New Information and Screenshots Of Dragon Quest X Introduce Entertainers, Fighting, Humans

Giuseppe Nelva December 28, 2011 10:45 AM EST

Square Enix released today another large batch of information and screenshots of Dragon Quest X: Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online, focusing on the sixth class (the entertainer), the combat system, gameplay as humans and more.

Entertainers like to amuse their peers and to please them with art and jests. They are somehow similar to Final Fantasy‘s Red Mages, as they know how to fight in hand to hand, but they can also use a wide array of healing, attack and utility spells.

As all other classes in Dragon Quest X, Entertainers can use three kinds of weapons: Daggers, Fans and Staves, focusing on fighting with elegance and grace.

They can learn several spells as Evac, Crackle, Heal and Zing (I’m using the Dragon Quest IX localized names here) and as all classes they can use different attack skills for each weapon type.

They can also use unique skills like Hustle Dance, to heal their whole party.

Combat retains some elements similar to the previous Dragon Quest games (it’s still command-driven) but given the online component, it has been changed considerably.

Characters can be moved freely on the battlefield, and area of effect spells and attacks can be avoided simply by walking out of their range.

When an attack command is entered, the character will automatically walk to the enemy and attack from a direction determined by the initial position. That way it’ll also be possible to attract the attention of the monster away from other members of the party.

Characters also have a new parameter called “weight” that introduces a new tactical element to battles. Weight depends on body size, but also on the equipment worn. A high weight will allow characters to actually push enemies around, for instance into the area of effect of a damage spell launched by an ally.

The game will have a friend list, and players will be able to use the mailing system to send messages and items to their friends. They will also benefit from a dedicated chat system. Each player will have an unique ID number shown to their friends, common to all his characters.

Finally, when hiring support characters (characters that belong to other players currently offline, that can be used as NPC mercenaries), those belonging to friends will be evidenced, allowing players to easily choose them as opposed to others, in order to give them offline experience.

The concept of “Team” has also been introduced. Teams are the Dragon Quest X version of a MMORPG Guild, and can include more than 200 characters. Only veteran players will be able to form a team by talking to the ambassador in each capital.

The leader of a team will be able to input a team name, a slogan, and to create an emblem by assembling various parts (like the fields and the design itself). The team emblem will be displayed on the shields of its members.

A little more (and a lot of screenshots) has been shared about Human characters, that Alexa explained a couple weeks ago. The brother/sister characters will be customizable in their appearence, and will also take part in battle. They will, of course, have an important part in the storyline.

Finally, a few new monsters have been introduced. You can see them in the gallery below, together with all the screenshots released today.