Dragon Quest creator laments the series' popularity in the West, praises Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and talks about the series' future

Yuji Horii recently held a keynote speech at the Cedec+Kyushu 2018 event, and he talked about all sorts of things Dragon Quest related. Check out some of the more interesting tidbits below.

- Horii would like the series to be more popular in the West
- he regrets that they didn't release the older games in the series outside Japan sooner
- he believes this resulted in the situation now, where most non-Japanese people are unfamiliar with Dragon Quest
- one of the reasons why the games didn’t release is due to the scripts taking too long to translate
- Dragon Quest games were made in a way so players never think “I don’t know what to do”
- Horii also says letting players do whatever they want can be a good choice as well
- he cited The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild as an example of how going off the game’s rails can be a lot of fun

At the end of the event, Horii was also asked when people can expect to learn about Dragon Quest XII. Here's exactly what Horii said in response.

I already thought up some of the keywords the game will be about, but I can’t reveal anything for now. I know XI is particularly appreciated for its scenario, so for the next game I might include tricks related to the game system instead. People striving to make their dreams come true will probably be one of the themes in the game. But XII is still many years ahead, so, for now, you should play Dragon Quest Builders 2 which is coming out soon.