Considering its status as one of the most respected grandfathers of the JRPG genre, the last two years have been special for Dragon Quest fans. For a franchise that has struggled with a scattered and inconsistent release cadence between mainline entries, Square Enix’s recent streak of thoughtful HD-2D remakes has gone a long way toward reinvigorating the series and bringing it back into modern consciousness. It left me genuinely excited to see Square continue the work of bringing the entire franchise to modern audiences.
With that said, I was surprised by the decision to immediately follow up the Erdrick Trilogy with Dragon Quest VII. For one, this game already received a remake on Nintendo 3DS, so it hasn’t exactly been absent from the spotlight. It is also one of the most notorious entries in the series, delayed on the original PlayStation until the PlayStation 2 was already on shelves, leaving parts of it feeling dated even at launch, and infamous for being a 100-hour minimum commitment.
So while part of me wished Square had stayed the course and continued remaking entries in chronological order, the news that they were intentionally returning to streamline this absolute behemoth immediately caught my attention. Add to that a complete visual facelift that trades HD-2D for a more fully realized 3D chibi style, which I was initially apprehensive about, and I found myself wondering if this new remake would hit me the same way the HD-2D Erdrick Trilogy did over the past two years.
So, having now completed it, is this second remake of this notorious entry successful?
Fragments of the Forgotten Past
As is typical with the Dragon Quest series, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is a largely standalone adventure, following a new hero on a new journey with only spiritual and thematic ties to prior entries. You begin with your personally named hero, his best friend Kiefer, and longtime childhood friend Maribel, when the hero’s father returns from a fishing trip with a mysterious map fragment that hints at the existence of long forgotten islands.
For years, your home island of Estard had been the only landmass in a vast ocean of nothingness. Now there is proof of life beyond the horizon. This fragment allows the party to travel back in time to the moment these lost islands were still part of a greater continent, before something caused them to vanish. Suddenly, the crew is thrust into a sprawling odyssey through time, restoring fractured lands and unraveling a mystery that eventually grows into something far more grand in scale.
Compared to the Erdrick Trilogy’s more straightforward heroic tale of lineage and world-saving destiny, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined embraces a broader, kitchen sink approach to storytelling. With countless individual island arcs across both past and present timelines, layered on top of the central mystery and your expanding party roster, it becomes clear why the original version demanded over 100 hours to complete. The structure often feels closer to a long-running shonen anime like One Piece, where individual story arcs carry you forward through a massive overarching narrative.
This episodic format works both for and against the game. Unlike the Erdrick Trilogy, where most town stories fed directly into the main narrative thread, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined leans into self-contained arcs with softer connective tissue. Each island story has a clear beginning and end, giving the experience a procedural TV show rhythm. During long play sessions, this stop-and-start structure can feel repetitive and exhausting. The game is far better enjoyed in measured chunks rather than extended marathons. Square even seems aware of this, offering a detailed story recap every time you load your save.
Gods of the Evil Spirits
Thankfully, most of these individual stories remain genuinely compelling. Dragon Quest has traditionally been viewed as a gameplay-first JRPG, with simpler narratives designed to support the adventure. After playing through the Erdrick Trilogy, that assessment felt mostly fair. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, however, surprised me with how consistently effective its storytelling can be. There is a strong blend of whimsical charm and unexpected darkness here. The contrast between the childlike tone of your heroes and the often tragic revelations uncovered in the past never loses its impact. By the end, the game earns your emotional investment in both its party and its world, building effectively on the narrative strengths that stood out in my favorite game from the Erdrick Trilogy, Dragon Quest II HD-2D Remake.
Square Enix marketed Dragon Quest VII Reimagined as a significantly streamlined experience, cutting the original 100-hour runtime roughly in half. I can confirm they delivered on that promise, with my playthrough landing almost exactly at 50 hours. Despite not having full context on every change made, the result still feels like a complete and cohesive journey. Outside of a somewhat rushed final arc, the pacing rarely feels compromised. Even at 50 hours, it remains a lengthy adventure, but considering what it once was, this stands as an impressive act of editing.
Taken on its own terms as a modern entry aimed at a new audience, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined absolutely works.
Warriors of Eden
Unlike Square Enix’s other flagship JRPG franchise, which constantly reinvents itself, Dragon Quest has always been defined by its commitment to traditional turn-based design. If you’ve played recent entries, you already understand the core structure of party management, leveling, magic growth, and combat flow. The real interest lies in the small system tweaks layered on top.
In Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, those changes revolve primarily around its dual vocation system and an excellent slate of quality-of-life improvements. The vocation system blends ideas from Dragon Quest II & III, allowing clearly defined characters to grow into powerful specialized roles or shift into entirely new ones depending on your preferred playstyle.
The standout feature here is the Moonlighting system, which allows party members to equip two vocations simultaneously. Want a warrior-magician hybrid? A dancer-thief? A frontline bruiser with support utility? The system enables an impressive range of combinations once unlocked. Paired with Dragon Quest’s satisfying power scaling, this creates a deep sense of customization and progression that consistently rewards experimentation.
More importantly, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined finally represents Square Enix’s strongest quality-of-life pass yet. While the Erdrick Trilogy remakes made welcome improvements, they still carried frustrating omissions. This time around, most of my lingering complaints have been addressed. The near elimination of random encounters is easily the most impactful change. Enemies now appear directly in the overworld and dungeons, similar to Dragon Quest XI and other modern JRPGs. This single adjustment dramatically improves pacing, reduces frustration, and makes exploration far more enjoyable. It encourages players to engage with side paths and hidden areas without the constant fear of unavoidable punishment.
Difficulty customization also receives a meaningful upgrade. Instead of blunt preset modes or invincibility-style God Modes, players can now fine-tune individual parameters like experience gain, damage scaling, enemy aggression, and more. These options don’t break the game’s core balance, but they allow players to shape a playthrough that feels challenging without becoming tedious. For this review, I stuck with standard combat difficulty while increasing experience and money gains, which maintained tension while smoothing grind-heavy sections. I sincerely hope this becomes the franchise standard moving forward.
Visually, I was initially skeptical of Dragon Quest VII Reimagined’s new art direction. The shift away from HD-2D toward a stylized 3D chibi presentation felt odd in early footage. Fortunately, those concerns disappeared once I saw the game in motion. The character models capture the whimsical spirit of Akira Toriyama’s designs beautifully, giving them a unique visual identity that feels both modern and faithful. While environments are less striking, the expressive character work more than compensates. It remains a consistently charming game to look at.
Considering how dated the original Dragon Quest VII felt even at release, this reimagining gives the game a much-needed visual refresh. The soundtrack, however, remains a mixed bag. Individual tracks and leitmotifs are strong, but repetition over long sessions becomes grating, to the point where muting the game becomes tempting. Thankfully, voice acting is solid across the board and adds welcome emotional weight to key story moments.
It’s not easy doing a reimagining that manages to cut a lot of fat while keeping most of the impact intact. Thankfully, Square Enix achieved it with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, preserving the whimsical impact of the original story, while removing the arduous length that originally plagued it. Combined with the best slate of quality of life enhancements, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined emerges as the strongest of the series’ recent preservation efforts, and an overall strong JRPG for fans and newcomers alike.
Thank you to our PR partners and Square-Enix for the review access to Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. You can find Seasoned Gaming’s review policy here.
Great review! Keep it up.
Stoked to pick this up, appreciate the review!