Tails by the Foxfire

Is Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Good?

YES!!! (Is that enough exclamation points?) Dragon Quest VII Reimagined reminds me of Chrono Trigger in the sense that its story promises to evolve in response to your party’s actions as the game progresses. As well, the remake features gorgeous diorama-style maps and character models created using hand-crafted dolls that add a lot of heart to the game. While I wasn’t sure I’d like this style at first based on the initial trailers, I’ve got to say, once you get into the game it just works, creating a Jim Henson-ish otherworldly feel that embraces a newly inventive age of video gaming in line with titles like The Midnight Walk or South of Midnight and dials the nostalgia up to 100. It’ll warm your heart in exactly the way you expect from a remake, while showing the level of love that’s been poured into creating it. By the way, if you haven’t seen the dolls, then Game Informer’s up-close look during their visit to Square Enix’s Tokyo office is something you’ll definitely want to see, as the craftsmanship is something to be admired. (Psst, where’s my invite?)

What’s Different About Dragon Quest VII Reimagined?

The 2026 Dragon Quest VII remake is more than a 1:1 port with fancy new graphics; it feels totally refreshed, with a new streamlined prologue that cuts down on the original’s notorious padding and backtracking. On top of its painstakingly crafted visuals, gameplay feels ‘weighted’ and satisfying in a way that reminded me of what I liked about the Lollipop Chainsaw on the PlayStation 3. As well, the turn-based combat doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but delivers exactly what you’d expect: streamlined, flashy good fun, with the Let Loose mechanic granting occasional buffs unique to each character’s vocation when they’ve endured enough hits in a battle. Not only does this help turn the tide in battles in a pinch, but it keeps things feeling fresh and dynamic.

Another detail I appreciate is that characters are now shown holding their weapons in battle, which sprinkles an extra layer of dopamine on the general satisfaction of investing in new gear. As well, players can dress the party up in different costumes, so you can customize your battle experience to your heart’s content. Speaking of costumes, there’s actually an exclusive one available for completing the demo, but unfortunately it’s for Maribel (Just kidding… I think)!

By the sound of it, the newly-edited Prologue is just scratching the surface of quality of life updates available in the full version of Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, so I’m really excited to get into the full game and experience them all first-hand!

Can You Start with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined?

If you’ve been curious about the Dragon Quest series, then the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined demo is a great excuse to dive in, as most of the games aren’t related. You won’t feel left in the dark for not having played Dragon Quest 1-6, and the demo lets you enjoy multiple hours of turn-based JRPG fun with refreshed visuals, stunning orchestral tracks, and plenty of quality of life changes, all for free (until you inevitably go ahead and buy the full game).

How Long is the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Demo?

Since its release on the 7th January, I racked up a total of 5 hours and 30 minutes in the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Demo, which included me thoroughly checking out every corner and barrel I could lay hands on, and fighting every enemy that crossed my path. I’ve also seen people say the demo took them about 3 hours to complete, so even if you’re not exploring thoroughly, it’s a really generous trial. Funnily enough, I was talking to one of my co-workers about the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Demo, and when he asked how long I’d been playing it, I figured it must only have been about 3 hours. Imagine my surprise when I checked my playtime and saw it was more like 5. That’s definitely a testament to how easy and enjoyable it feels to play, and it was a welcome way to relax after a long day at work.

Things I Wish Were Different

Not even the best games can be perfect, but impressively, there were only two things that bugged me about the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined demo, and these could well be more ‘me’ issues than problems with the game itself:

1. I’m in two minds about the writing at times (I know, but hear me out!). Don’t get me wrong: the story so far is like The Goonies and Chrono Trigger had a beautiful baby, and I’m really interested in playing more, but I feel characterisations can border on caricatures at times. The story of Ballymolloy (Woodparna) feels hampered by Irish stereotypes (right down to layin’ it on t’ick in the written parts, there, so it does!), which makes it hard to fully enjoy the emotional gravity of tragic narrative beats. I prefer to play with Japanese audio these days, which informed me that Machiruda’s name had been changed to Maeve and the area’s name had been changed from Woodparna to Ballymolloy to accommodate this creative choice. It doesn’t personally vibe with me, but I also know that creative liberties like this aren’t exactly a new phenomenon in the world of gaming, and I would imagine this representation is true to the previous versions of Dragon Quest VII played and loved by the western audience. Like I said, not so much an issue with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined itself, so much as it happened to be what I was playing when my frustrations with localisation liberties resurfaced. I’ve played an amount of Dragon Quest VIII and Dragon Quest XI, so I knew to expect a certain amount of this going in, and as my Japanese language proficiency improves I’ll likely dedicate a whole blog (or blog series) to localisation vs. source material for the majority of my favourite JRPGs.
2. In terms of gameplay, the one difficulty I had with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined could very well be the product of my own information processing issues caused by my ADHD, but for the majority of the demo, I went without consulting the area map because I had no idea there was one. I got to the sailing part and ended up in deep water (heh) because I figured the game had set me loose in the right direction, so I just went, and ended up miles from where I was supposed to be, drowning in random encounters that ended up costing me half my gold when I finally died. I felt like a right idiot when I discovered the button (square on the PlayStation 5) that brought up the area map, and I’d made a huge excursion out of what was only supposed to be a short trip. Lesson learned: know your controls and be cautious out in the open water!