Introduction
7th Dragon III Code: VFD (a JRPG for the 3DS released in 2016) is, despite the name, the fourth and final game in Imageepoch's (which went bankrupt in 2015) 7th Dragon series. Its also the only one to be released in the west which, based on Final Fantasy rules, technically makes it 7th Dragon I.
Wait, what was that about Imageepoch?
Yeah, Sega ended up keeping the rights to the series when Imageepoch went under, so they decided to squeeze out one last game before ditching the franchise for good.
The budget allocated for this was... mildly tight, one could say, and asset reuse will be a constant theme as a result. The plot itself can also be described as, 'kinda insane.'
Oh come on, surely it couldn't be that ba-
Reread the thread title.
This is hardly the first time an established series introduced time travel, it can't be that ba-
We're going to fucking Atlantis. That isn't even a spoiler, that was part of the core marketing!
W-well, what about the gameplay?
Oh fine, fine. Much the same as the 2020 games.
Aside from, you know, the power creep.
Power creep?
Several classes are extremely buffed compared to their 2020 counterparts. An early game mechanic lets you completely shut down what used to be major threats in older games. A late game mechanic lets you take 12 actions in a single turn. Proper team composition lets you do this every other turn!
So, why are you doing this?
7D3 is a game with a plot that ranges from bizarre to nonsensical, has unparalleled levels of asset reuse, has nonsensical asset reuse, a non-existant difficulty curve, and-son of a bitch I can't stop myself from loving it to bits. The music is great! Some of the class design is the most unique I've ever seen in an RPG, period! The nonsensical plot becomes hysterical if you think on it for more than a few minutes!
7th Dragon DS is like a newborn kitten; just learning how to walk, but full of potential. 7th Dragon 2020 is a full grown cat; still room to improve, but respectible in all regards. 7th Dragon 2020-II is a pedigree show cat; all flaws polished off, and an absolutely stunning performance.
7th Dragon III Code:VFD is a cat with one of those neurological conditions that leaves it unable to walk in a straight line. It constantly stumbles and can barely go from point A to point B, sure, but you can tell that its trying its hardest so you still cheer it on.
Spoiler Policy
The first three games can be talked about freely. Specifically the games, mind. Kinu Nishimura's own Sympathy for Chisa Inomiko integrates a lot of lore from VFD into it and spoils a lot of it as a result.
Anything spoilerific for here is straight up banned. If someone unfamiliar with the game walks in I want them to be entirely unprepared for where things end up.
What if I want to support you?
I have a ko-fi link set up over here. Never feel obligated to toss me some money, but it certainly helps!
Table of Contents
Chapter. 0: The First Drop
Update I - Featuring: An unrepentant mooch (and also no dragons)
Bonus: Character Creation
Update II - Featuring: Video games in my video games (and still no dragons)
Update III - Featuring: Job opportunities (and a single virtual dragon)
Update IV - Featuring: Dragons
Chapter. 1: Atlantis, Realm of the Sea
Update V - Featuring: The ISDF
Update VI - Featuring: Time travel
Update VII - Featuring: No Dragons
Update VIII - Featuring: Royalty
Update IX - Featuring: Government Oversight
Chapter. 2: The Fire Within
Update X - Featuring: A Hero
Update XI - Featuring: Bizarre DLC Availability
Update XII - Featuring: Sidequests
Update XIII - Featuring: New friends
Bonus: Character Creation 2
Update XIV - Featuring: New faces
Update XV - Featuring: Aiden Pearce from the Watch_Dogs series
Update XVI - Featuring: Studying
Update XVII - Featuring: Unit 13's first High Dragon
Update XVIII - Featuring: Probable Ethics Violations
Chapter. 3: Sword Versus Dragon
Update XIX - Featuring: Complete disregard of the timeline
Update XX - Featuring: Breaking and entering
Update XXI - Featuring: Incredible rewards!*
Update XXII - Featuring: Poor security
Update XXIII - Featuring: The exact same dungeon
Update XXIV - Featuring: More of the same dungeon
Update XXV - Featuring: The Dragonslayer
Update XXVI - Featuring: Potential lawsuits
Update XXVII - Featuring: A cameo from everyone's favorite hero!
Update XXVIII - Featuring: More dull dungeon design
Update XXIX - Featuring: The Third True Dragon
Update XXX - Featuring: More bad ideas from the ISDF
Chapter 3.6: Intermission - Calling Unit 13!
