Dragon Quest 12 Renamed and Re-Revealed After Development Restart, First Gameplay Shown

Besides the really bland looking protagonist, this looks magnificent.

I'm so happy they changed direction for this, because I've been a little nervous about the much darker original vision they had for this with "choice-based" story design. But this much brighter and more traditional vision is way more my jam. Can't wait!

No worries, remake 8 on PS5 and I'll be happy enough to wait.

@RBMango I like the look of this, didn't pay much attention to the initial version. But the protagonist looks like ass, so dopey. I hate his facial expression. Looks like the elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor

DQ 12: FF7 Remake Remade

I'm calling this DQ13 b/c it will feel like it by the time it releases. 😝

I was really looking forward to a new DQ, but I'm not optimistic about ever playing this one. #WhataDragitisGettingOld

That protagonist looks like he’s perpetually confused.

I wonder what troubled them with the original 12 but it's not like we ever saw anything from it i suppose. The running around the field clip looked gorgeous

I hate that hair style! I hated it in The Lost Crown and I hate it now. The other characters look fine if a little forgettable at first glance. Love that fanfare though.

I'm a little disappointed they changed to the same old Dragon Quest. They seemed to be trying an RE7, GOW 2018, Metroid Prime style evolution but I guess they couldn't get it going. Hopefully they can find a way to utilise those ideas in a Final Fantasy which always seems to try innovating.

I’m not digging the character models at all; it looks very generic. With that said, the game looks gorgeous from what was shown. It appears more streamlined for open world exploration. I hope it still has turn based battles, but I have a feeling it won’t and that concerns me.

@TartarusBlack Sleep deprived from all of those visions maybe.

They mentioned the protag has visions, so that might affect his sleep. The subtitle is also Beyond Dreams.

Not even JRPG heroes are spared the side shave!

I'm glad they went with a new direction. I was concerned about the reports of an edgy tone, it just didn't sound like DQ at all and the original logo was also quite sharp and ominous for that series.

Protagonist looks like a cyberpunk npc

Bummer about Flames of Fate. I was interested to see what a "mature" DQ looked like, but I also felt like that would be a tight rope to walk given DQ's established looks and vibe.

New one looks ok. I'm also not in love with the character designs. However, I'm sure whenever it comes out it'll be a solid DQ romp.

Glad they showed us something. Not sure how I feel about the character design, but the world looked great. The Dragon Quest team hasn't let me down yet, so going to trust the change in direction was the right one unless they give me reason not to. I've waited this long, can wait a bit longer.

Oh no, now the character looks like he came through a portal from Supreme Kai's planet, or worst... from the american west coast! /jk

People are complaining about his hair, brother, his eyes look off not his hair.

@TartarusBlack That last sentence killed me. 😂

Development restart? Basically they wanted the game running on the Switch 2.

Also not a fan of some of those character designs.

It might just be me but for whatever reason when they started showing gameplay footage of the character running it looked like AI. For some reason I'm not really impressed with what was shown so far.

It looks like every other Dragon Quest game, and the main character looks the same as every other main character except he's been to one of them Turkish barbers for a quick short-back-and-sides.

well, my interest in it has also been scrapped. Well played Square

With Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams, I think we can all agree that every game from now on that restarts it's development needs to have the word Beyond in it's subtitle

So, no earlier than 2030. Oh well.

Nope, not like it at all sorry. Character design is very poor taste for me.

Environments look really nice.

Not sold on the character designs. But as long as it's turn based I don't really care. They can't mess with that and the original version I thought they had. Maybe they're seen sense with the new version. Graphically I did expect more, it looks like a little like an XI DLC. But they're probably working on current gen hardware when it'll likely have a next gen release too.

Ok... typical squeenix.

Was curious to have seen the previously announced one.
The new one looks ok, i guess. I like the new species, it's original. I am sure it will be fine. But, i was looking forward to the darker title. Oh well... it's versus 13 all over again, i guess.

