100 Platinum for booting up the trial, quitting, and deleting it

The My Nintendo Platinum trial promo is still running for another day, and you can get 100 Platinum Points for free just by booting up Dragon Quest Builders 2.

To be clear, the game trial for Dragon Quest Builders 2 is live through Tuesday. Testing this out, it's important to remember that you can merely just boot the game up after downloading it for a second, quit, and grab the points. At any point during this trial period you can download the game, practically forget about it, then get the points, delete it from your Switch, and never think about it again. Note that you can also use the full game to snag 100 Platinum Points, if you already own it. Just load up/redownload your full version, and you're good to go. Playing Splatoon 2 will also net yo??u another 100 Platinum Points this week.

As a reminder, if you want physical rewards, you can find our full Platinum Point guide here, which has been updated with details on weekly missions: bookmark it for when you need quick points for a reward. A handful of points is incredibly easy to get, as that’s basically just 15 minutes with Super Mario Run, or a quick sign-on to the 3DS or? Wii U 3Shop. Also remember that any shipments are bundled together, so you can pay a flat rate for multiple items instead of paying it each time. Just know that items go out of stock on My Nintendo frequen?tly, and some are never restocked.

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A realm reborn, one block at a time

I sunk a ton of time into Dragon Quest Builders trying to explore as much as possible and get every villager situated just so, but I haven't been back for round two. If you had a similar experience and you're a Nintendo Switch Online member, heads up: there's a full-game trial for Dragon Quest Builders 2 running on Switch right now through Tuesday.

The trial will be playable until April 26 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific, and you can download it here or find it in the Switch Online section of your Nintendo Switch. If you're going the first route, make sure you scroll down, though �look for a download link next to a "Game Trials" image, as opposed to the standard "demo" link up top. The full trial is 1.7 GB.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLY06_-1_nA

This probably goes without saying for the Dragon Quest seri??es at large, but yes: don't worry about coming into the sequel totally fresh. The story �a fight against an anti-building group as a freshly washed-ashore young Hero ??�stands on its own.

How much of Dragon Quest Builders 2 can you finish in six days? Considering the game's girth on the How Long to Beat scale, I'd say probably not al?l of it! Folks are clocking 50-some hours for the main story, and easily double that for a completionist scrub-down.

There's also a sale on the game and Season Pass

Speaking of, any effort you put into the Switch Online trial of Dragon Quest Builders 2 won't be a waste �that progress will carry into a purchased copy, should you decide to buy. There's a deal right now �it's $30 on the Switch eShop, which is $20 off the MSRP �and the game's Season Pass is ??down to $12.59, too; hey, there's a DIY aquarium.

We're at a point now in this game's cycle where I think only the steepest (out-of-character-for-Square-Enix) discount would speak to me, so a trial event is the best bet to capture my interest. Originally, at launch, I felt like I already had my fill of this formula, and CJ's review didn't sway me. Maybe I'll come around. It is pretty charming.

This is kind of here nor there, but if we're talking about Dragon Quest spin-offs, I sure wouldn't mind a potential Dragon Quest Heroes III one of these days.

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Plus some more cloud games

A new batch of games are coming to the Game Pass lineup, and on top of usual platforms, they're also bolstering the clou??d.

Xbox announced some July arrivals for Game Pass today, ranging from Tropico 6 and the console version of UFC 4 to the fast action indie game Bloodroots.

What's interesting (for me, at least) are the games coming to the cloud service. Xbox officially launched its Xbox Cloud Gaming ?service for all Game Pass Ultimate subscribers last week, and in Jordan's initial impressions of the service, it seems like a good way to spend a lunch break?.

The lunch breaks are going to get breezier, as the builder-RPG Dragon Quest Builders 2 hits the cloud on July 8, and several other games are also comi?ng to the service. I have lost many, many hours to building the perfect castle in this game.

