Game creator Yuji Horii commented on X on September 10 about the announcement of “Portopia Serial Murder Case II: Burial of Oblivion,” and in the same post revealed that “Dragon Quest XII: Reaching Beyond the Dream” is currently “in production to rave reviews” (絶賛制作中 — a phrase normally used to praise something already earning acclaim, oddly applied here to an unfinished game). The original 1983 “Portopia Serial Murder Case” is a legendary title that Horii single-handedly directed, wrote, programmed, and illustrated. On 5channel, though, the threads were dominated less by excitement for the new game than by nitpicking over that “rave reviews” phrasing, unease about the change in character designer, and general grumbling about the series’ recent direction.
9/10 (Thu) 13:04
On September 10, Yuji Horii commented on X about “Zoku Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken: Bokyaku no Maiso” (Portopia Serial Murder Case II: Burial of Oblivion), which had just been announced during a Nintendo Direct, and then revealed that “Dragon Quest XII: Reaching Beyond the Dream” is currently in production, “to great acclaim.”
In 1983, Horii handled not just the director’s role but also the scenario, programming, and graphics for “Portopia Serial Murder Case” on the PC-6001/mkII computer of the era. “Portopia Serial Murder Case” has since been ported to a variety of platforms.
Source: game.watch.impress.co.jp / Original article here
I wish they'd just port that Loto Trilogy collection from Wii as-is — the one that let you play both the old and remade versions.
Those two had zero hand in the actual game content, though.
And if we're talking early days, don't forget Koichi Nakamura too.
Yeah, obviously I already know that — that's just my honest take anyway.
Even mid-development they could still flip the table and reset everything, or just cancel it outright.
Even with Toriyama himself on board, it's actually gotten fairly mixed reviews lately.
'In production to rave reviews' sounds so dumb lol
Strictly speaking, some point out it's odd to 'praise' something for merely 'being in the process of being made,' but nowadays the phrase has become a fixed expression used to convey momentum and anticipation — basically meaning 'we're giving it everything we've got' or 'work is progressing smoothly.'
I mean, 'rave reviews' makes sense for something currently airing or in theaters, but saying that before it's even released is just weird.
Maybe they meant 'diligently in production' instead?
Does it come with a Nipopo doll as a bonus? (the wooden Ainu doll featured in that game)
Honestly if you're playing today, V alone is enough.
Re: #98
Once Koichi Nakamura left starting with VI, the quality dropped off a cliff.
Agatha (Christie): 'Making one of your own the culprit is against the rules, you know.'
the detective you're controlling turns out to be the culprit,
you can see the final castle across the water from the very first town
— I suspect that was partly just storage limitations, but
pulling stunts like that in the dawn of the industry
set the bar impossibly high for everyone who came after.
Minor nitpick, but Yasu isn't the first-person character you control — he's the partner of the (unseen) protagonist.
If Horii's not involved, it's not really Dragon Quest anymore, is it. And here I am, a grown man now, who was still in elementary school when DQ1 came out.
Background and key points of this discussion
“Portopia Serial Murder Case” was released in 1983 for the PC-6001/mkII, a work Yuji Horii single-handedly directed, wrote, programmed, and illustrated, and it has since been ported to numerous platforms. The Famicom version, however, has never been ported to any other system, and several thread posts lamented that fact. Opinions in the thread split mainly along two lines: whether the phrase “in production to rave reviews” (絶賛制作中) was appropriate wording, and how credit for the series should be divided among its creators. On the first point, some argued it felt odd to use a word normally reserved for “praise” to describe something merely “in progress,” while others countered that it has simply become a fixed idiom by now. On the second, while Horii sits at the core of the series’ scenario writing, posters pointed to the division of labor with composer Koichi Sugiyama and character designer Akira Toriyama, as well as the major early contributions of Koichi Nakamura — a reminder that the series has never been the work of one person alone. It’s also worth noting that this announcement was limited to confirming the game “is in production”; it made no mention of a release date or concrete progress, so readers shouldn’t read more into it than that.
*This article is composed as an excerpt/summary of the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Game] Yuji Horii reveals ‘Dragon Quest XII’ is in production to rave reviews, posting his enthusiasm to coincide with the new ‘Portopia’ announcement“.
