A JRPG infamous for its length, but proof that more content isn't always a recipe for perfection.

Dragon Quest VII starts innocuously enough, as we follow the young son of a fisherman who spends his days exploring his island home with his best friend, the unruly Prince Kiefer. When the pair find a mysterious tablet it sparks a truly massive quest that sees them dive back in time to free their world from a mighty curse that shattered the world into fragments and sealed them in darkness centuries ago. There's a brilliant structure to this adventure, with each island you visit in the past having its own complete storyline but as you get further into the story these individual plots begin to weave together into one huge narrative.

However, it's also extremely slowly paced. It takes over an hour for the first fight to occur, nearly 10 hours can go by without a full party, and I'd played for about 20 hours before I unlocked the job system - and that was still barely a quarter of the way in! If you're not a fan of grindy JRPGs then you really must avoid this game, but if you're happy to sit in for the long haul, Dragon Quest VII can be exhausting but rewarding.