Dragon Warrior VII

by Enix

Product Features

• playstation
• RPG

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005OLWB
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 1, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,232 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The top-selling PlayStation game in Japanese history makes its way to the U.S. in Dragon Warrior VII. Its creators include a trio of Japanese role-playing-game legends--game designer Yuji Horii, music composer Koichi Sugiyama, and character designer Akira Toriyama (who also created the popular Dragonball and Dragonball Z cartoons and comics). At its heart, Dragon Warrior VII is an old-school RPG that eschews flashy graphics and sound effects in favor of a good story and dozens of gameplay hours. In some cases it succeeds in capturing the nostalgia of old NES and SNES RPGs, but in others it hangs on too dearly to obsolete conventions. Still, this is one of the most value-packed games on the market, as it easily offers more than 100 hours of gameplay.

Graphically, Dragon Warrior VII will not impress anyone. Even compared to first-generation PlayStation games this one comes off as ugly. The sound is a mix of nostalgic MIDI bits from previous Dragon Warrior games and beautiful new compositions by Sugiyama. The story progresses in a linear fashion, as the main character discovers new lands, each with its own mysteries, characters, and adventures. The job system adds immense depth to character progression, as players can learn skills from more than 50 classes, including warriors, clerics, jesters, rangers, dragoons, teen idols, and more.

As deep as the job system is, progress is hindered by laborious combat and inventory-management systems. It would have been nice if the development team tried to implement modern gameplay mechanics with the rich Dragon Warrior universe. Because of its archaic aspects, the game will scare off those that aren't familiar with older RPGs. However, persevering gamers and longtime fans will enjoy one of the deepest adventures on the market. --Raymond M. Padilla

Pros:

• More than 100 hours of gameplay
• Extremely deep job system
• Memorable characters

Cons:

• Horrible graphics
• Poor interface
• Dull combat

Product Description

You plan to become a humble fisherman of peaceful Estard Island, the only land in a world of ocean. But when you discover the artifacts from an ancient land, you tear the fabric of time and unveil the world that once was. Transported to past lands, you must solve their mysteries and break the spell of annihilation. Prepare for your destiny!

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Glory Days of the Super Nintendo, January 5, 2002

By 

Dylan (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dragon Warrior VII (Video Game)

Dragon Warrior VII recalls the glory days of RPG gaming, when developers were not reliant on flashy graphics and FMV, but rather a good story, whimsical dialogue, and a deep and engaging plot.
In the era of 3-D texture mapped graphics running at 60 frames per second, Dragon Warrior is indeed a gem to behold. The graphics are terrible but charming, the sound is purely 16- bit but very sumptuous, and the vast world will help you kill off literally hundreds of hours of your life.
The only low point with the game other than the obvious is the somewhat linear nature of the game towards the beginning to the middle section of the plot.
Dragon Warrior VII may not be able to compete with the likes of Final Fantasy X, but for those who love RPGs, Dragon Warrior has the hours and ultimately the heart to keep you glued to your television screen.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lacks graphical flare, but excels in storyline and gameplay, November 23, 2001

By 

Neo Murtle (Acworth, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dragon Warrior VII (Video Game)

It's been so long since a Dragon Warrior game has made it to a domestic release that I've almost forgotten the series. For those who may not remember, Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest in Japan) was one of the first role playing games ever to be released on a console system. The series has seen tremendous success in Japan, and Dragon Warrior 7 for the Playstation is one the best selling games ever as a result. Dragon Warrior 7 is as about as traditional as an RPG can get with the medievil theme, random battles, spells, and the like. It may come as a surprise to some that the graphics have changed little over the years when compared to other RPGs, especially Final Fantasy. However, after you play several hours into the game and get passed the mediocre graphics, you will quickly find yourself hooked. There's something nostalgic about the old style graphics and gameplay...perhaps Enix realized this and developed the game accordingly. The storyline and gameplay are great, and there's never a shortage of areas to explore. This is one massive game...it will take even the best of RPG gamers at least 70 - 80 hours to obtain everything. Perhaps Dragon Warrior 7 will be best appreciated by those who played the older games many years ago, but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by the uninitiated. Dragon Warrior 7 is yet another reason to remember why in an era where graphics often sell a game, quality gameplay is still the most important of any feature.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Welcome Blast From the Past, November 9, 2001

By 

"klenath" (Annapolis, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dragon Warrior VII (Video Game)

The game is a blast from the past, and it is welcomed with open and very eager arms. The intro screen follows suit of previous Dragon Warrior games - no long movie intros, just the title of the game plain and simple. You are immediately thrown into the classic character creation scheme and get a quick movie that lays some basis for the personalities of the characters. The beginning of the game involves more puzzle solving then jumping right into fights, a welcome change from the previous Dragon Warrior games. But don't dismay, the classic fighting scene is well preserved with some fun adjustments.

The world view is most definately an improvement allowing rotation of the 3D world, although not always FULL rotation depending on where your character currently resides (i.e. in a cave or in a town). The graphical enhancements to the world are a far cry from the 16 or so bright colors originally displayed on Nintendo consoles. There is a zoom-up function available in towns that allows you to raise the bird's eye view to help you figure out how to get wherever you want to go.

The original menu system is still in play with a couple of small, but useful tweaks of its own - mainly cursor location tracking. When you're involved in item management or moving, the cursor will remember where it was last so if you want to move a large number or items from one person to another you don't have to constantly move the cursor back and forth. The other pseudo-tweak of the menu system is the times you DON'T have to access it. Previously, one had to open the general command menu and then select "Talk" to talk to someone or "Search" to look around your feet or in a treasure chest - no longer. All the "automatic" functions such as search or talk are combined into the top button of the four on the controller. If you want to look in a chest or talk to someone, just hit the button and away you go!

The adjustments to the battle mode are also quite notable with improved backgrounds on which the monsters reside, a morphing of the monsters' attacks, and a definate 3D feel. Whenever an enemy makes an attack, the image of the enemy (normally at the classic stand-still) morphs into action! The smooth, quick morphing of the attacks is quite impressive and each type of attack imposed on your characters has a specific look. This is certainly a step in the right direction from just text saying "so-and-so attacks." The only only gripe to be had is when defensive spells are cast, unless you're reading (and reading quickly), there's a good chance you'll totally miss the casting as no visual effects give away the action.

One thing that many may find irritatin is when you rotate the 3D world, the direction your character faces is not adjusted with it. If you face east and rotate the world, your character's direction of sight will change instead of staying looking east.
The only obvious part of the game not enhanced to the same graphical level as the rest of the game is the character sprites (the images of the characters themselves). They still sport the bright, lower-quality color depths seen with previous iterations of the Dragon Warrior saga. While the detail and movement of the character sprites is improved somewhat, they still remind you of the character sprites of Dragon Warrior III.

Overall the newest release of Dragon Warrior in the US is (and should be) greeted and celebrated by many avid Dragon Warrior and RPG fans. The story line is well developed (but I won't give it away), the main characters' personalities are very will portrayed giving them more depth, and if this game follows suit of previous releases - the replay value will be HUGE!