‘Dragon Quest Builders’ Mobile Review – Great on iPhone, Not as good on iPad – TouchArcade

Sq. Enix celebrated the 36th birthday of the Dragon Quest collection in Japan by releasing the unique Dragon Quest Builders ($27.99) on cell. Dragon Quest Builders was a nice shock for me after I performed the PS4 recreation again in 2016. If you happen to’ve by no means heard of Dragon Quest Builders, it’s a spin-off collection that blends the Minecraft aesthetic and constructing with the allure of Dragon Quest. The unique Dragon Quest Builders noticed a sequel on PS4, Nintendo Swap, Xbox One, and PC that constructed (no pun supposed) on the unique in virtually each method making it a significantly better recreation. That’s what made this cell launch of the primary recreation really feel a bit of complicated. Having performed it throughout a number of iPhones and iPads alongside consoles to check the visuals, Sq. Enix has achieved fairly a bit to enhance the sport right here, however there are some baffling points holding it again from being as superior appropriately on cell.

Dragon Quest Builders is ready on the planet of the primary Dragon Quest recreation the place you play as a builder aiming to rebuild the world after it has been destroyed by the Dragonlord. What made Dragon Quest Builders particular for me after I initially performed it, is the way it completely took the elements of Minecraft I loved, and blended these in with Dragon Quest storytelling, writing, enemies, and extra. I haven’t bothered taking part in a lot of Minecraft with Dragon Quest Builders and Dragon Quest Builders 2 accessible on most platforms I personal. These video games are that good and add sufficient route and mechanics to have interaction me not like Minecraft the place I by no means received sucked into it as a lot.

Structurally Dragon Quest Builders is a bit bizarre initially. Development is reset to some extent in every chapter location. You aren’t redoing all the things once more like the primary chapter, but it surely isn’t a steady grand journey such as you’d count on in a Dragon Quest recreation. The chapters listed below are large, and I actually was happy with the sport simply after the primary chapter again on PS4, with how a lot time I put into it. This isn’t an enormous concern, however you’re higher off understanding this earlier than leaping in and spending plenty of time pondering all the things you construct right here will carry into the following chapter which is basically a brand new settlement map. I’d additionally advocate making a special guide save per chapter for that reason.

Let’s get this out of the way in which. Dragon Quest Builders has principally no controller assist on iOS. You may pair a controller and use the analog stick to maneuver, however the one different button that works is the choices button on a PS4/PS5 controller that’s mapped to leap. Nothing else on the controller works. There’s some silver lining although. Sq. Enix has achieved a incredible job with the contact controls on iPhone particularly. On iPad, they aren’t nearly as good, however I’ll get to the iPad points in a bit. The mixture of nice contact controls for iPhone and the brand new options added make this one of the best model of the unique Dragon Quest Builders, with a number of large caveats.

Having performed Dragon Quest Builders on PS4, PS Vita, and Nintendo Swap earlier than, I used to be excited to revisit it on iOS to see the way it holds up over half a decade after debuting within the West, the way it performs on a touchscreen, and examine it on completely different platforms and iOS units as normal. With Sq. Enix premium releases on cell, it appears like the corporate throws darts at a board to determine which primary options to skip for every launch. The Ultimate Fantasy Pixel Remasters nonetheless missing controller assist on cell is the latest instance of this. Dragon Quest Builders on iOS has principally no controller assist as talked about above, however the actual stinger isn’t any iCloud save assist. For a deep recreation like this the place you’ll make investments dozens of hours at minimal, having no technique to backup your progress, not to mention sync it to a different iOS gadget, is terrible.

Barring these points, Sq. Enix has introduced some helpful options to Dragon Quest Builders on iOS. It can save you wherever versus being restricted within the console model. The dearth of save wherever on Swap made it onerous to correctly play it on the go in brief bursts. Along with that, the cell model contains an undo button with a good historical past of your actions you can undo. It additionally has assist for tapping the display screen to destroy and place blocks. These are wonderful additions that make taking part in the unique console variations a chore. I’ve revisited these to check with the iPhone and iPad launch I’ve, and it actually stands proud.

Barring the brand new options, Sq. Enix additionally has some paid DLC accessible for Dragon Quest Builders on iOS and Android. These are primarily for the inventive mode and never for the principle story chapters. When you unlock Terra Incognita within the recreation after a little bit of taking part in, you need to use this inventive mode to construct extra on over time with new recipe unlocks as you end extra of the principle story. The DLC on cell contains new content material just for Terra Incognita mode together with an all-in-one bundle that makes much more sense to purchase than particular person gadgets going by the pricing.

