Because 8's the one that actually made a pretty big splash outside of Japan. Dragon Quest 8 is basically the Final Fantasy 7 of this franchise. It's the one everyone knows. If we're being honest, DQ 8 and 11 are probably the only two Dragon Quests to actually be a big success outside of Japan. If you want easy money, you remake 8.
That's part of the reason why I'm a little surprised they're giving DQ 7 another chance. I can only assume someone over there REALLY loves that story, and wants it to be bigger internationally than it is.
DQ 9 is definitely the one that needs the remake treatment the most, though. But, it also might be the one that might require the most "reworking". Do you keep it as a proto-MMO or do you try and turn it into more of a single player game? Or do you try something completely different with it, trying to work multiplayer elements into the game in a different way? I could see the developers not being sure how to handle remaking that particular game. Dragon Quest 10 kind of improved on the general concept of that game, being a full MMO. How do you make a remake of 9 not feel like a "downgraded" version of 10? And it's not like the MMOs sold like gangbusters outside of Japan, either, so would they really want to make another one? How do you give 9 a unique identity, while still keeping some of the stuff that made it special originally?
Although, we still don't have any version of Dragon Quests 4 through 6 on modern consoles, either. I could see us getting either "Pixel Remasters" of the IOS versions, or HD-2D versions of those games before they try and tackle 9. If only because those are "easier" games to transfer over.
I think eventually they will get to 9. But, maybe not for a while?
That is true, but Dragon Quest VIII is literally the biggest selling game ever for the PlayStation 2 in Japan, as 4.4 million of those copies were sold in Japan. Not to mention the fact that it revived the franchise in the US and Europe. All of us with great memories of playing the Dragon Warrior series on the NES got hooked again. DQ8 revived the franchise to allow DQ9 to sell 1.4 million copies in the US and Europe, as we were hyped to get 9 after playing 8. Also the characters from 8 are iconic and I can't really tell you much about the ones from DQ9.
I preordered 1&2 even though I haven't gotten to 3 yet based on the fact that I expect it to be a 1 and done physical run. I guess I will play them first now....
I hadn't played Dragon Quest III before playing the HD 2D remake. So I couldn't really say how close the remake was to the original. But I have played DQ1 a few times (original NES, iOS, Switch). So I can say the HD 2D remake is vastly different.
Now I'm not saying this is better or worse. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from playing this. Because so far I'm having a great time. I'm just saying, it's different and you may want to keep that in mind.
Straight off there's more story beats. That's probably a given seeing as how the original was pretty bare bones on story. But yeah, just in the 45 minutes I played last night, there was a lot.
The Castle and neighboring town at the beginning are combined into one area. You start off with better weapons already equipped. You save at churches instead of talking to the king. Enemy types appear earlier and in groups. You get magic earlier along with spells that weren't in the original.
None of this is necessarily bad. In fact, I'm loving it so far.
Just saying, if you want the story and the broad strokes gameplay, this is awesome. If you're looking for a 1:1 remake only with better graphics, then this has differences that are more extensive.
Like I said, I hadn't played DQ3 before the remake. So I'm not sure if it was the same story there as well. It just really hit me with this one.
And again, this is not a criticism. I'm loving this so far. Just something to know beforehand.
DQ3 had a lot of the same sorts of changes, just smaller in scope. DQ1 is getting fleshed out and brought more in line with the rest of the series. DQ3 already was a little more fleshed out and in line with the rest of the series on the NES, so it didn't need quite as much updating. But otherwise, similar sorts of changes - new abilities and class, additional story scenes, higher level caps, rebalancing, etc.
I got a few hours in last night and this afternoon. Definitely really enjoying it so far. Only just got my first cutscene featuring Gwaelin. Looking forward to seeing what they do with her in this version.
I got to put quite a bit of time into the game over the weekend. I'm just about ready to head to the Dragonlord's castle. Hopefully I can finish up and write up my thoughts in the next day or two. However, I did want to make note of one particular detail, which does involve spoilers.
First off it's regarding a major event in the game that everyone who has played any version of DQ1 is familiar with, and anyone who has read or seen much about it is probably familiar with as well:
Mid-way through the game, you rescue Princess Gwaelin from her captor. The game tells you you're supposed to take her back to Tantegel, where she'll be safe. However, you don't have to actually take her back. You can carry her around with you for the rest of the game if you'd like, and the ending changes a bit if you do. It's this choice to keep her with you that needs a note in this version.
The spoiler for this version in particular:
Gwaelin actually gets integrated into all the story cutscenes for the rest of the game. And while she's not a full-fledged party member, she does gain the ability to provide you some support in battle later in the game. So there's a much stronger incentive to keep her with you in this version. However, if you wish to do so, there's a particular sequence you MUST follow.
You're able to reach her once you obtain the Magic Key. Unlike the original, this version pretty much forces you to save her soon after getting the Magic Key. You have to do so in order to continue advancing the story. You can't just let her stay there until the end like other versions.
The other change is that you don't have to take her all the way to the king in this version. She'll leave you as soon as you approach the castle gate. So if you want to keep her with you for the rest of the game, you can't re-enter Tantegel Castle once you save her. That's potentially a problem because you need the Sunstone to finish the game. The Sunstone is obtained in an underground room that you have to go through the castle to reach. And you also need the Magic Key to enter, so you can't just pick it up earlier in the game.
So if you want to keep Gwaelin with you, play through the game as normal until you get the Magic Key. Once you get it, ignore everything telling you to hurry up and go save Gwaelin. Instead, go to Tantegel Castle and get the Sunstone BEFORE you save Gwaelin. If you don't, you'll be forced to give her up when you go to get the Sunstone later.
