Video summary
After a long wait of nearly half a decade, the highly anticipated *Dragon Quest XII* has finally been re-revealed under its new title, *Beyond Dreams*, marking a significant shift from its original announcement as *The Flames of Fate*. This latest update provides fans with their first genuine glimpse into gameplay footage, showcasing an evolved world and character designs that promise to hold interest for the community. The most striking change involves the main hero, Akira Toriyama's final protagonist in the series, whose design breaks away from traditional tropes with tired-looking eyes, a modern mohawk haircut, and tattered clothing. While this departure initially surprised many due to its lack of visual cohesion compared to previous heroes, it appears to be an authentic expression of Toriyama gaining creative control after previously feeling restricted by repetitive archetypes in his interviews.
The trailer also unveils a drastically different setting that moves beyond the series' usual fantasy roots into futuristic territory featuring flying vehicles, robots, and guns on a scale never seen before. Viewers are introduced to new races such as draconian lizard-people who serve as gladiators in an arena suspended by hot air balloons, alongside diverse kingdoms including one with Middle Eastern-inspired aesthetics. These elements suggest a vast world filled with exploration opportunities across various biomes, featuring familiar monsters and beautiful cities that build upon the aesthetic of *Dragon Quest XI*. The narrative focus on dreams and premonitions adds further intrigue to this story concept, an idea originally suggested by series creator Yuji Horii back in 2018.
However, behind the excitement lies a somber reality regarding the game's development history. Producer Yosuke Saito confirmed that the original project faced insurmountable hurdles, leading Square Enix to scrap five years of work and restart from scratch with only about two years remaining on this new version. This decision effectively cancels *The Flames of Fate*, a title promised to explore darker tones and more meaningful choices under Horii's evolving direction, while erasing all traces of the original announcement from the internet. The situation is particularly poignant given that both Toriyama and composer Koichi Sugiyama have passed away, raising concerns about whether their contributions can be fully utilized or if the new game will truly reflect the ambitious vision lost in the restart.
Despite these unfortunate developments involving major staff changes at Square Enix and the cancellation of the original concept, the creator remains hopeful that *Beyond Dreams* will still deliver a fantastic entry into the beloved series. Although mourning the loss of the potentially groundbreaking direction hinted at by the redacted logo and scrapped darker themes, there is genuine excitement for finally seeing what Toriyama has created after so many years of anticipation. The new title aligns more closely with traditional Dragon Quest expectations while maintaining high production values, offering a fresh start that fans can look forward to without knowing exactly how much potential was sacrificed in the process. Ultimately, this re-release represents both a celebration of the series' enduring legacy and a complex chapter where ambition met reality, leaving players eager for future updates on *The Legend of the Dragon King*.
Read the full video transcript
Never thought I'd see the day. After so
many years waiting, Dragon Quest 12 The
Flames of Fate has finally been
re-revealed as Dragon Quest 12 Beyond
Dreams. Yeah, they changed the title.
With this new announcement, we got our
very first look at the game with actual
gameplay, showcasing its world and
characters, which I think should hold DQ
fans over for quite some time. After
having to stare at a logo for half a
decade, it's nice to finally have
something to actually talk about. And
there's surprisingly a lot to unpack
here, starting with the big one, the
main character. Akira Toriyama's final
Dragon Quest hero has at long last been
revealed, and he is very funny-looking.
The hero's design has been a hot topic
since the trailer dropped, and it's
obvious why. He looks unlike any Dragon
Quest protagonist we have ever seen,
with these really tired-looking eyes and
this strange mohawk haircut with a fade.
And that's not to mention the tattered
outfit. It's a far cry from your typical
Dragon Quest hero, so it's no wonder it
took so many people by surprise. Some
might even think it looks bad, but as
for me personally, well, honestly, it's
growing on me. It's definitely not what
I expected at all from a DQ hero, but
I'm starting to think maybe that's not
such a bad thing. To me, this design is
so authentically Toriyama. You see, for
a while, Toriyama was actually getting
frustrated with Dragon Quest. He
mentioned it often in interviews. He was
someone who hated doing the same thing
over and over again, and so he felt
restricted by the DQ series, having to
redesign the same archetypal hero again
and again, with the constraints that
each one looks like a Dragon Quest hero.
So, to me, this appears to be a modern
Toriyama design, with him having more
creative control. Now, [music] is this
one of my favorite hero designs? No,
it's probably not even in my top five. I
think it lacks a lot of the visual
cohesion that DQ heroes are known for.
