Why did I wait so long to play Dragon Quest VII? (or, a few thoughts on the just-released 3DS port of Square Enix's mammoth RPG)

I have a strange history with the Dragon Quest series.

As a teenager, I devoured every piece of information about the first game's three-years-in-coming North American release I came across. My older brother and I bought it as soon as it hit store shelves and quickly beat it. (Actually, he beat it. Although I played the game, known here as Dragon Warrior at the time, through to the final boss, I never vanquished him. Later, my brother took care of it while I watched.)

You'd think that experience would've prompted us to buy and similarly burn our way through the second, third and fourth Dragon Quest--er, I mean Dragon Warrior--titles. For whatever reason, though, we didn't.



In fact, we (or, rather I) ignored every other Dragon Quest game that was released in English until Dragon Quest IX hit the streets in my neck of the woods in 2010. This time, I not only reached the end credits on my own but put more than 100 hours into it along the way.

I intended to follow up that experience my battling through the DS remakes of Dragon Quest IV, V and VI--or at least one of them--but you know what they say about best-laid plans.

Did I partially make up for the misgivings detailed above by pre-ordering the North American 3DS remakes of Dragon Quest VII (and Dragon Quest VIII) as soon as I was able to do so last year? I'd like to think so.



Even better, in my mind, is that I crammed the Dragon Quest VII cartridge into my trusty 3DS as soon as the former arrived on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago. Fast-forward to today, and I'm about seven hours into this portable adventure.

I'm enjoying the journey so much at the moment that I'm beating myself up for not playing the game sooner. That's mainly because of the characters and the story.

Actually, I think my favorite aspect of Dragon Quest VII right now is the little vignettes you have to complete while advancing the overarching saga. Some of them are silly, some of them are surprisingly poignant (the first one, especially)--and all of them enjoyable. Or at least that's been the case with the handful I've encountered up to this point.



Those aren't the only reasons I'm busy kicking myself for passing on Dragon Quest VII for so long. A few others include Akira Toriyama's adorable monster designs, Koichi Sugiyama's magnificent soundtrack and the stellar visual upgrade provided by ArtePiazza's crack team of artists and developers. In fact, this version's aesthetics make it the most appealing Dragon Quest to date as far as graphics are concerned--in my humble opinion, of course.

Anyway, I know I've got a long, long way to go before I see this game's credit roll, but I have absolutely no doubt I'll get there eventually.

How about you? Are any of you also playing the Dragon Quest VII 3DS remake? If so, what do you think of it so far?

I think our home needs a set of these 'Smile Slime Yurayura' glasses, don't you?

I know I've said things like the above before and then failed to follow through on them, but this time I'm serious. Or at least I'm as serious as one can be when it comes to talking about possibly purchasing roly-poly glasses that resemble Dragon Quest Slimes.



That's because I now thoroughly regret passing on the Dragon Quest "Smile Slime" mugs--here's the regular one, and here's the one bearing the grinning visage of a liquid metal slime--that Square Enix offered for sale a couple of years ago. At the time, these vessels could be picked up for just $20 or so, while today they go for more than $40.

Anyway, these three-inch-by-three-inch "yurayura" (that's a Japanese onomatopoeia for “swaying,” “wavering” or “wobbling," according to crunchyroll.com) glasses potentially are less practical than the above-mentioned mugs--after all, I drink many cups of coffee each day, while I only drink wine (which is the liquid I'd most likely pour into these glasses) a couple of times per week--but I'm OK with that as they'd still be cool to own and even show off now and then.

They're pretty darn cheap, too, when all things are considered--with a single glass costing just 840 yen, which translates to about $7, if pre-ordered via amiami.com. (They'll supposedly start shipping in early July, so don't wait too long if you want to nab a couple.)



I'm also giving serious thought to buying one or more of the "Smile Slime" silicone ice trays that are being sold by amiami.com, too. I don't know about you, but I think 870 yen (again, around $7) is a small price to pay for something that's going to allow you to fill your drinking glasses with slime-shaped ice cubes.

And now I'm (finally) going to play that copy of Dragon Quest that Darwin Yamamoto sent me

I doubt any of you remember this, but sometime last year--at least I think it was last year--I decided to play through Dragon Quest (actually, Dragon Warrior, the North American version of the game) for the first time since it was released back in 1989.

That playthrough didn't last long, mainly because I had no idea as to where I should go or what I should do. The last thing I remember doing involved wandering into a pitch-black cave and getting ambushed by a giant green dragon that slayed me in about two seconds.

Thanks Darwin Yamamoto's generosity--he bought me a copy of the Famicom version of Dragon Quest while visiting Japan recently, as detailed in this post--I've decided to give the game another try. Because I don't understand a word of Japanese and also because I don't want to recreate my last attempt at playing through this classic RPG, I recently picked up a copy of the strategy guide that Nintendo Power produced (and published) for this game shortly after its North American release.

The scan above is of said strategy guide's front cover, by the way. Because quite a few awesome (or at least interesting) illustrations can be found between its covers, I'm seriously considering featuring this Nintendo Power publication in a future edition of "Manual Stimulation," although I doubt I'll be able to include every single page.

Speaking of the original Dragon Quest ...

If I were filthy rich, I'd whip out my Platinum AmEx card and use it to purchase a red Famicom Twin and the following, still-sealed copy of the original Dragon Quest. (Isn't that cover art awesome?)

Sure, I could save myself about $180 if I bought a used copy of said Famicom game (like this one) instead, but in this imaginary situation I'd be filthy rich, so who cares?