Well, as of yet there is no solid information on this game but this will be the place to put it when it comes. While there is nothing official to report yet, IGN did a very interesting preview on the game giving us an insight into what might be. http://wii.ign.com/articles/709/709625p1.html You can also find the video here. All 3 seconds of it!

That is an awesome preview. It sounds like, given SE reach its potential, DQ Wii could be a spectacular game.

Response to trying out Dragon Quest for the first time. From Ign.com

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November 3, 2006 - While Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors was originally expected to launch with the Wii in Japan on 12/2, Square Enix ended up avoiding the launch flood, pushing the game back to Spring 2007. Thankfully, the Nintendo World event in Nagoya today gave us a chance to get some hands-on time ahead of time.

If you played Dragon Quest VIII and now you find yourself looking to this new entry in the series as a Wii adventure of similar epic proportion, we've got some disappointing news. Dragon Quest Swords shares more in common with the Kenshin Dragon Quest game unit from Square Enix, a highly successful self-contained game that connects directly to the television and has players fight monsters using a sword-shaped controller.

You're not too far off if you're immediately picturing using the Wiimote in place of the sword in this Wii off-shoot of that title. When facing off against enemies, your Wiimote slashes translate to in-game sword attacks. The attacks don't appear to be mapped directly to your sword motions, but the basic feeling of swinging the Wiimote to achieve a sword slash is there. You can also thrust the Wiimote at on-screen enemies for a sword thrust. An on-screen pointer indicates where you're pointing, as is the case with many Wii titles.

The battle system wouldn't be all that fun with just sword attacks. You also have access to defensive moves, special attacks, and magic. To use magic, you press the B button. A magic spell fires off at the enemy to which you're currently pointing. To bring up a shield, you hold down A. A translucent image of a shield then appears on screen. To successfully defend, you have to move the shield around to align it with incoming attacks.

As you defeat enemies, you slowly build up a special move meter. Once full, you can perform your special move by pressing the one button. Your character appears on-screen, and you have to build up a charge by swinging the Wiimote around as fast as you can. Your character then performs the move; in the case of the Nintendo World demo, a powerful slash.

Dragon Quest uses only the Wiimote, without the nunchuck add-on. So how do you move? Well, the long and the short is, you don't. Your character moves on a fixed path through the world. You use A, B or the D-pad to move back and forth through the world, but you can't turn around or stray off your fixed path. You can press the minus button to bring up a menu, from which you access items and view stats, but that's all the activity we found in the demo today.

Obviously, the emphasis is on the battle system. The demo had two stages, one set in an open field not unlike the outer world of Dragon Quest VIII, and one set inside a cave. Both featured numerous enemy encounters, with the expected culprits (read, lots of Slime) being pretty common. As you move forward through the world, flocks of enemies appear and begin to attack. Your character pulls out his sword, and the game switches to battle mode.

With battles being everything in this game, it would be a shame if there weren't much in the way of strategy. That doesn't seem to be the case, thankfully. The first boss fight required that you block incoming attacks, then slash like crazy as the boss character recovered. Other battles feature near and far enemies, requiring combinations of magic and sword slashes.

It may seem like a simple gameplay system, but there's potential for greatness in Dragon Quest Swords. We can't wait to see what Square Enix puts together for the final version early next year.

So it IS just like Kenish DQ. I think this is a mixed blessing.

It's a blessing because Kenshin was damn fun, and the style oozes charm.

It's disappointing because, believe me, Kenshin was LINEAR. So, so linear.

Still buying it though.

This is pretty much how you fight in this game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V8U6yybPxQ

^{Wow I never expected first person and the way you move around is very strange.}

quote em876n83tw45

^{Wow I never expected first person and the way you move around is very strange.}

I don't mind. I think it's cool how they literally let you be the hero.

DAMN! DQ 8 was like my favorite game ever, but this is so much different... I wanted a version just like 8 with a new story line, i hate the way the moving just goes without much control, and the sheild is kinda weird too...Ill looik up some more info before it comes out...and scince i loved the first one so much I'll try to play it some, but its just a big letdown, Ive been so exited waiting for a DQ with new Quest (tbh I would have liked the same characters) *sigh* things wouldnt be the same without Angelo...Yangus, or Jessica - on this one i cant even see who i am >< (but i only watched one video) ...hope more (good) info comes out on this game soon

Agreed. The battle style is a dissapointment. So is the new graphics look. The creaters are taking a turn for the worst on this one.

