Dragon Quest VII and Dragon Quest VIII, 3DS remakes coming to the West thanks to Nintendo

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTpToPNWwAAwEzi.png

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
JP release date: February 7th, 2013
NA/EU release date: September 16th, 2016
AU release date: September 17th, 2016

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
JP release date: August 27th, 2015
NA/EU release date: January 20th, 2017
AU release date: January 21st, 2017

http://dragonquest7.nintendo.com



With Dragon Quest XI (3DS/PS4/NX) on the horizon and 2016 being the 30th anniversary of Dragon Quest, it's the perfect time to enjoy these great 3DS remakes as well as support the franchise in the West.

I look forward to VII.

I'm pretty sure both of these games already have threads.

edit: On second thought, I don't care enough to find them.

http://i.imgur.com/mSvlzWd.png

Nintendo has announced a September 16th release date for the West.



Day one.

If I stay on schedule, that should be plenty of time to finish V and VI.

Oh yes!

Golly, those were great games. I'd love to play VIII again, but I don't have enough time. Hopefully we see a PC release for XI. And X.

I'll never understand what happened to X. I did a beta for it last year before e3 and was SURE it was gonna be announced.

DQ X was announced, along with DQ XI, for PS4 and NX. Who knows.

Im ready to try and love this (this time)!

Never finishing DW7 on PS1 is one of my bigger gaming shames. So happy I get to give it another shot this fall.

It won't count because it will be twice as easy. You will still feel shame!

I think people will like it a lot more in this year of 2016 than they did in 2001 when anything that wasn't Final Fantasy or ripping off Final Fantasy was seen as a step backwards. It's a game i imagine will be way more manageable on portable in any case.

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Originally Posted by Finch

It's a game i imagine will be way more manageable on portable in any case.

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This is the key for me. I have DW7 PS1, but the very thought of starting it is daunting, I'd never finish it. On a portable I might just be able to do it.

It just came out at the wrong time for me. I was 20, just moved out of my parent's house, and my drinking and partying days were at their peak. I still managed to get like 40ish hours in but I don't really remember any of it.

I'm also now way more likely to finish a JRPG if it's on a portable nowadays.

Im more likely to play ANYTHING on a portable these days.

Close system - sleep mode - return to playing it two hours later - yes pls

I don't get you guys. Do you all take the subway to work?

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Originally Posted by Fe 26

I don't get you guys. Do you all take the subway to work?

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Yes

alright, well that explains that

So Dragon Quest VII is out, the 3DS remake. Where is discussion on this game taking place? I guess here's as good a place as any.

I haven't yet finished one of these games in years -- I have VI, VII, and IX sitting on my shelf, most of them barely touched. I played through the first two hours of this, and I immediately get the sense of why these games are so universally beloved in Japan. I know that the game's scale is going to become massive soon enough, but the first two hours are very small and intimate, very easy to get into, in that Yuji Horii/DQ sense that really carried over into the design of Chrono Trigger. The game establishes such a strong sense of place -- Pilchard Bay, Pollock, Estard, running back and forth to do all the silly little fetch quests, but it's so rich that you can almost smell those freshly caught pilchards.

It's always a breath of fresh air whenever I pick up one of these games, but I never seem to play through them. Maybe that'll change this time. Who knows?

Since this is the longest game in the series, I'm not betting on it.

hey man well if I can beat something like 7 shin megami tensei/Persona games within the past 3-4 years then I can accomplish ANYTHING

I'm trying to motivate you in the worst possible way.

I'm loving this DQ7 YO.

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Originally Posted by sleeve

hey man well if I can beat something like 7 shin megami tensei/Persona games within the past 3-4 years then I can accomplish ANYTHING

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Amen to that. If you count TMS, I've finished one.

Seriously, I just turned on DQ7 to look at it and it's been 7 hours now and I don't want to stop.

DQ VII is one of the best dragon quests and it's nice people are seeing that. I liked the old drawn-out mysterious opening a little better though

Jesus Christ, they may as well have random encounters.
Only a few hours in (just fought the golem).
It's cute and stuff, but the battles are boooorrrinngg and the menus deeeppppp. Is there a way to make everyone do what they did last round with the push of a single button?

I really hate that there's no way to speed up non battle text, that drives me nuts.

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Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name

Jesus Christ, they may as well have random encounters.
Only a few hours in (just fought the golem).
It's cute and stuff, but the battles are boooorrrinngg and the menus deeeppppp. Is there a way to make everyone do what they did last round with the push of a single button?

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I don't mind it yet. The button presses are pretty quick to the point where I don't mind cycling through each action.

What I do mind is the ridiculous inventory management.

