Dragon Quest XI Must Sell Well in the West if Future Games Are to Make it Overseas, Says Square

well i hope it does, i haven't been able to pick it up yet but i'll be getting it as soon as i can

How about not releasing your game next to FREAKIN’ SPIDER-MAN!!!

It only took me 81 hours and 30 minutes to finish the story 😜

@kyleforrester87 the music in Torna doesn't disappoint

@kyleforrester87 Basically my one single gripe with the game. I don't necessarily hate the music, but it could be so much better.

I agree with the terrible release date but I chose DQXI instead of Spider-Man because not only it's a complete game but a long one fully worth your money

Daft daft release schedule. If they hit July this would have done much better. I hope it performs well, i really do, but i cant buy everything. This has to wait for me to play spiderman and then red dead 2.

Same with valkyria 4. Awful decision to release in September

@ShogunRok @kyleforrester87 The music is terrible! Most of the time is just barely passable, but then it occasionally (fairly often) gets into a section of music where it just repeats more or less the same 2-3 seconds over and over again! The first time it did this I thought the game was bugged!

I do wish the game was more challenging though (and not just "make monsters stronger"). I have gotten into the habit of just avoiding almost all enemy encounters until a boss fight to avoid over leveling, but this just doesn't feel very...RPG-like.

Loving the story though, early game its bog standard; but I think thats intentional to highlight the difference in the mid-to-late game. Its not often that a JRPG surprises me.

Well let's see -

Don't release the game a year later in the West than in Japan, nobody does that anymore. There's this thing called the internet, we know.

Don't announce the game for NX - perhaps the first game ever announced for the Switch - then don't release it on that console, just keep stringing people along. There are Switch owners not buying it on PS4 b/c they are waiting.

Don't release it next to Spiderman.

Market it. I'm sure this game must have had a few ads around someplace, but compared to the incessant FFXV marketing blitz - live on stage presentation w/ a full orchestra just to give the date, which they then delayed it from - there was hardly any marketing at all.

And what's probably just a me thing, as I'm anti-everything popular - it's possible people aren't impressed by a day 1 complete game these days. I ONLY bought it b/c it was complete day 1, but this is the type of game, if it sells poorly, that EA will use as an example that people don't want single player games anymore. Never mind that single player Spiderman is the game killing this one. Maybe people need multiplayer in their JRPG.

I don't think it's the lack of multiplayer, I think it's the first 3 - 1 year West delay, Switch delay, Spiderman - but people do like their online games as well.

If Squenix is comparing sales between this and FFXV they're nuts. They should compare it to Ni No Kuni 2. That had the spring pretty much to itself and it's a very similar looking game. Doesn't play the same, but it looks very similar playing them back to back.

@rjejr Normally I would agree with you here, however the year delay gave them time to add voice over to the game, and I doubt it would have sold in the US as much as it has without it. Some of the voice over is awkward, but some of it is really enjoyable. Some of the best I have seen in an RPG yet.

Dragon Quest > modern FF's.

I can't imagine this is going to sell anywhere near as well as SE hopes, but I really hope they do keep bringing games like this to the west. Unfortunately it's just a case of too many games to play, as usual. Hoping to pick it up eventually though.

@thedevilsjester There's one particular line from Hendrik that's pretty much the greatest line of dialogue I've ever heard in a game.

Maybe SE shouldn't release it in the vicinity of spider-man, tomb raider and red dead 2? Just release it in the early year like persona 5, or release it with the same date as japan version like ff xv.

Also why the game only has expensive $150 special edition, release the $80-$90 steelbook with artbook edition (like tomb raider 2018) for collector like me.

And yes, I'll buy it after I finish spider-man, horizon, and get platinum for gow.

the European PS blog didn't even list it as one of their highlighted releases for that week, smh...

@thedevilsjester "but this just doesn't feel very...RPG-like."

It is very easy. Not as easy as Ni No Kuni 2 was, but there have been times where I've just set it to play itself and it did just fine.

