Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past[a] is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by Heartbeat[5] and ArtePiazza,[6] and published by Enix for the PlayStation.

The game received a remake on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan in 2013, released in English under the title Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past in 2016.

[7][8] The game follows the Hero and his friends as they discover secrets about the mysterious islands surrounding their home of Estard.

An immediate success upon release, Dragon Warrior VII's sales totalled 4.06 million by April 6, 2001, making it the best-selling PlayStation game in Japan,[9] and is an Ultimate Hits title.

[5] In terms of gameplay, not much has changed from previous installments; battles are still fought in a turn-based mode from a first person perspective.

There are four ways and means of locomotion: walking (striding), sailing a boat, flying a magic carpet, or using an object known as the skystone.

The Ranking Association allows the player to compete for the highest stats, like the Beauty Competition from Dragon Quest VI.

[12] Some available classes include Warrior, Fighter, Cleric, Mage, Bard, Dancer, Jester, Thief, Idol, Pirate, Ranger, Gladiator, Paladin, Summoner, God Hand ("Champion" in the localized 3DS version), and Hero, some of which are unlocked by mastering other classes.

After his initial defeat, Orgodemir returns in the present and poses as God to trick humanity into worshiping him, then seals the continents away again.

Dragon Quest VII was designed by series creator Yuji Horii and directed by Manabu Yamana.

Shintaro Majima signed on as art director, while series veterans Akira Toriyama and Koichi Sugiyama designed the characters and composed the music respectively.

[18] Enix cited the larger potential market and lower cost of manufacturing CDs as the reasons for the change of platform.

[19] By 2000, Dragon Quest VII was predicted to be so successful in Japan that it would "create a 50 billion yen effect on the Japanese economy", said research firm DIHS.

[25] The English language localization of Dragon Warrior VII began directly after the game's Japanese release.

[13] Paul Handelman, president of Enix America, commented on the game that "All the talk this month about new systems with the latest technological wizardry doesn't diminish the fact that at the end of the day, compelling game play is what it's all about, and Dragon Warrior VII provides just that.

[27] On October 30, 2012 Square Enix announced that they were remaking Dragon Quest VII exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS and that it would be released in Japan in February 2013.

The remake was originally not intended for a release outside of Japan, in part due to the sheer cost and time needed to localize the game's substantial content.

After numerous letters from core Dragon Quest fans in France, as well as Square Enix and Nintendo executives, the decision was made to release the 3DS port worldwide.

[30] In the November 2015 Nintendo Direct, it was shown that Dragon Quest VII would be coming outside Japan in 2016, with the new subtitle Fragments of the Forgotten Past.

A disc titled Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi on Piano was also released, and contained 27 piano-arranged tracks.

[34] The manga adaptation of Dragon Quest VII was published by Enix's Monthly Gangan in Japan.

[35] It was illustrated by Kamui Fujiwara, who also worked on another franchise-related manga, Dragon Quest Retsuden: Roto no Monshō.

[52] Sales of the North American version of Dragon Warrior VII reached almost 200,000 copies according to The Magic Box, which was not nearly as stellar as its Japanese counterpart.

"[42] Eric Bratcher reviewed the PlayStation version of the game for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "The harder-core you are, the more you'll love this definitely old-school RPG, but graphics hounds and those with short attention spans can sit this one out.