But the characters are SO ADORBS :) This may finally be my true (re)entry point for the Dragon Quest series, this game has such a wonderful spirit like I don't know what

Jared Petty, who is far and away my favorite IGN employee, made this statement on Nintendo Voice Chat: "If you can play one Dragon Quest, play V. If you can play two, play IX. But if you can play three, play VII." The group quickly added that VIII is also very good. He also said that the DQV story is better than any Final Fantasy. Anyone have an opinion on any of that?

I've never played a dq that had a better story than all ffs. Though they are probably more charming.

The story in V is pretty great.

It's tough to compare because DQ and FF are so formally different. DQV's story is airy and loose. You get details from townspeople, little conversations with bosses before you fight them, and maybe one-minute scenes between major chapters -- you fill in a lot of the blanks yourself. FF's story is dictated to you in big chunks. It's not quite as stark as trying to compare Journey's story to that of a Telltale game, but it's the same idea.

That said,

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

If you can play one [video game], play [DQ]V.

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V was pretty great, but if I were recommending one to an outsider I would probably go with VIII. If the hypothetical person has never played a DQ, the probability that he's not into JRPGs is high. VIII feels more modern than V, and is more likely to pull him in and whet his appetite to explore other games in the series. Conversely, if he hates VIII because of JRPG reasons, there's no way he's going to like any of the others.

I've played I (at my cousin's), III (on GBC), and VII (on PS1) but probably for a total of two or three hours, so I have no opinion whatsoever in terms of comparing them. I'm not a big pure fantasy guy, so Final Fantasy and especially Phantasy Star were more attractive with their technology/sci fi sides. And then I finally discovered SMT. I think Strange Journey is my absolute sweet spot JRPG, though they could take it up one more level with a Devil Survivor / Strange Journey hybrid with SRPG battles but the sci fi theme. All of that said, I was able to play through Ni no Kuni I thik primarily due to the Gibli style and the collectible critters, so maybe I should try VIII.

VIII is one of the least interesting DQs mechanically -- there's not a lot of room to distinguish my game from yours, especially when skills and classes are much better than others. If you're playing Jessica, you're dumping everything into Whip and using Twin Dragon Lash every turn or you're doing it wrong. I can see that being a turnoff if SMT is your jam.

The customization in VII is crazy. I still have the graph paper I used to chart my builds tucked into my strategy guide from the PS1 days.

That's why I'm glad DQX exists. By virtue of it being an MMO, they had to balance the spells/skills, which should pay dividends going forward.

Speaking of which, seems like in this version of VII you don't always retain the skills you learn from the advanced jobs? I think I remember keeping everything in the PS1 version. That may not be true of abilities learned from monster jobs, though, which would make them worth the trouble. So if you want to sit on a job with a powerful all enemy attack, you'll have to give up progressing your character.

I should play V. It's in my 3DS currently and I keep hearing fantastic shit about it.

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Originally Posted by Chux

I should play V. It's in my 3DS currently and I keep hearing fantastic shit about it.

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Yes, You should.

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Originally Posted by Andrew

V was pretty great, but if I were recommending one to an outsider I would probably go with VIII. If the hypothetical person has never played a DQ, the probability that he's not into JRPGs is high. VIII feels more modern than V, and is more likely to pull him in and whet his appetite to explore other games in the series. Conversely, if he hates VIII because of JRPG reasons, there's no way he's going to like any of the others.

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This is a solid post. I can honestly see a lot of young retro hipsters turned away from some of the DQ games due to the huge amount of time these take to finish.

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Originally Posted by Chux

I should play V. It's in my 3DS currently and I keep hearing fantastic shit about it.

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Just understand it isn't supposed to be pokemon. Play it like you would any other DQ and treat any monsters you happen to recruit along the way as a bonus. If you try to "catch 'em all" you'll ruin it.

I don't know if it's the game or the DS or what, but i can play this for about 15 minutes before I start getting sinus pressure and exhausted feeling. Yawning and want to fall asleep in my chair. I put it away, watch something on youtube or read some internet, and I'm fine after a few minutes. Weird.

This game is sooooooo loooooooonnnnggg

I'm like 30 hours in and really wish I could get back to having 4 party members again.

I know I have said this before, but I feel like DQVII is designed to be played an hour a week for five years.

Pretty much. The whole talk to everyone in a town until you set off an event and then talk to everyone again until you set off the next one over and over ad nauseam gets really tiring after a while.

I started V instead. It's quite nice.

For the love of god, don't approach it like Pokemon.

Play it like Pokemon

How about I toss the Sabercat into the ocean because it will never replace my father.

Also I don't play Pokémon to get every damn poke. I get the cool ones for cool people and beat the game.

