Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the first 3D Dragon Quest?
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King[lower-alpha 1], known in the PAL regions as Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King, is a role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. It was first released in Japan in 2004, and was later released in North America in 2005 and PAL regions in 2006, making it the first main series installment released in the PAL region.[9] It is the eighth installment of the popular Dragon Quest series and it is the first English version of a Dragon Quest game to drop the Dragon Warrior title.[10] A version of the game for Android and iOS was released in Japan in December 2013,[2] and worldwide in May 2014.[3][4]
"Dragon Warrior" was listed on GameSpot's list of the 15 most influential games of all time, calling it the "most influential role-playing game of all time" and stated that nearly all Japanese RPGs today have roots in its gameplay. GameSpot also noted that the game's 2D graphics were imitated by most Japanese RPGs until video games began using 3D graphics. In another Gamasutra article, Kalata claimed that "Dragon Quest" was the first of its genre and that it "went on to inspire dozens of clones. Most of these are best left forgotten, but it did inspire two more notable franchises: Square's "Final Fantasy" and Sega's "Phantasy Star"". He also noted that when first localized for North America, it was not immediately popular due to "subpar" graphics and "stodgy interface".
Dragon Quest VIII uses cel shading for the characters and scenery and is the first game in the series to have fully 3D environments and character models.[11] The game retains most of the series' role-playing game elements, such as turn-based combat and the experience level system. Dragon Quest VIII follows the silent Hero, the main character, and his party of allies as they journey towards the goal of defeating the wicked Dhoulmagus. The kingdom of Trodain has been cursed by Dhoulmagus, with the King, Trode, and his daughter, Medea, transformed into a troll and a horse respectively, and it is up to the Hero to return them to their original form and save the kingdom. Dragon Quest VIII was both a critical and financial success, becoming a Sony Greatest Hits game.
The game sold two million copies on its first two days of sale in Japan; the Nintendo 3DS version sold 1.13 million, while the PlayStation 4 version sold 0.95 million. By November 2017, the game had sold over three million copies across the PlayStation 4 and 3DS. In North America, the game had the best launch month in series history, doubling the dollar sales of the previous best, "Dragon Quest IX". By November 2018, it had shipped over four million copies worldwide.
As with nearly every "Dragon Quest" game, Koichi Sugiyama composed the musical score. As was done for "Dragon Quest VI", the original sound version was bundled with the symphonic suite in a two-disc set called "Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi Symphonic Suite + OST". The entire first disc and the opening track of the second disc consists of the symphonic suite, while the rest of the second disc is the original sound version. The "Symphonic Suite" was released alone on Super Audio CD later that year, and re-released in 2009. A disc titled "Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi on Piano" was also released, and contained 27 piano-arranged tracks. The "Symphonic Suite" was later re-recorded in 2006 along with the rest of the music from the series. An original soundtrack for the 3DS remake was released on March 19, 2014, and features the original recordings by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from the remake.
There is an urban myth that the release of "Dragon Quest III" caused a law to be passed in Japan banning the sale of "Dragon Quest" games or video games in general except on certain days such as weekends or national holidays. When "III" was released in Japan, over 300 schoolchildren were arrested for truancy while waiting in stores for the game to be released. The rumor claims there was a measurable dip in productivity when a "Dragon Quest" game was released and although muggings of "Dragon Quest" titles became so widespread there were hearings in the Japanese Diet, no law was ever passed. However, the Japanese release of every Dragon Quest title continued to be on a Saturday until the release of Dragon Quest X, which was released on Thursday, August 2, 2012.
Erdrick, known as in Japanese and in the North American remakes of the Game Boy Color versions of the first three games, is the legendary hero from the "Dragon Quest" series. The first three "Dragon Quest" games, all connected to the legend of Erdrick, comprise the Erdrick or Loto trilogy. He is known in the game as the hero who freed the Kingdom of Alefgard from darkness. The chronological order of the first three "Dragon Quest" games is: "Dragon Quest III", "Dragon Quest", and "Dragon Quest II".
