7th Dragon - Of Course I Know Who Santa Claus Is, You Moron

Let's Plays
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#1

7th Dragon is an JRPG made in 2009 by Imageepoch (the company proceeded to go bankrupt in 2015). It was produced by Rieko Kodama, one of the leading artists and later director for the Phantasy Star series, and it was directed by Kazuya Niinou, who also directed the first Etrian Odyssey game. It’s pretty easy to see the influences from Etrian Odyssey here, as it has a lot in common, to the point where it feels almost derivative and doesn’t really have its own identity. The later games would be much better about differentiating themselves. However, unlike Etrian Odyssey, it’s not a dungeon crawler, just a regular JRPG, where you create your own band of characters and go around slaying dragons. Sounds like fun, huh? Anyways, as mentioned before, it is part of a series, which only consists of 4 games. Unfortunately, only the 4th game, 7th Dragon III Code: VFD got an official English release, where the others never left Japan.

That is, until a goon by the name of Pokeytax completed a fan translation of the game in 2014. (And the 2nd game later on.) You can find the fan translations for those here.

If you’re wondering why there are 2 patches for the game, well… I won’t lie, the game has some problems. It’s very rough around the edges, but the two biggest problems the game has are the ridiculously high encounter rates, and the damage tiles. There are damage tiles everywhere, which take off a decent chunk of your party’s HP and dealing with them is very tedious. One of the patches just translates the text, and leaves the rest of the game alone. The USA patch translates the game, but also halves the encounter rate, and heavily lowers the amount of damage the party takes from damage tiles, eliminating the two biggest problems with the game. If you plan on playing this game, please play the humane patch. The game is rough enough around the edges as it is. With that said, I did enjoy my time with the game, and hope to show if off to all of you.

I’ll be playing with said humane patch, and this will be a narrative LP, where I take submissions for characters and write in some lines for them and such.

Spoiler Policy

Considering that the only game that was released outside of Japan was the 4th game, I’d appreciate it if spoilerific discussion of the first 3 games didn’t happen at all. You can discuss the 4th game, but please do tag and label your spoilers in that case.

Game Mechanics:

Basic Mechanics and Formulae
Battle Actions
Turn Order
Aggro

Resources:

The Inner Workings of the Random Number Generator
Unused/Debug Items

Class Showcases:

Fighter
Rogue
Samurai
Knight
Mage
Healer
Princess

Updates:

Update 1: The Road Ahead
Update 2: Touring Kazan
Update 3: Questing
Update 4: Raging Beast
Update 5: The Case of the Fried Shrimp
Update 6: The First Dragon
Update 7: DRAGON! DRAGON!
-Update 7.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 8: King
-Update 8.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 9: Mountain Climbing
-Update 9.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 10: Mantis Dragon
-Update 10.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 11: Deathscissor
-Update 11.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 12: Eclipse
-Update 12.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 13: Pleroma
-Update 13.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 14: Love Hunting
Update 15: Not So EXcellent After All
-Update 15.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 16: Armanos
-Update 16.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 17: “What were they thinking?” “They weren’t.”
Update 18: Love Hunting II
Update 19: Mantlion
Update 20: Flame Eater
Update 21: Arietta
-Update 21.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 22: Sleeping Lion
-Update 22.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 23: Tyrannosaurus
Update 24: Party in Kazan!
Update 25: Ancient Technology
Update 26: Invisible
Update 27: An Earthshaking Revelation
Update 28: Breaking the Hippocratic Oath
Update 29: Mountain Slayer
Update 30: Tasty Rainbows
-Update 30.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 31: Innocence Glitched
-Update 31.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 32: In a Blizzard or on a Whim
Update 33: A Painful Career Change
Update 34: Fault Lines
Update 35: Fissure
Update 36: Musical Security
Update 37: Foreigner in Zeal
-Update 37.5: Tower of the Gods Bloom Seed Exploit
Update 38: Dreadnought
-Update 38.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 39: Arrival
Update 40: Treasure Chest Woes
-Update 40.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 41: Your Contract Has Expired
-Update 41.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 42: Air Ride
-Update 42.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 43: The Samurai’s Trial
Update 44: Ghostbusters
Update 45: My Last Resort
-Update 45.5: NPC Dialogue
Update 46: Revelations

Other:

April Fools

Special Thanks to:

  • Can Of Worms for ripping all the enemy sprites for me.
2 Likes
#2

Character List

Blaze Dragon’s character: Stella the Fighter

A loud, clearly eccentric woman with a passion for her job. Her absolute inspirations are the latest anime she watched the heroes of old, and she has no goal but to become one as good or even better than those. As such, she’s constantly boisterous, ready to charge at any problem head-on, and with a giant grin on her face when she gets to show off. She likes showing off. In fact, she likes showing off so much that she’ll loudly exclaim just how much she’s doing so, so people can realize she is, indeed, showing off. This is usually done by long chants and complex attack names that are undeniably chuuni as fuck very heroic! She also likes having other people follow her in her heroic exploits, thus her wish to join said people in a guild so they can be very heroic together!

