Square-Enix - more on Dragon Quest VII's huge localization project, talks Dragon Quest XI

Coming from a Kotaku interview with producer Noriyoshi Fujimoto...

“Back then, the spec docs were actually hand-written with pencil and paper. The spec doc archive probably went from this wall to the other, and then it took a year to make it into an electronic version. [Dragon Quests] 4, 5, and 6 were this much”—he held his hands apart a few inches—And 7 went all the way across this room. Because this was the original, I actually personally had to make photocopies of every single spec doc. And then so I handed those in a few little chunks to the development company, who then made them visual. and then the printer broke at one point.

Coming from a Kotaku interview with franchise producer Yu Miyake...

"We actually had no plans of releasing it at first. It was because the text was so huge that considering [the] cost and time that went in, we didn’t think it was worth it. Actually a lot of core fans from France approached us, and then we received letters, not just us but the CEO of our company as well as Nintendo, and everybody else that was involved, requesting a localized version of Dragon Quest VII. They were even saying at one point that they’ll localize it themselves for us. Because of that high demand we realized we really had to do this thing.”

Miyake was asked about the possibility of Dragon Quest XI coming stateside as well. to which he said “If fans want it.”, followed by a laugh.