Dragon Quest VII
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Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshi-tachi (Japanese: エデンの戦士たち, lit. Warriors of Eden) is a Japanese console role-playing game developed by Heartbeat and published by Enix for the Sony PlayStation in 2000. It was released in North America in 2001 under the title Dragon Warrior VII. It was not announced for localization to North America until a year after its Japanese release.
Dragon Quest VII was the first original installment of the popular Dragon Quest series of role playing games since Dragon Quest VI for the Super Famicom in 1995. An immediate success upon release, Dragon Quest VII's sales totalled 4.1 million, making it the best selling console role playing game, and the third highest selling console video game overall, in Japanese history. It was also the first regular Dragon Quest title to be released outside of Asia since the release of Dragon Quest IV (Dragon Warrior IV) in North America in 1992. It was also the last Dragon Quest title to be released in North America in the Dragon Warrior name. In 2003, Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark in the U.S., with the intent to retire the Dragon Warrior name.
The game was produced by Yuji Horii, who has presided over the Dragon Quest series since its inception. Artwork and character designs were once again provided by Akira Toriyama, the artist responsible for all previous Dragon Quest games, and world famous Manga-ka whose creations include Dragon Ball, Dragonball Z, and Dr. Slump.
Story
Dragon Quest VII tells the story of a young boy, the son of a prominent fisherman in the small island town of Fishbel, and his friends. He begins his adventure when he discovers a mysterious fragment of a map his father brought home from a fishing trip. Further investigations lead him to discover that the world he lives on, which seems to consist of only his small island, used to contain many continents that have somehow been sealed away.
Characters
- Hero — The hero has no default name: as is traditional in the Dragon Quest series, the name is supplied by the player. The hero is a lifelong native of the town of Fishbel on Estard Island. He is good friends with Maribel, daughter of the mayor of Fishbel, and Kiefer, prince of Estard Castle. In particular, he has a fondness for going out on impromptu "adventures" with Kiefer. It is one such adventure than begins the story of the game.
In terms of gameplay, the hero is a well-rounded character who is one of the strongest fighters in the game. He also lays claim to a variety of healing magics, and has fairly average statistical growth.
- Kiefer — Kiefer is a prince of Estard, and the presumptive heir to the throne. Far from anticipating his elevation to kingship, however, Kiefer seems to resent his royal blood, and is a source of endless worry and frustration to his family and advisors. Kiefer, for his part, spends much of his time in search of excitement and adventure, and has found a kindred spirit in the hero, whom he considers his closest friend.
Kiefer is incredibly strong, with a high physical attack statistic and naturally high hit points (HP). He is the most powerful character available early on in the game.
- Maribel — A friend of both the hero and Kiefer, Maribel is the daughter of the mayor of Fishbel. Unlike Kiefer, who has steadfastly refused to let his social status influence how he looks upon other people, Maribel tends to be a bit condescending, even bossy. Despite this, she gets along well with her friends, and occasionally accompanies them on their adventuring, even if she sometimes has to pressure them into letting her tag along.
Maribel is primarily a magic user: with low starting physical statistics, and an early lack of powerful weapons available for her use, it takes a good deal of time before she can do anything approaching the amount of physical damage inflicted by some of the other characters. On the other hand, Maribel has access to a variety of damaging attack spells relatively early on.
- Gabo — Although he appears normal, Gabo is actually a white wolf pup who was irrevocably turned into a boy. As such, he retains a number of obvious lupine characteristics, and can be somewhat animalistic at times. He agrees to travel with the heroes hoping to protect his family, but remains with the group out of a sense of loyalty.
Gabo's speciality is in physical combat. Despite his diminutive size, he can easily become as powerful as the Hero, Melvin, and Aira through mastery of the class system.
