Dragon Quest VII: Difference between revisions

''Dragon Warrior VII'' is the seventh installment of the popular ''[[Dragon Quest (series)|Dragon Quest]]'' series of role playing games, and is the successor to [[wikipedia:1995 in video gaming|1995]]'s ''[[Dragon Quest VI]]'' for the [[Wikipedia:Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super Famicom]]. An immediate success upon release, ''Dragon Warrior VII'''s sales have totaled 4.06 million, making it the [[wikipedia:List_of_best-selling_video_games|best-selling]] PlayStation game in Japan by April 6, 2001, and is a [[wikipedia:Square_Enix_Ultimate_Hits|Square Enix Ultimate Hits]] title. It was the first main series''Dragon Quest'' title to be released outside of Japan since the release of ''[[Dragon Warrior IV]]'' in North America in [[wikipedia:1992 in video gaming|1992]], and the last ''Dragon Quest'' title to be released in North America with the ''Dragon Warrior'' name. The game was produced by [[Yuji Horii]], who has presided over the ''Dragon Quest'' series since its inception. Artwork and character designs were once again provided by [[Akira Toriyama]], the artist responsible for all previous ''Dragon Quest'' games and famous [[wikipedia:Mangaka|mangaka]].

The game follows the Hero and his friends as they discover secrets about the mysterious islands surrounding their home of Estard. Through some ancient ruins, they are transported to the pasts of various islands and must defeat evil in each new location. Game mechanics are largely unchanged from previous games in the series, although an extensive [[wikipedia:Character class|Class system]] allows players to customize their characters.

''Dragon Warrior VII'' is best known for its huge size. Without completing the game's side quests, a single game of ''Dragon Quest VII'' can take a hundred hours or more. In terms of gameplay, not much has changed from previous installments; battles are still fought in a [[wikipedia:Turn-based_strategy|turn-based] mode from a [[wikipedia:First_person_(video_game)|first person]] perspective. Although non-battle sequences are rendered in 3D, battles themselves are still portrayed two dimensionally. The ability to talk with the party characters in and outside of battles was added to this game. They offer advice about battle strategies and plot points, or simply comment on how they feel at a given moment. There are four ways and means of locomotion: feet, boat, magic carpet, and skystone. Each of these can move across different terrain.

The main flow of the game is different than the other ''Dragon Quest'' games; instead of exploring one large world, the party goes to separate continents by placing stone shards into their appropriate pedestals in Estard Fane. Once all of the missing shards are located and placed for a particular pedestal, the party is transported to the trapped location in the past. After solving whatever problems plague the location, the party then travels back to Estard, the beginning island. From there, they can travel via boat, carpet, or skystone to the modern version of the location they just saved. These saved lands appear on the main map, although the originals (from the past) can be revisited through the ruins. Like most of the other ''Dragon Quest'' games, this game has several mini-games to participate in. The Immigrant Town, similar to the one in ''Dragon Quest IV'', lets the player recruit people from various towns. They then live in the town, which changes depending on the type of people living there (e.g. several merchants will bring more stores to the town). A prominent feature in most ''Dragon Quest'' games is the casino. Poker, slot machines, and luck panel can all be played in ''Dragon Warrior VII''. The Ranking Association allows the player to compete for the highest stats, like the Beauty Competition from ''[[Dragon Quest VI]]''. The player can also catch monsters, although they are only displayed in the Monster Park, unlike in ''[[Dragon Quest V]]'', where monsters fought in the party. Blueprints are found to add new environments to the park.

''Dragon Warrior VII'' uses a [[Wikipedia:Character_classes_from_the_Dragon_Quest_series|class system]] for learning abilities, similar to that of ''[[Dragon Quest VI]]''. Some available classes include [[Warrior]], Fighter, [[Cleric]], [[Mage]], Bard, Dancer, Jester, [[Thief]], Teen Idol, Pirate, [[Ranger]], Dragoon, [[Paladin]], Summoner, God Hand, and Hero, some of which are unlocked by mastering other classes. The game also includes monster classes, which can be unlocked by using the appropriate monster heart or mastering pre-requisite monster classes.

Characters generally stop learning character specific spells and skills around [[wikipedia:Experience_points|experience level]] 15; however, around this time in the game, players will reach Dharma Island, where they can give their characters certain classes. Each non-monster class belongs to one of three tiers (Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced), while monster classes have more tiers. Characters gain levels in classes by fighting a certain number of battles, as opposed to gaining experience points. Characters learn different spells and skills when they reach another class level and their stats are affected by what class they are. Once a character reaches the 8th and final level of a class, it is considered "mastered", if a character masters certain classes, higher tier classes will become available to them. For example, if a character masters the Mage and Cleric classes, which are both Basic, then the Intermediate class Sage will be available to them. If that character was to then master the TeenIdol class, the Advanced Summoner class would open up.

''Dragon Quest VII'' was designed by series creator [[Yuji Horii]] and directed by Manabu Yamana. Shintaro Majima signed on as art director, while series veterans [[Akira Toriyama]] and [[Kōichi Sugiyama]] designed the characters and composed the music respectively.

