New Dragon Quest X Info and Screenshots Confirm Keyboard, Showcase Communication and Priests.

Giuseppe Nelva November 30, 2011 11:45 AM EST

Today Square Enix released another batch of screenshots and information on Dragon Quest X, mostly focusing on the means of communication within the game and on the Priest class.

First and foremost, compatibility with USB Keyboards has been confirmed. You’ll be able to plug one to your Wii and just type away like you were playing on PC (even if there’s no word about a mouse, I doubt they thought about that one).

In the case you’re completely crazy and really really want to talk using the controller, there are communication options for you as well:

First of all there are two menus with selectable sentences of frequent use, one for normal communication and one for battle. All the lines included in those menus can be freely edited and personalized.

Secondly, there will be several animated emotes that will allow players to express their feelings easier. Each emote can be attached to the predetermined lines described above, and animations are different by race and gender.

After the Warrior and the Dancer, this week is the Priest’s turn to be introduced between the basic classes of Dragon Quest X. Priests have low HP and their attack and defense are weak, but they can heal the party, proving invaluable allies. Original, isn’t it?

As all classes priests will have access to three weapon types: Spears, Staffs and Wands (actually they’re named “Stick”, but that sounds horrible, so I’m going to stick with “Wand”, pardon the pun).

When equipping a wand priests will be able to use a small shield and their attacks will also absorb mana points from the enemy.

Specializing in different weapons will grant different special attacks. For instance the Spear grants Lightning Thrust, that does exactly what it says on the tin, delivering a lightning fast attack. On the other hand the wand provides the player with Charming Ribbon (what is this, Sailormoon?), that will confuse an enemy making him fight on the side of the priest.

Several Faith spells are also available: Holy Prayer, Protection of the Angels and Purification Ceremony are a few examples.

Some further details have been shared about the class and skill system itself.

Players will be able to level a class, and then switch to another whenever they want, retaining the skills of the previous class and its levels. When going back to that class, they will continue their progression where they left.

Leveling up each class will grant skill points that can be used to purchase different skills.

Some skills will be usable with other classes. For instance a character that learned Purification Ceremony as a Priest can use it as a Warrior as well in order to remove negative status aliments from the party. Other skills will only be usable with their original class, in order to ensure a level of specialization and clear party roles.

Finally, a few of the monsters that will populate the game has also been revealed. Three of them are returning from previous installments of the franchise: The Cumaulus and Caterpillar from Dragon Quest III and the Dasshuran from Dragon Quest VII.

You can see a gallery with all the screenshots released today below: