In most of Dragon Quest Builders’ towns, space is at something of a premium. I mean, Cantlin, the first town, is downright quaint. And, since materials don’t carry over from one chapter to another, you may as well go all out with what you have in each town while you can. That’s why I’m here to recommend a rather handy building option. Two-story buildings are a great way to make the most of your space.
First, you have to build these places in a way where Dragon Quest Builders will recognize a second floor as a room. In my version of Cantlin, I decided to combine my Colossal Coffer closet, stonemason’s smithy, and crude kitchen into one space, making it into a two story town hall with a bedroom for Kenelm and possible dining area for extra points above it. This meant I needed to start by making all of the outer walls six blocks high. The walls for the first floor would be three blocks high, to allow a little extra space on the first floor, the fourth layer of blocks would be the second story’s floor, and the fifth and sixth layers would be the walls for the second story. You could probably go ahead and only have walls five blocks high, but I recommend adding that extra space for the first floor. This is the most time consuming step in the process, since you have to keep moving onward and upward, perhaps laying specific types of blocks along the way for aesthetic purposes.
Once you have your walls and floors placed, you need to start working on a means to reach that second floor. You don’t need a door between floors to act as a divider. Focus on a stone staircase first. You just need to figure out the proper placement to get up to that second story. For both of my two-story buildings, I went with staircases that slightly curved near the top. I put down three base blocks with a stone stairway at the end, then two base blocks and a stone stairway block at the end for the second part, then one base block as a landing and final stairway for that first part. After the landing, I placed one stone stairway to lead to bring everyone up to the second floor, setting everything up. Also essential is leaving three open spaces in the floor covering the landing and two stone stairway blocks below it, making sure people wouldn’t bump their heads. Though, if you’ve borrowed ladder pieces from Cantlin fortress or already have that recipe, you can use that to reach the second level and save space.
The final step is taking the step to define these spaces as rooms. Dragon Quest Builders requires them to have a light source and door to qualify as an empty room. Even though there will be the gap in the floor for the stairs or ladder, that won’t matter as long as your second floor has at least two rooms to it. The game will still recognize the room with the stairs as a viable space.
There is a downside to multi-story buildings in Dragon Quest Builders. It makes your view in covered levels rather cramped. Especially since the camera sometimes won’t immediately realize you’re in an enclosed space. You have to press R3 to make it register the difference and, even then, things can feel a bit claustrophobic. Since most of your time will probably material hunting and quest completing in the wilds or actively building in towns, it isn’t too much of an issue. But know that this problem will come up when you’re adding extra floors. Which, again, is why I recommend adding a little extra height to enclosed floors to make things a little more comfortable.
You don’t have to make two-story buildings in Dragon Quest Builders. The game is set up in such a way that there are multiple means of reaching goals in the story mode. And in the free mode, you can do whatever you want when you build. Knowing how to make multi-story buildings can make things a little easier, if you’re going for a certain aesthetic in towns or looking for an easy experience boost in a cramped space. Keep the technique in mind when you want to get creative in the early days.
Dragon Quest Builders is now available for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in North America. It will come to Europe on October 14, 2016.
Published: Oct 12, 2016 12:00 pm