- Justin, who, sadly, "got the Dragon Warrior cart free with a subscription to Nintendo Power. It, sadly, is the only DW/DQ game that I've played."
Gallery: Dragon Quest Swords
Posts with tag DragonQuest
Wii Fanswag: And the Dragon Quest Swords winner is ...
Wii Fanboy Review: Dragon Quest Swords
But that's not the end of the world, necessarily, because this is a title to ease gamers into the genre, ignoring the best features and aspects of modern RPG titles and replacing them with simple gameplay and an overall easily accessible package. But longtime fans of the Dragon Quest (previously Dragon Warrior) franchise will find that this game is a lackluster spin-off.
Most folks will tell you that a RPG ultimately needs two things: a good story and an engaging battle system. This game, sadly, falls flat on both accounts.
Gallery: Dragon Quest Swords
WRUP: The Wiimote and our masked selves edition
This week's big release is likely to be Pimp My Ride for the lot of you, but for us here at the Wii Fanboy offices a little known title from Square Enix called Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is going to be the primary focus of our downtime this weekend. Mainly because we have to review it (keep an eye out for that!), but also because we like to pretend we're sword fighting with our Wiimote. In fact, we even have our own crudely-made mask here to wear while doing so. If you want an idea of how it look, picture someone tearing holes into an old, dirty washcloth with a butter knife and you pretty much got our mask.
Will you be playing this, as well? Are you instead trying to pimp virtual rides? How will you get your game on this weekend?
Gallery: Dragon Quest Swords
We almost forgot what Dragon Quest Swords looked like [update]
Seriously, we're looking forward to the title and all, but it's been so long. The game released in Japan months ago, yet the rest of us are left sitting and waiting for Square Enix's Dragon Quest spin-off. Now, with just about a month until it releases here in the states, it would appear the first ad for the game has found its way onto the internet. Sadly, we're not sure if this is the first of many or the entirety of Square Enix's television marketing campaign.
Update: Reader strongbad80 writes in to inform us that this is a video to be played inside game stores such as Gamestop and not a television ad.
Getting your sword dirty in Dragon Quest Swords
First, navigation sounds like it will be a pain. Unlike most 3D titles, you will not have analog control over your character, instead requiring you to move as if you're "walking around in Resident Evil 1." Ouch, that's not very good. Also, when navigating the enemy-infested areas, the game goes semi on-rails. There's two strikes.
Battling seems to add lots of flavor, though. In describing the many formations of enemies and their own distinctive attacks, as well as the art of blocking, we've found the thing that offsets the lack of navigational freedom, in our eyes. Seriously, it could probably get repetitive after a bit (we're just speculating here, having never played the game), but overall it looks to be very fun.
See also: Massive amount of Dragon Quest Swords videos
Massive Dragon Quest video update
- Video - Encountering and fighting the enemy
- Video - Taking a stroll
- Video - Selecting enemies
- Video - Character assistance
- Video - Narration
- Video - NPC interaction
- Video - Navigating a river
- Video - Activating sword powers
- Video - Monsters montage
Gossipy Dragon Quest Swords screens
Sometimes we rush through the tedious boss fights and story progression so we can get back to town and hear the single, repeated piece of information from every citizen. We just want to hear all about their lives. It reinvigorates us for more hours of grinding right outside of town!
Japanese Dragon Quest Swords boxart
When anything at all happens related to a Dragon Quest game, we pay attention. Therefore, we felt that the newly-released Japanese boxart for Dragon Quest Swords was worth posting. Take an early look at something that's going to be in pretty much every Japanese home after July 12th!
The boxart looks pretty nice, actually. We appreciate it when publishers put actual hand-drawn art on the cover instead of action poses of the main character's 3D model. Especially when it's Akira Toriyama art, which we continue to like despite Dragon Ball Z.
Dragon Quest Swords makes with the new gameplay screenshots, details
Some new screenshots for Dragon Quest Swords were recently posted on Famitsu. There're some gameplay shots, a companion select screen and a few bits of in-game scenery.It looks like the Wiimote is going to be fully integrated into the game; what looks like a pointer can be seen in the battle shots. The article promises that the game will detect the sword strokes made by the player, with the direction of swing apparently matching the players action.
How well the first person swordplay works could well be the critical factor in the success of this game.
The game's 3 companions are also pictured, choose from soldier Dean, fatherly Boudo, or monk Seteia, who appears to have skipped on the brown cloth tunic and gone straight for the traditional pink bodice and leather wrist strap. We know who we'd choose.
Dragon Quest Swords is penciled in for a July 12 release (Japan).
Continue reading Dragon Quest Swords makes with the new gameplay screenshots, details
New scan shows some of Dragon Quest Swords' swords
Some gameplay details about Dragon Quest Swords have trickled out in the form of this Jump magazine scan and the accompanying NeoGAF thread. It seems that you'll be able to upgrade your sword during your adventure, which in itself is not a surprise, given the title of the game (it's not Dragon Quest Sword, after all). The swords themselves are cool enough to be noteworthy, as is the method of upgrading. You collect elements on your journey (the fire/ice sense of "elements" more than the molybdenum sense) and take those to a blacksmith to have swords forged. Those swords, then, naturally, have elemental attacks. Also, you gain the ability to have a freaking cool-looking sword. We've posted the scan after the break.
Continue reading New scan shows some of Dragon Quest Swords' swords
Dragon Quest Swords trailer revealed
Over at Square-Enix's Japanese site, we find the main page for Dragon Quest: Swords. And by going through that, one may stumble upon a newly-released trailer for the game. In the trailer, we receive a short intro speech followed by some artwork of the game's characters being shown and, well ... we don't want to ruin the whole thing for you, so we suggest you go check it out.
[Thanks creamsugar!]
Screenshot explosion: Dragon Quest Swords
A whole slew of new screens for Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors have surfaced over at French gaming site Jeux-France. The images, which showcase in-battle scenes and cutscene dialogue, present a new light on the game, showing us some more of enemies we'll no doubt encounter, as well as presenting the overall experience in a much more favorable light. Of course, now that we've received some new images, it'll be that much longer before we get any more, so be sure to give these a thorough look.
Dragon Quest designer digs the Revolution
Speaking at a fancy launch event for the
European PS2 debut of Dragon Quest VIII: Curse of the Enormous Subtitle, the project lead, series producer and
generally creepy looking guy Yuji Horii talked about everyone's favorite wand-waving wonder and the implications it
might have for the gamer. He expressed excitement at the Revolution's interface, noting that the feedback one gains
from playing with it would be very rewarding to players. "You do something, and it reacts to you. It's human nature that to have some feedback from your actions is rewarding."
While it's important to point out that just about every game on every console provides feedback to your actions, the point Mr. Horii is no doubt trying to make is that your motions with the Revolution controller will directly correspond to the on-screen motions of your character. Dance Dance Revolution is one game that does exactly that, no doubt the reason for my chronic addiction to it.
So, does this mean we can expect a Dragon Quest game for the Revolution? According to the Eurogamer article, that's "TBD" (to be determined). Well, at least that's better than a "no", right?
