doesn't even have a fishing minigame and still gets 5 stars, that's how good this game is.
-Beat the Super Secret Mega Ultra 'Fuck-You' Post-Game boss after around half a dozen attempts spanning a few hours and about a million revives-
Veronica: "Easy Peasy."
Veronica: "Easy Peasy."
This review contains spoilers
So, what the hell is Act 3?
Dragon Quest XI is full of endlessly endearing characters, constantly pleasurable combat, and a sense of warmth and wonder that few experiences can rival. I'd call it one of my favorite games. But, the thing my thoughts kept returning to for days after finishing it was Act 3. What the hell is it??
After DQXI's antagonist is defeated and the ending credits roll, a lengthy additional scenario for the player begins, generally referred to as the Post-Game or "Act 3." Taking place after the end credits, it's framed as an extra optional adventure, though some story elements from the main game only see their ultimate resolution in Act 3. I decided to play through Act 3 in order to see everything that DQXI had to offer. I loved the main game, after all!
I'd characterize my initial experience with Act 3 with two words: Whiplash and bafflement. Why why why is this game un-sticking its own landing to have me undermine its most emotionally impactful moments?
The scenario of Act 3 is built around using time travel to undo the death of the character and party member Veronica. Her death happens suddenly and silently in the main story; the player won't learn that she is dead until many hours after she sacrificed herself. There are no tearful last words, no encouragement to finish the quest from the dying, the player just gets separated from her at one point, and instead of a reunion, there's her body.
In a game principally concerned with the undiluted joys of love and friendship and the appeal of just spending time with people you care about, Veronica's death is titanic. DQXI semi-frequently punctuates its usually lighthearted fairy tale tone with moments of sadness, loss, and despair to contrast with and underscore the importance of its joyful themes, but Veronica's death is a step beyond. It constitutes a massive, tangible loss for both the principal characters and the player. Veronica stops being a playable character, she can no longer be a piece of any party composition in the dozens of battles to come, she won't be hanging out in camp, she won't have any optional dialogue, she won't feature in any story scenes going forward. These things may seem obvious but in the tens of hours I had been playing up til then, Veronica had become a staple of my experience in the game. She was an integral member of my band of friends and I had expected to return her to the party when I found her after all the characters were scattered at the end of "Act 1." After spending so many great hours with DQXI, her death cast a shadow of sadness over the rest of my experience.
She's survived by her sister Serena, who resolves to continue adventuring with the player and to live for the both of them. She cuts her hair and inherits a piece of Veronica's spirit, and from then on in gameplay Serena possesses the powers and abilities of both herself and her sister. She quietly carries Veronica's memory with her for the rest of the game, and every time the player uses her to cast one of Veronica's spells during combat they are reminded that no one is ever truly gone forever. It's a simple, beautiful way to imbue the basic fabric of a game with emotional resonance. Act 3 is about taking all that away.
That is maybe a bit uncharitable to say, but it is fundamentally true. Act 3 sees the hero traveling back in time to keep Veronica from dying and then saving the day all over again with her in tow. In this reality, Serena never suffers that loss and never resolves to remain strong in the face of grief. The bonds of the party are never strained and strengthened by the loss of their loved one. Similarly, other hard lessons are unlearned as well. Another party member, Erik, has his confrontation and reconciliation with his sister erased and replaced with an altogether more abridged and tidy reunion. Michelle the mermaid never sees her tragic story concluded, Sylvando never finds purpose forming a traveling troupe to bring joy to a despairing world. People all over Dragon Quest XI's world never experience the dark era of strife brought on by the game's antagonist. In the main story the hero fails to stop him at the end of Act 1, and the player is made to live with the cataclysmic consequences while experiencing both struggle and hope in the process of rebuilding. In Act 3's revised history, all this darkness is made squeaky clean by comparison. In a game that previously seemed to be putting forth the importance of hope and perseverance in the face of life's tragedies, Act 3 seems to be saying that hardship is fundamentally inappropriate to a happy life, and that it would be better for those hard lessons to never be learned at all, fantasizing that all the bad in the world can be magically painted over, completely exiting any emotional reality that a player could experience themselves in their own life.
This is roughly the message I got from Act 3 at first blush. However, I want to challenge my own premise here, because after some time and a lot of thought, I've come to view Act 3 in a different way that, while not fully making me love its direction, helps me to appreciate and reconcile it with the overall shape of DQXI as a piece of art.
For me to make peace with Act 3, I first had to accept that it's primarily an exercise in wish-fulfillment. At the end of the main game I had so much affection for those characters that a chance to spend dozens more hours with them was everything I could ask for! Act 3 is wish-fulfillment on a deeper thematic layer too. The main story spends a lot of its focus on imparting its ostensibly light-hearted storybook narrative with a sense of emotional tangibility. It reaches out to the player with moments of irrevocable sadness followed by moments of joy, friendship, and solidarity despite it all, and asks the player to see the value in these things. In reality you can't take back regrets or bring back the people you lose. The purpose of Act 3 is to willfully engage in a fantasy contrary to the rest of the game, though just because it's contrary doesn't mean it doesn't have value.
By doing the impossible and rewriting history in Act 3, the player and the hero perform a service out of love for the people they care about. Their friends will never know the strife that might have been. Given the opportunity, What lengths would you not go to, to protect the ones you love from pain? Given that very opportunity, the hero of Dragon Quest XI changes the entire fabric of the world, because reality is a small price to pay to see a friend smile again. The world is already full to bursting with hurt and sadness, it won't miss the little that you take away.
Act 3 taps into the impulse to wish you could truly save the day and make everything okay for the people that matter to you. In real life, this can be an impossible and even unhelpful idea when pushed too far, and I'm personally more drawn to the world of real emotional consequence presented by the main story, so the real Dragon Quest XI will always sort of end for me at the conclusion of Act 2. But Act 3 lets the player spend time in the fantasy, spend more time with their friends, be the hero they cannot be in real life. It's a videogame, why not take this chance to live inside it as you cannot outside it? As a purely additional coda to a game all about the connections we make, it strikes me as somewhat beautiful that in Act 3, you never have to say goodbye.
Dragon Quest XI is full of endlessly endearing characters, constantly pleasurable combat, and a sense of warmth and wonder that few experiences can rival. I'd call it one of my favorite games. But, the thing my thoughts kept returning to for days after finishing it was Act 3. What the hell is it??
After DQXI's antagonist is defeated and the ending credits roll, a lengthy additional scenario for the player begins, generally referred to as the Post-Game or "Act 3." Taking place after the end credits, it's framed as an extra optional adventure, though some story elements from the main game only see their ultimate resolution in Act 3. I decided to play through Act 3 in order to see everything that DQXI had to offer. I loved the main game, after all!
I'd characterize my initial experience with Act 3 with two words: Whiplash and bafflement. Why why why is this game un-sticking its own landing to have me undermine its most emotionally impactful moments?
The scenario of Act 3 is built around using time travel to undo the death of the character and party member Veronica. Her death happens suddenly and silently in the main story; the player won't learn that she is dead until many hours after she sacrificed herself. There are no tearful last words, no encouragement to finish the quest from the dying, the player just gets separated from her at one point, and instead of a reunion, there's her body.
In a game principally concerned with the undiluted joys of love and friendship and the appeal of just spending time with people you care about, Veronica's death is titanic. DQXI semi-frequently punctuates its usually lighthearted fairy tale tone with moments of sadness, loss, and despair to contrast with and underscore the importance of its joyful themes, but Veronica's death is a step beyond. It constitutes a massive, tangible loss for both the principal characters and the player. Veronica stops being a playable character, she can no longer be a piece of any party composition in the dozens of battles to come, she won't be hanging out in camp, she won't have any optional dialogue, she won't feature in any story scenes going forward. These things may seem obvious but in the tens of hours I had been playing up til then, Veronica had become a staple of my experience in the game. She was an integral member of my band of friends and I had expected to return her to the party when I found her after all the characters were scattered at the end of "Act 1." After spending so many great hours with DQXI, her death cast a shadow of sadness over the rest of my experience.
She's survived by her sister Serena, who resolves to continue adventuring with the player and to live for the both of them. She cuts her hair and inherits a piece of Veronica's spirit, and from then on in gameplay Serena possesses the powers and abilities of both herself and her sister. She quietly carries Veronica's memory with her for the rest of the game, and every time the player uses her to cast one of Veronica's spells during combat they are reminded that no one is ever truly gone forever. It's a simple, beautiful way to imbue the basic fabric of a game with emotional resonance. Act 3 is about taking all that away.
That is maybe a bit uncharitable to say, but it is fundamentally true. Act 3 sees the hero traveling back in time to keep Veronica from dying and then saving the day all over again with her in tow. In this reality, Serena never suffers that loss and never resolves to remain strong in the face of grief. The bonds of the party are never strained and strengthened by the loss of their loved one. Similarly, other hard lessons are unlearned as well. Another party member, Erik, has his confrontation and reconciliation with his sister erased and replaced with an altogether more abridged and tidy reunion. Michelle the mermaid never sees her tragic story concluded, Sylvando never finds purpose forming a traveling troupe to bring joy to a despairing world. People all over Dragon Quest XI's world never experience the dark era of strife brought on by the game's antagonist. In the main story the hero fails to stop him at the end of Act 1, and the player is made to live with the cataclysmic consequences while experiencing both struggle and hope in the process of rebuilding. In Act 3's revised history, all this darkness is made squeaky clean by comparison. In a game that previously seemed to be putting forth the importance of hope and perseverance in the face of life's tragedies, Act 3 seems to be saying that hardship is fundamentally inappropriate to a happy life, and that it would be better for those hard lessons to never be learned at all, fantasizing that all the bad in the world can be magically painted over, completely exiting any emotional reality that a player could experience themselves in their own life.
This is roughly the message I got from Act 3 at first blush. However, I want to challenge my own premise here, because after some time and a lot of thought, I've come to view Act 3 in a different way that, while not fully making me love its direction, helps me to appreciate and reconcile it with the overall shape of DQXI as a piece of art.
For me to make peace with Act 3, I first had to accept that it's primarily an exercise in wish-fulfillment. At the end of the main game I had so much affection for those characters that a chance to spend dozens more hours with them was everything I could ask for! Act 3 is wish-fulfillment on a deeper thematic layer too. The main story spends a lot of its focus on imparting its ostensibly light-hearted storybook narrative with a sense of emotional tangibility. It reaches out to the player with moments of irrevocable sadness followed by moments of joy, friendship, and solidarity despite it all, and asks the player to see the value in these things. In reality you can't take back regrets or bring back the people you lose. The purpose of Act 3 is to willfully engage in a fantasy contrary to the rest of the game, though just because it's contrary doesn't mean it doesn't have value.
By doing the impossible and rewriting history in Act 3, the player and the hero perform a service out of love for the people they care about. Their friends will never know the strife that might have been. Given the opportunity, What lengths would you not go to, to protect the ones you love from pain? Given that very opportunity, the hero of Dragon Quest XI changes the entire fabric of the world, because reality is a small price to pay to see a friend smile again. The world is already full to bursting with hurt and sadness, it won't miss the little that you take away.
Act 3 taps into the impulse to wish you could truly save the day and make everything okay for the people that matter to you. In real life, this can be an impossible and even unhelpful idea when pushed too far, and I'm personally more drawn to the world of real emotional consequence presented by the main story, so the real Dragon Quest XI will always sort of end for me at the conclusion of Act 2. But Act 3 lets the player spend time in the fantasy, spend more time with their friends, be the hero they cannot be in real life. It's a videogame, why not take this chance to live inside it as you cannot outside it? As a purely additional coda to a game all about the connections we make, it strikes me as somewhat beautiful that in Act 3, you never have to say goodbye.
A few months back I made the sensible, at the time, but daunting decision that I would play through and complete all of the games I was interested in on ps plus all at once since my subscription ends at the end of December, and those renewal prices are hilariously bad than they already are for what's even been offered now. I've went through many and bounced off a lot including Returnal and Neo TWEWY, which I'll get back to at some point because they're both excellent and might become huge favorites once I dedicate even more time to them. Dragon Quest XI was one on my list to hopefully complete before this year ends. Unfortunately, alongside FF XII, this game has lost me after putting more than 30-35 hours into it these past two months. That's like ten more hours I put into FF XII before I peaced out despite the really intriguing job system attached to it, but this isn't about final fantasy, sort of.
XI isn't even my first dragon quest game; I vaguely recall having one of the DS remake entries in the mid 2000s at some point but...any memory of playing the starting hours of that is lost to the void of my mind somewhere that I won't recall anytime soon. Maybe my long forgotten childhood memory urged me to play this? Maybe me getting more into mainline final fantasy after years of putting it off led me here?
Beating around the bush but I really don't know what to write about in a comprehensive, compact way about Dragon Quest XI outside of riffing about it here. It's a solid jrpg with a narrative stuffed with the usual suspects of the genre, but the core of it is very, very charming and echoing of a bygone era of medieval fantasy classic rpgs, similar to a certain final fantasy game I completed in April/May to prepare for FF XVI. The main combat loop of XI is pretty basic, but what's there works and still gave me some enjoyment and even challenge with a few of the boss fights. The cast fills out to a fun bunch of people as well, Sylvando being a favorite of course. The landscapes are standard but full of life with the many charming beasts roaming around. The side quests blow, but the dialogue and detail that went into the text in every book, every npc, and every waking moment of this game more than make up for the absolutely bland quests and progression. Did I say this game is really charming? Well in addition to how funny this game can be, there's also this intriguing world fully in 2D and the-
So as much as I enjoy the coziness and general retro vibe that DQ XI brings, the tedium of this game, whenever I play or whenever I think of picking it up again, is unbearable. The world is fine with a crazy ambitious scale with decently good music populating many of the spaces, but it all collectively never grew on me with the many tasks and whatever directions the plot wants me to go. The story works with a compelling and appealing cast of characters where I enjoy every single one of them, but I feel so passive to it all outside of the few emotional beats I've encountered so far. The combat is...competent but encounters, especially the litany of random ones while sailing the seas, make me groan with how too familiar they've gotten at this point. DQ XI in general just wallows; it is very witty and enjoyable, but it's also so shallow.
None of what I said I liked before is untrue and I'm so sure there is something really special at the core of this game somewhere along the 90+ journey that this game most likely deserves since it is so well loved on this site and other spaces , and I can see a few of those things even like a third through XI. But real, I think I'll come back to it at some point in like a year or two and finish it and delete this ramble-y ass log with something more concrete and informed of the rest of the two-thirds that I haven't experienced yet. Wouldn't want the 30+ hours I committed to become a very vague memory like the last DQ I played.
Anyways, back to Dead Space until then.