I'm having the opposite reaction to you though, I think it feels very much like a JRPG from the late 90's, which seems like what they are going for. One of the things I always appreciated about those games was just how well balanced they were. I never died, which was good b/c I hate dieing, but there was always the chance of dieing if I didn't pay attention. I'm 40 hours in and I've probably had characters die 3 times, not counting one boss fight where everyone was dieing left and right but an NC kept bringing them back, and I'm ok with it. This is how I remember games being back then. This is a very story driven game. I don't think they want us to have to try all that much, they just want us to play through the story and try out all of the different spells, abilities, and pep powers. I can see why it would bother some people when the game can pretty much literally play itself, but I don't think it's a bug, I think it's a feature.

I do think it's probably a little too easy when I almost never use an item in battle, nor use any buff or debuff spells, just pretty much all out attack non-stop then ZOOM to a campfire to sleep and restore MP, but I think it was made that way to reflect the old days. That's how I remember them anyway, Grandia, Lunar, Star Ocean, no dieing, just playing through the story.

Reply - One of the big selling points for me was the voice acting. I really only bought the game b/c of the voice acting b/c I normally dont' like playing JRPG back-to-back but w/ NNK2 having almost no voice acting, except near the end, I felt like I wanted some. Well that and NNK2 was too much city building and skirmish fighting, not enough JRPG for me. DQXI is almost too much JRPG w/ the static turn based gameplay - at least time it out like Grandia 2 did 18 years ago - but the graphics and voice acting do bring it up a notch. The random encounters on water have to go though, NNK2 showed them, just show them.

So while I agree the voice acting is important for the western audience, they still should have had it ready day 1. FFXV had plenty of voice acting day 1 worldwide. Most games these days do.

@kyleforrester87 Yeah I don't think DQXI was ever going to be a big hit, but there's no doubt that the release date was crap. Like the article says I think a good number of people will have looked at DQXI, looked at all the games coming after it, and said "there's no way I can spend 100 hours playing this".

Again, if DQXI had launched in July — which was comparatively dead — I don't think it would have flown off the shelves, but I do think more people would have been willing to give it a chance based on word of mouth.

Sega could sing a song about that. Japanese publishers wouldn't need to say that if the average brogamer would pull his head out of their asses and discover other things besides cod and fifa.

I only hope their measure of success is based on more than launch window. DQ has a good chance of selling well, but it'll take quite a few months.

Well it was fun.... I'm almost sure we won't get another overseas

@rjejr

I just re-played through DQ (1 through 6) in anticipation of XI (didn't get further than 6, because I don't have infinite time!) but in each of these I had to actually strategize on many random encounters and almost all boss fights. I had to make heavy use of buffs and debuffs (to stay alive, and to win), keep my gear updated, and use spells that the enemies were weak to. This is especially true if you are playing the originals instead of the remakes, but even the remakes that have had the difficulty lowered, are still a challenge.

In DQXI I have never had to use a buff or debuff, I am currently using gear that I have had for about 15-20 levels (some characters are even using most of their original gear!). I have characters that have over 120 unused skill points, and I can still just "auto" almost all boss fights (sometimes I have to take over to use an MP item if someone ran out of MP) but thats about it.

Bought XI at launch and am really enjoying it. Deliberately taking my time so I don't get through it too quickly. The music is probably the only real criticism I have, which is a shame as there are some good melodies hidden behind the 90's style MIDI. Aside from that, it's shaping up to be one of the PS4's finest RPGs.

Hopefully this is a slow-burner in terms of sales and will gradually rack up what is needed? People who have it seem to love it, so maybe there will be good word of mouth? Square-Enix didn't advertise and I'm not too sure many gamers are even aware of its existence, so who can say what sales expectations actually were.

I think, it will be more appealing and successful for the Switch. Also: Why didn't they translate the 3DS version for the west? It would have also increased sales numbers.

Rather stating the obvious.

@lacerz

Spiderman or not it did pretty impressive for what it is, most jrps don't make it into the top ten and no surprise it dropped out of top ten week after release with it being a jrpg. The sa!es are impressive for a Dragon quest game in the west

The fan base for these games would on the whole buy it over Spiderman or any other game

@GKO900 I had the same dilemma but chose Spider-Man. I wasnt disappointed but now I'm on the fence about DQ11 because of the rest of the games that are coming out. And when I'm done with them there will be another 80hr RPG in January.

