The Mundane Dragon Quest 30th Anniversary Event

Video game companies almost always commemorate anniversaries for their biggest titles. But that went double for Square Enix and Dragon Quest, which remains one of the company’s biggest franchises, and one of the most popular in Japan overall. They impressed anyone looking forward to its 30th Anniversary with July’s event, where the company revealed Dragon Quest XI and their slate of other DQ titles for dedicated platforms, with browser and mobile titles thrown in for good measure. If that conference delivered, it logically followed that this one also would, considering we’re supposedly within its 30th Anniversary year.

So it’s a shame anyone who came to that logical conclusion expected too much. This event underwhelmed everyone who watched, even those who understood what was being discussed Japanese. It contained shades of the Final Fantasy XV team’s Active Time Report from Gamescom last year, an hour-long event where only a minute-and-a-half was dedicated to showing new footage of the game while the rest featured talking. Square Enix has a respectable slate of DQ games coming soon, but sure didn’t feel like showing them.

They let people down easy at its start by saying DQXI wouldn’t be featured at the conference. Since that was easily biggest attraction, it was enough for some to tune out of the rest — a wise decision, incidentally.

Dragon Quest Builders was the first title shown, which will release on January 21st — one week from tomorrow. The only new info provided was how it will receive a demo for PS4 and Vita (but not PS3, despite also being available for that platform) on January 22nd. Outside of that, they simply showed the opening movie that’s been on Youtube for months. Sorry, but there’s still no news on whether this will make a trip outside Japan. On the other hand, all the trailers on Square Enix’s Japanese Youtube account that were previously blocked for anyone outside the country have been unlocked, so that’s something.

You’d think this would be the place to remove the veil of mystery hiding Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 for 3DS, but if you did, you’d be wrong. The trailer was identical to one released last month, despite its March 24th release date. The only new info was the announcement of a demo, which will hit the eShop in early March. We might see the game in motion before that arrives. Given Joker 2’s rumored sales numbers in western territories (read: it sold dreadfully), don’t expect this to leave Japan unless a miracle happens.

In a way, it’s nice that this conference happened at night for those of us in America, since it was easy to take a nap during its many dry periods. Few outside Japan will visit DQ displays that belong in a museum, experience the result of the DQ collaboration with Universal Studios, participate in a live maze, or play an arcade game structured like a free-to-play mobile title (which will likely hit mobile afterward) — though some of them sound fun. Given DQ’s popularity, though, each will likely make money.

Remember Dragon Quest Heroes II? For some bizarre reason, Square Enix announced it in April last year, mere weeks after first game released in Japan. It’s tough to figure out why, considering they still haven’t fully unveiled it, nor didn’t want to spend time showing it at this event. All that was announced was its May 27th release date, meaning it will arrive on the day the first Dragon Quest released on 30 years ago. Further information will be shared in the February 1st issue of Shonen Jump, but expect the game to have a quick promotional period.

Sure, they didn’t show DQXI, but there was still minor news regarding it — specifically, news people didn’t want to hear. Square Enix and DQ director Yuji Horii previously claimed it would release for PS4 and 3DS during DQ’s anniversary period, and that’s still the plan. However, they never specified precisely when that period begins and ends, meaning they were very clever with their wording. That period actually starts on May 27th, the day the first title in the franchise released on Famicom 30 years ago (and when the aforementioned Heroes II releases), and ends in on May 27th, 2017. Given that, and how this conference focused on every DQ game coming this year, DQXI is definitely a 2017 game. What a bunch of sly guys, huh?

Even better: Those who understood Japanese listened carefully to Horii’s statement, and noticed a tinge of uncertainty from his voice when he mentioned that intended release period. Don’t be surprised if it misses the anniversary period. We’ll be waiting for the game quite a bit longer than expected, which also means it will be a very late 3DS release. And I don’t even want to think about its western release.

It’s remarkable that Nintendo’s western Direct in mid-November featured more DQ gameplay footage than this one. Square Enix will undoubtedly have another conference related to DQ later this year, one they’ll hopefully remember to bring the substance for. They have to show DQXI again sometime soon, right?

If you’re feeling brave or masochistic, and want to watch the presentation in its entirety, it’s been archived here.