XI isn't even my first dragon quest game; I vaguely recall having one of the DS remake entries in the mid 2000s at some point but...any memory of playing the starting hours of that is lost to the void of my mind somewhere that I won't recall anytime soon. Maybe my long forgotten childhood memory urged me to play this? Maybe me getting more into mainline final fantasy after years of putting it off led me here?
Beating around the bush but I really don't know what to write about in a comprehensive, compact way about Dragon Quest XI outside of riffing about it here. It's a solid jrpg with a narrative stuffed with the usual suspects of the genre, but the core of it is very, very charming and echoing of a bygone era of medieval fantasy classic rpgs, similar to a certain final fantasy game I completed in April/May to prepare for FF XVI. The main combat loop of XI is pretty basic, but what's there works and still gave me some enjoyment and even challenge with a few of the boss fights. The cast fills out to a fun bunch of people as well, Sylvando being a favorite of course. The landscapes are standard but full of life with the many charming beasts roaming around. The side quests blow, but the dialogue and detail that went into the text in every book, every npc, and every waking moment of this game more than make up for the absolutely bland quests and progression. Did I say this game is really charming? Well in addition to how funny this game can be, there's also this intriguing world fully in 2D and the-
So as much as I enjoy the coziness and general retro vibe that DQ XI brings, the tedium of this game, whenever I play or whenever I think of picking it up again, is unbearable. The world is fine with a crazy ambitious scale with decently good music populating many of the spaces, but it all collectively never grew on me with the many tasks and whatever directions the plot wants me to go. The story works with a compelling and appealing cast of characters where I enjoy every single one of them, but I feel so passive to it all outside of the few emotional beats I've encountered so far. The combat is...competent but encounters, especially the litany of random ones while sailing the seas, make me groan with how too familiar they've gotten at this point. DQ XI in general just wallows; it is very witty and enjoyable, but it's also so shallow.
None of what I said I liked before is untrue and I'm so sure there is something really special at the core of this game somewhere along the 90+ journey that this game most likely deserves since it is so well loved on this site and other spaces , and I can see a few of those things even like a third through XI. But real, I think I'll come back to it at some point in like a year or two and finish it and delete this ramble-y ass log with something more concrete and informed of the rest of the two-thirds that I haven't experienced yet. Wouldn't want the 30+ hours I committed to become a very vague memory like the last DQ I played.
Anyways, back to Dead Space until then.
This review contains spoilers
In Dragon Quest XI the player has the option to let the hero, Gare (the name I gave the hero turned out to be his canonical name after all, I looked it up), either marry or else be a live-in best buddy with any of the main characters in your party. Here are my power rankings for each one:
8. Gemma: Boring. The most heterosexual white-bread choice is absolutely the least narratively satisfying. You have a whole party of good friends with incredible talents and so many things that make them special, and what does Gemma have for you? She’ll wait for Gare, for however long he wants or needs to go on adventures. That’s it? Your childhood friend’s main thing to offer is “it’s cool if you do other shit with other hoes.” Look, no offense to Gemma, she’s very sweet and a good friend who’s been with the hero for a long time, but I’m sorry, Gare is the dang Luminary of Legend and you’re out of your mind if you think he’s gonna settle down after this. Notwithstanding his restless spirit for adventure, I mean this world will just not let him rest anyway, there’s always great evil brewing in dragon quest land. Light can’t exist without the dark and all that. I just think if Gare picks Gemma they’re gonna set themselves up both for disappointment down the road (by the way, if you’re looking for a good reason to play the special edition over the original, here it is, for what it’s worth, since in the original you only have Gemma available to you).
7. Veronica: First of all, let me be clear that I’m very glad you’re here, Veronica. I’m glad Gare went back in time to save you and create a happy ending for you and the rest of his friends. Don’t listen to anyone who says Act 3 is bad or even that Act 3 erases any of the meaningful changes brought about in Act 2. To paraphrase all the positive takes on it that I’ve read, Act 3 is there to show that Gare is such a powerful hero that he can will a happy timeline for the people he cares about. Character change is fine, but it necessarily comes with suffering. Just because Serena does become stronger through experiencing the pain of losing Veronica, it does not mean it was necessary! There was nothing wrong with Serena pre-character growth, and it’s cool and good that Gare wanted to give her and all of his other friends that as well.
Having said that, let me get this straight. Gare went through all the trouble of traveling through time to save your life, and you’re still going to be mean and bossy to him? I’ll hand it to Doki Doki Literature Club exactly once: that game correctly called out the tsundere type as non-existent outside of Japanese romance and far too obnoxious to put up with in real life, should it ever exist. Keep them out of my stories! Anyway, she ends up being more of a kid sister than a love interest to Gare.
6. Rab: I like Rab, and every time he was sad about his daughter and son in law I was sad too. But was this necessary? A whole-ass magical wish to be with him forever and ever? First of all, it’s not as though we really need to consider a keep-grandpa-out-of-the-old-folks-home scenario, do we? He’s still a limber mage and kung-fu fighter, and lord knows he still has his virility. It’s not like gramps is only good for a limit break, guys. I’m sure Gare’s going to see the old man every now and then once the dark lord is good and vanquished. Who knows, in the meantime Rab might even hit it off with Amber and settle down in Cobblestone just like his grandson.
And second of all, if a relative, any relative, asks you if you want to see their porno collection, run away. That’s all I have to say there.
5. Jade: I really want this one to work. It’s kind of nice that Jade has to work on warming up to Gare, after being cold and aloof for the years she was on the road. It’s also a practical match, as the princess of Heliodor joining with the lost prince of Dundrasil. But let’s be honest, there’s not a lot of chemistry between them, and also, there’s a whole sword of Damocles hanging over this pairing that is the fact that Jade was like a big sister to him for years, which is weird. Not my favorite.
4. Hendrik: Well, one thing’s for sure, Jasper is definitely gay for Hendrik. In my official capacity as a gay, I’m here to tell you one does not get so obsessively jealous over another male friend like that, to the point of villainy, unless that one also wants to hop on that friend’s dick. It’s the rules. But does Hendrik reciprocate? It could be that he’s so hopelessly straight he could never figure out what’s going on in Jasper’s heart until he heard his friend gasp his last dying words to him. That could also be why the pairing of Hendrik and Gare is so sexless. That said, I like it more than others. I think he really just wants a best friend, someone to replace Jasper maybe, someone he can keep up his whole personal identity with, this whole sworn knight with a sworn companion thing that he’s been building up for his whole life, and it’s nice to see Gare is game for it. I like imagining these guys broing down, sparring in the daytime and knocking back mugs of your finest tavern mead in the late night. And to be honest, it is a little gay listening to Hendrik being like “by the way, some of my comrades in arms used to tell me I snore pretty bad, so I’m sorry in advance about that,” and “you don’t have to worry about me leaving the dirty dishes in the sink, I wouldn’t do you like that.”
3. Serena: This is the best heterosexual coupling available to be sure, and I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, if there were no straights then I wouldn’t even be here, which would be bad because then I’d never even know about Dragon Quest.
With Serena on up, we’re starting to see some actual sparks fly, which is saying something because unfortunately, this is indeed an RPG that has a silent protagonist. What a damn shame that, after taking so much care to so richly characterize your party and give them mostly-excellent VA performances, that we have an admittedly cute but otherwise fairly blank cipher grunting and generally agreeing with things all the way. I liked Gare more than I liked Link in BOTW, I think he’s more of a character than the latter, with his own feelings and motivations and such, but man this shit has to stop. Someone really needs to tell developers that no one plays a silent protagonist and goes “wow, it’s like it’s me in Erdrea saving the world! It’s like I’m really there doing it and stuff!” That is just plain not how it works (also I name all my characters Gare, and this time it just so happens that’s his real actual confirmed canonical name. Don’t look too much into it). It’s the main reason I took off a half star, to be honest. With Koichi Sugiyama’s recent passing it’s very likely, however, that there won’t be another DQ again, so I suppose I don’t have to worry about that ever again likewise.
Despite that, there is evidence that Gare sincerely likes Serena, or at least really likes being around her, if not in love. It might be a little too pat that they’re both reincarnations of the original hero and sage who loved each other in the past, but on the other hand, if anyone, ANYONE in your life wants to cook for you, you have to keep them. Hold them and never let them go. I dunno, this might be the real thing to me.
2. Sylvando: If I had mentioned before that previous Dragon Quest outings were aggressively heterosexual, then Dragon Quest XI is, by far, BY FAR, the gayest Dragon Quest, and I’m here for it. Since many others before me have already, I won’t go into a lot of detail about why Sylvando is the second-best character in the entire game (that’s right, I said second-best. You forgot about Healijah, you fucked up!). He’s coded gay but neither explicitly nor stereotypically so (I mean, unless we refer to this David Cross bit which is evidence enough for me), and when given the choice to be a powerful knight or a fabulous entertainer he really said “why not both, darling?”
I won’t lie to you, I had a smile on my face for the entire dance routine that Sylvando shares with Gare. In a shittier story Sylvando would hoist his sequins and boas upon Gare and the latter would mug to the camera like “but my heterosocial norms!” I love that the hero is just down, no questions asked, to be a part of Sylvando’s wish to make the whole world gay (happy). If this pairing is not the highest up in my rankings, it’s because it seems to me that, in a neat twist no one saw coming, it’s Syl who’s not really into Gare! He’s such a huge force of positivity and support that it’s almost as if he doesn’t need romance. With the hero, I should clarify, not in general, as it is a shitty trope that the gay character in a story is always the support for the main straights but never finds love himself. I’m positive there’s a great guy out there for Syl, but in the meantime he has a great hag in the hero.
And finally…
1. Erik: oh my god.
I fucking love Garerik.
Your first party member, who broke you out of jail and survived a dive off a cliff with you. The only character as far as I know where others go out of their way to mention you have a special bond with. Not to mention, the only character in the whole game with who you got to spend a not-insignificant amount of time alone together in a sauna. The guy who was with you from the very beginning to the very end. Now you get to live with him every day, for the rest of your life.
It’s incredible to me how they were able to somehow animate and voice-act these models and textures, even after deliberately hobbling the main character’s performance as a silent protagonist, in such a way that shows Erik and Gare absolutely, effortlessly happy together. As many of the youtube comments mention, Erik is the only character who does not ask Gare to do anything during their scene on the mountain together, just goofabouts and reminisces about the good old times. And unlike Gemma, they have a whole life before them that can offer either adventure or settling down alike. When they’re not out hunting for treasure (and hunting for treasure isn’t necessarily thieving), they cook stew for each other and go camping and make house calls on Erik’s friends and Gare’s family. They should not have made a prequel spinoff game with Erik and his sister. They should have instead made a post-game spinoff where Gare and Erik do indiana jones shit and it begins with their wedding in cobblestone.
Look, I’m going to level with you, I’m what you’d call a Dragon Quest liker. A Dragon Quest enjoyer, you might even say. While everyone else during the pandemic was playing Animal Crossing, I binge played the first six. I love the music (even after finding out that the late composer was a homophobe and Japanese war crimes denier), I love the design of the world and dungeons, I love how literally every damn thing is a pun, I love how some people look normal and other people look like Goku or Vegeta, I even, rather infamously, love the Dragon Quest V Netflix film. There was absolutely no way I wasn’t going to love the last major Dragon Quest game we’re probably going to have for a while, but even so they went ahead and gave me Garerik anyway. I got to experience a huge and moving story that took the entire month of October to get through, and at the end of it I got to imagine the hero and his best friend laying on their backs on top of cobblestone tor, looking up at the stars, holding hands, snuggling close to each other to stay warm. I’m afraid I’m going to have to rate this 4.5 stars as a result.
(Again, please keep in mind that by no means does this mean that in naming the hero after myself, and then imagining this happy ending with him, that I am inserting myself into the narrative and thereby disproving the point I was making earlier. I name all my nameable characters Gare because then I don’t have to think about a name for them, and remember, Gare is also the official canonical name for him. It’s on the internet and you can look it up)
8. Gemma: Boring. The most heterosexual white-bread choice is absolutely the least narratively satisfying. You have a whole party of good friends with incredible talents and so many things that make them special, and what does Gemma have for you? She’ll wait for Gare, for however long he wants or needs to go on adventures. That’s it? Your childhood friend’s main thing to offer is “it’s cool if you do other shit with other hoes.” Look, no offense to Gemma, she’s very sweet and a good friend who’s been with the hero for a long time, but I’m sorry, Gare is the dang Luminary of Legend and you’re out of your mind if you think he’s gonna settle down after this. Notwithstanding his restless spirit for adventure, I mean this world will just not let him rest anyway, there’s always great evil brewing in dragon quest land. Light can’t exist without the dark and all that. I just think if Gare picks Gemma they’re gonna set themselves up both for disappointment down the road (by the way, if you’re looking for a good reason to play the special edition over the original, here it is, for what it’s worth, since in the original you only have Gemma available to you).
7. Veronica: First of all, let me be clear that I’m very glad you’re here, Veronica. I’m glad Gare went back in time to save you and create a happy ending for you and the rest of his friends. Don’t listen to anyone who says Act 3 is bad or even that Act 3 erases any of the meaningful changes brought about in Act 2. To paraphrase all the positive takes on it that I’ve read, Act 3 is there to show that Gare is such a powerful hero that he can will a happy timeline for the people he cares about. Character change is fine, but it necessarily comes with suffering. Just because Serena does become stronger through experiencing the pain of losing Veronica, it does not mean it was necessary! There was nothing wrong with Serena pre-character growth, and it’s cool and good that Gare wanted to give her and all of his other friends that as well.
Having said that, let me get this straight. Gare went through all the trouble of traveling through time to save your life, and you’re still going to be mean and bossy to him? I’ll hand it to Doki Doki Literature Club exactly once: that game correctly called out the tsundere type as non-existent outside of Japanese romance and far too obnoxious to put up with in real life, should it ever exist. Keep them out of my stories! Anyway, she ends up being more of a kid sister than a love interest to Gare.
6. Rab: I like Rab, and every time he was sad about his daughter and son in law I was sad too. But was this necessary? A whole-ass magical wish to be with him forever and ever? First of all, it’s not as though we really need to consider a keep-grandpa-out-of-the-old-folks-home scenario, do we? He’s still a limber mage and kung-fu fighter, and lord knows he still has his virility. It’s not like gramps is only good for a limit break, guys. I’m sure Gare’s going to see the old man every now and then once the dark lord is good and vanquished. Who knows, in the meantime Rab might even hit it off with Amber and settle down in Cobblestone just like his grandson.
And second of all, if a relative, any relative, asks you if you want to see their porno collection, run away. That’s all I have to say there.
