Dragon Quest series Preview

This gaems looks fun! ^__^

DS game appealed far more to me than Wii one.

Follows on from the little editorial thing about how huge the DS has become, that it's outselling its console counterparts. So of course it is no surprise that such a cultural phenomenon like this is going to end up on the DS - another sales phenomenon in that area of the world.

As for the "play with friends thing"... World of Dragon Quest? *ducks to avoid flying objects* It is a fair point to make though... if the infrastructure takes off, how long will it be before we see a variation of the MMO on the DS? The massive success of the system in Japan alone should at least make it a valid idea at the least. Perhaps it's something they could look at.

... can just imagine an MMO on the DS, people missing stops on trains and busses and the likes to finish dungeons...

its too early for this shit - i got an exam in a few hrs EG Post it later when we all awake

I think it's time for the dragon quest series to evolve. they are still stuck in the very traditional JRPG ... things need to move forward, I no longer can stand random battles and battles where I cant see the order of the charatcers in the fight.

Dragon Quest IX being on DS is not really a comment on the PS3's underperformance - especially since they started on it before the thing even released - it's more about simple practicality. Check out the DS sales figures for Japan and compare it to their population. One in Seven has a DS, according to figures. That is a gigantic install base. Additionally the Dragon Quest games have always been very simple and traditional. They've never done well in the US as a result. Heck, as far as I'm aware the Japanese release of DQ 8 had bloopy midi music and no vocals whatsoever. You'd never sell a lot of copies of a game like that on a modern console in the US or in Europe. They want the flashy graphics extravaganzas and emo pretty-boys that Square specialises in. However on the DS it's perfectly fine. The medium almost encourages the more simplistic style.

Personally I found DQVIII about as engaging as watching paint dry as a console game, but I suspect if I had had it on DS I would have played the shit out of it.

Dragon Quest IX being on DS is not really a comment on the PS3's underperformance - especially since they started on it before the thing even released - it's more about simple practicality. Check out the DS sales figures for Japan and compare it to their population. One in Seven has a DS, according to figures. That is a gigantic install base.

You are pretty much repeating what the article says, though - how Nintendo has taken the crown as the mainstream platform holder from Sony for now.

Last I checked, PS2 still has a bigger install base than DS. I'm also not convinced that handhelds and consoles should be considered to even be the same ballpark.

If you can't even use the wiimote accurately as a sword like in Mazan: Flash of the Blade (arcade), then it's even more of a novelty that I though it was.

I am really puzzled about what the wii's future will be, since it's selling really well, but all of the gameplay experiments being done with it seem to end up being a bit disappointing (except bowling, it would seem).

We just need to give the Wii some time. The DS also was kind of hard for developers to get a handle on out of the blocks, but its control scheme has matured very nicely.

DQ8 sucked imo, it was too old fashioned for me, they need to bring it into the 21st century, namely getting rid of random battles.

The Wii version sounds crap, why not just make a proper one instead?

I don't quite understand why the reviewer calls the translation of wiimote action into pre-set mode "inexplicable" as though it's a new thing. Zelda does it, for example.

While it IS annoying, I can imagine a scenario where sword-esque games are done in this way, but with a larger variety of pre-set moves, so that waving your wiimote results in lots of cool combos whose moves are a function of the original waving. And I spose this DQ's combat is a step towards that.

Supposedly the Wii version is strictly aimed at the kids.

Anyway, they got Dragon Quest Heroes spot on, so that's a good sign, DS-wise.

""Well, I want the next Dragon Quest game to be one which can be played by a group of friends together"

Weird he could have done that on PS3? Is the PS3 network so crap?

Anyway... Japan is really moving away from TV home consoles and I expect a lot of games to follow. Franky I do not mind.. great games are great games no matter what platform they are on.

>Last I checked, PS2 still has a bigger install base than DS

Not for much longer.. DS will pass PS2 in Japan soon.

The short time we spent (with the demo) presented a mostly fun, if shallow experience.

