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Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Dragon Quest 35th Anniversary Survey

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I won't just tell you to take it... I'll tell you what I said and the significance of it.

On the official Dragon Quest Facebook page (but not on Twitter, which I'll explain what's strange about that in a moment), SQUARE ENIX posted this survey solicitation:

Dragon Quest 35th Anniversary Survey poster
This article's call-to-action will be irrelevant in under two weeks, so hurry!
(Though the article's commentary shall be eternal.)


You can take the survey directly over here. It's thirty questions, but it's faster to fill out than it sounds. Besides asking basic demographic information (and you can even say you're non-binary or gender non-conforming!), SQUARE ENIX wants to know how much of a Dragon Quest fan you are by listing all of the games and asking you to pick which you've played. They also want to know your favourite game genres and consoles you own and how much money you spend. They wanted to know if you follow their Facebook and Twitter (despite the survey's lack of presence on Twitter). It's... pretty similar to the recent Ace Attorney survey CAPCOM devised (that you can still take) for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.

But by the end, there's a difference (and I don't mean the fact there's no free wallpaper background waiting for you—you get no extrinsic reward for filling this survey out)... a free text field, asking what you'd like to see for the future of Dragon Quest. Here's what I wrote:
I don't want the DRAGON QUEST mainline series to move away from being a turn-based Japanese RPG. There are plenty of western-style roleplaying games that I'm disinterested in—but Dragon Quest XI S is a masterclass in being an engaging, traditional JRPG, and those are slowly being more scarce as companies (like other parts of Square Enix) decide that those are no longer "cool".

Also, I want Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime to be ported to the Nintendo Switch, because I really wish I had played it when it came out but I didn't get the chance to.

While Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (that's 11) is fantastic (and everyone should play the demo because it's available... everywhere, console-wise), there are worries that Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate (that's 12) will somehow change the battle system and be more “adult.” That's according to the 35-year anniversary stream we covered a few months ago (and the survey asks if you watched it, so yes, I did). It will apparently affect the series for the next 10 to 20 years, which I think is a stupid claim to make ahead of time. Especially if they're gonna go ask for survey feedback after claiming that. Like, if people express they don't like the direction via survey... then it ain't gonna affect the series for the next two decades. ...Unless they're stubborn.

I was questioning whether or not it's right that I should even be taking this survey, since I'm not a long-time Dragon Quest fan or anything. But the Facebook post did ask for Slime enthusiasts, and I'd like to think I should qualify. ...Though I wish I had a Slime plushie...


Dragon Quest XI S Sniflheim cow nuisance running away getting lost
Fjola (the cow) is sort of like SQUARE ENIX. I mean, just think back to their E3 2021. They're lost.


I am enough of a fan that the Imperial Palace theme from Dragon Quest XI S appeared in my dreams as background music in a pretty fitting situation. (Entering the office room of a workplace boss.) And, hey, that is APPARENTLY one of the few themes in that game that's original and isn't a remix of a song from an earlier game, but I don't know that for a fact.

Dragon Quest XI S Sniflheim cow cat photo mode cute pets
The cow just needs to stay with MAMA (the cat) and everything will go back to normal.
Help direct them to normalcy by filling out that survey.


I'm pretty sure I would've been a fan of Dragon Quest earlier if the series didn't give off such a “You can only really be a fan if you reside in Japan” vibe. It's an off-putting and repellent vibe, and some of it was still in that 35-year anniversary announcement event. For example, Dragon Quest X (that's 10) is only in Japanese!


Did you fill out the survey already? ...Are you going to? If you're in a survey-taking mood, KoopaTV has a series of Feedback Forms you can fill out. And those have a reward! (As do their companion Quizzes.)


Fjola is at least doing better than when she was frozen over with the start of the Ox-themed Lunar New Year 2021
Maybe you want the future of Dragon Quest to have a totally different soundtrack?

4 comments :

  1. I once had a video game song play in my dreams but I can’t remember what it was. Does dragon quest have the same composer for all its games? I think final fantasy does. When you’ve composed over 10 games in the same style, it’s probably easier to remix songs than to try to write new ones that end up becoming reprisals of older songs. Still, I’ll never understand why people don’t consider video game music to be “real” music.

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    Replies
    1. Dragon Quest's composer is Koichi Sugiyama, and he's a very controversial figure both in terms of his political views (which I don't have a problem with) and his rights management views for his music, which is why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate didn't get the orchestral renditions of the Dragon Quest music. He reuses songs a lot throughout the series, similar to how the games also reuse monster designs.

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    2. My god! 90 years old???! I guess gaming is a lifelong passion after all.

      Delete
    3. Well, I dunno 'bout gaming in his case, but music-making, sure.

      Delete

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