The top-selling PlayStation game in Japanese history makes its way to the U.S. in Dragon Warrior VII. Its creators include a trio of Japanese role-playing-game legends--game designer Yuji Horii, music composer Koichi Sugiyama, and character designer Akira Toriyama (who also created the popular Dragonball and Dragonball Z cartoons and comics). At its heart, Dragon Warrior VII is an old-school RPG that eschews flashy graphics and sound effects in favor of a good story and dozens of gameplay hours. In some cases it succeeds in capturing the nostalgia of old NES and SNES RPGs, but in others it hangs on too dearly to obsolete conventions. Still, this is one of the most value-packed games on the market, as it easily offers more than 100 hours of gameplay. Graphically, Dragon Warrior VII will not impress anyone. Even compared to first-generation PlayStation games this one comes off as ugly. The sound is a mix of nostalgic MIDI bits from previous Dragon Warrior games and beautiful new compositions by Sugiyama. The story progresses in a linear fashion, as the main character discovers new lands, each with its own mysteries, characters, and adventures. The job system adds immense depth to character progression, as players can learn skills from more than 50 classes, including warriors, clerics, jesters, rangers, dragoons, teen idols, and more. As deep as the job system is, progress is hindered by laborious combat and inventory-management systems. It would have been nice if the development team tried to implement modern gameplay mechanics with the rich Dragon Warrior universe. Because of its archaic aspects, the game will scare off those that aren't familiar with older RPGs. However, persevering gamers and longtime fans will enjoy one of the deepest adventures on the market. --Raymond M. Padilla Pros: More than 100 hours of gameplay Extremely deep job system Memorable characters Cons: Horrible graphics Poor interface Dull combat