Dragon Quest XI Will Be Full Of Twists, Surprises And Homages, No Plans For DLC

Dragon Quest XI’s key developers in series creator Yuji Horii, producer Yosuke Saito, and director Takeshi Uchikawa had plenty to share on the RPG in this week’s issue of Dengeki PlayStation. Here are some more highlights from the interview. [Thanks, Hachima (1), (2).]

• The decision to make Dragon Quest XI on PS4 and 3DS was there from the start.

• The thought of “I want them to play on the big screen and enjoy with family and friends” was one of Horii’s ideas for the PS4 version.

• There are some completely different parts that were made for the PS4 and 3DS hardware, and it was easy to bring out the good parts of both consoles.

• It was originally planned to have all tracks be new ones, but since there’s plenty of homage material, they’ve used songs from past entries of the series.

• The game’s concept is “returning to the roots” and “a hero’s story.” However, Yuji Horii didn’t want to just focus on returning to roots, so he had the wanted to also make something that can be a new starting point for the series.

• The theme of the game is “the hero who is hunted.”  The answer to what kind of existence is the hero will be answered through the story.

• (On the appearance of Erdrick) It doesn’t mean that those who never played a Dragon Quest game won’t be able to enjoy it. Dragon Quest XI can be enjoyed 100% without any knowledge of past titles. On the other hand, they hope people can find interest in the series after playing Dragon Quest XI.

• The last boss’ designs are truly amazing. Described as a last boss that can only be drawn by Akira Toriyama.

• The message was sent out to “not create any useless characters.” The characters are well-made, and they hope fans come to like all of them.

• Square Enix put in a lot of time and effort into the prototype of the game, but they say that its content was fruitful and exciting.

• The PS4 version will have something similar to a confirm button for L2, so it can actually be played using one hand.

• With that in mind, they also made it so that you can set Tactics for the protagonist, which should come in handy for grinding experience points or gold.

• The protagonist can also be removed from the party.

• Square Enix says they feel that the Restrictive Play features will make for some amusing times while sharing gameplay on PS4. They recommend the “Shy Curse” that prevents you from talking to NPCs.

• There are no plans for DLC. Everything is complete as a standalone title.

• Square Enix emphasizes their hope for fans to play through the game until the very end.

• Horii-san loves surprises, and you’ll see numerous surprising moments during the story.

• Since the story has a bunch of twists and turns, just when you’re thinking “so it might be like this?” you’ll find out that there was more to it behind the scenes, and you won’t be able to fully understand it all until the end.

• Square Enix says they feel that there are some massively surprising parts in Dragon Quest XI, much more surprising compared to past Dragon Quest games.

• Horii says that development first started on the PS4 version, but while working on that it was decided that they could work simultaneously on the 3DS version.

• The 3DS version’s field map was much larger at the start of its development. However, once they threw in the map for the 2D mode, it became way too big.

• With two modes on the 3DS version, they ran into inconsistencies that came from looks and specifications. They were able to overcome this with various ideas.

• The PS4 and 3DS versions both have the same number of treasure chests and shiny items that you can be found. However, you’ll see some differences in the version-exclusive parts.

• The 3DS version’s 2D mode is the easiest for finding treasures.

• Square Enix aimed to make the homages obvious. For example the masquerade, merchant brothers competing over prices, and so on.

• “Puff-Puff” is an element that has been passed down Dragon Quest for a long time, and it’s something they want to take good care of.

• Director Uchikawa says they tried suggesting mahjong as a casino game, but it didn’t work out.

• While there’s the issue of “Spell of Restoration” being used to cheat, it’s something Square Enix really wanted to put into the game.

• They hope you guys try out all kinds of different Spell of Restoration codes, and that something interesting might come from it.

• Dragon Quest XI doesn’t have many roadblocks in terms of leveling, so you won’t find yourself needing to set aside some time to grind in order to keep on if you just play normally.

• Rather than flying through the game, they hope fans will take their time and enjoy it more than anything. There’s always something to do, so they hope to see fans play through without looking up guides online, if possible.

• You’ll get to take on quests after clearing the game.

• If you get a little lost, you can simply talk to the party members.

• Square Enix doesn’t see Dragon Quest XI as a compilation product of the series, but rather, a fresh new start.

You can read more from the interview with talk about how they made a part of Dragon Quest III on PS4 using Unreal Engine 4 and more on their decision to not include voice acting from the same interview.

Dragon Quest XI releases in Japan on July 29, 2017 for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo 3DS. The game is also in development for Nintendo Switch.