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Seven minutes of Dragon Quest IX
by JC Fletcher { Jun 16th 2009 at 2:15PM } 
Square Enix has finally started ramping up the promotion for a game that basically needs no promotion: Dragon Quest IX. With a new semi-open-ended structure and multiplayer gameplay, there's a lot of mysterious new content in this game -- even after Square Enix and Level-5 toned down the "new."The last half of this (seven-minute-long) new trailer focuses on the multiplayer mode, which adds a bit of the unexpected to the expected (the expected being a tavern lobby and multiplayer dungeons). You can see players taunting each other and dancing, and one player even demonstrates the ability to be a jerk to other players by setting pit traps. Classy. Check out the trailer after the break.
Square Enix introduces some new Dragon Quest IX characters
by JC Fletcher { Jun 11th 2009 at 1:00PM }
One month before the Japanese launch date (can it really be that soon?) Square Enix has released new screenshots of Dragon Quest IX, with brief introductions to some of the cast. The game has quite a sizable ensemble of characters! Most of them are humans living in a village, but at least some portion of the game is also set in an "angel world" where angels feed a World Tree to get it to yield fruit.Some of the colorful cast of (human) characters introduced in today's update include Olga (Origa?), a young girl who frequently wades into the sea to pray; Lu Fin and Eliza, an archaeologist and wife, and Ratena, a mysterious, hooded girl who has some kind of sway over the hero.
Dragon Quest IX's semi-sandbox structure means we could be engaging in various optional side quests for all of these people. We're willing to guess those archaeologists would pay for relics found in dungeons, for example.
Square Enix announces Dragon Quest Wars for DSiWare
by JC Fletcher { May 18th 2009 at 10:29AM }
Dragon Quest Wars is an online-capable board game for up to four players. Each player creates a team of four classic Dragon Quest monsters and participates in "simple battles" against up to three other AI or player teams. The small game has some decent strategy game cred: it's being developed by Intelligent Systems, the Nintendo second party responsible for both the Fire Emblem and Advance Wars series. Dragon Quest Wars will be out in Japan this June.
[Via 1UP]
Square Enix files trademark for 'Dragon Quest Wars'
[Via Siliconera]
85 million Final Fantasy games sold, global takeover imminent
Among other details in the release is Dragon Quest's lifetime sales, reaching nearly 50 million units, and the Tomb Raider series showing up with 30 million units sold in the past 13 years. Also of note is Kane & Lynch: Dead Men selling nearly two million shameful, shameful copies. Can we expect the layoffs to stop for now?
[Via Edge]
Source (warning: PDF)
Dragon Quest V team wants your feedback
by JC Fletcher { Feb 23rd 2009 at 4:00PM }
The company has opened a comment form on the Dragon Quest V website, through which registrants in the Square Enix Members program can leave feedback about the RPG remake. The form promises that "each message will be read," though a response may not be forthcoming.
While you're exploring the Dragon Quest V site, why not send out DQV e-cards to all your friends, and grab some wallpapers?
Gallery: Dragon Quest V
Dragon Quest IX delay may influence Final Fantasy XIII
It's unclear as to what form this "influence" will take and nothing more specific has been said. It could mean Final Fantasy XIII will be delayed in Japan, or it could mean that the game is actually brought forward in the US and Europe in order to increase the company's FY 2009 income and more quickly recoup their FY 2008 losses. Alternatively, it could mean the main character might wear a slightly different outfit now. We simply don't know.
[Via Kotaku]
Square Enix lowers revenue forecast for fiscal year
The Japanese publisher, which just proposed a takeover bid for ailing Eidos, also expects operating income to miss last year's 21? ?billion? yen and settle for an inverted 12? ?billion. The underperformance is pinned on "Amusement? (?Taito Corporation?) ?and games? (?offline segments?)," particularly the "severe business environment for Amusement,? ?and the adjourned release of a major game software??,? ?which was originally announced to be released March? ?2009.?" Said major game software is Dragon Quest IX, which will now be deployed in Japan on July 11th.
The good news: That's the end of the bad news.
