Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors
Encyclopedia
is a first-person adventure game
by Square Enix
exclusive to Nintendo
's Wii
game console. The game is a spin-off from the Dragon Quest
series.
A special attack, called a master stroke, can be used once the special attack gauge is filled. The gauge percentage increases by hitting enemies, hitting their projectiles back at them, or by blocking attacks. There are many master strokes, the distinct groups are: ice, fire, lightning, shadow, and general. Each group has a distinct colour. However, general strokes and buddy strokes look the same. A buddy stroke is a master stroke that can only be performed once that ally has gotten to a certain level, along with being with the hero. Master strokes are learned by tempering swords and getting new swords, while buddy strokes are obtained from the player's current partner.
Only the hero's allies (Anlace, Fleurette or Claymore) can cast magic and only one of them can accompany the hero at a time. The player can set how frequently they use magic or they can use magic manually by bringing up the menu.
Instead of random battles, monsters will always appear in the same order, in the same place.
This game has 8 medicinal items, along with 8 tempering materials, although there are also two special items. The tempering materials are required to upgrade the hero's swords.
s. They can be played alone, or with up to three friends. These are broken into two types of games that can be played at Stiletto's shop in town.
One is a set of 3 dart games, in which the player uses the shield to catch darts, with different areas of the shield being worth different amounts of points. The second type is slime crisis, where the object of the game is to slay all the slimes as fast as possible.
Both games award different prizes, based on points. The prize categories are for B, A, S, and X rank, with X being the highest.
- A young man who lives in the Kingdom of Avalonia with his father—once a swordsman of great renown—who has passed on his knowledge, as well as his natural flair for swordplay, to his son. The hero's adventure begins on his sixteenth birthday, when he sets out to undertake his society's traditional coming-of-age ritual.
(Japanese), William Ellis
(English) - The proud-faced, exquisitely-dressed Prince of Avalonia. What reason could a member of the royal family have for wanting to fight alongside our humble hero?
(Japanese), Jo Wyatt (English) - A fair maiden whose flamboyant dress sense belies the air of sadness that surrounds her. She was at one time a trainee nun at the Chapel of the Merciful Goddess in Avalonia. Now she provides solid support to the hero wherever his adventures may take him.
(Japanese), Wayne Forrester (English) - The hero's father. Once a swordsman whose name was known all over the kingdom, Claymore lost his sword arm in battle, but is still a valuable ally thanks to his powerful magic. When not adventuring, he can be found indulging his weakness for drink and womanizing.
would be exclusive Wii titles. In a company press release, executive producer Yuu Miyake stated:
The Dragon Quest Swords development team includes many of the original designers of Enix
's flagship series. Creator Yuji Horii
was one of the first game designers Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
approached with the prototype Revolution controller. Horii contributed a video interview to Nintendo's Tokyo Game Show
2005 Revolution press conference. In it, he talked about making games accessible to a greater market, and cutting to the essence of "fun." When asked about Nintendo's Wii Remote
, Horii stated "I agree that many interesting games can be created using this controller, but I still think that Nintendo would probably make the best games." Horii is joined by famed Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama
and "the father of video game music" composer Koichi Sugiyama
.
According to video game website IGN
, Square Enix representatives have branded Dragon Quest Swords a sequel to Kenshin Dragon Quest
, a motion-activated plug-and-play TV game
. In a detailed preview of Dragon Quest Swords, IGN speculated that the game mechanics will be similar to those featured in Kenshin. A short teaser video of a first-person perspective battle sequence appeared to confirm IGN's speculation as the onscreen protagonist mimicked the swordfighting antics of the Revolution Remote wielder. Furthermore, Square Enix stated in a press release that the game "is being developed with every aspect of the unique Wii hardware in mind." It has also recently been announced that the North American version will have extra features such as a playback mode and four hidden bosses. The localization follows the style of other recent releases in the Dragon Quest series from Square Enix. Notably, the same team responsible for the English translation of Dragon Quest VIII, Plus Alpha Translations, is listed among the translators in the ending staff role.
Famitsu
gave the game a score of 33/40 (8, 8, 8, 9). The game currently has a Metacritic
score of 65 out of 100 based on 43 reviews and a Game Rankings
score of 66% based on 41 reviews.
Graphic adventure game
A graphic adventure game is a form of adventure game. They are distinct from text adventures. Whereas a player must actively observe using commands such as "look" in a text-based adventure, graphic adventures revolutionized gameplay by making use of natural human perception...
by Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
exclusive to Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
game console. The game is a spin-off from the Dragon Quest
Dragon Quest
, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005,Due to the inconsistent usage by sources since Square Enix obtained the naming rights to Dragon Quest in North America. Dragon Quest has been used by sources to refer to games released solely under the Dragon Warrior titles...
series.
