"The Adventurer's Miracle" Dragon Quest X Animated Shorts - "The Feeling of a Name"

Image by Gematsu

In April of this year (2017), Square Enix chose three winning submissions for a project, called “The Adventurers’ Miracle.” Essentially, users would submit entries based on real events inspired by Dragon Quest 10 that affected their lives. This was a pitched idea from Dragon Quest X Producer Yosuke Saito in December of 2016 in order to explore how those fantastic virtual worlds we've come to explore can make an emotional impact on us as players and as people in general.

The first episode in the series comes from a player whose character name in the game is Yukina, who wrote in with a submission titled “The Name of Feelings” or "The Feeling of a Name”. Her story is about how a family honored the memory of their oldest daughter, Yukina, through their in-game characters.

The anime short aired today (August 7, 2017) during the Dragon Quest Summer Festival celebration.The episode alternates between real, in-game footage and animated original scenes. The roughly seven minute presentation shows that Dragon Quest 10 has to much more to offer than one might expect and it can not be broken down into merely fighting monsters, crafting gear, or taking on epic level quests. It is also an emotional experience unlike any other.

In the animation, a young girl watches her parents enjoy the in-game fireworks celebration for what appears to be Dragon Quest X's fourth anniversary celebrated on August 2, 2016. She subtly points out to her father that it looks like everyone has gathered to celebrate Yukina’s birthday. Yukina is the name of her mother’s character, but in a flashback viewers learn that she was named after their eldest daughter, Yukina, who had passed away. The flashback scene is from four years before, when the mother is creating her character on the old (and now discontinued) Wii version of the game.

A one year time skip occurs and we see the girl's father at a cafe, chatting in Dragon Quest X via his laptop, where he proposes to his online friends as his Weddie character (named Yuuri), the idea his daughter mentioned only a year prior, the notion of celebrating Yukina's birthday in-game. On August 2, 2017 (as depicted by the calendars), the family is gathered once again to watch the fireworks celebration for the game’s (now) fifth anniversary. It is then that everyone watching the fireworks display begins to wish Yukina a happy 15th birthday, bringing tears to the surprised mother’s eyes. Had she been alive, Yukina would have turned 15 years old that day. It's a subtle gesture, but a tear-jerkingly heartfelt one nonetheless.

The entire series has been created in an effort to celebrate Dragon Quest 10’s recent fifth anniversary. After the airing of the video, many of the hosts, developers and even some of the guests on stage were holding back tears.

MMOs allow players to connect with distant family members or friends, and regardless of distance, these games foster brotherly bonds, rivalries, and camaraderie through play. These can lead to life-changing events like marriage or tributes to those that we have come to know and have lost.

As previously indicated, two more of these shorts are in development. The second will be titled “Beyond Time and Space, Meet me in Astoltia” (Astoltia is the name of Dragon Quest X‘s world) and will come in the fall later this year. A third episode will soon follow sometime afterwards.

The video will be featured below.

Works Cited
Frank, A. (2017, August 07). A Dragon Quest 10 anime is the most tearjerking thing you'll watch today. Retrieved August 07, 2017, from https://www.polygon.com/2017/8/7/16109212/dragon-quest-10-anime-short

Nelva, G. (2017, August 07). This Dragon Quest X Anime Short Will Hit You Straight in the Feels [UPDATED]. Retrieved August 07, 2017, from http://www.dualshockers.com/dragon-quest-x-anime-short-straight-feels/

Romano, S. (2017, August 07). Dragon Quest X anime short Episode 1: 'The Feeling of a Name'. Retrieved August 07, 2017, from https://gematsu.com/2017/08/dragon-quest-x-anime-short-episode-1-feeling-name

Dragon Quest X’s Next Expansion, Dragon Quest XI Announced for the West, & More!