But we Can't be sure because that wasn't the final copy. Let's just hope for the best .

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Eight new (double-sided) scans of Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and The Tower of Mirrors have been released in this month's edition of V-Jump magazine.

The game is due for release 7/12.

view scans

I'd just like to clarify that the information above was from before the Wii's launch. The game is rather different now. First off, although the actual battle areas are still on a fixed path(you have the option of going back and fourth), cities and towns are not. Using the D pad and pointer, you can freely explore and interact with the townspeople and areas. Battles are still done on fixed paths, but the battles system has also changed a little. The sword slashes themselves are still the same, and aren't 1-on-1. However, how you have much more control over those slashes. Using the on-screen pointer, you hold the A button to lock on to a certain area and slash there. You can now slash anywhere on the screen, wherever you want. There are also at least 9 different sword attacks shown, and possibly more to be shown. The magic attacks have been shown, but we don't really know too many yet.

I'm really looking forward to this game, although I hope they go for a huge, free-roaming game similar to Oblivion. However, this still seems great.

Also, a slightly old, but very positive, hands-on experience from Wired.

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Dragon Quest Swords was originally scheduled to be a launch title for Wii. Maybe Square Enix was just kidding all along, but it's probably for the best they're releasing it in two months' time rather than at launch -- the Wii needs new content, this is well-suited to the audience, and it's likely benefitted highly from the extra nine or so months of development time. I had a perma-grin plastered on my face playing Dragon Quest Swords. The demo, far from getting repetitive or tiring as you use the Wiimote as a sword to slash enemies, was challenging, well-paced, and had lots of variation.

In a nutshell, you're walking along a straight path in a 3D world by pressing Up on the Wiimote's D-pad. You can hold B to run, but you don't do much of anything until a group of enemies approaches. At this point, you stop moving forward and a battle begins. You can't target enemies until they move up to the front of the screen. At this point you can slash the Wiimote vertically to hit enemies in the middle of the screen, or horizontally to hit enemies in the middle of the X-axis. Slash perfectly and you can take out a whole row of enemies at once. But this only works when enemies are right in the center -- if they're scattered around the screen you can hold A to lock-on, and then your slash will be targeted in that direction.

This alone would be fun. Rather than force you into 1:1 sword movements, it's a simple gestural-based control system. And it works. But things quickly get even more complicated. Enemies start launching attacks at you, and you have to hold B to make your shield appear, then move it into position to block the attack. Soon, the enemies themselves start blocking your attacks and you have to wait for them to attack, parry, and then hit them during the opening.

The vibe I got from this was actually very similar to Punch-Out. Maybe it's because I've been playing Punch-Out recently, but at any rate that's how the anticipate/block/attack pattern felt. Especially when I was up against a Golem who was throwing punches at me.

You'll be able to buy different shields with different shapes, which will better help you block. Since my shield started to break apart as I used it, I imagine you'll have to replace them often. Maybe you'll be able to get shields that don't break very easily but are small, and shields that break like crazy but are huge? I'm speculating but that sounds like what they'd do.

At any time, you can open a menu and use healing items that you find in treasure chests as you move along. The zombie enemies in the demo vomited purple slime which poisoned you, a condition that saps your HP gradually just like in every other RPG ever. Antidotes will clear it right up. It's likely that you can buy these in towns as well, but the demo experience at the Party was limited to a battle road.

Dragon Quest Swords is out on July 12 in Japan and I am so there.

quote mcr fan321

The battle style is a dissapointment. So is the new graphics look. The creaters are taking a turn for the worst on this one.

*Ehh* It was posted as new news, so I assumed it must be new. It's hard to tell with Jeux-France. I wonder where they get their news from sometimes.


Anyways I hope this is new ... New Gameplay Video

I'm sorry, I didn't mean you. I was referring to the discussion above you. I should have been more clear.

It has been confirmed that Dragon Quest Swords will be shown but not playable this E3. Also, some new videos have been released, the first finally showing off some character interaction in the free-roaming town. The other two are from the playable demo.