The Slime made its first appearance in "Dragon Quest" as the first and weakest enemy in the game, and has made a similar appearance in all subsequent "Dragon Quest" titles. In "", the monster is an easy recruit that learns a variety of magic spells. The Slime is also the protagonist of its own spinoff series, beginning with "Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest", a Japanese Game Boy Advance title. It was followed by "", which was released worldwide for the Nintendo DS, and the Japanese-exclusive title, "Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest 3" for the Nintendo 3DS. These games follow a nation of slimes who are intelligent and civilized, but also cute and somewhat comical. In the North American localization of the "Dragon Quest" games for the Nintendo DS, joking references and puns are made about slimes. Slime also appeared in three crossover games along with characters from Nintendo's "Mario" franchise: "Itadaki Street DS", "Mario Sports Mix", and "Fortune Street".
Square Enix released a PlayStation 2 enhanced remake of "Dragon Quest V" on March 25, 2004, with first day sales of 722,000. As of April 2004, the game has sold over 1.5 million copies making it the top selling "Dragon Quest" remake game of all-time, and is available in Japan as an Ultimate Hits title. The remake was developed by former "Dragon Quest VII" art directors, Artepiazza. It features 3D graphics that are similar to "Dragon Quest VII", but it utilizes the extra PlayStation 2 graphical capabilities. The Hero and his companions have to fight more monsters in the PlayStation 2 remake than they did in the Super Famicom original, but the character limit on the party has been increased from three to four. Also, there were only 40 monsters available to the player's party in the Super Famicom version of "Dragon Quest V" due to ROM limitations. The PlayStation 2 remake, however, does not suffer from this restriction. The music is performed by the NHK Symphony.
In 2004, "Dragon Quest VIII" was released and became the first game in the "Dragon Quest" series to have 3D graphics and voice acting. In 2005, "Kingdom Hearts II" was released, which solidified the "Kingdom Hearts" series as the new JRPG series. In 2006, "Final Fantasy XII" was released. It was the first "Final Fantasy" game to have enemies on the field, seamless battle transitions, an open world, a controllable camera and customizable AI. When it was released it became the first "Final Fantasy" game to get a perfect score from "Famitsu Weekly" magazine.
The US release of Dragon Quest VIII received mostly positive reviews, receiving a score of 89 out of 100 on Metacritic.[26] Critics were quick to praise the 3D cel shaded visuals, noting that it was the first game in the series to be fully three-dimensional.[13][17] A staple of the Dragon Quest series is the simplicity of its gameplay, a factor which has been criticized in the past.[43] However, several critics pointed out that the simple gameplay works for Dragon Quest VIII. Bethany Massimilla of GameSpot wrote that the lack of "dozens of characters of all types" allows the game to remain simple, letting the player become very familiar with the main characters.[13] Edge magazine, however, commented that the game's substance seemed out of place for 2005.[27]
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride is a role-playing video game and the fifth installment in the "Dragon Quest" video game series. Originally developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix Corporation, "Dragon Quest V" was the first title in the series to be released for the Nintendo Super Famicom (SFC aka SNES) video game console in Japan in September 1992. "Dragon Quest V" was the first game in the series to not be released outside Japan, as Enix did not want to pay for the cost of the larger cartridge ROMs needed to fit English-language dialog. Poor sales of "Dragon Quest II", "Dragon Quest III", and "Dragon Quest IV" in North America were also a factor.
The games always feature a number of religious overtones; after the first "Dragon Warrior" game saving, and reviving characters who have died, is performed by clergy in churches. Bishops wander around the over-world of "Dragon Quest Monsters" and can heal wounded characters. The final enemy in some of the "Dragon Quest" games is called the Demon Lord; for instance in "Dragon Quest VII", the Demon Lord (known as Orgodemir in that particular game) is the final boss, and there is a sidequest to battle against God. The first four "Dragon Quest" titles were subjected to censorship in their North American localizations, largely in keeping with Nintendo of America's content guidelines at the time that placed severe restrictions on religious iconography and mature content. When these games were remade for the Game Boy Color, most censorship was removed. The translated versions of the games have largely followed the originals since "Dragon Quest VII".
