Dragon Quest Builders - Game review by a fan of the franchise

Dragon Quest Builders PS4/PSVita - release 2016

I love the dragon quest series and have played almost every game that has been released in the series. I started with the first Dragon warrior game on the NES back in the 80s. I however am not a fan of the Minecraft game. Can't stand it as a game. I know there are some great things I have seen mod’s in the Minecraft games but to me it’s made for a child. But that is my opinion.

I purchased Dragon Quest builders with great hesitance. I played through the first chapter and decided it wasn’t that bad. The first chapter started out as a how to. It quickly went to the next part actually being a farming game. The stuff gathered wasn’t very clear on what it was for or how to use it. It was quite a challenge. The classic Dragon Quest elements were there in basics however it wasn’t much if ant RPG aspect. That was a downfall in my opinion of the game.

It Had basis but not clear resemblance of the familiar names of locations in the game. It referenced places that were from the original first games of the series. But you had to build it in your own way to meet the simple quest options. Creative ways of doing things.

The farming aspect was obvious and quickly became overly repeditive. The problem was not knowing what you were looking for exactly so you had to break basically everything to gather the materials. This had to be done over 4 parts on each chapter map. This was a difficult challenge at first. It took me a few hours over few days of playing to complete the first chapter. Eventually I had finished all the quests and had to fight a boss to complete it. I had of course build by instruction of the quests the items needed to complete the boss fight. It took a couple tries but it was over fairly fast.

The next chapter was longer but now I had more idea of what I was doing. There were of course some things that were still confusing to figure out but I got through the challenges fairly quickly. When it came to the chapter boss it was more difficult. Again, I got through it. It took more tries and more time to do.

I think through this the 3rd chapter was the hardest to complete. There was a building I had problems figuring out how to get a material that I actually wasn’t looking to collect but reveal and guide into place. Then the Boss battle was difficult because it was a flying boss and I had to try multiple time putting crossbows on higher platforms I was making. This took me a very long time to complete and adjust. It wasn’t easy and had me put the game away for a long time before I completed and continued.

I will not continue on this because it would spoil the game if you play for the story.

There was an alternative mode in the game that was more of an open world free build option. This had some fun to it but I did not get into it very much. In this game option things you unlocked in the regular story mode was already unlocked and ready to go. It was fun to build and explore like an RPG without the character level grinding. I later was given a copy of the official strategy guide from a friend that worked at GameStop. This I found that as much as I explored and built everything I could I missed a lot of content but just little things. The open mode had so much more I didn’t even know that it felt like it was and expanded story mode. I also found there were room designs I missed out by one or 2 item placements.

Now I cannot say this was a great game but it was good. It felt very much like a Minecraft mod but completely different. Different enough I can only use it as a comparison. This game will hold the attention of the younger crowd more than the normal gamer. If you are a Minecraft fan you will like this game also.

I don’t recommend paying the full price for the game but purchase on sale to get the DLC bonus. Otherwise just buy it used and save for something better in the series like Dragon Quest Heroes.

I hope you enjoyed this review of Dragon Quest Builders. Please look forward to the upcoming review on Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below and Dragon Quest Heroes 2.

Below is the Trophy list as taken from www.gamefaqs.com

Trophy Description - Type

Accessory Mania - Collect a large amount of accessories Bronze
Accessory Master Collect all accessories Silver
Alchemaniac Created accessories with alchemy 100 times Silver
Alchemy Challenger Create an accessory with alchemy Bronze
Become a Legend Obtain all trophies Platinum
Benefactor of Labatour (secret) Rescued the town of Labatour by defeating the monsters in the colosseum Bronze
Blessed by the Spirit Tree (secret) Save the village of origins from the monster attack and obtain the Holy Dew from the Ancient Spirit Tree Bronze
Captain moneybags Total amount of gold collected equals 500,000 Silver
Celebrity Alchemist Achieve a huge success when creating an accessory with alchemy Bronze
Challenger of Darkenss (secret) Defeat Helmud and repel the legendary monster at the dimensional island Bronze
Combo Master Have performed 300 continuous hits on enemies Bronze
Critical Hit Expert Perform a total of 100 critical hits Bronze
Elsaze's Captain of the Guard (secret) Protected the Kingdom of Elsaze's Castle & town by defeating the dragon Bronze
Emerging From the Darkness (secret) Defeated the monster onslaught protecting Yggdrasil Bronze
Equipment Collector Max out your equipment bag Bronze
Equipment Mania Collect a large amount of weapons and orbs Bronze
Equipment Master Collect all weapons and orbs Silver
Expert Healer Maxed out the stock of Hoime Stones Bronze
Friend to Monsters Meet and befriend many monsters Bronze
Hagure Metal Hunter Defeat a Hagure Metal Bronze
Liberator of Dowadokia (secret) Saved the dwarven town of Dowdokia by defeating the monster that appeared in the large church Bronze
Material Collector Maxed out your material bag Bronze
Material Mania Collect a large amount of materials Bronze
Material Master Collected all material types Silver
Medal Mania Total amount of small medals collected equals 200 Silver
Messiah of Coutruda (secret) Rescued the magical town of Coutruda by defeating Gigantes Bronze
Metal King Hunter Defeat a Metal King Bronze
Metal Slime Hunter Defeat a Metal Slime Bronze
Monster Collector Met and befriended every monster type Silver
Monster Exterminator Fight and defeat a large number of monsters Bronze
Monster Hunter Fought and defeated every monster type Silver
Monster Killer Defeat over 10,000 monsters Bronze
Monster Tamer Max out monster ally slots Bronze
Novice Captain of the Guard (secret) Mastered all basic combat techniques Bronze
Protector of the World (secret) Defeated Shamda and brought peace back to the world Gold
Puff-Puff Master (secret) All characters received a puff-puff Silver
Quest Mania Complete a large amount of quests Bronze
Quest Master Completed all quests Silver
Receiver of Strength (secret) Pass the trial at the shrine at the bottom of the sea and obtain the True Power of Light Bronze
Revelation of the Goddess (secret) Met with the goddess on the top floor of the Tower of Light Bronze
Rura Master Have found over 40 locations for use with Rura Bronze
Savior of Shera (secret) Saved the elf village of Shera by defeating the monster invasion Bronze
Savior of Yggdrasil (secret) Save Yggdrasil from the engulfing darkness with the Holy Dew Bronze
Seeker of Strength Reach lvl 50 for all ally characters Gold
Seeker of the Shrine Fought and won 50 times in treasure map shrines Bronze
Special Attack Master Perform all ally special attacks Bronze
Special Skill/Spell Expert Perform a total of 1000 special skills/spells Bronze
Strongest of the Strong (secret) Challenged and won against all the strongest enemies Silver
Tension Charger (secret) Charged tension and reached super high tension (100) Bronze
Veteran Warrior Save data playtime is 30 hours Bronze