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An interview with Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii

Just in time for Dragon Quest VI, we sat down with the minds behind the legendary series

Words: on February 17, 2011
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One of the most well-known game developers in the world, Yuji Horii created Dragon Quest all the way back in 1986, and has been in charge of the series ever since. With each new entry and rerelease selling millions of copies, it’s one of the most popular game franchises in the world, even if DQ’s international success is a fraction of its popularity in its native Japan. We got a rare chance to sit down with Horii at the Nintendo offices on the eve of the long-awaited US release of Dragon Quest VI. He, along with Yuu Miyake (Dragon Quest series executive producer) and Noriyoshi Fujimoto (Dragon Quest VI producer), answered our questions about the renowned series.



Above: Mr. Horii is the one on the left

GamesRadar: How does it feel now that the Dragon Quest series is complete in the US?

Yuji Horii: It took 25 years to complete, so I’m very happy that all the titles are now in the US market.

GR: The story in Dragon Quest VI is pretty complex, with different, huge worlds to navigate. Why did you decide to tell the story in such a way?

YH: There are some games that have a second map you open up later in the game, but we thought, “What about having multiple world maps from the beginning?” Wanting the player to be constantly switching between the dream world and the real world was our motivation for the complexity.


GR: Were you ever worried that giving the players such an open story in two different worlds was too vague?

YH: Yes, we were aware of that and concerned with players getting lost in the game, especially after taking feedback from players of the original version who got lost [ed. note: Dragon Quest VI first came out in Japan in 1996]. When we created the remake for DS we made sure to add more hints to balance that.

GR: Dragon Quest VI has elements like a flying bed, a dream world, and other stranger concepts. Were you ever concerned they were too odd for the series?

YH: We didn’t think it would be too strange when creating it. There’ve been lots of flying things in the series, so we thought, “What can we fly next time? Let’s do a flying bed.”


GR: In the US localization for the most recent Dragon Quest games, I noticed there have been a lot of puns about Slimes and other jokey elements. Is that from a desire to add a more lighthearted feel to the series?

Yuu Miyake: The original Japanese versions have jokes that come mostly from Mr. Horii, but when localizing for overseas players, many of those jokes get lost in translation. Back in the Enix days the translation team wasn’t the best at maintaining that humor, but once Square-Enix’s localizers got the series, they realized that DQ’s humor was a core element of the games. Starting with Dragon Quest VIII they did a really good job at getting that humor across in English.

GR: Yeah, I noticed the Puff-Puff jokes were sometimes missing. (You can learn more about Puff-Puff here.)

All: (Laughs)

Noriyoshi Fujimoto:  One disappointment for me is that the Puff-Puff gags can negatively affect the game’s rating, so we’ve had to get a little more subtle with it when localizing.

GR: Any specific reasons DQVI hasn’t been out in the US until now.

YM: Timing. Games like these with so much text means a lot of localization time. Also, DQVI came out in Japan near the end of the Super Famicom’s lifecycle, so it wasn’t the best time to put it out on the SNES back then.

GR: You guys were really ahead of your time when you added monster-collecting to the series in Dragon Quest V. What brought about that addition? Were players more attracted to being friends with monsters than killing them?

YH: Monsters joining your party came in with Dragon Quest V simply because having a different type of party member, particularly a monster, was a fun idea. And for the record, in the DQ series when you battle monsters you don’t really kill them, you just defeat them, so after a fight some of them look at you like they want something, giving the battles a warmer, friendly feeling.


Above: One of the most recent Itadaki Street games that wasn't localized

GR: So DQVI completes the main series in America, but there are a few DQ spin-offs that have never left Japan. Have you ever thought of bringing series like Itadaki Street to the US?

YM: Yes. (Laughs)

GR: Are there any recent Western games the DQ team has played and drawn inspiration from?

YH: Recently I played through Heavy Rain, but since I haven’t put out any new games after playing it, we’re not sure whether we’d use elements from that title or not.

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6 comments

  • Jared117 - February 17, 2011 11:21 p.m.

    FIRST!!!

  • PlainLikeVanilla - February 17, 2011 11:23 p.m.

    Sweet interview Henry. It sounds like they aren't used to dealing with people in the Western market who know a lot about the series. Well done sir.

  • publicanemone - February 18, 2011 12:58 a.m.

    Great interview. I wish other RPG series (cough, Final Fantasy) stayed closer to the gameplay roots that made them popular like the DQ series has.

  • GamesRadarJuniorWildlifeEditor - February 18, 2011 6:05 a.m.

    Thank you for this.

  • philipshaw - February 18, 2011 1:31 p.m.

    Henry has been the interview master this week, another great interview

  • cchen04 - February 18, 2011 5:07 p.m.

    Ah wow I loved this. Judging by their reactions, your Dragon Quest knowledge really impressed and caught them off guard. Great questions and a great interview, sounds like it was a lot of fun.

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