Square Enix announced today that Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age will release for PS4 and PC on September 4, 2018.
Here’s its opening movie:
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age tells a captivating tale of a hunted hero and is the long-awaited role-playing game from series creator Yuji Horii, character designer Akira Toriyama, and series composer Koichi Sugiyama. As the eleventh mainline entry in the critically acclaimed series, Dragon Quest XI is a completely standalone experience that features entirely new characters, a beautifully detailed world, finely tuned turn-based combat, and an immersive story that will appeal to longtime fans and franchise newcomers alike. After its release in Japan, Dragon Quest XI won multiple gaming awards and received critical praise, including PlayStation’s Platinum Prize and a perfect 40/40 score from Famitsu (Japanese publication).
In addition to delivering over 100 hours of content, the Western release of Dragon Quest XI will also feature several upgrades and enhancements that were not included in the Japanese release, including:
- English Voiceover
- Draconian Quest, a hard mode that offers additional challenges for more experienced players.
- Overhauled Menus & UI, with graphical enhancements and more intuitive navigation.
- Camera Mode, allowing players to take in views of the beautiful landscape, character renders and ferocious monsters in detail.
- A New Dash Function and many other system enhancements such as improved character and camera movement
And the first English gameplay footage:
Producer Hokuto Okamoto wrote on PlayStation Blog that the game is meant to represent ‘a new beginning’, and that much time was spent on localizing the game in order to properly represent “Erdrea”, the world of Dragon Quest XI. Apart from text, voiceovers and UI design adjustments are being included in the Western version of the game, such as the examples below:
While the Equipment screen in the Japanese version reflects the familiar UI from previous games, the Western version has a more visual UI display with item icons and pictures.
PlayStation Store pre-orders are available starting today, which will grant players “The Legend Reborn” theme, as well as in-game DLC items when the game comes out. (Vest for Success, Seed of Skill x15, Über Agate of Evolution x3)
Update: Square Enix stated that the Nintendo 3DS version will not release in the West. The Switch version will arrive “much later.”
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age releases for PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam in the West on September 4, 2018. The game is available in Japan additionally on Nintendo 3DS, and also is coming to the Nintendo Switch.
