After two and a half years in development, Dragon Quest IX is finally completed and is scheduled to hit Japanese store shelves on July 11. In a recent interview, producer Ryutaro Ichimura said he personally felt the most challenge part of the development process was having to cut and rework parts of the story to fit within the space constraints imposed by the DS platform.

[The most difficult part of the development process] was when I had to cut and rework part of the story — not a large part compared to the rest of the plot, but one that had to be cut out anyway for space reasons.

With pre-order numbers having already topped 2 million, Dragon Quest IX is poised to become next week’s top-selling title in Japan. When DQ fever hits, it hits hard. The title will inevitability make its way stateside, but a question looming on many minds is when. Square Enix isn’t ready to say, but we’ll wager a guess at early 2010.

Dragon Quest IX Coming In Three Days [1UP]

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