//twitter??.com/XboxGamePass/status/1412396175769030666

H??ere's the full July Xbox Game Pass lineup, including platforms and the dates when they ?will arrive on the service:

• Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Cloud) - July 8
• Tropico 6 (Cloud, Console, PC) - July 8
• EA UFC 4 (Console) - July 8
• Bloodroots (Cloud, Console, PC) - July 15
• Farming Simulator 19 (Cloud, Console, PC) - July 15
• The Medium (Cloud) - July 15

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Rebuild the world all over again

The journey of t??he apprentice builder and his amnesiac friend Malroth is coming to Xbox, and it will be headed to Game Pass as well.

Square Enix and Xbox confirmed today that 2019's Dragon Quest Builders 2 is coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S (via backward comp?atibility) on M??ay 4. The sandbox builder-RPG will also come to Xbox Game Pass for console, cloud, and PC on the same day.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a follow-up to 2016's original spinoff, which combines Minecraft-like block-stacking and crafting with some RPG tenets and an overarching narrative. New to the se??quel was a large island that acted as your home-away-from-home, as you and Malroth went island hopping in search of new denizens and materials.

It was a pretty solid sequel, and something about the building in Dragon Quest Builders keeps me coming back. The ability to build specific rooms with functions that your town's citizens will fill, like makin?g food or arming themselves for battle, makes the cities you build feel alive. Game P??ass owners looking for a building kick should absolutely give this one a shot next week.

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If you build it, they will come

A year after it first launched in Japan, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is finally getting a PC port. In July, it came to PS4 and Switch in North America and Europe. At the time, CJ gave it a hearty recommendation, ??but not quite the standing ovation the first game got. Soon enough, PC players will get to see what all the fuss is abo??ut.

Square Enix added a Steam page for Dragon Quest Builders 2 that places its release date as December 10. It's priced at $60 and will come?? bundled with all the content that has released on the console versions thus far. Of course, it's equipped with both the JRPG singleplayer campaign and?? the four-player online cooperative.

For anyone who's intrigued but not sold on DQB2, there's a method of trying it out -- albeit on a completely different platform than PC. Square Enix recently released the Jumbo Demo, which grants access to several hours' worth of DQB2. However, it's only on PS4 and Switch. Still, maybe it's ??enough to convince some people that they want the full thing on PC. Just note that progress won't tra??nsfer over to the full game like it will on consoles.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 [Steam]

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'Hours of gameplay' on Switch, PS4, and PC

Square Enix is giving Dragon Quest Builders 2 fence-sitters a chance to play the game for a matter of "hours" with a new Jumbo Demo that's out on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Steam.

The demo doesn't just span the introductory Isle of Awakening – it also lets you loose in the next zone, Furrowfield, and yo??ur save data will transfer to the full version of the game should you op??t to buy it.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 has been buried in my "someday" pile, but a generous demo could be the push I need to prioritize it over other backlog games. I loved DQB1, but it was long-winded. I'm not in a rush to play another big crafting-heavy sandbox RPG adventure, even if CJ gave it the nod of approval.

"It's easy for me to say [DQB2] is a good game because it'd be a lie for me to say otherwise. The groundwork laid by the first title is still sound, but it just didn't grab me the same way its predecessor did. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop playing anytime soon – I still have my home island to complete – but it does mean it's not going to get my undivided attention for?? weeks-on-end like the first?? game."

The Jumbo Demo could be my jumping-off point. Also, jumbo – what a wonderful word.

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A link to the JRPG

BenXC has been hard at work recreating the SNES (and later, GBA) classic Zelda: A Link to the Past, but with a slight twist: they're crafting it in Dragon Quest Builders 2 from scratch.

Similar to how Minecraft players create all sorts of crazy builds, BenXC claims that the project has been in development for over half a year, and includes "150 hours of work, 2,500 hand-planted trees, and over 300,000 blocks placed by hand." This is a labor of love: a creative itch the Zelda series is known to spark. They picked a good one! A Link to the Past is still my favorite Zelda, though the list is getting even more competitive these days with the likes of the Link's Awakening remake and Breath of the Wild.

It's all here: Death Mountain, Eastern Palace, you name it. BenXC has been chronicling their build for months, and now you can reap the benefits. Try the level out yourself with the following ID: npyrd8ZJVM.

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Something for the weekend, sir?

Just before the weekend, publisher Square Enix held a live stream for its recently-released creative adventure game Dragon Quest Builders 2. As part of the stream, we heard details of some new features heading to the ??PS4 and Nintendo Switch release in a new update.

A new chapter of the story will be added, serving as an epilogue to DQB2's narrative. Players will be requ??ired to beat the game, visit a Buildertopia, complete the Explorer's Shore challenges and ?have unlocked at least 45 crafting recipes, you will then receive an in-game letter which will trigger the new story chapter.

On the aesthetic front, a selection of new haircuts will be added to DQB2's customisation options, there will be eight new 'dos?? in all, four for male characters, and four for female characters. A new banner is also incoming in order to offer you some variety when stamping your mark.

Finally, the game will receive some much-needed ??extra save slots to complement the meagre "one auto and one manual" save system. Three further manual save slots will be made available, while players accessing the epilogue chapter will also have access to three new Buildertopias. The update is exp?ected to arrive in Japan on August 20. While no date has been confirmed for the features to be rolled out worldwide, it's a safe bet that all territories will be covered.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is available now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 will ?get new epilogue and save files [Siliconera]

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Slimecraft

Dragon Quest Builders is one of the only games on the market that arguably does Minecraft better than Minecraft. It took the open-world, craft-em-up gameplay of the possibly best-selling game of all time and gave it all meaning, adding a real sense of purpose as you journeyed throughout the land, rebuilding what once was. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is attempting to repeat that success, this time building off the events of 1987's Dragon Quest 2. Whether or not it's as successful as the original will depend on wha??t exactly it is you want out of these games.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 (PlayStation 4 [reviewed], Switch) 
Developer: Omega Force, Square Enix 
Publisher: Square Enix 
Released: July 12, 2019 
MSRP: $59.99

Much like the first game, Dragon Quest Builders 2 presents players with a "what if?" situation that follows one of the games in the mainline series. Here, in the years following the defeat of Hargon and Malroth, a group of disciples known as The Children of Hargon carry on his vision, brainwashing the people of the world into following a life of despair and destruction in a plotline that is surprisingly anti-religion. I'm not sure if that's how Square Enix intended for it to turn out, but it's not hard to see parallels between the accusation??s lobbied at this cult and the actions of actual organized religions.

The Children of Hargon want to see the world slowly die and any attempts to revive the towns, farms, and cities that once stood are met with violent retribution. It goes without saying that this cult hates builders, which is why Builders 2 kicks off with your builder on a prison ship, sailing off towards their inevitable demise. A strong storm ends up saving them, washing them ashore the Isle of Awakening. It??'s here they meet the aforementioned Malroth, but as an amnesiac with a human form. After meeting the sp??irit of the island, the pair set off for nearby lands to recruit people to rebuild the Isle of Awakening to its former glory.

Unlike its predecessor, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a very straightforward game. It doesn't feel as open as its predecessor, and the pioneering sense of discovery that resonated through every chapter of Builders is absent in Builders 2. Instead, the flow of the game is very similar to a standard Dragon Quest game: you and Malroth discover a new town and try to solve all of its p?roblems before moving on. It's a formula that allows the game to slowly introduce new features and ideas to the players, but for those returning from the first game, these new ideas may be introduced a bit too slowly. The much-talked-about gilder cape is? introduced on the first island you visit, but concepts like riding animals, coloring, and metalworks can take hours before you get those abilities.

Pacing is just one of the issues that extend throughout Builders 2. There are not very many islands to explore, so the game will do whatever it can to stretch out how much time players have to spend in each core area. I'm fine with having to rebuild these towns -- that's par the course given the last game -- but every time I reached near the end of each storyline for each island, the game would find one or two more last second objectives for me to complete before I could really move on. Don't get me wrong, the story is worth going through. You're going to love Babs and it really pays off at the end when the various story threads come together. But the padding of playtime is quite evident, even with the new fast-travel ability, and a bit frustrating when you've seen everything a certain island has to offer. Not helping this at all are certain sections with unskippable or fast-forwardable dialogue and the similar rhythm of each island's storyline that can lead to a sensation o??f deja vu.

