Dragon Quest IX for the DS

Seems it's been announced for the Nintendo DS.

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Dragon Quest IX is for Nintendo DS

A second surprise [after the announcement of an arcade DQ - CS]! The numbered DQ title, Dragon Quest IX, will appear on Nintendo DS!

The Developer of DQIX is Level 5

It was announced that the same composer, Koichi Sugiyama, will create the soundtrack. "I'll keep composing for Dragon Quest until I die!", he said. And it was announced that the (technical) developer of part VIII, Level 5, will return. Moreover, 'SMAP' who perform for TV's CMI appeared, representing the series' fanbase. "Ever since we were in primary/elementary school, we've absolutely loved Dragon Quest; the work arouses deep emotions! We love games!", they said excitedly. How nice for them to chat with Horii about their personal experiences playing the games! It must come as a nice surprise that this time, four-player co-operative play is possible. Combat is 'action type', a completely different and new style for the numbered series!

Dragon Quest IX will be released within 2007

For those anxious about the release date, Horii said that he wants the game to be released within 2007. You will be able to buy the latest numbered DQ title in the not-too-distant future!

The Subtitle is 'hosh1zora no momrijin' (Guardian of the Starlit Sky)

Dragon Quest IX's subtitle is 'hoshizora no momrijin'. It will be the first game in the series to utilise networking*. Concluding the presentation, Horii said: "The feeling I get from this work is similar to that of making Dragon Quest I. It has been said that there are limitations imposed by the hardware on a handheld game, but I'm going to try my best (to overcome them)!"

* This may just mean link-up rather than Internet play.

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http://www.famitsu.com/blog/express/

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/drag...350&pid=935082
This guy translated it.

Discuss.

This is the best news ever!

It's also the most substantial testament ever to the overwhelming success of the DS. Not counting spin-offs, for the latest installment in an extremely popular franchise to be developed for a handheld instead of a cutting-edge console is absolutely unheard of.

http://forums.eyesonff.com/showthread.php?p=2025687

Oops :P I don't really go out of the 'General' area much. If you don't follow the link Flyin Mullet posted, there is a video up on this website

http://www.gamebrink.com/news/735-Dr...y_Footage.html

Has something like this ever happened before? I wonder what it's most a testament to: the massive success of the DS, a lack of trust in the stability of the PS3, or the painful cost of developing a massive game on this generation of consoles. Either way, it's going to be a major boost for Nintendo. I can only imagine what it would be like if Dragon Quest were as popular in the US as it is in Japan.

Anytime a quality games is released on a handheld is a happy day for me as I tend to play more games when traveling these days than when I'm at home.

That sucks. I don't have 100 hours to waste on a handheld gaming system I play maybe 5 hours a week(train rides). I certainly don't want to spend months playing this game.

I will not play this when I am at home. I have real video game systems for that.

It seems to me that a majority of you are getting excited simply over a name.

If it was called Dragon Quest: Portable Ops would it be any less news? Apparantly so.

I would of prefered it to be on one a next gen system. Im sure it will be a good game though, its Level 5 after all....

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Originally Posted by Maxico

It seems to me that a majority of you are getting excited simply over a name.

If it was called Dragon Quest: Portable Ops would it be any less news? Apparantly so.

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There is a certain expectation that developers are well aware that they must meet to keep their fan base strong when putting out an actual installment of a long-running and extremely popular series, rather than a spin-off. It's not just the name, it's what the name stands for and suggests for the content of the game itself. If the game was named Dragon Quest: Portable Ops (which it wouldn't be) there would be very few expectations that Square-Enix would have to actually worry about because fans aren't expecting a game of Dragon Quest X calibur, but rather a spin-off with familiar characters and possibly game mechanics (See: Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime.)

It is worth nothing that Portable Ops is actually part of the main Metal Gear Solid storyline, so even if what you were suggesting were more correct, it's still kind of wrong to boot.

There were three Dragon Warrior spinoffs released for the GBC, and they did alright, didn't they?

Yet another reason to buy a DS *cashes bonds*.

