When Square Enix announced that the Zenithia trilogy would be coming stateside, responses seemed mixed: among the shouts of joy were a few lonely curmudgeons wondering if a release date for Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Starry Sky had finally been announced. Disappointed, they returned to their humble caves to eat rats and poke at the ground with sticks.

Rejoice, lowly mouth-breathers, for the good news is upon you! According to Jeux-France, DQIX will be hitting U.S. shores on November 20th, before the Japanese market will get its grubby paws on its favorite RPG. Square Enix have a habit of holding their big-name releases until the holiday season, so a late November release doesn't come as much of a surprise. 

Dragon Quest IX will feature the distinctive DQ battle system: enemies are viewable in the field before entering into turn-based combat. There's a twist, though: as I understand it, multiplayer games, using the DS' online functionality, will use a more action RPG-esque battle system. I'm not sure how well using two different combat systems will work, but it's certainly an interesting idea -- it alleviates the tedium of scrolling through countless menus and shoehorns some DS functionality in. I'm sure Nintendo is thrilled.

Can I get a DO WANT? 

[Via Jeux-France]