My other main issue with Builders 2 is it does nothing to improve on the combat from the first game. It's still a simplified hack-and-slash, with mobs of enemies attacking your settlements every once in a while and big boss battles that throw in an extra element you have to account for. It's serviceable, just as it was last time, but outside the addition of co-op attacks, not nearly enough has been done to introduce more of the Dragon Quest combat system into the game.

But I don't play these games to fight, though I am forced to; I play them to build and Dragon Quest Builders 2 is an exceptional title when you're left to create these towns and villages. There are still floorplans and blueprints you'll have to follow for some rooms, but for most, you'll be allowed to choose how you construct it so long as you include a specific list of i?tems.

Some of the choices made here are weird, such as inn signs having to go on the inside wall instead of the outside or forcing players to put a door on?? a bathroom in one area but allowing NPCs in another to take a dump where everyone can see, but there are so many options and design pieces available that you can really create some spectacular rooms and buildings. Space is an issue on each of the core islands of the game -- it never seems like there is enough room for everything I wanted to build -- but I was able to more efficiently build up my towns this time around thanks to the first-person camera mode. It doesn't really help with combat, in fact, it makes it worse, but I pr?eferred building in first-person from the moment I first used it.

Other additions to Builders 2 don't have quite the same effect on me. The glider cape is under-utilized outside of several specific moments. Underwater travel is more a nuisance than an exciting new way to explore more of the game. And I'm not too keen on Malroth's A.I. and its insistence that he do everything I do (if I hit a rock to collect some stone, he'll go run and find a rock to hit so he too can collect some stone). I will say I'm thankful I no longer have to worry about my ?weapons and armor degrading, but I don'?t think that's a big enough of an addition to help elevate this game over the original. There is four-player co-op, however I was unable to test it out during this review period.

It's easy for me to say Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a good game because it'd be a lie for me to say otherwise. The groundwork laid by the first title is still sound, but it just didn't grab me the same way its predecessor did. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop playing anytime soon -- I still have my home island to complete -- but it does mean it's not going to get my undivided attention for weeks-on-end like the first g?ame did.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Releases July 12

Dragon Quest Builders 2 has been out in Japan for a little while now, ??but we're closing in on its western release. Set for July 12, it's just over one month away. Players will be able to sate their blocky appetites a bit sooner than that, because there will be a playable demo released a couple weeks earlier on June 27.

At Square Enix's presentation today, it showed off some of the new features in Dragon Quest Builders 2 like the Deku Leaf-like glide to get around ??and some new farming features. But of course, the core of the game, building blocky structures and fighting cute slimes, ??is still well intact.

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Build a slime prison today

As my weekend at PAX continues, I dropped by the Square Enix booth to check out Dragon Quest Builders 2. The sequel to the crafting/action game set within the world of Dragon Quest.  

The demo I played showed off the game's first 20 minutes. The Children of Hargon have banned all building within the world. As an apprentice builder, you're being held captive on a ship run by these monsters. Thankfully, they don't seem to consider you much of a threat and force you to perfor?m simple chores on the ship's deck, which helps you acquire some building skills. 

The short part of the game I played didn't seem terribly different from the original Dragon Quest Builders, I crafted a few items? to repair and explored the? Children of Hargon's ship, before making a crude weapon to fend off a skeleton solider. All pretty standard fare for a heroic builder. 

Although the demo didn't show off a lot of the new features, Builders 2 will add four-player online co-op, larger structures than the f??irst game could support, and the ability to farm and irrigate crops by carving out water sources. 

I'm generally not one to flock to these Minecraft-like titles, but Builders RPG ele?ments give it a bit more direction than typical games in this genre. That being said, I'm looking forward to giving it a shot when it launches for Play??Station 4 and Switch on July 12, 2019. 

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More great news from a great Nintendo Direct

There were so many jaw-dropping announcements from today's Nintendo Direct that some simply slipped through the cracks. We've covered most of the biggest stories from the event already, but there were two game confirmations that tickled me something good. First, it was revealed Dragon Quest Builders 2, the follow-up to the excellent Minecraft-like, is coming to North America and Europe on July 12, 2019. Square Enix confirmed the ga??me will also hit the PlayStation 4 on the same day.

