Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky is out this summer

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http://kotaku.com/5542451/

Dragon Quest IX for the Nintendo DS shattered sales records in Japan, so it came as no real surprise when Nintendo revealed a "unique partnership" with Square Enix to takeover publishing duties for the North American release. That release is now slated for July 11, the perfect release window for parents looking for a DS game to keep the kids quiet during long car trips.

"DRAGON QUEST IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is one of the biggest games ever to hit Nintendo DS, with an incredible amount of content for every kind of player to enjoy," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "This new game has all of the elements of an instant classic: customization options, a great story, and the ability to share a nearly limitless experience with friends."

The artwork is really awesome. Anyway, it's going to be interesting to see how they implement the surechigai option, since cities in here are nowhere near as dense as Tokyo.

EDIT: Website is up: http://dragonquest.nintendo.com/

It's really weird to see Nintendo's name there.

[Roland]

YES YES YES FINALLY

Now all I need to hear is that they're releasing Joker 2 before fall and I'll officially have no life whatsoever.

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Don't expect any more DQ games but VI if this tanks.

[greed]

Don't really see it tanking, 8 did well and they've kept releasing the remakes so someone's obviously buying DQ games.

Also yeah I'm looking forward to it, though it's quite way down on my list of priorities as DQ has never been a favourite series of mine. Strange Journey, HeartGold and Alpha Protocol at least have to be bought first. Galaxy 2 as well.

Also didn't this have problems in Japan or was that just the internet bitching loudly over nothing?

[Kim]

It's hard for me to be as excited for this as I am VI. VI just looks nicer, and what little of this I've seen is really ugly 3D.

[Magus]

Don't expect to see more DQ on the DS, maybe, if this tanks.

Also is this the one that didn't even have a real story and you're supposed to play it with friends or something? It seemed...very not what I wanted to play after having played all the other ones.

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Originally Posted by greed

Don't really see it tanking, 8 did well and they've kept releasing the remakes so someone's obviously buying DQ games.

DQIV did bad. DQV did half of what DQIV did.

When I mean bad, I mean "worse than low-profile Atlus game" bad.

Originally Posted by greed

Also didn't this have problems in Japan or was that just the internet bitching loudly over nothing?

Mostly, it was panned by traditional fans for changing too many things. It focuses a lot on the multiplayer aspect. As far as I know, the post-game is like two third of the game.

DQIX is the best-selling non-Nintendo game this generation in Japan, so I think it was pretty popular.

Originally Posted by Magus

Don't expect to see more DQ on the DS, maybe, if this tanks.

Expect more DQ on DS... just not in the West.

Originally Posted by Magus

Also is this the one that didn't even have a real story and you're supposed to play it with friends or something? It seemed...very not what I wanted to play after having played all the other ones.

It has a story in the sense that you go to town, fix the town's problems, and then you go to another town to do the same. About three fourths of the game in a plot twist occurs, and the plot focuses on that.

So, standard DQ fare.

[Kim]

The multiplayer emphasis puts me off, too. I mean, I hate people. So much. And this game expects me to play with them? Shenanigans!