Square Enix Wants To Increase The Popularity Of 'Dragon Quest' In The West: See Details Here!

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Square Enix is the owner of two franchises namely: "Final Fantasy" and "Dragon Quest". While "Final Fantasy" has gained the popularity and attention of both talented and novice gamers in the west, the "Dragon Quest" is still lagging behind in terms of attaining such level of success.

The "Final Fantasy" titles are very popular to anyone with a casual knowledge of games in the United States. "Dragon Quest," on the other hand seems to be struggling to attained this level of popularity.

The executive producer of "Dragon Quest," Yu Miyake in an interview with EDGE Magazine revealed that the developers at Square Enix are focused on the western popularity "Final Fantasy" in comparison to "Dragon Quest" and it is something Square Enix has "been thinking about a lot internally".

He added that the company is looking to lay a more fertile ground for the series in the West. Miyake also explained few reasons for the difference in popularity during the interview. He said the source of nostalgia is different in Japan and the west - "Dragon Quest" on Famicom and "Final Fantasy VII" on PlayStation respectively.

He believes that the company should have put in more effort with Dragon Quest's localization as the cartoon-like aesthetic of Dragon Quest may not immediately connect with western gamers.

Miyake compared the success of the "Final Fantasy", which resonated well with the Western audiences and said that "Dragon Quest" might be overlooked because of its cartoonish art style, something seen as childish in the West, according to Game Zone.

Instead of changing the game itself, the developers focused on changing the way it is played in the world.  The "Dragon Quest IX" was developed as a hand-held game because that is how people were playing games at that time but the "Dragon Quest X" was designed as an online game, he said.

So many fans complained when the tenth game was produced, that the "Dragon Quest" should not have been an online game. But it turns out that, in each of these cases, he games still have the same feel. It is still quintessentially "Dragon Quest", he added.

Square Enix took the risk of alienating the fans when we moved from pixel-art to 3D with the move to" Dragon Quest VIII."

"Dragon Quest VIII" was a stellar JRPG released in 2005 on Play Station 2 to the tune of an average Metascore of 89. It has already launched on iOS and will be launching on 3DS this month, according to Nintendo Everything.

Miyake concluded by saying the age of people that are playing is rising and there is a greater interest overall as well. The release of spinoff titles such as "Dragon Quest Heroes" and "Dragon Quest Builders", will serve to soften up the ground for "Dragon Quest XI."