Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is the most recent sport to grace the quilt of Sport Informer, and to be taught extra about this sport for the quilt story, I traveled to Tokyo, Japan, to play two hours of the sport and interview the workforce behind it, too. With this being the second remake of Dragon Quest VII, following the 2016 Nintendo 3DS remake, I used to be interested by the place you even begin with a mission like this.
So I requested producer Takeshi Ichikawa and director Masato Yagi about their thought processes behind growing the sport, which parts are sacred floor in Dragon Quest VII, if there’s any stress concerned, and extra. Here is what I discovered.
“To be trustworthy, I did really feel some stress, however for essentially the most half, I felt the identical as Ichikawa right here,” Yagi tells me. “I used to be excited with the thought of bringing these new modifications.” Ichikawa, then again, did not really feel a lot stress.
“I used to be definitely excited with the prospect of bringing these modifications,” he tells me. “Once we first kicked off the mission, we had in thoughts three fundamental parts that we actually needed to reimagine for this model; the primary one being the visuals, the second being the state of affairs or the story, and the third one being the battle. […] It is among the hottest installments within the sequence, however our objective was to supply a reimagined expertise to gamers all around the globe. However once more, I didn’t actually essentially really feel stress.”
After I ask the place the workforce began with Reimagined, Ichikawa explains it is a remake targeted on showcasing what makes Dragon Quest VII so nice to fashionable audiences. Which means protecting the story intact, though lead state of affairs author Sayaka Takagi defined to me in a special interview how the workforce streamlined the principle state of affairs; you possibly can examine that right here.
“I actually thought that the story of the unique was important to maintain,” Ichikawa says. “Once you have a look at [all of the] mainline installments, Dragon Quest VII’s story is sort of distinctive and probably not just like the others. These characters […] undergo a variety of struggles, and it’s, general, type of a bit darker. That [darkness] is the one factor that I needed to retain for certain within the remake.”
Yagi agrees with Ichikawa, telling me in a sequence stuffed with lighthearted tales with a extra loving tone, Dragon Quest VII is darker. He remembers asking, “Is that this really a Dragon Quest story?” whereas taking part in the unique sport on PlayStation. Retaining this tone was vital for Reimagined, he provides, flippantly dipping into spoiler territory to debate Prince Kiefer, a celebration member of the sport.
I will not spoil something right here, however when you’re conversant in the sport, Kiefer makes a vital choice within the story, and although within the preliminary phases of growth the workforce contemplated protecting it (and different narrative moments) within the sport, it remained.
“That is undoubtedly one factor that we have been debating if we should always maintain or not, however in the long run, we determined it is simply too important for the story,” Yagi says. “There are a variety of areas the place we debated to maintain or not maintain, however in the long run, for essentially the most half, we determined to maintain [things in place]. However it’s not protecting them as is. We did find yourself making some little changes and preparations right here and there.”
Talking extra broadly, Yagi says the workforce behind Reimagined “actually needed to make the general sport expertise extra immersive for our gamers [and that’s why we streamlined the story. It’s also why we made some adjustments to the combat.”
Closing out our conversation on the philosophy behind this remake, Ichikawa tells me, “Reimagined” implies everything is new. He says, “We really built everything from the ground up. We rebuilt everything, aside from the scenario, from scratch. In order to convey that sentiment, we felt that ‘Reimagined’ would be the most adequate title instead of ‘Remake.'”
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined launches February 5 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC.
In the meantime, check out this article breaking down everything in the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined issue of Game Informer, and be sure to subscribe here if you haven’t yet so you can access the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined cover story, our deep dive into Dragon Quest history with creator Yuji Horii, and so much more.