Some of the pieces don't mesh together
quite well. It definitely could use some
tweaks, but overall, I'm starting to
warm up to it, and I think most will,
too, in due time. And, of course, we see
more than just the hero. We get a look
at other characters, too, including this
pink-haired mechanic girl, confirming
that DQ12 will feature futuristic
machines, including flying vehicles,
robots, and even guns. Dragon Quest
games have played around with this idea
a bit, but never quite on this scale. I
mean, look at this. That's some kind of
high-tech spaceship or a submarine. DQ
has never had something like this. This
is the first hint that DQ12's world is
way more different than any Dragon Quest
world we've seen before, and there's
even more evidence supporting this. We
see what appears to be some kind of
draconian race. Dragon Quest has
featured dragon-human hybrids before,
but they never really looked like lizard
people up until now. We see this one guy
who has a very similar haircut and
outfit to the main character, which
makes me think they're probably
connected in some way. Maybe they're
part of the same clan. And the next
scene shows this lizard guy in what
appears to be a sort of gladiator arena
suspended in the air by a hot air
balloon, which looks really cool. This
short scene seems to confirm the
appearance of multiple kingdoms in
DQ12's world, as it appears to take
place in the first castle city we're
shown, with a visiting desert kingdom
being present for some kind of
tournament. You can see the desert
kingdom guards opposite the city guards
here, and you can see some NPCs wearing
Middle Eastern-style garb in the crowd.
The lizard guy appears here dressed in
full armor representing this kingdom, as
he has the same insignia on his belt,
and it appears his opponent is a
champion from the desert kingdom. So,
it's possible that he and the main
character are actually gladiators
representing the kingdom, which would be
a really cool setup, and it explains the
strange outfit. And then, finally, we
see the first new monster in the game,
this armored dragon that the hero is
fighting in a cave, confirming that
we'll be seeing new monster designs in
the game. Unfortunately, we don't see
any of the actual combat, but something
tells me it won't be too different from
what we're used to. Overall, the trailer
gives us a really good first look at the
game. The world looks amazing. It's like
an evolution of Dragon Quest 11's
aesthetic, and we see familiar monsters
across various biomes and landscapes, as
well as beautiful towns and cities. It
seems like a vast world with plenty to
explore. And the story is also
intriguing, focusing on dreams and
premonitions, which is actually an idea
that series creator Yuji Horii suggested
in an interview way back in 2018. So,
this is a narrative that could have been
in the works for a long time. This is
just really exciting because we finally
get to see Dragon Quest 12 after all
these years. However, the news does come
with some unfortunate developments.
During the announcement, DQ12 producer
Yosuke Saito confirmed that the original
game they announced, Dragon Quest 12:
The Flames of Fate, ran into a lot of
hurdles during its development, leading
to them restarting over from scratch. If
you pair this statement with reports
back in 2024 claiming that Saito would
be replacing the previous producer,
along with major staff changes at the
behest of the new Square Enix president,
that means that about 5 years worth of
development on the original DQ12 got
scrapped. And this new version is
roughly 2 years into development. This
means the game is probably even further
away than we expected. But more
importantly, what we have just witnessed
is a Dragon Quest game getting canceled.
Square Enix has scrubbed every mention
of the original announcement from the
internet. The original trailer, the 35th
anniversary stream, the official press
releases, all gone. Wiped from
existence. It's like they don't want us
to know about it, and this sucks. The
Flames of Fate promised to take the
series in a drastically different
direction with a darker tone and a focus
on more meaningful choices, which Dragon
Quest has often shied away from. And I
was so excited for it. I really wanted
to see how Horii would evolve the series
after so many years of sticking to
tradition. In comparison, Beyond Dreams
seems to be very in line with the
expected tone of Dragon Quest. Even the
new logo looks like a typical Dragon
Quest logo, changing the color to red to
match the series tradition of even
number games having a red logo. While
the original one implied that the game
would forego tradition and go in its own
direction. Beyond Dreams is going to
feel like another Dragon Quest game. And
I love this series, so I'm not
necessarily upset about this, but I feel
like there was so much potential in the
original concept. It seems so ambitious.
Who knows what kind of crazy ideas Horii
was going to implement. It's hard not to
mourn the loss of the original vision
and that's not to mention this restart
likely happened after both the artist
and composer passed away. So even if the
work they did is still being used, it
might not be made to match the tone of
this game, which is really unfortunate.
It's just so frustrating not knowing
what we could have gotten or even the
exact reasons why they had to restart
development. For all we know, the
original game could have been an
unplayable mess and this was the right
call, but we'll never know for sure. I
just hope this change was made for the
right reasons and that this game will
still be a fantastic entry in the
series. Overall, I'm really excited. We
have waited so long for this moment and
now hopefully it won't be too much
longer until we finally get to play it.
So until then, I'm looking forward to
having more discussions on Dragon Quest
12: The Legend of the Dragon King and I
hope you are, too.
If you enjoyed this video and want to
hear more about Dragon Quest, you should
definitely check out this video right
here. I think you'll definitely enjoy
it. I'll see you there.