Battle system
utilizes an on rails first person Battle System. However, instead of using a handgun, Dragon Quest Swords uses the functions of the Wii Remote as a sword and a shield. The direction of a sword slash is dependent on the direction the player sways the Wii Remote. In order to defend from incoming attacks, the player has to use the Wii Remote to block enemy attacks.A special attack, called a master stroke, can be used once the special attack gauge is filled. The gauge percentage increases by hitting enemies, hitting their projectiles back at them, or by blocking attacks. There are many master strokes, the distinct groups are: ice, fire, lightning, shadow, and general. Each group has a distinct colour. However, general strokes and buddy strokes look the same. A buddy stroke is a master stroke that can only be performed once that ally has gotten to a certain level, along with being with the hero. Master strokes are learned by tempering swords and getting new swords, while buddy strokes are obtained from the player's current partner.
Only the hero's allies (Anlace, Fleurette or Claymore) can cast magic and only one of them can accompany the hero at a time. The player can set how frequently they use magic or they can use magic manually by bringing up the menu.
Instead of random battles, monsters will always appear in the same order, in the same place.
This game has 8 medicinal items, along with 8 tempering materials, although there are also two special items. The tempering materials are required to upgrade the hero's swords.
Minigames
Dragon Quest Swords includes several minigameMinigame
A minigame is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game...
s. They can be played alone, or with up to three friends. These are broken into two types of games that can be played at Stiletto's shop in town.
One is a set of 3 dart games, in which the player uses the shield to catch darts, with different areas of the shield being worth different amounts of points. The second type is slime crisis, where the object of the game is to slay all the slimes as fast as possible.
Both games award different prizes, based on points. The prize categories are for B, A, S, and X rank, with X being the highest.
Story
Five years ago, there was a great war between man and an evil demon known as Xiphos, the Death Bringer. Through many hardships, man was able to defeat Xiphos. Five years later, the Hero and son of Claymore, who was one of the warriors who fought Xiphos, turned sixteen and had to go through a trial to become a warrior. He succeeds in the tasks and the next day, Prince Anlace asks the Hero to accompany him through the Galantyne Glades, where he saw his mother, the Queen, head off to. There, the Hero defeats Briquet, and proceeds towards a hut, where the Queen is seen wearing a strange mask. She walks away without saying a word. they also meet Fleurette, whose brother fought in the war against Xiphos. She mentions she saw the mask the Queen was wearing as a child. She heads to town and the next day, accompanies you to Arondight Heights to show you something. After defeating the Envoy of Xiphos, she shows you a carving on a mountainside of a battle against Xiphos, who was wearing the same mask the Queen was wearing. Fleurette explains that the war against Xiphos five years ago was not the first war against him. She deduces that the mask has Xiphos's spirit and is possessing the Queen. They head back to town and the next day, Claymore mentions that there was reports of a monster in the Secace Seacove. After beating the monster, Fleurette arrives to defend the monster from the Hero's finishing blow. She says that the monster is really her brother. The creature escapes into the water. the group leaves and learns that the Queen was seen at the Tower of Mirrors. When they reach the top of the tower, they battle and defeat Grossmesser, an archdemon with a German accent. They get to the Queen who has activated a portal in a mirror. The Hero slashes the mask in half, hoping to save the Queen. However, it is revealed, that the mask does not contain Xiphos's soul, but it actually weakened the demon. Xiphos appears in the portal, revealing that although, his body was destroyed five years ago, only the mask could truly destroy him forever. He mocks the Hero saying he destroyed the only means to defeat him. They take the Queen home when a mountain near Mount Arondight collapsed in a sea of lava and a castle rose up in its place. They know that without the mask, Xiphos can't be defeated. Dao, an old swordmaster, explains that the mask was made in the Mirror World and if the mask is to be repaired, they must enter the dimension by heading for the Tower of Mirrors. They make their way through the dimension and battle Draug. After beating him, he reveals he's a good guy and not only repairs the mask, but he also gives the Hero the Rednusadner, a powerful Blade that can hurt Xiphos and help them get to his castle. The Hero goes to Dao who teaches him the Figure of Fate, a legendary technique of the Rednusadner that created splits the sea of lava that surrounds the castle. After crossing the path, they encounter Golok the Gatekeeper, who the team defeats. After entering the castle and fighting many tough enemies, they make their way to Xiphos's throne room. They also find Fleurette's brother in the middle of the room. Xiphos enters her brother's body and gets his body back. He then engages the Hero in combat. After defeating Xiphos, the demon admits he underestimated the group. He turns into his true form, which looked nothing like the carving. Though it is a tough fight, the Hero subdues the demon long enough for the mask to place itself on Xiphos. The mask petrifies the demon and the Hero shatters the statue, destroying Xiphos for good. Fleurette's brother appears out of the rubble, now completely human. With Xiphos dead for all time, his castle starts to crumble down. Everyone tries to get out of the throne room when the Hero fall down the pit. Fleurette grabs him and the others pull him up. Back at the town's castle, a great party is held in the Hero's honor. He makes his way to a balcony and raises the Rednusadner to the sky, causing all the citizens to cheer.Setting
There are ten specific areas in this game. The eight story mode areas, the second half of the eighth area, and the Olde Reflectory, which is a room unlocked after finishing story mode. It contains many bosses that were not in the story mode, along with stronger versions of some story mode bosses.Characters
With the exception of the hero, whom the player is allowed to name, the game's major characters are all named after kinds of swords. Fleurette will call the hero a pet name. She will ask if "Blade" is OK. Clicking "Yes" will cause her to refer to the hero as "Blade" from then on. However, clicking "No" will allow the player to choose from other names. Also, with the exception of the Hero, all of the characters can only use magic during battles.- A young man who lives in the Kingdom of Avalonia with his father—once a swordsman of great renown—who has passed on his knowledge, as well as his natural flair for swordplay, to his son. The hero's adventure begins on his sixteenth birthday, when he sets out to undertake his society's traditional coming-of-age ritual.
