Square Enix brings their builder/RPG game to the west.
After 5 months of waiting for this title to be released, it’s finally here! As a person who has never played Minecraft (gasp), I wanted to give this game a shot because it’s a Dragon Quest title and I wanted to give Square Enix my money. It’s my hope that the more money I give them, the more western DQ releases will happen for consoles. After 10+ hours put into this game, I can say that this game is amazing.
Dragon Quest Builders, though it shares some of the resource gathering and building aspects with Minecraft, is not a pure sandbox game. It is an RPG first. You have a character that you can do some light customization on, such as hair color, eye color and clothes. You can choose to be a male or a female and you can name your character whatever you wish (within 8 characters). The game has a linear story that you follow and there are quests that you complete along the way.
My builder, Athestan.
The Story
The story behind Dragon Quest Builders comes from the original Dragon Quest/Warrior game. In that game you have the defeat the evil Dragonlord in order to save the Kingdom of Alefgard. In DBQ, a different reality exists in which the Dragonlord won and has plunged Alefgard into darkness.
The game starts you off in a crypt. A voice speaks to you and tells you about the builders of old, these almost mythical people who could build things with their hands. At some point the builders were lost when the lands were ravaged by the Dragonlord. You have been in a deep sleep for a long time, but the goddess Rubiss (from Dragon Warrior II) has awoken you so you can start rebuilding the world. Easy peasy.
The Setting
Dragon Quest Builders is set in the world of Alefgard, from the original Dragon Quest/Warrior game. The first town you inhabit is Cantlin, which made its appearance in both Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior III. Later on, you’ll visit Hammerhood Heights (where all the Hammerhoods live) and the Desert of Damdara (also from Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior III). I’m sure I’ll be visiting other places as well, but for now, I’ve made it to the Desert.
Gameplay
In the crypt, the game walks you through basic movements and simple recipes. You are given a stick that you can use to whack flowers for a medicinal salve. You’re also shown how to collect and lay down the earth blocks. Once you got all that down you leave the crypt to explore the wide open world of Cantlin.
Your basic menu of options. There’s not a whole lot to deal with here.
If you’re like me, playing Minecraft isn’t an option because it is too open-ended. I really need and appreciate direction and structure in my games. DQB provides just enough freedom to build the city however you want while at the same time making sure that you are given the right amount of guidance to get you from point A to point B.
Starting off in a new town and all the materials are mismatched. This cannot stand.
Setting down my Banner of Hope, I created a welcoming beacon for potential villagers to see. Shortly after, a new villager named Pippa appeared. Pippa will have quests for you to complete and each quest is meant to help you get better acquainted with collecting resources, building rooms and making materials. First you have to build a room to sleep in. In order to do that you set earth blocks in the gaps in the walls. Once that’s complete you have an empty room. Each type of room has basic furniture requirements. For instance, a basic bedroom needs one light source, a bed, and a pot. Boom! Done! Other rooms I’ve made so far: blacksmith’s shop, crude kitchen, blacksmith’s studio, a watchtower, a private bedroom, a fancy inn, and an armory. Your villagers will also give you blueprints. Pippa has one for a basic workshop. Blueprints tell you exactly where to put the blocks and furniture items. Using the blueprint that Pippa gave me, I was able to make a blacksmith’s workshop. Now I have a room to build items and with a chest in the room, Pippa can also build items and store them for my later use.
Blueprints, like this one, are given to you by the villagers.
Further along in the game another villager appears, Rollo. Rollo is a scholar who has been writing the Canticle of Cantlin based on old writings he found. Using this book, he gives you some additional quests to find new items and recipes.
This is how the game progresses so far for me. I keep gathering resources and building better materials. Eventually I was able to change my dirt town into a great looking town with stone walls, scones on the walls, flagstone walkways, and nice trees. This is only the beginning. Since I’m now in the Desert of Damdara, there’s a ton more resources to collect.
Hoard everything. You’ll be glad you did.
Once you collect a resource, a list of new items can be created. Storage is an issue at the start since you can only store items in your action bar on the bottom of the screen or in chests. Luckily Rollo has read about a giant coffer that will allow you to store as many materials as you can. This coffer is a lifesaver once you get going. The great thing about it is that you can access the coffer through the menu so unlike chests, you don’t have to be physical near the coffer to access it. So great.
With a mallet, I can knock down all these blocks and collect those resources.
