A JRPG infamous for its length, but proof that more content isn't always a recipe for perfection.

Dragon Quest VII starts innocuously enough, as we follow the young son of a fisherman who spends his days exploring his island home with his best friend, the unruly Prince Kiefer. When the pair find a mysterious tablet it sparks a truly massive quest that sees them dive back in time to free their world from a mighty curse that shattered the world into fragments and sealed them in darkness centuries ago. There's a brilliant structure to this adventure, with each island you visit in the past having its own complete storyline but as you get further into the story these individual plots begin to weave together into one huge narrative.

However, it's also extremely slowly paced. It takes over an hour for the first fight to occur, nearly 10 hours can go by without a full party, and I'd played for about 20 hours before I unlocked the job system - and that was still barely a quarter of the way in! If you're not a fan of grindy JRPGs then you really must avoid this game, but if you're happy to sit in for the long haul, Dragon Quest VII can be exhausting but rewarding.

Well, I was going to play this game. I got stuck trying to find where the fucking prince went after he gave me the book. I spent an hour trying to find him and NOTHING gave me any information about where he should be. The recap info didn't tell me, npcs didn't tell me. Quite honestly, one of the most frustrating things I've done in a game recently. I know its a ps1 game and man does it feel like it with not being able to tell where the fuck to go or do. I should've just started with 8 like everyone said. The game is 80+ hours long and I spent the first hour aimlessly wandering because I didn't pay enough attention to remember during the cutscene where the prince said where he was going, IF he even said it at all. This issue could be solved with a guide, or I could just play a game that doesn't require a guide. First impressions are important and this was one of the worst first impressions a game had put me through.

Une aventure hors-norme dans la pure tradition de la série, mais avec un supplément dans la trame scénaristique qui prend la forme d'une reconstruction d'un monde déchu.

Les histoires s'enchaînent, touchantes et variées, sur un rythme lent, mais bien huilé. Et toujours, au bout du compte, cette narration pleine d'humanité qui permet d'élever le moindre PNJ au rang de personnage attachant.

La lutte est semée d'embûches, de ramages de la 3DS, le voyage très long, ponctué de classes à farmer jusqu'à plus soif, mais on ressort de l'aventure dépaysé, éreinté, le cœur empli de mélancolie en repensant à toutes les épreuves traversées. L'un des meilleurs épisodes de la série une fois qu'on parvient à l'appréhender.

I gotta play the PS1 version someday but I just love this game man it means a lot to me.

If Dragon Quest already was a series about having fun simplified RPG adventures this is like, literally a playable One Piece (or Shonen anime) with big story intrigue, lovable filler to add variety, and a cast that changes and grows over time.

It’s evident DQ changed after Chrono Trigger and this title shows that the biggest lesson they learned is that time travel can absolutely make for stellar world building even for small locations while adding epic stakes.

I love this game

Well this was definitely a journey,DQ7 is heavily flawed,most of the skills you get from grinding the classes are worthless and you end up using a few OP one over and over,trivilazing the fights,user interface feels very sluggish and cumbersome to control,game sometimes struggles on the 3DS,dungeons are overall very "meh" worthy,i can keep going,but in the grand scheme of things,these are fairly minor issues except for the very simple battles,because this game provides an overwhelming sense of scale and adventure like no other JRPG,every few hours you encounter different storylines,different towns with their own culture,atmosphere and characters,even if you don't like one,you can count on that it's going to end soon for a completely new island.Tone of some of these stories are surprisingly dark and melancholic,but never enough to kill that sense of joyous adventure.Out of the 3 Dragon Quest games i've played so far,7 easily has the best story and atmosphere,but it didn't still reached the heights of 11 for me,still a must play for those who can tolerate longer,slower paced RPG's

Goddamn this shit got so meandering.

I love dragon quest as a franchise, but this one kept just getting slower and slower and losing more and more of my interest narratively until Maribel, who is easily the worst character in the franchise yet, just killed the remainder of it when I was forced to include her back into my party.

A really cool gameplay concept and the statisfaction of collectible completion kept me going til the credits, only to find out the reward for doing that is meeting a god who doesn't particularly care that you unfucked his mess. If you like DQ, go for it if you're thirsty for more, if you want a better narrative, play 11, 8 or even 9 if you haven't.

Dragon Quest can often feel like a lengthy series, from grinding out experience and cash to solving every town’s problems again and again and again. DQ7 will test your endurance more than any other in the franchise, but I promise it’s so worth it.

The cast is one of the strongest I’ve experienced despite only two party members carrying plot relevant reasons to endure the journey. Gameplay progression systems from DQ6 return with far more balance and updated use, making them welcome additions this time around.

The story really relies on your thirst for adventure in the first 15-20 hours or so as you begin to feel out your companions and you all start to see the effects your actions enable. It’s built mostly on what would be considered small subplots for over half the game before you’re hit with point blank narrative relevance. Despite the lull of story beats, each subplot is more interesting than the last and the myriad of themes presented throughout each are a treat each time.

Unfortunately I can’t praise the game’s finer points without major spoilers, but in conclusion DQ7 is well worth the time for those with some patience and a hunger for the unknown