If you're ready to pass off Dragon Quest IX as just another traditional JRPG, think again. In an interview with Game Informer, DQ IX producer Ryutaro Ichimura revealed that he doesn't consider the game a JRPG at all, and it has some rather surprising influences.

"We have no recognition that Dragon Quest IX is a part of the so-called JRPG genre, unless you mean all the RPGs created in Japan are JRPGs," Ichimura told me. The differences from past, more traditional Dragon Quest games include a focus on multiplayer, a quest system, and the ability to view armor and weapons on your characters after equipping them.

The way these elements come together reminded me of an MMO, so I asked Ichimura if he has looked at MMOs while designing Dragon Quest IX. That wasn't the genre Square had in mind either, though. He explained:

"The quest system was inspired by The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which I played many times. And I would like to reference Diablo as the title which inspired our thinking about how we can maintain player’s motivations."

Ichimura said that they studied Diablo to learn about "motivation-control" and how to drive players to constantly search for the next weapon and armor upgrade.

Curious about how these interesting inspirations came together for the final game? Watch for our review of Dragon Quext IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies soon.