Hyperion
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2016
- Messages
- 2,120
Copied and pasted from a Gamefaqs thread based on differences:
Personally, I hate on-screen enemies, certain challenging aspects were removed, such as an anti magic field against one early game boss being cut, XP growth was increased by a pretty large amount, the shard radar thing REALLY kills the exploration aspect imo. The change to the town buildin aspect, while convenient, is really frustrating. It was a lot of fun recruiting a bunch of thugs, and bunny girls and having your home become Las Vegas with GREAT casino rewards.
I also really prefer the 2D sprites on a 3D background look the original had, but if you've already got the game give it a whirl. If it feels too casual for you (like DQIX did) I say get an emulator, and give the original a shot.
Edit: Some changes for readability.
Shorter introduction: A player could easily sink in two hours chasing Prince Keifer around the starting island before ever seeing combat. The new introduction is still long, but also cuts out unnecessary conversations and a few red herring fetch quests.
The ruins that house the fane/assembly room have been transformed into two different locations. The new game moves the armor pieces the hero must gather to unlock the assembly room to a grave yard. This is good because it cuts down a lot of tedious walking (and ladder climbing) to reach the tablet pedestals (a place you return to frequently throughout the adventure).
The remake has also introduced a new NPC. There's an imp who takes your tablet fragments and provides minor plot-line exposition. This reduces the assembly room into a single menu. In the old game the player had to run across four separate rooms in order to pair stone fragments with their matching pedestals.
The bad? Developers cut out all the introduction puzzles. The armor gathering task is now a handheld fetch quest that requires zero critical thinking skills. Some players see this as a plus as it shortens the prologue.
Walking to the ruins is still a bit tedious as developers added a long empty corridor/cliff-side forest that players have to run through to reach the shrine. Still faster than climbing through the old ruins though.
Name changes: many non-player characters have had their names changed. For example the Hero's mom was changed from Mollie to Pearl, and his sleazy uncle Honduras is now called Pike.
The hero's pet lizard is gone completely. In the original game the lizard showed up in character art and the opening cut-scene never to be seen or heard from again.
Dialogue changes: Modern Dragon Quest games use written phonetic accents to differentiate between cultures and the remake uses this technique specifically to signify people from the past (spoiler: DQ7 is all about time travel).
World map: the over-world is gone, and the islands are now big explorable environments.
Visible enemies: the Dragon Quest series no longer uses random encounters and this new release is no exception. Monsters spawn in the dungeons giving the player the (slight) chance to run around them before triggering a combat encounter. Dead monsters re-spawn quickly, you'll never have to wander far to grind.
Party members are visible in combat. You can see their backs in combat, and their weapons change to match their equipment.
Fragment locator: without a guide, locating all the mandatory fragments in the original game was like hunting down needles in a field of haystacks. The new game gives you a locator graphic on the bottom screen map that lights up when a fragment is close by.
Classes: In the PSX game characters retained all class skills learned. In the remake base skills and monster skills stick around but character forget the over-powered advances skill when switching to a new profession. Leveling up classes is different as well - used to be based on the number of battles fought. This led to a lot of grinding around Dharma temple. Now it's XP based and each region has a level cap for job levels.
Haven: The build-your-own township is still included - except now all the lost villagers are reformed-monsters-turned-human and recruiting them nets the player special tablet fragments that lead to special dungeons that can be explored for item rewards. Sadly the town variations are gone too. In the old game there were multiple town types you could grow organically by recruiting certain types of villagers. Find a bunch of farmers and you had a rural village to buy special items from, or bring in bards and dancers to build a casino. No more, Haven is one town regardless of who moves in.
Also the leveling curve has been reduced for faster story progression.
The ruins that house the fane/assembly room have been transformed into two different locations. The new game moves the armor pieces the hero must gather to unlock the assembly room to a grave yard. This is good because it cuts down a lot of tedious walking (and ladder climbing) to reach the tablet pedestals (a place you return to frequently throughout the adventure).
The remake has also introduced a new NPC. There's an imp who takes your tablet fragments and provides minor plot-line exposition. This reduces the assembly room into a single menu. In the old game the player had to run across four separate rooms in order to pair stone fragments with their matching pedestals.
The bad? Developers cut out all the introduction puzzles. The armor gathering task is now a handheld fetch quest that requires zero critical thinking skills. Some players see this as a plus as it shortens the prologue.
Walking to the ruins is still a bit tedious as developers added a long empty corridor/cliff-side forest that players have to run through to reach the shrine. Still faster than climbing through the old ruins though.
Name changes: many non-player characters have had their names changed. For example the Hero's mom was changed from Mollie to Pearl, and his sleazy uncle Honduras is now called Pike.
The hero's pet lizard is gone completely. In the original game the lizard showed up in character art and the opening cut-scene never to be seen or heard from again.
Dialogue changes: Modern Dragon Quest games use written phonetic accents to differentiate between cultures and the remake uses this technique specifically to signify people from the past (spoiler: DQ7 is all about time travel).
World map: the over-world is gone, and the islands are now big explorable environments.
Visible enemies: the Dragon Quest series no longer uses random encounters and this new release is no exception. Monsters spawn in the dungeons giving the player the (slight) chance to run around them before triggering a combat encounter. Dead monsters re-spawn quickly, you'll never have to wander far to grind.
Party members are visible in combat. You can see their backs in combat, and their weapons change to match their equipment.
Fragment locator: without a guide, locating all the mandatory fragments in the original game was like hunting down needles in a field of haystacks. The new game gives you a locator graphic on the bottom screen map that lights up when a fragment is close by.
Classes: In the PSX game characters retained all class skills learned. In the remake base skills and monster skills stick around but character forget the over-powered advances skill when switching to a new profession. Leveling up classes is different as well - used to be based on the number of battles fought. This led to a lot of grinding around Dharma temple. Now it's XP based and each region has a level cap for job levels.
Haven: The build-your-own township is still included - except now all the lost villagers are reformed-monsters-turned-human and recruiting them nets the player special tablet fragments that lead to special dungeons that can be explored for item rewards. Sadly the town variations are gone too. In the old game there were multiple town types you could grow organically by recruiting certain types of villagers. Find a bunch of farmers and you had a rural village to buy special items from, or bring in bards and dancers to build a casino. No more, Haven is one town regardless of who moves in.
Also the leveling curve has been reduced for faster story progression.
Personally, I hate on-screen enemies, certain challenging aspects were removed, such as an anti magic field against one early game boss being cut, XP growth was increased by a pretty large amount, the shard radar thing REALLY kills the exploration aspect imo. The change to the town buildin aspect, while convenient, is really frustrating. It was a lot of fun recruiting a bunch of thugs, and bunny girls and having your home become Las Vegas with GREAT casino rewards.
I also really prefer the 2D sprites on a 3D background look the original had, but if you've already got the game give it a whirl. If it feels too casual for you (like DQIX did) I say get an emulator, and give the original a shot.
Edit: Some changes for readability.
Last edited:
