Topic: Proper "Dragon Quest" games possible in America now

[ruby_onix]

I spotted this little tidbit in the middle of an RPGFan editorial.

As most of you probably know, the "Dragon Quest" series is the grandfather of Japanese console RPGs. When it came to bringing the games over to America, Enix found that there was already a pen-and-paper RPG over here with that name. So Enix was forced to come up with a new name, and decided on "Dragon Warrior" (Although I've heard some stuff about Nintendo of America actually being the one to come up with that particular name for Enix).

The company that made the pen-and-paper Dragon Quest was bought up by TSR.

Well, it seems that TSR hasn't made a "Dragon Quest" game in over 10 years, so the US Patent Office declared their trademark on the name to be "abandoned".

The name was immediately dived upon, and trademarked in America by a little company you might know called Square-Enix.

Personally, I'm not convinced that the "Enix side" of Square-Enix gives a damn about Dragon Quest/Warrior in America anymore, but it seems possible that Enix might use this as an opportunity to give the series one more try. At the very least, if Dragon Quest 8 comes over to America (and isn't prohibited by SCEA for being "niche"), it might be as "Dragon Quest 8".

So "Dragon Warrior" is probably a piece of history now. Well, it kinda was before. But now there's more dirt being piled on it.

[Ian Sane]

That's pretty cool.  I never thought that changing "Dragon Quest" to "Dragon Warrior" was that big of a deal but it's still nice to get the real name going in North America.

"I'm not convinced that the 'Enix side' of Square-Enix gives a damn about Dragon Quest/Warrior in America anymore"

I agree.  Enix is probably the dumbest company of all time when it comes to releasing game in North America.  Dragon Warrior was a big hit on the NES yet they decided not to release the SNES games because DW4 didn't sell well despite being released on the NES years after the SNES was already released.  Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of the North American market would immediately figure out why the game didn't sell.  Odder still is that Enix then released all of these new games in North America like Act Raiser, 7th Saga, and Soul Blazer.  Why would Americans buy unfamiliar RPGs but not an established brand like Dragon Warrior?  Enix could have been as huge as Square in North America if they weren't such dumbsh!ts.

I have not been really pleased with the Square Enix merger so far.  Enix has this philosophy that only the Japanese market matters and only the market leader is worth supporting.  Naturally that completely screws us.  Note that Square's interest in the Cube just seemed to vanish right after the merger took place.  No new Cube games have even been hinted at and I'm pretty sure in a few interviews former Enix execs have suggested a PS2-only stance.  Hell one guy even said that if the Xbox sold so many units in Japan they would port over Dragon Quest yet the Cube HAS sold that many units but wasn't mentioned at all.

"if Dragon Quest 8 comes over to America (and isn't prohibited by SCEA for being 'niche')"

I really think this niche game stuff by SCEA is going to bite them in the ass big time.  This sort of control freak stuff is very similar to the sort of things NOA used to do when Nintendo was on top and we all know how that turned out.  Third parties don't like being restricted and if SCEA keeps this up they're going to lose some support.  It may be minor at first but I wouldn't be surprised that if they gave third parties an excuse to leave (ie: a flaw in their next console design) a lot of them are going to split.  I think Nintendo should jump on this and encourage third parties to release "niche" titles.  I'll bet they could even land North American exclusivity for some of the rejected titles like what MS did with Shenmue II.

[ThePerm]

well sony is coming on its third gen...kinda like n64....nintendo's third gen

[Ian Sane]

"well sony is coming on its third gen...kinda like n64....nintendo's third gen"

Well if history repeats itself then they'll be replaced by a newcomber.  Infinium Labs is going to be the next market leader!!

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

*sets up camp at local EB for the Phantom launch*

[mouse_clicker]

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I really think this niche game stuff by SCEA is going to bite them in the ass big time.

I completely agree. The main reason the Playstation and Playstation 2 have been so popular is their huge variety of games, and you don't get that variety (or keep it, for that matter) by only allowing mainstream games to be released. They may be niche titles, and by itself it may not be much, but in great numbers niche titles can be incredibly helfpful. Obviously niche titles alone can't propell a console to success, as ther Gamecube and XBox have shown us, but I think the complete and utter lack of them will keep success away as well.  

[nitsu niflheim]

I think it has already been everything but written in concrete that Dragon Quest 8 is coming over to America.  I mean it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't, seeing how the last Dragon Quest triliogy didn't make it out of Japan in its entirity, with Dragon Quest 4 being the only game in that set localized.  But I don't know how well Dragon Warrior 7 did here in the states, but the game was hurt by it's glorified SNES graphics more than anything.  The game is fun and is very deep, more so that any of the Playstation Final Fantasy games.

[Djunknown]

Since Final Fantasy has returned to its 'proper' numbering system, now Dragon Quest/Warrior follows suit? hmm....