5. Jade: I really want this one to work. It’s kind of nice that Jade has to work on warming up to Gare, after being cold and aloof for the years she was on the road. It’s also a practical match, as the princess of Heliodor joining with the lost prince of Dundrasil. But let’s be honest, there’s not a lot of chemistry between them, and also, there’s a whole sword of Damocles hanging over this pairing that is the fact that Jade was like a big sister to him for years, which is weird. Not my favorite.
4. Hendrik: Well, one thing’s for sure, Jasper is definitely gay for Hendrik. In my official capacity as a gay, I’m here to tell you one does not get so obsessively jealous over another male friend like that, to the point of villainy, unless that one also wants to hop on that friend’s dick. It’s the rules. But does Hendrik reciprocate? It could be that he’s so hopelessly straight he could never figure out what’s going on in Jasper’s heart until he heard his friend gasp his last dying words to him. That could also be why the pairing of Hendrik and Gare is so sexless. That said, I like it more than others. I think he really just wants a best friend, someone to replace Jasper maybe, someone he can keep up his whole personal identity with, this whole sworn knight with a sworn companion thing that he’s been building up for his whole life, and it’s nice to see Gare is game for it. I like imagining these guys broing down, sparring in the daytime and knocking back mugs of your finest tavern mead in the late night. And to be honest, it is a little gay listening to Hendrik being like “by the way, some of my comrades in arms used to tell me I snore pretty bad, so I’m sorry in advance about that,” and “you don’t have to worry about me leaving the dirty dishes in the sink, I wouldn’t do you like that.”
3. Serena: This is the best heterosexual coupling available to be sure, and I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, if there were no straights then I wouldn’t even be here, which would be bad because then I’d never even know about Dragon Quest.
With Serena on up, we’re starting to see some actual sparks fly, which is saying something because unfortunately, this is indeed an RPG that has a silent protagonist. What a damn shame that, after taking so much care to so richly characterize your party and give them mostly-excellent VA performances, that we have an admittedly cute but otherwise fairly blank cipher grunting and generally agreeing with things all the way. I liked Gare more than I liked Link in BOTW, I think he’s more of a character than the latter, with his own feelings and motivations and such, but man this shit has to stop. Someone really needs to tell developers that no one plays a silent protagonist and goes “wow, it’s like it’s me in Erdrea saving the world! It’s like I’m really there doing it and stuff!” That is just plain not how it works (also I name all my characters Gare, and this time it just so happens that’s his real actual confirmed canonical name. Don’t look too much into it). It’s the main reason I took off a half star, to be honest. With Koichi Sugiyama’s recent passing it’s very likely, however, that there won’t be another DQ again, so I suppose I don’t have to worry about that ever again likewise.
Despite that, there is evidence that Gare sincerely likes Serena, or at least really likes being around her, if not in love. It might be a little too pat that they’re both reincarnations of the original hero and sage who loved each other in the past, but on the other hand, if anyone, ANYONE in your life wants to cook for you, you have to keep them. Hold them and never let them go. I dunno, this might be the real thing to me.
2. Sylvando: If I had mentioned before that previous Dragon Quest outings were aggressively heterosexual, then Dragon Quest XI is, by far, BY FAR, the gayest Dragon Quest, and I’m here for it. Since many others before me have already, I won’t go into a lot of detail about why Sylvando is the second-best character in the entire game (that’s right, I said second-best. You forgot about Healijah, you fucked up!). He’s coded gay but neither explicitly nor stereotypically so (I mean, unless we refer to this David Cross bit which is evidence enough for me), and when given the choice to be a powerful knight or a fabulous entertainer he really said “why not both, darling?”
I won’t lie to you, I had a smile on my face for the entire dance routine that Sylvando shares with Gare. In a shittier story Sylvando would hoist his sequins and boas upon Gare and the latter would mug to the camera like “but my heterosocial norms!” I love that the hero is just down, no questions asked, to be a part of Sylvando’s wish to make the whole world gay (happy). If this pairing is not the highest up in my rankings, it’s because it seems to me that, in a neat twist no one saw coming, it’s Syl who’s not really into Gare! He’s such a huge force of positivity and support that it’s almost as if he doesn’t need romance. With the hero, I should clarify, not in general, as it is a shitty trope that the gay character in a story is always the support for the main straights but never finds love himself. I’m positive there’s a great guy out there for Syl, but in the meantime he has a great hag in the hero.
And finally…
1. Erik: oh my god.
I fucking love Garerik.
Your first party member, who broke you out of jail and survived a dive off a cliff with you. The only character as far as I know where others go out of their way to mention you have a special bond with. Not to mention, the only character in the whole game with who you got to spend a not-insignificant amount of time alone together in a sauna. The guy who was with you from the very beginning to the very end. Now you get to live with him every day, for the rest of your life.
It’s incredible to me how they were able to somehow animate and voice-act these models and textures, even after deliberately hobbling the main character’s performance as a silent protagonist, in such a way that shows Erik and Gare absolutely, effortlessly happy together. As many of the youtube comments mention, Erik is the only character who does not ask Gare to do anything during their scene on the mountain together, just goofabouts and reminisces about the good old times. And unlike Gemma, they have a whole life before them that can offer either adventure or settling down alike. When they’re not out hunting for treasure (and hunting for treasure isn’t necessarily thieving), they cook stew for each other and go camping and make house calls on Erik’s friends and Gare’s family. They should not have made a prequel spinoff game with Erik and his sister. They should have instead made a post-game spinoff where Gare and Erik do indiana jones shit and it begins with their wedding in cobblestone.
Look, I’m going to level with you, I’m what you’d call a Dragon Quest liker. A Dragon Quest enjoyer, you might even say. While everyone else during the pandemic was playing Animal Crossing, I binge played the first six. I love the music (even after finding out that the late composer was a homophobe and Japanese war crimes denier), I love the design of the world and dungeons, I love how literally every damn thing is a pun, I love how some people look normal and other people look like Goku or Vegeta, I even, rather infamously, love the Dragon Quest V Netflix film. There was absolutely no way I wasn’t going to love the last major Dragon Quest game we’re probably going to have for a while, but even so they went ahead and gave me Garerik anyway. I got to experience a huge and moving story that took the entire month of October to get through, and at the end of it I got to imagine the hero and his best friend laying on their backs on top of cobblestone tor, looking up at the stars, holding hands, snuggling close to each other to stay warm. I’m afraid I’m going to have to rate this 4.5 stars as a result.
(Again, please keep in mind that by no means does this mean that in naming the hero after myself, and then imagining this happy ending with him, that I am inserting myself into the narrative and thereby disproving the point I was making earlier. I name all my nameable characters Gare because then I don’t have to think about a name for them, and remember, Gare is also the official canonical name for him. It’s on the internet and you can look it up)
I can see the faint traces of the magic that people see in this game. I can hear bits of the echoes of the things that touch them or that they find charming. But for me, it came up very, very short.
I got all the way to the sand monster boss, where my game would not stop crashing, which I took as a sign for me to stop trying to force myself to have a good time.
I think I could go on at length if I could talk out loud, but having to formulate my thoughts right now in this little word box, I don't know if I can articulate why it doesn't click with me very well, but lemme give it a shot.
I've heard people compare this game to like watching episodes of a Saturday morning cartoon. People have said it's a hangout game, or a vibes game. I think that's true for those people, but the missing context there is that it's a certain type of Saturday morning cartoon; it's a certain type of hangout. It's a boy's club hangout.
DQ11 feels like the perfect, most magical game dreamed up by three 10 year old boys in 2002 from within a treehouse with a 'NO GIRLS ALLOWED' sign on it.
Just not my thing.
I got all the way to the sand monster boss, where my game would not stop crashing, which I took as a sign for me to stop trying to force myself to have a good time.
I think I could go on at length if I could talk out loud, but having to formulate my thoughts right now in this little word box, I don't know if I can articulate why it doesn't click with me very well, but lemme give it a shot.
I've heard people compare this game to like watching episodes of a Saturday morning cartoon. People have said it's a hangout game, or a vibes game. I think that's true for those people, but the missing context there is that it's a certain type of Saturday morning cartoon; it's a certain type of hangout. It's a boy's club hangout.
DQ11 feels like the perfect, most magical game dreamed up by three 10 year old boys in 2002 from within a treehouse with a 'NO GIRLS ALLOWED' sign on it.
Just not my thing.
Detractors note that Dragon Quest XI is a JRPG about JRPGs which makes it very much a JRPG, which, yes? The story so fastidiously adheres to readymade fantasy that it is impossible to care about anything other than the joy of here and now, and before long the game's subversion of its own telics: the moment things 'almost come together' is but another opportunity for a tortuous route though colourful idiots and their absurdist affairs that we, the ones tasked with stopping the apocalypse, are very very much invested in. The battle system is fine, the unplatformable body that is occasionally tasked with platforming is confusing, but again the central joy in this is the sense of incoming novelty. Here the sugar rush of videogame fatigue is prevented in that, rather than lightshows, it's all Toriyama's infinite genius for character models and locations.
I am just fucking around on a grand tour of the world, and not enough games work through allowing you to fuck around. Stealth games encourage micro fucking around within clockwork environments, and Rockstar games allow you to fuck around before 'getting to work', but I have never felt as though I am achieving so much fucking around as I have playing Dragon Quest XI. The only two locations I need in fiction — games or otherwise — are beachside towns and ones further inland with hot pools and saunas. This has those AND lakes AND peninsulas with soft pink sand, which I am just like, I am getting emotional about how grateful I am. Like Final Fantasy XII, is this even a game? Games can be many things, and the ones I like or way I play them often bears little similarity to the way games are described by critics and fans. This one like that one is a game of spaces, of watching and exploring the idea of being in spaces, of considering how architecture and light patterns and proximity and colours and settings affect a sense of belonging that's both affirmative and flexible, always open to change.
I keep thinking 'Asterix x Dragon Ball' because I feel like I'm a child, when as a child every drawing or photograph you see is supercharged with a sense of aliveness that you have to rise to and imagine being in, and Dragon Quest XI feels like living inside Dragon Ball all morning only to turn to that stack of Asterix, to read it not movement by movement or word to word but most importantly image by image. It's just profoundly a lot. The way the game returns you to familiar spaces but revokes your fast travel privileges is really moving, as it forces you to pay attention to what's around you and what had become a blur. I'm personally not so big on it, but the game's call to 'break time' after the second half evidently works for others because it sends the game sprawling in so many new directions. Fair enough, it's hard to see things this good end.
I am just fucking around on a grand tour of the world, and not enough games work through allowing you to fuck around. Stealth games encourage micro fucking around within clockwork environments, and Rockstar games allow you to fuck around before 'getting to work', but I have never felt as though I am achieving so much fucking around as I have playing Dragon Quest XI. The only two locations I need in fiction — games or otherwise — are beachside towns and ones further inland with hot pools and saunas. This has those AND lakes AND peninsulas with soft pink sand, which I am just like, I am getting emotional about how grateful I am. Like Final Fantasy XII, is this even a game? Games can be many things, and the ones I like or way I play them often bears little similarity to the way games are described by critics and fans. This one like that one is a game of spaces, of watching and exploring the idea of being in spaces, of considering how architecture and light patterns and proximity and colours and settings affect a sense of belonging that's both affirmative and flexible, always open to change.
I keep thinking 'Asterix x Dragon Ball' because I feel like I'm a child, when as a child every drawing or photograph you see is supercharged with a sense of aliveness that you have to rise to and imagine being in, and Dragon Quest XI feels like living inside Dragon Ball all morning only to turn to that stack of Asterix, to read it not movement by movement or word to word but most importantly image by image. It's just profoundly a lot. The way the game returns you to familiar spaces but revokes your fast travel privileges is really moving, as it forces you to pay attention to what's around you and what had become a blur. I'm personally not so big on it, but the game's call to 'break time' after the second half evidently works for others because it sends the game sprawling in so many new directions. Fair enough, it's hard to see things this good end.
Wow what a game, everything from the combat to the world feels so lively and wonderous. The high fantasy setting which I originally thought was gonna be its biggest undoing is one of its biggest strengths as the likeable characters and whacky scenarios make going through it a blast. My only notable complaints are that the music wasn't nearly as strong as I thought it would be and that some characters were kinda underdeveloped.
I'd 100% recommend Dragon Quest XI if you have the chance to play it
I'd 100% recommend Dragon Quest XI if you have the chance to play it
Pros:
+While not revolutionary, the game has some quality turn based RPG gameplay, which for me is a fun way to play despite it being a bit ancient.
+Soundtrack is lively and fun.
+Enemy designs are creative and varied. I actually got pretty excited to get to a new area and find new enemies.
+The 2D side-missions (as well as full 2D optional mode) were a nice callback, even though I couldn't truly appreciate them as this is my first Dragon Quest game.
+There's some decent quality of life stuff, like if you're missing purchasable items for forging, you can buy them right there instead of having to go to a shop.
+All the different prep power animations look gorgeous. Also prep powers in general having unique teammate set ups adds some personality to them.
+Toriyama art style. As a huge Dragon Ball fan I had to add this.
+There are a whole bunch of costumes you can find to dress your characters, ranging from silly fun ones, to story-related ones, to downright cool looking ones.
+There's a few times when you get specific moves or skill trees based directly on the happenings from the plot. Like Jade learning Re-Vamp, or Rab's Pearly Gates.
+The main cast are all charming and fun.
+A toooon of content, even post-game. Hell, especially post-game.
Cons
-The way items are managed in this game is awful:
-You can't use any item from the bag in battle. You have to specifically equip it to a character. And it's not like a "Battle bag" either, you have to give each individual item to each individual character. I honestly just gave up on this about 5 hours in and never used an item in battle all game.
-Items don’t merge in a characters bag. If you give a character 5 potions they'll take up 5 slots, which just looks messy and cluttered.
-If you steal from an enemy, it goes into the characters personal inventory, meaning you have to manually remove every single one (there is a way to remove all non-equipment at once, but that would mean removing all the items you want to keep on them)
-The battle music gets overused too much. I don't mean "there's too many battles", but like during the last lap of a horse race it suddenly starts to use the battle music and it feels so out of place.
-When you're looking at a list of items in a shop or forging you can't compare them to your parties current equipment. It'll show only ONE stat of the new item and whether it's lower or higher than the same stat on your party. I bought or forged so many items only to realise the other 5 stats provided are lower than my current one.
-There's too many invisible barriers everywhere. Can't just jump over this little fence to take a short cut, gotta go the long way around.
-The silent protagonist is common in RPGs, but as the story gets more and more involved, and spoken dialogue becomes more common place, it makes them look really out of place. It's so distracting for this huge story to unfold around the main character as he just stands there silent, emotionless. There's one point where he actually starts crying and I was so taken aback because I just can't see him as a character.
