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1:41 pm
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February 12, 2013
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Is anyone aware of why Enix decided not to localize the Dragon Quest games during the SNES days?
From an outsider perspective, it seems kind of stupid to ignore the DQ series, which had 4 localized NES games, in favour of games like Paladin’s Quest and Brain Lord.
Now playing: SNES - Phalanx, R-Type III, Genesis - Bio Hazard Battle, PS3 - Dragon's Crown
8:29 pm
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August 21, 2012
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My only guess is that the sales of Dragon Warrior 3 and 4 were low, which made Enix believe that people are no longer interested in it.
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9:05 pm
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February 12, 2013
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You’re probably right; though it’s strange that they thought the games they did choose to localize would fare any better.
At least we got the SNES trilogy released on the DS years later.
Now playing: SNES - Phalanx, R-Type III, Genesis - Bio Hazard Battle, PS3 - Dragon's Crown
4:29 am
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July 9, 2013
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Diminishing returns on each sequel. Unfortunately the sales for Dragon Warrior were a bit of a false positive and while if timed right DQV & VI might have done better as JRPGs were just starting catch on later in the SNES’ life they really didn’t hit that temporary mainstream appeal that FFVII, for better or for worse, gave the genre.
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1:38 pm
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February 12, 2013
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Mr. Saturn said
Diminishing returns on each sequel. Unfortunately the sales for Dragon Warrior were a bit of a false positive and while if timed right DQV & VI might have done better as JRPGs were just starting catch on later in the SNES’ life they really didn’t hit that temporary mainstream appeal that FFVII, for better or for worse, gave the genre.
That argument makes sense, though Enix did end up releasing a lot of SNES RPGs anyways, many of them turn based.
Perhaps Enix really thought 7th Saga, Robotrek and Paladin’s Quest would sell better than the Dragon Quest games?
Hindsight is 20/20, but it still seems crazy to me to take a chance on an unproven JRPG like 7th Saga than release a niche game like Dragon Warrior, which despite diminishing sales, at least has some brand recognition.
Now playing: SNES - Phalanx, R-Type III, Genesis - Bio Hazard Battle, PS3 - Dragon's Crown
2:06 pm
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July 9, 2013
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Frankly I’m more stung by us not getting Terranigma.
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2:33 pm
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February 12, 2013
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Fair enough!
Illusion of Gaia must have sold well as it is very common and inexpensive these days. I guess Nintendo just shied away from the darker subject matter of Terranigma then? Or perhaps they were transitioning away from the SNES and figured “why bother”?
Illusion of Gaia had its fair share of mature / dark content though!
Now playing: SNES - Phalanx, R-Type III, Genesis - Bio Hazard Battle, PS3 - Dragon's Crown
3:02 pm
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March 14, 2012
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I would presume that Dragon Quest 5 was a business decision due to the bad sales of Dragon Quest 3 and 4 in the west. A shame, since dragon Quest 5 is the best in the series in many regards.
As for Terranigma and Dragon Quest 6, even IF they wanted to, this would not have been possible, as Enix of America officially closed it’s doors prior to these games releasing, ending any chance of future Enix releases for several years in the states.
On top of that, Dragon Quest had a “diminishing return” problem probably would have doomed it anyway, and Terranigma’s overtly religious themes (much more than Gaia) would have been a death sentence from NOA.
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8:15 pm
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February 12, 2013
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Nintendo themselves could have published Dragon Warrior 6 or Terranigma, though I can understand why they would shy away from this.
For Dragon Quest V, it still blows my mind that Enix of America throught that 7th Saga / Paladin’s Quest would sell better.
Now playing: SNES - Phalanx, R-Type III, Genesis - Bio Hazard Battle, PS3 - Dragon's Crown
8:57 pm
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February 11, 2012
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RushDawg said
For Dragon Quest V, it still blows my mind that Enix of America throught that 7th Saga / Paladin’s Quest would sell better.
Maybe they thought Americans weren’t “sophisticated” enough to enjoy Dragon Quest V based off of sales of earlier games in the series., and maybe simpler RPGs were more our speed.
9:57 pm
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February 12, 2013
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You’re probably right. I guess they knew that Dragon’s Quest would sell poorly and thought it was worth taking a chance on stuff like “Paladin’s Quest”. In hindsight though, I think they made the wrong call.
Now playing: SNES - Phalanx, R-Type III, Genesis - Bio Hazard Battle, PS3 - Dragon's Crown
7:41 pm
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February 11, 2012
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Well you know what they say, hindsight is 20/20.
Looking back at it now it would have been wonderful to get some more of those higher tier JRPG released over in North America.
10:00 pm
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May 23, 2012
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Masamune said
RushDawg said
For Dragon Quest V, it still blows my mind that Enix of America throught that 7th Saga / Paladin’s Quest would sell better.Maybe they thought Americans weren’t “sophisticated” enough to enjoy Dragon Quest V based off of sales of earlier games in the series., and maybe simpler RPGs were more our speed.
I think this is the main reason, though it wasn’t just confined the US, Europe got screwed just as bad (aside from Terranigma). Westerners just “couldn’t appreciate or maintain the concentration and effort” that these titles demanded. By the time Nintendo noticed this was untrue, the SNES was being overshadowed by other consoles on the horizon so it was not viable to release any outside of Japan. Such a shame, there is so much hidden away in the SFC-only library.
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