Dragon Quest 11 Opening Cinematic and Gameplay Revealed
By Rory Young 19 December 2016
Square Enix debuts Dragon Quest XI‘s opening cinematic, as well as gameplay from both the PS4 and 3DS versions of the game, at the Jump Festa 2017 convention.
Jump Festa is one of Japan’s major anime and manga conventions, and the event continues to have an increasingly large gaming presence. This was highlighted by Square Enix’s willingness to share new information of the next year’s biggest game releases at Jump Festa 2017. One of this year’s most head-turning debuts was for Dragon Quest XI, after Square Enix took the opportunity to show both the opening cinematic and gameplay from both the PS4 and 3DS version of the game.
The first trailer is that of Dragon Quest XI‘s opening cinematic. It should be particularly nostalgic for old-school RPG fans, as it has that classic form of introducing each of the main characters and enemies while also teasing some of the game’s deeper mysteries. It also further strengthens the notion that Dragon Quest XI will be visually impressive, complementing the style of artist Akira Tokiyama.
Dragon Quest XI‘s gameplay trailer is something else altogether. The trailer is split into two different parts, the first half from the PlayStation 4 and the second from the Nintendo 3DS. Obviously the differences between the two games will be significant, but just how different is a matter of some speculation. With the 3DS game showing how it’s mapped to a 2D plane and the PS4 version quite clearly entirely 3D, Square could certainly market the games as two separate and worthwhile experiences.
Focusing on the PlayStation 4 version alone, the game looks very impressive. The stylized look definitely appears more detailed than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild‘s gameplay videos, but perhaps not so much as Square Enix’s other in-the-works RPG Kingdom Hearts III. Having said that, the Dragon Quest series hasn’t been been that type of technical showcase RPG, so it’s perhaps not surprising to see Kingdom Hearts III show off more of a wow factor.
In addition to both the gameplay and cinematic trailers, Square Enix also shared a Camus character introduction trailer. Camus is a blue and spiky-haired thief that’s described as “loyal” to the game’s protagonist, and is one of the side-characters that will join the player’s party.
It’s worth noting that Dragon Quest XI has only been confirmed for release in Japan so far, and the game’s Western release has yet to be confirmed. Dragon Quest IX, the franchise’s last single player game, took a full year to be localized for Western release, while MMO Dragon Quest X may potentially never be released in the West. To be fair, Dragon Quest Builders and Dragon Quest Heroes had shorter localization times of 8-9 months, but that’s only likely to be the minimum localization time for a big project like Dragon Quest XI.
Dragon Quest XI is tentatively planned for release in Japan in 2017 for both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch as well. Western release announcements have yet to be made.