As you improve your city, your city gains experience points. The more levels your city gains, the more recipes you have access to and the further the story progresses. Right now my city is a Level 4 and it’s taken me some time to get it there. Each room you build and each piece of furniture you set down all contribute to your experience points.
Dirt walls are no more! Looks at those sweet, sweet stone walls.
Different buildings types and furniture are not the only things you can build. You can also build weapons and armor and cook different kinds of food. Right now my character is equipped with a steel shield, iron armor and an iron sword. In the Desert of Damdara I found an armorer who gave me access to stronger weapon and armor recipes. Now I can take down most of the monsters I see fairly easily.
My confidence level is rising. I’m going to go boop it on the nose.
Hit points are given by Seeds of Life. My character does not level in this game which I dig. For those of you who have played DQ games, you know that grinding is a cornerstone of those games. There is no grinding here unless collecting enough materials to build 10 pots to put around my city is considered grinding. It might be.
Look at those trees! I planted them!
Exploration in the game is very easy. You just go where you can walk. In your travels you’ll come across new monsters to fight and new items to collect. After exploring all of the land of Cantlin, you’re given a blue teleport that will send you to Hammerhood Heights. Later on you’re given a red teleport that will take you to the Desert of Damdara. Teleports are very important in this game.
Hammerhood Heights, where the Hammerhoods live.
Each area has new resources that you can pick up. The starting area of Cantlin has your basic materials like sticks and earth to build basic items like a cypress stick or a wall. Once you get to Hammerhood Heights, there are new building materials like coal, fur and copper and in the Desert of Damdara, you can get sandstone and sand.
The Desert of Damdara is looking lovely and sandy.
Everything is breakable in the game. You can spend a lot of time just hammering through mountains and trees to collect building materials. There’s something oddly soothing about engaging in that amount of destruction.
Eventually you are tasked with finding this castle and you can take all the materials in it.
There is combat in this game and it’s very simple. You approach a monster, you strike the monster, done. Most monsters will have materials for you to collect and use. Slimes give you blue goo, orange slimes give you orange goo. Bunicorns give you meat that you can use to cook food. The Hammerhoods give you fur. Wyverns will drop a feather that you can use for chimaera wings and drakes can sometimes drop grass seeds so you can plant grass in your city.
Mistakes were made.
The Music
If you are familiar with Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior games, then you know that the music is phenomenal (even in 8-bit). In Dragon Quest Heroes, they pulled all the good tunes from previous games and Dragon Quest Builders is no different. The main Dragon Quest overture is same as you’ve heard in all previous DQ/DW games. The overworld theme is the main overworld/Alefgard theme from Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior II. The town theme is a slowed down version of the town theme from Dragon Warrior IV. The cave theme music is the same as the cave music from Dragon Warrior III. Nostalgia is very strong with this game and I love it.
You will probably read some reviews about how bland the music is. Sigh. The music is great.
One day I will get to that place.
Thoughts from Cantlin
- If you are wondering about an open world build mode, there is one. It’s included in the Day One Edition of the game but there is a way to unlock it by completing a series of quests.
- I know I will have a showdown with the Dragonlord. It’s going to be awesome but I don’t want it to happen anytime soon.
- According to Producer Noriyoshi Fujimoto (via Gematsu) DQB is 50-60 hours in length, but you can easily stretch this out to over 100 if you try to complete all the side quests and take your time decorating your city.
- Story wise I think there’s something fishy about Rollo. Unfortunately I probably won’t find out until it’s too late.
- While this game is fantastic, it isn’t without its flaws. My major complaint about this game is the camera view. Out in the open it’s fine, but I’ve been having a hard time getting it to focus on my character when I’m in an enclosed space like inside a mountain or a covered shelter.
- Also, since everything is breakable, when fighting monsters in your city you can cause collateral damage to your buildings which may require you to rebuild. Just as you gain points for making buildings, you lose those points if they’re destroyed. It gets a little annoying to have to keep rebuilding stuff.
You can also build outside of your town. This looks like a good spot.
Dragon Quest Builders is a fun, time-consuming game that everyone who loves Minecraft or Dragon Quest should play. If you’re still on the fence, there is a free demo available and it does give you a pretty good idea of how the game works.
We’ll see you in Alefgard, Builder!
Dragon Quest Builders is out now for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.
- Gift Guide: Video Game-Inspired Cookbooks - February 27, 2024
- Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: JIM JIMENEZ - June 23, 2022
- Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: BECKETT MARINER - September 15, 2021
