Wikipedia

Dragon Quest Builders

Dragon Quest Builders[b]is a 2016sandboxaction role-playing gamedeveloped and published bySquare Enixfor thePlayStation 3,PlayStation 4,PlayStation Vita,AndroidiOS,andMicrosoft Windowsand published byNintendoforNintendo Switch.

Dragon Quest Builders
Developer(s)Square Enix Creative Business Unit III
Publisher(s)Square Enix[a]
Director(s)Kazuya Niinou
Producer(s)Noriyoshi Fujimoto
Designer(s)
  • Shintaro Tamai
  • Nobuki Ando
  • Suguru Ishii
Programmer(s)
  • Takashi Sugi
  • Naoto Uenaka
  • Mamoru Oyamada
Artist(s)
Writer(s)
  • Kosuke Nasu
  • Koya Tsukada
Composer(s)Koichi Sugiyama
SeriesDragon Quest
EnginePhyreEngine(Unity for Mobile and PC versions)
Platform(s)
ReleasePlayStation 3
  • JP:January 28, 2016
PlayStation 4,PS Vita
  • JP:January 28, 2016
  • NA:October 11, 2016
  • PAL:October 14, 2016
Nintendo Switch
  • WW:February 9, 2018
  • JP:March 1, 2018
Android,iOS
  • WW:May 26, 2022
Microsoft Windows
  • WW:February 13, 2024
Genre(s)Action role-playing,sandbox
Mode(s)Single-player

The game is set in Alefgard, the world of the originalDragon Questvideo game, with players controlling the builder who is tasked with rebuilding the world after it was destroyed. The game features a blocky aesthetic style, with gathering and building elements similar to games such asMinecraft.A sequel,Dragon Quest Builders 2,was released in 2018.

Gameplay

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Players build camps out of blocks; the camp gains levels based on how much it has been built up. The player can also build a selection of rooms that contribute to the level of the base. There is also a day/night cycle, with stronger monsters appearing at night. Monsters such asSlimeand Dragon from the originalDragon Questappear in the game. The player has a health bar, and must eat food over time, similar toMinecraft.[1]

Plot

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The game is set in Alefgard, the world of the originalDragon Quest.The game is based on a parallel ending ofDragon Quest:before the final battle, the hero accepted the evil Dragonlord's suggestion - each rules a half of the world. The deal turned out to be a trap, leading to the hero's defeat and allowing the land to be dominated by monsters.[2]With time passing by, a new builder (the player character) appears to revive the desolate world for the next hero. Players gather "material" from all over the world in order to rebuild the land of Alefgard from scratch.[3]

Development

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The game designers wanted to make an open sandbox game combined with an RPG's purposeful story-driven plot, and sinceDragon Questhas always been known for its "pick up and play" accessibility it seemed like the right combination.[4]The originalDragon Questvideo game's plot was chosen for its relative simplicity compared to later titles in the series to make the game as accessible as possible to new players.[5]

Release in the west on thePlayStation Vitawas chosen so that whether players had busy lives or had time to dedicate to the game, they could enjoy the title.[4]Producer Noriyoshi Fujimoto has said thatSony Interactive Entertainment's multiplatformPhyreEnginewas chosen for ease of development across multiplePlayStationconsoles.[6][7]Protagonists were designed byAkira Toriyama,withEtrian Odysseycreator Kazuya Niinou serving as the game's director.[8][3]Part of the release was to "test the waters" for a big game release likeDragon Quest XI.[9]

Release

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‘’Builders’’ was initially announced in July 2015 to be under development forPlayStation 3,PlayStation 4andPlayStation Vita.[10]Media speculation from when the game was first announced was thatDragon Quest Builderswould be aDragon Questversion ofMinecraft,andIGNcompared the game toDark Cloud(2000).[11][12][13]

The game was released in Japan on January 28, 2016. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions were released in North America, Europe, and Australia in October 2016.[14][15]An "Ultimate Hit" version was released in Japan on December 1, 2016.[16]It was also released for theNintendo Switchin North America andPALterritories on February 9, 2018,[17]and in Japan on March 1, 2018.[18]Nintendohandled the publishing of the game on the Switch in the Western territories.[19]It was released on PC on February 13, 2024.[20]

