'Dragon Quest XI' News: Devs Officially Announce Western Version, Hint at Some of the Changes That Will Be Included
PS4 and PC versions to be released in the west on Sept. 4, Nintendo Switch version also in development
After first revealing that "Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age" will be heading west way back in July, developers have finally shared exactly when gamers outside of Japan will be able to enjoy this latest installment of the long-running RPG series.
Beginning Sept. 4, PC and PS4 players outside of Japan will be able to pick up and play the aforementioned game.
Fans can check out the opening movie of this game and also enjoy sneak peeks at the action-packed sequences that they will be able to see once they start playing.
In the game, players will take control of a character who the developers have described as a "hunted hero." This individual must figure out his purpose in this world, though he won't need to take on that challenge alone, as he will be joined by characters who bring their own unique personalities and abilities to the game.
Players will explore a whole new world in the game, one known as Erdrea. While traveling through Erdrea, players will come across new towns and environments rendered beautifully by Unreal Engine 4.
Notably, the game does not feature an open-world, and there's a reason why the developers ultimately opted not to go with that.
Speaking recently to Forbes, series creator Yuji Horii mentioned that they did try to create an open-world game, but they went away from that because they wanted to focus more on properly telling the main story of "Dragon Quest XI." Horri added that they had to cut some features that weren't essential to telling the story properly and that resulted in the creation of the game that is going to be released later this year.
Just as with many other "Dragon Quest" games, developers are still utilizing a turn-based battle system inside this latest installment, although it has been modified a bit.
The battle system is previewed in the video embedded below.
As viewers can see, players can initiate combat by running up to an enemy on the field and then striking them.
Battles can vary inside the game. They can either be classic turn-based affairs where the characters onscreen wait for their turns to execute commands or they can be a bit more dynamic and feature the characters taking part in combat moving around a battlefield.
It is also worth pointing out that there will be some differences between the upcoming western version and the one already available in Japan.
As Square Enix producer Hokuto Okamoto detailed in a post on the PlayStation Blog, the menus featured in the two versions are going to differ a bit.
It was also revealed that the game can now be pre-ordered via the PlayStation Store. The fans who will pre-order the game via the PlayStation Store will receive "The Legend Reborn" theme as well as DLC items including the Vest of Success, 15 Seeds of Skill and three Uber Agates of Evolution.
The game is also currently in development for the Nintendo Switch, but a release date for that additional version has not been provided at this time.
More news about "Dragon Quest XI" should be made available soon.