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Dragon Quest Creator OK With Story Rewrites

By Spencer . November 7, 2011 . 1:50am

Dragon Quest Creator OK With Story Rewrites

Yuji Horii wrote the scenario for all of the core Dragon Quest games and over the years the stories have changed. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, for example, had a number of edits like introducing Nera during the hero’s childhood and a brand new bride to spoil, Deborah.

 

Speaking with the Sankei Shimbun, Horii said he doesn’t have a problem with scenario rewrites and seeing the same story would be boring. Reminiscing about developing the Dragon Quest series, Horii said in the early days memory was often an issue. Fitting maps and music into a game was kind of like a fun puzzle. The series grew between Dragon Quest I-III and he felt a great amount of pressure afterwards.

 

Horii’s next project is Dragon Quest X: Waking of the Five Tribes Online, which is slated for release on Wii in 2012. The game will begin a closed beta test starting in the middle of November.



  • http://www.ukanime.com abigsmurf

    Making X an MMO is still a massive, massive disappointment for me. I thought DQIX got it right balancing multiplayer with singleplayer.

    How crushingly boring will it be to level up your main character as a healer? At least in DQIX you had full control over your party so it wasn’t dull when you changed to a healer. In this, even in single player, you’ll control nothing but a healer who, if the class balance is anything like the other DQs, will spend most regular battles defending or doing pathetic damage.

    Still, hopefully Artepiazza will be allowed to remake DQVII

    • Ladius

      I really hope to see a DQ7 remake… To be honest, I think the DQ series has lost part of its charm since 8.

      7 was really an astonishingly deep game, while 8 boosted graphics while simplifying everything else and keeping some archaic game design choices that were fine in the PS1 age, but not so much in the PS2 one (they even damaged some of its stronger points, like its great overworld travel being marred by countless encounters).
      DQ9 was also a big disappointment for me because of its subquest system (technically it’s an even longer game than 7, but I felt most of it was padded content) and 10 being a MMORPG, albeit an hybrid one, is sadly coherent with some of 9′s choices.

      • icecoffemix

        I like 8 and don’t care about 7 (mind you, I got to disc 2 at least), tried older DQ games and it was a grindfest.

        I guess some people DO like mindless grinding on their game, but it’s not for me.

        • Ladius

          Well, I dislike grinding myself, but you should consider when those games were released. Being a grindfest in the FamicomSuper FamicomPS1 ages was still normal, while thankfully that trend was toned down a bit in the PS2 age and in the current generation (same with random encounters, at least the “one step, one battle” ones).

          While playing an old game I think it’s always important to contextualize it in its original time frame: I don’t think anyone could call DQ “archaic” gameplay-wise till 8, until 7 it was simply more traditional than other series in the same timeframe. Playing them nowadays for the first time could definitely give you that impression, though.

        • Ereek

          Edit: Er, I misread. Ignore me.

      • Ereek

        I know you and I are always the ones gushing about VII, but I agree, I felt something was lost with the recent DQ games. I actually liked IX, but it felt “different.”  The gameplay mechanics were the same, the localization was brilliant, but I felt like some of its innate charm and emotion were lost.  It’s like they tried too hard to copy DQIII that they forgot the entire reason why DQIII was good in the first place.

        I lacked empathy for the characters in both VIII and IX.  In VII, I felt something for even NPCs, such as Linda and Pepe. That entire scenario, which spans multiple cities over the course of their lives really touched me.  There is not always a happy ending.  Sharkeye, too.  In VIII, I found the characters enjoyable and likable, but not much more than that.  I didn’t get attached to them.  In IX, like VII, the meat of the story was in the city tales – yet even then I felt they were all weak. Except for the Girl and her doll (which I admit was very touching), I don’t even remember them specifically, only vaguely. For a game I spent over 500 hours with, this is. . .surprising.

      • http://twitter.com/Moggsster Stewart Mogg

        FINALLY, someone agrees with me. I thought I was one of very few people that loved VII. Put over 200 hours into it and still didn’t get everything done that I wanted to. Sure I beat the last boss and the secret dungeons, but I never mastered all the classes I wanted to. Dang Gigamute…

      • http://twitter.com/ifarah12 Gren

        7 is probably never going to get remade man, it’s way too big.

      • Joanna

        I really liked 9, probably because it reminded me so much of 3, which was my first DQ game. I’ve got a soft spot for that one. :3 Haven’t really delved into the post-game stuff though.

    • http://twitter.com/#!/Leafy_Cam Leafhopper

      But for the 1000th time. Its not an mmo. Its an online RPG.

  • Bakuryukun

    Man, I wish Squenix would stop making online installments of their franchises numbered entries. What’s wrong with just calling it Dragon Quest Online or Final Fantasy Online?

    • http://twitter.com/Paradox_me Paradox me

      What would change by omitting a number? They’d still exist, wouldn’t make numbered singleplayer games release any faster, etc.

      • Thomas Maloney

        I still wish that they made a Crystal Chronicles MMO instead of FFIV =(

        • neo_firenze

          I personally was pulling for an Ivalice world setting as opposed to the watered down FFXI redux.  And this is speaking as someone who loved the FFXI world, lore, and characters. 

      • http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

        People would treat it as a spinoff, it isn’t a matter of faster or slower for single player entries but when series like Mario organizes the series Square-Enix can do the same.  What makes a MMO more important than other spinoffs?

        • neo_firenze

          The fact that people would treat it as a spinoff is precisely why Square-Enix is smart NOT to remove the number.  Spinoff = generally less sales.  Which means less money for your favorite developers to make other single player RPGs that you care more about. 

