Instant Radical

Yep, no FMVs in the 3DS version, cutscenes are all rendered in-game and look so much better than in the original.

It's happening! There's not much on the site yet, but you can see it here: http://www.dragonquest.jp/dqm2/# I loved the first remake, I'll be picking this up as soon as it comes out. Kind of a bummer for the non-Japan residents/Japanese readers that it doesn't seem like Terry 3DS is getting an English translation.

I'd like DS remakes that use the IV-V-VI engine. Really, I'd be happy if they just did III. I'm sure a remake is on its way eventually, since it's one of the most popular games in the series.

Ehh, who cares. I live in Japan and could theoretically get all of these things but I doubt it's worth the effort. The game as-is is already great, I've never bought into this manufactured need to have all these preorder DLC exclusive thingies to enjoy the game. That's probably one reason I never liked IX very much, come to think of it.

Where I live in Japan, gas is about 6.34 per gallon. However, I drive a small, fuel efficient car and fill up every Friday (when the tank is usually about half full) and it only costs about $25-30 to fill up, which is quite reasonable to me. Regardless, I'm looking forward to moving to the city in a month and not needing a car (and related expenses) anymore.

"There's an inconsistency between you point 2 and 3..." Actually, no. I'm only referring to giving the names a foreign language flavor within the confines of katakana-to-romaji wiggle room.

"Direluck?" Yikes.

There are some places that definitely look better than in the original, like the robot cave near Falrod/Falrish. I'm about thirteen hours into the game after playing it a little over a week. I just got to the second town with people turned to stone. This game is going to take me months to beat.

Eh? What's wrong with Fishbell? It's been at least eight years since I've played the original game but the only thing I remember being different is the top of the church (which had a tinymedal around there somewhere.)

I never felt that the puzzles in the shrine were too essential to the game, and I'm really surprised to see lots of people here upset about something that was never loved in the first place (when your game is infamous as "that one with three or four hours before the first battle," that's going to be a big obstacle to handheld players.) But I do think they could have smoothed it out without messing up the original atmosphere.

I've just gotten the shards I need for Engow, here are my impressions so far. I really like the game. It's better than the original in almost every way - it looks great, the battles are fast, the new world map is great, and the music is glorious. The only gripe I have is that I don't like the addition of the little dude in the shrine. Like others, I felt the item collecting before Rexwood (fun fact: "Woodpaluna" in Japanese, yuck) was tedious, but I wish they'd kept the original design of the shard area intact. I liked the lonely atmosphere and the fact that the heroes didn't really know what was going on. But that little floating dude in the remake kind of ruins the atmosphere, and you don't directly interact with the shard pedestals. It feels less like dipping into the unknown, mysterious past, and more like... playing a video game, complete with a little dude who tells you how to do stuff. DQ's always been pretty good at avoiding this, so it's a little annoying to see it here. And while subtle hints on where to find the shards is a nice touch, having a "shard radar" seems a little excessive. But these are all minor gripes and things I'd probably never have thought about if this was my first experience with DQVII.

PS DQVII is pretty ugly, but that graphics engine looks fantastic on the DS's smaller screen, it was the perfect choice for the IV-VI remakes. It also helps that there's more to it (character portraits, item illustrations, animated monsters, etc.)

I got the game yesterday, it took under two hours to get to the first fight (and I was in no particular rush either, and forgot exactly what I was supposed to do at a few points in the beginning.)

Slimming down the intro section was a good call. It's not a "cut to the story," it's a cut to extemporaneous gameplay section that's not necessary in a title that's already one hundred hours long. I've ordered my copy but it hasn't shipped yet. I should have it by next week.

1. I like the spell name changes in the newest versions of DQ. They're thematically consistent and make sense. The old spell names have always felt rather clunky and awkward to me. 2. Most of the character name changes are unnecessary. Some notable exceptions are Kukule (which just sounds weird and out of place) to Angelo, Barbara (which sounds too old-fashioned for a teenage girl) to Ashlynn, Papas (which just sounds funny in English, though I've always thought it was weird they didn't really change Mada's name to Martha or something) to Pankraz, and a few more. Names like Flora, Hassan, Deathtamoor (his English name sounds like the real name Mortimer, which is just plain silly) and many many monster names should never have been changed. 3. The romanization in the old games was never that great to begin with. It's important to keep in mind that that original names are not actual Japanese words (being written in katakana) but Japanese transcriptions of fictional, non-Japanese words. This allows for wiggle room in how to translate many of the names. For example, in DWM on GBC, "Mirudraas" is an egregious example, a terrible romanization for ミルドラース. It is quite clearly supposed to be "Mild(w)rath." When I see many of the names in Japanese I think that a French-inflected translation would make them look better in the roman alphabet, add flavor, AND be more faithful to the originals than completely changing them. For example, rendering "Esterk" as "Estarque," "Roto" as "Loteaux" or something similar. As many have pointed out, ミレーユ is supposed to be translated as Mireille, though Milly's not a bad compromise. Also, I admit that space used to be an issue (with names like Deathtamoor and Orgo Demirra.) 4. I've never cared for the medieval-y NES translation, names, or places, and I think names like Erdrick and Gwaelin sound stupid. But I started playing DQ during the GBC era, so I have no sentimental attachment to the original Dragon Warrior releases. Dialects have been way overused since DQVIII (where I think it fit in pretty well with the voice acting.) 5. The voice acting and symphonic music in DQVIII are awesome. It pisses me off when people fuss about the voice acting, because it's great. If you don't like it, turn it off. 6. Changing the theme-park-Christianity religion to a less-specific religion was probably a good choice, and it seems even the Japanese games are doing this now, anticipating overseas releases and trying to be sensitive/respectful of this sort of thing. 7. There's nothing wrong with making changes in localization - as I already said, the issue of spell names has been handled very well, and when I play DQ in Japanese it's often tough for me to remember all the original spell names. But there are so many unnecessary changes to monster names, character names, and place names that I find it virtually impossible to converse with Japanese people about the DQ games I've played in English. The problem with the English localizations is that since DQIV they've tried to completely erase the original "flavor" of the game and replace it with a silly, pun-infested atmosphere that's unfaithful to the original and nobody particularly likes or wants anyway. 8. Whoever wrote the original rant is a crappy writer.