Dragon Quest X Officially Announced as an MMO, Coming 2012 [Update]

Dragon Quest X Online Official Logo

As a part of a special Pre-TGS Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary press meeting, SquareEnix officially took the wraps off of Dragon Quest X Online: The Five Tribes for the Nintendo Wii.. and its purportedly an MMO! The game is scheduled for a 2012 release in Japan (no Western dates announced yet).

The press conference featured a series of Dragon Quest announcements and celebrations for the 25th anniversary, opening with a history of the games across console and portable generations.

[UPDATE 1]

The game is indeed an online, quest-based game. The development team showcased a demo in which online players teamed in a thriving world to take down traditional DQ beasts. A robust (for a Dragon Quest game) character creation mode was shown, featuring all the spiky-haired and sleeveless characters you could ask for. A weapon and armor crafting was on display as well, showing sections of a coat getting improved. The game will utilize the Classic Controller as an input. (Yay!)

[UPDATE 2]

The game will also be compatible with Wii U, though exact details — if it will be the Wii version or an update — are unknown.

[Update 3]

The game will feature a slew of character classes to choose from, a giant world map, and the ability to share some kind of data with the 3DS. The game carries the subtitle “The Five Tribes”, per the game’s homepage, which has been updated.

Images courtesy SquareEnix/Ustream