Nintendo’s ineptitude at all things relating to the internet is well known, so I’m still very surprised that Dragon Quest X — a fully fledged MMO — is coming out on the Wii, and just a few months before the launch of the more capable WiiU, no less. Still, Dragon Quest is a license to print money in Japan, and Nintendo and Square-Enix have teamed up to promote the game.
The latest Nintendo Direct webcast shows off over 40 minutes of footage from the… uh, “homely” looking MMO. I have to say, while the game certainly looks better now than when it was first revealed several years ago, the game still looks… well, pretty sparse. I understand that MMO’s can be pretty taxing on hardware, so the fact that Square even attempted to make one on the antiquated Wii is surprising, but even with those limitations in mind, DQX still looks pretty ugly. I don’t think it’d be unfair to say that the decade old Final Fantasy XI has more detailed graphics.
With that said, I’m still hoping that Dragon Quest X lives up to it’s name: I love me some Dragon Quest, and I especially loved Dragon Quest IX — with it’s plethora of multiplayer options, downloadable content, and amazingly customizable characters, the game almost felt like an MMO on a handheld, so I’m still cautiously optimistic that DQ will be able to successfully make the jump to online gaming, despite its ugly looks. Also keep in mind that there is an HD WiiU version of the game planned, and rumors state that the WiiU version of the game is much, much better looking than the current Wii SKU.
No U.S. release date has been announced for Dragon Quest X, but given DQIX’s success on American shores, I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll at least get the WiiU version of the game when that comes out. It’s hard to not be down on an MMO by Square-Enix (*cough* Final Fantasy XIV *cough*) for a system known for having crappy online support, but here’s hoping that the Dragon Quest team pulls off this seemingly impossible task.
Source: Andriasang
