Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is the latest game to grace the cover of Game Informer, and to learn more about this game for the cover story, I traveled to Tokyo, Japan, to play two hours of the game and interview the team behind it, too. With this being the second remake of Dragon Quest VII, following the 2016 Nintendo 3DS remake, I was curious about where you even start with a project like this.
So I asked producer Takeshi Ichikawa and director Masato Yagi about their thought processes behind developing the game, which elements are sacred ground in Dragon Quest VII, if there’s any pressure involved, and more. Here’s what I learned.
“To be honest, I did feel some pressure, but for the most part, I felt the same as Ichikawa here,” Yagi tells me. “I was excited with the idea of bringing these new changes.” Ichikawa, on the other hand, didn’t feel much pressure.
“I was certainly excited with the prospect of bringing these changes,” he tells me. “When we first kicked off the project, we had in mind three main components that we really wanted to reimagine for this version; the first one being the visuals, the second one being the scenario or the story, and the third one being the battle. […] It is one of the most popular installments in the series, but our goal was to offer a reimagined experience to players all around the world. But again, I didn’t really necessarily feel pressure.”
When I ask where the team started with Reimagined, Ichikawa explains it’s a remake focused on showcasing what makes Dragon Quest VII so great to modern audiences. That means keeping the story intact, although lead scenario writer Sayaka Takagi explained to me in a different interview how the team streamlined the main scenario; you can read about that here.
“I really thought that the story of the original was essential to keep,” Ichikawa says. “When you look at [all of the] mainline installments, Dragon Quest VII’s story is quite unique and not really like the others. These characters […] go through a lot of struggles, and it is, overall, kind of a bit darker. That [darkness] is the one thing that I wanted to retain for sure in the remake.”
Yagi agrees with Ichikawa, telling me in a series full of lighthearted stories with a more loving tone, Dragon Quest VII is darker. He remembers asking, “Is this actually a Dragon Quest story?” while playing the original game on PlayStation. Retaining this tone was important for Reimagined, he adds, lightly dipping into spoiler territory to discuss Prince Kiefer, a party member of the game.
I won’t spoil anything here, but if you’re familiar with the game, Kiefer makes a crucial decision in the story, and though in the initial stages of development the team pondered keeping it (and other narrative moments) in the game, it remained.
“That’s definitely one thing that we were debating if we should keep or not, but in the end, we decided it’s just too essential for the story,” Yagi says. “There are a lot of areas where we debated to keep or not keep, but in the end, for the most part, we decided to keep [things in place]. But it’s not keeping them as is. We did end up making some little adjustments and arrangements here and there.”
Speaking more broadly, Yagi says the team behind Reimagined “really wanted to make the overall game experience more immersive for our players [and that’s why we streamlined the story. It’s also why we made some adjustments to the combat.”
Closing out our conversation on the philosophy behind this remake, Ichikawa tells me, “Reimagined” implies everything is new. He says, “We really built everything from the ground up. We rebuilt everything, aside from the scenario, from scratch. In order to convey that sentiment, we felt that ‘Reimagined’ would be the most adequate title instead of ‘Remake.'”
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined launches February 5 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC.
In the meantime, check out this article breaking down everything in the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined issue of Game Informer, and be sure to subscribe here if you haven’t yet so you can access the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined cover story, our deep dive into Dragon Quest history with creator Yuji Horii, and so much more.