First of all, don't worry. Before we dive in, let me point out that this news doesn't mean that Dragon Quest XII will be without turn-based battles. Even these words don't come directly from the legendary creator Yuji Horii himself – but they do do comes from director Masato Yagi, who worked at a high level on both Dragon Quest XI and this year's Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. So still quite an important person.
But yeah, Yagi doesn't see turn-based battle systems as a staunch pillar of traditionally turn-based series. He doesn't believe that every title requires it. For those who may be worried that Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate might be heavily action-packed, we'll find out when we get there. However, this shows a willingness, at least in theory, to experiment more with Japan's most beloved JRPG IP moving forward.
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In a developer roundtable interview with the excellent, recently relaunched Game Informer, Masato Yagi gave his thoughts on the matter. He's joined by a bunch of other big names, including Naoki Hamaguchi from the FFVII Remake trilogy, who somehow still finds time for these things despite being incredibly busy.
Of course, Yagi's questions were decidedly Dragon Quest oriented. Dragon Quest is basically and A JRPG franchise. It is the oldest and most conservative approach; every entry in the main series is turn-based, and Square Enix (in this case, formerly just Enix) has always boasted about this fact. That's what he said…
“People may see it differently, but I personally don't think a Dragon Quest title should always have turn-based combat. What's important is the core theme of the game and choosing the most accessible system that best brings that theme to life, so turn-based combat isn't necessarily a requirement.”
So what does he mean? Well, I'm not a mind reader, but I'd say it's pretty simple. He recognized that others might think that turn-based combat was essential to Dragon Quest's identity. But in his opinion, these are the themes of individual games. This follows Yuji Horia's own recent comment in which the creator professes to believe that stories are less important in the series than experiences. Themes, experiences… these finer concepts are at the core of the Dragon Quest apple.
Of course, the question on many minds is whether this means Dragon Quest XII, which may relaunch later this month, will include a more action-packed battle system. I personally hope not. But I'm open to the idea. Just don't take Yagi's answer to the interview as definitive on the matter.
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