Buy Dragon Quest Builders - PS Vita [Digital Code]: Read 23 Video Games Reviews - Amazon.com. Dragon Quest Builders is part RPG, part construction game and loads of fun. It's full of charm, personality and adventure! There's plenty to explore, recipes to learn, quests to complete and bosses to fight.
- Jan 11, 2018 - UPDATE 11/1/18: In anticipation of Dragon Quest Builders' release on Switch. To download right now, and the full version of Dragon Quest Builders. The game originally launched on PS4, PS3, and Vita last year, and was.
- For Dragon Quest Builders on the PlayStation Vita, GameFAQs has 2 FAQs (game guides and walkthroughs), 41 cheat codes and secrets, 20 trophies, 2 critic reviews, and 13 user screenshots.
Finally beat Dragon Quest Builders on Vita - Impressions
I've been a huge fan of Dragon Quest games and own a ton of them, I also love sandbox building games, so Dragon Quest Builders was a must-have for me. After owning it for about a year playing it very casually (usually during 45 minute lunch breaks) I finally beat it! Here are my thoughts:
It's not another Minecraft clone
While on the surface it looks very much like a Minecraft clone, so much that one can't help but compare them, they are two very different style of games. Where Minecraft is focused almost exclusively on doing whatever you want, Dragon Quest Builders is much more focused and planned out.
While there's nothing to stop you from building whatever you want, there is actually a central focus to the building that's tied in with the plot and quests. Your goal is to restore the ruins of towns back to their former glory and ultimately build a means to defeat the bosses that are responsible for the devastation.
While you can build anywhere, it focuses on a square area that is your town, and within this square you will build houses, workshops, and a variety of other rooms both practical and decorative to accommodate the citizens' requests. These villagers will further contribute to your town by utilizing workshops to build items for you as well as help defend the town from monster attacks, and some even will accompany you out in your adventures and help you out.
Beyond the confines of your town, you do not have a randomly created world, but instead have a deliberately crafted one full of caves, castles, ruins, dungeons, towers, and all manner of biomes from green plains, lush forests, snowy tundras, sandy deserts, lava lands, poisonous bogs, and more. These lands are separated into islands that unlock as you progress through the story.
The story is important
Going in I knew that the story was based off a what-if premise. At the end of the original Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior in the west) when you fight the final boss, the Dragonlord, he gives you the choice to rule beside him and half the world will be yours. It's supposed to be a false choice that you turn down and fight the final battle. Builders assumes that the hero accepted the Dragonlord's offer however and all of Alefgard was thus plunged into darkness and people lost the power of creation.
Enter the builder, your character who has the power of... well building. Thus you have to go through all 4 chapters rebuilding each of the great towns, Cantlin, Rimuldar, Kol, and Tantegel Castle.
I had presumed this premise merely an excuse for the game's story but it actually takes the idea and runs with it to great lengths. Characters you meet will deeply explore the philosophy of why the original hero made that choice, why only you can build, and what motivates the Dragonlord. Additionally many other stories arise that are throwbacks to the original Dragon Quest such as Cantlin's Golem which was once it's protector gone rogue.
For what is on the surface just another voxel builder, the story itself while not the most emotionally gripping or deep, still manages to be very satisfying to explore and the level of self-awareness in the writing is worthy of applause.
How's the gameplay?
Another departure from Minecraft, you play the game exclusively in third person, but building is very easy and fun once you get the hang of it. There is a lot of recipes for certain blocks and items gated behind story quests which encourages you to further complete the story to unlock your building potential. Perhaps the most jarring aspect is that certain recipes are only available in certain chapters which somewhat limits your building potential as you progress. However all recipes are available in the sandbox mode Terra Incognita if you unlock them.
Fighting is very simple on the surface with just a single attack button that you can also hold down to do a charged spin attack, but there are many items to craft which can be used to fight, beyond just healing items there's also bombs, projectiles, cannons, and even a vehicle you can use to bash the enemy. Every boss in the game has a unique strategy to beat them and they are all engaging and fun to fight, though none are too difficult if you go in prepared.
My experience
Lacking a PS4 or Switch, I played this game on my Playstation Vita. It's available via digital download on the PSN but I bought a physical import copy which you can play in English (only the Asian release not the Japanese release). The Vita version while it has the lowest resolution of the three is a very well made port and I had no bugs or crashes at all, and it played at a very smooth framerate with no noticeable slowdowns. It is a great game to play on the Vita and a true testament to the system's power. It looks great too.
I played the game very relaxed and wanted to enjoy myself so I took my time with each chapter. As you complete new chapters it opens new islands in the Sandbox mode, I wanted to unlock all of it before playing Sandbox so I have yet to experience Terra Incognita, which is my next step. Additionally you can complete challenges in each chapter which are things like building special rooms, raising your base to a certain level (very easy), completing side quests, or beating the chapter in less than so many in-game days. I mostly ignored this for the first chapter, I completed all the challenges in the last 3 chapters except the time-limit one (which only rewards special weapons in sandbox mode) and one in the final chapter that I somehow messed up (beat the final boss without armor, I had it unequipped but I should have also removed it from my inventory).
Dragon Quest Builders Ps Vita
I think DQB is a fantastic game and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes Dragon Quest or enjoys voxel building games or just likes action adventure style games. While by no means required I do feel you get added enjoyment if you have played and beaten Dragon Quest(Warrior) 1 first, it's a rather short RPG you can beat in about 10 hours or less. There are lots of nods and winks to the game throughout DQB though nothing that requires you playing that game first.
So what's next? I plan on picking up my saves from chapter 1 and completing the extra challenges, as well as trying to beat the final boss again without the special armor, and then I will finally have my reward of playing in the Sandbox mode with everything (except a few weapon recipes from time trials) unlocked.
Lastly, here's an album of my towns from all 4 chapters, I eventually want to finish each town up and make a lot of improvements to them, but I was often too eager to get to the next chapter or the ending and so each town is a bit incomplete but you can get a sense of my building evolution: https://imgur.com/a/dgaLP