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Dragon Quest Builders 2 announced for PS4/Switch, has multiplayer

that 1.1 million includes Asia sales. It did really well in Asia.

Ahhhh that could explain it, didn't realize it did well in the region outside of Japan. Was it the first DQ to do well in (non-Japan) Asia? I'm curious if it was the DQ brand or the Minecraft gameplay that helped.


In any case, at least it seems like an inexpensive game to localize with relatively little text compared to a typical RPG (though item and room translations take time too).
 
A rare bug with framepacing while under certain conditions isn't really enough to drop it into "couldn't run well", 99.9% of the time it was in perfect 60fps.

Whether having an expanded Z axis vertically and below the water (along with all the other enhancements) in DQB2 will start to strain the base PS4 remains to be seen.

Rare bug? The game stutters every time I move the camera.
 
Rare bug? The game stutters every time I move the camera.

That is strange. I played the English version on a normal PS4 and never had a problem. In fact this is the first time I have heard of a problem. Sorry man. That sucks for such a fun game.

Switch owners are in for a fun time.
 
Rare bug? The game stutters every time I move the camera.

In the US version, whenever an item is selected or highlighted in the inventory, it causes the camera to stutter a bit when it moves. If an empty inventory slot is selected, then the camera does not stutter. It's a bizarre bug they never fixed.
 
Localised DQB has a slight judder all the time but if you equip anything like a block, it gets more stuttery.

Doesn't matter what you're looking at, you can be inside a cave, staring at the ground and it still happens. As with any game, it's much more noticeable if you're making big sweeping motions with the camera.
 
Serious question, did they get rid of the horrible chapter concept?

This is what prevented me from finishing the first one and I don't want to play this one if it's like that again.
 
More UI details:

  • The hunger meter's changed from five loaves of bread that gradually get eaten away, to one full bread with a % number
  • No idea what the smiley face by the hunger meter is, maybe at certain cutoff %'s indicated by the face you regain some/more HP automatically over time
  • In the multiplayer footage at the end there's no hunger meter at all
  • The compass functionality's been removed, with only a smaller time of day indicator in the top right
Maybe there's an upgraded map screen with points of interest you can show/hide. If you activate a point of interest, maybe the compass reappears in the HUD.
 
strange. I never noticed that..I played the japanese version a looot.
The bug wasn't in the Japanese version. It was in the Western one.

Personally I never noticed it at all, but supposedly it happened when adjusting the camera while having an item selected.
 
When they turn a solid block into a slope, it looks like a pickaxe swing but the active tool's a shovel. There's no displayed button for the parachute.

The video quality's low so you can only see it in the multiplayer footage but when the camera's still, there's a cloud-shadow effect rolling across the ground. The new crepuscular 'god' rays are a bit more obvious during dusk.
 
That is strange. I played the English version on a normal PS4 and never had a problem. In fact this is the first time I have heard of a problem. Sorry man. That sucks for such a fun game.

Switch owners are in for a fun time.
Same. I got the plat and never had this once. Sucks for some it seems :(
 
Hopefully the world is better connected this time around. It was pretty cool to see how they've used DQ1's world for this, but you were always confined to these seperated areas. I think it'd have been a lot more interesting if you had to search for the next town by yourself after finishing another. Give the game more of a sense of adventure.

That would be awesome. With the introduction of the hang glider or whatever they do, that seems like it could be possible to an extent.

I think you said it right when you said you want more of an adventure. The first game, as good as it was, felt like a few really really long stages due to the way the game worked.
 
Ahhhh that could explain it, didn't realize it did well in the region outside of Japan. Was it the first DQ to do well in (non-Japan) Asia? I'm curious if it was the DQ brand or the Minecraft gameplay that helped.


In any case, at least it seems like an inexipensive game to localize with relatively little text compared to a typical RPG (though item and room translations take time too).

It being a fun game is probably more important than anything else. From my knowledge DQ is not a particularly big brand in Asia and most DQ fans play their DQ games on Nintendo platforms.
 
The only sources I can find are that 1.1 million physical and digital was sold, not shipped. Or at least I'm not seeing where it says the 700k was sell through while the 1.1m was a different measure. Both seem to be numbers announced by SE themselves.

Also, the 1.1m was in November 2016, the 700k on May 30, 2016. The game was released in January for Japan. After 5 months, I'm guessing the sales were almost negligible.

As evidence, it didn't chart at all on top 50 for media create for may. The 20th game on MC sold about 2.5k copies each week. Even if DQ builders was selling 2k copies a week, thats 8k copies a month. For June, July, August, September, October, November, thats a measly 50k by the most aggressive estimation. So while it sold over 700k, I'm not sure how much one can say "well over" 700k, and it seems clear that NA and Europe were 300k minimum of the 1.1m in November. (Edit: as pointed out below, I forgot the rest of Asia, which apparently liked DQ Builders. So I guess it's still unclear how well received it was in the West. Though as friendcode mentioned, Europe didn't seem too keen on it.)

Once the 1.1m number was announced, they did release greatest hits versions in Japan, which I'm sure did help move more units, but that was after the 1.1m announcement.

However I can't read Japanese so perhaps I'm going off poorly translated Japanese Press releases -- if you know Japanese well, please do share.
The over 700k I was referring to is the Famitsu sellthrough, not a SE announced figure. Although looking again it's just under 700k, not including digital.

PSV- 327.389
PS4- 250.460
PS3- 116.580
Total- 694.429


-edit-

I found Famitsu digital estimates for Jan & Feb 2016.

PSV- 41.962
PS4- 35.262
PS3- 7.633
Total- 84.897

Digital after that probably didn't do much more but I think we can pretty safely say Japan accounted for roughly 800k of SE's 1.1m given the Famitsu numbers (totaling 779.886).

