In the recent “Nintendo Switch – Fan-Favorites & Newest Releases – July” video from Nintendo of America which showcases games playable in July including Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fortnite, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate it states “Hero Joins the Battle” during the Smash Bros. footage, seemingly indicating that Hero may be available this month. We’ll keep you posted. Video added below. Via GoNintendo.
Yuji Horii In Weekly Meetings For Next Dragon Quest Game
With Square-Enix recently going on a recruitment drive for the next Dragon Quest HD title (see this post), the series’ creator Yuji Horii today tweeted that he is attending almost weekly meetings for the next Dragon Quest game! Check out the full translated tweet below. Many thanks to @BlackKite.
Dragon Quest XI Team Recruiting For New HD Title UPDATED
The Dragon Quest XI team are recruiting for new developers to work on a new Dragon Quest HD title including for Battle System Planner, Facial Motion Designer,2D BG Designer, Motion Designer, and Technical Artist (Facial etc). The company previously acknowledged that Dragon Quest XII is underway. Post updated with full translation below. Many thanks to @BlackKite.
In his latest column in Weekly Famitsu Issue No.1595, Masahiro Sakurai talks about the recent Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC announcements. He wanted to include the legendary Command Prompt with the Dragon Quest Hero. Originally the Hero was to be silent until Dragon Quest XI S added voice actors.
Banjo & Kazooie were requested in large numbers by fans from the west. Sakurai said that both Microsoft and Rare for their assistance. Sakurai also notes that he doesn’t really care for console wars, and ends in saying he wants to please all the fans of the original games.
Thanks to @PushDustIn. Follow him for the full translation, along with future and past translations!
Whilst Square-Enix announced Dragon Quest Walk for iOS and Android today, the company also officially announced Dragon Quest XII, with series producer Yuu Miyake saying “About the series expansions that connect to Dragon Quest XII which everybody’s interested in, exactly right now we’re preparing things together with Horii-san, and we feel like it’s going to take a bit more time, but we think we want to announce them all at once in some sort of way, so please wait for now.” Many thanks to BlackKite for the translation.
The ‘surprising’ Dragon Quest news teased last month is for a new Dragon Quest Walk ‘Information RPG’ game, releasing on iOS and Android in 2019. Powered by Google Maps, and featuring some real world landmarks, Dragon Quest Walk sees you battle monsters from the world of Dragon Quest whilst also allowing you to build your own room. Square-Enix are also planning Dragon Quest XII, although no further details at present. Check out the website for Walk here and promo video below…
‘Surprising’ Dragon Quest news is coming in the 10 June issue of Weekly Shonen June magazine. It’s unknown whether this is related to the recently announcedDragon Quest X game for Nintendo Switch, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS, to Dragon Quest XI S, or to something entirely new. Thanks to Ryokutya.
Square-Enix are re-releasing the Dragon Quest Big Soft Vinyl Monster 1/1 Scale Pre-Painted Figure: Slime in August. Slime is a soft vinyl figure with a 1/1 scale (width 300mm × height 300mm × depth 300mm)! Preorder here and use the code JPNITNENDO for $3 off.
A 3DCG Dragon Quest movie has been announced for release in Japan on 02 August, called DRAGON QUEST YOUR STORY, based on Dragon Quest V, and directed by Takashi Yamazaki. Logos added below…
Full page magazine advert for the very first Dragon Quest game taken from the very first issue of Famicom Tsushin magazine, which is now called Weekly Famitsu. Order physical copies of Weekly Famitsu at the link below and use the code JPNINTENDO for $3 off!
Next week’s eShop line-up sees Pocket Monsters Gold and Pocket Monsters Silver on the Nintendo 3DS eShop and Pokkén Tournament DX and Dragon Quest X: All in One Package on the Nintendo Switch eShop. I’ll update this post in a few hours with any new announcements!
Dragon Quest XI: Sugisarishi Toki o Motomete review
The eleventh mainline Dragon Quest game released simultaneously on both Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 4 with a Nintendo Switch version planned for a future date. This review is for the 3D version of the 3DS game. Dragon Quest XI: Sugisarishi Toki o Motomete begins with both the 3D version on one screen and 2D version on the other. A couple of hours into the journey and you’re forced to choose between the two with the bottom screen defaulting to a map.
You can always change back to the 2D or 3D mode at any save-point in the game, but whilst both versions are the same game; they are essentially two different games. It’s like if Super Mario Odyssey came with a 2D mode where you could also play the game complete with Super Mario World visuals. The two modes also differ in that the 2D mode has random battles and only one map screen (the 3D mode has two) thus inherently increasing the difficulty.
The first noticeable gameplay aspect of Dragon Quest XI is the pacing. Similar to the offline introduction to Dragon Quest X, the game has a level of immediacy that draws you right into the story, but unlike the MMO of Dragon Quest X; Square-Enix return to completely traditional JRPG story telling and turned-based battles offering an unmistakable Dragon Quest experience that plays almost like a ‘best-of’ previous Dragon Quest games.
This lack of originality may sound alarming to some especially in a post-Breath of the Wild world, but the secret to returning to the past is to perfect it. Square Enix arguably have achieved this. The graphics are mostly amazing (a bit of N64 clunk in places and sadly no stereoscopic 3D), the soundtrack exists, but the storytelling and gameplay are where it matters most and both are magical. The excellent pacing I mentioned before is consistent throughout.
It only takes around 70 hours to beat the main game, but unlike VII there’s zero padding. The replay value (with the added 2D mode) is unmatchable. There are reservations that some players may have largely with the language barrier being an obstacle (even the menus are in Japanese) with a Japanese Wiki essential at times. The cut-scenes however help non-native speakers become invested in the characters and to follow the story.
Dragon Quest XI’s linearity may also be off-putting to some, I personally found it refreshing after playing Breath of the Wild and the inherent non-linearity of its open world for upwards of 100 hours. Language barriers not-withstanding, the 3D version of the game isn’t particularly difficult other than some necessary grinding and some later (excellent) boss battles with deployed strategy (and what level you are at!) necessary for advancement.
Conclusion
Overall Dragon Quest XI: Sugisarishi Toki o Motomete is one of the very best games of one of the very best JRPG series. Others will reduce its formula to the application of the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” maxim, more fitting would be “If you’re going to recycle the past, then perfect it.” It’s perhaps a shame that the game released in the same year as Breath of the Wild or otherwise we would have found the game of the year. Perhaps we still have.
Square-Enix today shared a short anime Dragon Quest X Online ‘EPISODE① The Feelings of a Name’ for the game which finally releases for Nintendo Switch on 21 September 2017.