- Melvin — A skilled paladin of generations past, Melvin fought on the side of God against the Demon Lord many years ago. Melvin excelled at his work, and distinguished himself in both skill and honor. As such, Melvin was petrified in stone by God, so that, should the need arise, he could be reawakened to once again take up the fight against evil. The party finds Melvin, who joins their adventure, although his age and unfamiliarity with the present day often leads other characters somewhat befuddled.
Melvin is proficient at both magic and physical combat, though his magic casting abilities are slightly superior to his physical attack skills.
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- Aira — Aira is the lead ritual dancer of the Deja tribe, an ancient race of people charged with the stewardship of a temple necessary in the act of calling forth God. Raised and trained at swordsmanship, Aira is a more than capable fighter, as well. But, for all her skills, Aira harbors a secret from her past that weighs heavily upon her soul.
Aira is a powerful fighter and magic user. Although capable of doing both significant physical and significant magical damage, Aira stands in contrast to Melvin, in that her magic skills tend to lag slightly behind her physical statistics.
Gameplay
Dragon Quest VII is best known for its huge size. Without completing the game's side quests, a single game of Dragon Quest VII can take 80 hours or more. In terms of gameplay, not much has changed from previous installments: battles are still fought in turn-based mode from a first person perspective. Although non-battle sequences are rendered in 3D, battles themselves are still portrayed two dimensionally.Dragon Quest VII uses a class system for learning abilities, similar to that of Dragon Quest VI. Some available classes include Warrior, Fighter, Cleric, Dancer, Jester, Thief, Teen Idol, Pirate, Ranger, Dragoon, and God Hand.
Soundtrack
As with every Dragon Quest, Koichi Sugiyama composed the music and directed all the associated spinoffs. As a first for the series, the original sound version was bundled with the symphonic suite in a two-disc set. Here is the tracklisting for this release:
Disc One (Orchestrated Tracks)
- Overture (1:54)
- Morning in Eden (1:23)
- Saraband (2:47)
- Echo of Horns Throughout the Castle (1:31)
- Heavenly Village (2:29)
- Days of Sadness (4:23)
- Strolling in the Town (8:08)
- Memories of a Lost World ~ Moving Through the Present (4:32)
- Shadow of Death (6:12)
- Fighting Spirit ~ World of the Strong (5:43)
- Sphinx ~ Mysterious Sanctuary (3:48)
- Aboard Ship ~ Pirates of the Sea (4:09)
- To My Loved One (3:26)
- Screams from the Tower of Monsters (5:16)
- With Sadness in Heart ~ A Safe Haven (5:04)
- Magic Carpet (3:28)
- Over the Horizon (3:48)
- Orgo Demila (3:44)
- Triumphal Return ~ Epilogue (Orchestrated) (6:36)
- Overture VII (1:24)
- Intermezzo (5:21)
- Morning in Eden (1:16)
- Saraband (1:43)
- Echo of Horns Throughout the Castle (1:13)
- Heavenly Village (1:08)
- Days of Sadness (1:59)
- Relaxing Corner (1:44)
- Paradise (2:22)
- Time Sleep Park (1:47)
- Singing Stadium (1:15)
- Memories of a Lost World (1:14)
- Moving Through the Present (2:15)
- Shadow of Death (5:56)
- Fighting Spirit (1:51)
- World of the Strong (1:44)
- Sphinx (1:52)
- Mysterious Sacntuary (1:18)
- Aboard Ship ~ Pirates of the Sea (2:32)
- To My Loved One (1:33)
- Revival Prayer (0:45)
- Toûra Dance (0:46)
- Screams from the Tower of Monsters (5:41)
- With Sadness in Heart (2:37)
- A Safe Haven (0:59)
- Magic Carpet (1:44)
- Over the Horizon (2:51)
- Orgo Demila (2:44)
- Triumphal Return ~ Epilogue (6:24)
Trivia
- Dragon Quest VII was originally planned from the Super Famicom.
- The back of the Dragon Warrior VII Manual in the US contained an advertisement for the cancelled localization of the Dragon Quest IV remake.
External links
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