First, don't worry. Before we dive in, let me emphasize, this news doesn't mean Dragon Quest XII will be devoid of turn-based combat. Nor do these words come straight from legendary creator Yuji Horii himself—but they do come from director Masato Yagi, who has worked in a high-tier capacity on both Dragon Quest XI and this year's Dragon Quest VII Reimagined. So, still a pretty important person.
But yes, Yagi does not view turn-based battle systems as an unyielding pillar of the traditionally turn-based series. He doesn't believe that every title requires this. For those who may be concerned that Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate could go heavily action-centric, well, we'll find out when we get there. But this does show a willingness, at least in theory, to be more experimental with Japan's most beloved JRPG IP moving forward.
As part of a developer roundtable interview with the excellent, recently-relaunched, Game Informer, Masato Yagi voiced his thoughts on the matter. He was joined by plenty of other notable names, including the FFVII Remake trilogy's Naoki Hamaguchi, who somehow keeps finding time for this stuff despite how incredibly busy he is.
Yagi's questions...
