Dragon Quest XII gets a makeover while Dragon Quest XI gets Key Carded.

[Jeff]

Square-Enix/Dragon Quest team released a presentation on Dragon' Quest's 40th anniversary full of announcements. First, Dragon Quest Monsters is getting a new game on all consoles called Dragon Quest Monsters The Withered World, Dragon Quest XI is getting a Switch 2 port, but unfortunately it contains a game-key card of death and what's worse, you cannot transfer save data from the Switch version.

But the biggest announcement is on Dragon XII and sadly, the team pulled a Metroid Prime 4 by restarting the whole game again from scratch. Instead of being a darker tone, it's going back to a lighter tone again with a new title called Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams and it will unfortunately take a few more years for a release date.

 

[Tsukishima]

But the biggest announcement is on Dragon XII and sadly, the team pulled a Metroid Prime 4 by restarting the whole game again from scratch. Instead of being a darker tone, it's going back to a lighter tone again with a new title called Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams and it will unfortunately take a few more years for a release date.

That's a kick in the ribs, I was really interested in the new change of direction but I guess they want to go the generic safe option instead.

 

[Pearly]

I honestly am so hyped for the new version of DQ 12, the old one, with the fire etching the XII in the background didn't feel very dragon quest to me. It had mid 2000's energy, and not in a good way

I will say that this sort of seems like Toriyama was allowed to have full reign on the character designs, it's purely his style, seemingly no tweaking. DQ11, though amazing, played it so safe when it came to designs and that was great, it made dragon quest mainstream and it's actually a really great game.

I loved the designs so much and their something vaguely chrono trigger about it for me, the weird creatures in the cast, and even seesm to be a part memeber, it has actual machines in it too. Hori did write chrono trigger, and the secnarios etc.

So I am curious if I am correct but this looks like Yuji Hori's follow up to chrono trigger if the trailer was anything to go by. We have a Bulma type in the party that tinkers with machines and also a robot was shown. Reeks of Chrono Trigger, though I view chrono trigger as a dragon quest gaiden game that the soundtrack wasn't done by Sugiyama, and was developed by Square and overseen by Sakaguichi.

The protagonists design is 100% his final refinement of his art style that is also seen in Daima and the designs for xenoverse 3. I love it. I can imagine it will be marmite for many.

 

[nobitakun]

I honestly am so hyped for the new version of DQ 12, the old one, with the fire etching the XII in the background didn't feel very dragon quest to me. It had mid 2000's energy, and not in a good way

I will say that this sort of seems like Toriyama was allowed to have full reign on the character designs, it's purely his style, seemingly no tweaking. DQ11, though amazing, played it so safe when it came to designs and that was great, it made dragon quest mainstream and it's actually a really great game.

I loved the designs so much and their something vaguely chrono trigger about it for me, the weird creatures in the cast, and even seesm to be a part memeber, it has actual machines in it too. Hori did write chrono trigger, and the secnarios etc.

So I am curious if I am correct but this looks like Yuji Hori's follow up to chrono trigger if the trailer was anything to go by. We have a Bulma type in the party that tinkers with machines and also a robot was shown. Reeks of Chrono Trigger, though I view chrono trigger as a dragon quest gaiden game that the soundtrack wasn't done by Sugiyama, and was developed by Square and overseen by Sakaguichi.

View attachment 190502

The protagonists design is 100% his final refinement of his art style that is also seen in Daima and the designs for xenoverse 3. I love it. I can imagine it will be marmite for many.

This protagonist design is kind of ugly. It is a mix of DmC protagonist with Dragon Quest style.

My favourite Dragon Quest protagonist is Ryuka, without any doubt. I wish they would create a protagonist like that again in a new game :(

 

[-------]

Square-Enix/Dragon Quest team released a presentation on Dragon' Quest's 40th anniversary full of announcements. First, Dragon Quest Monsters is getting a new game on all consoles called Dragon Quest Monsters The Withered World, Dragon Quest XI is getting a Switch 2 port, but unfortunately it contains a game-key card of death and what's worse, you cannot transfer save data from the Switch version.

View attachment 190490

But the biggest announcement is on Dragon XII and sadly, the team pulled a Metroid Prime 4 by restarting the whole game again from scratch. Instead of being a darker tone, it's going back to a lighter tone again with a new title called Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams and it will unfortunately take a few more years for a release date.View attachment 190491

Is this the Dragon Quest 8 remake?

 

[Blue Buddha]

They made the right choice delaying this game by another 6 years so people can continue to not care about dragon quest outside of japan, I'm sure it'll work great with square's already impressive slate right now

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

This protagonist design is kind of ugly. It is a mix of DmC protagonist with Dragon Quest style.