          FFXI funded a LOT of Square-Enix development for games that weren’t MMOs. 

          Now, FFXIV on the other hand brought with it some problems of tarnishing the series due to poor quality.  So that’s a risk you run.  FFXI was a well made game, and is respected by MMO players regardless of whether MMOs are everyone’s taste.  XIV… not so much, and I suspect that if it wasn’t a numbered entry there is a bigger chance S-E would have let it die instead of the massive overhaul they’re currently doing.

          • http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

            For marketing it does make sense.
            Just so weird to not have XI or XIV alongside the others in my collection.  Also will forever be lost because I doubt they will re-release a MMO.

          • Ladius

            I don’t know, even if someone will surely be lured by the number most gamers will still treat online chapters as something radically different than traditional entries, as the sales of FF11 and FF14 show.

            Of course they will still end up making good money because monthly fees will eventually offset the sales differences (and FF11 is probably one of the most profitable FF ever), but it’s a different kind of business model and I don’t think they would be damaged by acknowledging it in the title.

          • neo_firenze

            I personally was very wary of FFXI when it released, and I was one of those people who said it should be called “FF Online”.  Mainly due to my own completionist mentality and irritation that my complete run of FF games would be interrupted.  Essentially, my own self-centered reasons.  I gave XI a try though, and I might not have ever done so had they pigeonholed it as a spinoff that I could have more easily ignored.  That was back in 2004.  I’m still playing (and very much enjoying) FFXI and paying my monthly fee.  Even my wife has had a paid account for years for her max level Tarutaru White Mage. 

            At $13 a month ($12 + an extra $1 for a second character on each account), and with me playing for roughly 7 years and my wife for about 6, that’s over $2000 spent on XI, not even counting the cost of the software and various expansions (another few hundred bucks over the years).  And that’s $2000+ that went directly to Square-Enix, without them having to give a cut to retailers and distributors. 

            Can you see why it’s worth their while to try to use the FF brand loyalty and using the common RPG player “gotta catch em all” collector’s mentality to get a player hooked and sell their MMOs?   

            Not to mention the success of a profitable MMO indirectly benefits all of the other games S-E develops.  FFXI has been one of their most profitable titles for years, and the money made from it has put the company in position to work on OTHER games.  Who knows, maybe that money and S-E’s resulting financial position is the difference in greenlighting a TWEWY, or Last Remnant, or [pick other random niche S-E game].  So even if you don’t care to play MMOs, their success (which can be helped by things like marketing it to hook people who are swayed by the “numbered series entry” aspect) might have a real impact on other games you might absolutely love.  If you’re a non-MMO player who doesn’t like not seeing all the numbers line up on your game shelf, think about some of those games on your shelf not even existing if not for that minor numbering inconvenience.

      • Bakuryukun

        I’m not interested in getting the games out faster or anything like that, it’s just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to number an entry that is essentially endless. It just sort of seems awkward. Besides that MMORPGs and RPGs though similar are I think, their own unique genres which really does make FF11 and 14 and DQX more like spin-offs title than anything.

        I also don’t they are going to trick the single player RPG crowd into buying an online game by slapping a number on the end.

  • http://www.ukanime.com abigsmurf

    Wow, resulting to name calling? Really?

    Given Dragon Quest games only tend to come once every 2-3 years and that it’s a series famous for being incredibly traditional, being disappointed that it’s moved to a different genre isn’t exactly being ultra whiny.

  • SirRichard

    The more I think about it, the more worried I become for Japan when Dragon Quest X hits. It’s a Dragon Quest MMO, it could possibly kill productivity for days on end.

    • Exkaiser

      Riots in the streets of Tokyo as internet providers across the nation shut down, citing a critical lack of staff to maintain service.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leonard-Norwood-Jr/100001685317322 Leonard Norwood Jr.

    Oh boy..I’d hate to see every DQ fan get shot down in the case this next DQ game DOES BOMB! *sighs* well might as well just wait and see what they can do with this game….

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/HAEBCODVH3BGFIHE47BKNDXD2I Jonathan

    let’s just hope they change enough things to satisfy the majority of gamers.

    The only thing I don’t really like so far is the presentation in combat. It’s just very bland, in comparison to the flashiness of even the handheld counterparts.

    That, and I would rather not be one of the other races, and stick to being human lol

    • YarboroughSales

      Don’t like it? Shut up and move on.

  • YarboroughSales

    If you people don’t like it being online, shut up and don’t complain. It’s whiners like you that give SE a bad name.

    • Ladius

      Luckily, people aren’t drones and still judge things according to their own values and priorities.
       
      Also, if you think that the point of a comment section is telling people to shut up if they don’t agree with you maybe you should reconsider. We’re here to discuss things, and different opinions should be welcome, provided they’re expressed in a polite manner.

      • YarboroughSales

        Shut up, Idiot.

        • Ladius

          I’m fascinated by your compelling arguments, it’s always a pleasure to have such witty debates :)

        • http://twitter.com/#!/Leafy_Cam Leafhopper

          You should right novels. You would rank up there with Stephanie Meyer as one of the greats. Oh wait… 

          • YarboroughSales

            Write*. I’m black and I have better grammar/vernacular than most idiots here.

            Is that all you do? Complain on posts when something doesn’t go your way? Talk about immature.

  • http://www.facebook.com/wahyudilestadi Wahyudi Lestadi

    DQIX is still the best so far …

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