Following its announcement at the tail-end of 2008, Square Enix has finally taken the wraps off of the next entry to the publisher’s other world-conquering RPG series, Dragon Quest.
Announced for a Wii and Wii U release, Dragon Quest X - officially titled Dragon Quest X Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online - will feature a strong online component as players fight and explore together in an online world.
For the first time in series history, Square Enix is handling development of Dragon Quest X internally, instead of collaborating with studios such as Chunsoft, Level-5, ArtePiazza and Heartbeat. Thankfully for franchise fans, familiar names such as designer Yuji Hori, composer Koichi Sugiyama and famed character designer Akira Toriyama are all contributing to the game’s creation to ensure it remains suitably ‘Dragon Quest’ in style.
The story of Dragon Quest X takes place in the land of Astortia and concerns the plight of five races spread across five continents. Gameplay, meanwhile, will make use of both online and offline modes – you can rely on your online allies to help you in battle, but you can also continue the quest offline with in-game characters, too.
A job system is also included in the game, and different events will take place throughout the year to reflect real-world seasonal celebrations, such as Christmas, Halloween and New Year’s.
3DS connectivity is also planned for Dragon Quest X, and Hori has hinted at using the handheld’s Spot Pass data exchange functionality to trade and transfer character data between players.
Even though there will be two versions of Dragon Quest X, one on Wii and one on Wii U, both of these versions will be cross-platform compatible, meaning that you’ll be able to access the same online game world as players on another platform.
A beta test for Dragon Quest X has been announced, with details and dates to be revealed shortly, which means that some of you will be able to test out the game’s controls (WiiMote and Nunchuck or Classic Controllers, with support for a USB keyboard), and get to create one of three characters for use in the game.
The official website for Dragon Quest X makes mention of online ‘usage fees,’ which suggests that the full version of the game will charge players for online play.
Dragon Quest X is due for release sometime in 2012, on Wii and Wii U.
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Comments:
So glad this will be released on the Wii also. I feared it would be for Wii U only.
By the sounds of it, you can play on either console and get the same game experience, but it'll be interesting to see if A.) the visuals of the Wii U version are much improved and B.) what unique features the Wii U version will have over the Wii edition.
This is going to be one of those killer app games that the Wii U will be in need of when it's released next year. An exclusive Monster Hunter game for Wii U would go a long way to sealing the deal, in Japan at least.
Agreed, will be interesting to compare the two. To be honest I care little for graphics, obviously I have a preference for better graphics, but not overly fussed.
I just hope the game is good especially as the Wii catalogue is seemingly dying out a little. That being said, if the Wii U pulls it off I will certainly 'upgrade' to one. Lot of potential for that machine, interesting times ahead.
The end of every console's life is highlighted with some of that platform's best games (could probably track this down all the way back to the NES), and I don't think the Wii will be any different.
While there may not be a lot of quality titles to mark the end, there will be quality, like Zelda: Skyward Sword, the next Kirby game and now Dragon Quest X.
With the pedigree of developers and the history of the franchise, chances are better than good that the game will be extremely noteworthy for Wii owners. ;)
That is EXACTLY what I am hoping for, a good end to the Wii will be most welcome. I still have plenty of older games to play on it anyway, but new ones won't be frowned upon by me.
do i smell MMO!? guess we will never see mmo on xbox :'(
Last Dragon Quest i played was on the PS2. Maybe I should invest in one of them cheaper Wii's... But, I want Kinect!
Yeah, it definitely seems to be MMO-like... and maybe even subscription based. It'll be interesting to see how Japan receives it.