Dragon Quest 9 hitting US after April 2010

[granville]

The CEO of Square Enix issued a statement today saying not to expect Dragon Quest IX in the US until after April of 2010. Well, we know when the game is NOT coming out now at least.

- Square-Enix still believes the game can top 5 million sold in Japan
- people are trading in the game at 1/2 to 1/3 the usual trade-in rate, which Square-Enix believes is due to the downloadable quests
- Square-Enix isn't worried about the negative Amazon reviews: "It's the internet. This is to be expected. I'm telling the creators to ignore it as well. In my experience, there's no relation (between these reviews and sales.)"
- Square-Enix is currently looking into the other countries they plan to release the game in, but that won't happen until after April 2010

As you can also see above, Square Enix even responded to the negative reviews that users posted on the Japanese Amazon site. Although the game received a perfect score from Famitsu, some normal gamers have been more critical of the game, even going so far as to call it the worst in the series. (personally, I love it to death)

Maybe they will take this time to work on the DS remake of Dragon Quest VI now. It's been a long time since any news about that. In fact, apart from the initial announcement of DQ6 (which was announced alongside DQ4 and 5 DS), we've had NO news whatsoever about it.

http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=92333

 

[Cablephish]

That's my next birthday, what the hell?

Oh well, I don't play DQ anyway.

 

[kalmis]

Good. Gives me enough time to finish DQ's 1-8

 

[hova1]

i'm pretty sure DQVI is finished the developers just wait for SE to release it. Maybe they are waiting untill they have translated it in other languages, for a worldwide release.

 

[engruzii]

F@%k SE

why do they take a lot of time to release a DQ game in English?!!!!!

i mean look at kingdom hearts and all their other RPG's they come out faster than this

man i was expecting them to release it fast after those huge sales but they didn't and that is one the main reason that DQ does not sell well outside japan it just kills the hype.

i really hope they reconsider releasing it faster i mean come on XBox360 and PS3 doesn't take that much time why this much delay for a DS game

sorry for the bitching but i'm fed up with this "1 year or more waiting for the game" Sh*t

the only solution is to learn Japanese and play the game

really man F*$k SE

 

[r9delta]

Christ like DQIX hadn't taken long enough. How about sometime this century SE? Fuck it though, at least I have other shit on my plate.

 

[Canonbeat234]

Well its all business strategy, DUH! SE doesn't have any other games planned so far so why not release DQ9 out for next year. It's all business so stop complaining!

 

[GeekyGuy]

...Fuck it though, at least I have other shit on my plate.

Shit on a plate doesn't sound all that appetizing...

But yeah, the wait really sucks. Didn't they announce this game back in 2006? Either way, it seems to be taking forever. I'll still wait, though, rather than ruin the experience for myself trying to muddle through the Japanese version.

 

[granville]

Yes the game was announced way back in 2006. At that time, it was going to be an action RPG. Fairly far along in development too. But when the video was released, the Japanese fans sent threatening messages to Square Enix swearing to boycott the game if they didn't change it to traditional RPG. Fearing this boycott, and knowing their fans would do what they said, they agreed to change it back. I imagine they had to start development all over from scratch, so that is why it took so long.

 

[GeekyGuy]

Yes the game was announced way back in 2006. At that time, it was going to be an action RPG. Fairly far along in development too. But when the video was released, the Japanese fans sent threatening messages to Square Enix swearing to boycott the game if they didn't change it to traditional RPG. Fearing this boycott, and knowing their fans would do what they said, they agreed to change it back. I imagine they had to start development all over from scratch, so that is why it took so long.

I'm sure they got plenty of letters, and I remember the first announcement. However, the creative director's official position on the changes the game has seen has nothing to do with fan response. He simply felt that action-oriented combat in an RPG gets repetitive, and I mostly agree with that. There are few games where that isn't the case, and why mess with something if it ain't broken.

 

[h8uthemost]

Wow. I was really hoping to play this game this year. Oh well, no need to bitch and cry about it. There are plenty other games to play.

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

Meh, I don't really like DQ games, so no waiting for me!