Quested

You know, I never thought I'd use Jedward in one of my header images, but it's related to my feelings about Dragon Quest IX, and therefore is quite suitable.

Previously, I'd mentioned how I bought the game a second time, albeit in Japanese, with the aim of giving it a second chance. I did. It still doesn't do it for me. I'm really not sure what it is about it, but it just feels... weak. I guess it's a similar feeling to Final Fantasy IX, in that it's brought in multiplayer to a predominantly single player experience, and feels too light in most aspects aside from how much a timesink it is. I can accept that, I know it's silly to think that I would enjoy every game in a long running series simply for being part of that series, but I still feel a bit let down about it.

However, in my previous post I'd also mentioned plans to go to Dragon Quest's 25th Anniversary exhibition in Roppongi. I've since been, and it filled me with happy feelings. Which is, of course, what you want from a videogame.

The largest part involved a history gallery, with the walls covered from floor to ceiling in screen shots, with framed artwork dotted around. There were a few full size monster statues in the same section. Those were the only things you were allowed to take photos of, but it was busy enough for me to get away with a few photos of the artwork.

After that was a performance, with audience participation included, where a large animatronic dragon appeared midway, and had to be defeated by a few members of the audience being given replica weapons and the rest of the audience being encouraged to lend their energy. It was an interesting experience, but quite hard to summarise in words. It's a shame that most of it did not allow cameras.

Following that, and perhaps the most interesting of all, was a behind the scenes section, which had very, very early concept ideas and sketches. The vast majority of this had apparently not been shown to the public before, and therefore was the busiest part of the exhibit. I was amazed, quite oddly, at several filing cabinets containing folders that detailed every single bit of text in the entire series thus far. Not only were you not allowed to take pictures, but they'd even established a barrier to stop people getting close to it. After that was a shop, with some obscenely overpriced goods, most of which I fawned over but refused to allow myself to buy, as such a thing could destroy my wallet.

I'm sort of on the fence about Dragon Quest now. It's certainly a lot more popular worldwide, which is a good thing, but with the next one being a full online RPG, I really don't know if it'll be my sort of thing again. I suppose there are always remakes to look forward to, at least.