-There's no way to find out battle information on enemies like their weaknesses or their immunities. It led to a lot of trial and error, or more likely just avoiding using any status moves and powering through with my strongest attacks rather than waste time experimenting and wasting turns with things that might not even work.
Mixed/Not important enough to be a pro/con:
~Tactics always being the first option that comes up in battle. It’s very very minor but it slows things down a bit for every fight. Since pressing X already brings up the tactics menu there’s no need to have it be the default as the amount of times I didn't want to change my tactics every battle far outweighed the ones I did.
~The variety of rideable enemies you find are fun, but they're so limited and are often just there to solve an easy "puzzle". It feels less immersive when only one out of the thousands of other enemies of the same type you find can be ridable.
Neutral/Notes:
•The game doesn’t pause when using menus. It doesn't really matter at all, it just feels weird to me.
•There's an option for "Heal All" and "Handy Heal All" in the menu. The first option heals your party to full health, the second one does the same thing but "in the most optimised way". I just don't understand why I'd ever want to use the option that heals me in a way that isn't the most optimised.
•The Slime Slot Machine feels way too overly complex for a mini game...
+While not revolutionary, the game has some quality turn based RPG gameplay, which for me is a fun way to play despite it being a bit ancient.
+Soundtrack is lively and fun.
+Enemy designs are creative and varied. I actually got pretty excited to get to a new area and find new enemies.
+The 2D side-missions (as well as full 2D optional mode) were a nice callback, even though I couldn't truly appreciate them as this is my first Dragon Quest game.
+There's some decent quality of life stuff, like if you're missing purchasable items for forging, you can buy them right there instead of having to go to a shop.
+All the different prep power animations look gorgeous. Also prep powers in general having unique teammate set ups adds some personality to them.
+Toriyama art style. As a huge Dragon Ball fan I had to add this.
+There are a whole bunch of costumes you can find to dress your characters, ranging from silly fun ones, to story-related ones, to downright cool looking ones.
+There's a few times when you get specific moves or skill trees based directly on the happenings from the plot. Like Jade learning Re-Vamp, or Rab's Pearly Gates.
+The main cast are all charming and fun.
+A toooon of content, even post-game. Hell, especially post-game.
Cons
-The way items are managed in this game is awful:
-You can't use any item from the bag in battle. You have to specifically equip it to a character. And it's not like a "Battle bag" either, you have to give each individual item to each individual character. I honestly just gave up on this about 5 hours in and never used an item in battle all game.
-Items don’t merge in a characters bag. If you give a character 5 potions they'll take up 5 slots, which just looks messy and cluttered.
-If you steal from an enemy, it goes into the characters personal inventory, meaning you have to manually remove every single one (there is a way to remove all non-equipment at once, but that would mean removing all the items you want to keep on them)
-The battle music gets overused too much. I don't mean "there's too many battles", but like during the last lap of a horse race it suddenly starts to use the battle music and it feels so out of place.
-When you're looking at a list of items in a shop or forging you can't compare them to your parties current equipment. It'll show only ONE stat of the new item and whether it's lower or higher than the same stat on your party. I bought or forged so many items only to realise the other 5 stats provided are lower than my current one.
-There's too many invisible barriers everywhere. Can't just jump over this little fence to take a short cut, gotta go the long way around.
-The silent protagonist is common in RPGs, but as the story gets more and more involved, and spoken dialogue becomes more common place, it makes them look really out of place. It's so distracting for this huge story to unfold around the main character as he just stands there silent, emotionless. There's one point where he actually starts crying and I was so taken aback because I just can't see him as a character.
-There's no way to find out battle information on enemies like their weaknesses or their immunities. It led to a lot of trial and error, or more likely just avoiding using any status moves and powering through with my strongest attacks rather than waste time experimenting and wasting turns with things that might not even work.
Mixed/Not important enough to be a pro/con:
~Tactics always being the first option that comes up in battle. It’s very very minor but it slows things down a bit for every fight. Since pressing X already brings up the tactics menu there’s no need to have it be the default as the amount of times I didn't want to change my tactics every battle far outweighed the ones I did.
~The variety of rideable enemies you find are fun, but they're so limited and are often just there to solve an easy "puzzle". It feels less immersive when only one out of the thousands of other enemies of the same type you find can be ridable.
Neutral/Notes:
•The game doesn’t pause when using menus. It doesn't really matter at all, it just feels weird to me.
•There's an option for "Heal All" and "Handy Heal All" in the menu. The first option heals your party to full health, the second one does the same thing but "in the most optimised way". I just don't understand why I'd ever want to use the option that heals me in a way that isn't the most optimised.
•The Slime Slot Machine feels way too overly complex for a mini game...
This game is beautiful, huge, and incredibly dense.
That would sound amazing as a teen, but as a dad it's just daunting.
That would sound amazing as a teen, but as a dad it's just daunting.
Dragon Quest XI S: Aventura Clássica com Extras Modernos
Pontos Positivos:
História épica: Uma jornada emocionante com reviravoltas inesperadas e personagens memoráveis.
Combate estratégico: Batalhas clássicas por turnos com monstros icônicos e habilidades empolgantes.
Mundo encantador: Explore cidades charmosas, paisagens exuberantes e masmorras desafiadoras.
Trilha sonora Lindíssima: Músicas que te transportam para dentro do mundo mágico de Dragon Quest.
Conteúdo extra: Novas missões, personagens e áreas para explorar na versão S.
Pontos a Considerar:
Ritmo lento: O combate e a exploração podem ser lentos para jogadores que preferem jogos mais dinâmicos.
Interface datada: A interface do usuário pode parecer um pouco antiquada. Levando em conta que esse estilo é usado desde o primeiro.
História extensa: A história pode ser longa demais para alguns jogadores. E bota longa nisso.
Conclusão:
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age é um RPG clássico com uma história épica, combate estratégico e um mundo vibrante para explorar. A versão S oferece conteúdo extra para os fãs da série, mas os gráficos simples e o ritmo lento podem afastar alguns jogadores.
Recomendação:
Se você busca uma aventura clássica com um toque moderno, Dragon Quest XI S é uma ótima opção. No entanto, se você prefere jogos com ritmo mais acelerado, este jogo pode não te agradar.
Observações: Esta análise é baseada em opiniões e experiências pessoais.
Dica: Se você está em dúvida, experimente a demo gratuita do jogo antes de comprar.
Pontos Positivos:
História épica: Uma jornada emocionante com reviravoltas inesperadas e personagens memoráveis.
Combate estratégico: Batalhas clássicas por turnos com monstros icônicos e habilidades empolgantes.
Mundo encantador: Explore cidades charmosas, paisagens exuberantes e masmorras desafiadoras.
Trilha sonora Lindíssima: Músicas que te transportam para dentro do mundo mágico de Dragon Quest.
Conteúdo extra: Novas missões, personagens e áreas para explorar na versão S.
Pontos a Considerar:
Ritmo lento: O combate e a exploração podem ser lentos para jogadores que preferem jogos mais dinâmicos.
Interface datada: A interface do usuário pode parecer um pouco antiquada. Levando em conta que esse estilo é usado desde o primeiro.
História extensa: A história pode ser longa demais para alguns jogadores. E bota longa nisso.
Conclusão:
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age é um RPG clássico com uma história épica, combate estratégico e um mundo vibrante para explorar. A versão S oferece conteúdo extra para os fãs da série, mas os gráficos simples e o ritmo lento podem afastar alguns jogadores.
Recomendação:
Se você busca uma aventura clássica com um toque moderno, Dragon Quest XI S é uma ótima opção. No entanto, se você prefere jogos com ritmo mais acelerado, este jogo pode não te agradar.
Observações: Esta análise é baseada em opiniões e experiências pessoais.
Dica: Se você está em dúvida, experimente a demo gratuita do jogo antes de comprar.
The best JRPG that has ever been made or ever will be made. Every character is peak, every new area is breathtaking, every woman has big bazongos. Zenith of the medium, I would marry a bitch on the spot if she likes Dragon Quest.
Well, I'm converted! This was my first Dragon Quest game, and I can safely say that I regret not giving these games more attention sooner! Dragon Quest's strongest and most enduring quality is that it doesn't try to be anything other than the most quintessential JRPG, and it is only striving to refine and perfect that tried and true formula.
While i can totally see people writing this off as overly vanilla, it's anything but. Everything about this game is so endearing, it's almost intoxicating. Rab and Sylvando are absolute MVPs.
Clocking in at 81 hours upon defeating the Act 3 boss and obtaining the true ending, at no point did I ever feel the game was dragging along, which says a lot about a JRPG as this genre is packed with games that end up bring glorified endurance tests. With additional playthroughs, I will most likely be bumping this up to 5 stars.
While i can totally see people writing this off as overly vanilla, it's anything but. Everything about this game is so endearing, it's almost intoxicating. Rab and Sylvando are absolute MVPs.
Clocking in at 81 hours upon defeating the Act 3 boss and obtaining the true ending, at no point did I ever feel the game was dragging along, which says a lot about a JRPG as this genre is packed with games that end up bring glorified endurance tests. With additional playthroughs, I will most likely be bumping this up to 5 stars.
This review contains spoilers
PERSONAL RANT BEFORE REVIEW:
Around the time my grandfather died 2019/20, I was introduced about this game by my friends and bf and it got me interested. Cutting forward to 2021, a week before I bought this game, my dad died and to cope with my grief I decided to play this thinking I would feel better.
I miss you dad, we may have had our differences but you're still family and this game makes me miss you a lot.
This game triggers me in aspects that made me feel anger and cry so many times over my fathers death that I couldn't do a thing (especially in the moment like where the MC sees his parents and he can't stop the inevitable), and now I argue to this day with my friends and bf about it but I feel so horrible cuz I know they like this game but to me, this is just an awful bad dream taking hold of my anger and grief. I never meant to be a bad person for trashing this game.
ACTUAL REVIEW:
This game is a good game all the way up to Act 2s finale.
Every character gets their moment to shine.
HOWEVER, this game suffers from horrible problems like the MC being the worst example of a silent protagonist, every sad scene that happens everyone is feeling sad but him, a LITERAL PIECE OF WOOD who then later becomes a LITERAL PIECE OF SHIT in Act 3 cuz haha funni time travel leaving everyone behind.
Act 3 is the worst idea ever in an RPG, never EVER use the concept of time travel this loosely, it's the worst thing for a good game and this game manages to lose its charm BIG cuz of that. Other RPGs like Final Fantasy, Tales Of and others have this but the thing is that they are much better built around the main idea and don't exactly use silly or EXTREMELY BAD ideas unless it's for a scene or two, NOT an entire Story Arc which crumbles the rest of the game.
Rabs entire side story in Act 2 is the best example of this which is a parallel to the Time travel decision in Act 3. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO LIVE IN A FAKE/NEW REALITY WHERE THINGS ARE ALL FINE? THAT IS WRONG. THIS IS NOT FACING REALITY, THIS IS LIVING A LIE AND ACT 3 IS BASICALLY THAT.
Veronica's sole purpose after her death is to be the motivation for everyone to move on and give her sister the strength to live strong AND THEN ACT 3 COMES AROUND AND THROWS THAT IN THE TRASH.
Hendrik, oh Hendrik you suffered the worst in here. You had everything handed on a silver platter for one of the best redemption arc ever and then Act 3 happens and this actively pisses me off.
Another factor is the soundtrack, it's fine at first but then becomes the most repetitive thing ever (doesn't help that vanilla was just MIDIs to ruin everything).
Also who thought it was a good idea to lock costumes behind the fucking casino? Especially when the things take forever to get.
I love the gameplay, I really do but every other factor in this game is making me dislike it. I give it 3 stars cuz it's good but every other factor is not helping the game.
Hate me, disagree with me, I don't care. This is the single truth I give to you.
Around the time my grandfather died 2019/20, I was introduced about this game by my friends and bf and it got me interested. Cutting forward to 2021, a week before I bought this game, my dad died and to cope with my grief I decided to play this thinking I would feel better.
I miss you dad, we may have had our differences but you're still family and this game makes me miss you a lot.
This game triggers me in aspects that made me feel anger and cry so many times over my fathers death that I couldn't do a thing (especially in the moment like where the MC sees his parents and he can't stop the inevitable), and now I argue to this day with my friends and bf about it but I feel so horrible cuz I know they like this game but to me, this is just an awful bad dream taking hold of my anger and grief. I never meant to be a bad person for trashing this game.
ACTUAL REVIEW:
This game is a good game all the way up to Act 2s finale.
Every character gets their moment to shine.
HOWEVER, this game suffers from horrible problems like the MC being the worst example of a silent protagonist, every sad scene that happens everyone is feeling sad but him, a LITERAL PIECE OF WOOD who then later becomes a LITERAL PIECE OF SHIT in Act 3 cuz haha funni time travel leaving everyone behind.
Act 3 is the worst idea ever in an RPG, never EVER use the concept of time travel this loosely, it's the worst thing for a good game and this game manages to lose its charm BIG cuz of that. Other RPGs like Final Fantasy, Tales Of and others have this but the thing is that they are much better built around the main idea and don't exactly use silly or EXTREMELY BAD ideas unless it's for a scene or two, NOT an entire Story Arc which crumbles the rest of the game.
Rabs entire side story in Act 2 is the best example of this which is a parallel to the Time travel decision in Act 3. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO LIVE IN A FAKE/NEW REALITY WHERE THINGS ARE ALL FINE? THAT IS WRONG. THIS IS NOT FACING REALITY, THIS IS LIVING A LIE AND ACT 3 IS BASICALLY THAT.
Veronica's sole purpose after her death is to be the motivation for everyone to move on and give her sister the strength to live strong AND THEN ACT 3 COMES AROUND AND THROWS THAT IN THE TRASH.
Hendrik, oh Hendrik you suffered the worst in here. You had everything handed on a silver platter for one of the best redemption arc ever and then Act 3 happens and this actively pisses me off.
Another factor is the soundtrack, it's fine at first but then becomes the most repetitive thing ever (doesn't help that vanilla was just MIDIs to ruin everything).
Also who thought it was a good idea to lock costumes behind the fucking casino? Especially when the things take forever to get.
I love the gameplay, I really do but every other factor in this game is making me dislike it. I give it 3 stars cuz it's good but every other factor is not helping the game.
Hate me, disagree with me, I don't care. This is the single truth I give to you.
