An Open World That Almost Broke the Story
The iconic role-playing game Dragon Quest VII, which once appeared on the Nintendo 3DS and later made its way to Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, could have been completely different. Series creator Yuji Horii revealed in a recent interview with Famitsu that the development team initially planned to make the game fully open-world.
The main mechanic of Dragon Quest VII is collecting stone tablets and fragments to restore lost continents. According to the original concept, players were supposed to be able to search for these fragments in any order across the world without strict linearity.
Why the Idea Had to Be Abandoned
As Yuji Horii explained, the freedom of exploration played a cruel trick on the developers: the game's story simply fell to pieces.
- “Since map collecting is the foundation of the game, initially, the stone fragments were scattered all over the world. It didn't matter which fragment you found—you could still advance the story. We tested this approach, but the story fell apart. We had no choice but to add a certain order. Some fragments can still be collected in arbitrary sequence, but those tied to key events require a clear structure,” noted the series creator.
Ultimately, the decision to structure the progression helped create one of the most ambitious and well-crafted stories in the classic JRPG lineup.
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