Dragon Quest IX, or 'Dragon MapQuest IX'?
by JC Fletcher { Jan 29th 2009 at 4:15PM }
It's a minor thing, but the map screen in Dragon Quest IX is quite lovely. And, honestly, it's more important to have a nice world map than it may seem, because you'll be staring at the thing all the time. The sepia-toned map provides a detailed drawing of the world, including bridges and other narrow crossings.Less detailed, but still pretty great, is the treasure map, seen here. These maps imitate the color scheme of the main world map, but are drawn crudely and with much less detail. Treasure maps, of course, are marked with an X in a location corresponding to some mysterious treasure -- housed inside caves.
Once inside the cave, you switch over to a blank automap that fills in as you explore. That's a lot of different mapping for one game!
Old and new in Dragon Quest IX's combat
Square Enix has released new screenshots of Dragon Quest IX's combat. The most significant addition to the system is the camera movement, if the breathless Famitsu writeup is to be believed. It's just like the camera in battles in Dragon Quest VIII, and every other RPG since Final Fantasy VII, but 3D anything still seems novel to the series.The new "Hissatsu" moves, on the other hand, actually seem novel. Each class has a different special move that can only be activated at low HP. And if everyone in a multiplayer game does a Hissatsu at the same time, it will combine into a stronger attack!
Dragon Quest V handed over to Europe in February
Square Enix has announced a European release date for the DS remake of Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride: February 20, just three days after the North American release. Of course, the title will omit the number, because PAL region audiences must not be allowed to know how many Dragon Quest games Enix and Square Enix have failed to release over the years.As with Dragon Quest IV, this DS version of the multigenerational RPG will be the first European release for this game, which was one of the best-selling releases on any platform in Japan in 2008. New screens were released to accompany the announcement, and we've placed them in our gallery.
Gallery: Dragon Quest V
[Via press release]
Getting your wings in Dragon Quest IX
Square Enix sent out some new screens of Dragon Quest IX, along with some information about the early storyline. Apparently, you start the game dead (or just inhuman), in some kind of land of angels, working to acquire some kind of "goddess fruit". Your (custom) character must get Star Auras from completed quests in order to make the World Tree grow this fruit. At least in the early portion, Dragon Quest IX will have somewhat of an open-ended structure, as you agree to take on quests from townspeople in order to help them out and earn your Star Auras. We are quite certain that the game will have a fairly linear storyline (it is Dragon Quest), but it's interesting to see Square Enix experimenting just a bit with nonlinearity.
[Screens via GAME Watch]
Iwata's Quest: help sell Dragon Quest IX
Let's be clear: Square Enix will have no trouble whatsoever selling Dragon Quest IX in Japan. In the west, where Final Fantasy is a far bigger name than its stable-mate, huge sales are by no means guaranteed. That's something Satoru Iwata wants to change, and if that means teaming up with Square Enix to promote the game in not-Japan, so be it."At Nintendo, we were able to popularize the Brain Age series overseas, which was said to be unmarketable," the Nintendo boss told the assembled press after yesterday's Square Enix conference. "I want to increase the number of people worldwide that understand the appeal of Dragon Quest."
Iwata added that he is keen to "form a strong tag team" with Square Enix to achieve this, and mentioned that he was looking forward to working with the publisher and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii. Does this mean Nintendo is definitely going to be pouring some of its own resources into pushing DQIX outside Japan? It's not official, but we can't think of many better partners to help sell your game than Nintendo! Make the jump for Iwata's full comment.
Dragon Quest X coming to Wii
Square Enix also revealed the Japanese release date for the upcoming Dragon Quest IX. The Nintendo DS RPG will be in stores on March 28th for 5980 yen. That means the hardcore Japanese fans out there will only have to wait in line for 108 more days. Good luck guys.
Megaton: Dragon Quest X in development for Wii
The announcement is super early, but from what we can tell, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii "accidentally" said "We're developing Dragon Quest X on the Wii." Satoru Iwata then went on stage and said "Thank you very much for developing Dragon Quest X on the Wii!" Horii protested and said something to the effect of "Let's introduce Dragon Quest IX first!"
Thanks for making the internet explode with your banter, guys! Reuters has confirmed the announcement as well, and they're, like, respectable. (And their writer was probably there.)
[Via NeoGAF]
