‘It’s not about the storyline’: Dragon Quest 9 director says the hardest thing isn’t to make players cry, but surprised
Jin Fujisawa says series creator Yuji Horii taught him what’s important in development
The former co-director of Dragon Quest 9 and 10 says series creator Yuji Horii taught him the story is less important than the journey.
In an interview with Japanese magazine The Change, Jin Fujisawa – who worked on the Dragon Quest games for 20 years before leaving Square Enix in 2018 – said he used to believe the story was the most important part of an RPG until Dragon Quest creator Horii convinced him otherwise.
“Horii-san would say, it’s not about the storyline, the experience is what matters,” Fujisawa explained (as translated by Automaton). “You start by thinking about what kind of experience you want the player to go through.”
Giving an example of this, Fujisawa cited Dragon Quest 5 and the way it makes players choose which character to marry, a decision that changes not only the course and tone of the story from that point, but also affects the skills your partner has in battle.
“It’s precisely because the core of that event is the powerful experience of earnestly choosing a marriage partner that a unique story emerges for each player,” Fujisawa explained.
According to the developer, he at first resisted Horii’s advice because he personally felt storyline was the most important aspect of such a game, but over time he started to understand Horii’s viewpoint – that it’s more important to surprise the player with gameplay than story – and now adopts it for his own work.
He explained: “[Horii is] is someone who wants to create things no one’s ever seen before, things that subvert expectations and make people go: ‘Wait, what? That’s possible?’
“When you’re young, it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to make people cry, but moving people through surprise is far more difficult. And when people are emotionally stirred by surprise, that’s when they truly feel happiness.”
Fujisawa’s latest game is visual novel Pain Pain Go Away, which has players taking on the role of a counsellor who has to enter their patients’ subconscious and use the keyboard to type away their traumas. It’s due for release on PC on May 20.