Sadly, this seems true of a lot of Wii games announced recently.

Last I checked, PS2 still has a bigger install base than DS.

True, but it's now a "last-gen" console, whereas the DS, albeit a handheld, is very much current and mature (i.e. lots of people own one) in its market. If Square Enix want to sell lots of copies of their game (which the obviously do), then it's a farily easy decision for them to make.

I imagine work on DQX will already have started, so it'll be interesting to see whether they revert back to the home consoles and whether the Wii's current lead over the PS3 has any influence on the platform choice.

DQ8 sucked imo, it was too old fashioned for me, they need to bring it into the 21st century, namely getting rid of random battles.

JRPGs are clearly not for you. Go back to your XBox, young lad.

DQIX looks fantastic. I am glad it went to the DS really. But thats because I care very little about HD graphics and the likes. So long as its a fun game then I don't care.

As for the Wii DQ, well it looks really promising but I'm still not sure really. It hasen't convince me yet, but the console itself hasen't convinced me so far, I've got one but never play it! But I will once the games start rolling out.

I do hope they are planning a Rocketslime 2 for the DS in the next year. That has to be one of my favourite games I've ever played...

It's official, Nintendo owns Japan.
Both sony and MS should just give up the ghost there.

It is a bit bizarre that a main sequel is on a handheld, whilst the shallow spin-off is on the home console. What's that about?

"The strongest evidence as to why Playstation 3 is struggling in Japan at the moment"

This announcement is evidence of "why" the PS3 is struggling? Maybe you could argue that it is evidence of the fact the PS3 is struggling, but not "why". Unless all the Japanese were psychic and knew this announcement was coming.

@Daikon, so just 'cos I said I didn't like DQ8 that suddenly makes me a Japanese games hating, Xbot fanboi?

Dude I don't own an Xbox anymore and I play alot of JRPG's, my favorites being FF12 and Tales of Symphonia, but DQ8 sucked balls, plain and simple, it's just my opinion and I can't be arsed to go into details here, but check this out if you want to know why I hated it so much.

http://www.popmatters.com/multimedia/rev...

Random battles are a horribly dated notion in this day and age, they're not needed and they really make RPGs tiresome to play. It's a shame that DQ is so old-fashioned, because I'd like to like it, but so long as the series stays stuck in the past I'll never buy a DQ game.

As for the Wii DQ game: frankly it sounds like utter crap. It doesn't really look like the kind of thing that's likely to get released over here anyway, but honestly I think it might well do more harm than good to the DQ reputation if it was.

JRPGs are clearly not for you. Go back to your XBox, young lad.

Xenosaga, Tales of the Abyss, Star Ocean III, Grandia, FFXII, Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria, etc.

Not liking random battles does not preclude one from enjoying JRPGs. But Dragon Quest is set in its ways and the Japanese in particular seem perfectly happy with that. So those of us who tire of games stuck in the past have to look elsewhere - but we don't have to look far.

The wii games sounds dung

The Wii game does sound shallow but perhaps that will work since it will be far more accessible to the more casual player.

"JRPGs are clearly not for you. Go back to your XBox, young lad."

It's possible to like JRPGs yet hate stuck-in-the-past ones.

I get a little hacked off with people who insist this type of RPG is "stuck in the past". It doesn't have to drop random battles just because you don't like them. Seems to me they consider it an integral part of the game they want to make, and given the popularity it is something a significant number of people like too.

Who says an RPG can't have random to be deemed current/hip'n'trendy? Personally I prefer developers to take a variety of approaches and I'll play the ones that suit my tastes. They don't all have to conform to your idea of what you want from a JRPG.

"Last I checked, PS2 still has a bigger install base than DS. "

Last time I checked, the Japanese charts were full of DS games and hardly any PS2 games. The userbase of the PS2 in Japan has obviously stopped buying as many games as they used to, and are looking to new consoles instead.