Logicblade’s character: Ark the Rogue

Ark is an exile from her home village with an urge to take anything that isn’t tied down to the ground. Her goals in life are simple; to get rich, make friends and to eat sweets, and she’ll do whatever it takes to achieve those goals. She’s cunning, but is about as emotionally sensitive as a rock and doesn’t really get social etiquette, which often finds herself with far more enemies than friends, despite her best intentions. She took to adventuring because it was the fastest way to achieve her dream (and maybe come back to her home village when she’s rich and famous).

blizzardvizard’s character: Haru the Samurai

Life as a gardener was simple for Haru. Sure, the old mistress is harsh and rude, and her mansion is a chore to weed out, but he gets a roof to sleep under, regular meals and a decent allowance. So he keeps wearing a smile and cheery demeanor even though the mistress chews on him daily, because he’s one to see silver linings. All things considered, he’s lucked out.

One day, though, these ominous-looking flowers started appearing everywhere in the mansion, and when Haru peeked out the walls, he could see the fields outside swarming with them too. As luck would have it, the mistress returned from her vacation on that same day, and she was furious. She screamed at Haru to get rid of them. Not just the ones inside the mansion - she doesn’t want to see them when on her way to town, when she looks out the window, or when she takes a walk anywhere. “And don’t come back until every single one of those flowers out there is gone!”

Well, he’s known better by now than to question her unreasonable demands, Haru sighed inwardly. And hey, on the bright side, that’sa a couple of days, maybe, without the mistress shouting in his ears. It’s obvious there’s no way he could do this on his own, though. So he packed up some essentials, crafted a makeshift weapon out of his gardening shears for self-protection, and made his way to Kazan. It’s a big city, someone there’s probably crazy enough to help him weed out a continent.

cdyoung’s character: Buront the Knight

A paladinknight from an unknown kingdom called San d’Oria. Who fell out of the sky and through the roof of the Kazan Guild hall one day. He didn’t know where he was, or who anyone was when he came too, apparently blaming his predicament on “Filthy Backstabbing Ninjas” which the guild receptionists assumed he meant Rogues. Since his arrival he has kept himself busy by helping the townsfolks with odd jobs, always spouting off about how a true knight always helps people in need, and also several weird terms or saying that surprisingly fit the situation at hand but is generally completely alien in context.

CommissarMega’s character: Nila the Mage

Nila Converse is an up-and-coming mage who dreams of fame, fortune, and FIREBALLS. She has been driven to a life of adventure as it provides her with [sub]an excuse to blast people nobody would miss at maximum power and rob them into the bargain[/sub] an opportunity to safely practice her skills, thus [sub]avoiding the prospect of a long sentence in a maximum security prison[/sub] allowing her the prospect of [sub]accelerated study at the acclaimed magical university of her choice[/sub] working as a ‘trained consultant’ in the private mercanacy company of her choice.

TeeQueue’s character: Edward the Healer

Edward had been a part of multiple different guilds before, none of whom made it past their first outing without suffering multiple deaths. As these things always go, the remaining guild members all blamed the healer. Over time this made a once stereotypical warm and friendly healer slowly become jaded and cynical. His teammates overextending themselves or taking crazy risks drives him wild, and in times of extreme duress he frequently starts muttering to himself about how utterly screwed they are.

oB2Ko Mario’s character: Dia the Princess

Over a thousand years ago, an evil demon ruled the planet with an iron fist. A Dark One whose name may never be uttered, it unleashed evils so horrific that ancient accounts of its wrath barely scratched the surface of the pure agony and destruction it caused. But, despite how much terror it bestowed into the hearts of all living beings who have come to know it, a clan of warriors stepped forth to challenge the demon and set the world free of its wrath. Against the staggering odds, the clan fought a bloody, merciless battle until, miraculously, it finally prevailed over the demon. In an effort to prevent such evil from escaping into the world again, the clan sealed the demon into the planet’s core, never to see the light of day ever again. However, the demon proclaimed it would have the final laugh, as it cursed the remaining clan members with an evil that will haunt them for generations: an eventuality that, one day, the clan will cause the reawakening of the demon once again.

Exactly one thousand years later, about fifteen years from the present day, the last descendant of the clan had been born. A young princess, claiming her royalty thanks to the ancestors who defeated the Dark One, had received the full brunt of the curse. Her parents had witnessed the awakening of the demon once again, through the eyes of the girl that they had carefully raised in peace. But alas, though the demon had awoken as this young girl, its power was still hopelessly sealed away in the core of the planet, never to be wielded by this once all-powerful ruler ever again. Now stuck as a young girl, Dia joins the Hunters in Kazan, hopelessly defeated by the prospect of never regaining her dark glory ever again. But hey, maybe she can eventually find a group strong enough to undo her power’s seal, and restore her to her true self? Who knows.

