Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 85 Comments

In one of its issues earlier this month, Dengeki PlayStation spoke with a ton of recognized game creators ranging from Keiji Inafune to Tetsuya Nomura. This feature was published to celebrate the magazine’s 600th issue.

One of the developers Dengeki PlayStation reached out to was Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata. To start out with, Tabata was asked which company’s title he would like to work on as a member of their staff. Here’s how he responded:

“The Legend of Zelda series. I’m not quite sure why myself, but a Zelda game made with the technology and know-how of Final Fantasy XV is the game I wish to create as of this moment.”

Of course, you shouldn’t make too much of Tabata’s words – it was just a harmless comment after all! Still, it’s an interesting choice on his part. It almost makes you wonder what a Square Enix-made Zelda game would look like.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 50 Comments

At the New York Comic-Con last week, Game Rampage approached Square Enix senior marketing manager Mat Kishimoto about the status of Dragon Quest localizations in the west. When asked if the company hears the outcry of passionate fans, Kishimoto mentioned:

“We hear them, we hear you guys all of em, we hear you guys about Dragon Quest VII and VIII,… X is being begged for. There’s lots of factors that go into decision making like that, so there’s a lot of times we really can’t comment on it but we do um.. we really do hear everybody.”

Kishimoto was also asked if there has been any movement on the localization of Dragon Quest games. Regarding this, he said:

“[Members of Square-Enix are] building the case for each one of these titles to be localized and brought out to the west.”

Square Enix launched the newest Dragon Quest-related game, Dragon Quest Heroes, in North America this week. Kishimoto reiterated something we’ve heard previously: the title’s success could further motivate the company to bring more entries in the series overseas.

Kishimoto said:

“Let’s hope that the success of Dragon Quest Heroes kind of dovetails if you will into the future of Dragon Quest being brought out to the west, let’s hope so!”

Source

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 2 Comments

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 was announced in July, but Square Enix didn’t share too many details about the game. Finally though, this week’s issue of Jump provides us with the first true tidbits of information.

Here’s what’s shared in the magazine:

– Set in the near future
– The protagonist is a boy who lost the memories of his past
– He obtains an unknown, multipurpose device called a “Reactor”
– He then sets off on a journey to regain his memory
– The Reactor is equipped with various functions
– Can analyze monsters, among other things
– Over 500 types of monsters in the game
– Ride every monster you make friends with
– Ride monsters be it on the ground, in the sky, or in the water
– There are some places you can’t reach without riding there
– Multiplayer battle element included
– Game will have the types of competitions not seen in previous games

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 does not have a release date at this time. It should be arriving in Japan sometime next year though.

Source

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments

Square Enix announced its lineup for New York Comic Con 2015 today. Although the publisher won’t have much on display in terms of Nintendo titles, there will be one 3DS game on hand. Final Fantasy Explorers is confirmed to be playable at the expo.

Here’s a brief overview of Final Fantasy Explorers:

“FINAL FANTASY EXPLORERS focuses on cooperative play with friends and utilizes a refined party system allowing Explorers to master over 20 new and familiar jobs—including Knight, Monk, Black Mage and White Mage—to defeat the realm’s mightiest monsters and even recruit them for battle. Players will have the ability to call upon the powers of eidolons like Ifrit and Bahamut, as well as transform into other legendary characters from the FINAL FANTASY series via the Trance feature.”

Source: Square Enix PR

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 20 Comments

During the 2015 Tokyo Game Show this weekend, Square Enix announced the Dragon Quest X All In One Package for Wii U and PC. This features all three major updates created for the game up to this point.

Dragon Quest X All In One Package is due out in Japan on December 3. Pricing is set at 4,800 yen.

Source

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 2 Comments

YouTube user “ninten2tv” has another video in comparing Dragon Quest VIII on the 3DS and PlayStation 2. Watch it below.

More: comparison, Dragon Quest VIII, Japan, Square Enix

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 1 Comment

Plenty of footage is available showing Dragon Quest VIII on 3DS. You’ll find one such video below.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS, News | 0 comments

Dragon Quest VIII sold 585,000 copies in its first week in Japan, according to Media Create. The sales tracker has since provided additional information about the game’s performance.

Dragon Quest VIII ended up selling through 72.27 of its initial stock. For titles released on the 3DS during 2015, it places second next to Yo-kai Watch Busters, which sold 694,000 copies in its opening week. However, when compared to the Dragon Quest VII remake on 3DS (first week sales of 828,000 units, 83.29 percent sell-through, debuted on February 2013), both sales numbers and sell-through have fallen.

On the other hand, big name titles have been a driving force in 3DS hardware sales. Of special note was the sales of the New 3DS XL. The Metallic Red color debuted in Japan, and sold 13,000 units sold having been released on the same day as those games. New 3DS hardware rose to 38,000 units sold, an increase of 192.87 percent compared to last week.

More: Dragon Quest VIII, Japan, Media Create, sales, Square Enix

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 30 Comments

Some have been under the impression that Final Fantasy VI was a disappointment from a sales perspective in Japan whereas it sold moderately well in America. However, this isn’t actually true.

Hironobu Sakaguchi, who produced Final Fantasy VI, has now cleared things up. It turns out that is was the United States is where the RPG didn’t sell. He added that Final Fantasy VII “actually did very well in Japan.”

Interestingly, bigger characters were used in future Final Fantasy titles – starting with Final Fantasy VII – due to the response to VI. Sakaguchi is also “mystified” by VI’s newfound popularity in the west.

“In terms of numbers, [Final Fantasy VI] didn’t sell in the States. It actually did very well in Japan. I’m mystified, because I see [Americans] are playing the [mobile] version. I think size of the characters really matters to an American audience, so from Final Fantasy VII onward, we used bigger characters. [I think] that’s why Final Fantasy VII took off. But I am kind of mystified [by VI’s current popularity in the West], because [Americans] didn’t buy Final Fantasy VI back then.”

Source

More: Final Fantasy VI, Hironobu Sakaguchi, interview, sales, Square Enix

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, Videos | 7 Comments

More Dragon Quest VIII videos are emerging from Japan now that the game has launched in the region. We have one below that compares the loading times up against the PlayStation 2 version. It seems as though the 3DS takes a bit more time to load things, but it doesn’t seem to be a massive bump up in time.

More: comparison, Dragon Quest VIII, Japan, Square Enix