Damn, Dragon Quest X is brutal

[Lord Vatek]

Let me preface this by saying that I have absolutely no skill in reading Japanese. Like at all. This is all purely from visual queues.

You start the game by making your character and your character's sibling. You go around your village for a bit and eventually you travel with your sibling and some nerd to go get a flower. After accomplishing this you go back to your village which, in typical Dragon Quest fashion, is being destroyed by monsters.

Unlike previous Dragon Quests, you see villagers (including children) set on fire and their corpses lying strewn about. Then your sibling is kidnapped (or something?) and your nerd friend gets blown the f*ck up. Then the camera zooms out to show the whole world on fire and the main antagonist, who looks like this:

surrounds everything in a dark cloud. Apparently this kills the whole human race, including your character. Then you're sent to a shrine and you have to make a second character of a different race (I made a fish person).

Oh and then your second character gets killed too in a training accident and after a funeral where all of your friends are mourning your tragic death, the soul of your first character inhabits the body of the second.

This was all in the first twenty minutes.

I'm used to unexpectedly dark stuff in Dragon Quest but usually it's spread out and not crammed all in the beginning. I'm sure this would be way more interesting if I understood anything they were saying.

 

[xch1n]

This just makes me sadder and madder that they never brought it west. I want it so badly, but my Japanese is not nearly good enough to play. It looks awesome, and that story is just bonkers. Every time they talk about it on 8-4 Play it kills me. Maybe since XI did well they might...especially since they localized that super old mobile game.

 

[kadotsu]

He sounds like a reformer with results to me.

 

[Lord Vatek]

Oh and the main villain's name is Hades Nergel which is a very strong contender for the coolest JRPG villain name.

 

[Hasemo]

The story in DQX might be the most brutal in the whole series across the base game and all the expansions. Ton of vignettes are sad, and iirc barely any have a pure "happy ending" kind of resolution, most of the time the most you can hope for is bittersweet. I personally love it, since it makes the story feel fresh, compared to most other MMOs where everything ends well and an important character dies once in a blue moon, which is a big deal.

 

[NoKisum]

Wasn't there a rumor about Square releasing an offline version of this game?

 

[Chackan]

My Switch cries every time I whisper the name DQX.. :|

 

[Aeana]

Before they got rid of the offline version, there was a (not very good) translation of the intro story created. But if you're curious what the gist is, it might help to watch this video of someone playing through it.




DQ10 has some of the best stories in the series by far. I really adore it. Lots of despair, even more than DQ7. I'm still an expansion behind... I really need to catch up someday. :(

 

[Setzer]

I need this!

Would love for this to be localized someday, even if it is offline only.

 

[Plywood]

Sounds like the game is in on his villainous schemes too.

 

[newmoneytrash]

god i wish i could play this

 

[Deleted member 38050]

Every time I think about DQ10 and how I'll never play it in English I take soul damage

 

[Green Mario]

I knew that you played as a human character first, then moved to a second one, but I didn't know they get murdered. I figured they maybe get magically transformed into a different race lmao.

 

[Teriyaki Blues]

I knew that you played as a human character first, then moved to a second one, but I didn't know they get murdered. I figured they maybe get magically transformed into a different race lmao.

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Basically the main character of DQX pulls a Drop Dead Diva immediately.

I'm never going to get over the fact that the little tiny side stories in XI are all the X I'm ever going to experience in my lifetime. I really enjoyed the all too brief bits of humor and atmosphere there, especially in the first altar area for X.

 

[Deleted member 15428]

Let me preface this by saying that I have absolutely no skill in reading Japanese. Like at all. This is all purely from visual queues.

You start the game by making your character and your character's sibling. You go around your village for a bit and eventually you travel with your sibling and some nerd to go get a flower. After accomplishing this you go back to your village which, in typical Dragon Quest fashion, is being destroyed by monsters.

Unlike previous Dragon Quests, you see villagers (including children) set on fire and their corpses lying strewn about. Then your sibling is kidnapped (or something?) and your nerd friend gets blown the f*ck up. Then the camera zooms out to show the whole world on fire and the main antagonist, who looks like this:

surrounds everything in a dark cloud. Apparently this kills the whole human race, including your character. Then you're sent to a shrine and you have to make a second character of a different race (I made a fish person).

