Dragon Quest IX - The Official Thread of Slurps and Puff Puffs

Dragon Quest IX:
Defenders of the Starry Sky

Alright, well Dragon Quest IX, the biggest game yet to hit the DS (so big, it needed a 2Gb game card to hold all the data), is finally seeing a release in Japan THIS Saturday, July 11th.

...And Japan has engrossed itself into full-out Dragon Quest mania! I figured now would be as good of time as ever to start a general purpose thread rather than continuing to rebump the old news update thread... about the Japanese release date... that has already passed.

Dragon Quest has been one of the most popular game series in Japan ever since it first debuted on the Famicom back in 1986. The series laid the foundation of the Japanese RPG gameplay that would go on to inspire games like Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star in the coming years. Dragon Quest has always been known for its balanced gameplay and light-hearted stories. It is a common misconception, however, that because the series' stories are light, they are not epic or deep. In reality, Dragon Quest's stories are masterfully crafted and highly enjoyable, carried by the series' over abundance of charm.

There is no US release date as of yet for Dragon Quest IX, but I figured we could continue to get hyped in this thread. And perhaps local Draque fan Slime will be importing and providing detailed impressions on the game?

Most of this information in the next few posts is shamelessly stolen from GAF. Credit goes to where it is due, which in this case would be to poster Aeana.

Links and General Information
-Japanese Release Date: 7-11-2009
-North American Release Date: Unknown
-The Official Japanese Website may be found here.
-We've gotten word of the jobs that will be available in the game. Pictures in the link. (I want to be the guy with the hat!)

While Dragon Quest is a series known for tradition, Dragon Quest IX breaks away from the perfect, tried and true formula of its predecessors in many ways. One change that will make many gamers happy is the elimination of random battles. In IX, enemies appear on the world map, and when encountered, the game then transitions to the traditional Dragon Quest battle system. But even the Dragon Quest battle system has been tweaked a bit. As first seen in the American and PAL version of Dragon Quest VIII: The Journey of the Cursed King, characters now appear on the battle screen and take part in the skirmishes, much in line with Final Fantasy.

Another significant addition to Dragon Quest IX is the inclusion of downloadable quests. Dragon Quest IX features a pub-based quest system, similar to that seen in recent games such as Final Fantasy XII. While some quests are simple fetch missions, Square-Enix has promised that some will add considerably to the game's content. In addition, Square-Enix has announced that new DLC-unlocked quests will become available on a regular basis, further extending the game's playtime and keeping the player coming back to the title.

Perhaps the biggest new feature in Dragon Quest IX is local co-op. In a move to catch the concentrated lightening that has struck Japan with the PSP's Monster Hunter series, Square-Enix has put a large amount of attention into Dragon Quest IX's multiplayer. While this bullet-point will surely take Japan by storm, the disclusion of online play will make the feature sadly pointless for most in the other territories. Let's hope that Square-Enix USA is hard at work at the moment adding online play for the US and PAL versions!

Official Screenshots:

*Continued in next post*

Pictures of all the crazy promotion that is going on in Japan for this game:

Originally Posted by Aeana

It looks like Nintendo is helping market DQ9 to new people in Japan. That Beginner's Guide video on the Japanese Nintendo Channel was apparently by them, and now they've released a pamphlet. Some photos from it:





It would be really cool if Nintendo did this in North America, too. :\

Awesome thread. Thank you for making this.

Originally Posted by Mr. Wonderful

And perhaps local Draque fan Slime will be importing and providing detailed impressions on the game?

We shall see. I think I might wait for it to be released in all its localized glory so that I am fully aware of what is going on at all times, but at the same time it's insanely hard to resist. This is my most anticipated game in years. If I do, you can bet that I'll gush about it incessantly.

OP overhauled. Please note the new information.

Slime, feel free to use your modly powers to add finds, something you think is missing, or your general thoughts on the game to the OP.

Still looking for a trailer to post.

