Dragon Warrior VII

Written by John Scalzo  on January 18, 2002

Review: Let's party like its 1992!

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It has been a long time between the last Dragon Warrior game and the latest game, number seven. Dragon Warrior IV was released on the NES way back in 1992. So I've been waiting nine years for Enix to bring another Dragon Warrior game to the states. Nine years, no one has been waiting as long as Dragon Warrior fans have. Well, except maybe Metroid fans. The point is though that after the disappointment that was Dragon Warrior IV, which followed on the heels of the near perfect Dragon Warrior III, I didn't know what to expect.
I should have known better of course. Enix has packed Dragon Warrior VII (DW7) with all sorts of old school goodness. Almost all of the familiar sounds make a return appearance. The same Title Menu music, the same level up sound, the same staying overnight at the Inn sound. While these blips and beeps may not be your thing, the rousing orchestral score will surely make anyone sit up and take notice. The game also sports a similar look to it's predecessors. The graphics do not push the envelope the way the Final Fantasy series has tried to do. Rather the game features graphics that could have easily been done on a Super NES. Despite this style, DW7 doesn't take place in a flat 2D world. Enix has created a rotating 3D world that allows you to see everything in this gaming world. Although I think the Super NES and it's Mode 7 engine could have handled the 3D engine (and if you know what Mode 7 is, then you're the intended audience for DW7).

Of course the story has that Dragon Warrior feel. The hero (who is always a lowly peasant) is called in to meet the king. You learn of the great evil that is sweeping the lands. And you, with your party, must put a stop to it. It's slightly more complex than that, you have to gather shards to travel to the past and stop the evil that is encroaching on the present. But Dragon Warrior games were never about the story. They were about defeating the great evil. The whole beginning is full of endless backtracking, item collecting, and a huge sense that you have no idea where to go next. After all these years of 2D to 3D updates, gamers have been asking if games could keep their original style but just take advantage of the new system's power. Dragon Warrior VII does this. There are no new outstanding graphical tricks or cut scenes that take it away from the original. This is pure Dragon Warrior.

There have been a few updates to the formula, but for the most part I'm going to keep referring to how similar this game is to all of the previous Dragon Warriors. There is a minimal amount of FMV used in DW7, so the game is not completely pure. And it is actually so bad, I'd have preferred if they just left it out completely. A Dragon Warrior game has the story unfold in the dialogue. The pages and pages of great Dragon Warrior dialogue, and DW7 is no exception. And finally you don't need to keep accessing the menu to get to that dialogue. In the previous Dragon Warrior games, you would have to go into the menu and select Talk. Now Enix has included an Action Button that will allow you to bypass the menu when you want to talk to someone or open a treasure chest.

The formula returns when you venture out to fight the monsters that are overrunning the world. The battles are totally first person; you never see your character fighting. Everything is controlled through a simple menu system where you can pick whether you want your character to attack, cast a spell, use a battle skill, use an item, or run away like a wimp. You are also given the option of giving your party members a Battle Plan. Which is a very nice feature, but I prefer the old fashioned way of controlling every aspect of a fight. The battles are entirely text based, but new for DW7 is the inclusion of animated enemy attacks. The animations look good and another staple of the Dragon Warrior series is very cool looking monsters. And DW7 does not disappoint in that category. There's the familiar Slimes, Golems and Babbles, and a whole slew of new monsters that have a style all their own.

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.

So there's doubt about it, this game is massive. Enix has made the claim that even the most hardened DW vets will need 100 hours to find everything. 120 hours if they're not quite so lucky. Your first battle doesn't take place until three hours in. The Dharma Temple won't be reached until about 25-30 hours in. The game moves at a leisurely pace. All right, it's a downright slow pace, and more than a few times it'll drive you buggy. You will have to constantly backtrack through the Ruins to travel between the past and the present. And while toned down quite a bit from the NES days, you'll still have to do plenty of random encounters leveling up.