I haven't played a DQ game in ages. This is indeed good news:)

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Originally Posted by Necronopticous

There is a certain expectation that developers are well aware that they must meet to keep their fan base strong when putting out an actual installment of a long-running and extremely popular series, rather than a spin-off. It's not just the name, it's what the name stands for and suggests for the content of the game itself. If the game was named Dragon Quest: Portable Ops (which it wouldn't be) there would be very few expectations that Square-Enix would have to actually worry about because fans aren't expecting a game of Dragon Quest X calibur, but rather a spin-off with familiar characters and possibly game mechanics (See: Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime.)

It is worth nothing that Portable Ops is actually part of the main Metal Gear Solid storyline, so even if what you were suggesting were more correct, it's still kind of wrong to boot.

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Portable Op does actually have pretty different mechanics to the main games, but that wasn't my point. My point is that it is a major continuation of the story, that is considered less important due to being labled as "portable", while this is considered revolutionary because it uses the same numbering system as it's console counterparts.

The name of a game really doesn't mean that much. Final Fantasy XI's name didn't really "suggests for the content of the game" for example.

Oh my. I wonder how Japan will take this, not because it's for the DS, but because a series notorious for keeping its outdated annoyances traditions is making a large change going all action-RPG.

It looks fun to me, though :jess:. Well, for what little is shown and known anyway. I don't have a DS, but if all this Square-Enix RPG goodness turns out well, I may have to buy one before my fanboy detaches itself and beats me with a pipe.

Screenshots
http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dq/dq9/...a121206-1.html

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dq/dq9/...s121206-1.html

Man, Sugiyama has some huge freakin' ears.

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That sucks. I don't have 100 hours to waste on a handheld gaming system I play maybe 5 hours a week(train rides). I certainly don't want to spend months playing this game.

I will not play this when I am at home. I have real video game systems for that.

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Curious as to the hate for handheld....
Is it the small screen or controller not a comfortable fit?

I just don't understand the reasoning.. if its not controller size/screen size... if you could hook the DS into a TV and hook a USB controller to it, would you still rather play a console over the handheld even if the handheld had better games?

You'd rather play a boring 0.5/10 game that you hate on a PS3 hooked to a TV, than play a 9.9/10 game you love on a handheld?

Not meaning to flame, not saying bad about PS3, DQ, handhelds, consoles, etc....
Merely asking a general question about handhelds vs consoles.
If its screen size/controller related I could understand some issues, but otherwise I'm curious....

http://www.kotaku.com/assets/resourc...ints_money.gif

A brilliant decision if I say so myself.

great! now i have one for my Wii and for my DS:D

Awesome! :) :cat:

Nothing like portable Dragon Quest...*savors GBC ports of DQI-III* :cat:

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Originally Posted by Jowy

http://www.kotaku.com/assets/resourc...ints_money.gif

A brilliant decision if I say so myself.

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Hey, as long as the product delivers on it's awesomeness (since it IS Dragon Quest the odds of that happening are high) it can print all the money it wants.

I actually own a DS, and I only whine about it for action games because the DS gives me the old Blaster Master hand cramp when I play action games with it.

It's interesting that DQIX will take advantage of the DS's bluetooth connectivity, and it sucks that this is America where it probably will NEVER come up. Still... I was shocked when Rocket Slime and DQVIII actually received good reviews out here. I'd have a figured a game known and 'loved' for it's, ah... ancient outdated game mechanics, or 'quirkiness' as some people like to call it, would've been dumped on no matter how much fun it was, silly or not.

I wonder if it will go hearken back to DQIII? I'd like that a lot.

I still don't think this is going to stick.

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Originally Posted by LazarCotoron

I'd have a figured a game known and 'loved' for it's, ah... ancient outdated game mechanics, or 'quirkiness' as some people like to call it, would've been dumped on no matter how much fun it was, silly or not.

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That's the thing with DQ games, if it ain't broke don't fix it. We've been using fire and the wheel since the stone-age, why bother using anything else for their perpouses?

Looks like I won't be playing it.

http://www.allrpg.com/rpgnews/news_show.php?newsid=2976

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The Nintendo DS bound Dragon Quest 9 sure is getting a lot of attention in the last... day. We're here again with updates of what was learned at the 20th anniversary Dragon Quest conference, where there was a playable demo taking place in the first town and field. It turns out that Level 5 has been working on the game for a whole year, and now it's nearly complete.

For those of you who aren't much into cooperative playing, the game CAN be played through as a single player RPG, straight to the end. However, the option to play multiplayer through Wi-Fi is there as well.