Personally, I can't wait. Dragon Quest VIII was one of the best RPGs on the PS2, and just seeing that in many ways this is the spiritual successor makes me excited. Dragon Quest IV burned me, but Dragon Quest V on the DS just hyped me back up. If you are a DS owner and you haven't played Dragon Quest V yet, you are really doing yourself a serious disservice. Go pick it up today.

I'll have to find the link for it, but one thing that really gets me going is how much the Dragon Quest IX map resembles VIII's. Prequel or perhaps sequel confirmed?

Is this awesome? Someone tell me if it's awesome. I've never actually played a DQ game before, so... yeah.

I'm really looking forward to this personally. I'm a huge fan of DQ3 (SNES remake is godly in every way possible) and this looks like a perfect modern take on it and enhances that build on every level. It's almost an MMO in the vein of Diablo II or Phantasy Star Online and it's looking real nice.

Look amazing! In a perfect world I'd want a couple more jobs to choose from but that's a minor thing.

Considering Nintendo said they wanted to push DQ in the west maybe they'll get it out for christmas....

please? ;__;

Originally Posted by Hazzle

Look amazing! In a perfect world I'd want a couple more jobs to choose from but that's a minor thing.

Considering Nintendo said they wanted to push DQ in the west maybe they'll get it out for christmas....

please? ;__;

Well, it would help me forgive Nintendo's own holiday first-party lineup.

Originally Posted by Mr. Wonderful

Well, it would help me forgive Nintendo's own holiday first-party lineup.

There are a lot of games that could be used to fatten up Nintendo's winter line up : (. It's depressing that so many DS JRPGs haven't made it out of Japan, Soma Bringer, ASH, Sigma Harmonics etc. I think that given a push Dragon Quest could grab atleast some of the pokemon crowd and Iwata worked on the original Dragon Quest's localisation so maybe there is hope?

Also, anyone else thing that Sandy the fairything is an absolute terrible character design? ):

The game's head honchos have a new interview in Famitsu.

If these two men look a little pent-up, forgive them -- they've just spent the past two-and-a-half years designing, agonizing, and freaking out over what's almost certainly going to be the top-selling video game in Japan this year.
"It really feels close now," Dragon Quest IX designer Yuji Horii (right) told Famitsu this week. "All the final tweaking we've done took a lot of time, but now it's like 'We've finally completed it! We can finally get it out there!'"
Dragon Quest IX is hitting Japanese stores on July 11, a day sure to be marked by long lines in front of stores and the sort of festival atmosphere in Akihabara that only comes once every few years. 1UP will have full coverage of the DQ9 launch frenzy, so stick around this weekend to get the whole story.
When asked what the most difficult part of the development process was, Horii had an immediate reply. "That was when I had to cut and rework part of the story -- not a large part compared to the rest of the plot, but one that had to be cut out anyway for space reasons."
Producer Ryutaro Ichimura (left), meanwhile, brought up the seemingly endless delays that have marked DQIX's development. "We had a ton of ideas in the beginning about what we wanted to do," he said, "but once we got into the summer of 2008, we began revising the plan because we worried there was too much volume, that it'd scare people off. It was a necessary balancing process, but it was really tough. It's scary for a creator to have to cut out his own work from a game."
Still, it's all over, and Horii couldn't be more excited. "This game is filled with new challenges and new ideas from everyone in the staff, but try it out, and I think you'll see it's still the Dragon Quest you know," he said. "Some quests are going to be hard, but if you can't figure them out, you can ask friends or look around on the net; by this point, that's part of the fun. I'd be very happy to see people play this game for a long time to come. Also, if you're looking for multiplayer partners at the station or McDonald's and I show up, don't disconnect on me!"

I wonder how much the game might have been rushed just in order to get it out on the market? Nevertheless, I'm positive that it is going to be great.

Edit: Two new Dragon Quest IX commercials have hit.

God I want this game so bad.

Edit: New Dragon Quest IX multiplayer footage, shown in a way that only a crazy Japanese talk show could demonstrate it!

Watching now.

Hahahaha. Oh my god.

OK, you guys are obviously not hyped enough for this game! HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE!!!

1up has a photoblog of all the merchandise and promoting going on in Japan.

