Early Mornings and Symphonies: My Dragon Quest VII Concert Experience 

Getting up at 3:30 AM CST to catch the doors opening at 17:30 JST for the in-game Dragon Quest VII concert was absolutely worth the early alarm. I watched the live performance on my monitor while wearing my Dragon Quest Star Dancers Ballet shirt. I've only played through the Switch 2 version of the game so far, but I already own the 3DS version, and my copy of the PS2 release (Dragon Warrior 7) is getting delivered today. I'm really looking forward to diving into both of those older versions eventually.

The virtual stage setup was great, featuring a large screen over the stage to broadcast the event. During the intermission, I got out of my seat, ran up to the front of the aisle, and started doing a bunch of goofy poses. I felt a little silly doing it by myself after a while, but once I sat back down, other players ran up and started doing the exact same thing, which was a really cool community moment.

After the performance wrapped up, it was a lot of fun taking pictures with a large group of players who had gathered together to pose in the Grand Zentannian Auditorium. Almost everyone was dressed up in formal wear, and I was just wearing the official rental tuxedo. Next time they host one of these, I’d love to bring a date so we can coordinate our outfits instead of relying on the default rentals. For now, I'm just looking forward to catching up on sleep and watching the replay with some friends this weekend.