PlayStation

Dragon Warrior VII

Malgré une apparence et un fonctionnement classiques, Dragon Quest VII se révèle comme un jeu à la richesse hors du commun qui saura captiver tout passionné de jeu de rôle japonais, grâce à un scénario riche et varié. Ce dernier fait vivre des aventures dont les thèmes tantôt épiques, tantôt tragiques, tantôt humoristiques, plongent le joueur dans un univers charmant et coloré, mais où l'adversité, la tragédie et la fatalité existent aussi : tout comme vos compagnons hauts en couleur, vous aurez du mal à le quitter !

DW7 is arguably one of the longest console RPGs ever made (topping out at a whopping 100 hours, give or take 20) and, unlike many other long RPGs, it is designed to be played at a comfortable pace. The plot has been cleverly divided into simple episodes that are neither time-consuming nor over-demanding of the players memory. In other words, the designers actually went out of their way to make a time-management-friendly game, something that can easily be picked up or put down without fear of losing interest. I find this refreshing after suffering through RPGs that expected me to remember details from hour 5 to comprehend the fourth plot-twist in hour 37.

DW7 also utilizes an incredibly deep character class system. This doesn't come into play until you reach the Dharma Temple about a quarter of the way through the game, but wow. Mixing and matching the almost endless number of classes to create the perfect killing machine could almost be a game in itself. Then there's the Immigrant Town, where you can send people to a deserted island and turn it into a thriving metropolis. There's the Tiny Medals, which may lead to a bounty of booty. And the Monster Book, taking a page from Pokemon, you gotta catch 'em all! Suffice it to say there are more than enough side quests and opportunities for fun in Dragon Warrior to keep even the pickiest player busy.

The fact that all 100+ hours of Dragon Warrior VII are so entertaining is a testament to the quality of the game that lies beneath the dated visuals and clunky presentation. Enix's near-obsession with the past may leave those who never experienced the earlier games out of the loop, but Dragon Warrior VII manages to recreate what was good about those past games, while fixing many, but not quite all, of the flaws. It's unfortunate that Enix was so bound by series tradition that it couldn't update the game in many areas where it could still be improved, but it's an equal shame that many gamers will overlook an otherwise wonderful game for those exact reasons.

Appearances can be deceiving, and if you can look pas DWVII’s vintage outer shell, you’ll find one of the deepest, most satisfying RPGs the PS1—or any other console, for that matter—has yet seen.

The game is absolutely huge and chock full of character advancement options and mini-games. This is a game that cannot be finished in a weekend...or even a week of straight play. While some people might take that as a challenge I suggest you take your time with this game and rediscover what role-playing games were meant to be.

Dragon Warrior VII comes from one of the most popular series of video games in Japanese history, but it won't be reaching the astronomical sales figures here that it did in the East. However, it's a game that knows its target audience well, and it will undoubtedly find a niche among American RPG players. If you know you're in the market for a very lengthy and ultimately satisfying RPG and know you can get over the visuals, you owe it to yourself to give Dragon Warrior VII a try.

I know that the title's first-person battles are a series staple, but I'm not sold. When you've got crude graphics anyway, why not at least show some spellcasting animations or victory celebrations? RPGers should love this for the look back that it is, but others may get lost in all the backtracking.

If I wasn't playing this to review it, I would've turned off Dragon Warrior VII about an hour into it. I'm sorry to say, four million Japanese can be wrong.

For the most part, Dragon Warrior VII captures the fun of old-school role-playing. It's not particularly complicated and the general gameplay will appeal to most RPG fans. Still, this latest incarnation pays almost too much of a tribute to past Dragon Warrior games, offering sound, graphics, and writing that seem like a step backwards in their simplicity. If you are looking for a classic console RPG to spend lots of time working your way through, this game will fits the bill. It's just too bad that 'classic' also can mean 'dated.' At least it's cheaper than tickets to Hawaii.

Despite it's enormously time-consuming battles (hey, I got some reading done anyway), the storyline isn't half bad. Not all of my time playing the game was spent leveling up, y'know. A lot of it was also spent talking to people in towns and discovering little unimportant nuggets of plot that aren't really necessary to advance the story, but are still fun to know. Plus, I've been a sucker for time travel ever since I first saw Back to the Future, so this game was right up my alley. Will it be right up yours? I honestly can't say. If you're someone to give up after a mere fifty hours of gameplay, you'd might as well not even bother with this game. There's no way you'd be able to complete the whole thing. As for the rest of you: if you don't mind the SNES graphics, then go for it. You may not like it more than you liked all these new-fangled Final Fantasies; but if you pass up on Dragon Warrior VII, you're passing up on a pretty good game.

Is a structure as solid as granite with a wealth of rewarding options enough to counter the fact that Dragon Warrior VII looks and sounds like it predates the concept of predating? If you thrive on memories of games like Breath of Fire, then Dragon Warrior VII will fit like an old, beat-up glove. If you don’t even want to touch BOF on your GBA, then by all means wait until Tidus hits the PS2 scenes just a couple months from now. DWVII is a great game in an awful or is it just nostalgic package; a title that would be considered a classic if it had been released, oh, seven years ago today.