Isn't it because xbox and ps5 are selling abysmally low?
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[Noisy Pixel] Dragon Quest XII Development Facing Difficulties Due to Targeting Adult Audience* (off-hand remark)
- Thread starter Angie
- Start date
It depends on the game and franchise that determines which way it's going to move forward. Something like pokemon wouldn't fit with the kind of story you have in ff16, it would be a colossal flop. On the other hand there's probably a large interest in the ff series maturing and becoming more adult or having a more serious story. Maybe it's the same thing with dragon quest.
Even with pokemon we saw an attempt in their latest game for a more serious and involved story that we hadn't seen in previous games so it's doing it in its own way too.
I relished the opportunity to play games with mature stories when I was in high school. I hate having to continually play as teenagers in jrpgs these days. It's something I tolerate through gritted teeth but don't enjoy. Mature stories for me don't mean less fun. It means more depth and I would welcome that with open arms.
Another catchy, cheap headline. After some digging the source is a tongue in cheek comment that Horii made in an interview, not an expose of DQ's development hell.
I wouldn't read into it that much.... to late it seems.
I wouldn't read into it that much.... to late it seems.
No, it's because Japan's population is extremely old and birthrates are nonexistent. There simply aren't enough young people buying games. This trend is accelerating and S/E explicitly says this is the cause in the annual report.
You have it backwards. PS5 is selling poorly because console gaming is bleeding out in Japan. Demand for consoles and full-price console games is in the abyss. Mobile has completely overtaken the Japanese gaming market on a level that really can't be overstated. Combine that with demographic collapse coming over the next decade and a half and you're going to have even less people buying consoles and games to play on them, and huge swathes of children being born and growing up with no frame of reference for console gaming whatsoever.
Ah, shit, here we go again...
So what does "a game directed toward an adult audience" mean here? Is this going to be another game inspired by Game of Thrones?
So what does "a game directed toward an adult audience" mean here? Is this going to be another game inspired by Game of Thrones?
User Banned (3 Days): Avatar shaming
Very ironic coming from someone with a Berserk avatar.
The main gripes I've heard from friends that tried 11 come down to the combat system and the pacing of the game. Spice those up and you've got a recipe for success IMO
I've played the MMO with fan translation tools, funnily enough I think it could have done quite well in the west, especially around the time it released
I've played the MMO with fan translation tools, funnily enough I think it could have done quite well in the west, especially around the time it released
My view on this is that they're re-framing Dragon Quest's storytelling. It will be the same as always but the emphasis is put on the fact that it's sophisticated in its simplicity.
Hirunoshi on Twitter has a comprehensive translation of the interview from audio files that I recorded.
View: https://twitter.com/hirunoshi/status/1666095674117726208?s=20
I think the fact that most people jump to slimes saying "fuck" or whatever reflects poorly on how games handle mature storytelling.
Hirunoshi on Twitter has a comprehensive translation of the interview from audio files that I recorded.
View: https://twitter.com/hirunoshi/status/1666095674117726208?s=20
I think the fact that most people jump to slimes saying "fuck" or whatever reflects poorly on how games handle mature storytelling.
We don't always agree but you are on fire in this thread today. 100% correct.
Nah I don't think that's true or what anyone truly believe when they hear it's going to be more serious. Look at a couple of games that did a drastic turn and had a more serious tone. Tales of arise, ff16 or even pokemon scarlet which I mentioned earlier all went for something more serious and less cartoony than their predecessors and they did a good job and wasn't just adding cursing to cartoon monsters or similar.
It's a very, very, complex question that likely isn't appropriate for a gaming side forum conversation. Some articles for you though:
Japan’s ageing population poses urgent risk to society, says PM
Fumio Kishida says country may be unable to function if birthrate does not rise
www.theguardian.com
Japan must reform its inflexible work culture | East Asia Forum
The Prime Minister’s Office launched the Work Style Reform Action Plan in 2016, which helped build momentum towards creating a more flexible work culture, promoting work–life balance and improving overall productivity in the workplace. The number of employers offering flexible work practices...
www.eastasiaforum.org
It would be funny if this was a marketing ploy. Like they'd talk up how it targets adults, and how Puff Puff will be shown in-game for the first time, and when the game finally comes out it's the same as always, and the Puff Puff is shown but it's completely innocuous and G-rated.
People said the same thing about FFXVI's story before the polarizing details leaked out.
That said, yeah, people are reading into this answer way too much.