Okay, good. Take that philosophy one step further, to "never go out of my way to catch anything; treat any monsters I do happen to catch along the way as a bonus" and you'll enjoy it.

I don't even remember catching monsters. Once I had a real party I stuck with them.

I had a couple of healslimes in the back row. Otherwise it was the wife and the kids.

Back on DQVII, could they really only afford to create 6 NPC character models? Wtf man. It's bad enough every town has the same people, but then there are dupes within the towns too!

It isn't worse than any other Dragon Quest. At least it isn't that one balding dude sprite this time.

I think I might like the original clunky translation more than the european accents. The biggest shame is that they changed Gabo's name to "Ruff".

I wasn't a fan of the dialects in the other ones, I'm not a fan now. "We're Italian so we add 'i' to the end of every other word, you know, the way Italians do."

Even worse is that with French/Italian/Spanish they feel the need to use words in that language then clarify with lame accent english. Stop. Please.

And the villain in V that does for Pankraz? Maybe I could have loathed him like the game wanted me to if not for his goofy accent.

I really wish Gabo wasn't such a lame character. Maribel is the best but she's the only personality for far too long...come a certain point.

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Originally Posted by Finch

It isn't worse than any other Dragon Quest. At least it isn't that one balding dude sprite this time.

I think I might like the original clunky translation more than the european accents. The biggest shame is that they changed Gabo's name to "Ruff".

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I knew I wasn't crazy when I saw that name. I was like.. Ruff wasn't his original name right?

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Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name

"We're Italian so we add 'i' to the end of every other word, you know, the way Italians do."

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Excuse me, it's "we-a Italiano"

I fucking loathe the dialects in DQ games. It's the worst.
Also, man shit goes from bad to worst for MC in DQV. All that shit, your house is gone and he isn't even the chosen one.

He's not even the hero in his own game! He takes it in stride.

I'm really kinda hating this game. Since it's a "remake" and not a direct port, they really could have instituted some quality of life upgrades. I'm really, really sick of fighting low level bullshit every two steps because I'm backtracking for a thing and though the enemies are visible the corridors are too small to run around them. What should take 2-3 minutes of running takes 9-10 times as long because every part of the battle system is slow, up to and including "slime A is dead."







"slime b is dead."

















"slime c is dead."
















"slime d is dead."

ha!

I was running back to the cave where the hackrobat or whatever he was turned into a human because I thought instead of sitting in the cave he'd go to that new monster joint. Nope! Just wasted all that time for nothing.

German town was ok because it reminded me of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9JqbCH4aVw

It's twue, it's twue!

I don't get the accents, does the Japanese version have regional flair on each islands and they wanted to reproduce that?

I'm enjoying the game mostly, in bite size chunks. the non-area specific enemies thing has always annoyed me in DQ games. Why are cat magicians and dancing lizards on multiple islands and timelines everywhere?

I think this is my least liked one of the 6 I've played. I really want someone to say "Keep at it SSJN! It gets so much better!"
I'm on the Bally HO! island and the writing is so awful it makes me actually mad. Almost as mad as "we need my brother's help, but I aint talking to him so you go do it." so I go the the brothers. "Fuck off, I'm not helping." So I run back. "He said he wouldn't help? Are ya sure? Try again!" So I run back. "Seriously, fuck yall. I just invented a fuckable robot, yall can die I don't give a FUCKKKK!" So I run back. "Well, this time I'll come with you, he'll listen to me." So I run back.

This is the straw that's breaking my back. "Go talk to the general in that room over there." I go to that room. "Hey guys, can you tell the dude you just saw to get the troops ready?" Sure, so I go back. "Hey, troops are all ready. Can you go get the general?" Sure, so I go back. "Alright, lets go to that room; get shit sorted!" The rooms were maybe 2 seconds of walking away from each other, but when I hear this is a hundred hour game and it's painfully obvious that half of that time is spent doing stupid, useless shit like this, well, I'm thinking I'd be better off throwing a $29.99 used sticker on the case and putting it out for sale.

First Akiba, then Neptunia, and now this. Maybe I'm just not into RPGs anymore.
Or maybe it was coincidence and I just tried playing 3 poor ones in a row.

I am currently 30 hours in, leaving the Great Tree in the past. The back-and-forth trekking for errands and checking up on new developments in previously visited locations is a small annoyance (and if memory serves correct, that part with Frobisher and Faraday Castle specifically was the worst of it), but I'm loving the game otherwise. Especially because of the story, which I really didn't expect. The stories of the individual islands, including what isn't said and what's hinted at for you to piece together, time travel and all, and how they evolve and tie into the overall story as it unfolds. Which, along with the characters themselves, makes this game incredible for me and - at least so far - a Top 5 JRPG personally. Hopefully that holds going forward.