Level 5 continues to pleasanty surprise in the area of playable characters. When the characters (designed by Akira Toriyama) change their equipment, you won't have to use your imagination to guess what their armor looks like, as the changes will also take place on the field. The characters will also interact with enemies in the open, as opposed to random encounters. Battles are of course real time; no surprise at this point, coming from Square-Enix.

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I don't get why people are so dead-set against playing 'serious' games on portables. Oh well.

This post is full of info and opinions from different people. But first:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...2cartriges.jpg

That's right, 2 cartriges. Not yet confirmed officially by SE, but apparently this image was 'leaked' during the conference. Some places are already declaring it fake, but it would be interesting if this did happen. You could probably use the DS's download feature to transfer the game data from one to the other.

Now for the opinions. While Dragon Quest is not a big deal in the US, several folks in the 'game journalism' business do note how major this is. Most of our game systems--and games themselves--come from Japan, and Square Enix's moves can shape how developers act. After all, they own the 2 biggest non-Nintendo franchises in Japan (Dragon Quest 7 and 8 sold the most games for their respective systems in Japan).

Luke Smith, news editor for 1up.com, addresses this point in his blog.

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Square Enix announced a Final Fantasy XII game for the DS, now they've moved Dragon Quest over -- what if their support of Nintendo's handheld becomes the norm for other third party developers? It could certainly throw a monkey wrench into Microsoft and Sony's plans going forward

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In Jeremy Parish's blog (also on the 1UP staff), he approaches this from another angle.

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DQ is Japan's bellwether, and Square Enix is very conservative about the entire series -- they only put the games where they know money will follow. For the main series to leap backward from PS2 to DS makes official what everyone already sort of knew about the Japanese industry: consoles are dead, long live portables.

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The 'consoles are dead' part might sound a little harsh, but it is partly true. The gaming culture as a whole was diminishing in Japan, because people were getting bored with the same old games. This was part of Nintendo's focus with the DS and Wii, but that's an entirely different topic.

Chris Kohler of Wired Magazine (who is also very close friends with Jeremy Parish) made another in-depth post on Wired's gaming blog. Some knew that SE was going to announce a new DQ game, but didn't know which system they would produce it on because it was so early.

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Square Enix has traditionally waited to see what the outcome of the console wars would be before committing Dragon Quest to a platform. This is why DQVII and DQVIII arrived so late in the lifecycles of PlayStation 1 and 2, respectively -- because Square Enix didn't start development until they were sure the audience was there.

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Further along in his post:

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Square Enix stands to rake it in on this. They could spend three years and 30 million dollars making DQIX for PlayStation 3, then barely scrape that money back. Or they could make a killing on DQIX while they wait. You might call this opportunistic; I call it Nintendo's business strategy coming into its own. You might say that this heralds the death of home gaming consoles; I say there's no reason Wii can't do the same thing.

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Kohler's post is a good read, if you read only one of these links I posted it should be his.

Like Parish, he's big into the Japanese gaming scene, and maybe a bit of Nintendo fanboy. In a post later in the day, he goes as far to state:

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PSP was born on December 12, 2004. On December 12, 2006, it died.

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Square-Enix is really throwing some weight behind Nintendo now. They're no longer Sony's exclusive girlfriend, they're supporting everyone now. PlayStation still gets a lot of the big games, there are even a few Xbox 360 games from SE out right now (in Japan). It's great to see them spreading the love around. Dragon Quest 9 is gonna be easy money for them.

Hmmmm.... I can't help but be skeptical about the whole "two cartrige" deal. DS' can't download data from cartriges (as far as I know), and the only way I can see the two working is if you had two DS' (used one to transfer data from DQIX 1 onto DQIX 2 on the second DS).

However, if there are really two cartriges, then that means two major things. A: This opens the way for large PS games to be transfered to the DS (FFVII being one posibility). B: With two cartriges, as well as alot packed into both cartriges, the price would be very high. I wouldn't be suprised if it went over 70 dollars U.S.

If there truly are two cartridges, perhaps data could be saved to some sort of wireless memory card that interacts with the DS?

How is this game not going to seem ultra-outdated and watered down compared to the games which will be out for the PS3/Wii/360 by that time?

It is a very daring move, but I don't think it is going to do much for the franchise going into the future (at least in the US).

