seventh installment, which is now getting a remake. Nevertheless, the dark atmosphere emotionally impacted her.
The Dragon Quest series is one of the first JRPG series that ever existed. The special thing about the video games is that the characters were drawn by Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball.
For me, part 7 was my entry into the series. Originally released in 2000 for the PlayStation, this JRPG never made it to Europe. It was only with the version for the Nintendo 3DS that Dragon Quest 7 arrived in Germany in 2016.
10 years later, a reimagined version of part 7 is now being released. And even though I still had a rough idea of the story in my head, I was surprised by how much the stories from the game emotionally moved me. At one point, I even found a small tear forming in my eye.
Short Stories with Dark Atmosphere for the Evening
We start the adventure as the son of a fisherman. The whole village believes that the island is the only place in the entire world and that the rest of the planet consists only of ocean. Over time, the fisherman’s son, along with his friends, finds different tablets that turn out to be portals to the past.
Each tablet leads to an island that suffers from a sad fate. Once we have rescued the island in the past, the same island also appears in the timeline of the fisherman’s son. While exploring the islands, we learn what has become of the descendants of the respective islanders from the past.
The story develops like many older Japanese role-playing games. Initially, it’s a simple adventure of an innocent boy. Later, the entire planet must be saved.
The special thing about the game is that each island is a self-contained short story. Each story is darker than the last. There is no perfect happy ending on any island. While there is a larger narrative surrounding the main characters, the individual islands are clearly the focus.
On one island, for example, there is an oppressive silence in the village because there are no more women. Monsters have kidnapped all the women and taken them to a mysterious tower. Our goal is to rescue the women, as the men are too weak to fight the monsters.
Even though I remembered some of the stories from my playthrough 10 years ago, one island completely floored me. Unfortunately, the story was designated as an optional island for the remake and doesn’t even have to be visited to reach the game’s ending. But I would recommend completing it.
This is what happens on the mentioned island
In this village, all the people have been turned to stone. The only survivor is an old man who was not present in the village at the time of the petrification. He has been trying for many decades to find a cure to awaken his friends and family.
He devoted his whole life to obtaining the cure. However, over the years, he realizes that the residents cannot be saved. For not only the passage of time affects him but also the stone statues. The statues have developed cracks that cannot be repaired, making revival impossible.
Thanks to our help, the old man manages to free the souls of the stone statues. When he encounters the soul of his deceased wife, he tells her that they will see each other very soon. After all, the man is already very old, and it is likely that he has not many years left before he ascends to the heavens.
The scene moved me so much at that moment that I almost cried. There are many more such stories that will likely affect each player differently. There is a high chance that one of the stories will resonate with you, and you will be emotionally swept away.
I find this especially amazing because there is no common thread between the individual island stories. Apart from the hero group, there are no connecting characters that make guest appearances on every island.
Each island manages to convey its drama within just one hour of gameplay. It doesn’t always take a 70-hour long story to emotionally engage a player, as I found out firsthand.
If you only have little time to play Dragon Quest 7, it is the perfect game for you. I enjoyed the title the most by playing in the evenings for an hour or two and completing one island per day. More than that, I just couldn’t manage mentally.
Idyllic Look around the Characters
Completely contrary to the dark atmosphere is the look of the game. For the remake, the main characters were built as puppets in real life and later digitally integrated into the game. You can see this in the figures. I could see individual fabric folds and felt like I could feel the texture with my eyes.
The developers have adapted the rest of the game to match the look of the characters. The worlds resemble small dioramas, which you might know from Fantasian Neo Dimension, another JRPG by Square Enix.
Even with the trees, I felt like they must be really fluffy, and I wanted to take them in my hands. For a cozy game, I would have expected this look, but not in such a dark game like Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined.
But it’s exactly this contrast that makes the game so good for me. After witnessing the sad fate of an island, the beautiful visuals calm you down.
However, I must say that none of the islands has any iconic location that has stuck in my mind afterward. Many of the islands are covered in forests and mountains, and the stone corridors of the individual temples and dungeons look too similar.
A Good Introduction to the Series
Since each part of Dragon Quest stands on its own, you don’t have to play the games in order. If you have never heard of Dragon Quest, part 7 might be the perfect introduction for you. And this is due to several reasons:
- There is an automatic save after each area change.
- The combat speed can be adjusted at any time, making annoying grinding more bearable.
- There are no random battles anymore. This way, you control when to engage which enemy.
- There is even an automatic combat mode where you don’t even have to press a button.
- Content has been cut, drastically shortening the game time.
In combination with a particularly easy difficulty level, you can practically skip the fights. You run up to an enemy, press the start button, and let the fight happen. During those few seconds, you can unload cutlery from the dishwasher, hang some laundry on the line, or quickly check your phone to see who messaged you.
So it doesn’t always take your full attention when you come home after a tiring day, need to do housework, and want to play a bit. Of course, all veterans can do without such quality-of-life improvements and start directly on the highest difficulty level.
With Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, you can see if the series is something for you. Despite all the many new features, it still retains the characteristics of a classic Japanese role-playing game. Thus, there are only a handful of character models that repeat on each island, and turn-based battles are the order of the day.
Who is Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined suitable for?
You should play Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined if you…
- are exhausted after work and want to play a quick round
- enjoy classic Japanese role-playing games and can live with their disadvantages
- are in the mood for dark and serious themes
You should rather stay away if you…
- prefer action-packed gameplay
- want to finish the game within 10-20 hours
If you still decide to play Dragon Quest in order, we have good news for you. Recently, remakes of the first two parts were also released. MeinMMO writer Niko has put them through their paces and comes to a similar conclusion as I do: I played a new RPG on Steam for almost 40 hours and didn’t even realize it was actually 39 years old
