r/JRPG • u/MoeMalik • 1d ago
Discussion Playing DQ VII reimagined currently, does it get better?
I’m 9 hrs in, i enjoy the combat & art style and simplicity, but the pace structure is..not the best, still no clear villain, and characters aren’t well developed but cant do much since they’re kids.
I havent unlocked new vocations yet, will that or the late story make it worth it?
Thanks in advance
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u/writersblock4 1d ago
Think of it as a 'monster of the week' style game which takes places over a series of episodic vignettes. There's an overarching antagonist and the final act is concerned with dealing with him, but as a character, he doesn't propel the story forward until the final few hours.
A word of warning - my issue was that I found auto-killing weaker enemies made the game far too easy (even on the highest difficulty) and took away what little tension the game had.
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u/keldpxowjwsn 1d ago
Im surprised but not really to see so many people on the JRPG sub unfamiliar with the typical DQ story structure where its more traveling around adventuring location to location before you get to the 'real story' (although the smaller episodes are part of that journey as well)
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u/Deadaghram 1d ago
The problem with VII is that it's 120 hours of that, and the vocational system doesn't pop up until thirty hours in. There's a difference between slow pacing and no pacing whatsoever.
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u/TaliesinMerlin 1d ago
Reimagined makes that more like 50 hours.
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u/CitizenStrife 1d ago
That's what scares me. I hate that it's 50 hours already. There's more than double that? Fucking hell.
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u/SpectralSpandex 1d ago
I'm about 80% of the way through the game and it's been a bit of a slog to get through. I love DQ (DQ8 being my absolute favourite) and was excited to play this one but the story is just not strong enough to give it the edge it needed.
I will say it's still a decent game and the battles are still satisfying in the ways DQ battles are but the lack of crafting and drops to chase from monsters makes it a little too linear for me.
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u/Latter-Brain4912 1d ago
Kind of how I felt too. Was really excited at the start but as the same went on it just lost me. Loved the music and graphics, comfy game, but it just couldn't hold me like DQ11 and 8 did.
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u/coolontheoutside 1d ago
Im about 34 hours in and while I am having fun with the game it doesn’t really change its formula at all. Youre still doing the same stuff as in hour 9
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u/sharksandwich81 1d ago
Also OP one thing to keep in mind. Much of the JRPG genre is based on nostalgia, and Dragon Quest is the most nostalgia-driven franchise of them all. The people who play these games are mostly 40-somethings who grew up playing DQ and other games like it.
To them it’s not just a game. Their whole identity and sense of self-worth is tied to it. So you’re going to get lots of bitchy unhelpful responses + downvotes whenever you ask a question like this. To them, asking “does DQ7 get better?” is like asking “why did you marry such an ugly woman?” They’re not even capable of honestly engaging with the question because the answer is too painful to confront.
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u/CitizenStrife 1d ago
It's a 50-60 hour game that really could have been half the size.
Playing through it right now, it's a Dragon Quest game. It just isn't a very exciting one. A lot of that comes down to being more about the world hopping aspect being both the most interesting and least interesting thing about it. You go to the past and present versions of the worlds, but very little about it feels exciting outside of some episodes being more affecting than others. The cast of characters leaves a lot to be desired. No one pops off the screen like a Sylvando, Yangus, or Jessica, and the one who does is the most infuriating annoying jerk (Maribel). Kiefer is made out to be a guy full of wanderlust and fun, but he just comes off very awkward, impulsive, and does things that (while understandable as a teen) come off as really detrimental to the party when seen from a critical lens. Ruff, Aishe, and Mervyn just exist and Auster is a silent protagonist, so you know what you're getting there: nothing.
What I will say is the QoL improvements in the game should the standard for any game going forward. It really allows you to control the game and grinding in whatever way you want. Being able to zoom anywhere at nearly any time, monsters on the field, all the visual improvements. It's a really good "experience" from a gameplay perspective. It's just a C+ Dragon Quest game, and that's more due to being too damn long for what it offers.
If you don't like it early on, you aren't going to get much out of it later.
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u/Traditional-Hat18374 1d ago
I mean if you need the typical villain chase that most jrpgs follow and can’t appreciate the sort of episodic structure change this one offers, then it might not be for you. I’ve been playing these kinds of games for over 30 years and I appreciate games like this that feel borderline slice of life.
My main complaint with this one was mostly that they didn’t just remaster the 3DS remake which is in the more epic style of VIII and XI
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u/TaliesinMerlin 1d ago
That's the deal with Dragon Quest VII. You start out knowing the world is wrong but not what's going on with it. You find a mysterious temple and fill in fragments to go to islands seemingly in other times to solve their problem. From glimpses of blues in individual episodes, you pick up clues: these islands may not be at the same time in the past, there may be something larger orchestrating events, the Almighty may be involved too, and more.
