7th Dragon III Code: VFD may be the first game in the series to be released outside of Japan, but it’s actually the fourth 7th Dragon game. There are a lot of details that can be missed. Except you won’t actually miss them while you play. 7th Dragon III Code: VFD presents a self contained journey. Not knowing those inside references and jokes doesn’t exactly leave you out, though it does mean you’re missing some neat trivia. Which is why we’re here today. We’ll go through some of the most important things you’ll need to know before heading into the Nintendo 3DS game.
7th Dragon III Code: VFD takes place in three locations in three time periods. There’s the present, which is Tokyo in the year 2100, Atlantis 12,000 years in the past, and Eden 7,000 years in the future. In terms of the games, Eden was actually the first place 7th Dragon players ever visited. It was the setting of the original Nintendo DS game. In this future, about 80% of the world is covered by Dragons and their Dragonsbane flowers, and players form a guild and complete quests to defeat them and take everything back. Atlantis is referenced in 7th Dragon 2020-II, as one member of the Lucier race survives and is revived, but we’re seeing it for the first time in this installment.
Tokyo is 7th Dragon III Code: VFD’s most important setting, due to both being the present and shared setting of this iteration and both 7th Dragon 2020 and 7th Dragon 2020-II. The previous two PlayStation Portable games were set in Tokyo 80 years after the last two games. We don’t see the exact same locations, but this proximity means many carryovers from the last game.
Most notably is Murakumo, 7th Dragon 2020 and 7th Dragon 2020-II’s organization that calls Dragon hunters together to, naturally, fight dragons. Though, it isn’t called that in this game. By the time 7th Dragon III Code: VFD rolls around, Murakumo is gone, replaced by the International Self-Defense Force (ISDF), a government force that protects the world from dragons. Two members of the new version of your group are your allies, working alongside Nodens to fight dragons, though holdovers from the game are few.
Unit 13 is one of those holdovers and clever references. Murakumo’s Unit 13 were the heroes of 7th Dragon 2020 and 7th Dragon 2020-II, with your characters being part of the eventually legendary group that helps save the world. The moniker is suggested as your new group’s game in 7th Dragon III Code: VFD, as a nod to the past and foreshadowing of your own possible future.
Many of Unit 13’s team are throwbacks to past 7th Dragon games too. By a certain point in the game, someone is able to make Agents, Banishers, Duelists, Fortuners, God-Hands, Mages, Rune-Knights, and Samurais. Mages and Samurais originally debuted in 7th Dragon, with the Samurai showing up again in 7th Dragon 2020. Agents and God-Hands showed up for the first time in 7th Dragon 2020, but under different names and with some different skills. The Agents were Hackers and the God-Hands were Destroyers.
The team’s Navigator is a role carried over from 7th Dragon 2020 and 7th Dragon 2020-II. These are NPC characters that remain at a home base, offering insight about missions for Unit 13. While the Murakumo navigators were genetically modified twins, we get Nagamimi, a surly rabbit-like creature and Mio, a human girl suffering from a Dragonsbane disease, helping us from Nodens headquarters.
Three important NPCs carry over from previous 7th Dragon games, though one has a greater role than the others. Blaster Raven is a superhero from 7th Dragon 2020, and someone who looks a lot like him shows up in 7th Dragon III Code: VFD for some sidequests. Emel and Aytel are more prominent heroines and sisters, who deserve more note than they do on the 7th Dragon III Code: VFD website. Residents from Hypnos who find themselves on Earth, both first showed up in 7th Dragon. Emel was head of Pleroma, a town, and Aytel was a mage aiding in the war effort. In 7th Dragon 2020, Emel and Aytel both show up to aid Murakumo. In 7th Dragon III Code: VFD, Emel’s a guild leader in Eden’s Kazan and, again, is ready to aid the new Unit 13.
It’s these little details that help make a 7th Dragon game a 7th Dragon game. Well, these and the actual dragons. They’re pleasant details, rewards for anyone who’s kept up with every entry over the years. You didn’t have to know any of these things to appreciate 7th Dragon III Code: VFD for the JRPG it is, but it all certainly helps make the experience richer.
7th Dragon III Code: VFD will come to the Nintendo 3DS in North America on July 12, 2016.
Published: Jun 3, 2016 01:30 pm