It was also over 100k in Asia it's first month, so western sales should be less than 200k of that 1.1m.
 
Serious question, did they get rid of the horrible chapter concept?

This is what prevented me from finishing the first one and I don't want to play this one if it's like that again.

Starting from scratch is the gameplay loop, otherwise you're just playing Free Play which has its own issues (your inventory immediately becomes total clutter)

Basically, expect chapters because they make sense.
 
I liked the chapter structure but I'd prefer it if successive chapters started with more of the basics already built so it's not a complete restart every time.
 
Who's saying they're still using Phyre? Most of SE's teams seem to be working with UE4 these days, Builders switching engines wouldn't be particularly surprising.

What's the point of that? PhyreEngine is a multiplatform engine, Square Enix can port it to Switch if they want. It wouldn't even be the first PhyreEngine game on Nintendo hardware.
 
I totally missed this announcement---I loved the first game--had that DQ charm and totally engrossed me and I don't even like building games. I'm so glad they are making a sequel!
 
Any idea if this MP is local or online ?

So far, it's only been announced that the game will have multiplayer for up to 4 people (I just checked the Stream/Famitsu/Dengeki/4gamer)

I suspect online on PS4/Switch and local multiplayer with multiple Switch consoles, maybe split-screen on PS4 but nothing has been announced so far.
 
The over 700k I was referring to is the Famitsu sellthrough, not a SE announced figure. Although looking again it's just under 700k, not including digital.

PSV- 327.389
PS4- 250.460
PS3- 116.580
Total- 694.429


-edit-

I found Famitsu digital estimates for Jan & Feb 2016.

PSV- 41.962
PS4- 35.262
PS3- 7.633
Total- 84.897

Digital after that probably didn't do much more but I think we can pretty safely say Japan accounted for roughly 800k of SE's 1.1m given the Famitsu numbers (totaling 779.886).

It was also over 100k in Asia it's first month, so western sales should be less than 200k of that 1.1m.

Ah thank you for digging these info up! The first set of Famitsu numbers is from now? Or back in May/November? Not that the numbers would be too different, but with the players choice release, just curious.

I guess I don't know Famitsu's methodology well enough to comment in more depth, but if its estimated (e.g. extrapolated from retail surveys), I would tend to trust the publisher numbers more. I noticed a few differences in the other Famitsu numbers relative to previous SE announcements about Japanese sales. (E.g. dqVIII).

But with the strong asian showing, I think its clear the west didn't sell 300k. Thank you all for contributing.
 
So far, it's only been announced that the game will have multiplayer for up to 4 people (I just checked the Stream/Famitsu/Dengeki/4gamer)

I suspect online on PS4/Switch and local multiplayer with multiple Switch consoles, maybe split-screen on PS4 but nothing has been announced so far.

Thanks! Hopeful for online multi
 
I'm gonna jump straight on the Switch version day one this time. I waited for the first one to come to Steam but it never came, and now the price for the physical PS4 version actually went up from £25 > £33.
 
I'd like an upgrade for bases where everything self-heals over time. So you accidentally bang some blocks weakening them, leave them for five minutes and they're back to full strength.

Weapon swings not damaging anything inside your own base would be great too.
 
I'd like an upgrade for bases where everything self-heals over time. So you accidentally bang some blocks weakening them, leave them for five minutes and they're back to full strength.

Pretty sure blocks and other items already regenerate "health" in DQB.

Definitely know the cannon does, since I've blown up blocks point-blank with it only for it to get damaged by the blast to where it's one whack away from being destroyed. I leave it alone for a few seconds, and it's back to full durability.
 
Starting from scratch is the gameplay loop, otherwise you're just playing Free Play which has its own issues (your inventory immediately becomes total clutter)

Basically, expect chapters because they make sense.

I disagree. They can just have one "chapter" but longer. Game could be the same length but only one story. Its very easy to do and much more fun to me than having the feeling I lose progress.
 
guys i'm so excited for this game

tell me it's coming out in Q1 next year

More like late 2018 or 2019. We have no Japanese release date yet. It will probably be next year for them.

We still have to get DQXI and that won't be release before June next year.
 
I'm currently replaying the first game; I had some challenges left to do.

I'm very glad the sequel is adding stuff that I asked for, such as sprinting and multiplayer. But there are other things I want to see in the sequel; things that are not yet confirmed:

1. No ghosts that chase you at night. Fuck that shit. It's so annoying. If the devs want to make the nights more dangerous, they can simply have different and more powerful enemies spawn. But no enemies that track you down incessantly like a fucking heat-seeking missile.

2. Enemies stop attacking your settlement after you beat the area boss. Again, this is really annoying. You've killed the boss, the threat is over, and you're just minding your own business, building your settlement in peace when all of a sudden, a bunch of fucking robots and scorpions attack you. Every day. No. Fuck that. Let me have fun with the goddamn building aspect of the game. Interrupting my planning and building with forced fights is not fun at all. In fact, it is the opposite of fun. It makes me like the game less. Honestly, I would be very very okay with enemies never attacking your settlement at all outside of the predetermined story battles. How about that.
 
I'm currently replaying the first game; I had some challenges left to do.

I'm very glad the sequel is adding stuff that I asked for, such as sprinting and multiplayer. But there are other things I want to see in the sequel; things that are not yet confirmed:

1. No ghosts that chase you at night. Fuck that shit. It's so annoying. If the devs want to make the nights more dangerous, they can simply have different and more powerful enemies spawn. But no enemies that track you down incessantly like a fucking heat-seeking missile.

Oh god yes! They weren't even a threat, just really, really, really annoying.
 
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