Producer Takeshi Ichikawa Reveals How Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Aims for a Wider Audience - Article
by Evan Norris , posted on 19 November 2025 / 2,023 Views
Dragon Quest VII is a legendary game. Released initially in 2000 on PlayStation, it won over legions of RPG fans, particularly in Japan, for its substantial job system, dark narrative, and lengthy running time. That's why the upcoming remake, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, is such a big deal in the role-playing community. In this redefined version, the core concepts of the fifth-gen title remain, but the battle mechanics, graphics, and story have all been updated and, arguably, improved, offering players a more streamlined and focused experience.
Last month during New York Comic Con, following a demo of the game, I was fortunate to sit down with Takeshi Ichikawa, the producer of Reimagined. Via a translator, Ichikawa spoke at length about what makes the original game special and what decisions the development team made to ensure the remake satisfies as many players as possible, no matter their experience with the beloved original.
VGCHARTZ: I have to mention the battle theme music. It really stood out during the demo; in fact, it's the definition of an earworm. So I'll just start with the audio side of things. I know that music obviously sets the scene and the tone for a game. And I know voice acting is a big part of this remake. How important is the soundscape, to you, in the success of the game?
ICHIKAWA: As you may already know, all of the mainline installments in the Dragon Quest series utilize composition or music tracks composed by Koichi Sugiyama, a wonderful composer. With the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined version, we re-recorded all of the music tracks that we had in previous Dragon Quest VII releases, 3DS and the original. In those two versions, the music tracks were recorded with synthesizers. But with the Reimagined version, we recorded using an orchestra performance. So it gives a much richer musical experience.
Voice acting helps convey the emotions of the characters better. With the voice acting and the wonderful music, you can immerse yourself in the story and you can play the battles with more excitement.
So, it is a very important factor to me. And as you mentioned, the music in the battle makes it more thrilling.
VGCHARTZ: Yes, I wanted to enter more and more battles just to hear that song. Moving on, does Dragon Quest VII, either the original or the 3DS version, have any special personal connection to you?
ICHIKAWA: Well, the original version is the most popular title on the PlayStation. It's a legendary title. I did get to play the game when I was much younger. I was still in elementary school back then. It was an interesting experience for me, because back when I played it when I was a kid, I actually wasn't able to finish the game. I gave up on it. With the Reimagined version, one of my main goals was to ensure that everyone can enjoy the Dragon Quest VII experience.
VGCHARTZ: In Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, as in all video game remakes, there's a line between being loyal to the original audience and welcoming new players who don't have any allegiance to the IP. How did you walk that line?
ICHIKAWA: One of our biggest goals was to ensure that all generations of players get to enjoy the Reimagined version. At the same time, we had a clear vision to retain the elements unique to the original — the unique aesthetics, the world of Dragon Quest VII, and the darker storytelling, things like that.
VGCHARTZ: When you were playing the original as a young man, were there any things that stuck out to you that you didn't like, that you've now remedied?
ICHIKAWA: One of the things that the original release was known for is that it takes quite a long time to get going. In the original version, it took about three hours to get to the first battle in the game, but with the Reimagined version, it shouldn't take you more than an hour.
VGCHARTZ: During the demo, I pressed down on the D-pad and looked at the "Moonlighting" menu that allows you to quickly and efficiently change vocations, and also allows more than one vocation for a single character. How essential is that system to the success of the remake?
ICHIKAWA: There are three main components that we put a lot of effort into for this remake. The three areas were the visuals, the story, and the battle. On the topic of the third component, the battle, people who have played the previous version of Dragon Quest VII understand that the vocation system is a very important factor. So that's definitely something that we really wanted to work on to make it even better for our players, to make it easier to follow and understand, and to make it more efficient.
VGCHARTZ: Ichikawa-san, do you have a favorite vocation?
ICHIKAWA: I do want to talk about one of my favorite vocations, which is the pirate, and that's something that we actually worked on extensively in the Reimagined version. When you experience the story of Dragon Quest VII, which involves a group of kids sailing the seas in a ship, it makes you want to be a pirate. The pirate was one of the vocations that we worked on extensively to make it special, and have its own unique characteristics in the game. I'm excited for our players to check that out in the game.
VGCHARTZ: You've already mentioned several updates and upgrades, including vocational changes and streamlining some of the systems, but are there one or two other quality-of-life tweaks that you haven't mentioned yet that you'd like to call out?
ICHIKAWA: There is something new, to both Dragon Quest VII and the Dragon Quest series as a whole. It's the UI. In almost all of the previous Dragon Quest titles, the UI is a window-style design, but in the Reimagined version, one of our goals is to cater to a wider audience. We wanted to design something that's more familiar for PC players and for younger players in general. So that's why we kind of made the decision to switch the UI from a window-style design to a tab-style design.
VGCHARTZ: We've talked a lot about the PlayStation original from 2000. What about the 3DS remake? What lessons learned from that version have been incorporated into this newest remake?
ICHIKAWA: Back when we made the 3DS version, there were some big changes, for example a lot of the 2D elements that were in the PlayStation version became 3D. For this new release, we retained the things that worked in the 3DS version. But in addition to that, we also reflected a lot on player feedback that we received back then, so I do believe that we achieved an even better version with Dragon Quest VII Reimagined.
VGCHARTZ: Finally, what would make this game a success to you? Is it a financial component in terms of units sold? Is it a critical component in terms of aggregate score? Is it the fans giving you positive feedback?
ICHIKAWA: Needless to say, achieving our financial business goals is overall one of our objectives with this project. But it's also important to ensure that our fans — those who played the original game and those playing for the first time — are happy with this Reimagined version. That is one of the most important goals for this title.
I'd like to thank Ichikawa-san for his candid, thoughtful answers; Kohya Bamba for his invaluable translation services; and the entire Square Enix PR team, including Fortyseven Communications, for arranging the interview.
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I still haven't gotten around to playing the original game so I'll probably buy this version if it ends up reviewing well.
Never been a bad DQ mainline or mainline remake. It's a remake of the 3DS Remake. It was great
I've heard great things about it and I really liked DQ XI so I'll definitely get it if the reviews are positive.
I like the 3DS Remake and be glad to play this again. IV,V,VI should be remade next and remaster 8 on modern consoles. Series needs more exposure in the west.
Don't forget about 9! its never been remade or even ported yet
