Dragon Quest VII: official website open, details (online distributions, more), pics, footage

Update: added a short video comparing Dragon Quest VII (PS1) and Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past (3DS), to be found below!

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Yesterday, Nintendo of America finally opened the full official website for Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past. While it doesn’t reveal anything really new, it does provide us with some additional details about the game, along with some pics and even a little bit of gameplay footage.

First, here’s some gameplay footage, showing a regular battle:

Next, here’s a short comparison video:

Characters

The main characters of Dragon Quest VII are:

• Auster (protagonist): he’s the son of a famous fisherman, and is expected to carry on the family’s buisness. But as you can imagine, Auster is more interested in Auster than fish!
• Kiefer: heir to the throne of Estard. He’s always looking for trouble with Auster, his best friend;
• Maribel: a faithful friend of Auster, who is always exasperating her. She’s quite haughty and headstrong;
• Ruff: he used to be a wolf, but he was turned into a boy thanks to magic. He’s often seen riding on the back of a wolf;
• Sir Mervyn: an old man with the skills and fighting spirit of a lengedary hero;
• Ashie: a talented dancer, who also knows how to use a sword. She’s known as a feared warrior who is not afraid to break the rules.

Vocations

There are several types of vocations:

Basic vocations

 These are the basic vocations that are available to anyone—sort of like an internship! Master these roles to learn new—and permanent—spells and abilities, and ultimately open up more advanced vocations.

Advanced vocations

 Master the basic vocations and combine your skills to unlock these advanced, more powerful roles.

Master vocations

 The ultimate levels that can be achieved are master vocations. These can only be unlocked by mastering certain advanced vocations and monster vocations. Here is one of the super powerful master vocations you can unlock:

Monster vocations

For the first time in the DRAGON QUEST series, you can fight as a monster! Monster classes can be unlocked by defeating certain enemies, such as slimes, bone barons, or walking corpses, and then, if you’re lucky, acquiring their heart. Choosing a monster vocation not only gives your character the monster’s unique skills, but you also take on the appearance of that monster in the game!

Locations

Here’s some of the important locations/places you will get to visit during your adventure:

• The Shrine of Mysteries: a mysterious shrine located on Estard Island, which is connected to the tablet fragments. When you find one, you have to bring it back there, so that something happens.
• Assembly Room: inside the shrine, there’s the Assembly Room, which is where you assemble your tablet fragments. There, you will meet the keeper, who looks like a fairy. He claims to be hundreds of years old, and calls you and your friends “The Chosen Ones”. He helps you manage your tablet fragments, and give you hints on where to find those you’re still missing. Talking of fragments, the Nintendo 3DS versions features a Fragment Detector: located in the top left corner of the bottom screen, it glows brightly when you’re near a fragment.
• The Haven: a place where monsters who dream of being human can live in peace. During the adventure, you can bring specific monsters to that village, and it will grow little by little, with new businesses opening. Each monster you bring there gives you a traveler’s tablet, which can be used to open a (randomly generated) dungeon when placed on the plinth.
• Download Bar: located in the Haven. There, you can find traveler’s tablets that have been shared online.
• Monster Meadows: a home for friendly monsters, who can help you find traveler’s tablets.

Monsters

Nintendo explains how the Monster Meadows work. First, you need monster munchies to befriend monsters defeated in battle. Once you have enough, you need to send three friendly monsters (1 leader, 2 helpers) into a cave located in Monster Meadows, so they can retrieve a traveler’s tablet.

By clearing the dungeons, and sharing the tablets with other players, the monsters will level up. Naturally, the higher the level, the better the traveler’s tablets the monsters will bring back!

Talking of monsters, the Big Book of Beasts is where all the details about the monsters encountered in battle are recorded. But first, you need to complete a certain quest in order to unlock it.

Here’s some of the monsters to be found in Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past:

• Healslime
• Conkerer
• Little Devil
• Well Wisher
• Shabby Cat
• Ulcer
• Mandrake Mercenary
• Forky Pig

Extras

Remember the Download Bar mentioned above? Well, it turns out it will also be used for online distributions. Unfortunately, we don’t quite know what will be distributed just yet…

StreetPass is also used in Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past. It allows you to get Traveler’s Tablets from other players. But you don’t get them directly: they are found inside the cave, located in the Monster Meadows. To share a tablet, you first need to activate StreetPass, and then select the one you want to share. Of course, you get to keep your tablet when using this feature

Finally, here’s some screencaps from the official website:

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past (3DS) comes out on September 16th in Europe and North America.