@ShogunRok I seem to remember one of your complaints from the review was the music. On PC, modders created a package that replaces all of the music in game with actual orchestrated versions, it makes a remendous difference. Definitely makes the game better! Worth taking a look/listen.....I just wonder why a team of 4 was able to do this but Square Enix couldn't....

@3Above I wanted Spider-Man too but since they announced dlc I changed my mind and I rather support games that are complete and I love DQXI, but I understand why I lot of people would skip it such a shame though

@RedMageLanakyn I would pay money for that mod on PS4. That's genuinely where I'm at right now. If DQXI had better music it'd be bordering on perfect.

Everyone needs to see the review Tim Rogers made for this game for Kotaku...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iTbUGItU0s&t=438s

I do not understand others complain about the music .. hey its DQ .. fine.
A bit too easy, but I play Draconian that solves this for me.

@MikeW that review is a bit too much on the fanboy side for me.
Nevertheless it is a great game.

@Bonito I have played all of the (mainline) DQ/DW games, I played (most) of them as they originally came out (some I had to wait for import/emulation/translation), and DQXI so far has the worst music of them all. Its embarrassingly bad at some points. I have even had to mute the TV so that its 2-3 second broken-record sections don't annoy others in the room, its that bad.

Now if others are in the room I just play with headphones plugged in, and only put them on during cutscenes.

I love the voice acting though. Its some of the best in the genre. There are a few times where the accent just doesn't make sense for the character; but those are rare.

So worse within the first 40h?
I did not experience it yet ... what a shame for that game.

This is the type of game that will sell well for years to come I think. Only because we don't have any main line dragon quest games, the last one is on the DS! So, at least square was smart enough to release it on PS4 this time, and on steam. Very good choice. I feel confident that they will eventually port future games and classics over to the west. Especially on the Switch.

@Bonito Are you talking to me?

I only have ~35 hours in the game (its hard to tell because the game does not pause, so any time I have to step away, the time counter is going unless I suspend the PS4!) and the audio has been consistently bad throughout. Like I said, its "ok" for the most part, but then it regularly gets into very short (few second) audio loops that sound like the track is skipping (but its clearly not).

@thedevilsjester Wow you are just breezing through huh? Yeah, doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun in there for you.

I always keep up to date on weapons, armor and accessories. Slutty outfits for the women, regal for the men - Japan has no concept of PC. I almost never buy anything b/c in these games you can almost always find what they sell, but I have made everything I can - I look for and read every book. I also usually get up to about 8 or 9 skill points before I find something to use them on. Except Syl, he has some unlocked attack that's 25 I'm waiting on.

What are you even fighting with if everybody has 120 skill points, that's how you unlock some of the spells and most of the abilities. I rarely attack, just spam my highest powered ability based on 1 enemy or a group. It's really the only thing that keeps me choosing, and a few enemies weak against magic w/ strong defense. You may as well just be watching it on Youtube.

Sorry you aren't enjoying it. I agree there's next to no difficulty, I'm just enjoying playing along. Playing all those old games probably hurt you more than helped. I played Xenoblade Chronicles right before XCX and XC was so good, possibly the best I've ever played, and XCX was so weak story and character wise. Really wish I would have payed them in reverse order. And XC got remade in an HD rather than 3DS engine. Though had I played XCX first I may have passed on XC, not a fan of X. Great graphics, pretty horrible everything else.

Though the one good thing about playing XCX before DQXI, it doesn't bother me too much how lame the DQ music is, XCX was nails on blackboard horrific, worst of any JRPG I've ever played. Maybe of any game. Its' the only reason I'm not complaining about the lame DQ music, I know it could be worse.

dont believe squenix, even nis releases games in the west even thought its not selling millions, same situation with yakuza games, its not million seller but sega release yakuzas back to back, its squenix loss if their not gonna release their games overseas.

@rjejr I didn't say I wasn't enjoying it, just that I wish it was more challenging.