Fan Art:

werbear shows that detective Stella will get the job done.

Soundtrack for your Listening Pleasure

#3

And here’s Update 1.

#4

How about adding in Alis, the Blonde Haired (aka second from the right) Medic? Always enthusiastic and kind hearted, they would be a great addition to any guild, such as the this one right here named Pizz’a!

#5

Am I right in thinking the leftmost mage artwork is wearing a combination turban and baseball cap? Complete with a little horsetail plume? If so, I have to advocate for it. Aim is a decent name. If you’re open to bad joke names, I suggest a Tanner’s guild, in the name of causing confusion and inter-guild disputes.

#6

This looks…different from Code VFD and 2020, wow. Gonna be interesting to see where this goes.

Name: Oliver
Class: Rogue
Portrait: 2nd

Bio: A Rushe/Lucier who claims he’s the most skilled thief in the world who wants to tag along because he wants to steal something of great renown to increase his fame. In reality, he stole food a few times and got away with it and let the success go to his head.

Edit: Forgot about that spoiler.

#7

Yeah, it’s pretty much an entirely different game. It’s kind of an… interesting mashup between Etrian Odyssey and Dragon Quest. Now while 7D3:VFD was the hot new thing, I heard a lot of comparisons between it and EO. And I saw a few, but not that many, to be honest. This game though? Hoo boy.

Oh and one note, to everyone. Dragons don’t exist yet in the game.

You might want to change up that bio a bit.

#8

Name: Zantano
Class: Samurai
Portrait: Second

Bio: A rather rude and brusque fellow who insists that he must train his body and soul to save his homeland of Doma. Quite where that is nobody is entirely sure, and any attempts to have Zantano pinpoint it are met with worryingly well-rehearsed deflections. Has a soft spot for cheap booze and a secret love of small, fluffy animals.

As for a guild name, how about… Nidhogg.

#9

Oops, minor slip up. POW determines both ATK and DEF.

Oh, and here are the Guild name suggestions so far:

Slayers: 2
Odyssey: 2
Catorine: 1
Dragoons: 1
GOONKATA: 1
Bahamut: 1
Supanova: 1
Nidhogg: 1
Pizz’a: 1
Tanner’s: 1

#10

Okay, I think that’s enough time.

Well, no more submissions and votes seem to be coming in, so I’m going to close them off.

Here are the votes for our party:

Princess: 12
Mage: 11
Healer: 10
Samurai: 9
Fighter: 8
Knight: 8
Rogue: 7

My Choice: 1

Hmm, I think I’ll use my 1 vote to bump up the fighter, since that team is looking pretty squishy. So the party I’ll be starting off with is Fighter, Mage, Healer, and Princess!

As for the guild name:

Odyssey: 9
Slayers: 4
Dragoons: 2
Catorine: 1
GOONKATA: 1
Bahamut: 1
Supanova: 1
Nidhogg: 1
Pizz’a: 1
Tanner’s: 1
Anabasis: 1

Looks like Odyssey wins out.

Anyways, now I’ll announce which characters made it onto the roster.

Fighter

Blaze Dragon with Stella!

Rogue

Samurai

blizzardvizard with Haru!

Knight

cdyoung with Buront!

Mage

CommissarMega with Nila!

Healer

Dark Flame Master with Edward!

Princess

oB2Ko Mario with Dia!

Sorry if your character didn’t get in, but there was a lot of competition, and it was really tough to choose in most cases.

#11

Oh, and here’s a mechanics post to tide you over until I put out an actual update.

#12

And here’s an actual update.

#13

Time to get those quests done!

#14

It feels like this game is rather stingy with money.

#15

Yeah, at the start, it really is. Then you get a bit farther into the game and it just won’t stop dumping it on you. Of course, since I’m using 7 party members eventually, that might change in this playthrough.

Sadly, it never stops getting stingy with item drops. Just a note to everyone, I’m planning on turning on a 100% drop rate cheat code at certain points, because this game has some severe problems with regards to certain fetch quests.

#16

Time to fight the first boss in the game, the Raging Beast.

#17

A new case pops up! Will the Odyssey detective agency be able to solve the dastardly case of the fried shrimp?

#18

The prologue of this game feels longer than the prologue in 2020. I guess establishing the setting is a bit more important in a game with a fantasy setting than one that takes place in the near future.

#19

Part of that might be able to be blamed on me showing off all the NPC dialogue. After the prologue, I’ll put most of that in side updates (the lines I deem as non-important) just so the main updates don’t have their pacing bogged down. The prologue in this game maybe takes like an hour or two tops.

I don’t know how long the prologue in the 2020 games are, but for reference, VFD only has the 1 dungeon you have to go through, while this game has some fetch quests and 2 dungeons.

#20

2020’s prologue is 1 dungeon also, but there’s another dungeon you go through before you unlock your base of operations.