If you want wide open world games with lots of choice, play wrpgs. I think what you want is that weeaboo shit AND wide open worlds. This is the darkest timeline. You don't get your cake and the option to eat it, ever.
Wrong. I don’t really care about open worlds. I never said “lots of choice”, and have no idea what you’re talking about. But Dragon Quest has never been rail roaded or linear like this. It isn’t just the linearity. It’s the lack of respect for the player. Save points out in the middle of the world. Color coded talk icons which tell you who to talk to. Points on the map to tell you where to continue the story next. DQ is an rpg series with an emphasis on adventure. DQVIII at release was heralded for its large world. DQ has a “hey, what’s that? I wanna go there” ethos.
Let’s take the beginning of DQ1.
Where do I go?
You aren’t told where the princess is. You know that the dark lords castle is to the south because of all the poison. You are given a single map and 120 gold. Of that map, we see where we can walk. But where do you go? The game sure as shit doesn’t tell you.
If you’ve played DQ1, you'd know you go from town to town collecting little pieces of information. Oh there’s a cave there, I’ll follow it. You meet an old man who talks about a harp. The people in the town to the west hale from a town with a hero that was a bard so maybe they have it? But we can’t open any doors. People are talking about a town where people sell magic keys that open doors. Let’s investigate this rumor. So you travel deep into a dungeon with nothing but a little gear and a torch, hoping you can survive as the monsters get harder and harder. And then at the end of it, you find the rumored town, buy some keys, use a chimera wing and buck out of there. Then travel to get the harp and get one of your ancestors fabled weapons.
Or take a shop. At the start you only have 120 gold which is enough for weapons and armor.
You have a few options here:
1. Buy the weakest and cheapest crap.
2. Get the oaken club and a few herbs and focus on offense.
3. Get leather armor, a bamboo spear, a few herbs and focus on defense.
4. Grind and buy the best shit. The scrub option.
But wait. That doesn’t account the next town. The next time is going to have even more expensive stuff.
So maybe I should I just withhold buying anything here except herbs and travel to the next town? I’ll have more gold by then to buy something good without grinding like a shitty western player. Oh but wait, what if you buy equips here but when you get to the town what if the weapons and armor give just 1-2 stat boosts but cost like 200 gold? Do you grind like a scrub? Or do you hack it and go with the handicap and just continue to the next town without buying anything? Do you sell your stuff to maybe afford it?
Puzzle solving.
Going off the beaten path to get answers.
Finding and using key information.
Decision making. Key point.
Going on an adventure.
Dragon Quest has
quest in its name for a reason.
Every DQ is like this. Even the more linear ones like V. Even when DQ is more linear it tends to be brisk. Get in, get out type shit. You’re certainly not going to have endless cutscenes and handholding.
In VIII, in the starting area you are again, given nothing but gold and a map. Some hint where to go but the gloves are off besides that border checkpoint. As you explore you’ll see a tree that’s colored differently than the rest. What’s that? You run to it. You see a house with smoke coming out of it at the top of a nearby mountain. What’s that? You go to it. You go on the opposite door of town and fight monsters much, much stronger than you and you are allowed to do this. Then you finally head to the dungeon, strapped to kick ass. On an adventure and a quest.
So please tell me why in DQXI I’m told I can’t go places because the monsters are stronger? How come when I want to do something out the beaten path like do something in a different order someone stops and tells me NO? How come I’m constantly following people? Why does the game explicitly tell me who to talk to without allowing me to find them myself? Why am I getting weapons for free without one shred of decision making and I’m not talking about loot found in chests? Why are there camp site save points which entirely rid the basic idea of resource management when you’re given multiple chances to save on the way instead of just once - at the priest? Why is there always someone telling me what to do in a bloody Dragon
Quest game? You can chalk it up to it being the beginning of the game but even DQVIII and IX take the gloves off and let you do what you wish pretty much immediately. DQXI’s intro is maybe five hours while lacking the world building of VII which made its long intro charming and worth it.
Here’s recent pics of the game telling me what to do both in game and in story.
There another recent point where they did it again,”let’s do this first.” Fuck you game. It’s time to go to bed. It’s time to go to bed. It’s time to go to bed. Oh. How familiar. It’s a modern jrpg.
Once upon a time Japanese RPGs were a genre about decision making. Not in the long term story way like wrpgs were about, but through the gameplay. I loved Dragon Quest because it still had that spirit and ethos and did so without one shred of shame.
And so far I’m not seeing that in DQXI.
Thinking this is about open worlds and wrpgs makes me think you either might be a tad unfamiliar with DQ or you don’t understand what I’m saying at all.
Maybe it gets better. But the first five hours are unacceptable for a Dragon Quest.