Oh and then your second character gets killed too in a training accident and after a funeral where all of your friends are mourning your tragic death, the soul of your first character inhabits the body of the second.

This was all in the first twenty minutes.

I'm used to unexpectedly dark stuff in Dragon Quest but usually it's spread out and not crammed all in the beginning. I'm sure this would be way more interesting if I understood anything they were saying.

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What's visual queues?

 

[Lord Vatek]

What's visual queues?

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I meant cues. I'm tired.

 

[BizzyBum]

Hey, maybe with the huge surge in popularity with DQ XI they'll think of porting this over now!

 

[kurahador]

Gahh...I really want to play this. You'd think with the success of FFXIV S-E would be all hands on deck to bring in their next big MMO into the west.

 

[Hasemo]

I really doubt DQX is ever coming to the West. Compared to most current MMOs, the game feels very archaic (it's a Wii title, so that's probably a big part of it), with elements which feel like straight out of FFXI.
It's still fun to play, but I think that many English speaking players would drop it very quickly because of QOL reasons.

 

[Foffy]

Wasn't there a rumor about Square releasing an offline version of this game?

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Not a rumor, but a consideration. They're totally going to do that for Japan when DQX is no longer supported, but they said that they had a 5-year plan for the game. They're on year 7. :p

I imagine such a version would be the one we get, so in a sense we have to hope the game "ends" because that's when they'll make something like this.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

I really doubt DQX is ever coming to the West. Compared to most current MMOs, the game feels very archaic (it's a Wii title, so that's probably a big part of it), with elements which feel like straight out of FFXI.
It's still fun to play, but I think that many English speaking players would drop it very quickly because of QOL reasons.

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The only hope is that they remake it after the MMO dies out (making an offline/enhanced version).

 

[Hasemo]

The only hope is that they remake it after the MMO dies out (making an offline/enhanced version).

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Remember when they said they're doing something like that with FFXI, which had a ton of Western players/fans? It's been a few years and we're still waiting. I wouldn't get my hopes too high for DQ, where each expansion is a size of a regular big JRPG length-wise, and that's excluding side quests.

 

[Valcrist]

Dragon Quest games are pretty dark in general.

 

[Buzzth]

I read somewhere that this game is playable without VPN now. Is that true?

 

[Perona]

I really enjoyed the story and cutscene stuff in DQX (tho I do have some Japanese knowledge and get/understand most stuff). I actually finished version 1.0 stuff and was making my way through the first expansion (still on the trial) but DQXI came out so I've been playing that.

I read somewhere that this game is playable without VPN now. Is that true?

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Yes

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

I'd love to live in a world where I could jump back and forth between FFXIV and DQX subscriptions. Alas, it is not to be so as a US citizen -- we just don't show love for DQ enough to make it happen. D:

 

[Edge]

Yes

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Only in some countries I think.

Wasn't playable in Europe the last time this question came up.

 

[Perona]

Only in some countries I think.

Wasn't playable in Europe the last time this question came up.

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Oh, yeah. Just the US and China I think.

 

[SPRidley]

The intro in the OP sounds bonkers.
Is the "destroying were you start the game" a recurring theme in DQ games? Now that I think about it DQB2 and XI have something similar.

Dragon Quest games are pretty dark in general.

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My first DQ games are DQ Builders 2 and XI (im now a big fan) and I was surprised when i started Builders 2 and the intro starts with a human beheading with his family watching.

 

[Valcrist]

The intro in the OP sounds bonkers.
Is the "destroying were you start the game" a recurring theme in DQ games? Now that I think about it DQB2 and XI have something similar.


My first DQ games are DQ Builders 2 and XI (im now a big fan) and I was surprised when i started Builders 2 and the intro starts with a human beheading with his family watching.

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The whole series is pretty dark like that. It doesn't pull punches! Even the early games... DQ5 and 6 are both super dark.

 

[SPRidley]

The whole series is pretty dark like that. It doesn't pull punches! Even the early games... DQ5 and 6 are both super dark.

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A friend told me 5 is his favourite becuase it was pretty dark lol
But then the games are full of charm and adventure, you would think those things would clash but they work in perfect harmony.

 

[Strings]

Remember when they said they're doing something like that with FFXI, which had a ton of Western players/fans? It's been a few years and we're still waiting. I wouldn't get my hopes too high for DQ, where each expansion is a size of a regular big JRPG length-wise, and that's excluding side quests.