So yes, SSJN, I would absolutely say it gets better from that point. And part of it is how surprisingly well the game plays with expectations at times.

Speaking of which, I'm definitely wondering when I'm going to get a new party member.

After Alltrades Abbey (Allblades Arena, heh), I hit up the casino and got some great equipment thanks to winning the matching game a couple of times. Just a treat to have Ruff (Thief) and Auster (Sailor) wrecking enemies with the Fire Claws and War Hammer, respectively.

Frobisher and Faraday is the worst of all the islands. There's still some back and forth in later islands but nothing like the bullshit that was on that island.

This game seems to never end.

52 hours in. Some repetition setting in, but still very enjoyable.

Might take a small break to visit the new River City Ransom game, but we shall see...

DQ Builders is so much better already

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

Might take a small break to visit the new River City Ransom game, but we shall see...

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I couldn't get into it. :(

Barf!

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Originally Posted by bbobb

DQ Builders is so much better already

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I want this real bad too, especially to support that DQ localization process, but with DQ7, azure striker pack, and RCR, not to mention a huge pile of shame... I just can't justify it.

(but it looks SOOOO good)

It's better than anything you listed there... get it.

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Originally Posted by bbobb

It's better than anything you listed there... get it.

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I definitely will! (eventually after I play some other stuff)

Nope, get it immediately.

I'm gonna agree with that.

Thirded.

It looks awesome, but what about this single sentence paragraph from the review in Forbes?

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The thing is that with Builders, the progression through each area is tailored for that build tree and the final boss in each area tends to play to what that area has taught and allowed you to build.

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Is that thing true about how each area is for that build tree in each area and plays to the things in each area? I like DQ, but am lukewarm on area-thing games.

On the other hand:

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Specifically, if you hold down the attack button long enough and then release, you will do a spin attack similar to the The Legend of Zelda games. Coupled with the hammer, this means you can gather resources and mine at speed. Covering a lot of ground and also making the process itself very satisfying.

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Games where your attacks are similar to games, meaning you can mine at speed. Are ones I usually enjoy.

FORBES

Don't they mean, the "core progression through each area"?

Monster Masher gets some OP ass AOE attacks for no MP cost. I made my main guy a gladiator, Maribel a Sage, and Ruff a Monster Masher.

Champion's are pretty much the I win button for boss battles though.

I finally finished this last weekend, post game dungeons can suck a dick because I'm completely sick of this game after 90+ hours.

gee, only took me 5 hours to reach that point bbobb. Maybe I should quit now.
But I'm not going to quit.

I stopped playing this momentarily to finish SMT IV: Apocalypse. Hopefully I'll still like it when I come back to it!

I actually started SMTIV this weekend since I never got around to playing it and am enjoying it way more.

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Originally Posted by bbobb

I actually started SMTIV this weekend since I never got around to playing it and am enjoying it way more.

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Oh man then you are going to love Apocalypse!

It has not just better outfits but much more fun characters

I'm 40-something hours in and I'm loving it.

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Originally Posted by bbobb

I actually started SMTIV this weekend since I never got around to playing it and am enjoying it way more.

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Weird, so did I. Loving it so far, it's doing everything right. Really fast paced for an SMT game too.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

I'm 40-something hours in and I'm loving it.

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You know what they say

"If you hate any dragon quest you're bad and you should feel bad"

That's true.

The book of Luke I think.

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Originally Posted by Chux

I fucking loathe the dialects in DQ games. It's the worst.
Also, man shit goes from bad to worst for MC in DQV. All that shit, your house is gone and he isn't even the chosen one.

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Fam, then you die, and your kids grow up and that pirate fuck takes the statue of your wife to probably beat off on?

Lost 2.5 hours worth of progress when my foot caught the charging cord which made the 3DS fall and the game pop out. That kinda stank!
Finally changed vocation. Seems like all the seeds I've used up to this point were wasted? Or do the reset stats take them into account?

They take them into account

Losing Multiheal or magic barrier when changing jobs to a higher job kind of sucks a fat one.

This piece of shit just crashed on me! Of course it was after I went to the modern casino land, won some cool prizes and what do you know, there's no priest here in the present like there was in the past so no saving because heaven fucking forbid a portable game released in 2016 just let you fucking save anywhere. I walked to the Abby, checked out the ruins first, got into an automatic fight and after I took out the third of four enemies the game froze amd reset. Fucking awesome.

Fun fact, the game doesn't delete your suspend save when you load it so you can use that to save on the world map

better than nothing i guess, but just another sign of how half ass this port is.

Agreed