Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined marks a third way to play what might be one of the most divisive entries in the Dragon Quest series. Ironically enough, this new Remake is also very divisive in itself, accruing less score compared to more recent games like Dragon Quest 11. Dragon Quest 7 first released in the year 2000 for PS1, a very late era title considering that the PS2 was right around the corner, it was also Enix’s longest Dragon Quest entry to date. Some might believe this is amazing, thinking on how many dangerous foes and dungeons one would tackle but this wasn’t really the case, what carried Dragon Quest 7 was the story and immersion.
To many, Dragon Quest 7 was a very divisive title, and it also happened to be one of the few Dragon Quest games released overseas, named Dragon Warrior 7 at the time, it left people wondering what happened with the other unreleased entries. The same happened with Final Fantasy during that year so people overseas were a bit accustomed to just having entries mysteriously vanish without any explanation. To make things worse, Dragon Warrior 7 released in 2001 for America, which caused it to not sell well enough to justify bringing more entries to the west.
Dragon Quest 7 isn’t a bad game, not at all, in fact the idea of being more focused on the story and developing the characters further is what makes it so good in my opinion. I would sing more praises towards it if we actually had a good translation to play, the PS1 version is known to have an awful script with tons of changes and even slurs mixed into the tons of text that one has to read. The only way one can experience Dragon Quest 7 the way it truly should be, is by just grabbing a Japanese copy of the game because no one seems to be up to do a re-translation project.
13 years in the future will give the world an opportunity to delve back into this entry again, Japan would release a remake of Dragon Quest 7 for the 3DS, which would then take 3 years to localize and bring it overseas in 2016. This might be the definitive version to play the game, if only for the fact that this one decided to cut a lot of content that was originally in the original PS1 release. Dragon Quest 7 is known to be a huge game with many things to do, and while some criticize this, calling it padding, there’s also a big majority that highly appreciates those details.
The job of porting this game to the 3DS was pretty good, setting the foundations to eventually release a 3DS version of Dragon Quest 11, which to this day still remains as a Japan only entry with an entirely different suite of graphics. Dragon Quest 7 on the 3DS is an attempt at modernizing the game and showing it to a younger audience, but from the preservation standpoint and keeping the art of the game intact it did fail in my opinion. This does not mean one shouldn’t play this version, as it has an amazing script made with tons of effort behind, it just feels a bit watered down compared to the original game.
Now in 2026 we are graced with the opportunity to revisit the small island of Estard thanks to the release of Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, and this might be one of the best looking games releasing this year. The graphic department for this game really did an amazing job at conveying a style that fits the series and also the game itself, not to mention that doing this art style is also rather complicated. However, that’s pretty much all it offers, an amazing front, some very nice tunes, but the rest feels pretty hollow. Battles have been simplified, and this version also streamlines the experience even further, almost as if we were paying more for less.
While its true this is a remake, this cuts even more stuff compared to the 3DS game, making it a very hard version to recommend for those who truly wish to experience what Dragon Quest 7 brings to the table. While others might say this is the best version, I find it a bit disappointing in many aspects, and while I can’t bring myself to call it a soulless remake by any means, it does still kinda hurt to see some favorite parts being cut out, some puzzles removed, and even entire dialogue lines and story beats just snuffed away. The rework to the class system makes the game even easier an excellent JRPG for first timers even.
In conclusion Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined is divisive
I understand the need of remakes from an economical standpoint, sometimes selling a popular name is what matters the most versus preserving the artistic integrity of a work. However, when you look at how deep rooted the series was in remaining traditional, one can’t help but think if that commitment to respecting a legacy finally came to an end. If you want a good version of Dragon Quest 7 that mostly maintains some elements of the original, then the 3DS version is your best bet. I really wish a version of the PS1 game with an updated translation existed, they could have even bundled it as an option to play with Reimagined.