Click to shrink...

There's still a chance it happens with XI, but yeah, DQ, iunno. I really don't see how they'd price something like that. Plus they have the DQIX remake they want to do, the DQIII one they kind of teased around the release of XI, lol...

 

[Foffy]

Remember when they said they're doing something like that with FFXI, which had a ton of Western players/fans? It's been a few years and we're still waiting. I wouldn't get my hopes too high for DQ, where each expansion is a size of a regular big JRPG length-wise, and that's excluding side quests.

Click to shrink...

Unless I'm mistaken, that FFXI project is the external Nexon mobile game, right? They've confirmed earlier this year it still exists, if that means anything.

The issue of volume is probably the biggest issue with localization, not even the question of "will it be released as an MMO or offline game", if we're to be honest. There's about six games worth of content, as expansions seem to be designed almost as if they were full games. Of course this adds the allure of it being a major DQ game even further, which to people like me make me even more sad it's just available in one region.

Maybe one day, in the worst-case scenario, if this gets adapted into a Japan-only offline game, someone fan translates it. It seems the DQ community has gotten a lot of projects in English in that sort of manner. Unless I'm mistaken, the only major DQ projects of the past that lack fan translations of any kind are that Victory Road arcade game and two Mystery Dungeon games, with everything else having something.

 

[Perona]

btw there's someone who plays through DQX while translating the dialogue. I use her videos when something has too many words I don't understand. I actually had a nice conversation with her ingame about learning Japanese lol.

 

[Fraxin]

A friend told me 5 is his favourite becuase it was pretty dark lol
But then the games are full of charm and adventure, you would think those things would clash but they work in perfect harmony.

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Of the ones I played, DQ 1,2 4-6,8,11

6 was the darkest, 5 had some sections maybe but wasn't as dark as 6.

Especially parts,

Spoiler: DQ6

Concerning Terry and Milly.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Remember when they said they're doing something like that with FFXI, which had a ton of Western players/fans? It's been a few years and we're still waiting. I wouldn't get my hopes too high for DQ, where each expansion is a size of a regular big JRPG length-wise, and that's excluding side quests.

Click to shrink...

True although I tend to think the Enix products tend to make good on their promises more than the Square side of the business. If Horii wills it into happening then it will happen. It's just that they would have to see the demand for it.

 

[Lord Vatek]

Remember when they said they're doing something like that with FFXI, which had a ton of Western players/fans? It's been a few years and we're still waiting. I wouldn't get my hopes too high for DQ, where each expansion is a size of a regular big JRPG length-wise, and that's excluding side quests.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I don't expect an offline version. I'm just hoping for it to get an official translation.

If Phantasy Star Online 2 can get one after all these years...

 

[Yerffej]

He sounds like a reformer with results to me.

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lol

 

[Shantae]

No vpn restriction anymore?? Shit okay, I need to get in on this game. I'm learning some Japanese, and I might be able to navigate the gameplay at least. Been wanting to play this for years. What's the most complete version I can buy for Switch? Searched for it on amazon.co.jp, and it looks like there might be another expansion coming out soon.

 

[QisTopTier]

The fact this never got localized forever saddens me.

 

[B00T]

No vpn restriction anymore?? Shit okay, I need to get in on this game. I'm learning some Japanese, and I might be able to navigate the gameplay at least. Been wanting to play this for years. What's the most complete version I can buy for Switch? Searched for it on amazon.co.jp, and it looks like there might be another expansion coming out soon.

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Yeah, new expansion next week. You may want to wait and see if they offer a new all-in-one version to get you everything. I got the switch version in august and I love it, only stopped my sub for a bit to play the onslaught of september releases.

 

[GildedMango]

This game was the reason I got a Wii U... :'(

 

[brinstar]

btw there's someone who plays through DQX while translating the dialogue. I use her videos when something has too many words I don't understand. I actually had a nice conversation with her ingame about learning Japanese lol.

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Before they got rid of the offline version, there was a (not very good) translation of the intro story created. But if you're curious what the gist is, it might help to watch this video of someone playing through it.




DQ10 has some of the best stories in the series by far. I really adore it. Lots of despair, even more than DQ7. I'm still an expansion behind... I really need to catch up someday. :(

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These are awesome, thanks for sharing.