The unique Dragon Quest 7 is a bonafide basic JRPG, however even its most ardent followers – myself included – will admit its fragmented story has some fairly severe pacing points. Apparently, Sq. Enix agrees, because the lately revealed Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined cuts some pointless subplots and provides new scenes supposed to make the plot really feel extra streamlined, based on the builders.
In a newly revealed Sq. Enix interview with Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined producer Takeshi Ichikawa, this problem of pacing is addressed.
“The ‘reimagined’ parts of the narrative allude to enhancements within the recreation’s general framework, which affords a a lot deeper and extra compelling expertise,” mentioned Ichikawa. “In our effort to streamline the general story development and supply a extra participating narrative, we determined to chop subplots which have little or no direct relevance to the principle state of affairs.”
A lot of Dragon Quest 7’s important quest is actually made up of interconnected mini quests sending the participant to varied islands to resolve their inhabitants’ respective issues. All of it comes collectively in a fantastically melancholic method, however I positively bear in mind some subplots that felt notably pointless. It appears like Sq. Enix is taking out those it deems irrelevant to the principle plot and changing them, though not essentially at a 1:1 scale, with extra significant ones.
“Whereas some content material has been eliminated, solely new eventualities have additionally been launched,” added Ichikawa. “Our objective was to construct upon the strengths of the unique recreation whereas striving to ship a deeper, extra immersive story expertise for contemporary gamers.”
All of this helps to drive residence Sq. Enix’s level about Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined being a full-fledged ground-up overhaul of the 25-year-old authentic, just like the HD-2D remakes of Dragon Quest 1-3 however with an artwork model I am personally extra drawn to as somebody who did not develop up with the NES video games.
Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined launches on Swap, Swap 2, PS5, Xbox Collection X, and PC on February 5, 2026.
Listed here are the finest JRPGs you’ll be able to play within the meantime.