I went into this expecting an old school throwback turn-based JRPG because I've never played Dragon Quest beforehand, but what I got was a deceptively simple yet incredibly polished and wonderfully charming game that starts knocking those expectations away throughout its lengthy playtime. It’s refreshing to play a JRPG that very sincerely sticks to its guns about its own tropes and tradition in a landscape where games have started to become a bit self-aware about them and loses out on some of that magic. It’s not really reinventing the wheel so much as it’s finding new things to do with that wheel and perfecting them. Like, the game design is pretty straightforward and simple by today’s standards but it manages to still feel really engaging and plays to its strength for that. The combat never feels too broken and finds a good general balance that makes boss fights and random encounters feel as fair as possible to the player while still offering a challenge. Except for the third act which is almost like a post-game, with bosses that really push you to strategize and experiment with your party members, but also feeling way more important to the overall story than you thought. It’s not quite as good as the first two acts, mostly because it felt lacking in narrative momentum due to its gameplay structure, but it redeems itself by revealing a bunch of story stuff that makes this feel that much essential to the entire experience.
You can also feel how much more fun Toriyama had with designing characters for this franchise than everything since Beerus and Whis in Dragon Ball rn
You can also feel how much more fun Toriyama had with designing characters for this franchise than everything since Beerus and Whis in Dragon Ball rn
Dragon Quest XI is a phenomenal game. It stands firm as one of the greatest JRPGs I’ve personally ever experienced, and I expect is among the greatest titles within the genre of all time.
I have a lot to say about this title so for those of you who may not want to read 158 hours’ worth of thoughts, I’ll summarise it briefly here: The gameplay, polish and presentation of Dragon Quest XI is off the charts. Everything works and looks exactly as it should, there are basically no instances where you’ll find yourself against impossible odds or hit a wall of “bullshit”, it just works. It’s also incredibly accessible to players of all preferences and skill-levels, this game was made to be enjoyed by anyone and in my honest opinion, it succeeds. So, let’s get into it a little deeper.
It's worth mentioning that I will not be discussing major spoilers in this review, however if you’re familiar with JRPG or anime tropes/cliches there will be allusions to those which may reveal some minor or incredibly “standard”/expected beats.
Starting off with the first and perhaps most important thing the DQ XI experience offers:
ACCESSIBILTY.
Dragon Quest XI does not come with traditional difficulty options, much like the majority of more classic JRPGs. What it does do, however, is give players several ways to make it easier or harder to fit their own preference. The biggest of these are the “Draconian Quest” options presented upon starting a new game, a list of settings that you can decide before playing if you’d prefer to enable or disable. These include certain challenge modes like No Shopping or No Armour, Reduced Experience, Shypox – a randomly triggered status ailment that embarrasses you/your allies -, and my personal favourite: “Party Wiped Out if Protagonist Perishes”
That’s right. You can disable one of the most frustrating and often merciless features of classic JRPGs. Thank the Gods.
The caveat with these modifiers is that if you disable all of them then you can’t adjust them once you’re in the game, however I believe that anything you enable can be later disabled via a save point without consequence.
This isn’t the only way that DQ XI makes itself more accessible to suit your play style though, oh no. One of the most impressive features of this title is one that honestly didn’t really hit me fully until I’d tried it myself: 2D Mode. The entire game, start to finish, can be played in either a modern 3D style, complete with interactive combat where you can move around the battlefield and watch gorgeous attack animations, or a classic 2D mode, returning to the use of flashing sprites and screen shakes instead. Both modes have redesigned locations to accommodate the dimensions available in each, and my favourite difference between the two: random encounters - or more importantly – lack thereof.
If you prefer the old school 2D sprite-based, synthesised, random-encounter-ridden experience of old JRPGs, you can have that. If you’d rather see the world in beautiful 3D, run around the overworld yourself and be able to actively avoid enemies roaming the lands, you can have that too! The entire. Fecking. Game. Honestly who does that?! Square went above and beyond making the whole game twice just to make sure EVERYONE could enjoy it, it’s absurd and I cannot respect this decision enough.
You can switch between 2D and 3D mode at any time, and if your save file in 3D mode is further along than in 2D, you can select which chapter of the game to pick up from in 2D and just keep going, meaning there is (once again) no consequence for playing around and trying both out. [I’m not certain if the same applies going from 2D to 3D but I would expect so?]
Believe it or not, I’m not done. I mentioned the Draconian Quest difficulty modifiers earlier, and how they can be used to adjust the difficulty of the game from the start/at any time if enabled. But another, more subtle, thing that DQ XI does to ensure no-one gets left behind is giving the player freedom for 99%, if not all, of the game. Let me explain.
I’m sure we’ve all hit walls in games where we get stuck, the boss is simply too hard, our party are under-levelled, poorly equipped, we weren’t prepared to face a challenge and our last save was x amount of time ago. With no other choice, we’re forced to lose progress to train harder and make push any further. This will not happen in Dragon Quest XI, I can guarantee it. You may find a boss you can’t beat, absolutely (although in all honesty this will most likely only be late into Act III when the difficulty is amped up and more things become optional than not,) but you will never be in a position where you can’t just load to right before the fight, go away and prepare to return stronger.
At one point in Act II, there is a part where you need to defend an area from a large-scale attack. “Oh shit.” I thought, “This is where I may well meet my first roadblock. I hope I saved recently just in case I’m too weak for this.” – Arriving at the front line, I saw an NPC with a marker on the mini-map, speaking to him, well it made me laugh honestly. He essentially told me “If the enemies prove too strong, try going into that cave there and honing your skills while we hold them off” … I’m sorry, what? The front lines of this story-locked battle offer a save point and a dungeon specifically to grind in? Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was able to rest/heal and go back to the nearest store as well, I couldn’t believe it.
This game was made so that it can be played by everyone. And it absolutely can. I would confidently say that the only thing less-experienced players might struggle with is the final-final boss (and the optional post-game bosses ofc, but assuming they’re not here for those anyway), but the final boss of the game can be significantly weakened in 1 turn using a trick that the game teaches you, urges you to do and makes it impossible to miss, so even that battle I’d wager you can manage.
Just to finish up, the game also has settings to adjust the battle speed, whether the score is symphonic or synthetic, the DQ VIII OST is available as well and every single thing I’ve mentioned here can be adjusted at any time, without consequence. (Besides enabling the Draconian Quest modifiers if they’re all disabled at the start)
With all that said, let’s talk about the game itself:
WHAT IS DRAGON QUEST XI S: ECHOES OF AN ELUSIVE AGE?
Dragon Quest XI – as I’m sure you know by now – is a grand open world JRPG adventure, following our Hero in his journey from the small town of Cobblestone as he learns of and fulfils his destiny as the Luminary of Legend. It’s a tale as old as time, and the heads up I gave at the start about common tropes is because, at its very core, the A-plot of the game is somewhat… generic. But with a world this rich of diverse locations, captivating characters and a plethora of really good B-plots and mini-arcs, the main story doesn’t need to be anything else. It’s a vessel. It’s what drives us on our way through the game and provides us all the experiences along the way. That’s not to say that the A-plot doesn’t have its own surprises, some of the biggest story beats left me utterly bewildered. But if you were to summarise it to its most basic form; it’s good guy goes to stop bad guy, init.
So what sets it apart from every other JRPG with this cliché, “fabled hero” premise?
THE PACING.
The pacing of this game, particularly in Act I, is superb. Everything that happens does so at a reasonable scale, every new development that sounds like it may drag proves that expectation wrong, I can’t think of a single moment in Act I where a setting or arc overstayed its welcome. Now this doesn’t mean that it’s rushed either. There are absolutely a couple parts where the task at hand feels like it should have taken longer than it does, or where something that’s needed is just conveniently discovered, but honestly in a game that runs most players around 100 hours or more I really struggle to criticise there being a handful of these moments across all 3 Acts. There are times in Act II or III where an arc or dungeon runs on a little longer than it maybe should, but with these the option to run by enemies and get through them more quickly is available to you anyway (in 3D) so again this is more a comment than a complaint.
THE COMBAT.
The combat system in DQ XI, while simple, is one of the most fun systems I’ve played in a standard turn-based RPG to date. It’s hard to put into words why exactly it feels so good, but the things I think that warrant the most attention are the control you have over the party and just how dynamic everything is (again, in 3D. 2D battles lose a lot of this flare and in my opinion are vastly inferior – but for those who long for the days of old, have at it!) The combat in DQ XI see the party and enemies facing off in a battlefield fitting to the location it was initiated, a ring surrounding them on the ground within which the controlled member can move freely or exit the ring to attempt an escape.
The party can be controlled using either by direct commands or via ‘tactics’, anyone familiar with turn-based combat is surely familiar with these, and the behaviour of any member on the team can be set to anything from the list independently – including the Hero. When playing in 3D, the turns are visually demonstrated in real-time, in that if your party attacks 1 thru 4, you will select and perform the action for each member in that order. If the turn order is Hero > Enemy > Party Member 3 > PM 2 > Enemy > PM 4, you will select the action for each party member on their turn, making it possible to react to the battle as it happens.
(In 2D mode, the actions are all selected at the start of the round, and play out as selected using the turn order, which is obviously harder as it removes this reactive option)
Each party member comes with a variety of skills enabling them to perform actions and wield different weapons to suit, and the beauty of this is that all your equipment can be changed mid-battle on that person’s turn without consequence. Went into a tough fight without a shield? Pop that on as soon as it’s your turn and it won’t cost you a damn thing. Accessibility once again, you can adjust your party on the fly in real time – want to equip a greatsword to use a certain ability and then swap back to a shield while you buff – you can do that!
The combat, like everything else in this game, gives you the tools to play the game the way that you want to. And guess what, those skill points you spent to unlock abilities and strengthen certain branches in an ally’s skill tree? Yeah, you can reset those at any time for so cheap you won’t even notice. Spent 20 levels kitting out Hero as a sword & shield guy but just found a super strong greatsword – refund those skills and get the greatsword branch of the tree filled out, son! This was so useful in helping me adjust my playstyle to certain areas or enemies, or even just to mix up my playstyle and try new things. I’m telling you man the game is for everyone, make it yours.
I would be remiss to discuss the combat without touching on the Pep Powers at least a little. I’ve mentioned briefly how dynamic the combat is in 3D, every attack has an appropriate animation, the characters leap toward the enemy before swinging and leap back after if you’re standing further away, this offers no tactical advantage, but it looks good y’know? It’s so much more engaging than the 2D alternative where you see a flash or a flutter of sparkles across the screen and the enemy sprites flicker. Pep Powers take this to another level, basically being super-moves that can be used when a party member becomes “pepped up”, a status effect that buffs their stats and unlocks said skills. This effect is typically unlocked when taking damage and is most easily acquired by just blocking for a few rounds and tanking a couple blows at reduced damage.
The Pep Powers themselves function similarly to things in other games, the Showtime! Events in Persona 5 Royal for example, or All Out Attacks from the same franchise. They use 2, 3 or 4 members of the party to come together and perform something spectacular. There are LOADS of these skills, bespoke to different characters and combinations of such. Some require only the user to be pepped up while others require all participants to be, it’s insane how much variety there is. Some of them utilise unlocked skills to put enemies to sleep before whacking them, others form great shields around the party, turn a member to steel before launching them at the enemy like a cannonball (and most importantly for those of you hoping to grind levels) massively boost the exp gained from a battle and change the enemies into metal slimes, the rarest monster that reward insane exp even without the previous boost. These all look superb and there are so many I doubt I’ve even seen half of them. In short, the combat just feels amazing and even after 158 hours I could happily spend another 100 fighting with this system. That said, fighting isn’t the only thing you’ll be doing, maybe you’d prefer to get lost in the world and spend more of your time exploring, so how’s that?
THE WORLD.
The world of Dragon Quest XI is just that, a World. In layman’s terms: it’s fucking massive. To put it more poetically: it succeeds in broadening your horizons consistently for the first 2 acts without at any point feeling overwhelming. You start out in a small village, what I like to dub Tutorial Town, it has just enough to teach you the ropes and familiarise you with the game/backstory without overstaying it’s welcome. The first stretch of your journey is to venture out to a major city, a huge deal for you and those around you at the time. The fact you receive a horse to journey on is a ‘wow moment’ for young Hero, horses aren’t needed to get around in Tutorial Village, just how big is the rest of the world? A horse is not the only means of transport you will acquire throughout this game. I wasn’t expecting any of what I got, and each time new places opened up to me I felt a similar sense of awe as in those early moments. “I can go where!?” In hindsight my JRPG knowledge should have prepared me for this, but that’s just how immersed I became in my travels. Hero is – unfortunately – a silent protagonist, but the game often makes up for this by succeeding in making you, the player, fill his shoes. More on this later.
Every new location you explore in Dragon Quest XI feels different to the last. Every town or city has a unique design and architecture, inspired by places in our own world and beautifully crafted and populated just enough to feel alive. There are stalls being tended, children playing hide and seek, men standing on piers contemplating their wasted potential. You’re there, man. You’re in Erdrea, it’s hard not to take it all in. Excitedly searching every house for chests, “reading” the books dotted around to unlock new recipes, searching wardrobes for items or mysterious Mini Medals, what are they for and why do they seem to be locked in so many bedrooms? You’ll find out. Dragon Quest does a fantastic job of creating a world in which the story is occurring, as opposed to creating a world to accommodate the story. The locations are all significant and have their own arcs, but they don’t feel as though they are only there so that the plot can happen, rather the plot is happening around/to them. All this talk of plot and arcs brings me nicely to the next important topic.
THE STORY.
I mentioned earlier that the A-plot in this game, when boiled to bare bones, is somewhat generic. And it is. But the story told throughout, and the smaller stories encountered along the way are what really keep this game interesting (besides the characters of course, but we’ll get to that.)
Every location across Erdrea has its own conflict, each acting as an arc that must be completed before it is possible to proceed to the next. While not all stellar, they all do exactly what they need to in terms of introducing new characters or allies and establishing the “vibe” of the new area and its enemies. The majority of them have ties to party members, giving them a more personal feel, and even those that don’t are able to tell deeply personal stories of characters we barely know and that have no relation to the A-plot, resulting in every step of this long journey feeling fresh and worth caring about. I won’t go into too much detail on this for obvious reasons, but some examples include a prince who has been faking his capabilities, a village using a mural to attract tourists that has a dark turn, and an openly (albeit it isn’t explicitly stated) gay man returning to his hometown and facing someone from his childhood, whom he has been avoiding due to his sexuality. Like I said, this world is real, and so are the people in it.
THE CHARACTERS.
You can’t have a great game without great characters. If a game expects you to spend dozens of hours with its cast, then it’s only fair that you expect said cast to be enjoyable to be around. Given that Dragon Quest follows a typical party structure, how exactly does it make that interesting? Well.
