Dragon Quest producer discuss series' western popularity; teases at Dragon Quest XI localization

In an interview with Edge magazine featured in their latest monthly issue, Dragon Quest executive producer Yu Miyake talked in moderation of the franchise’s western popularity compared to Final Fantasy as well as how he and Square Enix are attempting to “keep the series fresh”.

As a bonus, Miyake also touched upon how the recently western released Dragon Quest titles — Dragon Quest Builders and Dragon Quest Heroes — will help “soften up the ground for Dragon Quest XI“, suggesting that a localization for the game isn’t all that far off from becoming a reality.

Here are his words:

“We’re still trying! [Laughs] It’s a topic we have been thinking about a lot internally: the question of why Final Fantasy is so much more popular than Dragon Quest in the west. One conclusion that we’ve reached is that it’s a question of historical timing. When the Famicom came out, Dragon Quest was the key game everyone was playing. But when the PlayStation came out, Final Fantasy VII was the game that everyone was playing. So the source of nostalgia is different for both groups: in Japan it’s Dragon Quest while overseas it’s Final Fantasy. The truth is that if we’d put a lot of effort into localising Dragon Quest at the time, we probably wouldn’t be facing this issue today. I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but we kind of messed up in that regard.

“One thing that does stand out: in Japan the target audience for Dragon Quest is vast. It ranges from primary school students to people in their 50s. Now, Akira Toriyama’s art style is cartoonish, and in Japan that doesn’t alienate anyone; it’s not seen as childish. But outside of Japan, I think there’s often a stigma attached to that kind of aesthetic. Now, when an adult tries the game, they will discover that the subject matter is actually quite mature. Nevertheless, players are still left with this disconnect between how the game looks and how it plays. That’s a tension that just doesn’t exist in Japan. What we’re seeing now is that the age of people who are playing is rising. Interest is also increasing. We’re trying to put a lot more effort into promoting overseas the spinoff titles we’ve been working on – Dragon Quest Builders and Dragon Quest Heroes – in order to soften up the ground for Dragon Quest XI.”

In addition to this, Edge also brought up how the blueprint of Final Fantasy is often redesigned with each new iteration and must deal with the risk of alienating fans whereas Dragon Quest’s challenge is to retain a traditional experience while preventing players from losing interest with the formula.

Below is Miyake’s response to this:

“Instead of changing the game itself, we focus on changing the way it’s played in the world. For example, with Dragon Quest IX we made a handheld game, because that’s how people were playing games predominantly at that time. Dragon Quest X we made into an online game. So that’s how we try to keep the series fresh. In fact, we run the risk of alienating the fans when we moved from pixel-art to 3D with the move to Dragon Quest VIII. And when we made the tenth game, a lot of players complained, saying that Dragon Quest should never be an online game. But it turns out that, in each of these cases, when you start playing the game, you find that it still has the same feel. It’s still quintessentially Dragon Quest.”

Dragon Quest XI: In Search of Departed Time is due out in Japan for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo 3DS in 2017. The game is also in development for the Nintendo Switch. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is due to release on January 20 in Europe and North America for the Nintendo 3DS. Dragon Quest Heroes II releases for PlayStation 4 in North America on April 25 and in Europe on April 28.

Via: Nintendo Everything.


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