Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is the newest recreation to grace the quilt of Recreation Informer, and to study extra about this recreation for the quilt story, I traveled to Tokyo, Japan, to play two hours of the sport and interview the crew behind it, too. With this being the second remake of Dragon Quest VII, following the 2016 Nintendo 3DS remake, I used to be inquisitive about the place you even begin with a undertaking 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 strain concerned, and extra. Here is what I realized.
“To be trustworthy, I did really feel some strain, however for probably 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, however, did not really feel a lot strain. “I used to be actually excited with the prospect of bringing these modifications,” he tells me. “After we first kicked off the undertaking, we had in thoughts three fundamental parts that we actually wished 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 without doubt one of the hottest installments within the sequence, however our aim was to supply a reimagined expertise to gamers all all over the world. However once more, I didn’t actually essentially really feel strain.”Once I ask the place the crew began with Reimagined, Ichikawa explains it is a remake centered on showcasing what makes Dragon Quest VII so nice to trendy audiences. Which means maintaining the story intact, though lead state of affairs author Sayaka Takagi defined to me in a distinct interview how the crew streamlined the primary state of affairs; you’ll be able to examine that right here.
“I actually thought that the story of the unique was important to maintain,” Ichikawa says. “If you take 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 plenty of struggles, and it’s, general, form of a bit darker. That [darkness] is the one factor that I wished to retain for positive 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 recreation on PlayStation. Retaining this tone was essential for Reimagined, he provides, calmly dipping into spoiler territory to debate Prince Kiefer, a celebration member of the sport. I will not spoil something right here, however for those who’re accustomed to the sport, Kiefer makes an important choice within the story, and although within the preliminary levels of growth the crew contemplated maintaining it (and different narrative moments) within the recreation, it remained. “That is undoubtedly one factor that we had been debating if we should always preserve or not, however in the long run, we determined it is simply too important for the story,” Yagi says. “There are plenty of areas the place we debated to maintain or not preserve, however in the long run, for probably the most half, we determined to maintain [things in place]. But it surely’s not maintaining them as is. We did find yourself making some little changes and preparations right here and there.”
Talking extra broadly, Yagi says the crew behind Reimagined “actually wished to make the general recreation 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.
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