Kingy

Now I don't have an excuse to show off my Dragon's Crown wallpaper to my friends and family smh

I thought I'd drop this game fast cause I only ever saw the characters / combat pre-release. Cool, but I already sink enough hours into Zenless...
...Then you get to the factory building and that changed everything. Now my harem of anime women watch for hours as I tear down and rebuild my factory ad infinitum for MAXIMUM efficiency.
Between this, ZZZ, and Umamusume, gacha games are taking over my life!!

@Runex2121 3DS version is mostly faithful to the original, with significant cuts to the prologue and some small omissions in story scenarios to make them slightly faster (also the modern DQ localization, which I've grown to hate but I understand why people like it). I wouldn't say cut content ever really makes a game better, I can't think of a single example at least.

Reimagined cuts three full islands and their scenarios, Monster jobs, much of the flavor text (which is a significant hit to the game's characters and personality), side quests and minigames like the Casino, Immigrant Town, Monster Park, World Ranking Association, all features from the 3DS version like Monster Tablets and alternate costumes for jobs, etc
Sure it's more streamlined, at a heavy cost of much of the content that endears someone to the game in the first place. I'd argue such heavy cuts isn't necessary to create a more "understandable experience", the 3DS version already laid on the hand-holding pretty thick and didn't need to cut content to do it. Not that DQVII was ever a particularly difficult game to begin with.

The reason I call the PS1 DQVII the best is because for all the talk of streamlining the "longest and most tedious Dragon Quest" the remakes really aren't that much shorter or less "tedious" for all the flaws they claim to fix.

3DS version for example absolutely ruins the encounter rate by adding monsters on the overworld, that are unavoidable in dungeons due to hallways being too cramped. So you end up getting in like 5x the encounters you would have in the original. That's not an improvement.
Reimagined on the other hand completely fixes the 3DS game's screw up, but then overcorrects by planting Goddess Statues outside and inside of dungeons and letting you continue from autosave on death. I'm sure some people think this is an improvement, but the game basically plays itself now... in fact it literally CAN play itself now.
In the name of streamlining, they create problems the PS1 version just didn't have. All so they can appeal to people who weren't going to buy the game anyways. And I think that's worth addressing to people before they buy / emulate any version of this game.
It's a time sink no matter which version you choose, and IMHO if you're gonna dive into DQVII it should be the version with the most content and least compromises, which is PS1 > 3DS > Reimagined.

@somnambulance It's notably less charming. Much of the flavor text from your party has been replaced by repeated tutorial dialogue unfortunately. If you didn't like the original, this probably won't do much better for you.
Prologue went from 3 hours to 2 hours, as an example, that's not a major difference in time.

Just a heads up, if you don't have a tolerance for long games this remake isn't going to remedy that. It's still very slow compared to other modern games.

I've been playing through the PS1 original in preparation for Reimagined and for reference I'm around 75hrs and close to the end of the main story, and that includes several hours of job class grinding (which isn't necessary to beat it, I'm just going above and beyond cause I love the game).
There isn't anything notably tedious about the original, that's just something that's been parroted on the internet, widely by people who only heard that secondhand. This remake cuts the job grinding down by a lot by letting you have two jobs at a time... But it also cuts more than half the jobs out of the game (Monster Hearts being used for unlocking new jobs have been replaced with Monster Hearts as equipment, which is neat but not really as interesting).

This remake cuts a lot of content in fact, and sands down much of the prologue into something that fails to capture the same tone and development the original did, you can expect much the same for the rest of the game. Basically, it's going to be too slow paced for most people in general but too fast paced for people who enjoyed the original. Worst of both worlds.
This isn't me saying this remake is bad, it will still be good if it's using DQVII as a base.
But much like the 3DS remake, Square Enix is too insecure with its online reputation and ends up expediting the soul out of it. Many scenarios, characters and mechanics are watered down for the sake of saving just a little bit of time, and as a result both remakes suffer where the original doesn't.
It remains the definitive way to experience Dragon Quest VII, and probably will forever.

Just something to consider before buying. I'll still be picking up the remake, and I'll probably enjoy it for what it is, but you're not getting DQVII at its best, of course other than best looking.

Brother I can't even imagine being in the position of needing to shill for this game. What do you even say? I guess you did your best trying to put a positive spin on it.
This one's a tough sell and it's FREE!

This is in no way controversial and we already do this informally. IGN and many others like it already have a reputation of being pretty crap from a not insignificant amount of people, and their reviews have many times been at odds with the opinion of the average gamer.

I'll go even farther than Swen and say don't take ANY of these game review sites seriously, period. They're a dying puppet of corporate interests that struggle for relevancy in an age of social media.
You have your own eyes and your own tastes and you make up your own mind, I don't think these sites actually have much sway in that regard.