Square Enix has officially announced the fourth major expansion (or rather, "version") of Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online titled "5,000 Year Journey to a Faraway Hometown Online", during the Dragon Quest Summer Festival 2017 in Tokyo on Saturday, August 5th, 2017. It will launch for Wii U, PC, PlayStation 4, and Switch on Thursday, November 16, 2017 in Japan for 3,800 yen (approximately $34.33 USD).

Pre-orders are available now apparently via the Square Enix e-Store. Japanese players who have previously purchased the Dragon Quest X: All-In-One Package, which includes Version 1, Version 2, and Version 3 of Dragon Quest X, from the Square Enix e-Store, will receive a 500 yen discount (approximately $4.52 USD) coupon to purchase the all new Version 4 update.

Image by Gematsu

Square Enix has also announced "Dragon Quest Rivals", a card based battle game which will be released for iOS & Android (in Japan) sometime this fall, and they have also stated that a PC version, currently in development, will also launch sometime soon.

Additionally, the publisher announced that the original Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest II will be available digitally for PS4 and 3DS in Japan on Thursday, August 10, 2017 for 600 yen (approximately $5.42 USD) and 850 yen (approximately $7.68 USD), respectively. Dragon Quest III will arrive later that month for 1,500 yen (approximately $13.55 USD).

The franchise's latest installment, Dragon Quest XI: In Search of Departed Time (or Echoes of an Elusive Age), launched last month in Japan and has sold incredibly well. Perhaps even more exciting is that Square Enix has confirmed that DQXI will be coming to the west in 2018.

Additionally, there is an early-access demo for Dragon Quest X on PS4 via a "Spell of Restoration" code (entered through Dragon Quest XI) which provides access to the demo available on Thursday August 10, 2017.

Players simply enter the Spell of Restoration code of “あすとるていあへたびだとう” to access the additional content. The demo is now available for download, but it’ll be available to play from Thursday, August 10, 2017 at 12:00pm JST through Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 11:59pm JST.

Author's Note:
If you want to let Square Enix know that you want Dragon Quest X to be localized, please send a letter to:

SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
SHINJUKU EASTSIDE SQUARE
6-27-30 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo 160-8430
JAPAN


Works Cited
S. (2017, August 06). Dragon Quest X’s Early-Access Demo For PS4 To Be Available Via Dragon Quest XI Spell of Restoration. Retrieved August 06, 2017, from http://www.siliconera.com/2017/08/06/dragon-quest-xs-early-access-demo-ps4-available-via-dragon-quest-xi-spell-restoration/

S. (2017, August 06). Dragon Quest X’s Next Expansion Announced, Launches November 16 In Japan. Retrieved August 06, 2017, from http://www.siliconera.com/2017/08/06/dragon-quest-xs-next-expansion-announced-launches-november-16-japan/

Osborn, A. (2017, August 06). Dragon Quest X Expansion, Rivals Card Game, More Coming to Japan Later This Year. Retrieved August 06, 2017, from http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/08/06/dragon-quest-x-expansion-rivals-card-game-more-coming-to-japan-later-this-year

Romano , S. (2017, August 06). Dragon Quest X Version 4 expansion announced. Retrieved August 06, 2017, from https://gematsu.com/2017/08/dragon-quest-x-version-4-expansion-announced

Dragon Quest X & Dragon Quest XI Crossover Event

Dragon Quest XI: In Search of Departed Time's release launch is drawing close in Japan (Expected to arrive on Saturday, July 29, 2017). As such, Square Enix is celebrating alongside the franchise’s previous iteration, Dragon Quest X. This event will start on Friday July 14, 2017 and end on Monday, August 14, 2017. The Dragon Quest XI character Silvia will appear in Dragon Quest X for a limited time. Engaging in conversation with Silvia will grant players a fabulous parade outfit, which you can see in action in the video towards the end of this post. Square Enix has released a Dragon Quest XI video showcasing the parade in-game.

