Review for Dragon Quest Builders. Game for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 28/01/2016 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 01/03/2018 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 14/10/2016
The phenomenon Minecraft has certainly been important for the recent world of video games, managing to create a real genre, loved by young and old. Although Mojang's creature still suffers from important limitations, the gameplay mechanics of this title are spread like wildfire and we can find them in part also in the great games such as the controversial No Man's Sky, where the research and collection of resources plays a fundamental role.
When Square Enix announced Dragon Quest Builders there was a particular reaction from the audience. Those who are strongly linked to the Dragon Quest brand, a JRPG series created back in 1985, could not fully understand the reasons that led the Japanese company to integrate a sort of "Minecraft" in a title like the aforementioned, literally revolutionizing the gameplay. Obviously, Dragon Quest Builders certainly doesn't want to overlap the main chapters of the saga but integrate a new aspect into this universe. So, hand to the brave Builders tools and let your imagination run wild!
The legend of the Builder
Dragon Quest Builders is not just a relentless search for resources or a sandbox to be enriched with beautiful and impressive constructions, but there is a real plot which is the backdrop to our businesses. The terrible Dragonlord (main enemy of the first historical Dragon Quest) has transformed Alefgard into a hostile and dangerous land, full of monsters and demons. The small remaining population is hiding and has been deprived of an important skill, namely the ability to build.
But the legend tells of a brave Builder, who will restore light and life to Alefgard, thanks to his ability to build and create. This character, of course, is us and it will be our main task to rebuild and repopulate the cities destroyed by monsters. The narrative in Dragon Quest Builders is an interesting background, but it does not actually represent the true focus of the title and it also turns out to be banal and obvious in certain situations. Despite this, the various characters that we will meet during our events turn out to be funny and well characterized.
Anyway, the nerve center of the game is the construction mechanics and the search for resources. There are a huge number of objects that we can find in the game world: from materials such as wood, iron, steel to real decorations such as tables or chairs, or various doses of food that we must continuously exploit in order not to die of hunger. The raw materials that we manage to find in the game world come elaborated, and used to build increasingly complex objects, in special structures such as forges, furnaces or workbenches, also to be built.
During the main story of the title, we will have to deal with four different cities, which we will have to rebuild and repopulate from top to bottom, and each of them presents a sort of Main "theme". For example, in one it will be essential to erect important defense structures while in another the continuous production of antidotes for people affected by a mysterious virus will be essential. These different approaches to cities try to make the Dragon Quest Builders story less repetitive as possible by trying to offer different strategies for each city, and collides with repeated and almost always very similar environments.
The longevity of Dragon Quest Builders story mode is great, considering that for each city at least 5-6 hours will be essential to achieve all objectives. For the most fearless and courageous, it will also be possible to replay at various levels but having some set goals to meet (challenges), such as being able to finish the city within a certain number of days, or reaching an established "city level".
Such a substantial duration for the reconstruction of each city is explained by the fact that passing from one to another, we will completely lose all our skills and knowledge of the various architectural projects. This is one of the things that baffled us the most the first time around, and after spending many hours figuring out how to build a strong armor or steel weapon, we will always find ourselves back to square one between chapters.
Draw your swords
The Dragon Quest Builders experience is not only related to construction, but the fearsome Dragonlord has also placed a multitude of monsters and strange creatures in the vast game world. The result is therefore an important sector linked to fighting, which however does not shine for several reasons. In fact, the clashes against these creatures are very simple, and are based on a simple shot with our weapon, without anything that deepens the gameplay, if not the use of bombs for golems or other more robust creatures.
Such a trivial fight will end up boring, and often you will want to avoid the fight rather than go to the assault of the creatures. The same goes for weapons which, unlike objects and materials, are very small and poorly characterized. A more in-depth analysis of this sector would have been welcome, considering that the various game “islands” are dotted with monsters. An interesting creature-related gameplay cue is the factor day-night. In fact, you will learn to avoid wandering around during the night as the world is populated by stronger and more dangerous monsters. Let's not forget about the boss-fight, scattered both around the game world, and at the end of each city reconstruction and which, although very simple, are fun.
Shared constructions
The Dragon Quest Builders experience, however, is not only based on the single-player story, but after completing the first city it will be possible to unlock the "Unknown land". What is it about? It is nothing but the actual modality online, and allows you to share your own creations, and summon those of other players instead to then use them in our cities. Terra Ignota is a more or less large land, devoid of monsters, in which to build our cities in serenity, and is dotted with portals that lead us to lands full of resources, but this time also of enemies.
After 2-3 hours spent collecting the most disparate resources in the portals, we will have everything we need to build any structure or object, and our imagination can finally run wild. It follows that the success or failure of Dragon Quest Builders will mainly rely on the community, which will have to enrich the online mode of increasingly beautiful and complex buildings. Even Square Enix itself will have to periodically release some new material and objects, to always increase the already large variety.
The technical side of Dragon Quest Builders suffer from some smear, with an evident tearing while turning the camera to look at the environment that surrounds us. It's definitely not a huge problem but we hope it will be fixed soon with some patches.
Some drop in frame-rate also occurs during less chaotic sections, thus underlining some widespread problems. Regarding the camera, it should be added that it always behaves optimally except inside the caves, where it is instead very difficult to control. The soundtrack is instead of excellent quality, and will accompany our companies throughout the adventure with an excellent background music. A praise to the design of the characters, which although not revolutionary, always manages to be very appreciable.
We then came to the final Dragon Quest Builders comment. This spin-off of the main saga is a delightful departure from the classic JRPG genre, and offers the player the opportunity to express their creativity to the fullest. The huge number of materials and objects, added to fun design and construction mechanics, collides with a more or less banal narrative, an elementary combat system and some technical problems that we hope will be solved soon. Online mode will be a builder's paradise, and with a bit of imagination we may soon see some extraordinary constructions. We therefore take the liberty to try the title again a few weeks after its release, to observe its multiplayer content. Overall, we are facing a particular title and, in our opinion, largely successful.
► Dragon Quest Builders is an Action-RPG-Sandbox type game developed and published by Square Enix for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 28/01/2016 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 01/03/2018 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 14/10/2016
