Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Moonlighting System Fixes A Huge JRPG Problem, According To Takeshi Ichikawa

When bringing an older game to newer audiences, sometimes you have to do something about the more... dated elements. That cane mean a lot of things for a lot of games, but when it comes to RPGs, it usually boils down to one major feature: grinding. 

The problem is you can't really remove grinding altogether- these slow moments are an integral to the pacing of a JRPG, the idea is instead balancing between enough to add some breathing room between major plot events but not so much that you feel like you're playing a worse version of the game. 

The Joys Of The Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Moonlighting System

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined solves the issue by addressing how exactly the grinding is done via its Moonlighting system: Where vocations were previously leveled up one at a time, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Producer Takeshi Ichikawa says the game's ability to let you hold two vocations at once streamlined that matter.

"The previous job system posed a dilemma when changing jobs from a maximum proficiency state, as the character would temporarily become weaker. However, we have restructured it so that you can enjoy changing jobs easily by having the ability to hold two jobs at the same time", he says.

Of course, it wasn't just about making the game go by faster. Mixing vocations also means being able to synergize them better. Ichikawa says the overall objective of the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Moonlighting system was to give players a little bit of something new. 

"By adding the ability to hold multiple jobs this time, we've made it easier to enjoy changing jobs", he says. "Since you can enjoy combining two jobs, we think you'll enjoy a deeper system that's a little different from the original version".

"We've also been reviewing the overall balance adjustments to match the new job system and balance, so we've taken our time and made careful progress", he adds.

But what about the players? Thankfully, it's not like the game chucks all its Vocations at you at once. Ichikawa says that even if you're not a die-hard JRPG fan, it shouldn't be too hard to get into the swing of the Moonlighting system. 

"Multiple jobs are unlocked as you progress through the story, so the game is designed so that even players playing Dragon Quest for the first time will feel comfortable", he says. "The gameplay will gradually expand, so we hope you will play with confidence".

With Dragon Quest VII Reimagined launching next year, Ichikawa and team are pulling out all the stops to make a Dragon Quest game that will blow everyone's socks off. While he didn't go into specifics, he did share that they'd used customer feedback from recent Dragon Quest titles as reference for the development of VII Reimagined. 

Despite this, he also reiterated that outside of some changes like moving regional scenarios from the original game into Lucky Panels and Arenas as well as DLC, fans of the original would be getting a faithful, albeit slightly tweaked version of the game they fell in love with all those years ago.