Is Season 2 paid DLC, or is it free like S1?

I don't like how badly the 3DS remake and Reimagined butcher the prologue of the original. But I won't deny it certainly looks the part... aside from some wonky looking characters (Kiefer especially) and generally washed out color palette.
I prefer this style to the HD-2D remakes, it has a lot more personality. Reimagined is going to have to do a lot to best the DQV remake on the PS2 though. That game is a bona fide masterpiece, and I wouldn't exactly say this one puts its best foot forward outside of presentation.

Also shout out to the DQII remake last year. It's a bit bloated with unnecessary busywork to pad out the original's short runtime, but they did a really great job fleshing out your party members and endearing you to them. Good stuff.

Currently trucking through the PS1 original, 35hrs in and on the 11th(?) island - Litroud. Quite a bit farther behind in the 3DS remake, I haven't picked it up since clearing Faraday, but I plan on beating all three versions.
Despite my concerns with changes and cut content, I'm still hopeful this new remake will be a good time. Though I doubt it'll live up the OG.

Sigh it's always Limited Run

Ah yes, quantity over quality. Well, just quantity really.

This is a good reason why you never take these award shows seriously

@UltimateOtaku91 Yes, all of this should be dolled out through the events tab which I've never seen lock anything behind progression. Though obviously you'll have to pull for the characters that are getting buffed before you can use them.
Also I imagine you'll still be able to redeem the Jane skin regardless if you actually have her or not.

New Jane outfit is wild lol

@Bez87 No goal posts over here, bud. I'm going off the definition of "Indie" as it is classified. You're the one adding qualifications based off your preferences.

If you want to use the literal definition of Independent then there's no such thing as an indie game.

I mean the definition is right there. Sandfall isn't a subsidiary to any major publisher so it's an independent studio.
We don't live in a world where everyone gets to invent their own definition of a word like it's the goddamn tower of Babel. Or maybe we do at this point lol

Budget and outside funding isn't a factor for whether a studio is independent, just publishing. And Kepler isn't a major publisher in the industry.
And if you think self-publishing constitutes an indie game than nothing published under Devolver Digital is an indie game, which would be a ridiculous take to have.

Fire Emblem is my most anticipated but that's on Nintendo, so other than that-

I've gone from cautiously pessimistic to cautiously optimistic for RE9 after seeing Leon's gameplay.
The other Capcom games coming 2026 also look promising, here's hoping Pragmata is good.
Not thrilled that DQVII Reimagined is cutting half the original game's content, but I'll give it a chance.

Big Hops, Romeo is a Dead Man, Arknights Endfield, Reanimal, Demon Tides, Crimson Desert, Mouse P.I. for Hire, Saros, Control Resonant, Ontos, Enter the Gungeon 2, Mariachi Legends, Silver Pines, Valor Mortis, TankRat, Tomodachi Life, Rhythm Heaven... You get it, a lot of neat stuff coming out.

I'm just glad Youmamasuemay won mobile game of the year

Ah yes, Great Value AI Sonico, my favorite Sony character to ring out the new year.

Problem isn't sequels so much as it's almost exclusively sequels. Exclusively sequels to their most recent lineup on the PS4, and all of them seem to be iterative of the first.
None of them are as well regarded as the first either, the closest one being Ragnarok. Why should someone shell out $500 for a game that looks and plays almost identically to the one they already have on PS4? The story? You can watch a long play for that

I like my PS5, it gets way more use than my Switch or PC. But Sony's library for it is very weak. The weakest generation by far, and that's sworn me off getting the PS6 (or any future console for that matter, I'm not impressed with the Switch 2 either).

Expedition 33 will definitely be on there and will almost certainly win. Only other game that could take it is Silksong.
As for the other four...
Split Fiction seems very likely,
Death Stranding 2 does to, it's Kojima and the obligatory Sony pick.
Donkey Kong Bananza has a decent shot cause they typically have a obligatory Nintendo pick too. Maaaaybe Mario Kart, but that game's reception went off a diving board (for good reason it sucks) so I doubt it.
Last one will either be KCD2 or Yotei due to recency. Can't really think anything else that would feasibly be there, so that's my prediction.

@nhSnork True, there was also that crow game that got dragged for being too close to Hollow Knight. I guess we've been at this point where every Metroidvania is now a Hollow Knight just like every 3D action game is now a Dark Souls

Hollow Knight didn't invent dark caves, this looks distinctly like its own thing. People are brain broken by Palworld discourse

There were a couple of cool things but this didn't need to be a whole presentation.