Ooh, I want me some Dragon Quest IX! I do wish they would have put it on PS3/360, but it still looks amazing on DS and I absolutely can't wait to play it. I will miss the voice acting and orchestrated music from DQVIII, though :(

I'm fairly certain that Dragon Quest IX won't have any random battles. There is a rather good thread about it forum side. I would love to post a link but my laptop is dead so Im on my Wii at the moment.

@azmol01

Well, you really need to grow up your review critics skills.

You, not only didn't give a clue of what you are talking about (I played the game and have problem to give context to most of your utterly vague observations) but also made a lot of generic assumptionss that can be applied to lot of JRPGs or simple RPGs.

The only part that is clear is that you wanted another FFXII, or just another easy-mode, glorified laser game RPG, never realizing that Final Fantasy is more skewing toward the Adventure genre than the RPG genre nowadays. Some comments are completely off, like linearity. DQ8 is a game that is considered one of the most open-ended "colossal" JRPGs ever produced but considering that you probably played the game for no more than an couple hours it is OK.

Another silly part is complaining about the possibility of screwing your character customization: it's an RPG, building a character and make it progress should be the center point of the game, otherwise it is just an adventure game with levels (like the majority of JRPGs) and pre-planned character progression. It's your game, these are your characters, go and make them the way you like, assuming you are capable of reading a manual and do considerations based on logic.

As for the lack of tactics: sure, the monsters you encountered in your own superficial run through the game are easy because the game is just starting. The combat model of Dragon Quest is more functional than those of many other RPG where you are just limited to spam powerful magic and watch long animations over and over... DQ characters do become powerful but a lessere extent. They become powerful as a group and only the synergy of skills can be used to win most fights, there's no generic combo or super power that can run you throught dungeons with ease not even planning a fight.

As for random encounters, I really are surprised how many expert people continue complaining against a feature that by design is completely avoidable buying for a few GP the appropriate item. This is just another generic point people continue to spam over and over... If you can't even browse a shop list and realize that there are items that can help you, just stop playing RPGs. What's the other complaining element? During combat your HPs decrease when you are hit and this is annoying?

@ z.e.r.o, dude you just need to grow up and realize that people are allowed to have differing views to your own.

Oh and just for the record, I clocked in 85+ hours on DQ8, right up to the big fat purple boss, that you fought in the sky.

As for open ended games, have you played Oblivion yet? DQ8 is positively on rails in comparison.

You claimed that I wanted another FF12, erm, you do realize I reviewed DQ8 long before I played FF12, maybe you should check the publication date first before you start making presumptions. Oh and also for the record, FF12 was also far from perfect.

The combat in DQ8 is crap, plain and simple, truth be told I found more depth when playing through Lord of The Rings The 3rd Age.

The fact that you defended random battles, shows that you're nothing more than a fanboi, fuming over the fact that someone criticized your beloved franchise. Random battles are outdated, prehistoric and are solely put in place to artificially lengthen game time. Simply 'cos the developers have no imagination or can't be arsed to include some decent side quests or mini games, when they know that dedicated zealots such as yourself will buy anything with the Dragon Quest name on it.

I couldn't care less what the series name is, it's reputation, rabid fan base or what system a game is on, a crap game is a crap game, period.

Also, just because I criticized a traditional Japanese RPG that just happens to be on the PS2, why does that all of a sudden make me a rabid, casual, incompetent Xbot fangirl, who needs his hand held when playing games?

Personally, if i'm a "fanboy" of anything.. it's square.

Love them.

As for people saying they dont like jrpg's because of their stories.. You telling me you prefer oblivions "story" (or lack of?).

That said, if there's anything i prefer more than FF or DQ, it was ultima... Before it went all multiplayer :-(

The funny thing is, Square games like Chrono Trigger ditched random battles long before Final Fantasy did.

I don't think its a "love them or hate them" thing - more like a "tolerable or intolerable" thing. I hate them so very, very much, but they don't necessarily ruin a game for me.

@azmol01:

You wrote a foggy rant, not a review. To be more concise, writing a review about how game A is not like you want it is simply, plainly wrong. There's a good book about game critics made by MIT, you should really read it.

