Dragon Quest VII has been delayed time and time again. Originally, it was supposed to oppose Square's Final Fantasy VII in 1997, by releasing it around the same time. Yuuji Horii was to direct the latest Dragon Quest again, with Akira Toriyama (of Dragon Ball fame) to design characters, and Koichi Sugiyama to compose the music.

Enix has finally announced a release date for the game. Dragon Quest VII will be released on August 26th, in Japan. Interestingly, this is a Saturday: there is actually a law in Japan that was passed by the parliament that requires a Dragon Quest game to be released on a weekend. This is because there were problems with children skipping school to buy the game, and even older children stealing it from younger ones!

Whether this latest set date will be kept by Enix is still unsure. This time, Enix commented that it needed more time to work on the content of the game, as well as increase its quality. However, this has been the reason for previous delays also. It is also interesting to see how Square's latest in the Final Fantasy series will be affected by this latest release date. There were fears Square too would delay Final Fantasy IX if Dragon Quest VII were to be released around the same time. Clearly, Japanese gamers are waiting with bated breath for its release, and it seems they are not losing any enthusiasm despite constant troubles.