7th Dragon III Code: VFD Reviews
7th Dragon III’s extensive party customization and pleasing difficulty make for a great portable RPG.
7th Dragon III Code: VFD takes all my favorite features of a Japanese role-playing games and wraps them in a very pretty package.
Despite some combat balancing issues and some occasionally too-linear design, 7th Dragon III offers a top-class portable role-playing experience. Thankfully, you don't need to be familiar with the unlocalized earlier games in the series to grasp the story, and its wealth of customization options make for a fairly breezy RPG experience... at least until you get to those brutal True Dragon fights, anyway.
Unlike an actual dragon, 7th Dragon III Code VFD might not set the world on fire, but JRPG lovers should give it a chance all the same. There’s a lot to do and sink your teeth into, and it’s a perfect game to show to people who might find these sorts of games too daunting.
Again, 7th Dragon III Code: VFD isn't a game you want to get into if you aren't the type of person who puts a lot of time into party preparations. If you want a rich, engrossing story with unique characters that grow over time, turn around and walk away now, as this is very much a niche dungeon crawler that will only speak to specific members of the community. But for those people, it's a good enough RPG respite in the sense that it actually allows you to play a role in the way you see fit.
Despite the plethora of content on offer with 7th Dragon III: Code VFD, this is a dull game. What good ideas there are within the class system and the initial premise of the plot, they’re almost negated by the tediousness of the dungeon crawling that’s barely disguised, combined with a narrative that ticks all the RPG tropes. An utterly forgettable experience when compared to the best RPGs of the year.
7th Dragon III Code: VFD is a superb dungeon crawler with some refreshing mechanics but suffers from a few performance issues on the 3DS.
At first 7th Dragon III Code: VFD can scare you away with its silly bright style, a strange plot, ordinary graphics, lack of 3D mode and occasional frame drops. Though it becomes obvious a little after that a party creation system with a variety of classes looks pretty fresh, characters match an unusual locations design, the music sets the right pace, and battles, together with deep mechanics of co-op attacks, fail to become boring that fast, still there are some animations which you'd want to skip. Nevertheless, this game will hit taste of classic JRPG fans. It is definitely worth giving it a try.
Review in Russian | Read full review
From its solid character customization to its strategic and enjoyable combat, it’s yet another great JRPG to grace the 3DS.
7th Dragon III: Code VFD is a welcome addition to the JRPG genre that features many classic elements fans will enjoy. Difficulty can be uneven with no middle ground and its world could be more fleshed out. An excellent turn-based combat system with interesting classes and excellent synergy between them, however, makes this a worthy addition to any JRPG fans’ library.
With top-class character customization, a delightfully different combat system and a slick nature-futuristic style, 7th Dragon III Code: VFD is a fantastic addition to the 3DS' JRPG library.
Sega's American branch made the right call bringing this one overseas — it's one of the best RPGs available on 3DS. Full to bursting with charming characters, gorgeous fantasy worlds and addictive turn-based combat, 7th Dragon III: Code VFD makes me wonder why Western gamers didn't see this series sooner.
While it gets bogged down by story and character elements that I found to be the opposite of fun far too often, 7th Dragon III Code: VFD offers up a stellar RPG experience that’s stuffed full of enjoyable gameplay mechanics and ideas.
7th Dragon III Code: VFD is an exciting and captivating JRPG that joins an involving plot to fun gameplay mechanics and well written characters in a background that will get the players exploring it and asking for more. This will be an instant catch with RPG fans, bringing them rich visuals and a lengthy, accessible combat system as well as plenty of possibilities of customization with plenty of side quests to keep the players entertained. A dragon-fighting gem of the JRPG style in Nintendo's handeld.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Despite some good ideas related to the combat system, 7th Dragon III CODE: VFD, adds nothing particularly innovative to the dungeon crawler scene.
Review in Italian | Read full review
7th Dragon III Code: VFD rewards those who are dedicated to its unique brand of role-playing and feeds the rest to the dragons.
A straightforward dungeon crawler that may captivate those who can't get enough of the genre, but is a little too streamlined to be interesting.
7th Dragon III Code: VFD might appear to be a standard fare JRPG, and you would be right. However, the deep levels of customization, both in battle and outside of it strive to keep players engaged well throughout the game. It's a 30+ hour game just at its core, so you're going to spending quite some time playing. While it can get a little repetitive, the rewards and little set pieces that can be gained far outweigh the potential negatives that it can present.
All in all, 7th Drgaon III Code: VFD is a fun dungeon-crawling experience with enough bells and whistles to set it apart from the pack. The base-building gives you a fun reason to grind dragons beyond simply levelling up your party, and the reward loop of loot and levelling keeps you interested at just the right pace. Barring the absence of a quick-save option for short burst play on public transport, it’s a great way to while away time as needed, and tells a goofy fun story along the way. But dang, someone get a swear jar for Nodens HQ. That little demon rabbit needs to calm the heck down before Nintendo NOTICES.
If you can ignore the fact that there are four or five better choices for the same genre on the 3DS family of console (Etrian Odysseys and Persona Q anyone?), 7th Dragon III Code VFD is a competent dungeon crawler, that features original jobs, a solid combat system and a fairly uninspired story.
Review in Italian | Read full review