What parents need to know
Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined is a remake of Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, originally released for the Playstation 1 in 2000. We follow the adventures of a group of young adventurers who discover that the world is not empty beyond the shores of their native island as they have always believed. In fact, it turns out that a long time ago, the Demon Lord made the other islands that made up the world disappear. It is then up to our heroes to find tablets that allow them to travel back in time to restore these forgotten worlds.
The Dragon Quest franchise is a legendary turn-based role-playing game series set in Japan, with the first installment dating back to 1986. Interestingly, the game system has remained largely unchanged since the origins of the series. This is an ultra-classic game system; We choose our attacks, the enemies choose theirs, and then we start again. You have standard attacks, then special spells and abilities learned as you progress.
There is also a system of vocations. We can assign our characters “professions” that give them access to a skill tree as well as changes to their stats. By mastering the different vocations, one gains access to new and more powerful vocations.
That being said, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is a modern game. Many quality-of-life improvements have been made to the title in order to make the experience enjoyable for players used to more modern games. For example, there are shortcuts outside of combat to instantly heal our characters or identify the number of treasures still to be discovered in the place we are in.
Many difficulty options have also been added. There are three basic difficulty modes, but you can also adjust specific elements of difficulty, by adjusting the gold and experience earned or by changing the behavior of monsters on the map, for example.
But obviously, what strikes you first in this remake is the new visual style. In order to keep the spirit of the original while modernizing the graphics, the developers of Hexadrive have opted for an art direction that gives the impression that we are watching figurines evolve in a diorama. To add to the presentation, the characters also have voices for the dialogues (in English and Japanese).
Details
Level of experience required
| Age | 3+ | 7+ | 12+ | 16+ | 18+ |
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Evaluation
There are a few horror monsters in cartoons (demons, zombies), but they are almost more cute than scary. We kill the enemies, but the violence is not graphic.
There are some innuendos (we can equip our female characters with bustiers and garters, but we don’t see them on screen), but nothing very graphic.
As the voices are not available in French, French-speaking players will have to read extensively to follow the story and understand how to progress. Some characters have particular accents that are represented by unusual spelling, which can also complicate reading.
Even if we use a certain amount of violence to achieve our ends, we play as heroes who are eager to explore and who try to help their neighbors at every turn.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined offers a very flexible difficulty, and at its core, it’s already not very difficult. In addition, since the game is completely turn-based, even players struggling with motor limitations will be able to play without too much hassle.
DLCs are a bit expensive for the little content they offer, but they’re thankfully very optional. The base game offers a lot of content.
Local game modes
Single-player adventure mode.
Online Game Modes
none
Expansions/Add-ons (DLC)
A few minor expansions offer additional costumes as well as an additional battle in the arena. All this is very dispensable.
Our opinion
The comparison may seem lame to you, but the Dragon Quest franchise is like a reassuring cuddly toy . These role-playing games always have a good-natured tone, nothing too bad ever happens in the story (or at least, we always avoid the worst), and the game systems are simple enough that you can unplug your brain for a few hours while playing them.
This is both the strength and weakness of Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. Those looking for a great challenge will be left wanting more. Yes, the difficulty is adjustable. But in the end, the game systems are simple and do not give rise to great complexity. The same goes for history. It is interesting to follow, we can get attached to the characters, but we should not expect a complex and mature scenario. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is more like a Saturday morning cartoon on TV than a Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a soothing and good-natured experience, then Dragon Quest VII Reimagined fulfills this mission perfectly. In fact, it’s a perfect game for handheld consoles (Switch 1/2, Playstation Portal, Steam Deck). It’s the kind of game that you play for an hour in bed before going to bed, just to have sweet dreams.
We particularly liked the graphic style of this episode. The art direction is as cute as can be. A small downside, however; the character models are too few, so that we meet SEVERAL village chiefs or important characters who have exactly the same face. We would have appreciated a little more effort on this side.
The same goes for the soundtrack. The pieces of the franchise are legendary, but they are also few in number. Let’s say that after a few dozen hours of listening to the same handful of musical tracks, it’s very possible that you mute your TV to listen to a podcast instead.
The game system is simple, even old-fashioned, but the quality of life improvements mean that we have practically eliminated all the irritants. You can really surrender to the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined universe. Yes, this game is simple and easy. But it is also relaxing and cozy, perfect in this hectic and stressful period.
