The story line, while not exactly Hollywood-movie caliber, is still compelling enough to keep gamers interested, even without the help of CG movies appearing every few hours. You walk around, converse with townsfolk, buy equipment, and fight in random turned-based 2D battles against completely non-moving (except when they attack) enemies.ĭragon Warrior VH's emphasis on "classic gameplay" over modern visuals shouldn't really hurt its appeal though, at least not with RP6 fans. Aside from a few annoying commands (like "use stairs") that were removed a few games back, and the new introduction of a "quick" button that allows you to instantly talk to people or examine items, the latest Dragon Warrior plays essentially like the first.
And they do it in a setting that-aside from the latest Final Fantasy-has nearly been forgotten in this genre, one that reeks of traditional medieval heritage.īut the setting is not all that's traditional about DW VII: The gameplay has remained nearly untouched from the original 8-Bit releases. Simply put, Dragon Warrior titles focus on the often-overlooked aspect of modern RPGs, classic role-playing.
There is a predetermined story, and the lead character does have some sort of basic history, but rarely do you feel like you're just an actor in someone else's play. The magic behind these games is their basic premise-the character you control is simply you. Of course, Dragon Warrior titles have never been about looks. It's wasn't like Enix spent all these years in development working on just the graphics though, they supposedly finished the game engine long before Dragon Warrior VII was meant to be released (back in 1998), and have spent the time since fine-tuning both it and the gameplay. The characters are 2D sprites, the backgrounds are simple in design, and although it does have a very vibrant look thanks to the colorful textures, it's still more reminiscent of a 16-Bit game. Yes, the graphics in Dragon Warrior VII are not exactly awe-inspiring, and even though the camera in most of the areas can be rotated 360 degrees, the visuals don't exactly push the PlayStation in terms of complexity. An achievement Enix is trying to capture once again, but this time for the PlayStation. While DW IV for the NES might be nothing more than a faint memory for many of our readers, it still proved itself to be a solid RPG-arguably the best for that system.
Following nearly five years of development (including two years of delays), this massive title was finally unveiled in Japan a few months ago (not surprisingly selling nearly 2 million copies in its first weekend), and now holds the distinct notoriety of being the first new Dragon Warrior headed to our shores since the 8-Bit days. It's hard to describe the upcoming American release of Dragon Warrior VII: Warriors of Eden as anything less than an event for RPG fans.
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