The Dragon Quest/Warrior thread

[Andrew NDB]

DQ VII: Reimagined is announced!



Looks incredible! Comes in February. It's a little bit unfortunate it is so soon after I bought the 3DS version, which will quickly become obsolete. But hey! Smart money is that they do DQ VIII and DQ IX next.

And this comes out next month:

[Prowler]

I've played VIII only so far. Love it. It's also a super long game.

I own IX for the DS as well, but am yet to tackle it. I imagine it's a bit long as well, so I'm holding on before playing it.

VII is the longest of them all, apparently. I'm really curious about it.

[neatoman]

It saddens me to know that XII will be the last game to feature both Toriyama's character design and new compositions by Sugiyama. I'm sure the monster designs and old theme music will continue to be used but new characters and their theme music will be made by other people.

[Coola Yagami]

At least Toriyama left behind a general template they can use if they choose to continue the art style. I mean most of the Dragon Quest characters look like weird variations of Goku, Gohan and Bulma and so forth with different clothes and hairstyles.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I've played VIII only so far. Love it. It's also a super long game.

Give XI a try! I spent like 120 hours in it and I still didn't do everything. Fantastic, fantastic game. Maybe my new favorite JRPG of all time. It's a slow-burner but man it's amazing.

I own IX for the DS as well, but am yet to tackle it. I imagine it's a bit long as well, so I'm holding on before playing it.

People swear by IX but it's hard to get into. And unlike VIII on DS, the character models are TINY.

Odds are pretty good we'll see some kind of IX re-release in the foreseeable future. Probably we'll get VIII after VII Reimagined comes out in February, then IX after that. Then X Offline, if we're lucky.

And probably HD-2D remakes of IV-VI simultaneously. Man, it's a great time to be a DQ fan.

VII is the longest of them all, apparently. I'm really curious about it.

Check it out the VII Reimagined version in February. Supposedly it fixes a lot of stuff people didn't like about the original game and gives it a better narrative.

Originally Posted by neatoman

It saddens me to know that XII will be the last game to feature both Toriyama's character design and new compositions by Sugiyama.

If it ever comes out at all. It was announced 5 years ago, announce trailer and all.

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

At least Toriyama left behind a general template they can use if they choose to continue the art style. I mean most of the Dragon Quest characters look like weird variations of Goku, Gohan and Bulma and so forth with different clothes and hairstyles.

Yeah, he has a pretty consistent footprint to follow. Same with the Chrono Trigger character design.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

At least Toriyama left behind a general template they can use if they choose to continue the art style. I mean most of the Dragon Quest characters look like weird variations of Goku, Gohan and Bulma and so forth with different clothes and hairstyles.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Yeah, he has a pretty consistent footprint to follow. Same with the Chrono Trigger character design.

Sure, it's not like it's that hard to follow the Toriyama style guide, plenty of animators at Toei and modellers at Namco has had to do it for decades. It's just that even if you can follow the style guide, it's not that means you have the same touch.

For example, these are the gods of destruction in Dragon Ball. Some are designed by Toriyama himself, some were designed by the artist for the Super manga's artist Toyotaro and some are collaborations between the two. Even though they follow the same design ideas and these characters can stand next to each other without raising eyebrows, there is still a clear difference in how these men draw and what sort of detail they gravitate towards.

[frank_one]

Those designs for Super are so weird and lazy.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by frank_one

Those designs for Super are so weird and lazy.

To be fair, with two exceptions, all of them were designed for the Tournament of Power. The premise of that story arc demanded the creation of over 80 new character designs.

[sdp]

My first game in the series was Dragon Warrior Monsters on the Game Boy Color which was basically a Pokemon clone meant to cash in on the craze and it was a great game inspite of that.
It got me to register on the enix.com message boards as a little kid and that's how my forum dwelling life began. I was sdpwarrior.

The moderator of the forums was Nob, forgot his last name but he used to translate the games for Enix but he also translated the Pokemon games for Nintendo. I convinced him to add my name to the next pokemon game and after months of telling him, the guy actually did it, my name is one of the trainers in FireRed LeafGreen. I am canon to the Pokemon universe, all thanks to Dragon Quest.

[Andrew NDB]

Here's my first Dragon Quest experience:

[Andrew NDB]

This is pretty cool... today/now there is a Dragon Quest VII Reimagined demo available you can play and it'll save your progress so that when the full game comes out in a month you can keep it.

[Prowler]

Guess I won't need to get a copy of the 3DS version anymore, then.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Guess I won't need to get a copy of the 3DS version anymore, then.

I wouldn't throw it away, necessarily. This VII Reimagined does away with whole components from the original game, but also adds new story elements. It sounds like it may actually dumb down the original game quite a bit.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I wouldn't throw it away, necessarily. This VII Reimagined does away with whole components from the original game, but also adds new story elements. It sounds like it may actually dumb down the original game quite a bit.

So it's not just QOL improvements?

And DQVII is quite a long game, so I'll have to settle for just one version of it. Don't have time or the drive to replay a game that's gonna take me 100+ hours long to get through. Even if the 2nd playthrough is on a slightly different version.

I replayed FFX in the HD remaster on the Switch when I was 29-30, but that's because it was during lockdown and I had a lot more free time. I wouldn't pick it up nowadays.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Prowler

So it's not just QOL improvements?

Yeah, a literal "reimagining" of the game.

I beat the demo. Not bad for a demo! Probably about 4-5 hours right there.

[Prowler]

I'm definitely getting this one for the Switch.

[Andrew NDB]

Also, if anyone is interested... the Switch version of "Dragon Quest X: Offline" WITH all of its add-on content has been completely translated into English and is able to be played in emulation. And it works great!

[sdp]

I had bought Infinity Strash in a sale a long while ago but just now began playing it and it's so fun. I can't believe this got mediocre reviews, it's great. It's an action RPG set in the Dragon Quest world, the story is up there with one of the best in the series. I haven't had this much fun in a long while.

[Prowler]

I really need to get XI. I haven't been able to find it in shops, used or non-used in the last couple of years. I guess I'll have to go online or just buy it digitally.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by sdp

I had bought Infinity Strash in a sale a long while ago but just now began playing it and it's so fun. I can't believe this got mediocre reviews, it's great. It's an action RPG set in the Dragon Quest world, the story is up there with one of the best in the series. I haven't had this much fun in a long while.

I'd never even heard of that. Looks OK but the gameplay seems... un-DQ like?

Originally Posted by Prowler

I really need to get XI. I haven't been able to find it in shops, used or non-used in the last couple of years. I guess I'll have to go online or just buy it digitally.

Just make sure you get the Definitive Edition. Such an amazing game. I still say it's the best JRPG I've ever played, and by far. It took it a while to "Get" me but when it did, so so riveting.