So with principally no controller assist and no cloud save backup, is Dragon Quest Builders nonetheless value it on iOS? The reply is sure, when you’re taking part in it on a more moderen iPhone. I examined it on iPhone SE (the unique), iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 12, and iPhone 11. On the iPhone 11 and 12, it runs rather well on excessive, but it surely has heating points. On medium graphics, it is kind of superb, whereas the iPhone 7 Plus and SE struggled to take care of near 60fps (one thing the Swap model not often did correctly) except I used low with the SE struggling there as effectively.

In its present state, Dragon Quest Builders feels unoptimized with its energy consumption inflicting units to get heat relatively shortly. This causes the display screen to dim and efficiency to tank. This wouldn’t be as a lot of a difficulty if the decrease graphics choices really had the interface and textual content look crisp not less than. On setting the graphics to low, even the textual content is blurry. Hopefully an replace (sure I can hear you all laughing given this can be a Sq. Enix recreation on cell) can handle this bit as a result of Dragon Quest Builders is little question going to be tremendous profitable on cell in Japan not less than.

In case you are contemplating Dragon Quest Builders for taking part in on iPad, you may wish to wait. In its present state, the sport appears to have plenty of efficiency points even on my iPad Professional (2020). For reference, my iPhone 11 with graphics at excessive runs the sport higher than the iPad Professional (2020) at medium. The iPad Air 2 felt like taking part in it on Swap on the excessive setting. The opposite concern is the controls don’t have any customization with placement that I may discover making it not really feel as good or intuitive relying on the way you maintain your iPad and its mannequin. Taking part in at low wouldn’t be an issue if it didn’t make the textual content and interface additionally low decision as talked about above.

Now the query is, when you don’t care in regards to the new options and solely wish to know which model of Dragon Quest Builders appears to be like and runs finest, the reply is a contemporary iPhone model. I don’t have entry to the M1 iPad to check, however proper now the iPhone model runs nearly as good because the PS4 model on PS5. One factor to notice is that the PS4 model has a number of efficiency points relating to border pacing on PS4 and PS4 Professional solely within the localized launch for North America and Europe which by no means received fastened. These points weren’t current within the Japanese model. On Swap, the sport runs at an unlocked body charge always and by no means feels easy because of its body pacing points that make it really feel inconsistent. On PS Vita, the sport targets a decrease body and isn’t actually value your time in comparison with different variations.

Barring cloud save assist which is crucial, I’d like to see correct controller assist added since this recreation was actually solely accessible on consoles till the cell model. Sq. Enix additionally must push out an replace quickly to deal with the heating / energy consumption points and iPad model efficiency. This has the potential to be top-of-the-line premium video games on iOS, however a few of these points have to be addressed as quickly as attainable.

In its present state, Dragon Quest Builders is a incredible recreation, however one I can solely advocate with some large caveats and if you’ll persist with taking part in it on a contemporary iPhone. If you happen to care about cloud saves, it isn’t right here. Controller assist is principally absent as effectively. If you happen to’re contemplating it on a more moderen iPhone, it’s wonderful. On iPad, for some purpose it runs lots worse than I anticipated even on my iPad Professional (2020) and feels virtually as unhealthy because the Swap model does on an older iPad Professional with inconsistent efficiency. Sq. Enix has achieved a incredible job with the contact controls and the brand new high quality of life options making this one of the best model of the sport on paper, however the energy consumption points want addressing.

Whereas Dragon Quest Builders won’t substitute Dragon Quest Builders 2 for me, the iOS model of the unique is now the easiest way to expertise it even with the problems talked about when you play on a more moderen iPhone. Contemplating Dragon Quest Builders remains to be priced at $59.99 on PS4 and $49.99 on Nintendo Swap in spite of everything these years, the asking value on cell doesn’t appear as unhealthy as it’s, however I’ll by no means fault anybody for being hesitant to assist Sq. Enix’s pricing on cell given how unhealthy the post-launch assist can get with future iOS and iPadOS releases. This has the potential to be a 5/5 recreation on cell, however Sq. Enix being Sq. Enix has dragged it down holding it again from being nearly as good as it may be on iOS and Android. Hopefully Dragon Quest Builders 2 does ultimately come to cell and have a significantly better preliminary launch.