My favourite Dragon Quest protagonist is Ryuka, without any doubt. I wish they would create a protagonist like that again in a new game :(

Once I saw his face and silly pants i was like "oh boy, I pray we get customization"

 

[tonyhoro]

I'm glad they changed the artstyle. It seemed that the early DQ12 would be too edgy for what the series normally is. The new gameplay seems to be DQ11 but with better graphics, which is fine.

Didn't enjoy the protagonist eye though, it's clear that Toyotaro is putting more and more of his own artstyle over what Toriyama used to do.

 

[Rocket2049]

i'm more hyped for new dragon quest monsters with the little bianca and nera
basically almost all the monsters games are like prequels

monsters 1 GBC(terrys wonderland on 3DS is a remake) has terry from DQ6 as a kid.
monsters caravan heart has young keifer (DQ7)
dark prince has you play a young (teen?) psaro (the boss from DQ4)
DQ treasures sorta has monster party fighting and has young eric and maya (DQ11)

i always like the DQ monsters games better than pokemon
even back on GBC i the first dragon quest monsters was better than pokemon,
3 monsters at once, not limited to 4 moves, way better breeding system (later called fusion but works similar)
i literally got that GBC game from a game store employee saying "it's pokemon but better" thank you random employee as that kickstarted my love for DQ as a whole

 

[ShadowsofCreationAga]

They made the right choice delaying this game by another 6 years so people can continue to not care about dragon quest outside of japan, I'm sure it'll work great with square's already impressive slate right now

Fans are delusional at times.

Dragon Quest is more relevant than ever, primarily because of Dragon Quest XI and the Dragon Quest I - III and DQ VII Remakes. If you truly want NEW fans to be onboarded, then those re-releases still do that, and have been doing it well.

Now being an EXISTING fan and being sad the NEW entry is delayed makes perfect sense, but don't try to dress it up with some no-nonsense cope/excuse about 'the health of the brand' xD

Also: Companies don't throw away literally millions of dollars and years of work for no reason... if Square felt the need to start from scratch, then the game must've been BAD! Like.. really bad.

 

[Dew Prism]

i'm more hyped for new dragon quest monsters with the little bianca and nera
basically almost all the monsters games are like prequels

monsters 1 GBC(terrys wonderland on 3DS is a remake) has terry from DQ6 as a kid.
monsters caravan heart has young keifer (DQ7)
dark prince has you play a young (teen?) psaro (the boss from DQ4)
DQ treasures sorta has monster party fighting and has young eric and maya (DQ11)

i always like the DQ monsters games better than pokemon
even back on GBC i the first dragon quest monsters was better than pokemon,
3 monsters at once, not limited to 4 moves, way better breeding system (later called fusion but works similar)
i literally got that GBC game from a game store employee saying "it's pokemon but better" thank you random employee as that kickstarted my love for DQ as a whole

This is me. I hope this new DQM is better than The Dark Prince, because I personally felt like it was a step backwards, at least compared to Joker 3, which was absolutely the best DQM title i've ever played. The 2nd best being DQM 2 for the 3ds, which was pretty good as well. I just love being able to fly, swim, and jump around on monsters. It's criminal Joker 3 Professional hasn't been remastered for Switch and PC. Sometimes I wonder what's going on in these publishers minds, because I see dollar signs and they don't.

 

[Noon]

I’m actually glad they changed from the grim dark tone, I really feel like darkness has become a poor man’s maturity and it’s become the modern safe choice. Really just dark or just bright is never how I thought of JRPGs, they feel more like a wider mix brought together.

 

[tonyhoro]

i'm more hyped for new dragon quest monsters with the little bianca and nera
basically almost all the monsters games are like prequels

monsters 1 GBC(terrys wonderland on 3DS is a remake) has terry from DQ6 as a kid.
monsters caravan heart has young keifer (DQ7)
dark prince has you play a young (teen?) psaro (the boss from DQ4)
DQ treasures sorta has monster party fighting and has young eric and maya (DQ11)

i always like the DQ monsters games better than pokemon
even back on GBC i the first dragon quest monsters was better than pokemon,
3 monsters at once, not limited to 4 moves, way better breeding system (later called fusion but works similar)
i literally got that GBC game from a game store employee saying "it's pokemon but better" thank you random employee as that kickstarted my love for DQ as a whole

Damn I can't enjoy these spin-offs. DQM3 on Switch was a bland game for me. I rather replay any numbered games than mess with those spin offs.

 

[Graw]

I’m actually glad they changed from the grim dark tone, I really feel like darkness has become a poor man’s maturity and it’s become the modern safe choice. Really just dark or just bright is never how I thought of JRPGs, they feel more like a wider mix brought together.

I've always thought the darker story beats in Dragon Quest games always hit harder because the games generally seem so light and cartoony on the surface. So when you go into a town and you get story lines like a kid dying from an incurable disease dreaming of flying or a king keeping an entire town depressed and miserable because he can't get over the death of his wife or watching your father get murdered in front of you before being enslaved for a decade feel a lot more impactful than if the entire game was just dark and grim.

