Dragon Warrior VII

"Extremely fun"

Introduction:
Dragon Warrior VII is probably the most selling Playstation game in Japan when it first came out. Everyone was hyped and could not wait to get their hands on it, including me. It was definitely worth the wait. But, it was not so popular in the U.S. The Dragon Warrior/Quest series has always been known for old school, simplistic, fun and challenging. The game itself takes a long time to beat, around 100-200 hours if you are doing every sidequest, 300 hours if you are a perfectionist. Read this review and decide if you want to rent, buy or pass this game.

Story: 8/10
I really love the story, it was enjoyable, well, at least for me. You are the son of a fisherman. Kiefer, the prince of Estard castle is a close friend of you. The both of you would always hang out on your secret base almost everyday. Your secret base is located near a ruin, and the both of you are thinking how to open the door to it. So, they thought of lots of ways and finally, they managed to open the door. They found out something amazing and was warped to a different place. From there, your adventure starts. As you adventure, you found out something even more interesting! I will not spoil the rest for you. If you wanna know, buy the game.

Gameplay: 8/10
The usual Dragon Warrior/Quest gameplay, you walk around on a land and you will encounter random battles. At the start, you have four commands, fight, talk, strategy and flee. Fight lets you battle the enemy, talk allows you to chat with your teammates for some funny dialogue, strategy lets you set AI for your friends and flee lets you run away from a battle. If you decide to fight, you can choose to slash the enemy, cast magic, heal when your life is low, etc. Pretty simple.

Graphics: 9/10
Do not judge a book by it's cover, the same rule applies to here. It may seem that the graphics is poorly done and sucks, your wrong. The graphics are great, especially for a Dragon Quest game.
Characters are done nicely, buildings are in three dimensional. Monsters are designed well and nice too. The animated attacks, casting magic are done nicely too. I think they did an excellent job here.

Sound: 9/10
They really did an excellent job here as well. Beautiful orchestrated music... you will fall in love with it after hearing. Different situation has different music. For example, a town has been petrified, you can hear the sad song in the background. I really like the music in the background when you are battling with an enemy, it is very cheerful.

Overall: 9/10
I give it a 9. I highly recommend you to buy this game. It is very addictive and fun. There are tons of sidequests to do too. If you are a Dragon Quest fan, you MUST get this game because it simply rules. But, the ultimate decision lies with you. Once you try it, you will love it!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/07

Game Release: Dragon Warrior VII (US, 10/31/01)