I also don't have all of my characters with a ton of unused skill points, I only have one with 120 unused (Sylvando I think), the rest have less unused points (some even have none). The point, mostly, was that I am far, far from min/maxing everything and I don't go out of my way to upgrade my gear and its still pretty easy. To be fair, I did just buy a new sword for the Hero (in post-event Octagonia), but thats because I switched from Greatswords to Swords and didn't have any decent ones on hand.

@ShogunRok At least on PS4 there's HDR support, which didn't make it to the PC version for some reason. I wonder what it would take to get Square to create a music package DLC for the game. Obviously it can be done....

if s-e expects 3m copies sold in the west, then you can kiss dragon quest goodbye. by comparison, dq viii on ps2 sold about 1.5m copies in the west, and that was with an install base of 140m+ ps2's in the wild. i expect dq xi to sell a little over 1m copies in the west which is fair.

let's be honest here... s-e did a fantastic job marketing dq to the west over the past few years... dq vii and dq viii 3ds remakes... check. not one, but two dq heroes games on ps4/switch/pc etc... check. dq builders... check. there is honestly nothing else s-e could have done other than release dq xi in august instead... but let's not blame the release date entirely for the poor sales numbers. popular games find their audience regardless of the release window.

the fact of the matter is: the dq series is archaic in design and simply is not very popular in the west. people need to accept that, plain and simple. if we never get another dq game in the west, i would be fine with that as the series has given me enough already. if you have played viii and xi, you have seen everything there is to see in all honesty. the series is never going to modernize itself to appeal to a wider demographic. that is its biggest strength and weakness in my opinion. s-e, if you are not happy with the 1m sales, i won't take it personally if this is the curtain call. the series cannot continue here if it isn't turning a profit, after all.

I do hope so ! Dragon Quest 11 is - next to persona 5 - the best jrpg of this gen without any doubt. I waited since DG8 for a new one to come out on ps and it’s even better than expected and that I wished for ! I’m 60 hours in and the story alone is still far from finished ! Has a high chance to be my game of the year contender if there just wasn’t Monster Hunter world lol but aside from ni no kuni 2 there’s not much that can match the quality of Dragon Quest 11 This Year when it comes to console jrpgs- it’s absolutely brilliant in every aspect - couldn’t name a single flaw or so by now even after all this playtime - they couldn’t have done it any better if you ask me everything fits so well , the characters grow to you , the story is full of twists and turns and keeps you engaged , the battle system and all other classic systems like game design are like expected , and the exploration is just done right. A modern classic. Or a classic modernized ? Simply put - I’m blown away by how good the game is and I hope that it sells well enough so people get to experience this epic adventure that’s full of charm and oozes quality!
What a gem of a game !

@thedevilsjester It's funny, none of my characters are suing swords or shields, everybody is two handed on weapons, I'm all about the offense, let the armor handle the defense. And as you pointed out, not much of a challenge, so no need to worry about shields.

Well I'm glad you enjoyed it, must have at least a little if you're still going in the post game, which I've read is better than the main game. I just finished the mermaid quest, haven't used the harp yet, sightseeing and taking the long way around. And spending way too much time in the casino.

Probably would have been good to have a version on Xbox One and Switch ready to go and localised the 3DS version. Maximise the brand in the West is a much more sound idea when you maximise the platforms it's on.

And it didnt help Sony announced the Spider Man date right after DQXI got its date.

Funny how that plan didnt work out. They had 3 platforms ready, 1 in development allegedly and 1 they flat out skipped. Only localised 2. Genius.

I'm not convinced at all that most people who bought Spider-Man or Tomb Raider would have the slightest interest in Dragon Quest. So the release window is not the big issue in my eyes. The main problem is the declining popularity of JRPGs in the West, at least this classic or old-school style. I feel that Western audiences are not as interested in Japanese-style games as they used to.

It's the same pattern with classic-styled PC RPGs. There are spikes there as well, as with Pillars of Eternity and Divinity Original Sin becoming really popular and selling well, but you don't hear of the other dozen or so classic-style PC RPGs released in the same period of time. A few become very popular and sell well, but the vast majority do not.