The stand-out in the cast by far is Sylvando, who takes the role of Performer. This court jester-esque circus veteran has enough charm and personality for the whole group. He’s flamboyant, he’s talented, strong, emotional, empathetic, funny and his sense of justice is admirable to say the least. DQ XI would not be the same without him and he’s got two – yes, two - of the most interesting arcs within the game, each wildly different from the other. (Also him being gay isn’t played for laughs and he’s well respected. He is not a caricature.)
The rest of the cast are similarly unique with their own personalities shining through in all the right ways. Veronica is my personal favourite, a bratty know-it-all who’s got more sass than 2B has ass and will make sure everyone you meet knows it. The others vary between being a little close to cliché and really interesting, if only for certain arcs, but I won’t get into those because a lot of what makes these people who they are is related to their arcs and stories. There it is again, right? The characters are real, they’re made of their experiences with the world.
And it doesn’t stop there either, every city or town has its named side characters, even side quests can pump a heavy dose of personality and backstory into a random nobody who just wants you to help them find their son or fix their marriage. There is even a whole-ass town where everyone talks in haiku for…some reason. There are inns being run by kids while their parents are sick, why? I don’t know but I remember it don’t I? It’s the little things.
The characters – bar those who serve only to populate the towns of course – are all, people… Except for Hero, sadly. Almost every step this game suffers from the usual “another party member has announced what to do” or has someone look at you and say “Hm? You’re thinking of doing this, aren’t you?” … Hero works as a great self-insert for the exploration elements of this game, but this whole silent protagonist thing is dated. It’s not the end of the world, I wouldn’t say that it ruins anything per se, but it’s the weakest part of the writing by far, and with characters like Sylv and Veronica by his side it sticks out like a sore thumb.
THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE.
Initially, I had planned to structure this review in the same way as the game, getting the main points out of the way first, and then covering each act for what it is separately without giving away why or how they’re so different. But I’ve talked enough, by this point you’re either sold and are willing to give DQ XI a try, or you hate JRPGs and stopped reading 3,000 words ago – I won’t judge.
Instead, I’d like to summarise how I felt about the Acts briefly and give my thoughts on why I think all three hold up:
This will have the most spoiler-y content, but will still be as vague as humanly possible so that at worst the ‘cliché’ story beats may become apparent
ACT I – The first act is very much an adventure; discovering new places, meeting new people, and learning about what exactly the Luminary of Legend is and what you’re going to need to do. Banish a Dark power to maintain or restore light? Got it. Step 1 is getting to Yggdrasil, lesgo. You reach it, stuff happens, that’s Act I.
ACT II – The second act is also an adventure of sorts but is less about finding the world and more about finding the inner strength of the party. Until now they’d all known the legend and wanted to help, but how exactly will they become what is required to complete such a feat? Act II is the training arc, if you will, but it goes deeper than just punching some slimes and telling yourself you can do this. It’s the slowest of the Acts, but it’s necessary.
ACT III – The final act is the one in which you’ll be doing the most free-roaming, optional quests and bosses and ultimately ‘grinding’ for that super boss at the end. In a way, the world is almost different now, so returning to locations rewards you with new mini-arcs to be done, generally related to the ones before it but met in a new light (poetic, right?) Initially I wasn’t the biggest fan of what this Act serves to do, but by the end I am wholly satisfied by the experience all the same.
Of the three, Act I was my favourite in terms of pacing and discovery, Act II was my favourite in terms of story and characters, and Act III was my favourite in terms of freedom and gameplay. The world is yours to play with, go ham!
THE VERDICT.
Dragon Quest XI is a game like no other. When looked at as a complete package, everything together as one, you can both see and feel the ungodly amount of thought and care than went into creating it. It’s polished beyond belief and literally everything it does just works. As intended. As described.
If you’ve read all this and you still aren’t sure if the game is for you – although honestly, how? lmao - the best thing I can suggest is trying it for yourself because guess what? The game has a free demo on Switch and Playstation, and I believe is available on Gamepass. Just go play it!
I put this title off for years because I couldn’t get over how ridiculous Toriyama’s art style looked to me. I was never into DBZ and the fact half the villagers are just blobs with eyes physically put me off. I persevered and would now go so far as to call this game beautiful. The cutscenes especially are gorgeous. Trust me whatever is putting you off just give it a try. It’s free!
I don’t know if I’ll ever get an experience like this again. I don’t speak lightly when I say that this is far and away one of the best JRPGs I’ve ever played. No other game has had me excitedly spam “!!!! The game has [this]!!” or “omg you can do [that]!?” so many times to my girlfriend while playing. Every gripe I take with JRPGs is acknowledged and addressed – with the sole exception being the silent protagonist. It’s amazing. The only reason this game only made #4 in my Top Rated is because FF7R is in a league of its own; with characters, writing and a combat system that are unrivalled to me personally. And because Persona has had such an impossible impact on me with its music, charm, characters, and calendar system that I couldn’t rightfully consider DQ XI to be “more significant” to me personally. But as a game? Oh it’s #2 baby, dare I say it could take #1 if we look at it strictly from a mechanical level.
If you’re a fan of JRPGs, just play it, seriously. You read all this you could’ve been out of Tutorial Village by name, socks blown off already!
And with all that said, thank you for reading this. I hope you got something out of it and look forward to being called a Jade simp in the comments 😊
MISC COMMENTS AND HONOURABLE MENTIONS.
That’s right bitches, I have even more to say!
I’ve rambled enough so I’ll make this more of a list:
- Some armour changes your appearance, appearance can be set without equipping the matching armour, pog.
- The music could definitely afford to be better. I’ve seen complaints that it’s “bad” and idk that I’d go that far but it could use some more unique tracks and more than one combat theme
- The voice acting is great, love me some British and Scottish accents as always. There are some scenes with “singing” that aren’t dubbed which is weird but eh, drop in the pond.
- I experienced no glitches or bugs in my 158 hours of playtime.
- The 2D Tickington side quests are mostly short and pretty easy. They’re related to the previous games and while I haven’t played those to recognise places/people I still enjoyed doing them.
- The platinum requirements for this are not nearly as daunting as they appear, and the final costume for Jade can be cheesed using 2D level select instead of beating the ultra mega fuck-you secret post-game boss.
- That boss can suck my dick.
- Jade is hot.
I love you all thank you for coming to my TED Talk, stay safe and have fun! I’ll see you at the Dragon Quest XII premiere <3
I have a lot to say about this title so for those of you who may not want to read 158 hours’ worth of thoughts, I’ll summarise it briefly here: The gameplay, polish and presentation of Dragon Quest XI is off the charts. Everything works and looks exactly as it should, there are basically no instances where you’ll find yourself against impossible odds or hit a wall of “bullshit”, it just works. It’s also incredibly accessible to players of all preferences and skill-levels, this game was made to be enjoyed by anyone and in my honest opinion, it succeeds. So, let’s get into it a little deeper.
It's worth mentioning that I will not be discussing major spoilers in this review, however if you’re familiar with JRPG or anime tropes/cliches there will be allusions to those which may reveal some minor or incredibly “standard”/expected beats.
Starting off with the first and perhaps most important thing the DQ XI experience offers:
ACCESSIBILTY.
Dragon Quest XI does not come with traditional difficulty options, much like the majority of more classic JRPGs. What it does do, however, is give players several ways to make it easier or harder to fit their own preference. The biggest of these are the “Draconian Quest” options presented upon starting a new game, a list of settings that you can decide before playing if you’d prefer to enable or disable. These include certain challenge modes like No Shopping or No Armour, Reduced Experience, Shypox – a randomly triggered status ailment that embarrasses you/your allies -, and my personal favourite: “Party Wiped Out if Protagonist Perishes”
That’s right. You can disable one of the most frustrating and often merciless features of classic JRPGs. Thank the Gods.
The caveat with these modifiers is that if you disable all of them then you can’t adjust them once you’re in the game, however I believe that anything you enable can be later disabled via a save point without consequence.
This isn’t the only way that DQ XI makes itself more accessible to suit your play style though, oh no. One of the most impressive features of this title is one that honestly didn’t really hit me fully until I’d tried it myself: 2D Mode. The entire game, start to finish, can be played in either a modern 3D style, complete with interactive combat where you can move around the battlefield and watch gorgeous attack animations, or a classic 2D mode, returning to the use of flashing sprites and screen shakes instead. Both modes have redesigned locations to accommodate the dimensions available in each, and my favourite difference between the two: random encounters - or more importantly – lack thereof.
If you prefer the old school 2D sprite-based, synthesised, random-encounter-ridden experience of old JRPGs, you can have that. If you’d rather see the world in beautiful 3D, run around the overworld yourself and be able to actively avoid enemies roaming the lands, you can have that too! The entire. Fecking. Game. Honestly who does that?! Square went above and beyond making the whole game twice just to make sure EVERYONE could enjoy it, it’s absurd and I cannot respect this decision enough.
You can switch between 2D and 3D mode at any time, and if your save file in 3D mode is further along than in 2D, you can select which chapter of the game to pick up from in 2D and just keep going, meaning there is (once again) no consequence for playing around and trying both out. [I’m not certain if the same applies going from 2D to 3D but I would expect so?]
Believe it or not, I’m not done. I mentioned the Draconian Quest difficulty modifiers earlier, and how they can be used to adjust the difficulty of the game from the start/at any time if enabled. But another, more subtle, thing that DQ XI does to ensure no-one gets left behind is giving the player freedom for 99%, if not all, of the game. Let me explain.
I’m sure we’ve all hit walls in games where we get stuck, the boss is simply too hard, our party are under-levelled, poorly equipped, we weren’t prepared to face a challenge and our last save was x amount of time ago. With no other choice, we’re forced to lose progress to train harder and make push any further. This will not happen in Dragon Quest XI, I can guarantee it. You may find a boss you can’t beat, absolutely (although in all honesty this will most likely only be late into Act III when the difficulty is amped up and more things become optional than not,) but you will never be in a position where you can’t just load to right before the fight, go away and prepare to return stronger.
At one point in Act II, there is a part where you need to defend an area from a large-scale attack. “Oh shit.” I thought, “This is where I may well meet my first roadblock. I hope I saved recently just in case I’m too weak for this.” – Arriving at the front line, I saw an NPC with a marker on the mini-map, speaking to him, well it made me laugh honestly. He essentially told me “If the enemies prove too strong, try going into that cave there and honing your skills while we hold them off” … I’m sorry, what? The front lines of this story-locked battle offer a save point and a dungeon specifically to grind in? Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was able to rest/heal and go back to the nearest store as well, I couldn’t believe it.
This game was made so that it can be played by everyone. And it absolutely can. I would confidently say that the only thing less-experienced players might struggle with is the final-final boss (and the optional post-game bosses ofc, but assuming they’re not here for those anyway), but the final boss of the game can be significantly weakened in 1 turn using a trick that the game teaches you, urges you to do and makes it impossible to miss, so even that battle I’d wager you can manage.
Just to finish up, the game also has settings to adjust the battle speed, whether the score is symphonic or synthetic, the DQ VIII OST is available as well and every single thing I’ve mentioned here can be adjusted at any time, without consequence. (Besides enabling the Draconian Quest modifiers if they’re all disabled at the start)
With all that said, let’s talk about the game itself:
WHAT IS DRAGON QUEST XI S: ECHOES OF AN ELUSIVE AGE?
Dragon Quest XI – as I’m sure you know by now – is a grand open world JRPG adventure, following our Hero in his journey from the small town of Cobblestone as he learns of and fulfils his destiny as the Luminary of Legend. It’s a tale as old as time, and the heads up I gave at the start about common tropes is because, at its very core, the A-plot of the game is somewhat… generic. But with a world this rich of diverse locations, captivating characters and a plethora of really good B-plots and mini-arcs, the main story doesn’t need to be anything else. It’s a vessel. It’s what drives us on our way through the game and provides us all the experiences along the way. That’s not to say that the A-plot doesn’t have its own surprises, some of the biggest story beats left me utterly bewildered. But if you were to summarise it to its most basic form; it’s good guy goes to stop bad guy, init.
So what sets it apart from every other JRPG with this cliché, “fabled hero” premise?
THE PACING.
The pacing of this game, particularly in Act I, is superb. Everything that happens does so at a reasonable scale, every new development that sounds like it may drag proves that expectation wrong, I can’t think of a single moment in Act I where a setting or arc overstayed its welcome. Now this doesn’t mean that it’s rushed either. There are absolutely a couple parts where the task at hand feels like it should have taken longer than it does, or where something that’s needed is just conveniently discovered, but honestly in a game that runs most players around 100 hours or more I really struggle to criticise there being a handful of these moments across all 3 Acts. There are times in Act II or III where an arc or dungeon runs on a little longer than it maybe should, but with these the option to run by enemies and get through them more quickly is available to you anyway (in 3D) so again this is more a comment than a complaint.
THE COMBAT.
The combat system in DQ XI, while simple, is one of the most fun systems I’ve played in a standard turn-based RPG to date. It’s hard to put into words why exactly it feels so good, but the things I think that warrant the most attention are the control you have over the party and just how dynamic everything is (again, in 3D. 2D battles lose a lot of this flare and in my opinion are vastly inferior – but for those who long for the days of old, have at it!) The combat in DQ XI see the party and enemies facing off in a battlefield fitting to the location it was initiated, a ring surrounding them on the ground within which the controlled member can move freely or exit the ring to attempt an escape.
The party can be controlled using either by direct commands or via ‘tactics’, anyone familiar with turn-based combat is surely familiar with these, and the behaviour of any member on the team can be set to anything from the list independently – including the Hero. When playing in 3D, the turns are visually demonstrated in real-time, in that if your party attacks 1 thru 4, you will select and perform the action for each member in that order. If the turn order is Hero > Enemy > Party Member 3 > PM 2 > Enemy > PM 4, you will select the action for each party member on their turn, making it possible to react to the battle as it happens.
(In 2D mode, the actions are all selected at the start of the round, and play out as selected using the turn order, which is obviously harder as it removes this reactive option)
Each party member comes with a variety of skills enabling them to perform actions and wield different weapons to suit, and the beauty of this is that all your equipment can be changed mid-battle on that person’s turn without consequence. Went into a tough fight without a shield? Pop that on as soon as it’s your turn and it won’t cost you a damn thing. Accessibility once again, you can adjust your party on the fly in real time – want to equip a greatsword to use a certain ability and then swap back to a shield while you buff – you can do that!
The combat, like everything else in this game, gives you the tools to play the game the way that you want to. And guess what, those skill points you spent to unlock abilities and strengthen certain branches in an ally’s skill tree? Yeah, you can reset those at any time for so cheap you won’t even notice. Spent 20 levels kitting out Hero as a sword & shield guy but just found a super strong greatsword – refund those skills and get the greatsword branch of the tree filled out, son! This was so useful in helping me adjust my playstyle to certain areas or enemies, or even just to mix up my playstyle and try new things. I’m telling you man the game is for everyone, make it yours.
