Dear Reader:

You are viewing a story from GN Version 5.0. Time may not have been kind to formatting, integrity of links, images, information, etc.

Square-Enix on Dragon Quest VII size, localization & major support from Nintendo

by rawmeatcowboy
13 September 2016
GN Version 5.0

A portion of a Nintendo Life interview with Square-Enix's Noriyoshi Fujimoto...

NL: Dragon Quest VII is well known for the size and scale of its adventure. Is that size and scale a challenge you had to address when working on this remaster for 3DS?

NF: The volume itself was actually really, really difficult to get in. Back in the original development, the size of DQVII was so huge compared to the other numbered titles. It's not just double; it's way more than that. I remember, back in the original days, our development team was having a really difficult time getting everything together. However, I thought that the 3DS portable system and Dragon Quest VII were a really good fit for each other.

Like I said, Dragon Quest VII is a sequence of short stories, so with systems like Nintendo 3DS where you can bring it to work, play it for a little bit, then put it down, I thought that being able to basically bring the game anywhere you go would be a really good fit. I really want all of our fans to take this opportunity and try out the 3DS version.

NL: How influential were vocal Dragon Quest fans in the West in terms of securing a localization of Dragon Quest VII and VIII on 3DS?

NF: There are a lot of things that everybody did to make this happen, but one of the things was a Facebook petition that was very active. I think the thing that influenced us the most were the letters that people sent us. These letters came to the Square-Enix office from all over the world. I thought it was pretty normal for Dragon Quest producers to receive these letters, but the fans actually sent letters to the President, Vice President, Executive team, even Final Fantasy producers and producers of other titles as well! These letters started piling up on my desk. Every day I would come to work and somebody who received a letter would bring them to my desk. Once it started piling up, I realized that I really needed to reconsider and make this happen. The letters aren't just copied and pasted; they actually catered the content for each of the addressees!

NL: What has Nintendo's involvement been in the development process?

NF: I thought it was pretty normal for Dragon Quest producers to receive these letters, but the fans actually sent letters to the President, Vice President, Executive team, even Final Fantasy producers and producers of other titles as well!

The sheer translation volume of Dragon Quest VII is more than 2 times Dragon Quest V, so it's a gigantic game. It was really hard to make the business decision to localize the game. With Nintendo, we were able to work it out and work hand-in-hand and make it happen together. To be completely blunt, it's like Nintendo took half of the bill!

[Link]