(Japanese), William Ellis
William Ellis
William Ellis may refer to:*William Ellis * Sir William Charles Ellis MD , physician, pioneering superintendent of asylums and Methodist lay preacher...
(English) - The proud-faced, exquisitely-dressed Prince of Avalonia. What reason could a member of the royal family have for wanting to fight alongside our humble hero?
(Japanese), Jo Wyatt (English) - A fair maiden whose flamboyant dress sense belies the air of sadness that surrounds her. She was at one time a trainee nun at the Chapel of the Merciful Goddess in Avalonia. Now she provides solid support to the hero wherever his adventures may take him.
(Japanese), Wayne Forrester (English) - The hero's father. Once a swordsman whose name was known all over the kingdom, Claymore lost his sword arm in battle, but is still a valuable ally thanks to his powerful magic. When not adventuring, he can be found indulging his weakness for drink and womanizing.
Development
Originally planned to be a launch game for the Wii, Dragon Quest Swords was released on July 12, 2007 in Japan. The game was released in North America on February 19, 2008. Under the spotlight of E3 2006 and in an unprecedented show of software support for a Nintendo console, Square Enix revealed that Dragon Quest Swords and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal BearersFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
is an action-adventure game for the Wii and was first announced to the public at E3 in May 2006. The game was released on November 12, 2009, in Japan and on December 26, 2009, in North America.-Gameplay:...
would be exclusive Wii titles. In a company press release, executive producer Yuu Miyake stated:
The Dragon Quest Swords development team includes many of the original designers of Enix
Enix
The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
's flagship series. Creator Yuji Horii
Yuji Horii
is a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the Dragon Quest series of console role-playing games, as well as the visual novel adventure game Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken.-History:Dragon Quest is recognized as the first role-playing game to posit the idea...
was one of the first game designers Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata
is the fourth president of Nintendo, succeeding the long-standing previous president of the company, Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002. He was responsible in great part for defining Nintendo's strategy both before and during the release of its Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001, a vision which...
approached with the prototype Revolution controller. Horii contributed a video interview to Nintendo's Tokyo Game Show
Tokyo Game Show
The , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc...
2005 Revolution press conference. In it, he talked about making games accessible to a greater market, and cutting to the essence of "fun." When asked about Nintendo's Wii Remote
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
, Horii stated "I agree that many interesting games can be created using this controller, but I still think that Nintendo would probably make the best games." Horii is joined by famed Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama
is a Japanese manga artist and game artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. Toriyama admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he remembers for the great art...
and "the father of video game music" composer Koichi Sugiyama
Koichi Sugiyama
is a Japanese music composer, council member of JASRAC , and honorary chairman of the Japanese Backgammon Society...
.
According to video game website IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, Square Enix representatives have branded Dragon Quest Swords a sequel to Kenshin Dragon Quest
Kenshin Dragon Quest
is an all-in-one television game created by Square Enix, based on the Dragon Quest video game series that connects to a person's television set and does not require a separate video game console...
, a motion-activated plug-and-play TV game
Handheld TV game
A TV game is an interactive entertainment device designed for use on a television set that does not require the use of an actual video game console for operation...
. In a detailed preview of Dragon Quest Swords, IGN speculated that the game mechanics will be similar to those featured in Kenshin. A short teaser video of a first-person perspective battle sequence appeared to confirm IGN's speculation as the onscreen protagonist mimicked the swordfighting antics of the Revolution Remote wielder. Furthermore, Square Enix stated in a press release that the game "is being developed with every aspect of the unique Wii hardware in mind." It has also recently been announced that the North American version will have extra features such as a playback mode and four hidden bosses. The localization follows the style of other recent releases in the Dragon Quest series from Square Enix. Notably, the same team responsible for the English translation of Dragon Quest VIII, Plus Alpha Translations, is listed among the translators in the ending staff role.
Audio
A soundtrack was released on August 22, 2007, with music composed by Manami Matsumae. Koichi Sugiyama contributes four reprises from earlier Dragon Quest titles, but no original tracks.Reception
The game sold 305,000 units in Japan in its first week according to Media Create. It has sold 490,000 units in Japan and 110,000 units in North America as of August 8, 2008.Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
gave the game a score of 33/40 (8, 8, 8, 9). The game currently has a Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
score of 65 out of 100 based on 43 reviews and a Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
score of 66% based on 41 reviews.