Reception

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Famitsu'spanel of four reviewers all rated it a 9, giving the game an overall rating of 36 out of 40.[23]IGNawarded it 8.9 out of 10, saying "Dragon Quest Buildersadmirably mixes the series' RPG traditions withMinecraft."[25]GameSpotawarded it 8.0 out of 10, saying "The excellence ofDragon Quest Buildersillustrates the versatility of this 30-year-old franchise as much as it speaks to the engrossing appeal ofMinecraft-inspired creation. "[24]Kotakulisted it as one of 2016's top ten games, describing it as "an incredible RPG more akin toActraiser"and" way better thanMinecraftcould ever be. "[27]During the20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards,theAcademy of Interactive Arts & SciencesnominatedDragon Quest Buildersfor "Handheld Game of the Year"and"Family Game of the Year".[28]

Sales

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The game sold over half a million copies in the first few days of its release.[4]It sold 700,000 copies in Japan across all three platforms.[29]In November 2016, worldwide sales surpassed 1.1 million copies.[30]

Sequel

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A sequel,Dragon Quest Builders 2,was released for theNintendo SwitchandPlayStation 4in Japan on December 20, 2018, and worldwide on July 12, 2019.[31][32][33]It includescooperative gameplayfor up to four players, and had developmental assistance fromKoei Tecmo's studioOmega Force.[34]