I am a bit disappointed because flames of fate teased a more mature and dramatic approach that mixed with the classic DQ combat and aesthetic could have potentially given us a classic for all generations.

I really disliked the look of DQ11s hero but he looks perfect compared to this junkie.
Game looks great though

Remake 9, you COWARDS!

I hope they keep the combat turn based.

My mans face is so off putting lol. Don't mind the hair though. Its like Uubs/Tapions/Supreme Kais from Dragonball. Will have to wait and see as its still early development. No DQ8 news. Sad times

So damn disappointed.
I was looking forward to that darker entry in the series, and a possible 2027 release.
Guess we'll have to wait to 2030 or something like that. This is just like Metroid Prime 4, all over again...

Instead of completely scraping the old idea they could have simply saved it for Dragon Quest 13.

And I don't know whats to exciting about the story. It's yet another JRPG, where a character has visions. I bet he suffers from amnesia as well...

@Nei I know what you mean, but even with the original concept, it was never going to be really that dark or mature. It wasn't going to be like Berserk. And the series has always had things like that, but just not overtly highlighted. Like how in V you have the hero with a dead mom, his dad is on quest but dies before he succeeds, then you get made into a slave for years, your only friend there dies after you escape, then you reunite with your wife to find out your son is the legendary hero. So in a way, your dad succeeded because his original quest led to you meeting your wife and creating the chosen one - but he died before he got to see it come true. And you had to suffer for years as a slave before knowing it worked out in the end - and lost your friend in the process - and now your kids have gone through several years without you being around. It can be missed, but there's a grimness to it and a maturity via it taking three generations to get to where the original plot was headed. Patience and loss, not just a simple victory based on prophecy.

will be awhile until dragon quest 12 comes out.

Cool it's all good.i got dragon quest 11 to play word up son

It looks ok, I have mixed feelings on the characters so far. I'm more interested in Final Fantasy 7 Remake 3 and Kingdom Hearts 4 though.

@Matroska I get what you mean - I wasn't expecting Berserk levels of darkness (love the series, by the way), but DQ has always had this whimsical quality where the consequences never really land with full weight. After genuinely loving Act 2 of DQXI, for instance, Act 3 frustrated me because it walked back almost everything that made those stakes feel real. I would have loved a darker, more somber tone that still respected the fanbase. Basically, if this were Zelda, I'd have been ready for its Majora's Mask or Twilight Princess moment.

That's a nasty character design. Hopefully the development reboot will turn out better than the extremely underwhelming Metroid Prime 4.

Haha classic Square Enix.

Announcing games way too early, and then, at some point during development, scrapping everything and starting over from scratch. The exact same thing probably happened with Kingdom Hearts 4, too...🤣

That dumpster fire of a company is completely finished—no matter what major changes Kiryu tries to implement.

Love the red hair girl but the MC design is so ass
And in classic SE way the game being through development hell will definitely release early ps6 gen and in the end the sales will not meet expectations

are they lying about the character deisgns being from toriyama? they are missing that special sauce. that dinosaur/lizard guy especially doesn't belong... and the protagonost is just a generic face with big hair which could have been spit out by an AI machine. well, if people want to play yet another iteration of this franchise, that's cool... but i feel like i got my fill having completed 8 and 11 already. they are all the same game at their core.

Oof. I've had divorces that've gone smoother than that announcement.

I liked what I saw. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long for the release date.

Please release before ps5

Just give us remakes of DQ 8 and 9 in the meantime, cause this looks like it won't be out till like 2029-2030 at least

Japanese devs are the king of delays, they put Rockstar and Ubisoft to shame lol.

I was realllllly looking forward to the darker, more mature version of Dragon Quest 12 that they had planned. I thought that shift towards a more mature narrative and setting would have been awesome, but this also still looks fantastic!

Insta-buy for me

Protagonist looks like a turtle, and not in a good way!