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| Mike Salbato |
It's online, it's multi-platform (sorta), it's being created by a surprising developer, and more!
09.05.11 - 4:18 AM
Square Enix has somewhat taken the wraps off of the long-awaited Dragon Quest X today, as scheduled.
At today's press conference, Square Enix revealed a number of new details about the title. To begin with, the game will be playable online. The game's full title, in fact, is "Dragon Quest X Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online" - roughly translated as "The Five Awakening Races" (thanks, andriasang). Square Enix made sure to mention that the game can be completed solo as well, with NPCs forming the remainder of your party in lieu of other players. Even solo, however, Square notes that you'll still need to be online to play. There will be special events for various holidays - an online game tradition - as well as quests added post-release, similar to Dragon Quest IX, and with a release schedule comparable to DQIX. As an online title, Square Enix will be seeking beta testers for the title (more details below).
Dragon Quest X will be releasing for the Wii, as we've known. During the press conference, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata announced the game will also release on the upcoming Wii U. While the Wii U version will sport improved visuals, both versions will log in to the same world. This means you can play with your friends regardless of platform, and - if you so desired - you could buy the Wii version and later upgrade to the Wii U version and continue playing your character. As for controls, DQX will be playable either with the Wii Remote & Nunchuk or the Classic Controller. USB keyboard support will also be present.
The game will even feature some 3DS capability, though the exact form this will take is unconfirmed. One thing the developers are thinking about is allowing players to transfer their character to the 3DS to exchange via Spot Pass.
Dragon Quest X is set in the world of Astortia, which contains five continents, as well as five different races (as suggested by the game's title). Story is meant to be very important in the game, though no details were revealed story-wise. Per series tradition, parties can be formed by recruiting NPCs or players at the pub. When you're not playing, you can even allow other players to recruit your character for their parties.
Both players and NPCs will take advantage of an as-yet-unnamed job change system in the game, with additional jobs being added post-release. Not only that, but you'll be able to take on a profession in-game, such as a blacksmith, tailor or accessory maker. If many other players use the equipment you create, your status in the world will increase. Details beyond this are unknown right now. Furthermore, characters can be customized by distributing skill points that you gain from leveling up.
Battles are still handled via menu commands and a turn-based system, and you'll be able to communicate with other players via emotes.
For the first time in the Dragon Quest series' history, DQX is being developed in-house at Square Enix (previous installments have of course been developed by the likes of Level-5, Chunsoft and Arte Piazza). Series mastermind Yuji Horii is serving as General Director, with Akira Toriyama once again handling character designs. Jin Fujisawa, who has worked on the previous two games in the series, is serving as Director, with Yusuke Saito (Nier's Producer) as the game's Producer. Longtime series composer Koichi Sugiyama is once again composing the soundtrack.
Today marks the launch of two new sites: the Dragon Quest Paradise portal site for the series, and the Dragon Quest X Official Site. While the latter is lacking in details at the moment, news of the beta test will be posted to both sites "shortly." Unsurprisingly, as an online game, there may be a subscription fee, based on the listing of both "price" and "usage fee" on this news article, though no other details have been revealed yet.
Thanks to Japanese gaming site 4Gamer, we have the game's first official screen shot, as well as some other off-screen photos from Siliconera:
(Siliconera has more screen shots from the trailer at their site.)
Dragon Quest X is scheduled to release sometime in 2012 for the Wii, while the Wii U version is listed as "TBA" for the time being.
