Free Trial

Dragon Quest X offers a free trial mode for anyone who wants to try the game out before making a commitment to purchasing the full game and subscribing. There is no time limit for how long you can play, however, there are some restrictions.

If you live outside of the United States or Japan, you will need to access the game with a VPN.

PC

Downloading the game

Download the game from the official site.

Accounts

There are a few different methods to creating an account. We will cover creating a new account and using the "Easy Play" option.

New Account

This is the recommended way to get started. If you do not own a Japanese Square Enix account, you must create a new one. Your global Square Enix account is not the same as a Japanese account and will not work for Dragon Quest X! You also cannot re-use your global Square Enix account e-mail address and must use a new, unique one.

Create a Japanese Square Enix account by going to the official site here. The bottom option on this page is to create a new account. Do not falsify any information on this page in the event you need to perform an account recovery. If you are unfamiliar with the Japanese language, using something like Google Translate, which is built-in to Chrome, or a Google Translate extension in Firefox will significantly help you with both this registration process and any future resources you might visit while playing. On the right is a Google translated version of the account creation page. Click the image to enlarge it.

Once created, the Dragon Quest X free trial will be registered to your new account. We can now head to the Dragon Quest X launcher.

In the launcher, you will want to add your new account. You do this by clicking the wide, tan button on the bottom left. You will be presented with a [Step 1] and [Step 2] option (seen to the left). You have already done step 1, which was to create the account, so we can just straight to step 2. Enter the login credentials you previously created and click the green button at the bottom to add the account. This will add your account to the left pane at the very top, allowing you to select the account and enter your login credentials each time to log in.

Easy Play

This method is not recommended, but is still being covered for completeness.

Easy Play is a way to play the game without creating a Japanese Square Enix account. Instead, a local save file is managed on your computer (this file exists at C:\Users\<user>\Documents\My Games\DRAGON QUEST X). This save file will only work on the computer you created the Easy Play account on. In the event you reinstall Windows or delete the file, your Easy Play character is gone forever; there is no method of recovery. It's highly recommended to follow the new account process instead.

To access Easy Play, open the Dragon Quest X launcher and select the second option (Easy Play) and click the big red button. This will log you directly into the game where you are able to create a new Easy Play character.

In the event you created an Easy Play character and wanted to register the account with a real Japanese Square Enix account, you can do this, but must link it to a new Japanese Square Enix account. It cannot be an existing account. To do this, click the blue button in the above screenshot. This will open up your browser with a single "OK" button. Click it and fill out your new account details.

You will be asked to verify your email. Get the code from your e-mail and paste it into this screen. Click OK; your account has been registered!

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  Email confirmation code

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  Email verification screen

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  Account registration completed

Switch

1. First, create a Japanese Nintendo account by going here. When creating it, make sure to set the country of residence to "Japan".

2. Next, create a new user on your Switch and link the Japanese Nintendo account to it. This will give you access to the Japanese eShop.

3. Open the eShop and select your Japanese profile. When in the eShop, select the top-most option on the left bar with the magnifying glass. Select the search box and search for 'X'.

4. Scroll down a bit, and you'll see ドラゴンクエストX　オンライン. Select it, and on the right side of the screen is a button you can press to begin the download.

5. Once the download finishes, open the game and the launcher will appear.

6. You can play the game with a Square Enix account that you create, or with "Easy Play". With Easy Play, you can play without an account. However, if you delete the save data from your Switch, you will lose your character data. You can link Easy Play data to a Square Enix account later, and you will need to if you decide later you want to play the game on multiple platforms. If you want to play with just Easy Play for now, you can stop here. To link an account, continue following this guide.

7. Create a Square Enix account by going to here. Click "Register for a Square Enix Account" and when the account creation page loads, change the country to Japan.

8. You'll now create your account, but the page will be in Japanese. The order of details are: Square Enix ID, password, confirm password, e-mail address, and birthday. Make sure your information is correct!

9. You'll be brought to a page to enter a verification code. Check the e-mail you just registered to your account. The e-mail will be in Japanese, but you should be able to locate the code in the email as its a long string of random numbers and letters. Enter the code, and press the button at the bottom to verify your account.

10. Now you can go back to DQX. To create a new DQX account with a Square Enix account, select the large yellow button on the left side of the launcher.

11. You will see two blue buttons. The left button is if you already have a Square Enix account. The right button is if you do not have one. Since you already have a Square Enix account, click the left button.

12. Enter in your Square Enix ID and password. You'll be brought to a screen with 2 buttons. The top button asks for a registration code. Since you're a trial player, you can press the bottom button to skip this step.

13. Your account is successfully linked and the game will launch! Have fun!

Trial Restrictions

• You are able to proceed through every story scene and engage in most content up until the end of patch 2.3. There is a certain door after the climax of the 2.3 arc that Free Trial players will be unable open to progress the story.
• Vocation level is capped at 80.
• Crafting level is capped at 9.
• Vocations that were added past version 2 cannot be unlocked (Dancer, Fortune Teller, Druid, Gadabout, Death Master, Demon Swordsman, Pirate, Guardian, Dragomancer).
• Special Training Stamps cannot be obtained.
• The Master Orb is unavailable and jewels for the Master Orb will not drop.
• Traveler's Bazaar (Auction House/Market Board) is unavailable.
• You will be unable to send mail, but you will be able to receive mail from other players/NPCs.
• Trading with other players is unavailable.
• In the Casino, Sugoroku, Slime Race, and the 3rd floor VIP room are unavailable.
• Can only purchase small-sized housing plots once it's at the minimum price. (10000 G)
• Purchasing a My Town is unavailable.
• Cannot exchange Energy Charge for specific items: Bonus Orb L, Stamp Orb, Metal Maze Ticket, Express Metal Ticket or Zelmea Crest.
• You will be unable to change your monster companion's name.
• You will be unable to change the name of a certain "other companion" in version 2.
• Public chat (white chat / nearby chat) is unavailable.
• Registering or editing new lines in the frequent phrases menu is unavailable.
• Registering or editing the memo pad is unavailable.
• Yellow diary rewards only go up to 19. After hitting this limit, you will receive a message every time you talk to a yellow-named NPC.
• The Sweat & Tears Gems function at material shops is unavailable.
• Certain quests cannot be cleared and/or accepted, including the bank expansion, all quests that require saying a phrase in nearby chat, and quests relating to restricted features.