Update XXXI - Featuring: The consequences of our actions
Update XXXII - Featuring: A cat-astrophe
Update XXXIII - Featuring: Another filler dungeon
Update XXXIV - Featuring: Nyala as a unit of measurement
Chapter. 4: The Town of Freedom
Update XXXV - Featuring: Four goddamn field skills
Update XXXVI - Featuring: Incomprehensible Plot Developments
Update XXXVII - Featuring: A budget thinner than paper
Bonus: Character Creation 3
Update XXXVIII - Featuring: Money
Update XXXIX - Featuring: Birds, cats, and high explosives
Update XL - Featuring: POWER
Update XLI - Featuring: Not much new
Update XLII - Featuring: A boss we killed two chapters ago
Update XLIII - Featuring: Emel getting mad
Update XLIV - Featuring: Double Dragon
Update XLV - Featuring: Romance Troubles
Update XLVI - Featuring: Emel thinking the ISDF are idiots
Update XLVII - Featuring: The Sixth True Dragon
Chapter. 5: A Dragon's Lament
Update XLVIII - Featuring: Group interviews
Update XLIX - Featuring: Incredibly bad messages
Update L - Featuring: The bar
Update LI - Featuring: Power Overwhelming
Update LII - Featuring: The penultimate boss of the previous game
Update LIII - Featuring: Peak Physical Performance
Update LIV - Featuring: A boss that lasts for more than 3 turns
Update LV - Featuring: Trees
Update LVI - Featuring: Cleanup
Update LVII - Featuring: Robocop
Update LVIII - Featuring: The Fourth True Dragon
Update LIX - Featuring: A True Dragon being utterly clowned on
Chatper 5.1: Intermission - The Awakening
Update LX - Featuring: Even more filler
Update LXI - Featuring: A whole heap of EX Skills
Update LXII - Featuring: The Hanged Man Social Link from Persona 3
Update LXIII - Featuring: Hackerman
Update LXIV - Featuring: Dungeons and dragons
Update LXV - Featuring: Animation glitches
Update LXVI - Featuring: GEORGE!'s true power
Update LXVII - Featuring: Parties
Update LXVIII - Featuring: A second day off
Update LXIX - Featuring: The most fitting number
Update LXX - Featuring: Dates
Chapter. 6: The Time Is Nigh
Update LXXI - Featuring: Tonal whiplash
Update LXXII - Featuring: Death
Update LXXIII - Featuring: Humans, dragons, and everything in between
Update LXXIV - Featuring: Localization errors
Update LXXV - Featuring: Darkness
Update LXXVI - Featuring: Ultimate power
Update LXXVII - Featuring: The greatest weapon the world has ever seen
Update LXXVIII - Featuring: The hit game 7th Dragon 2020-II
Update LXXIX - Featuring: The Second True Dragon
Chapter.7: The Seventh Dragon
Update LXXX - Featuring: Hallways
Update LXXXI - Featuring: Old faces
Update LXXXII - Featuring: Aiden's Magical Satellite Cannon
Update LXXXIII - Featuring: The 7th Dragon
Update LXXXIV - Featuring: Not time travel
Postgame: The Shadow Realm
Update LXXXV - Featuring: 4Kids Entertainment
Update LXXXVI - Featuring: Real Samurai Hours
Update LXXXVII - Featuring: Inoue going sicko mode
Update LXXXVIII - Featuring: The last (or is it first?) dragon
Update LXXXIX - Featuring: The End
Mechanic Posts
General Mechanics: How the hell do you manage to buff guarding?
God Hand: Dragon kick your ass into the Milky Way
Samurai: Two swords are better than one
Duelist: This deck is not tournament legal
Agent: 30 GOTO GUN
Fortuner: They made Sacrifice good.
Rune Knight: The only time you don't take the Chicken Knife.
Mage: Don't ask where Healer went
Banisher: Should have brought an Air Balloon, idiot
Kinu Nishimura posts the theme song of everyone's favorite hero:
Kinu Nishimura posted:
Blazing GEORGE! (TV Size)
Description: 1st OP Theme
Singer: Akira Kushida
Composition: Hiroaki Ashizawa
Arrangement: Keiichi Oku
B-A-N-I-S-H, Banish!
B-A-N-I-S-H, Banish!
3, 2, 1... FIRE!
Burning hot inside my heart, my soul chars the earth!
My battle today is on another stage!
Evil comes, powerful, threatening to steal our world—
but I leap into the sky, never to give in!
Bonds with my loyal friends keep me in the fight!
I fight for all of us, gathering all our hopes, into a mighty bomblance blast!
(Quake!) Now, you evil dragons, (Jump!) breaking our daily lives—
Your games of fear and death, I will bring to end!
(Attack!) At the last moment, (Fire!) bringing a turnabout—
The hero of mankind, Banisher GEORGE!!
B-A-N-I-S-H, Banish!
B-A-N-I-S-H, Banish!
3, 2, 1... FIRE!
Burning hot in my heart, my will to fight forms a blade—
Your devilish techniques shall be crushed beneath!
Even if I'm on my knees, thrown around into the ropes,
I'll leap into the air and strike a mighty pose!
The souls of my loyal friends warn me of your traps—
Break through the darkness, charging up energy, into a massive bomblance blast!
(Quake!) Now, you evil dragons, (Jump!) who show no mercy,
Like lightning from the sky, I will strike you down!
(Attack!) Prepare your final words, (Fire!) for this storm of mighty blows!
The hero of mankind, Banisher GEORGE!!
B-A-N-I-S-H, Banish!
B-A-N-I-S-H, Banish!
(Quake!) Now, you evil dragons, (Jump!) breaking our daily lives—
Your games of fear and death, I will bring to end!
(Attack!) At the last moment, (Fire!) bringing a turnabout—
The hero of mankind, Banisher GEORGE!!
B-A-N-I-S-H, Banish!
B-A-N-I-S-H, Banish!
B-A-N-I-S-H, Banish!
3, 2, 1... FIRE!!!
GiantRockFromSpace describes VFD's endgame in one image:
