It’s official, I guess:
Is it weird that this is the only game I’m really and truly looking forward to for the rest of the year? Granted, I’ve already had my time with Metal Gear Solid 4 and Etrian Odyssey II, but still. I feel like there should be something else. Hum.
fantastic, fantastic news.
Fuck yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My bitterness when they changed their minds about releasing the PSX version in the West (and after featuring an ad for it on the back of the DWVII manual! I ask you!) was deep and abiding. I *guess* this makes up for it, but I still feel like they ought to send me a complimentary advance copy, just to be on the safe side.
Sweeeeet.
The PS1 version wasn’t really Enix’s fault. That version’s developer, Heartbeat, went south, and they took the source code with them.
I think everybody’s in the same boat, to be honest. I hear a lot of people saying, “Great! What’s coming up for the holidays? Resistance? :P” Personally, I’m looking forward to SRW Z, but I think I’m in the minority for Americans.
If you go on the Zenithia (http://na.square-enix.com/zenithia/) hub for the trilogy (yes, US releases for all 3 are in the cards!), you’ll see that V has been subtitled Hand of the Heavenly Bride, and VI Realms of Reverie. Though it merely confirms the names recently registered by SE in NA.
Either way, awesome.
Could be my personal (and professional) bias, Kat, but the DS is absolutely swimming in games this summer. Super Dodge Ball, Arkanoid, Space Invaders Extreme, Final Fantasy IV/Tactics, Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles (which I hear isn’t great, but it’s at least interesting), Trauma Center 2, Civilization Revolution, Bangai-O Spirits, N+, and Metal Slug 7 … and all but that last one is before September.
I absolutely cannot make enough happy noises about this. The fact that V and VI are pretty much confirmed for the US too is icing of purest awesome on an already-delicious cake.
Great news! But will they be released in Europe? The fact that Dragon Quest VIII was released as “Dragon Quest” (without the numerals) is not exactly a hopeful sign…
Well, if Etrian 2 and MGS4 are out, there’s always FFTA2.
Man, this post alone has got me so incredibly pumped for the summer. So many good games! I haven’t had such incentive to scrimp and save in a good while.
Oh yeah, the DS has been absolutely terrific this year, as usual. And can you believe that, once upon a time, people said that it had no good third-party games?
I’m interested too, though FFIV will come first along with TWEWY (my amazon order hasn’t come yet).
Still, yeah; I can’t think of any other big things. Looks like I’ll have to continue retrogaming by default now. Then again, I need to finish Mother 3 and get a start on Apollo Justice…
Looks like I’ve got about 4 months to finish up that fifth chapter of my NES copy then. Great news, though.
I would say Little Big Planet, but I’ve gone from ‘oh that looks neat’ to ‘hurry up and ship it already’.
Dragon Quest IV has received a rating from the German ratings board (as Dragon Quest: Chapters of the Chosen), so a Euro release is likely.
How accessible is DQ IV for a series newbie? I tried VIII, but the amount of grinding required (3+ hours of grinding outside the first town to survive the very first dungeon) turned me off. But while I can’t abide by that sort of thing on a console, I can stomach it easily on a portable.
Awesome!
Oh, and also SE just officially announced DQIV for Europe: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/dragon-quest–the-chapters-of-the-chosen-first-part-of-zenithia-trilogy-arrives-in-europe-this-september
“I tried VIII, but the amount of grinding required (3+ hours of grinding outside the first town to survive the very first dungeon) turned me off.”
Not to sound too trite, but you’re doing it wrong. Dragon Quest always requires a little bit of grinding, but unless you’re ignoring items and/or support spells its never as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Yeah, the EU release was a given — the Japanese version didn’t just have a rough English script, but also Italian, French, Spanish etc.
Those are good news indeed – and it’s being released in September, like the US version!
Did they announce or hint at a release date for the U.S. release? My guess is holiday season 2009.
For DQIV? September 16.
This news makes me happy in the pants.
The only DQ game I’ve played was VIII. I was thinking about picking up a DS now that there are some nice traditional RPGs coming out. I know DQ has a huge following, but is DQ IV one of the better ones?
“Not to sound too trite, but you’re doing it wrong. Dragon Quest always requires a little bit of grinding, but unless you’re ignoring items and/or support spells its never as bad as everyone makes it out to be.”
I don’t remember exactly, but the first dungeon is…not doable until you’re level 6 or so. You just get hit too hard. Especially if you’re new, this can take a while. After that, it settles down for a while.
Overall though, I couldn’t get into DQ8 and I couldn’t figure out why. There’s not much to dislike…which I’ve decided must’ve been the problem. It was too busy trying to not make me unhappy to really entertain me. Or something. I won’t pretend that makes sense.
Marc, DQIV is widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best.
Awesome – I’m that much more excited now. I thought the scale and presentation of DQVIII was mesmerizing, and while I don’t expect something that grandiose from an older game in the series, I’ve been looking for a game with a similar vibe.
Great, great news.
After MGS4, this is my most anticipated game of the year. So Parish, you’ve played some version of this. How is the music?
My favorite is DQV–the whole roman fleuve aspect is very well-done, with some truly memorable twists and turns. Although IV is of course also very good.
As for VIII, if you found you had to do more than trivial level-grinding, the series may not be for you–that is definitely the most forgiving, least grindey game in the series. I do believe it’s actually the only DQ where I didn’t die once. Which is actually sort of a let-down to me, although your mileage may vary.
Just read your FFTA2 somewhat unenthusiastic preview on 1UP – now I see why you didn’t mention it here. It does make me a bit wary, but that’s the good thing about 1UP’s previews – you’re not afraid to call it how you see it. Still, it’s one of the few games I’m excited for this year.
You raise an interesting point though – the second half of this year actually looks pretty tame, especially if you’re not interested in all of those shooters with varying degrees of gray. Smash Bros., Mario Kart, GTA4, MGS4…. the biggest games of the year are out or will be in a month.
DQIV should be a nice little game for the holidays, though – I’m excited to play what is considered one of the best in the series. Speaking of DQ, what’s the latest word on IX?
Turkish101 – Unless I’ve missed something, the last we heard of IX was that they were going to “prime the pump” with IV, V, and VI first. I read this as “shifting from our new active battle system to the old, fan-loved 8-bit turn-based system doubled our development time. We’ll be back sometime in 2009.”
I don’t expect DQ’s fans will ever allow a real DQ to use the scrapped realtime battle system, but I do hope they repurpose that design for a spinoff at some point. I’d really like to see what they came up with before the howling traditionalists forced their hand.
“Marc, DQIV is widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best.” Out of all of the NES/Famicom Dragon Warriors/Quests I think 4 has the best story but 3 has the best gameplay. And I still despise 7.
If IV didn’t have that bizarre combat system in the last chapter that took a lot of control away from you, it would have been hands down the best. As it is, III is pretty good, too.
You have the option of full party control in the fifth chapter in this version.
I love VII to death. It’s actually kind of surprising–I was NOT expecting the game to draw me in the way it did, but…well, it did, and that was the last time I had the time/inclination to–it’s sort of embarrassing to say–have twelve-hour gaming sessions. It just grabbed by the scruff of the neck and would not let go.
I actually rather liked the Chapter V combat system. It could be frustrating at times (Damn Cristo casting Defeat on bosses!) but to me actually reinforced the roleplaying aspect of the game; yes, you controlled all these people in the past but now you’re playing the hero and the others all act according to their various skills and personalities. Taloon was especially fun in that regard. (And was it my imagination that Cristo would specifically heal Alena first most of the time if they were both in the party?)