Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past Critic Reviews

If you seek classic Japanese RPG in its most traditional way, you'll be fully satisfied with this superb Dragon Quest VII remake. An incredibly long adventure, lots of secrets, charismatic characters and a good variety of vocational classes.

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 twofold. The rebuilt visuals look great on the 3DS and pair well with the already exceptional story and gameplay to make Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past the definitive experience for the seventh entry in this long running franchise.

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 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.

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.

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’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.

Like an old magical book, the dust just needed to be wiped off carefully to reawaken Dragon Quest VII's huge power. And that's exactly what ArtePiazza did, illuminating this world remelted through the third dimension, while multiple gameplay adjustments provide a more fluid experience. Fragments of the Past also kept very conservative traditions, hence embarking on such a long journey with so ancient - though proven - equipment demands real commitment. But by taking its time to tell the story, this generous episode delivers a sense of freedom, mystery, then a deep feeling of accomplishment at the end, treasures that are still rare these days.

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.

Thankfully, this is a remaster of one of Square Enix’s all time classics, and it’s not arrogance from the developers at all in crafting a game that will take over 100 hours to complete. 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.

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 an amazing remake of a great jRPG from the past. The new gameplay features grant a better and brand new experience for both old and new players.

You don’t often play an 80+ hour game that earns every second of the time it demands.

The best kind of remake – it show the game the way you remember it, not the way it really was.

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.

Dragon Quest VII was a great PSX JRPG and now it's a more solid experience: the best graphics, an upgrade class system that is well-balanced and lot of content to discover.

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).

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.