I finished DQ1 last night. The way I described it to a friend:
You know how the Hobbit book is only (my copy) 255 pages. They then made 3 full 3-hour movies where they added completely new sidequests, added storybeats to existing sidequests, made side characters more important, tied it more into books that came later...only here they did it well!
Like, if you saw the Hobbit movies and never felt the need to read the book, I would lament your whole Hobbit experience. If you played DQ1-2 2D-HD remake and never felt the need to play the original versions....I'd think you had the full experience you needed.
With 7 getting a remake, what are the odds they'll give that treatment to 8? Considering its popularity, I'd love to see a remake. or a way to get 8 on steam.
With 7 getting a remake, what are the odds they'll give that treatment to 8? Considering its popularity, I'd love to see a remake. or a way to get 8 on steam.
I finished DQ1 last night. The way I described it to a friend:
You know how the Hobbit book is only (my copy) 255 pages. They then made 3 full 3-hour movies where they added completely new sidequests, added storybeats to existing sidequests, made side characters more important, tied it more into books that came later...only here they did it well!
To be fair to the Hobbit films, the White Council and the Necromancer events were going on in the books, the books just didn't talk too much about them. I really loved those additions. Legolas and the Lost Elf lady, not so much.
Glad to hear that the new story bits in DQ1 are good though.
Finished off the Dragonlord earlier. I've played every major version of the game released in English (NES, GBC, mobile, and now HD-2D), going back to the original NES version being the first RPG I ever played through to completion. This is, by far and bar none, the most I've enjoyed playing through DQ1. I really like most of the decisions they've made about what to change, what to add, and what to get rid of. Like Caldwin said, the new story content really is done well and adds a lot to the game. Overall, I'm really happy with it.
Of course, it's not all positive. I do wish they'd implemented voices for more of the cutscenes. All the most important ones get voices, but it feels kinda scattershot when some cutscenes have voices and others don't. Even more so in at least one cutscene I can think of where one character's lines are voiced, but no one else's. That one really drove home how odd it is.
Maybe my biggest issue is how the game feels unbalanced. Now I'll admit that I had the Elevating Shoes on throughout the entire game, so that might skew things a bit, but it just felt off kilter. Through roughly the first third of the game, I felt very overpowered. I entirely chalk that up to actually being overpowered due to the shoes and the Dog Suit, which is VERY high defense for the start of the game. Those made it all easy, but that just meant I was able to blow through the early phases to get to the good stuff that much quicker.
At the end game, I'm feeling powerful, but not overly so. I kept the Elevating Shoes on throughout and fought through every encounter I came across, while rarely using any abilities to avoid encounters. However, I didn't actively grind for anything at any point in the game. I just went along from point to point while wiping out everything I came across. I reached level 46 at the end. I was still needing to heal up after nearly every fight, and still had to be careful about using defensive abilities and healing during all the boss fights, but I felt like I'd have to either mess up or be really unlucky to die during the last stretch of the game.
The issue is the middle third. For a long stretch of the game, it felt like I needed to have a decent amount of luck on my side to complete a dungeon. At any moment, I could take a random crit for 200+ damage. If there were any other enemies in that battle, or if I hadn't been good about topping up my HP between fights, there was a good chance I was going down. Even worse was having encounters with multiple enemies that would get two attacks per turn and love to cast Whack. Even overleveled with the ridiculous luck boost from the Elevating Shoes, you can only go so long without having one of them take you out. So that middle stretch simultaneously made it feel like they really wanted to push you into some old-school grinding, while also throwing stuff at you that no amount of grinding could fully overcome.
To be fair, the game really doesn't punish you for dying. You can just load up the last autosave to basically continue where you left off. Doing so doesn't incur the gold penalty you normally take from a death, and it doesn't even increment your death counter. It's like you never died at all, aside from having the knowledge that the game just beat you. It still rankles, though.
Aside from those nitpicks, I thoroughly enjoyed playing through it. It's an old favorite, now made more enjoyable. Probably going to be a bit before I can dig in, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what they've done with DQ2 now.
One final random thought. Despite how much I enjoyed it, this can't possibly be the definitive version of the game for one simple reason:
The what now? Like seriously, I played the original NES, iOS and the Switch non-hd-2d remake version. I do not remember any threesome scene. Please elaborate. I must...research...this.
The what now? Like seriously, I played the original NES, iOS and the Switch non-hd-2d remake version. I do not remember any threesome scene. Please elaborate. I must...research...this.
OK, so not actually a scene. It was built into the original game that the Tantegel innkeeper has different dialog for the next morning if you stay there while carrying Gwaelin. In the NES version, it was basically two variations of the same message, so it's something most people wouldn't even notice. In the Famicom version though, he instead says the typical line about hoping you've had a good rest when you're alone, but basically says he hopes you enjoyed yourselves if Gwaelin's with you.
As far as I can recall, the only official English version that had that bit was the GBC version. I think I recall it having the innkeeper say something about the other guests complaining about all the noise coming from your room, but it's been a loooong time since I played that version, so I can't remember the details. It's not in the HD-2D version, and I don't think it was in the mobile version.
Anyway, since this is in Tantegel, you also have access to the hero's biggest fan outside the item shop. When you talk to her, she'll follow you all around town, wherever you go. Including the inn. She won't leave you until you leave the town.
Put the two together, and you can go to Tantegel with Gwaelin, go pick up the hero's side chick, and all go spend the night at the inn, where the innkeeper subtly comments on your nighttime shenanigans.
For the HD-2D version, there's no special innkeeper dialog, and the other girl just tells you to come back once you ditch her competition. So nothing quite so "racy" in this version.
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