You have to realize something, before I continue. I wrote a critic about your review: you attacked me as a fanboy to make thing straight. That's another thing to avoid, you should listen about people make arguments about why one of your writing is useless, otherwise you will only rest on your delusion of grandeur.

Now, let's continue explaining why I think you are wrong but, of course, your opinion is entitled to be here, I'm only saying I disagree and point out the failing logic behind your rant, hoping that the next time, with an improved point of view, I could see more clearly your reasons. Most of the time, people are pretty good reason of saying what they say, they're just ineffective at explaining themselves.

Now thing' becoming interesting: you were able to sink more than 80 hour on a game you rated 4 and deemed worth nothing? After 80+ hours of gaming you didn't realize that the game is not exactly linear and that there's more to do than most people can in one single play-through (the game requires 2 to explore everything).
Something is pretty strange here, don't you think?
You didn't noticed that there's a lot aside the main storyline? Maybe there's just an issue on how you intend linearity in a game, plots are almost always linear in games,aside marginal alternate ending turning points (that are far away to make a game nonlinear at all) even Oblivion has a linear plot but still a pretty open ended gameplay.

It's not fanboysm, it's that I hate people that defy logic or nitpick to get the high ground. I mean, you criticized an RPG because it let to customize your hero as you wish (but the game is considered on rails) and you weren't able to not screw it at some extent (another rule of game review: to not blame our shortcomings at playing them as game faults). You picked a Dragon Quest game (that is about AVOIDABLE random combats like any previous FF and JRPGs were) and complain about random combats pissing you off? The design let you avoid random encounters if you wish, you clearly didn't because you have to use made up points in fact, it's not even clear how combat works, in your text. You also complained about the MIDI soundtrack of the Japanese version (that you were not reviewing), ignoring the cultural background about the choice (back there MIDI is simply considered cool), just to strenghten your view of a mediocre and patched up game.

Personal note because I hate nitpickers that fails at logic and comprehension: the FFXII reference is up because you made it and then pointed out your review of DQ8, that could've been written yesterday for what I care, i don't have to investigate the date of your review to make my point... In addition, the reference of FFXII is there as an example of the genre you clearly craved for (there's an OR and a metaphor after, the next time I will try to use only analogies to make you more comfortable), even if the genre as a whole continues to sport most of these failing defects you continue to point out: limited freedom of gameplay, a pretty unflexible and unbalanced encounter and combat system that just become boring in the long run, superficial plot and characters and so on.

To make you things more clear, I opened my last comment saying that your critiques are valid for any JRPG or RPG out there, the DQ8 is cited because the review you proudly pointed saying it's not FFXII talks about it, it's badly written, fail to make a constructive point and it is completely useless to anyone didn't play the game (so being a very uneffective review) since you concentrated too much on the hate without even summarizing the game most important points, like how the progression system is made, why you can screw character builds, the interface and so on.

I will be glad to let you improve your review skills with another review of your choice, so, maybe, you can't end sounding like a fanboy yourself, with very immature responses and overly rude reactions to what I think were fairly balanced and pretty good explained pointers (forgive me for grammar, I'm not even a native english speaker and writer and I usually wrote in an hurry).

@z.e.r.o, I think you should leave the criticism of my writing to my editors, which by the way has only ever happened once, in nearly 2 and a half years. Dude you're a fanboi plain and simple, but that's fine, let's just leave it as I have my view, you sir have yours, before we end up writing entire dissertations on these here forums huh pal? :)

david beckham's comeback is more impressive. game looks good tho.

@azmol01: no offense taken. Just your continous accuses of being a fanboy without a backing of reasoning are a bit over the line, but, oh well, anyone has his own shortcomings.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platform...

@ z.e.r.o. Yeah well it's no different to you saying I'm a bad writer, crap at games, have no skill and can't handle a challenge, while also claiming I only played DQ8 for a couple of hours.