Dragon Quest still puts the player’s experience ahead of the script
Jin Fujisawa said Yuji Horii repeated that lesson during his Square Enix years, including the time Fujisawa directed Dragon Quest 9 and Dragon Quest 10.
A former Dragon Quest director said series creator Yuji Horii kept returning to one simple rule: the franchise was never meant to be judged by its plot alone. For Horii, the play experience came first, and everything else followed from there.
In an interview with The Change, with translated quotes published by Automaton, Jin Fujisawa said Horii drilled one message into him over the years: Dragon Quest was “not about the scenario.” Fujisawa spent nearly two decades at Square Enix, where he worked as the series’ scenario writer and later directed Dragon Quest 9 and Dragon Quest 10.
Fujisawa said Horii framed the series around what players actually do and feel. He recalled Horii saying, “It’s not about the storyline, the experience is what matters. You start by thinking about what kind of experience you want the player to go through.” As an example, Fujisawa pointed to Dragon Quest 5 and its marriage choice, saying the power of that moment comes from the decision itself and the personal story that grows out of it.
He also described Horii as someone who wanted to make things people had never seen before, the kind of ideas that prompt a real double take. That outlook also fits the series’ recent direction, including Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, which Square Enix has described as a reimagining rather than a strict port.
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