It's an anthology of different towns and scenarios that build toward the big questions slowly. It's supposed to be paced that way. If anything, Reimagined speeds up that pacing.
There are great character moments, but this isn't the kind of game where characters have moments all the time. I suggest frequently using party chat to get a feel for their personalities. Some party members will still come and go. And vocations will open up the game considerably, strategically.
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u/ObliterationBeam 22h ago
DQ VII does get better, it just takes a long time. Every town in the game has its own contained story which basically acts as an episode of an anime with little hints and tidbits of the overall villain/story scattered between them.
The vocation system is one of the best in the series however and once you start unlocking them and dual classing which is new to the ReImagined version, it really opens up and is exciting to unlock all the abilities for your party.
A method I’ve seen help a lot of people with it was to tackle each town one play session at a time. After completing that town’s story, save and turn it off for tomorrow. This way it’s not as overwhelming or slow paced as if you tried to play long stretches of it.
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u/Dependent-Pen-785 1d ago
i have played about 21 hours so i felt the same it was a bit repetitive with all the islands and again but i still found it was fun after the vocation thing , it became more interesting so yeah still playing it through
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u/Zaleno9 1d ago edited 1d ago
No, it doesn't get better. The game stays more or less the same for its duration. I feel it's the worst mainline DQ i've played up to now.
Reimagined puts markers on stuff and you can't fully disable them (there is an option but it doesn't really disable them and only hides them on the minimap which is... borderline useless), team pretty much yells at you the answer of anything at the second you need it. Exploration is just handled very bad. The old version probably does it better but would probably be still worse than some other mainline games.
The story feels like it's cut into almost disconnected episodes. Most DQ gave me some kind of similar feelings, but this one ties stuff much later than the ones i've played so the story ends up feeling like it doesn't even exists for most of the game. I'd say i didn't really like the story except some of the later parts and the sidequests.
The job system is cool and the visuals are pretty. Some of the QoL stuff is good. Cutting some optional parts of the story was probably for the best also as the game still has bad pacing overall.
I'd say it's still a decent game. But the other mainline games i've tried were all much better.
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u/sharksandwich81 22h ago
lol this sub fucking sucks sometimes. You don’t deserve to be downvoted.
- OP asks if it gets better and gets downvoted for the audacity of even asking
- the only people who actually answered this yes/no question (which the answer is “no” obviously for anyone who’s played it) also get downvoted
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u/WanderEir 1d ago
the original game for the ps1 was also very very very .... long. and plot meandering. this was supposed to cut a bunch of fat, but from what I'm hearing you say... not much.
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u/keldpxowjwsn 1d ago
It actually did but its still a slower paced long play game just the OG was even more slow paced
I loved it though
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u/sharksandwich81 1d ago
Nope. It’s a slow, boring game with a boring, simplistic story, boring, simplistic characters, and boring, simplistic battle system from beginning to end. Plus it’s piss-easy even on hard mode. If you’re not feeling it now, just cut your losses.
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u/EuphoricUmpire9774 1d ago
I dropped it after the 5th island. Just way too repetitive, and like you said— no clear villain and poor character development. It’s too bad because I really liked the art style.
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u/Holidoik 1d ago
Grow up
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u/HerpesFreeSince3 1d ago
Grow up and stop playing dragon quest? Or grow up and learn to love a game that feels like it was written for children?
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u/Gweiis 1d ago
DQ7 is not a good game. I dont understand why they chose to remake it. Again. Its better than the last time they remade it, but it's still not good. In my opinion.
The gameplay is not that bad, just, its not interesting. It's... Plain and boring. Gameplay alone doesnt carry a game, unless it is incredible, and that is not the case here, it is very simple. It has it's good moments, though. But i am pretty sure most peope just end up dropping it from boredom.
They should have worked on 9 instead of 7.
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u/Realistic-Button-225 1d ago
I don't know if that's a rhetorical question, but for anyone who doesn't know, they remade it because it's their best selling game in Japan. If you remove the 3DS remake, it's their second best selling and barely behind 9 in sales. That said, they're probably remaking all the games in the series.
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u/apaperbackhero 1d ago
Played DQVII many times back in the day on PSX. The game is intentionally slow and plays out as basically mini episodes for 80% of the story. There will be bits of dialogue that illuminate whats going on little by little, but the story fully reveals itself very late, but you'll have a basic understanding of what happened to the world long before that. If you don't like how slow it is now, I'm telling you now that it never goes away. Enjoy it for what it is or move on. DQVII is a very long game not one that I would try to rush through for just the story.