Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies Message Board older than one year ago

With the release of Dragon Quest IX for DS, Nintendo and Square Enix are trying once again to convert American gamers into Dragon Quest fanatics -- or at least sell some games. While we wait to see how the public responds to the multiplayer-enabled RPG, we decided to check in with reviews of the game other than our own. (We already know how that one went.)

• 1UP (A): "... The move to DS was a strategic trade-off, and a canny one at that; DQIX sacrifices visual splendor in favor of more subtle technological benefits. In unchaining the series from the television, its creators freed themselves to design the open-ended, player-driven experience the series has always aspired to be."
• Nintendo Power (9/10): "The idea of adding multiplayer features to a story-driven, turn-based RPG originally struck me as insane, but Dragon Quest IX has made me a believer."
• GamePro (4/5): "Dragon Quest's appeal lies in its sense of warm, welcoming familiarity. It's refreshingly free of the pretension and overwrought cinematics of much of the current JRPG crop, instead presenting a lighthearted, charming adventure romp akin to what made the original Chrono Trigger such a beloved classic."
• Game Informer (8/10): "It's the first in the franchise to debut on a handheld, and it changes the classic formula in some significant ways. In many cases, these changes push the genre in interesting directions, but they never go far enough. The end result is an enjoyable Japanese RPG with mere hints of greatness."

I think these were exclusive trailers for specific sites, but they’ve now been released in general.

We know you had stuff planned today. Grocery shopping, volunteering at the soup kitchen and taking Fido for a walk may have just been a few of those planned activities, but you're going to want to clear your schedule. The Nintendo Channel update this week has nearly 40 minutes of conversation between Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and Yuji Horii and Ryutaro Ichimura, the creator of the Dragon Quest series and Dragon Quest IX's producer, respectively. These are some conversations you won't want to miss.

For the full list of this week's Nintendo Channel content, head past the break.

Looks like Nintendo got a Pokemon tribute in Dragon Quest IX. Can you name that Pokemon?!

#welcomes If you are somebody, and you visit Nintendo's New York offices from out of town, you get your very own greeting in the lobby, running on a flat-screen TV. More »

If you're familiar with the Dragon Quest series, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies will feel like a revolution to you, thanks changes brought in to accommodate its emphasis on multiplayer. If you're a casual or occasional RPG player, however, it's going to feel old-school to the point of being conventional. But it works well in either case: new players will find an unusually accessible, entirely pleasant RPG, while Dragon Quest diehards will delight in the addition of new features to the gameplay they've loved for years.

#dragonquestix What would happen if Dragon Quest's most famous slime encountered Final Fantasy's most famous bird? Yuji Horii, father of Dragon Quest, must know the answer. More »

Quest 184 - May May May - picked up at Bitari Shore - game must be cleared - involves a sheep named May who wants a particular item.

This Sunday, with the release of Dragon Quest IX, thousands of gamers will begin the time-honored tradition of slaughtering adorable Slimes, over and over and over again. Don't feel bad, that's what they're there for. But how did Akira Toriyama's cutest character design ever (take that, all Dragon Ball characters) come to be?

"I was really hooked on Wizardry the PC game, and that's kind of where I got the inspiration for the Slime," Dragon Quest producer Yuji Horii told MTV Multiplayer. "There's ... slime-looking characters [in Wizardry], so I got the inspiration from it. I was doodling the slime-looking character and I took it to Mr. Toriyama, who did the character design, and he made it the Slime we see today."

The Slime went on to appear not only in every Dragon Quest game, but also in its own games, along with plenty of adorable merchandise.

#ds …40 hours, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii told Kotaku today. Why 40? Why not 30 or 50? More »

A portion of an EDGE review… Huge in scope and strong on detail, IX has ironed out the kinks that have made the series less palatable outside Japan, and with Nintendo’s support, IX is sure to have the wider impact that the series has craved. In providing an adventure as deep and enduringly absorbing as this, [...]

A portion of a 1up review… Maybe Dragon Quest’s popularity in the west will never match its success overseas, but at least those who give this chapter a chance can enjoy one of the deepest, most engrossing portable RPGs ever.

Pulling things off at the last minute, Nintendo and Square-Enix have opened up the official website for Dragon Quest IX. We’re not in teaser mode anymore, as this is the full site. This will probably be a good place to keep tabs on if you’re looking for upcoming download quests and all those [...]

The Dragon Quest legacy continues in the heavens themselves.

#dragonquestix Dragon Quest IX was released in Japan on July 11, 2009. A year later, the game is getting released in North America. Finally. More »

Hey, Eastcoasters: what are you doing this Saturday?

#event On Sunday, New Yorkers will be able to buy Dragon Quest IX early and do other Dragon Questy stuff. More »

Best Buy - Reward Zone Gamers Club Members get a free Slime hat - hat will be mailed to the first 7,500 Reward Zone members who pick up the game Toys R Us - $15 gift cards to anyone who buys the game at one of its stores this Sunday - purchase any color DSi XL with your DQIX [...]

#nintendo Celebrate the launch of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinel of the Starry Skies next weekend in New York City, with a Nintendo party in Rockefeller Center featuring the creator of the Dragon Quest series, Yuji Horii. More »

Those in the New York area eager to pick up Dragon Quest IX a day early -- and have Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii autograph their plush Slimes -- should make their way to the Nintendo World Store Saturday, July 10.

We finally tackle slimes together.

#screengrab Nintendo's Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies celebrity sneak-peek event gets a lil' crunk, thanks to Lil Jon and DJ Slade. Slimes beware! [Photo courtesy of Nintendo of America] More »

#clips Comedian, voice actor, and television producer Seth Green isn't just the star of Nintendo's Dragon Quest IX commercial, he's also a client, or at least well-coached on the game's merits, as demonstrated in this video clip. More »

Nintendo is giving Dragon Quest IX some much-needed promotion with a commercial starring Airborne's Seth Green, premiering at movie theaters before showings of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. After the break, see Green use the lessons of Square Enix's multiplayer RPG to counsel desperate teenagers.

#squareenix Like Dragon Quest? Want to, perhaps, write Dragon Quest games? Okay, read on. More »