Take a glimpse into a day in the life of an apprentice builder in this gameplay video for #DRAGONQUEST BUILDERS 2, coming to PS4 on July 12, 2019, in North America and Europe. Pre-order now: //t.co/CFJhHKnLD0 #DQB2 pic.twitter.com/zBMWWvtnh6

— DRAGON QUEST (@DragonQuest) February 13, 2019

Dragon Quest Builders 2 includes a host of new features, including the ability to glide across maps, travel underwater, first-person play, and co-op. Nintendo Switch owners who have save data from the first game on their console will be able to craft the original bui?lder's outfit in the sequel.

Right after that announcement was made, Nintendo confirmed that after months of teasing and waiting, Dragon Quest XI would be coming to the system as Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition. An exceptionally wordy title for an exceptionally wordy game. DQXIS ?will combine the best ?of both worlds from the PlayStation 4 version and the 3DS version that never reached our shores. Players will be able to choose between beautiful, high-definition 3D graphics or retro, 16-bit graphics reminiscent of the SNES. This Switch exclusive edition will also feature a full orchestral soundtrack and the option to play with Japanese or English voice-overs.

Dragon Quest XI S will launch in the west exclusively for Nintendo Switch this fall. As with Octopath Traveler and Dragon Quest Builders, both titles will ??be published by Nintendo instead of Square Enix.

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Building for a 2019 western release?

While I wasn't able to play Dragon Quest Builders when it released in 2016, the community members of Destructoid seemingly loved it as it was all they could talk about in the community Discord for a few weeks. So of course I know most of the community (and a writer or two) is excited about the upcoming release of Dragon Quest Builders 2, even if ?it is only the Japanese release at this time.

Earlier today, a Square Enix??'s Japanese YouTube account streamed an hour and a half long promo for the upcoming release, the biggest news was what the game would be released on December 20th of this year in Japan. A new promo trailer was also released that you can see in the timestamped?? replay of the stream below.

The game wi?ll release in Japan on Switch and PlayStation 4 with a price point of ¥8,424 for the Standard edition, and ¥10,476 for the base game and all plan?ned DLC. Players who pre-order the game will receive a "Slime Tower Recipe."

While there isn't any word on a definitive release date for the west, if it is anything like the first game, we can probably expect t??he western release around the midway point of 2019.

Japanese Nintendo [Twitter]

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But upgrading the engine 'is taking time' so we might not see it for a while

While we wait to see how Dragon Quest Builders 2 fares, Square Enix has shared some new details with Famitsu, and most of it sounds good. Apparently the biggest change is that the build limit will be three times the size of the first game, allowing for higher tiers and bigger creations. Square says that higher builds was one of the most requested mechanics, as was "circulating water?? from high places."

The PS4 and Switch were chosen to ensure that legacy systems weren't holding them back, but you'll be able to import save data from the PS3 and Vita editions for the former -- and the Switch will have import capabilities as well. Another big alteration is multiplayer, but Square Enix is being pretty coy about what that entails at the moment. They want folks to be able to "play with others," an idea that might offer a special sandbox mode, but there isn't a??n explicit mention of a full multiplayer campaign.

Finally, the studio mentions that you won't be lost if you haven't played the first, and that since the development process i??s dealing with some "trial and error" with the engine upgrade, we might have to wait a bit longer for the sequel.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 [Famitsu via Gematsu]

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If you build it, I will play

Here I was just lamenting the need for more Dragon Quest in my life and who should come to my rescue but the only company capable of doing so with this particular property. During a live stream, Square Enix announced Dragon Quest Builders 2 is in the works for th?e PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The sequel will add cooperative play, gliding mechanics and the ability to swim und??erwater.

The live steam is still going on as I type this up and I've embedded it below. You can catch the DQB2 footage around an hour and 10 minutes into it. ??I will update this story with more proper footage once it becomes available.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 Announced [PlayStation Lifestyle]

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