Dragon Quest XII Uses Unreal Engine 5, But Still No Platforms Announced

Probably at the very least, PS4, PS5, Switch and PC

Maybe Xbox as well since now they're really starting to push Dragon Quest on stuff like Game Pass

I would be shocked, SHOCKED, if this didn't come out on the PS5.

So what timeline are we looking at - GTA6, ES6, Metroid Prime 4?

If it's 2023 or later really no reason to be on PS4. Heck even the Switch Pro could be replaced by the Switch 2 by 2023.🤷

@rjejr I forgot Medtroid Prime 4 existed. That’ll be fun to play if it ever comes out lol.

@rjejr the Switch 2 is most likely why they didn’t announce platforms. Judging from the title card, the combat system talk, and using Unreal 5, the game most likely just went to full production from pre production. 2023 would be extremely optimistic, 2024 is my guess.

@TheFrenchiestFry The Switch can't do UE5. They had to port XI to an earlier UE to get it to work on the Switch and that was only UE4 on PS4 and PC. They could do the same thing here but since they're mentioning UE5 already, it seems like at least at first that'll be what the game is made in.

It's also obviously not only going to release on PC or Xbox (or on Xbox at all), so PS5 has to be guaranteed.

Doesn't matter if it's on PS5 or not. It'll still be held back by the Switch.

@Matroska Um I don’t think your quite right about DQ11s, I think they needed to wait for an update to UE4 not a roll back to UE3, I dunno could be wrong.

I will say Yoshi Crafted World is on Unreal 4 and I think Octopath Traveler is to.

As for UE5, it’s already been confirmed it will support Switch, and given the current Switch rumors; it’d be weird for some version of Nintendo hardware not to work with UE5 in the future.

It'll come out on the last gen consoles but I would be surprised if it didn't hit the PS5/Series X.

@Matroska it would be absolutely insane of Epic to not support the Switch (or rather the switch not being capable of running UE5)

@Matroska Unreal Engine 5 was confirmed to be compatible with Switch.

@BoldAndBrash So what if MS has a big wallet. I seriously doubt a DQ game would miss PlayStation consoles over Xbox ones. The most Xbox could do there is have timed exclusivity. Which I doubt is happening.

@nessisonett Really?! When was that?

@Rafie Apparently May last year.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/05/unreal_engine_5_to_support_current-generation_consoles_and_mobile_platforms

That’s disappointing because that suggests we’re not gonna see this game for a long long time. It also seems a little unnecessary as Dragon Quest was never a strong contender on driving graphics and could push UE4 a lot harder.

That is a interesting bit of information. Maybe Dragon Quest XII can end up being a heavy hitter.
If it does, it will definitely help PS5 in the RPG department. Maybe some kind of response to Microsoft's Fable?

Sony and Nintendo platforms are a definite. That is where it's audience is.

@Matroska Other way around, they had to port DQ11 to a newer version of Unreal Engine 4. The version they built the original version on didn't have the Switch support in its SDK, so they needed to migrate to a later version.

@mousieone @Orpheus79V That's really weird, then. I'd always heard the reason that the S version on PC and PS4 looks so much worse than the original version is that it was back ported to an older UE version and they didn't want to port the new content back to PC and PS4 standards.

I've checked and what you've said is true, but that just makes it even weirder than the S version on PS4 and PC is visually inferior to a noticeable degree than the original release.

PS5 is a lock i'd say.

Maybe others too.

@Matroska nah they remade/remastered (demastered?) the OG game using the Switch as the lead platform. It’s why the higher visuals couldn’t be imported in; it’s basically a different game. I mean they probably could have, but the amount of work probably didn’t weigh the cost. The easiest way to compare is looking at how the light works in caves and things. It’s pretty easy to see that the two games have different light maps, etc. Like if you see the difference between the two Persona Strikers games; you can see that it’s Downscaled version of the PS4 version. But the DQ11S game isn’t an exact side by side match for the PS4 version.

That said having a newer version doesn’t necessarily mean the graphics are automatically better. I mean sure UE4–>UE5 but that’s technically two different engines. On the other hand UE4.52–>UE4.53 could easily mean different tools kits and support etc

If I’m Honest; I don’t think UE3 supports Switch.

they won't ignore 150m ps4 users. guaranteed to be on ps4 at the very least.

@mousieone "Switch 2"

Not New Switch Pro? We should start the next gen Switch rumours rolling calling it the NX2 b/c it uses the Tegra X2 chip. (apologies if that joke means nothing to you)

@Jaz007 "I forgot Metroid Prime 4 existed"

Everyone did. It exists only a little bit more than Pikmin 4. 😉

@Porco "they won't ignore 150m ps4 users"

Except by the time this game comes out there won't be 150m PS4 users. There may be 150m PS4 sold but the majority of those will be using PS5 in 3 or 4 years, PS4 will either be traded in or collecting dust by the time this title screen of a game releases. See Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4.

@rjejr true to some entent. but do you believe dq xii is really 3-4 years away? i predict it releases in the next 18-24 months and will be a cross gen game because the ps4 userbase will still be massive at that time. ps5 shortage is expected to go on for another 12 months (or more) so it doesn't make the situation any better in knowing dq xii is a ways off still.

@Porco "in the next 18-24 months"

Well if it's 24 months as you say that's mid 2023, so 2 1/2 years after the PS5 launch, so yeah, by then, most people have moved on.

Plus, if they are going to try to make a worldwide release for 3 different consoles - Switch, PS4, PS5 - then that is going to take a lot longer than just making a Switch and PS5 version.

All we've seen so far is a logo. Have you seen how long all of these big AAA games have been taking to come out the past 5 or so years? Using a gaming metric Id' say the average length of time is about three E3s, 4 years. And some of those games had release dates only a year or 2 later. So in the next 18-24 months when we finally get a release date, add another 6-8 months to that.

A logo. For a worldwide release of a 100 hour long JRPG that is trying to change up a few things. Has to be 3 years away at least. It just has to.

"Not much beyond the game’s logo and title was revealed, but series creator Yuji Horii hinted at some changes to the traditional turn-based battle system, and said Square Enix was aiming for a simultaneous worldwide release."

https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/27/22456124/dragon-quest-xii-announced-35th-anniversary-event

Would I like it come out sooner? Sure. But I've had Bayonneta 3 on pre-order since 2018, Pikmin 4 has been nearly compelte since 2016 or 2017, Zelda BotW 2 has no date, and Cyberpunk was a disaster on PS4. Probably b/c they were trying to do too much all at once. So they should drop PS4, get to work on PS5 and Switch or New Switch Pro if need be. Or Switch 2, really not expecting a logo of a game to release any time soon. I see no reason to expect that, the industry is irrevocably broken where release dates are concerned. Also why we rarely get release dates anymore. HFW had a 20 minute SoP yesterday, due in 2021 which is now half over, still no date.