http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174718

Dragon Quest IX Fever About to Spread Across Asia

It's only a month until the RPG hits Japanese DSes.

By Kevin Gifford, 06/10/2009

Does this girl, a 21-year-old named Kanoko who hails from lovely Kanagawa prefecture, look like she knows a lot about video games...or about much of anything else, for that matter? You'd be surprised. When Famitsu caught her in the Harajuku district of Tokyo and reminded her that Dragon Quest IX is due out in a month in Japan, Kanoko gushed that she "was so addicted to DQ" that she "filled a notebook with strategy" with her mother and sister.

Kanoko is one of the estimated four to five million people in Japan that will likely buy DQ9 when it hits stores July 11. Like most Dragon Quests, it's had a rocky development road. Originally announced December 2006, its debut and choice of hardware (the Nintendo DS) were a source of major consternation for Japanese gamers, with 46% of them saying the portable platform was not "the right choice" for the series in an early-2007 Famitsu.com poll.

Of course, since then, the Nintendo DS has become by far the most popular console platform in Japan, and gamers seem largely over the shock. In a poll of 1000 soon-to-be DQIX buyers (the results of which are in this week's print version of Famitsu), 71.7% of respondents said they already owned at DS, and 21.8% said they were planning to buy a DS alongside the game when it hits stores, the remaining 6.5% presumably mooching off their friends or whatever.

Famitsu asked these thousand gamers all kinds of odd questions, the answers to which are equally interesting. 30.7% of pollees plan to play DQ9 for one or two hours a day after purchasing it. When asked what they'll name their character, 56.4% said they'd use their nickname or Internet handle; 17.3% would use a name from some movie or novel they like, and 17.2% plan to just type in their own name. 26.7% said they'd be playing the co-op multiplayer with their friends. 23.9% said they wouldn't use multiplayer, and 29.6% didn't realize the feature existed at all.

DQ is nothing without its extensive job system, of course. 22.1% wanted "Fighter" to be their job, followed by the two advanced classes Magic Fighter (16.5%) and Paladin (10.5%). When asked what part of DQIX they were looking forward to the most, 63.7% were excited by the story, 45.5% by the fact it's on a portable machine, 33.1% the music, 30.1% the battles, and 29.8% the characters.

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After a few delays, DQ9 is finally gonna be released in a month... Can't wait!

It sounds like this game is going to be huge! I brought Dragon Quest VIII ages ago and couldn't really get into it at the time. The battle system seemed a little too simple for my liking but I might needed to get further into the game. I might have to go back to the game over the holiday period. Curse these exams!!!

Damn it! I just graduated from college and I need a job....I don't need games like this to be released now, telling me, seducing me to buy it.....must...resist...the temptation!!!


*passes out from concentration overdose*

If you have a DS, you might as well start with DQ5 remake on it...

What about Dragon Quest 4?

Among those who intend to buy DQIX there're 21.8%, who don't have a DS? I thought every person in Japan even slightly interested in gaming already have one. Does it mean DQIX is going to be a decent system-seller?

I just hope that Console owners don't get shafted because Square might have delay FFXIII in Japan till the next Fiscal Year

It'll move some systems alright, although not a very large amount.

We're looking at a small poll done by Famitsu. Take it with a grain of salt.

DQ4 is a great game and the storytelling is different. I enjoyed it a lot. However, I love the story and the characters in DQ5 even though it's a little random at times.

yeah, I was very interested in this game, but not sure now. I was really looking forward to it's multiplayer aspect. But that was during the time when combat was more realtime, like Tales of SYmphonia. At least by how they showed in the early videos. But since the whining loud mouthes complained about it. Well it sounds like a classic DQ combat that allows other people to get involved. What the hell is the point of that? Now with the guest system(which is ok by me) it makes even less sense to to use the classic combat system multiplayer. So what's gone from my must buy has fallen to a wait and see on that.

Sometimes even for a classic game. It should evolve to handle some parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aAoSkV5Kc4