Why Dragon Quest 7 Won't Sell Well Here

by Mike Dore 

My editorial is why Dragon Quest 7, if translated to english, would not sell well here.

First off, the American Public has such a high belief that all RPGs are copies off of Final Fantasy. They would think of it as worthless copied manure, and probably wouldn't buy it. This are the people who's first console RPG is Final Fantasy 7, and use it to judge everything. If it doesn't focus hugely on graphics, they don't want it. And DW7 does not focus on graphics.

Secondly, the theme. The majority of U.S. gamers want games full of guns and cars, not Dragons and Swords. Final Fantasy 7 is the first one, and DQ7 is the latter. So they call it stupid, and don't buy it. And besides, U.S. gamers don't understand why there are strange blue monsters shaped like Hershey's Kisses, and why every merchant (minus Taloon) is extremely fat and wears all green. And they don't understand the strange way all characters are drawn (Anime Style). They don't know the Dragon Quest series.

Okay let's face it, last reason. Media. Final Fantasy 7 sold so well partially due to its a pretty good game (on par with FF6, and not as good as 5 or 6), but it was advertised up the wazoo. Commercials. Magazine Ads. Cardboard standups in front of stores. On the internet. EVERYWHERE! No RPG ever got this much media attention. The good ones didn't need it. But Square is gonna go berserk with advertisements for 8 (in fact, they already have on the internet), and no one will know about Dragon Quest 7. Everyone would know about FF8. That's the sick world we live in today people. You advertise, you sell. You don't, you don't sell. Simple as that.

So as you can see, it's the sad, horrible truth, that DQ7 won't sell nearly as well here as FF8. Of course, in Japan, it'll kick the snot out of FF8, because DQ is so big there. Read how big in that written thingy by the guys at DMDQR. Well, guess thats all.