0
0
Nope, this isn’t a mistake. This is truly a review for Dragon Quest Builders, a game that came out in 2016 for the consoles. Weirdly, it’s taken nearly 8 years for the game to hit PC. Even, the sequel made it to Steam before the original!
Yeah, I’m scratching my head over it too.
I have no idea why it took so long to port the game over, but hey, at least it’s on the PC now and people can play it right?
The question we all have to ask now is whether the game’s still worth playing?
Read on to find out.
What is Dragon Quest Builders?
Dragon Quest Builders is a 3D third person action RPG. It’s developed and published by Square Enix, who also did the console versions. It’s out right now on the Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 (as well as 3 and Vita…but who plays them anymore?) and of course, the PC (which features all the DLC for the game),
Our review copy was provided by the super folks over at Square Enix! Thanks so much!
Dragon Quest Builders might not seem like it, but it’s actually an alternate take on the original Dragon Quest. Wherein the original game had you refusing the Dragonlord’s offer and taking him on (and down) in battle, the world of Dragon Quest Builders assumed that the Hero actually joined the Dragonlord, and was later betrayed.
You as the Builder, wake up years later and have to restore the decimated human civilization by building up your base and recruiting survivors to it. There’s a twist to it, but play a while and you’ll see it coming a mile away.
I’ve played the original Dragon Quest Builder when it came out. Hell, I still have the disc somewhere…but try as I may, I barely have any memories about it all other than the vague recollection that it was a fun game.
With that thought in my mind, I started (or can it be considered restarted?) the PC version.
Yeah, it’s a much darker take than Minecraft by leagues, despite the cutesy look. In fact, I’d say comparisons to Minecraft are a inaccurate. Other than the boxy terrain, the game has more in common with survival games like State of Decay or Subnautica but much more mission focused.
In fact, that’s a huge plus side for Dragon Quest Builders for me. While I do enjoy open ended games, I tend to get bored after awhile because it’s up to the player to set goals for themselves. I don’t like to think when I play games! I like to be told what to do, so I can strive towards that goal!
Dragon Quest Builders doesn’t shy from that at all. Hell, you have to complete the game’s missions to progress. In fact, Terra Incognita (the game’s free build mode) gets more fleshed out the more you play and progress in the main campaign.
Each chapter has numerous hidden goals and only when you complete the chapter are they revealed. Unless you go in with a guide, chances are you’ll miss out on a few of them. The goals are worth doing, because they unlock exclusive stuff in Terra Incognita. Thankfully, you don’t need to replay the chapters to complete them, you can just load up your save.
Considering that it’s a game developed for consoles and released in the middle of the last decade, Dragon Quest Builders doesn’t look too shabby.
The simplistic, stylized visuals actually helps a ton.
While I don’t care for Akira Toriyama’s art (I think all the characters he does look too similar, from Dragon Ball to Blue Dragon to Dragon Quest), I do think the clean look the game goes for holds up real well. The framerate moves at a good clip and the draw distance is quite good. Character models look passable too!
Of course, the gameplay loop is satisfying as well.
It’s pretty much you gathering materials to build the rooms needed to progress, then fighting a wave of monsters and repeating till you reach the chapter’s boss. Beat that and you move on to the next chapter. Progression is totally up to you. There’s no time limit so you can move as fast or as slow as you want. All the game asks of you is to clear its set goals to progress.
I do take issue with the game’s resetting your progress every time you move to a new chapter though. All the gear and item you’ve accumulated poof! It just pads out the game time unnecessarily because you need to regather items you’ve had in previous chapters to recreate your gear.
The another issue I have is that the ground textures (particularly for dirt and earth blocks) look pretty blurry. The same goes for some of the item portrait icons.
It’s looking like the assets and textures weren’t updated for today’s high resolutions.
Incidentally, I play on a 4K TV on my desktop and on a 2560 x 1600 laptop display so the blurriness is quite noticeable, especially on the laptop screen.
The UI fares much better, with sharp text and a clean graphical interface. I’m a bit miffed that it’s using B (or Circle) for confirmation instead of A (or X) but I adjusted to that little change toot suite.
I do wish the Builder moved faster though. I remember thinking the same thing when I played the Playstation 4 version back in the day and to see that nothing’s been done to speed up the walking speed is a disappointing.
The islands you can visit in Dragon Quest Builders are huge and take a long time to traverse, so anything to speed up the hero’s movement would’ve been great. Sadly, nothing’s been done on that front, despite some quality of life upgrades.
Combat too could’ve used a tune up. It’s simply too basic, with just hitting X over and over to attack enemies. You don’t have any sort of evasive move (no dodge or roll or dash), so you just hit and run for everything.
Boss fights fare a little better. They usually have some gimmicks to them so you can just run up to the bosses and do the same thing you do to regular enemies. Bosses aren’t really challenging though and unless you suck (or unprepared), you’ll probably beat them on the first try.
Despite the massive lack of consequential improvements, that’s not to say that the game hasn’t seen some tune-ups done.
The biggest among them is the Big Bash ability from Dragon Quest Builders 2. This basically allows you to destroy a huge chunk of blocks at once. It’s SUPREMELY useful, no matter if you’re just gathering materials or trying to clear terrain to build on.
It levels everything out on the 3 x 3 x 3 square, so you can clear out your base real quick, whack a group of enemies or even hollow out whole mountains with a tunnel instead of climbing them.
There’s also the new Undo feature which allows you to rebuild accidentally destroyed stuff at the touch of a button. I’d didn’t use it that much honestly so your usage of it will definitely vary.
Mouse controls (for block construction and destruction) has also been added. I honestly found them to be a bit too finicky and just used a controller instead for more precision.
Finally, Square Enix’s also bundled all the DLC previously released into the PC version. They’re nothing major really, just some content added into the Terra Incognita mode.
The Bottom Line.
Dragon Quest Builders is finally on the PC. On top of that, it’s a great port that runs well, has all the DLC and is budget friendly.
Even after all this time, the gameplay’s still fun, with hours of content to delve into as you run around building stuff.
Could there have been QoL additions? Of course! A faster run speed and better combat would’ve been divine…but that didn’t happen.
Does that make the game worth it still?
Definitely. Apart from the sequel (which is also a must play), there’s not much like it in the wide world of gaming. It’s definitely a unique and fun experience while it lasts.
TLDR:
The PC version of Dragon Quest Builders is the definitive edition of the game and while it could’ve used some more quality of life buffs, it’s still a great game and well worth your cash.
The Good:
- Lengthy main quest.
- Big Bash.
- Fun gameplay.
- Budget pricing.
The Bad:
- Run speed too slow.
- Combat lacks finesse.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
You must be logged in to post a comment.