The second part of the event will start on Saturday July 29th and end on Wednesday, November 15th. In Dragon Quest X players will use Dragon Quest XI‘s “Spell of Restoration” passwords to receive reward items. These unique items include a pet yocchi, a Dragon Quest XI poster and character figurines for the in-game housing, as well as a rather "engaged" gesture featuring a magazine (visible in a video located towards the top of this post). Gamers will have to approach a member of the Yocchi tribe at an in-game church in order to redeem the codes. The second part of the event is expected to run for a total of 110 days from the start date to the end date (or 3 months, 18 days including the end date). This leaves players with plenty of time to partake in the festivities. Apparently, the "Incarnation of Time" Kerucchi will also be making an appearance sometime during the commemoration.

Dragon Quest X will launch in Japan on PS4 on Thursday, August 17th, while the Switch version will release on Thursday, September 21st. It’s already available on the Nintendo Wii (services discontinued), PC, Wii U, and on the Nintendo 3DS, Apple iOS and Android mobile via streaming.

As always, you can read all of the latest Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online posts here.

Works Cited

Duine, E. V. (2017, July 08). Dragon Quest XI details Silva's parade gameplay clip. Retrieved July 08, 2017, from http://www.novacrystallis.com/2017/07/dragon-quest-xi-details-silvas-parade-gameplay-clip/

Nelva, G. (2017, July 07). Dragon Quest XI Gets Fabulous PS4 Video Revealing Crossover Events with Dragon Quest X. Retrieved July 13, 2017, from http://www.dualshockers.com/dragon-quest-11-ps4-video-crossover-event-10/

Romano, S. (2017, July 07). Dragon Quest XI 'Silvia's Parade' gameplay. Retrieved July 13, 2017, from http://gematsu.com/2017/07/dragon-quest-xi-silvias-parade-gameplay

Ellen Baker Steps Up to the Challenge!

Happy April everyone! I hope everyone's had a good laugh for the first of the month, so to continue that spirit of mischief, I've decided to deviate from talking about video games today to tell you about a meme that I absolutely adore.

What's a meme you ask? Well, essentially it is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture" (Merriam-Webster). I tend to refer to them as "internet jokes" or "trending events". In any case, recently one such meme has been brought to my attention, one that may or may not spark some extreme controversy.

Ellen Baker (Japanese: エレン・ベーカー) is a fictional tutor character featured in the 2016-2019 edition of New Horizon. New Horizon is a Japanese to English language textbook published by Tokyo Shosek that is used in middle schools as part of their language curriculum. In the fictitious setting of the book, Ellen Baker instructs her students at Midori Junior High School.

On April 5th 2016, Twitter user @haiyore_audio uploaded several pictures of the characters (Ellen Baker included) from his younger brother's textbook. Within the first 24 hours, the tweet generated over 45,000 likes and a whopping 50,000 retweets, with many people expressing adoration for the charmingly cute female character.

Now, for a bit of context, the Internet has a rather poor habit of perversion when it comes to any particular topic, popular or unpopular, real or fictional. What I'm referring to (for those of you that are unaware) is Rule #34 of the Internet which essentially states that:

"...pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable subject. Therefore, if it exists, there is porn of it. If there isn't, there will be, as there are no exceptions."


On April 7th, 2016, Buzzfeed Japan published an interview with Denchubou (電柱棒), the Japanese illustrator for the New Horizon textbook. In the interview he mentioned that:


"Of course, I do welcome the situation (regarding the massive rise in popularity). But…this is a textbook. I’m worried if parents will start to grow a bad impression, or if people start to forget its educational purpose."
- Translated from Japanese (Know Your Meme)

You can check out more of Denchubou's impressive illustrations here.

Now that there has been a massive amount of global exposure with this character, fan sketches of Ellen Baker have sprung up in a wide range of scenarios, some of which are tasteful and humorous, with others being of the more lewd and provocative variety. After images of Ellen Baker went viral on Twitter, articles for her were submitted to Nico Nico Pedia and the Pixiv Encyclopedia, sparking more than 200 illustrations by enthusiasts (Know Your Meme).