An Ode to 31 Years of Slaying Slimes
With Dragon Quest XI: In Search of Departed Time arriving in July for Japan, the game just dropped an ad that doesn’t really have much gameplay footage of the upcoming JRPG but focuses instead on the nostalgia of growing up with a video game series. It’s probably one of the better gaming ads I’ve seen in terms of depicting how a gamer continues to consume a game in their daily life when they’re away from the console. In the ad, you’ll see elementary school kids huddle around a Dragon Quest strategy guide, office workers watching a trailer before a meeting, fans waiting in the rain for a new release, and more. There’s also footage of older games as well too which always works to show how far a series has come.
One of the reasons this ad works well too is mostly because of how big Dragon Quest is in Japan. Sure, you won’t see much new Dragon Quest XI footage to sell the game, but fans know what to expect from the long-storied series. The series have never been as dynamic as its brother Final Fantasy, treasuring tradition by keeping core staples in all its games: deep character progression, open world maps, linear story-telling, and an aesthetic through-line that never waivers. The only exception would be the tenth installment that went MMORPG, but its single-player games have largely maintained a similar formula.
Again, it can’t be understated how big the series is in Japan as the series had to move their games’ release dates to a non-working day as too many people called in sick to school or work to play the game on release. With a Japan-first release too, the Dragon Quest series is keenly aware of the bond between itself and the nation that has loved it the most for the last 31 years.