The game was officially announced in 1996 and originally planned for the [[wikipedia:Nintendo_64DD|Nintendo 64DD]]. On January 15, 1997, it was announced that development had been moved to the PlayStation. By the next day, both stock in [[Wikipedia:Sony|Sony]] and Enix rose significantly in Japan. By 2000,''Dragon Quest VII'' was predicted to be so successful in Japan that it would "create a 50 billion yen effect on the Japanese economy", said research firm DIHS. ''Dragon Quest VII'' would go on to be released on August 26, 2000 and sold 4.06 million games in Japan alone, becoming one of the highest selling games of all time.

The game was delayed numerous times before its actual release. Work on the game was extended because the development staff wanted to perfect the game due to high expectations from the fans and because the team only consisted of about 35 people. Before its release, it was ranked as the most wanted game in Japan and Square, knowing about ''Dragon Quest VII's'' release, moved its [[Final Fantasy]] game to come out on a later date. Horii stated in an interview that the team focused more on puzzle solving than the game's story. Being the first game in the series to include 3D graphics, the team was also initially reluctant to include CG movies and cinematics due to letters written to Enix by fans fearing that doing so would change the overall feeling of the series.

The back of the ''Dragon Warrior VII'' manual in North America contained an advertisement for ''[[Dragon Warrior IV]]'', an enhanced remake for the PlayStation of a Nintendo game of the same name. The localization was subsequently cancelled, due to Heartbeat's hiatus.

As with every ''Dragon Quest'', [[Kōichi Sugiyama]] composed the musical score and directed all the associated spinoff soundtracks. As a first for the series, the original sound version was bundled with the symphonic suite in a two-disc set called ''Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi Symphonic Suite + OST''. The entire first disc and the opening song of the second disc consists of the symphonic suite, while the rest of the second disc is the original sound version. A disc titled ''Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi on Piano'' was also released, and contained 27 [wikipedia:Piano|piano]]-arranged tracks. The ''Symphonic Suite'' was later reprinted by itself in 2006.

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|''[[wikipedia:Famitsu|Famitsu]]''

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|''[[wikipedia:Official_U.S._PlayStation_Magazine|Official PlayStation Magazine (US)]]''

|}''Dragon Warrior VII'' was very well-received in Japan both commercially and critically. It was the best-selling PlayStation game of [[wikipedia:2000_in_video_gaming|2000]] in the region at 3.78 million copies sold. As most of the units were sold mere weeks after the game's release, the game established itself for having the largest annual shipment of any independently sold game for the original PlayStation. Worldwide, sales of the game have surpassed 4.1 million units as of February 2004. ''Dragon Warrior VII'' won the grand prize in Digital (Interactive) Art Division at the 4th [[wikipedia:Japan_Media_Arts_Festival|Japan Media Arts Festival] in 2000, where the game was praised for being "...engaging without depending on a high degree of realism..." and "...well refined and artfully executed." The game also won four awards from the 5th Japan Entertainment Software Awards by the [[wikipedia:Computer_Entertainment_Supplier|Association Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association] (CESA), including Best Prize, Scenario Prize, Sales Prize, and Popularity Prize. In 2006, the readers of ''[[wikipedia:Famitsu|Famitsu]'' magazine voted ''Dragon Warrior VII'' the 9th best video game of all time.

Sales of the North American version of ''Dragon Warrior VII'' reached about 200,000 copies according to The Magic Box, which was not nearly as stellar as its Japanese counterpart. Enix of America still expressed their satisfaction with the sales figures. ''Dragon Warrior VII'' met with mostly good reviews from North American critics. [[wikipedia:IGN|IGN]] noted that all "100+ hours" of the game are enjoyable despite the dated visuals and clunky presentation. ''[[wikipedia:GamePro|GamePro]]'' questioned whether the game's package was nostalgic or just awful, but still gave it a decent score and called it a great game overall. GameZone.com praised the game's concept and nostalgia factor and cited it as "what role-playing games were meant to be." They also noted the game's high difficulty, which, instead of making the game frustrating, they say, "make it that much more of an accomplishment when you complete a quest." IGN described the game's class system as "one of the best class systems seen outside a strategy RPG."

Other critics were not as pleased with ''Dragon Warrior VII''. GameShark.com described the first two hours of the game as "some of the most boring hours you will ever play in a video game." XenGamers.com also pointed out that in order to play the game, the player needs "the patience of a rock". [[wikipedia:Game_Informer|Game Informer]] even went as far as to say that "four million Japanese can be wrong", referring to the game's immense popularity in Japan.

Because of the game's delay in being developed, its release was after the [[Sony PlayStation 2|Playstation 2's]] release, which created some negative feedback, particularly about the game's graphics. IGN commented on this, calling the game "a game that makes only a bare minimum of concessions to advancing technology, but more than makes up for this with its deep gameplay, massive quest, and sheer variety." Gamespot called the graphics "not good" and warned readers that if the "most rewarding things" they "got out of Final Fantasy VII were the full-motion video interludes, you definitely won't be wowed by anything you see in Dragon Warrior VII."  

The [[wikipedia:Manga|manga]] adaptation of ''Dragon Quest VII'' was published by Enix's ''[[wikipedia:Gangan Comics|Monthly Gangan]]'' in Japan. It was illustrated by [[wikipedia:Kamui_Fujiwara|Kamui Fujiwara]], who also worked on another franchise-related manga, ''[[wikipedia:Dragon_Quest_Retsuden:_Roto_no_Monsho|Dragon Quest Retsuden: Roto no Monshō]]''. Fourteen volumes were released between 2001 and 2006, though the series is currently on hiatus.