US RELEASE PLEASE.

So I guess this is like a big release?

Originally Posted by Icky

So I guess this is like a big release?

Well, the game has over 2 million preorders in Japan. If you hear an earthquake tomorrow, it's just the Japanese rushing out to get this game.

Some new impressions from Japanese players. Full impressions with minor spoilers in the link.

Game stuff is nice overall. They added a bit of the presentation style they used from DQ8 so it's a bit more engaging. The maps are nice and big but they also provide you with a map to travel it. The interface is pretty solid overall as well. Battles have a faux movement thing going on just to make the battle seem a bit more lively. Doesn't have a bearing but it's neat to watch. Touch screen control works well enough but not as good as D-pad and buttons.

Nothing to complain about really aside from graphics. There is one annoying thing though and that's the rewards message after battle. It says it on the top screen but display the XP earned on the bottom screen then display the gold earned on the top again. Really is annoying if I'm looking quickly for gain rate of both but eh, mostly a minor annoyance.

I'll post more impressions as I get farther.

The first map is a solid size so I think the game may be big. The running around on the map is a little different in feel this time though. I'll write something on that tomorrow.

Originally Posted by john tv

I like what I've played so far. Wasn't too keen on the beginning, but after "that" scene, things picked up quite a bit. Started collecting skill points now and am headed to the ruins east of the first town. Hope it's not -too- long before you get to a point that you can start playing multiplayer.

Did you guys customize your profiles yet? Some of the choices are pretty funny. Love that you can set your occupation as "King" if you want. I'm an otokomae ikemen at the moment, LOL.

EDIT: Um, is it just me or does this game have no play clock?? :/

AHHH man! I want to play this so bad!

dayum! but I still have 3-8 to beat first...getting on that...

Oh my god! I want to be in Shibuya! TOTAL OTAKU J-NERD BONER going on right now!

Originally Posted by Oichi

My pics! These were taken at Yodobashi Camera in Osaka...

This is the line when I got there, at 6:50am... 10 minutes before the doors opened


This is from my spot in the line.


This is from AFTER I got the game... they let people in 50 - 60 at a time, so all the people in front of me (about 200) got the game, then I got it and they let another 50 - 60 people in before I took this picture.:lol :lol :lol

I got ahold of Dragon Quest IX last night (please don't judge my methods!) and it's a really good game. Like people have previously said on GAF, it's fairly slow at first. Most disappointingly was having to collect those things as an angel spirit to absorb into the giant tree which took up some time for someone like me who isn't too acquainted with the Japanese language.

Fortunately aside from that, when you start playing the game a lot of the things are fairly easy to understand even if you don't understand Japanese, which might or might not transition too well when it's localized here in the states. The only things I've had to look up a guide for is the classes I get to select (which caused me to accidentally choose the same class as the hero after a few levels of leveling the character up...oh well) AND the weapon skills.

The features in the game bring a lot of elements from the previous DQIII and DQVIII. The weapon system from DQVIII, for example, is back in action, now with every class having their own (there's also a lot more weapons in this game than DQVIII, just from the starting choices). The game also feels a lot like an MMO or Monster Hunter. The map system is separated into different squares that make up a whole area, usually with their own exclusive monsters and ****, so the world isn't exactly seamless like in the previous games but not really in a bad way. You can also assign little taunts and ****, which all you need is to hold the B button and press a direction on the D-pad to execute.

I feel the biggest improvement DQIX adds to the series is how it presents equipment. Grinding for equipment is a fairly efficient way of leveling up and feeling like you earn something in Dragon Quest games. In this, now that you can visually see what you've earn on your characters. It's really satisfying and I don't even think I want to sell any of it (the game keeps a percentage track of all the equipment you've collected too, amongst other things). Also, a lack of random encounters is also a really good thing, and makes killing monsters in the game a very fun thing rather than dreading to have one pop up on you.

Aka it's a pretty cool game, I'm only about five hours into it so far.

What are your favorite classes?

While I appreciate the impressions, I really hope you pick up a retail version of the game up at some point : \