Yeah it didn't come off as a genuine were having difficulties, more like its just unusual for them so there's different aspects that come with it, nothing major i'd imagine. With that being said I enjoyed XI so much and I want to say I got 60% through it but never had a chance to finish it. I might go back before this one releases.
... I just asked if this Square Enix game directed toward an adult audience is going to be inspired by Game of Thrones too. That's it.
Now what is "ironic" about my avatar and what does it have to do with my comment or this thread?
It's a very, very, complex question that likely isn't appropriate for a gaming side forum conversation. Some articles for you though:
Japan’s ageing population poses urgent risk to society, says PM
Fumio Kishida says country may be unable to function if birthrate does not rise
Japan must reform its inflexible work culture | East Asia Forum
The Prime Minister’s Office launched the Work Style Reform Action Plan in 2016, which helped build momentum towards creating a more flexible work culture, promoting work–life balance and improving overall productivity in the workplace. The number of employers offering flexible work practices...
And on top of all of this, even IF the Japanese government manages to turn things around, the damage has already been done. Like I mentioned previously, so many kids in Japan are growing up WITHOUT the idea of console gaming being the "main kind" of gaming nowadays. Most of them are growing up with mobile SPECIFICALLY, and maybe a Switch in the house as well, meaning they've been primed to consider F2P and gacha games as "normal". This makes spending the equivalent of 400 to 600 dollars on a console and then who knows how much on a full-priced RPG every year or so far less appealing to them on a baseline psychological level. The same way consumers outside of Japan feel about paying money for "premium" phone apps when the default is free-to-start.
This is why more and more Japanese game devs have given up on making console games and pivoted to mobile development, and why lots of other devs (like Square) have tried extremely hard to make "worldwide-appropriate" games. Trying to develop a AAA or AAAA game specifically for Japan and then HOPING international consumers will buy it just doesn't fly anymore, especially considering how high budgets are and how long dev cycles are these days. This is why traditionally Japan-centric franchises like Persona and Yakuza have spread to more platforms and accepted a bunch of money from Microsoft to market them to people beyond their standard userbases, because these franchises need to grow to outpace the consumer entropy facing them in the home market.
Now, Dragon Quest is, outside of Nintendo games and Monster Hunter, pretty much Japan's hometown hero as far as video game franchises are concerned. It was an absolute juggernaut in the 80s and 90s, and is still a household name to this day. It is better equipped to push back against console gaming's decay than a franchise like Yakuza, but it's still not going to hold forever. Square knows that, Yuji Horii knows it, and that's why they think they need to make moves to expand the franchise's reach. If they can find a way to do that without destroying what home consumers love about the series, it could become a Persona-level overseas success AND retain the bulk of its Japanese userbase, allowing it to weather the storm and maybe even reach a whole new paradigm of popularity.
I don't know how they're going to manage it, and I hope they don't screw it up, but I'm curious to see what they decide to do. I can't imagine they will go with the same kind of tone FFXVI did.
Your comment (ah shit) seemed to imply that you disapproved of any influences coming from the "adult" Game of Thrones which I thought was ironic considering Berserk can be quite tonally similar. I stand corrected.
Yeah but Horii got complete creative control over DQ though it's not really the same thing. FF is the series SQE executives can meddle with not DQ.
I think you forget one company in your rant about the collapsing Japanese console business, especially when we talk about Dragon Quest - a series which thrives on the products of said company.
The existence of the Switch does not negate the decay of the console game market in Japan. Yes, Nintendo games still sell well. But that's basically it. Third party software, like the kinds of stuff Square releases, is floundering in Japan. Even games like Octopath Traveler 2 and Live a Live had soft, underwhelming launches. Dragon Quest will obviously do better than those games, but Square sees the trend. They know that it's getting harder and harder to move software in their home market.
I've tried to play IV and XI and bounced off of both. So I'm kind of interested in seeing what they have in mind when shaking things up.
Though I do plan to give the series another shot before then. So many people love it.
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Though I do plan to give the series another shot before then. So many people love it.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children - Wikipedia
Persona (series) - Wikipedia
I don't think this game was made for kids. It's still really violent, the SD style and gameplay changes just make sense for a Famicom adaptation rather than the arcade which would have been highly compromised.
Great game nonetheless. Probably one of the best action platformers on the console.
Agreed, Wanpaku Graffiti isn't really a kids' game, it's more a weird dark comedy parody of Splatterhouse than anything else.
