'Dragon Quest XI' News: Producer Hokuto Okamoto Discusses New Features Set to Be Included in Western Version
Voiceovers and new menus are among the new features that can be seen in the western version
The developers of "Dragon Quest Xi" want to make sure that the game's journey to the west will be a smooth and successful one, which is why they are adding some extra features designed to make it more appealing to people outside of Japan.
Producer Hokuto Okamoto discussed some of these new features during a recent interview with DualShockers.
Among the additional features that players should be able to notice right away are the English voiceovers. These voiceovers will be heard whenever movies and cutscenes are playing, and every now and then, the characters onscreen during battles will talk as well.
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Okamoto also revealed that the voiceovers have been added to the western version of the game in order to make the in-game world of Erdrea feel even more alive.
Because Erdrea is a large world divided into different regions, which in turn have their own defining qualities, Okamoto and the other developers decided to make use of the voiceovers to provide "additional depth and context" to the regions themselves.
What this means is that when players visit one specific region, they should hear the people there speaking with a somewhat similar accent and then a different accent should fill the air in another part of Erdrea. By adding these voiceovers and accents, the developers are hoping that players will find the different locations in the game to be more memorable.
Menus are going to be different in the western version of "Dragon Quest XI" as well.
As Okamoto detailed in an earlier post on the PlayStation Blog, the in-game menus have been changed so that they are now capable of conveying more information. Japanese players are familiar with the kind of user interface that only makes use of text. User interfaces included in western titles typically aren't designed that way, so the developers made the decision to switch things up.
Icons will be prominently featured in the user interface for the western version of the game, and the hope is that going with this design will enable players to understand the mechanics of the game faster.
Speaking of going faster, another additional feature included in the western version of the RPG will help players do exactly that.
Okamoto revealed that a dash feature will be included, although specific details about how this will work have not been provided just yet. It's hard to imagine the dash feature being anything but a welcome addition, however, and players should get plenty of use out of it considering how big the new world contained within the game is.
Notably, because the developers are also set to release the game for the PC in the west, there are also going to be additional features included in that version. Specific details about these other platform-specific additions remain similarly unavailable at this time, though they may come in the form of graphical settings.
The long wait for "Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age" is finally ending soon for PC and PS4 players in the west, as the game will be officially released for those platforms on Sept. 4.
