Over on Tor.com, I’ve blogged at some length about the recent announcement of Dragon Quest X Online: Rise of the Five Tribes, the next iteration in the long-running series, and the first to take the series seriously online. I’m not terribly happy with the decision, nor are a lot of other fans:
Having first discovered Dragon Quest with the eighth entry, Journey of the Cursed King, and subsequently completing many of the earlier entries (thanks, in part, to the Nintendo DS remakes of Dragon Quest IV, V, and VI), my reaction to Dragon Quest IX’s shift to a more social game was mixed. I missed the pre-defined characters and found the multiplayer (even when played locally with a friend) to be unnecessary. To me, Dragon Quest has always been an escape, a world to lose myself in for a few hours every week. If I want to play with friends, I load up World of Warcraft or invite them over to play Mario Kart. Like a troubled teenager, my enthusiasm for Dragon Quest X Online: Rise of the Five Tribes is having trouble finding it’s identity; I find myself at once perplexed by this evolution, and drooling for more Dragon Quest. It does sound like people will be able to play offline, with a party filled with computer-controlled NPCs, which might be some consolation for anti-social dicks like me, but, really what’s a long-time fan have to do to get a more traditional adventure?
Check out the whole article about Dragon Quest X Online: Rise of the Five Tribes on Tor.com. What do you think about the announcement?
