While Kingdom Hearts 3 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake are probably the big new Square games everyone is looking forward to, fans of their classic output are probably more excited for Dragon Quest 11 and Octopath, which seem to channel the glory days of 16- and 32-bit RPGs, while modernizing them to remove all frustrations.

The question, of course, is when we can expect those games- and apparently, we can expect them some time soon. Speaking at their earnings call, Square Enix have apparently reiterated that Dragon Quest 11‘s western release and Octopath‘s launch will both be in “FY 2018” (which means April 1 2018 to March 31 2019). That’s good news- but it also means we need to hear more about the games already. Square has been silent on both of them for way too long.

Dragon Quest 11 is available in Japan on PS4, Nintendo 3DS, and planned for Nintendo Switch; Octopath has been announced exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.

(resending)

Square Enix at earnings press conference 1:
-No big title releases planned Jan-Mar, meaning DQ11 for west, Octopath would be in FY18 (from April) or after
-Feel Japan-made RPG getting positive feedback these days for their design and stories

— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) February 6, 2018

One of the biggest supporters for the Nintendo Switch in the third party community has been Square Enix, who actually jumped the gun in declaring their support for the system by announcing Dragon Quest 11 for it, way before Nintendo had even announced the Switch officially.

That support for the handheld-console hybrid is expected to continue- because of the strong position the Switch enjoys in Japan, as well as the rest of the world, and because of its ability to support mid range games, which the PS4 and Xbox One can’t really do, Square Enix is looking at leveraging its catalog for the Switch.

“We base our development resource allocations on the unique attributes of each platform. In particular, Nintendo Switch makes it easier for us to leverage our back catalog of assets and expertise, so we want to be proactive in creating new IP and rebooting past titles for that platform,” Yosuke Matsuda, Square Enix’s President, recently said to Gematsu in an interview.

What could this mean? SaGa? The World Ends With You? Something else entirely? The world is Square’s oyster- and I can’t wait to see what titles they end up putting on the Switch in the near future.