Until "", exploration was all from an overhead view, while battles were in a first-person perspective. "Dragon Quest VIII" changed this system by featuring fully three dimensional environments and battles in the third-person. Earlier "Dragon Quest" games were released using solely 2D graphics. Starting with "Dragon Quest VII", 3D graphics were introduced, however the graphics were extremely limited compared to those released in "Dragon Quest VIII". Since then, every game, including the remakes for the Nintendo DS, has included some level of 3D gameplay.
On October 30, 2012 Square Enix announced that they were remaking Dragon Quest VII exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS and that it would be released in Japan in February 2013. Later that day, Square Enix confirmed that the release date would be February 7, 2013 for Japan. Similarly to "Dragon Quest IX", the game features visible enemy encounters instead of random encounters, unique backgrounds and enemies that have individual attack characteristics. The remake was originally not intended for a release outside of Japan, in part due to the sheer cost and time needed to localize the game's substantial content. After numerous letters from core "Dragon Quest" fans in France, as well as Square Enix and Nintendo executives, the decision was made to release the 3DS port worldwide. In the November 2015 Nintendo Direct, it was shown that "Dragon Quest VII" would be coming outside Japan in 2016, with the new subtitle "Fragments of the Forgotten Past". The international release of the 3DS remake contained a completely retranslated script which followed the localization style of games since Square Enix's release of Dragon Quest VIII in 2005, including numerous name and terminology changes for characters from the original "Dragon Warrior VII" release. The orchestral score from the Japanese release was also replaced with a synthesized MIDI soundtrack used by the iOS and Android versions of the game.
"Dragon Quest X" is one of the few "Dragon Quest" games that has not received a release in the West, despite fan demand. When asked in 2014 whether they would like to localize the game, the lead staff said they would "love to". In multiple interviews, staff have outlined the problems with localizing the title: the two main issues are the amount of text, and technical issues related to the servers and other elements involved in operating an MMORPG over multiple regions. A later interview at the 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo revealed that Square Enix was testing the waters for the possible localization of "Dragon Quest X" and "Dragon Quest XI" with the recent Western 3DS releases of "Dragon Quest VII" and "Dragon Quest VIII", in addition to new releases such as "" and "Dragon Quest Builders". In 2016, Square Enix stated that if enough fans demanded it, they would make efforts to bring "Dragon Quest X" overseas. That same year, a Chinese language version for Windows was localized for China.
"Dragon Quest II" is noted for greatly expanding upon the gameplay of the previous game, "Dragon Quest". The game is the first in the series to feature multiple heroes and enemies in a battle, as well as a sailing ship. It also allowed the player to land the ship anywhere, making it possible to explore the entire game world in an open-ended manner. It included other new gameplay features such as weapons which cast spells when used in battles. Compared with its predecessor, "Dragon Warrior II" offers a wider array of spells and items and a much larger world. The game also expanded the inventory management system of its predecessor by giving each character an individual inventory that holds up to eight items, placing a greater emphasis on conservative item management between the characters. "Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line" was also the first "Dragon Quest" game to include a game of chance (played with Lottery Tickets that the player finds), and was also the first "Dragon Quest" game to use multiple key types and to include travel doors (warp gates).
"Theatrhythm Dragon Quest" features 65 songs selected from "Dragon Quest I" to "X", all composed by Koichi Sugiyama. Additional songs were released via the Nintendo eShop on the Nintendo 3DS as downloadable content.
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. An entry in the long-running "Dragon Quest" video game series, it was released in Japan for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 4 in July 2017, and worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in September 2018. A port for the Nintendo Switch, titled "Dragon Quest XI S", will also be released in Japan in 2019.
