Dragon Quest and Minecraft have a few things in common for me. For starters I love both of them. Also, I was an early adopter in both cases. I grew up with Dragon Quest and every installment holds a special place in my heart. Even the spin-offs. That’s worth mentioning because the topic of this review today is one of these such side games. Dragon Quest Builders is a spin-off based off of the trappings of Minecraft. It’s clearly an attempt to acclimate a new generation of gamers to the classic RPG series, and I jumped in with reckless abandon. Dragon Quest Builders turned out to be one of my favorite games of the previous generation. Today I’m going to tell you why.
The story of Dragon Quest builders is based off of a ‘what if’ scenario from the original game. In the first Dragon Quest you fight your way to the Dragonlord and are left with a choice. He promises half of the world to your character if you cease with the offensive. Dragon Quest Builders assumes that the hero of the original game says yes, and dooms the world to his rule. Civilization has been destroyed as a result and what’s left are ruins and people without hope.
You play the role of a builder in a world that has lost the ability to create. Your character (customized to your liking) awakens in a cave and must break himself out of this mountainside crypt. From here you travel to the nearby town of Cantlin, or rather, the ruins that remain of it. From here you encounter a few characters and set out to rebuild this city on rock and roll. Or, rather, in opposition of the Dragonlord and his minions. Dragon Quest Builders is set up in a stage format wherein you are tasked with rebuilding various cities from the original title in a sequence of chapters. As a huge fan of the original game (and trilogy) I absolutely love the scenario used here.
Let me start by saying that any modern Dragon Quest title that takes place in the Loto series gains serious points with me. As a longtime fan I feel like the setting as well as every reference hits me right in the nostalgia feels. This what if scenario is like a dream come true for me because Dragon Quest is my favorite video game franchise of all time. Fanboy drivel aside the apocalyptic rebuilding scenario is interesting. I absolutely love starting from ruins and building a thriving town to my liking. The Minecraft gameplay scenario fits better than I could have ever expected.
Dragon Quest Builders, at its core, is an action RPG. You guide your character through 3D worlds from a third person viewpoint as you interact with the environment in various ways. Everything is set as blocks like Minecraft. You can destroy these and collect them to place as you choose. This is all determined by your inventory at the bottom of the screen which you scroll through with the shoulder buttons. You strike with your weapon via the triangle button, and everything you hit has a bar. Terrain blocks can be collected when this reaches zero, and enemies are defeated when it is depleted. Enemies drop items (which can be used to craft items) but surprisingly there is no experience point system. You defeat monsters just to get materials.
The game is based on the premise that you have to rebuild classic cities from the original Dragon Quest story. It’s a great idea, and the action RPG motif blends well with the concept. You have a specific area that’s touched by light and it’s always the same size square. It’s not huge which makes rebuilding manageable. It’s a plus too because you’ll have a lot to pay attention to such as monsters attacking and trying to break down everything you’ve built up to this point. The towns you must rebuild are divided into chapters and within these you’ll focus only on the city in question. Your first goal in any of the chapters should be to build walls around the ruins to protect from monsters which roam the map. Then you can get started on the rebuilding process.
Each town has their own specific NPCs which find their way to the town. Each chapter begins with just one, but as your city grows so does the population. These guys help to carry the plot as well as give you hints, and even tasks to complete. These range from building specific amenities in the town (such as houses, kitchens, etc.), finding them particular items, crafting objects for them, raising your town level and much more. Completing these grants you rewards, and it’s also the only way to advance the plot. Often times the tasks will lead you outside of the town area to the wilds populated with monsters and hazards.
You have to prepare well for these adventures outside of the safe zone because you have a limited life bar as well as hunger. These are replenished by consuming specific items such as medicines and food. There are also status effects such as paralysis, and poison. You know, the standard Dragon Quest conventions. Monsters include the classic mainstays like slimes, drakkies, golems etc with a variety of different and more powerful versions of each. Despite the departure from classic gameplay conventions Builders still feels like a Dragon Quest game through and through. Square-Enix did a great job in designing this spin-off in that it benefits greatly from the license rather than just being a good game in spite of it.
If there’s one thing that disappointed me it’s the lack of RPG elements. Dragon Quest Builders is still best classified as an action RPG, but it’s more of the former rather than latter. This is because there aren’t character stats, nor can you gain experience points or even levels. The system is a bit dumbed down as you can only become stronger by increasing your life points with a specific item. Your strength and defense only go up when you have weapons, armor, and accessories equipped. DQ Builders is best referred to as an RPG-lite. Some will like this, and others are sure to be disappointed. I’m somewhere in between, honestly.
Crafting is an even bigger part of the game than combat. By breaking blocks you can collect theme ala Minecraft, and then place them back into the environment. This means that if you have the patience you can sculpt entire mountains should you choose. It’s more limited here than in Minecraft because, for starters, you can’t go into water. You’ll find this helps in scaling mountains or making bridges across water (blocks float in midair as long as they’re connected to another one). You can destroy a mulitude of different objects and collect materials for crafting. Some of these require specific weapons or tools to extract. From here you bring them to what, for all intents and purposes, can be considered a crafting table to make a variety of different items.
There are so many different types of items you can craft in this game it would be tough to list them all. You can cook a variety of food, make medicines, armor, weapons, etc. The possibilities are vast, but bear in mind that it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to something like Minecraft. In addition many of these are locked into specific chapters. Yes, you cannot craft every recipe no matter at which point you are in the game. Some are only available early on, and others late in the story. I found this to be disappointing to be honest because you get no real sense of progress of completion. Some chapters lock you behind weaker equipment to encourage you to focus less on fighting monsters. It’s a decent idea in concept, but the execution just left me wanting a little more.
This brings me to the most annoying part of this game. At the end of each chapter you lose all items, health bonuses, crafting recipes… basically everything. This means you begin the revival of each town with nothing but a few simple items every time. In this sense it feels like Dragon Quest Builders throws away your past milestones to give you a fresh start each time. While I do like the big sense of accomplishment that you get from rebuilding a town from nothing, but why couldn’t your health gains at least make the transition with you? They could have scaled monsters, but instead, you must completely start over. I was really bothered by this idea at first, and it sapped a lot of my motivation to collect everything right out.
While combat isn’t a huge focus of the game each chapter of Dragon Quest Builders does still feature a boss encounter at the end. I found that these were really well done and to be honest they feel sort of like miniature puzzles. You have to craft the right tools to aid you. In addition, because the battles occur right at the town you’re building there’s always the possibility to give yourself the upper hand in the way you’ve designed everything. I loved planning these out in my mind and figuring out ways to get the edge. The best encounter however is the Dragonlord at the end even though you’re more limited in options because it happens within his castle. Still, the way building was incorporated into the encounter is fantastic and plays well upon the themes of this game.
Graphically Dragon Quest Builders is basic. It uses cute super deformed character designs which are true to the aesthetic of the original title. The models could almost have been done on the PS2, and I can’t help but think Square-Enix held back on the engine to port it to the Vita and PS3. Regardless, I like the art style and the monsters are re-created wonderfully. The draw distance is also quite impressive. It’s probably the only thing that’s impressive in this engine. The soundtrack uses mostly arranged versions from the original title and these are re-created with great care. They’re instantly distinguishable, and help add to the nostalgia and atmosphere. I like the soundtrack a lot. I’m a little surprised however that there are no voiceovers but that’s not a big deal
