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What's the deal with Dragon Quest games no longer getting localized?
- Thread starter BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
- Start date
Stop doubting.
It has to do with Square-Enix thinking DQ is not that popular in the West (and it's not so popular...), now imagine how they think a DQ MMO will sell...probably next to nothing. As for DQVII, it's a remake so maybe they think it'll sell less for that reason but it's not like many people remember DQVII on the PS1. Anyway I think there's some hope for the localization of a future DQXI, which most likely won't be an MMO or a remake.
there's that. it's also a weird place because it's a super huge franchise in one part of the world, but nowhere else. and the owners of said franchise have a decent presence in those other markets. so instead of letting nisa and xseed publish a game like falcom does with ys, those companies would basically be work-for-hire like how atelier ayesha went down. that means the exposure nisa or xseed would get would be minimal without their branding all over the place, and they would only get a lump sum for the cost of localization, more than likely. it's better if they can make money off each game and have people buying said game to know that it was one of the smaller companies that brought it over.
but hey who says that dqvii isn't coming over? it came out after bravely default and has a fucking shitload of text. it's fairly likely that someone's working on it as we speak, but it's several months to a year from release.
mickagau33
Member
Do we have numbers for Bravely Default ?
tiggerkiddo
Member
I'm still curious why DQX wouldn't appeal to the Western market.
I'm sure he's trying to make up for that by preventing the spreading of misinformation regarding this subject now
.Also interested in this. In the UK it had no presence in supermarkets, Game etc. but was topping charts at all the decent online stores & is still lurking around a couple of months on. Been up there with Animal Crossing & Pokemon for streetpasses, too.
The same reason none of the others do, it's Dragon Quest. Just because it is longer and requires a monthly subscription shouldn't make it more appealing to those who have little to no appeal in the series anyway.
DQX isn't exactly as playable as some its MMO contemporaries. The game isn't as streamlined as say, World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV. It's also relatively simplistic and straightforward. DQX does a lot of things well; its story scenes and the ability to play solo thus mitigating a lot of the pressures of grouping and scheduling etc.
However, it's also catered towards a Japanese player base with a familiarity with DQ, therefore the things that make it appealing to a fan may not be enough to win over the hardcore MMO crowd, or indeed, more casual players as WoW kinda has all the bases covered.
There's also the matter of monetization and platforms to consider... It's a hard sell for sure.
footfunghi
Member
Wohaaa, i played the game when it came out but i seriously dont remember that it was this text heavy.
I remember someone stating that "Trails in the Sky" had one of the largest scripts of more than 1.5 million japanese words and i do belive that Dragon Quest VII RE would sell more than a new entry in the Trails franchise
charlequin
Banned
I'm doubtful, but more due to abiding pessimism than anything else. I definitely wouldn't rule it out, and I do intend to revise my predictions when we see how well BD did in the US.
Se really screwed up with this series in the NA. DQ8 sold very well and has a pretty loyal following and the same can be said for DQ9. I guess it doesn't help that 10 was an mmo though and although I want it here I can understand why they won't bring it here. I just hope 11 gets localized if not though you can pretty much pronounce it dead again in NA
I'd probably be more optimistic if it didn't seem to be in the same territory as a Kiseki game for localization. V and VI were SFC games originally and as such were naturally constrained by the format, but with VII they pretty much went "just how big of a game can we make when we're not focusing on blowing that storage on graphics?" so we got this monster of a game to relocalize. Well, maybe localize in the first place given the original translation quality.
Nintendo needs to do a kickstarter to translate DQVII for the U.S. and release on 3DS digitally. It would work ... and there's no way Nintendo would do it.
Kickstarter is an iffy for localization, because the issues standing in the way are mostly (even for a massive title like DQ) opportunity cost and judgment calls about series potential -after- the vocal hardcore is sated.
Wish SE would just say outright, they'll never localize anothet Dragon Quest game again out West. Would make it easier to those hoping for a localization to either import it or do a digital download via emulator scene or whatnot I think the DQ series is deader then the Vita out West now. Sad now that this franchise will be forever niche out West.
they're probably going to do the single player games proper and their remakes. dqviii sold several hundred thousand units over here, so i wouldn't be surprised to see it again whenever it comes out for whatever platform it gets remade on. dqxi is probably going to be a single-player game, so that will probably make its way over.
stuff like remakes of dqm games and the rocket slime titles fly in way too low under the radar. i think the 3ds userbase is more receptive to being a kingmaker of sorts when it comes to some rpgs. bravely default will be the real test.
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
What?! When?! Where?! Why?! Who?! How?!
To be blunt this is the dumbest fucking thing you can do as a business without actual legal barriers being in the way, and even then. Everything changes, nothing is guaranteed to stay the same, and in the case of the current games we're talking about sequels to spin-offs that didn't do too well, a remake of a grotesquely massive RPG, and an MMO of a style that is likely to not find a significant audience in the US to justify bringing out (I wager it'd have more than some of the failed MMOs, but that isn't really saying much and part of the reason they failed is because the developers/publishers weren't able to recognize a bad idea.)
If JRPGs come back in vogue then they'll look like complete idiots, either for stubbornly refusing a safer to localize DQ, or for localizing it after they said they'd never do it again. Hell, DQVII's massive size may just mean we're going to keep waiting awhile before we see that yet ultimately will, and there's mobile games that may already be localized. And they've sat on fully localized games for long periods of time for seemingly no good reason before.
Meh they can say they will never do it and then end up doing it anyway, SE breaks promises all the time, their communique is not to be trusted.
Chances are we might see more Bravely Default. We need to remember the only reason why we have Bravely Default is because it's published by Nintendo. Square Enix likely wouldn't have bothered at all to release it outside of Japan.
I just have the feeling that everyone but Square Enix cares if the Dragon Quest is a success outside of Japan. I think they're quite happy with it being Japan only. Especially if the scripts look like that. That's the impression (right or wrong) I get.
I guess I just don't expect much Square Enix these days. How long it took to get Bravely Default even then only because Nintendo stepped in. Final Fantasy XIV 1.0. Final Fantasy 13 series. Handling of Final Fantasy Theatrhythm in the west and eShop (where it's still not available but it's up on iOS). Final Fantasy: The Crystal Bearers being released the day after Christmas in 2009 in the west!? That last one still blows my mind. Stores were breaking street date on that to varying degrees just so they could sell it for the holiday I believe. When I got my copy at gamestop doing some last minute shopping they had no clue why the release date was what it was.
It is still profoundly fucking stupid. I can't imagine many investors or executives like to publicly slam doors shut if they can avoid it, and it'd be about as effective at addressing the fanbase as trying to get rid of a hornet nest with a shotgun: the aftermath and ill will won't be worth it.
No worse than not porting a game they promised to port and then conveniently forgetting they ever mentioned it, or delaying a game for 7 years and deciding to release it on a completely different platform than promised.
Sure it's stupid, but that's what the S in SE stands for right?