Following Square Enix’s surprise announcement of Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined – a full 3D remake of 2000’s Dragon Quest VII – the title’s director Masato Yagi has seemingly responded to some complaints coming from Japanese fans on X, defending his team’s efforts in developing the game.
Amidst a string of posts related to his involvement in the upcoming remake, Yagi commented on September 14, “We’re not rushing production at the last minute. Everyone’s pouring their hearts and souls into this. I just want to make sure that much is understood. Also, I’m not trying to say ‘we’re working hard so don’t complain.’ Please don’t misunderstand.”
Although the developer doesn’t name anything specific, his statement is likely in response to some of the early criticism that followed the remake’s announcement. While Dragon Quest fans in the West and Japan alike were generally excited about the news, some expressed concern about how DQVII Reimagined’s development is being approached. Namely, Square Enix announced that it would be streamlining the game’s narrative, meaning some sublots will be removed. Although the developers emphasized that only story beats with little relevance to the main scenario would be cut, some fans weren’t happy about the idea of DQVII’s original content being removed, expressing fondness for its hefty volume and frequent detours.
Additionally, over on Japanese X, posts pointing out DQVII Reimagined’s lack of monster vocations and reduced number of pedestals (which lead to different islands in game) have gathered thousands of likes and set off a good amount of premature doomposting. Among them, some also expressed concern about Reimagined possibly being “a lazy project to bridge the gap until Dragon Quest XII’s release.” Perhaps to refute this notion, director Yagi made it clear that his team is fully devoted to developing the remake. As for how much of the original game’s content is being cut and in what way, there is no way to know at this point, so it’s early to make judgements. It might also be worth noting that Square Enix will be adding some extra features and content – such as new scenarios and a Moonlighting system.
Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined launches February 5 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. The Steam version will release a day later, on February 6.
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