Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past Reviews
Dragon Quest VII is a shining example of what JRPGs can be, thanks to its lovable cast of characters, impressive and intriguing narrative, and back-to-basics approach to gameplay.
If a traditional menu-based RPG that spans nearly 100 hours isn't your idea of a good time, run away from Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past. Run away *screaming*. On the other hand, if you want to tuck into a great RPG for months at a time, you couldn't ask for a better companion.
If a traditional menu-based RPG that spans nearly 100 hours isn't your idea of a good time, run away from Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past. Run away *screaming*. On the other hand, if you want to tuck into a great RPG for months at a time, you couldn't ask for a better companion.
Dragon Quest VII was already a great game when it released on PS1 15 years ago, but the remade Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past takes that experience and improves on it to make it the definitive experience for the seventh entry in this long running franchise.
Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is a huge but extremely charming and endearing game and stands as one of the best JRPGs I’ve played on the 3DS.
An island-hopping adventure spanning space and time, Dragon Quest VII is a JRPG masterpiece. If you played the PlayStation version back in the day, this is as perfect a remake as you could ask for, with beautiful 3D graphics, a smartly streamlined opening, and lots of welcome quality-of-life updates. And if this is your first time in Estard, you're in for a wonderful surprise — great writing, a fun class system, lovely animations and a stellar soundtrack make for a fully engrossing adventure throughout. It's a massive game, but don't let that scare you off; with short story-style pacing and a huge variety of settings, speech patterns, and scenarios, it feels less like an epic tome and more like a shelfful of storybooks stuffed into a 3DS cart. This is an absolute pleasure, and a must-play for RPG fans.
Dragon Quest VII is a compelling, detailed and enriching work that is going to envelop players in its adventures and lure them to its passionate narrative. Throughout its worlds, Dragon Quest VII puts the player at the center of a beautifully-crafted story that stands out among other games of its time...and of all times as well. A truly unmissable opus which will only marvel anyone who puts their hands on it.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a fantastic addition to the 3DS, and easily one of the best games on the system. Everything is well crafted and highly polished, and there is enough new content and variations that even if you played the PS2 version to death, you will still find lots of surprises and nuances. With high presentation values, a charming story, tons of depth, and traditional but fun JRPG battle system, Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a must own for 3DS RPG lovers, and an easy early contender for game of the year.
You don’t often play an 80+ hour game that earns every second of the time it demands.
A charmingly old-school and endlessly engrossing title that boasts over a hundred hours’ worth of content, Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past earns a slot in any JRPG lovers’ library.
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past takes a fragment of gaming’s forgotten past and breathes new life into it. Some of the more hardcore Dragon Quest fans may find the reduction in job grinding time and streamlining the intro a negative change that dumbs down the game, but I would argue that it also makes the title more accessible and more fun. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is essentially the same game we remember from the PlayStation except it has been updated and improved.
It is hard to make an RPG as classic as Dragon Quest VII. The series is known for not trying vastly different things in its mainline entries, rather sticking to a strict established formula that never disappoints its most hardcore fans, especially in Japan where it remains the absolute favourite role-playing experience for most. It is long and it moves slowly with its story, with lots of things to see and do on the side, and levelling up being very slow; however, it never gets boring and manages to hook players with a loveable story and characters served masterfully through witty dialogue, good visuals (if not technically very impressive), and a fantastic soundtrack by maestro Sugiyama-san. It feels very classic in its execution, yes, but the relative non-linearity and all things loveable about the game mentioned previously do contribute to making the long adventure a pleasant trip that never grows tedious. Fragments of the Forgotten Past is a great RPG through and through, masterfully remade for the 3DS, that offers what is perhaps the best value for money on the system in terms of RPG adventuring.
It’s a simple, and entirely appropriate confidence in the quality of the work that led the developers to craft such a lengthy quest back in 2000, and it remains every bit as worthy today.
It’s certainly a long game, and that can be daunting to many who just want a pick -up -and -play adventure. It also doesn’t change or revolutionize the RPG formula, but I would argue that it didn’t need to -; its simplicity is one of its best attributes. If you can put the time and effort into it, you’ll find that Dragon Quest VII is a charming, wonderful game that is full of heart - something that, in many ways, only a Dragon Quest game can accomplish.
An old classic revitalized and modernized in the right ways, preserving its core and best features while streamlining other elements to make it not only more enjoyable, but also more penetrable for the average player. Highly recommended.
If you enjoyed old-school JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, EarthBound and Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King then this game will be right up your alley.
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is a charming re-imagining of an RPG classic lost to the annals of time that is full of clever surprises in its complex themes and solid gameplay.
Nearly every Dragon Quest has added something unique to the gaming landscape as a whole, but Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is one of the best of the lot. As an RPG, VII simply begs to be played, though not necessarily on 3DS if you can swing it (or dig it out of a box somewhere).
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past joins the list of JRPG remasters done right on the 3DS. Instead of providing a simple upscale of the original and calling it a day, this remaster goes the extra mile by completely redoing the visuals and adding or updating gameplay elements that streamline the experience for veterans while making it more accessible to newcomers. Purists might decry some changes as dumbing down the game and nixing some of its trademark challenge. For the most part, though, this is an excellent example of how to remaster a classic.
Fragments of a Forgotten World is a great remastered. The team managed to rejuvinate the screenplay, the graphics and the gameplay, thanks to a great variety of "tasty" additions.
Review in Italian | Read full review