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The story
Dragon Quest 12 reportedly began development with a dark world setting, but internal clashes over character design and endless debate over whether to make it action-based kept the project from ever reaching a finished state — until it was ultimately scrapped, according to a thread on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. What ended up being announced was a brighter-toned version of 12, and the thread was split between defenders saying ‘better this than shipping something nobody was happy with,’ and critics firing back that ‘missing the Switch generation’s sales window anyway was a massive blunder.’ The discussion also spiraled into a side debate over just how ‘dark’ earlier entries in the series really were.
What people said
when you put both ¥22.1 billion and 9 years on the other side of the scale, does pride normally win that one? That's the real question.
But it clearly never got anywhere near that level of polish.
They fought tooth and nail over the characters, went back and forth on whether to make it action-based,
holding meeting after meeting about stuff players couldn't care less about, convincing themselves they were getting work done.
That's how you turn into one of those typical garbage companies.
What does fighting over the characters have to do with whether it's action-based?
What's the connection?
Because the original dark version of 12 ran into development trouble.
Curious what the finished thing actually looked like.
Whether I'd buy it is a separate question.
They didn't need to go that far — just make its eyes red, like the 'Slime Strong' variant from DQ11.
Why copy Level-5, of all the studios that flopped hard?
It's probably some outrageous monstrosity.
Sounds like the characters are reused designs —
like a protagonist whose color saturation is noticeably duller than the rest of the world.
The fact that it wowed everyone with fast development and high polish is undeniable.
They could've had DQ12 out on the current-gen hardware that followed.
And releasing 11S later on Switch and PS4 was honestly the best part of all.
I played the garbage-tier PS4 version (lit. 'garbage-station 4') and the 30fps nearly blinded me.
No, the moment it went 3DS-exclusive, they'd already flatly given up on top-tier polish.
They probably had no choice but to use it —
it's the last protagonist design Toriyama left behind.
But at this rate it's basically Sand Land 2.
I wish there were an update that swapped 11S's protagonist for that design.
Still haven't gotten used to that sleek, flowing hair.
not gory like a FromSoftware game.
Wouldn't that end up not much different from 7?
Or maybe like starting from the state of 11's last stronghold after everything's already collapsed?
Don't spout amateur nonsense.
'It's the amateurs who actually do it' —
even Ryo-san said that (a famous line from the manga/anime KochiKame).
If the dark fantasy take were genuinely well done, it'd get its due credit.
I think the whole point is doing it as a mainline numbered entry.
If scrapping something unsatisfying as a failure and raising the finished quality is the right call, then fine, that's the right call.
Going on about 'dark, dark' at this point — what do you even want Square Enix to do?
This isn't the time to be backpedaling.
This year's Dragon Quest Day should've at least pinned down 12's release year.
For a domestically-focused franchise like Dragon Quest, they completely wasted a bonus window that might not come around again for another 20 years.
Can't it just be on Switch 2?
There was also the COVID boost, don't forget.
It seems pretty unlikely Switch 2 will match or beat the previous generation's install base.
Back when 7 came out, the PS2 had already been around for ages too.
Switch 2 is basically Switch 1, so it'll be fine, right?
the easiest one in the whole series — anything but dark.
The DQ7 hero just happens to charge into dark places — his original environment and everyone close to him stay completely peaceful.
Re: #60
If it's fun and it sells, that's the correct answer.
Afterward, people will invent all the reasons in the world for why the 'cheese naan' turned out great (phrasing unclear in the original post).
but that doesn't necessarily mean the bright, cheerful 12 they actually put out this time is the right answer either…
Bringing up DQ7 as an example — do you seriously think 12, which just had its rework announced, is coming out multi-platform on Switch 1?
Game development these days takes forever, you know.
Apparently there's a console out there that rode piggyback on the PS4 for a good five years.
The only entries you could really call 'bright' are spin-offs like Torneko or Slime MoriMori, no?
In DQ6, from Prince Leodrick's perspective rather than the player's, all he loses is his stepsister and one companion.
DQ7 gets called dark constantly, but the hero and his own family come through completely unscathed.
DQ8's 'leave-the-sage-to-die' tour and Marcello are also squarely within light-fantasy territory.
Even Tales games have named-character deaths and wiped-out villages, so that alone doesn't make something dark.
Pokémon did exactly that, and its Switch-only sales alone already topped Dragon Quest's entire cumulative total.
Even the character designs still show traces of the dark concept, and it reeks of being rushed together.
Feels like it's going to end up half-baked in the end, just like Final Fantasy XV.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Dragon Quest 12 has been a subject of chatter over its prolonged development ever since its 2024 announcement, and the thread’s account of a ‘dark version that stalled due to development troubles’ rests on speculation tied to previously reported production turmoil. What split opinion in the thread wasn’t whether the change in direction itself was right, but how to judge its timing. While the decision to prioritize polish is defended by some, there’s a strong chorus concerned about the missed opportunity of not launching during the Switch era, a period with an unusually large install base. Note that ‘dark’ here refers to the weight of the setting and story, not grotesque imagery — it’s easy to misread this as implying FromSoftware-style extreme content, which isn’t what’s meant.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch Hardware/Industry (Geha) board thread, ‘[DQ12] We Really Didn’t Want To, But We’re Releasing the Dark DQ We Made ← Turns Out This Was the Optimal Answer After All’.
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