I would be remiss to discuss the combat without touching on the Pep Powers at least a little. I’ve mentioned briefly how dynamic the combat is in 3D, every attack has an appropriate animation, the characters leap toward the enemy before swinging and leap back after if you’re standing further away, this offers no tactical advantage, but it looks good y’know? It’s so much more engaging than the 2D alternative where you see a flash or a flutter of sparkles across the screen and the enemy sprites flicker. Pep Powers take this to another level, basically being super-moves that can be used when a party member becomes “pepped up”, a status effect that buffs their stats and unlocks said skills. This effect is typically unlocked when taking damage and is most easily acquired by just blocking for a few rounds and tanking a couple blows at reduced damage.
The Pep Powers themselves function similarly to things in other games, the Showtime! Events in Persona 5 Royal for example, or All Out Attacks from the same franchise. They use 2, 3 or 4 members of the party to come together and perform something spectacular. There are LOADS of these skills, bespoke to different characters and combinations of such. Some require only the user to be pepped up while others require all participants to be, it’s insane how much variety there is. Some of them utilise unlocked skills to put enemies to sleep before whacking them, others form great shields around the party, turn a member to steel before launching them at the enemy like a cannonball (and most importantly for those of you hoping to grind levels) massively boost the exp gained from a battle and change the enemies into metal slimes, the rarest monster that reward insane exp even without the previous boost. These all look superb and there are so many I doubt I’ve even seen half of them. In short, the combat just feels amazing and even after 158 hours I could happily spend another 100 fighting with this system. That said, fighting isn’t the only thing you’ll be doing, maybe you’d prefer to get lost in the world and spend more of your time exploring, so how’s that?
THE WORLD.
The world of Dragon Quest XI is just that, a World. In layman’s terms: it’s fucking massive. To put it more poetically: it succeeds in broadening your horizons consistently for the first 2 acts without at any point feeling overwhelming. You start out in a small village, what I like to dub Tutorial Town, it has just enough to teach you the ropes and familiarise you with the game/backstory without overstaying it’s welcome. The first stretch of your journey is to venture out to a major city, a huge deal for you and those around you at the time. The fact you receive a horse to journey on is a ‘wow moment’ for young Hero, horses aren’t needed to get around in Tutorial Village, just how big is the rest of the world? A horse is not the only means of transport you will acquire throughout this game. I wasn’t expecting any of what I got, and each time new places opened up to me I felt a similar sense of awe as in those early moments. “I can go where!?” In hindsight my JRPG knowledge should have prepared me for this, but that’s just how immersed I became in my travels. Hero is – unfortunately – a silent protagonist, but the game often makes up for this by succeeding in making you, the player, fill his shoes. More on this later.
Every new location you explore in Dragon Quest XI feels different to the last. Every town or city has a unique design and architecture, inspired by places in our own world and beautifully crafted and populated just enough to feel alive. There are stalls being tended, children playing hide and seek, men standing on piers contemplating their wasted potential. You’re there, man. You’re in Erdrea, it’s hard not to take it all in. Excitedly searching every house for chests, “reading” the books dotted around to unlock new recipes, searching wardrobes for items or mysterious Mini Medals, what are they for and why do they seem to be locked in so many bedrooms? You’ll find out. Dragon Quest does a fantastic job of creating a world in which the story is occurring, as opposed to creating a world to accommodate the story. The locations are all significant and have their own arcs, but they don’t feel as though they are only there so that the plot can happen, rather the plot is happening around/to them. All this talk of plot and arcs brings me nicely to the next important topic.
THE STORY.
I mentioned earlier that the A-plot in this game, when boiled to bare bones, is somewhat generic. And it is. But the story told throughout, and the smaller stories encountered along the way are what really keep this game interesting (besides the characters of course, but we’ll get to that.)
Every location across Erdrea has its own conflict, each acting as an arc that must be completed before it is possible to proceed to the next. While not all stellar, they all do exactly what they need to in terms of introducing new characters or allies and establishing the “vibe” of the new area and its enemies. The majority of them have ties to party members, giving them a more personal feel, and even those that don’t are able to tell deeply personal stories of characters we barely know and that have no relation to the A-plot, resulting in every step of this long journey feeling fresh and worth caring about. I won’t go into too much detail on this for obvious reasons, but some examples include a prince who has been faking his capabilities, a village using a mural to attract tourists that has a dark turn, and an openly (albeit it isn’t explicitly stated) gay man returning to his hometown and facing someone from his childhood, whom he has been avoiding due to his sexuality. Like I said, this world is real, and so are the people in it.
THE CHARACTERS.
You can’t have a great game without great characters. If a game expects you to spend dozens of hours with its cast, then it’s only fair that you expect said cast to be enjoyable to be around. Given that Dragon Quest follows a typical party structure, how exactly does it make that interesting? Well.
The stand-out in the cast by far is Sylvando, who takes the role of Performer. This court jester-esque circus veteran has enough charm and personality for the whole group. He’s flamboyant, he’s talented, strong, emotional, empathetic, funny and his sense of justice is admirable to say the least. DQ XI would not be the same without him and he’s got two – yes, two - of the most interesting arcs within the game, each wildly different from the other. (Also him being gay isn’t played for laughs and he’s well respected. He is not a caricature.)
The rest of the cast are similarly unique with their own personalities shining through in all the right ways. Veronica is my personal favourite, a bratty know-it-all who’s got more sass than 2B has ass and will make sure everyone you meet knows it. The others vary between being a little close to cliché and really interesting, if only for certain arcs, but I won’t get into those because a lot of what makes these people who they are is related to their arcs and stories. There it is again, right? The characters are real, they’re made of their experiences with the world.
And it doesn’t stop there either, every city or town has its named side characters, even side quests can pump a heavy dose of personality and backstory into a random nobody who just wants you to help them find their son or fix their marriage. There is even a whole-ass town where everyone talks in haiku for…some reason. There are inns being run by kids while their parents are sick, why? I don’t know but I remember it don’t I? It’s the little things.
The characters – bar those who serve only to populate the towns of course – are all, people… Except for Hero, sadly. Almost every step this game suffers from the usual “another party member has announced what to do” or has someone look at you and say “Hm? You’re thinking of doing this, aren’t you?” … Hero works as a great self-insert for the exploration elements of this game, but this whole silent protagonist thing is dated. It’s not the end of the world, I wouldn’t say that it ruins anything per se, but it’s the weakest part of the writing by far, and with characters like Sylv and Veronica by his side it sticks out like a sore thumb.
THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE.
Initially, I had planned to structure this review in the same way as the game, getting the main points out of the way first, and then covering each act for what it is separately without giving away why or how they’re so different. But I’ve talked enough, by this point you’re either sold and are willing to give DQ XI a try, or you hate JRPGs and stopped reading 3,000 words ago – I won’t judge.
Instead, I’d like to summarise how I felt about the Acts briefly and give my thoughts on why I think all three hold up:
This will have the most spoiler-y content, but will still be as vague as humanly possible so that at worst the ‘cliché’ story beats may become apparent
ACT I – The first act is very much an adventure; discovering new places, meeting new people, and learning about what exactly the Luminary of Legend is and what you’re going to need to do. Banish a Dark power to maintain or restore light? Got it. Step 1 is getting to Yggdrasil, lesgo. You reach it, stuff happens, that’s Act I.
ACT II – The second act is also an adventure of sorts but is less about finding the world and more about finding the inner strength of the party. Until now they’d all known the legend and wanted to help, but how exactly will they become what is required to complete such a feat? Act II is the training arc, if you will, but it goes deeper than just punching some slimes and telling yourself you can do this. It’s the slowest of the Acts, but it’s necessary.
ACT III – The final act is the one in which you’ll be doing the most free-roaming, optional quests and bosses and ultimately ‘grinding’ for that super boss at the end. In a way, the world is almost different now, so returning to locations rewards you with new mini-arcs to be done, generally related to the ones before it but met in a new light (poetic, right?) Initially I wasn’t the biggest fan of what this Act serves to do, but by the end I am wholly satisfied by the experience all the same.
Of the three, Act I was my favourite in terms of pacing and discovery, Act II was my favourite in terms of story and characters, and Act III was my favourite in terms of freedom and gameplay. The world is yours to play with, go ham!
THE VERDICT.
Dragon Quest XI is a game like no other. When looked at as a complete package, everything together as one, you can both see and feel the ungodly amount of thought and care than went into creating it. It’s polished beyond belief and literally everything it does just works. As intended. As described.
If you’ve read all this and you still aren’t sure if the game is for you – although honestly, how? lmao - the best thing I can suggest is trying it for yourself because guess what? The game has a free demo on Switch and Playstation, and I believe is available on Gamepass. Just go play it!
I put this title off for years because I couldn’t get over how ridiculous Toriyama’s art style looked to me. I was never into DBZ and the fact half the villagers are just blobs with eyes physically put me off. I persevered and would now go so far as to call this game beautiful. The cutscenes especially are gorgeous. Trust me whatever is putting you off just give it a try. It’s free!
I don’t know if I’ll ever get an experience like this again. I don’t speak lightly when I say that this is far and away one of the best JRPGs I’ve ever played. No other game has had me excitedly spam “!!!! The game has [this]!!” or “omg you can do [that]!?” so many times to my girlfriend while playing. Every gripe I take with JRPGs is acknowledged and addressed – with the sole exception being the silent protagonist. It’s amazing. The only reason this game only made #4 in my Top Rated is because FF7R is in a league of its own; with characters, writing and a combat system that are unrivalled to me personally. And because Persona has had such an impossible impact on me with its music, charm, characters, and calendar system that I couldn’t rightfully consider DQ XI to be “more significant” to me personally. But as a game? Oh it’s #2 baby, dare I say it could take #1 if we look at it strictly from a mechanical level.
If you’re a fan of JRPGs, just play it, seriously. You read all this you could’ve been out of Tutorial Village by name, socks blown off already!
And with all that said, thank you for reading this. I hope you got something out of it and look forward to being called a Jade simp in the comments 😊
MISC COMMENTS AND HONOURABLE MENTIONS.
That’s right bitches, I have even more to say!
I’ve rambled enough so I’ll make this more of a list:
- Some armour changes your appearance, appearance can be set without equipping the matching armour, pog.
- The music could definitely afford to be better. I’ve seen complaints that it’s “bad” and idk that I’d go that far but it could use some more unique tracks and more than one combat theme
- The voice acting is great, love me some British and Scottish accents as always. There are some scenes with “singing” that aren’t dubbed which is weird but eh, drop in the pond.
- I experienced no glitches or bugs in my 158 hours of playtime.
- The 2D Tickington side quests are mostly short and pretty easy. They’re related to the previous games and while I haven’t played those to recognise places/people I still enjoyed doing them.
- The platinum requirements for this are not nearly as daunting as they appear, and the final costume for Jade can be cheesed using 2D level select instead of beating the ultra mega fuck-you secret post-game boss.
- That boss can suck my dick.
- Jade is hot.
I love you all thank you for coming to my TED Talk, stay safe and have fun! I’ll see you at the Dragon Quest XII premiere <3
has erik and hendrik
I've been playing this game on and off for about 2 and a half years at this point. I played for a few days and then would drop it, time and time again. It really wasn't until near the end of Act 1 that the game really clicked for me, now I wish I'd played it sooner. FYI, I played all the way to the end. This is as spoiler free as I can make the review for the full story.
Dragon Quest 11 is a JRPG refined to its limits. It doesn't need to reinvent the wheel, especially since this series invented it. While this does mean that the combat can seem simple or even boring early on, once you start getting some of the better abilities and more party members, it becomes way more palatable.
Music is great, so many memorable tracks. Sure, lots of them are recycled from previous games, but Overture/Departure is such a banger that I wouldn't mind listening to it for 10 more games.
The story doesn't do anything revolutionary, but it ties back in to what I mentioned earlier about being as refined as the tropes of a JRPG can be. What kept me hooked was the main cast. These are loveable characters who I didn't want to say goodbye to, but eventually you must. The final act of the game does make some choices I don't agree with, but I was just happy to spend more time with these characters. Some moments even got me a little teary.
Overall, I loved this game. As my first dive into this series, I couldn't ask for more. Right now I'm debating whether to play 4, 5, 8, or 9 next. I wanted to play Monsters: The Dark Prince, but that ties into 4. I guess I'll see soon enough.
I can finally say I'm a Dragon Quest fan
Dragon Quest 11 is a JRPG refined to its limits. It doesn't need to reinvent the wheel, especially since this series invented it. While this does mean that the combat can seem simple or even boring early on, once you start getting some of the better abilities and more party members, it becomes way more palatable.
Music is great, so many memorable tracks. Sure, lots of them are recycled from previous games, but Overture/Departure is such a banger that I wouldn't mind listening to it for 10 more games.
The story doesn't do anything revolutionary, but it ties back in to what I mentioned earlier about being as refined as the tropes of a JRPG can be. What kept me hooked was the main cast. These are loveable characters who I didn't want to say goodbye to, but eventually you must. The final act of the game does make some choices I don't agree with, but I was just happy to spend more time with these characters. Some moments even got me a little teary.
Overall, I loved this game. As my first dive into this series, I couldn't ask for more. Right now I'm debating whether to play 4, 5, 8, or 9 next. I wanted to play Monsters: The Dark Prince, but that ties into 4. I guess I'll see soon enough.
I can finally say I'm a Dragon Quest fan
Gorgeous delight of a game. I tend to lose interest once I hit the thirty hour mark of an RPG and this was twice as long as that. It took me six months to finally beat it and I still felt some burnout. Despite that, I still felt really charmed by the whole thing. Its not doing any major subversions or twists, but its nailing everything its doing 100%.
I'm not going to play the post-game
I'm not going to play the post-game
My darling son...
I feel like there's a popular opinion about Dragon Quest as a series that's been spread by word of mouth and thought of as true by many, many of whom have not even played a single game in the series. I guess it's similar to the "Superman is boring" opinion, where it's spouted the loudest by those who have not experienced the thing they're thinking negatively of. In my case, it's not like I knew of this opinion before I played Dragon Quest XI; my decision to do that was very random. But I became aware of this notion as I told my friend about me starting the game, to which he asked
"Isn't Dragon Quest really basic though?"