I think considering that it's going to be on a handheld, the 'watered down'-ness wouldn't be as bad. I'm sure there will be more 'twists' to the game instead of it being a mindless hack n' slash, though if it's done right a mindless hack n' slash works fine. Level 5 has a good track record, it will be interesting to see what they pull out of their hat.

Besides, the PS3 has Genji. DQ9 will be fine.

The US versions of Dragon Quest, at least in recent years, are pretty much throwaways to sate the english-speaking fans. SE knows it's hardly a big deal outside of Japan, but they know there would be some backlash if they cut the franchise off. They can afford to 'lose' money by bringing out Dragon Quest here, because they've already profited exponentially by it over in Japan.

As for the 2-cart data transferring thing, I'm sure Nintendo would show them a way to allow you to download the data to the ds, freeze the system/put it on standby, stick the 2nd cart in, then load it back up. Currently no game can do that, but if the 2-cart thing does happen, Nintendo will find a way for it to work.

Of course, 2 DSes would be a lot easier, which was also the best way to transfer data between games in Golden Sun. If they revert to using 100 digit password though... I would not be impressed.

There's no doubt in my mind the DS hardware could easily handle transferring data from one catridge to another, in some way, shape, or form. And just because it's two cartridges doesn't mean it's going to be any more expensive. In any case, I'm very excited!

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Originally Posted by Kentarou

If there truly are two cartridges, perhaps data could be saved to some sort of wireless memory card that interacts with the DS?

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Or you can just swap carts without turning your DS off. Like on games where you gotta swap discs, when the game says something like 'Insert disc 2' you just take out the cart and put in the other one. I heard the DS can work like that with the carts.

I've heard so many complaints about the change from systems.

I'm terribly excited about the change!

For years, I have wanted to play an epic RPG on a handheld. I'm hoping this will satisfy my itch.

Level 5 is producing this! Their track record is excellent. (Ok, a few scrapes with the Dark Cloud series) Otherwise, they have brought us solid titles.

I have faith in this game. When the game comes to the states, I will buy it on day one regardless of reviews. Level 5 knows what their fans want and they usually deliver.

Oh, and some of those screenshots look gorgeous. Particularly, the ones that show character equipment options.

Hmmmm... It seems to me that when you take a card out of the DS, the system freezes up. I know that if you take a card out while you are in the main DS menu, it freezes up. However, I'm sure that there are ways to make two cartriges work. I would think that they would have talked about it being a multi-card game wqhen they talked about the new steps they were taking with it. I mean, they talked about how they were mixing things up with cahnging character costumes. Time will tell, I guess.

A pretty trailer!

Looks like we might have some Zenithian action going on.

Oh my :jess: That trailer was so...pretty and booming. I think it looks fun myself. Not being turn-based is going to piss a lotta people off, but I don't mind it at all. Now a slime can approach in real-time~

Luner is right, removing the turn-base battle system going to piss off a lot of Japanese gamers, and maybe some Amercian gamers...

I also don't mind, it looks hell a lot of fun.
Thanks for the trailer Zeromus, I'm pretty much excited for this one...Need to get a DS first...

http://www.allrpg.com/rpgnews/news_show.php?newsid=3000

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IGN is reporting, via Jiji News, that Square Enix plans to release their new DS RPG, Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Sky, towards the end of this year. The current president of the company, Yoichi Wada, stated, "We're aiming to begin sales for the year end sales season."

Since there was a preview recently, many speculated that the title would not be too far off from a final release date. Unfortunately, Wada's comments mean that the game won't hit Japan until November or December.

Also, no plans of a US release date have been announced up to this point. Updates will be made when available.

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You could transfer data from one copy of Golden Sun to another by putting your GBA to sleep, taking out the game and replacing it with the second copy. Then when you took it out of sleep mode, it was in exactly the same spot with exactly the same stats and items and things as the original cartridge. You could then save over one of the files on the second game. I don't see any reason they couldn't use something similar to that in Dragon Quest IX.

Well that's actually a dumb idea. If you need to continue your game after completing cart 1 you need to chase down a friend with a DS to transfer the data or buy another DS.

That's why you probably won't need a second DS.

This is awsome and I'm so glad I have a DS. I love the system!

Four new screenshots

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dq/dq9/...s011407-1.html

The more I read about DQ9 the more I'm convinced this might be the best game ever made.