Dragon Quest is the first role-playing video game (RPG) in the "Dragon Quest" media franchise. It was developed by Chunsoft for the Family Computer (or Famicom for short) and published by Enix in Japan in 1986 as "Dragon Quest" and by Nintendo in 1989 in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES) as Dragon Warrior. "Dragon Quest" has been ported and remade for several video game platforms, including the MSX, PC-9801, Super Famicom, Game Boy Color, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 4 and mobile phones. In play, players control a hero character who is charged with saving the Kingdom of Alefgard and rescuing its princess from the evil Dragonlord. "Dragon Warrior"s story became the second part in a trilogy. Several more anime and manga series, which revolved around this overarching plot were created.
"Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker" is the first game in the "Dragon Quest Monsters" series to be in 3D. It uses cel-shaded animation, and the battles are of the same type in other Dragon Quest games: commands are issued in a turn based style, then are executed in full 3D.
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is a Japanese role-playing video game developed by Heartbeat and ArtePiazza, and published by Enix for the PlayStation in . It was released in North America in under the title Dragon Warrior VII. The game received a remake on the Nintendo 3DS on February 7, 2013 in Japan, which was released in North America and Europe for the Nintendo 3DS under the title "Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past" in 2016. A version of the game for Android and iOS was also released in Japan on September 17, 2015.
"Famitsu" scored "Theatrhythm Dragon Quest" a 35/40. More than 76,000 copies were sold in its first week, making it the best-selling Nintendo 3DS game in that week.
Koichi Sugiyama composed and directed the music for the game. The first album of "Dragon Quest II", "Suite Dragon Quest II ~Gods of the Evil Spirits~", was released in February 1987. It covers ten orchestra version soundtracks with a twenty-five minute "original sound story"; this suite was performed by the Tokyo Strings Ensemble. Some of the tracks are classical and some are jazz. On August 20, 1987, the first "Family Classic Concert" was held. In this concert, "Dragon Quest" and "Dragon Quest II"'s music was performed by the Tokyo Strings Ensemble. Later in October 1987, the concert recording was released as symphonic suite CD under title "Dragon Quest in Concert". Music of "Dragon Quest II" were also released as a piano CD, a Drama CD and several Symphonic Suite albums. "Dragon Quest II"'s musics were also collected in music compilations, like "Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest Best Selection Vol.1 ~Roto~" (1997), "Dragon Quest Game Music Super Collection Vol. 1"–"3" (2001–2002), "Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest Complete CD-Box" (2003) and "Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest Scene-Separated I~IX" (2011).
Two games were released for the Super Famicom: "" in 1992 and "" in 1995; both have been re-released on newer systems. "Dragon Quest V" was originally scheduled for release in North America but was canceled amid rumors that Enix had given up on the American market. No official reason was ever given. The Nintendo DS remakes were released in North America with "Dragon Quest V" also being released in Europe and Australia, the latter without the numbering. One game was released for the PS1: "Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshi-tachi" in 2000 in Japan and 2001 in North America under the title "Dragon Warrior VII". "" was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004 in Japan, 2005 in North America, and 2006 in Europe and Australia, again without the number in the title for Europe. "Dragon Quest VIII" was the first "Dragon Quest" title to be released in North America under the "Dragon Quest" title, and the first European release of a main-series "Dragon Quest" game. "", the only game in the series initially released on the Nintendo DS, was originally released in 2009 in Japan, and in 2010 in North America, Europe, and Australia. "Dragon Quest X" was announced for the Wii in December 2008. In September 2011, Square Enix announced that "Dragon Quest X" would also be released on the Wii U, with Nintendo 3DS connectivity. It is the first MMORPG in the series, and the only numbered "Dragon Quest" title not released outside Japan. "Dragon Quest XI" was released in Japan on July 29, 2017, and released internationally on September 4, 2018.