Games that are more old-school, especially those with bigger budgets (i.e. not Indie) have to work harder to find a bigger audience, because people are more picky when the games are more expensive.

I don't mind when indie devs remind us that its game needs to sell well for us to see more, simply because indie devs are usually small teams who a lot of times struggle to get publishers, mainstream attention, etc. When a company like SquareEnix pulls this I just get annoyed. Make a good game, localize it, if it doesn't sell don't bring the next game over and give the explanation then.

If DQ XI doesn't sell it'll be a variety of factors but it seems quality isn't the issue. I'd have considered a purchase but don't care for turn-based gameplay and it also released too close to Yakuza Kiwami 2, Spider-Man and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which were all games that were priorities for me. I still hope DQ XI did well. We need more good Japanese games in the West, not less.

@RedMageLanakyn

It doesn't , more BS from Kotaku

@Knuckles-Fajita

The sales for this just wouldn't be worth the time and effort to bring it to the Xbox one. Jrpgs just don't sell well on Xbox ( unless it's FF) as lost Odyssey proves, one of the best jrpgs of last gen sadly it didn't sell well enough for the planned trilogy

@Knuckles-Fajita Japanese games selling on Xbox One? Hahaha...

@PS_Nation That's not the point.

They stated the reason they did just PS4 and PC is "to grow the brand in the West".

Honestly I'd have put it on as many systems as possible, regardless of it being a japanese game or not (other japanese games are going to Xbox One after all), even if it only allowed as many eyes as possible to potentially look at it.

Would you want the combined install base of PC and PS4 to be able to buy and see your game, or 3DS, Xbox One, PS4, PC?

@Knuckles-Fajita A large install base doesn't guarantee success. Persona is bigger than Dragon Quest in the West at this point and that's on the back off Persona 4G & Persona 5 (PS exclusives).

Timing is what cost DQXI. No doubt.

@suikoden I'm a bit confused as to what you're referring to when you say "it doesn't" and the Kotaku reference. I don't visit that site, I got this from the steam forums when I was looking up a separate issue I was having with the game.

@kyleforrester87 Xenoblade 2 was some crazy anomaly in video game music. Honestly has some of the best JRPG tracks in recent memory, much stronger than even the very servicable Xenoblade 1. That Gormott overworld theme man

@RedMageLanakyn

About the ps4 version having HDR support ,kotaku said it did but that was later disproved , was first thing I checked when I got game at launch. Think who ever posted on steam said that it did must of gotten it from them as they seemed the only site that said the ps4 version had it, what's more bizarre it was a review of the game. Just proves what a useless site kotaku is full of mistakes and out right lies.

I might get it eventually, but I'm in no rush.

@suikoden Ah gotcha. I had seen on the steam forums a "special k" mod that was supposed to mimic HDR that was in the console versions, but the colors looked pretty good to me as is.

@RedMageLanakyn I don't usually mod my PC games, but that sounds fantastic! If we don't get news on the Switch version next year, I might nab it on Steam during a sale.

The thing I found weak was the total lack of marketing. I mean the game has some great dialogue and super funny things in places. Maybe it needed a good trailer you know like what spiderman and movie trailers do. Like a short 30 second piece would really help advertise it. The 'entertainer' guy is hilarious and appeals to a certain audience. 60 hours in and loving it.

This is why I pre-purchased. I never do this but I need future dq games!!
Would be gutted if they stop coming west

@rjejr I'm not in the post-game, its longer than that! I am post-EVENT which is a spoiler free-ish way of referring to a specific event that happens in the game (you will know when it happens!).

Got 2 copies did my part. 😁

I want to play it, but I'm just getting into DOS 2. I'll get sometime down the line

@thedevilsjester turn on Draconian Quest for the real actual game.

@thedevilsjester ah, ok, got it.

@Onion_Knight Forgot about Draconian. I looked it all over the first time I started it up, read it all, and went down the list - not for me, not for me, not for me... and that was that.

Its a decent game but prefer dq8, only vos of the character's were design by toriyama. Loved when the hero almost went syper sayian

@rjejr I turned on Stronger monster and less exp for weaker enemies, it changed the game for me. So happy i did it, because i found it too easy at first, now every battle is strategic and rewarding.