 

[nobitakun]

They made the right choice delaying this game by another 6 years so people can continue to not care about dragon quest outside of japan, I'm sure it'll work great with square's already impressive slate right now

Believe me, Dragon Quest in Japan does not need to go outside of Japan to make money. I really wish they would stop thinking about western markets altogether and did what Japan likes most. If then it's released in west or not, it's their problem.

And that's why Dragon Quest is better than Final Fantasy, and Square-Enix knows it, that's why they push themselves in a very aggressive way to make you (west) think otherwise.

 

[impmonic]

i'm really interested in both xii and the new monsters game. dq is one of my favourite franchises.

 

[Noon]

I've always thought the darker story beats in Dragon Quest games always hit harder because the games generally seem so light and cartoony on the surface. So when you go into a town and you get story lines like a kid dying from an incurable disease dreaming of flying or a king keeping an entire town depressed and miserable because he can't get over the death of his wife or watching your father get murdered in front of you before being enslaved for a decade feel a lot more impactful than if the entire game was just dark and grim.

What hits depends on what the audience values. To me light and dark is just a change in props, like any evil character can kill someone, just like any hero can save someone. I kind of look at it more mathematically before I think emotionally cause I’ll be stuck with my own values otherwise.

 

[Graw]

What hits depends on what the audience values. To me light and dark is just a change in props, like any evil character can kill someone, just like any hero can save someone. I kind of look at it more mathematically before I think emotionally cause I’ll be stuck with my own values otherwise.

I find that a bit of an odd way to look at story telling. And kind of contradicts the original comment I responded to. If everything is just props and it's up to an individual's values, then what does it matter what tone or style the game uses?

 

[Noon]

I find that a bit of an odd way to look at story telling. And kind of contradicts the original comment I responded to. If everything is just props and it's up to an individual's values, then what does it matter what tone or style the game uses?

I’m not sure what the contradiction is, I’m just saying I like bright stories as much as dark ones or anything other kind, but I think lately there’s the idea that dark is synonymous with mature and bright is not mature.

 

[Rocket2049]

This is me. I hope this new DQM is better than The Dark Prince, because I personally felt like it was a step backwards, at least compared to Joker 3, which was absolutely the best DQM title i've ever played. The 2nd best being DQM 2 for the 3ds, which was pretty good as well. I just love being able to fly, swim, and jump around on monsters. It's criminal Joker 3 Professional hasn't been remastered for Switch and PC. Sometimes I wonder what's going on in these publishers minds, because I see dollar signs and they don't.

yeah dark prince was SUPPOSED to be on 3DS, they ported it to switch, you can clearly tell
but yeah it wasn't as good, i'll admit.
i have not touched a DQ joker game yet, so sounds like i got something to look forward to eventually

 

[Dew Prism]

yeah dark prince was SUPPOSED to be on 3DS, they ported it to switch, you can clearly tell
but yeah it wasn't as good, i'll admit.
i have not touched a DQ joker game yet, so sounds like i got something to look forward to eventually

If you do, just start with Joker 3 Professional. There is already a complete translation for it. What you can do in that game is pretty wild. You know how in Pokemon you can use fly, surf, and abilities to traverse to other locations? Well imagine that but in Joker 3, you're actually flying and swimming on the monsters themselves. You can ride any monster in the game, and they all have their own unique abilities. Don't get me started on the monster traits, and fusion system. I have never played a game to this day that has that level of customization. It can be pretty daunting until you get the hang of it.

 

[lordcyrus]

The Switch 2 DQXI announcement which I don't think was apart of the anniversary, is a total wtf. I would have kept that secreted longer. I never had a Switch (still got a working Wii U heh). The Switch 1/2 stuff is so confusing, I read a lot about it, but I still find some of it just baffling. I know a NES is different than a SNES duh. Anyhow.

I've been playing Dragon Quest Monsters 2 the remake on a 3DS (I intended to just play DQM3J:P) but I stumbled upon the Monsters 2 game too. I was kinda cool with a new monsters game being announced where Johnny Millenium is feverishly writing down the new title for DQXII and then later sez for the Monsters reveal and it involves those two girls. He had to plan that out. Stupid Happy Console Gamer (His name was that on FB I think a very long time ago). I haven't him watched in awhile. He seemed really dismayed though and clearly didn't want another Monsters game.

Moving forward. I think the new hero looks a bit like Patrick Mahomes after his MCL recovery. I often do play the wait and see game. I hope I made sense because I did kinda toss a lot out there. Dragon Quest always had dark moments. I doubt the 'Flames of Fate' would be some sort of action gritty FFXVI styled game. Now the dreams are beyond that.