Interest

Dragon Quest Creator's Favorite Final Fantasy Is …

Father of the Dragon Quest game series, Yūji Horii, spoke with American video gaming news outlet Game Informer about the forthcoming Dragon Quest VII Reimagined game in an interview posted on Tuesday. Reporter Wesley LeBlanc broached the subject of the competition and rivalry between the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy video game series in the 1980s and 1990s. In response, Horii revealed which of the Final Fantasy games he considered as the best.

According to Game Informer, Horii emphasized that he personally likes the Final Fantasy games, and added, “When I first saw Final Fantasy X, I recall feeling this was the ultimate perfection of Final Fantasy.”

Horii also spoke about the differences between the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series. “There's one key difference that I really saw back then: the protagonists in the Final Fantasy titles, they speak a lot,” Horii states. “Whereas for Dragon Quest, the key objective for [the games], or the experience it offers for the player, is that the player becomes the protagonist themselves.”

The Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy video games were fierce rivals during the 1980s and 1990s in Japan. However, the developers of both games, Enix and Square, respectively, merged as part of Square Enix Holdings in April 2003. Both the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy franchises are flagship series for the company with Dragon Quest boasting 12 mainline games and numerous spin-off games. Final Fantasy in turn has seen 16 mainline games and several spin-off games and other media projects.

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is set for release on February 5 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC.

Sources: Game Informer, Square Enix's YouTube channel via Hachima Kikō