I've bought both this and Spider-Man on day one. My only wish was for this game to have released at least 1 week before Spider-Man so I could jump straight into it. This is my first Dragon Quest (not counting Builders). My plan was to start this after Spider-Man so I could enjoy it better but instead I hopped back onto Kingdom Hearts 2.5 as I need to get that finished before KH3. I need more time in my life to play those games. Don't know where to fit in some play time as I don't want to be playing anything else at the same time so I can enjoy it properly

Rather this then the garbage called FF15 a liveserviceeeeee RPG. 🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮

Hey Squeenix, here is a thought. Do worldwide releases... it should not take a year (or several) for the rest of the world to get the game. I know its a lot of text but release em at the same time. that way you can do one big marketing push.

@Onion_Knight That is not my definition of a challenge.

To make an RPG more challenging you have to put thought into it. Not just adjust a few sliders on the character or enemies stats. Thats the lazy way to increase difficulty, and I do not find that enjoyable.

@thedevilsjester don’t knock it till you try it my friend. I’m only saying because i too have played other DQ games, and i love the difficulty of the games. To me i feel like square wanted to be careful with this one and not scare away newcomers. So the Draconian Quest is there for players like us that are used to the harder DQ games. Just saying.

Sales begging is the corporate equivalent of fan port begging.

@Onion_Knight I had a pretty good night tonight fighting. Took the boat to regions I was a bit under leveled for and took on a few out of my league bad guys. I still managed to beat them all of course and not use any items but I was at least using heal and de/buffs to get my way through. But tomorrow I'm back to the story and easy peasy.

I think the release date still affects the sales. I get different markets, but look at the variety of stuff we all play. A decent number of people who play probably play other genres too. People play Spider-Man and DQ. There's overlap, and it's gonna suffer bit. It can't not.

Or y'know, they could just spend less money localizing it by not doing a dub? That way we might have gotten a copy a year earlier?
But yeah, too many other games to fit DQ11 in yet, I'll probably wait until after Red Dead 2 and I've been looking forward to DQ11 for a long time, I'd just rather not miss three other games whilst they're new just to focus on one.

I have read most of the comments in this section and I agree with two things:
1. The game sadly has become niche over the years and just a handful of people played this game on release week.

2. While we can't really measure how much impact it had, we can say the release date of DQXI was not the best one, this combined with the reality that the game was not advertised properly.

While Square got shy over one of the best IPs out there, Sony was blasting it off with showcasing the game, specially in social media, it got to the point where it was tiring to see so much Spider Man, for sure Sony catched a lot of attention pre release.

We also have to see if SE expectations are based on grounds, if they're expecting 4 million units sold, we can kiss this game good bye again, I will be pleased to see at least 1 million (that beyond what people believe, that number is still impressive for any game that ain't hyperly popular or recognized).

As for the game itself:
1. I do like the MIDI music, yes its looped and yes there should be more town variety but I liked it, it gave it a certain feel that we don't get much anymore.

2. The true problem with the music orchestated is the creator of it, from what I can gather he is a troll when it comes down to his compositions to the point he abuses his rights for orchestated versions.

3. The game is easy? Then up the dificulty using Draconian Quest, it will get hard to the point of frustration, you will use debuffs and buffs and you will grind for hours just to have a winning chance over bosses. Yes, I'm not kidding its that hard.

Its hard to the point I once decided to put the game on normal just try a boss I couldn't beat, it was defeated in 5 turns but going back to Draconian it took everything to beat it, and almost all my team died.

And random mobs can kill you as well, so you're constantly on your toes trying not not to mess up somehow. Thats the truest JRPG experience I had in a long time.

But don't worry, you will get to a point into the game that even on normal its hard, not to the point where mobs are a pain, but bosses will require more than spamming the atk command.

I want this game to succed because it deserves it, there was a lot of thought into it and its a shame it didn't fly off shelves.

Too bad everyone's waiting for the Switch version that might not even be released here now. And I was really looking forward to Builders 2