Why Dragon Quest VII will sell well in the U.S.

by J.T. Kauffman 

I couldn't help but shake my head while reading Mike Dore's editorial entitled "Why Dragon Quest VII won't sell well here." Although the points that he makes are semi-valid, I feel that he is not looking at the picture as a whole.

It is true that in the eyes of the American gaming public, the big mother of all RPGs is Final Fantasy. So does this mean that games like Wild Arms, the Lunar series, and the Breath of Fire series are just "worthless copied manure?" I think not. Just because a single game or series leads the pack does not rule out all the others as garbage. Many RPGs, like those mentioned above, have done well, with Final Fantasy VII simply widening the market for such games.

Secondly, although graphics and special effects are a big plus in the eyes of U.S. consumers, I don't think that it is one of the main reasons that RPGs sell here. People do not play a game for 40, 50, 60 hours just to see Bahamut cast over and over. When it comes down to it, if it's fun and has a good story, then it will do decently.

Next we come to the theme. Mr. Dore mentions that American gamers want "games full of guns and cars, not dragons and swords," saying that Final Fantasy VII is the first, and Dragon Quest VII is the latter. Well, if this is the case, then American gamers shouldn't have wanted Final Fantasy VII since it had a non-drivable car on screen for less than a minute and only had one player character who used guns. Instead, it had at least five different types of dragons and many characters who used swords and sword-like weapons. Although Dragon Quest has a more blatant "dragons and swords" feel, it doesn't mean that it will be dismissed by the public for the lack of a gun or two. After all, what weapon is Cloud holding on the cover of FFVII?

Mr. Dore also mentions the look of the game. He says that the public won't understand the Anime style of the artwork. Then why did Final Fantasy VII do well with it's anime-looking characters? And why is anime growing in popularity here in the states? People are discovering it, and finding that they like it. Heck, even Disney's latest film Mulan had a poster done in a style similar to anime/manga. And Mr. Dore's mention of the look of the slimes and the merchants is almost too weak of an argument to bring up - one type of monster and one group of people do not sell a game.

Which brings me to what does sell a game - media. Everything from advertising to packaging to word of mouth does make a major influence on how a game sells. Final Fantasy VII did have a huge marketing push, and had very good word of mouth. But how can you judge a game that isn't even completed yet on it's ad campaign? As far as I know, the game does not have a U.S. distributor yet, which means that there is nothing stopping Sony from picking the game up themselves and advertising it to death, just like they did with Final Fantasy VII - in fact, if they're smart that's exactly what they'll do. The American market is primed for acceptance of Dragon Quest/Warrior VII - if you look at the game market in the last few years, Japanese game trends have slowly been accepted by the U.S., everything from game books, merchandise, and soundtracks to the recent "acceptance" of RPGs, showing that there is no reason that another Japanese trend, Dragon Quest, shouldn't succeed as well. As long as the game is as good as the other Dragon Quests, has a decent storyline, and is given even a little mass marketing push, there's no reason that it shouldn't sell well. And if there was ever a time for the Dragon Quest series to become popular here, that time is now.