They made this specifically for me

Not surprising. Switch 2 is cheaper in Japan than anywhere else thanks to the region locked model, so I imagine that's where the highest concentration of adopters are.
Dragon Quest also does crazy numbers over there.

2023!? Jesus, I didn't know this thing existed until this article

Final Fantasy VII original >>>> Remake and Rebirth

Boring game anyways, no wonder it's struggling to have legs

I'll stick with the original

First one was decent, I'll definitely grab this.

On my DoA/ Ninja Gaiden series playthrough I'm currently just out of the first DOAX and onto Ninja Gaiden Black.

So still a ways to go. But definitely sooner than later.

@dskatter I saw Ayane is in the game but idk if she's playable or not

Aw wtf, that's terrible. I've been playing through the DoA and Ninja Gaiden games and watched his G4 feature just last week.
He's a legend and international treasure, sad to see him gone

Nah, I'm moving to PC next year. Sony and Nintendo aren't really offering anything worth investing over half a grand in anymore. PS4 to PS5 has been an era of diminishing returns and I expect the PS6 to follow that trajectory.

Cowards.
Not that I'd expect them to handle anything without a dose of titanium cringe

"We have Isaac Clarke at home" looking ass

Microsoft has been spinning its wheels for over a decade now. Game Pass helped them a lot but I don't think they ever truly recovered from the XBONE fumble. Sony has definitely been running uncontested for awhile now, unless you want to count the Switch, but I would put a big asterisk next to it.

The Playstation's actual competitor is the PC, which more and more people have been adopting (myself included next year). Eventually the price of a console is going to outpace its convenience, and I think we'll be seeing that soon.

I don't think the stories themselves matter, modern Sony games just don't have much identity so releases tend to bleed into each other. If the majority of your output is some variation on an open-world action RPG, people naturally start to see a hazy cloud of similarities as time passes and they forget the minutia of what makes each one unique.

It's why the "PS5 has no games" meme is so pervasive, all they've really accomplished this generation is making sequels or remasters of PS4 games. I'm sure the games still sell decently well, but I wouldn't blame anyone for losing interest in this formula.

As much as I hate Nintendo and think we're witnessing the dying gasps of a headless corporate sludge factory only capable of reselling you the same game you played 20 years ago at premium dollar... At least the games they're reselling come out consistently and are unmistakably distinct from each other.
Mario Kart doesn't look or play like Donkey Kong, which doesn't look or play like Pokémon, or Metroid, Zelda, Kirby, Fire Emblem, Splatoon, Xenoblade, so on and so forth.
Sony doesn't have an excuse. They're sitting on a dragon's horde of unique IPs, and they can market new ones anytime they want. But I imagine they plan to stay the course so long as their current output is lucrative. Idk, they're REALLY trying to force a successful live service game into the market, so who can say.

Way down the line. Not a priority right now.

@ShogunRok REALLY like that one! Intense

@Eduard_Brenton Lmao that's the first thing that popped into my head too

@Ainu20 So to clarify, if this game had a less on-the-nose title and /or some tweaks to the main character so she didn't look as similar to Aya as she does now - there'd be no issue to you?

If I have that right, while I don't wholly agree I do understand where you're coming from along with the principle. There ought to be some expectation to make something with distinctness no matter how inspired it is of something else. Despite Expedition 33 having no unique components to it, the way those components are combined and presented gives the game its uniqueness.
That being said, I don't have a problem with something being a hardly-legally distinct this or that. Especially in this context where the franchise being copied is almost certainly dead. That seems to be the only point we differ on. I appreciate the response!

@nessisonett @Ainu20 @AdamNovice Genuine question, because I've been hearing a lot of this rhetoric for Ananta and other Chinese games recently.
How do you parse the endless stream of indie games that wear their inspirations like a badge of honor, sometimes looking and playing exactly like them?
Does it bother you that the two highest received games this year are a collection of "stolen" ideas from JRPGs and Metroidvanias of the past?
How about established IPs that churn out games that are functionally identical to each other, reusing the same ideas everytime? A lot of these old guard studios are a revolving door of employees, many of the innovators who created the formulas they use are gone now. And typically when new ideas ARE introduced, they come from another studio's game. Does this not constitute plagiarism to you and why?

Finally, can you give me some examples of recent games you think are original? I'm in the camp that we've ran out of original ideas a long time ago, and everything made today is iterative, not innovative. Which I don't think is a problem, but you guys clearly equate some form of artistic integrity to originality. Where does that start and end for you?

Hope for the best but keep those expectations low. Capcom makes a lot of big games but they're very hit or miss as is.

Looking forward to this one

@nessisonett I know right. Can't believe Spider-Man for the PS4 just blatantly copied Spider-Man for the PS2. Get an original idea already.