Just here to echo Dragon Quest does not need to appeal to adult audiences, at least the main line games. Dragon Quest appeals to all ages. It's the Disney/Pixar of RPGs. Charm is like 50 percent of what makes DQ appealing.
I really, really hope this isn't a reboot of Japan's infamous we need to appeal more to western audiences approach of the early 2000's.
Look at something like Xenoblade or Octopath Traveller 2. Those games don't compromise themselves to appeal to some nebulous adult/western demo.
Like just make a good game you want to make. As much as I prefer DQ8 to DQ11, DQ11 has widespread critical acclaim from RPG fans, which is the most important demographic you should be targeting.
I really, really hope this isn't a reboot of Japan's infamous we need to appeal more to western audiences approach of the early 2000's.
Look at something like Xenoblade or Octopath Traveller 2. Those games don't compromise themselves to appeal to some nebulous adult/western demo.
Like just make a good game you want to make. As much as I prefer DQ8 to DQ11, DQ11 has widespread critical acclaim from RPG fans, which is the most important demographic you should be targeting.
The reason i never vibed with dragon quest is because the game is too basic and the characters too plain, it has nothing to do with how mature it is or looked. I really hope this report is wrong, i just need it to be more like chrono trigger or something to that effect and it would be fine.
Wtf SE, just make a more interesting story and keep the look. Why is that so hard? Appeal to adults by having a story that is just simple and basic.
One of my kids asked if they could play DQ11 and it dawned on me that DQ11 has a surprisingly large amount of sexual innuendo for a game that looks like it's targeting a kid audience. When you combine that with the fact that (spoiler alert)
Dragon Quest is already about as "adult" as I'd like. One of the appeals of DQ is that it's like a fairy tale and those can get pretty dark.
the party member who looks like a small child sacrifices herself to save everybody, and the villain wins and destroys the world
No, that's not basically it.
From third partys we saw Hogwart's Legacy doing very well there for example, or Koanmi's Momotaro Dentetsu series, which will get a new entry this year. Monster Hunter is still big, as is Persona nowadays. Elden Ring did well last year too, despite - like HL not being on the dominant platform there.
Basing your argument on a remake of a SNES game and a smaller scale JRPG that could't quite compare to the surpsiring break-out hit that was its predecessor is not really a compelling case.
You are, like always, extremly overdramatic in your arguments. Yes, the PlayStation market is on a decline in Japan, but with the great success of the Switch it's not like the entire market is collapsing. You amusingly even claimed the Japanese children will have no frame of reference for console games whatsoever, when many of them own a Nintendo Switch.
I could name more example, but the point is, that PlayStation and some franchises are on a decline, in big parts because they don't seem to think it's worth it to put their games on the market leader's platform in Japan and to some extent because they seemingly don't know anymore what appeals to Japanese players.
I already mentioned in the thread that there's no way in hell DQ12 is going to be PS5-exclusive. It will probably come out on PS5, Switch 2 and PC at launch.
I still don't think it's going to sell any better than DQXI did, though.
Of course not. That would be a good way to hamper your franchise dramatically.
They scrambled to make a 3DS version of XI because they saw that just putting your faith on PS4 for DQ would't pay off.
If I remember correctly DQ XI sold around 5 million copies in Japan combined through all the different releases. It will be difficult for XII to get there, I think, but it all depends on the timing of release. This year would've been great for it, next year will be too late and also too early for huge sales on Switch 2 for example.
But that has nothing to do with your hyperbole regarding the overall market. You are only right if you ignore the market leading platform in Japan and at that point, why even bother.
Square Enix just dropped the best JRPG since their Squaresoft days in Octopath Traveler 2 and I hear this heresy?
This... assumes that the only "adult" material period is Game of Thrones
Horii could be inspired by anything else besides that
I mean there's a ton of monster girl games out there if that's up your alley
Akira Toriyama designs but they say FUCK and stand in dark doorways smoking. Because they're ADULT.
Honestly you sound like you just dropped out of 2002, especially for someone who claims to be more into old school rpgs
As someone who did enjoy DQ11S, but has since played far more RPGs, the simplicity of DQ in both gameplay and visuals is both a strength and weakness for the brand. Not sure how they can reconcile that without alienating their fans. If DQ12 does eventually release, I'm not sure I've played it - games like Octopath Traveller (2) have spoiled me in terms of what a good turn-based RPG can be.