References

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  1. ^Nintendopublished the Switch version outside of Japan.
  2. ^Known in Japan asDragon Quest Builders: Revive Alefgard!(Japanese:ドラゴンクエストビルダーズ アレフガルドを sống lại せよ,Hepburn:Doragon Kuesuto Birudāzu Arefugarudo o Fukkatsu Seyo)
  1. ^McWhertor, Michael (July 22, 2015)."First Dragon Quest Builders screenshots show off Square Enix's Minecraft-like RPG".Polygon.Vox Media.Archivedfrom the original on August 14, 2017.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  2. ^Shinchitsujo, Tairiku (July 29, 2015).“ドラゴンクエスト tân tác phát biểu sẽ” tường báo. “ドラゴンクエストXI quá ぎ đi りし khi を cầu めて” をはじめとする tân tác の số 々を quật giếng hùng nhị thị が giải thích.4gamer.net(in Japanese).Archivedfrom the original on July 31, 2015.RetrievedJuly 31,2015.
  3. ^ab"Dragon Quest Builders Is Set In The First Dragon Quest Game With Blocks".July 9, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on July 23, 2015.RetrievedJuly 22,2015.
  4. ^abcMCV Staff (May 1, 2016)."Interview: When Dragon Quest met Minecraft".MCV/Develop.RetrievedMay 4,2020.
  5. ^Parish, Jeremy (September 7, 2016)."How the Dragon Quest Builders Team is Crafting a New Kind Of RPG".US Gamer. Archived fromthe originalon September 10, 2020.RetrievedMay 4,2020.
  6. ^Sugihara, Takahiro (July 29, 2015)."30 đầy năm の アニバーサリーイヤーに hướng け, chờ mong が cao まる tác phẩm ばかり!".Famitsu(in Japanese). GzBrain.Archivedfrom the original on August 11, 2016.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  7. ^"Noriyoshi Fujimoto On 'Dragon Quest Builders' And How It Came About".Forbes.June 17, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on October 17, 2017.RetrievedAugust 26,2017.
  8. ^"Dragon Quest Builders Directed By Etrian Odyssey Creator".Siliconera.Curse. July 21, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on August 2, 2018.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  9. ^Corriea, Alexa Ray (June 15, 2016)."Square Enix Testing the Waters for Dragon Quest 11 Localization".GameSpot.RetrievedApril 24,2020.
  10. ^"『ドラゴンクエストビルダーズ アレフガルドを sống lại せよ』 nay đông phát bán quyết định! ブロックで thế giới を sang る" ブロックメイクRPG "".Famitsu(in Japanese). GzBrain. July 8, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on May 19, 2019.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  11. ^"ドラクエ bản マイクラ? 『ドラゴンクエストビルダーズ』PS3/PS4/PSVitaで phát bán quyết định".Weekly ASCII(in Japanese). Kadokawa Corporation. July 8, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2017.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  12. ^"アレフガルドをブロックで làm るRPG “ドラゴンクエストビルダーズ” PS hướng けに nay đông phát bán ".ITmedia NEWS(in Japanese). July 8, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on August 2, 2018.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  13. ^"Dragon Quest Builders: quando il mattone è l'investimento più sicuro".IGN.September 6, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2017.RetrievedDecember 19,2017.
  14. ^Seto, Dan (May 27, 2016)."Dragon Quest Builders Confirmed for North America on PS4, PS Vita".PlayStation.Blog.Sony Interactive Entertainment America.Archivedfrom the original on May 28, 2016.RetrievedMay 27,2016.
  15. ^Krupa, Daniel (September 15, 2015)."TGS 2015: Dragon Quest Builders Coming in January for Japan".IGN.Ziff Davis.RetrievedSeptember 15,2015.
  16. ^"ドラゴンクエストビルダーズ アレフガルドを sống lại せよ".Square-Enix(in Japanese).Archivedfrom the original on May 3, 2017.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  17. ^Whitehead, Thomas (December 18, 2017)."Dragon Quest Builders Digs Into the Switch on 9th February".Nintendo Life.Gamer Network.Archivedfrom the original on December 21, 2017.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  18. ^"Dragon Quest Builders for Switch launches March 1 in Japan, demo launches February 1".Gematsu.December 16, 2017.Archivedfrom the original on February 25, 2018.RetrievedDecember 16,2017.
  19. ^"Dragon Quest Builders for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Game Details".nintendo.Archivedfrom the original on March 22, 2020.RetrievedApril 16,2020.
  20. ^Dinsdale, Ryan (January 30, 2024)."Dragon Quest Builders Finally Coming to PC".RetrievedJanuary 31,2024.
  21. ^"Dragon Quest Builders for PlayStation 4 Reviews".Metacritic.Red Ventures.Archivedfrom the original on October 5, 2018.RetrievedSeptember 23,2018.
  22. ^"Dragon Quest Builders for Switch Reviews".Metacritic.Red Ventures.Archivedfrom the original on October 7, 2018.RetrievedSeptember 23,2018.
  23. ^ab"Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1416 - Gematsu".January 19, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on January 30, 2016.RetrievedJanuary 31,2016.
  24. ^abConcepcion, Miguel (November 16, 2016)."Dragon Quest Builders Review".GameSpot.CBS Interactive.Archivedfrom the original on November 25, 2016.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  25. ^abSmith, Rob (October 7, 2016)."Dragon Quest Builders Review".IGN.Ziff Davis.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  26. ^Madnani, Mikhail (May 31, 2022)."'Dragon Quest Builders' Mobile Review – Great on iPhone, Not as good on iPad ".TouchArcade.RetrievedJune 3,2022.
  27. ^"Jason Schreier's Top 10 Games Of 2016".Kotaku.December 24, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2017.RetrievedDecember 19,2017.
  28. ^"D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Dragon Quest Builders".interactive.org.Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.RetrievedNovember 30,2023.
  29. ^Sato (May 30, 2016)."Dragon Quest Builders Surpasses 700,000 Units In Total Sales".Siliconera.Curse.Archivedfrom the original on May 20, 2017.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  30. ^"PS4/PS3/PS Vita “ドラゴンクエストビルダーズ アレフガルドを sống lại せよ” が thế giới buôn bán bổn số 110 vạn bổn を đạt thành! Một bộ đặc điển アイテムが vô liêu xứng tin ".Gamer(in Japanese). ixll. December 1, 2016.Archivedfrom the original on February 4, 2017.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  31. ^McWhertor, Michael (August 6, 2017)."Dragon Quest Builders 2 coming to PS4, Nintendo Switch".Polygon.Vox Media.Archivedfrom the original on November 25, 2017.RetrievedDecember 18,2017.
  32. ^Romano, Sal (October 30, 2018)."Dragon Quest Builders 2 coming west in 2019".Gematsu.Archivedfrom the original on November 16, 2018.RetrievedNovember 16,2018.
  33. ^Lane, Gavin (February 14, 2019)."Battle And Build When Dragon Quest Builders 2 Launches On Switch This July".Nintendo Life.Archivedfrom the original on February 15, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 14,2019.
  34. ^Wong, Alistair (August 29, 2018)."Dragon Quest Builders 2 Is Set To Come Out On December 20, 2018 In Japan".Siliconera.Archivedfrom the original on August 29, 2018.RetrievedAugust 29,2018.
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