From its sea blue skies and bright green meadows, I think Dragon Quest XI enchants you very easily. It's a word that's been beaten to death, but I think the description of charming absolutely applies to this game. There's a sense of wonder that's felt when exploring this game's world that's first given to you when you venture out from your town for the very first time. Big-budget AAA games try to sell you this feeling, but always feel hollow whereas this game succeeds easily. Really it all happens due to the fact that Dragon Quest XI's world isn't massive, it's not even really all that big. It feels more condensed, with all the major cities in the world having huge distance between them, with roads that are filled to the brim with monsters on which you can experiment this game's battle system on. The battle system itself is really something that's super simple to pick up, to the point where you'll fool yourself into thinking that it's devoid of any depth but that's not really the case. You'd think a game like this would be extremely reliant on grinding to get you through most of your roadblocks, but every tough boss I faced in this game was almost always solved by just switching up my strategy and nothing more. Truth be told, I grinded very little in this game but I initially struggled on boss fights as I'd also convinced myself that there was very little meat in regards to combat, and when I easily plowed through the boss after I just simply switched out party members, I was pleasantly surprised.
The narrative of Dragon Quest XI is something I struggle to form a solid opinion on. On one hand, it's like I'm in a fantasy book and seeing every part of this world. On the other, it's just bloat. I guess that's one thing this and Persona 5 have in common, where I think that this game really loves to pad out its run time by you solving the problems of EVERY town you encounter like you're a for-sale handyman. Despite how unsatisfied I sound, for the most part, I don't think this really is a huge issue, as some plotlines (like the one about the mermaid) can be really great. Although it really does make me wonder that in this 60-hour game, how much of it was really necessary? Although I think my feelings on this regard really start dimming when I stop thinking of this as a normal narrative when the approach this game is going for is much more in line with an epic. Much like Journey to the West, you're there for the hero's birth and you're there when he receives his call to action; the goal of the protagonist is simple in nature, and the main bulk of the narrative focuses on his exploits. In the case of Dragon Quest XI, I really can't say I was really invested all the time by every single new plotline this game shoved in my face as it's all too...basic?
I really did think for most of my playtime that there was really nothing memorable here for me, but for some reason, after the final battle with Mordegon I felt a little bit sad that it was over. Maybe people were right about this franchise being basic, but I'm not really gonna let myself get caught up in that mindset when this is only my first game in the franchise. Really glad I played this one, it's given me a deeper appreciation for the genre as a whole. As for the post-game, I'll review it on its own in a few days. For now, all I can really say is
...to be continued.
I feel like there's a popular opinion about Dragon Quest as a series that's been spread by word of mouth and thought of as true by many, many of whom have not even played a single game in the series. I guess it's similar to the "Superman is boring" opinion, where it's spouted the loudest by those who have not experienced the thing they're thinking negatively of. In my case, it's not like I knew of this opinion before I played Dragon Quest XI; my decision to do that was very random. But I became aware of this notion as I told my friend about me starting the game, to which he asked
"Isn't Dragon Quest really basic though?"
From its sea blue skies and bright green meadows, I think Dragon Quest XI enchants you very easily. It's a word that's been beaten to death, but I think the description of charming absolutely applies to this game. There's a sense of wonder that's felt when exploring this game's world that's first given to you when you venture out from your town for the very first time. Big-budget AAA games try to sell you this feeling, but always feel hollow whereas this game succeeds easily. Really it all happens due to the fact that Dragon Quest XI's world isn't massive, it's not even really all that big. It feels more condensed, with all the major cities in the world having huge distance between them, with roads that are filled to the brim with monsters on which you can experiment this game's battle system on. The battle system itself is really something that's super simple to pick up, to the point where you'll fool yourself into thinking that it's devoid of any depth but that's not really the case. You'd think a game like this would be extremely reliant on grinding to get you through most of your roadblocks, but every tough boss I faced in this game was almost always solved by just switching up my strategy and nothing more. Truth be told, I grinded very little in this game but I initially struggled on boss fights as I'd also convinced myself that there was very little meat in regards to combat, and when I easily plowed through the boss after I just simply switched out party members, I was pleasantly surprised.
The narrative of Dragon Quest XI is something I struggle to form a solid opinion on. On one hand, it's like I'm in a fantasy book and seeing every part of this world. On the other, it's just bloat. I guess that's one thing this and Persona 5 have in common, where I think that this game really loves to pad out its run time by you solving the problems of EVERY town you encounter like you're a for-sale handyman. Despite how unsatisfied I sound, for the most part, I don't think this really is a huge issue, as some plotlines (like the one about the mermaid) can be really great. Although it really does make me wonder that in this 60-hour game, how much of it was really necessary? Although I think my feelings on this regard really start dimming when I stop thinking of this as a normal narrative when the approach this game is going for is much more in line with an epic. Much like Journey to the West, you're there for the hero's birth and you're there when he receives his call to action; the goal of the protagonist is simple in nature, and the main bulk of the narrative focuses on his exploits. In the case of Dragon Quest XI, I really can't say I was really invested all the time by every single new plotline this game shoved in my face as it's all too...basic?
I really did think for most of my playtime that there was really nothing memorable here for me, but for some reason, after the final battle with Mordegon I felt a little bit sad that it was over. Maybe people were right about this franchise being basic, but I'm not really gonna let myself get caught up in that mindset when this is only my first game in the franchise. Really glad I played this one, it's given me a deeper appreciation for the genre as a whole. As for the post-game, I'll review it on its own in a few days. For now, all I can really say is
...to be continued.
Even though I am not the youngest of gamers I have recently started expanding my gaming horizon by getting into turn-based JRPGs, a genre I neglected in my youth. I have finished a small handful of these games in the past (the Mario & Luigi games, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IX, Persona 4 Golden, Dragon Quest VIII), but I still consider myself a total newbie to the genre. I used to be bad for starting one of these games and never finishing it, usually because the difficulty got too high (Final Fantasy IV DS), I encountered a game breaking bug (Final Fantasy X), I became discouraged by the game's length (Final Fantasy XIII), life got busy (Bravely Default), or most commonly I got distracted by a game in a different genre. As such I have mostly avoided these types of games as I rarely expect myself to finish them.
However, after seeing footage of Dragon Quest XI (DQXI) I knew I had to play it, despite the fact that people said it could take over 100 hours to finish it. The turn-based combat looked fun, the art design looked beautiful, the story sounded interesting enough, and the cast of characters looked incredibly charming and fun. I put off playing it for years because of that long estimated completion time, but earlier this year I found the game for a great price and decided to give it a shot.
To start things out, I really enjoyed DQXI's story. The general premise was a bit cliche (the main character finds out he is the only one who can put an end to the darkness that has descended upon the world, and he must build up a party to defeat the baddie and return peace to the world), but I found it to be well-paced and entertaining throughout, and there were enough twists and surprises to keep me engaged throughout my 89-hour play time. The companions that joined me on my journey had very unique personalities and back stories and I really liked each and every one of them. I genuinely cared about each one of them throughout my long journey.
The game's story is broken into 3 acts. Act 1 has the main character exploring the game's world, building up his team of companions, and making his way towards the game's main villain. Act 2 takes place after the events that conclude Act 1 (I won't spoil that here) and has you exploring the game's world again in preparation for a large battle. Finishing Act 2 provides you with the game's ending credits, and at this point you can start the game's "optional" Act 3. Act 3 is DQXI's end game, giving players access to a lot of additional content and the game's true ending. I say Act 3 is "optional" as some people online say it is okay to stop playing after seeing the Act 2 end credits, but I feel that if you stop playing at that point you are doing yourself a disservice. The content in Act 3 is some of the very best in the game and I do not recommend missing out on it (unless you didn't really enjoy the main game - then it is probably okay the call it quits at the end of Act 2).
Unsurprisingly for a Dragon Quest game, the combat in DQXI is what you'd expect from a traditional turn-based RPG, so I won't go in depth on that here. The combat here was fun and engaging though, and each character had enough unique spells and abilities to keep them feeling quite different than the other members in the party. Griding for XP was generally enjoyable too and it felt fantastic every time I leveled up. HP and MP were refreshed at each new level and new attribute points were earned and points that were used for unlocking new abilities from the skill trees. Honestly, each new level made such a difference in battles. I didn't find it necessary to grind too much to reach the Act 2 end credits, but it felt pretty darn necessary when playing through Act 3 (thankfully there is a handy little exploit which lessens the grind significantly - search Google for Hallelujah & Electro Light levelling). Some of those later bosses hit darn hard, but they were all a really fun challenge.
One element of DQXI that seems pretty minor, but I feel needs to be highlighted, is the game's forging system. I typically avoid crafting in games (I generally can't be bothered to grind enemy kills or perform repetitive tasks to get the materials I require), but the one used in DQXI is the best I have seen to date. Early in the game you are given a 'Fun-Sized Forge', a crafting table that goes with your party wherever you go and can be used at any time you are outside of combat. At this forge you can craft weapons, armor, and accessories from recipes which you find throughout the world. After selecting the item you want to craft you are presented with a list of required materials. This is all standard stuff, but where this system sets itself apart is that if you are missing any of the required materials you can simply choose to buy the items for gold right from that menu, eliminating the need to leave the forge and hunt down those missing materials (though it should be noted that some late game high-level gear does require specific ingredients that you can't buy this way). This feature really takes away the tedious grind found in other crafting systems and makes it so much more enjoyable. The gear you can craft is generally more powerful than what you can buy from shops too, making the forge a pretty essential tool throughout the entire game.
One of DQXI's greatest strengths is its visuals. The game has some of the best graphics I have seen on the Switch, and throughout my playthrough I was consistently surprised that this portable console from 2017 could handle something like this. The world was beautifully designed and filled with a good variety of interesting and varied locations to visit, weird monsters to battle, and NPCs to speak to. The character design was top notch and the art style used made everyone so expressive and full of life. The game had some truly stunning pre-rendered cinematic cutscenes too. There weren't enough of these, but damn did they ever look good!
I guess the one place I could fault DQXI is its soundtrack. Don't get me wrong, the orchestral soundtrack was a real joy to listen to, with songs that were catchy and memorable, there just wasn't enough of them to support a game of this length. I never found the repeated tracks annoying enough to turn them off, but I imagine the lack of variety could be bothersome to some gamers. That nitpick aside, the game's remaining sound design elements really shine - especially its excellent voice acting. The main characters were done extremely well, and the voice actors did a fantastic job of bringing these characters to life. There were some NPCs that were not very well acted, but they didn't detract from the experience at all.
Dragon Quest XI was an incredible experience and is likely my favorite game on the Switch. The portability of the system made such a difference as I likely never would've finished this game without that ability. I loved the game's traditional turn-based combat (with some nice quality of life updates to make it feel modern), its expansive world, and its charming cast of characters. I highly recommend this game to those new to turn-based JRPGs or veterans of the genre. This is one heck of a great game, and it shouldn't be missed by anyone.
However, after seeing footage of Dragon Quest XI (DQXI) I knew I had to play it, despite the fact that people said it could take over 100 hours to finish it. The turn-based combat looked fun, the art design looked beautiful, the story sounded interesting enough, and the cast of characters looked incredibly charming and fun. I put off playing it for years because of that long estimated completion time, but earlier this year I found the game for a great price and decided to give it a shot.
To start things out, I really enjoyed DQXI's story. The general premise was a bit cliche (the main character finds out he is the only one who can put an end to the darkness that has descended upon the world, and he must build up a party to defeat the baddie and return peace to the world), but I found it to be well-paced and entertaining throughout, and there were enough twists and surprises to keep me engaged throughout my 89-hour play time. The companions that joined me on my journey had very unique personalities and back stories and I really liked each and every one of them. I genuinely cared about each one of them throughout my long journey.
The game's story is broken into 3 acts. Act 1 has the main character exploring the game's world, building up his team of companions, and making his way towards the game's main villain. Act 2 takes place after the events that conclude Act 1 (I won't spoil that here) and has you exploring the game's world again in preparation for a large battle. Finishing Act 2 provides you with the game's ending credits, and at this point you can start the game's "optional" Act 3. Act 3 is DQXI's end game, giving players access to a lot of additional content and the game's true ending. I say Act 3 is "optional" as some people online say it is okay to stop playing after seeing the Act 2 end credits, but I feel that if you stop playing at that point you are doing yourself a disservice. The content in Act 3 is some of the very best in the game and I do not recommend missing out on it (unless you didn't really enjoy the main game - then it is probably okay the call it quits at the end of Act 2).
Unsurprisingly for a Dragon Quest game, the combat in DQXI is what you'd expect from a traditional turn-based RPG, so I won't go in depth on that here. The combat here was fun and engaging though, and each character had enough unique spells and abilities to keep them feeling quite different than the other members in the party. Griding for XP was generally enjoyable too and it felt fantastic every time I leveled up. HP and MP were refreshed at each new level and new attribute points were earned and points that were used for unlocking new abilities from the skill trees. Honestly, each new level made such a difference in battles. I didn't find it necessary to grind too much to reach the Act 2 end credits, but it felt pretty darn necessary when playing through Act 3 (thankfully there is a handy little exploit which lessens the grind significantly - search Google for Hallelujah & Electro Light levelling). Some of those later bosses hit darn hard, but they were all a really fun challenge.
One element of DQXI that seems pretty minor, but I feel needs to be highlighted, is the game's forging system. I typically avoid crafting in games (I generally can't be bothered to grind enemy kills or perform repetitive tasks to get the materials I require), but the one used in DQXI is the best I have seen to date. Early in the game you are given a 'Fun-Sized Forge', a crafting table that goes with your party wherever you go and can be used at any time you are outside of combat. At this forge you can craft weapons, armor, and accessories from recipes which you find throughout the world. After selecting the item you want to craft you are presented with a list of required materials. This is all standard stuff, but where this system sets itself apart is that if you are missing any of the required materials you can simply choose to buy the items for gold right from that menu, eliminating the need to leave the forge and hunt down those missing materials (though it should be noted that some late game high-level gear does require specific ingredients that you can't buy this way). This feature really takes away the tedious grind found in other crafting systems and makes it so much more enjoyable. The gear you can craft is generally more powerful than what you can buy from shops too, making the forge a pretty essential tool throughout the entire game.
One of DQXI's greatest strengths is its visuals. The game has some of the best graphics I have seen on the Switch, and throughout my playthrough I was consistently surprised that this portable console from 2017 could handle something like this. The world was beautifully designed and filled with a good variety of interesting and varied locations to visit, weird monsters to battle, and NPCs to speak to. The character design was top notch and the art style used made everyone so expressive and full of life. The game had some truly stunning pre-rendered cinematic cutscenes too. There weren't enough of these, but damn did they ever look good!
I guess the one place I could fault DQXI is its soundtrack. Don't get me wrong, the orchestral soundtrack was a real joy to listen to, with songs that were catchy and memorable, there just wasn't enough of them to support a game of this length. I never found the repeated tracks annoying enough to turn them off, but I imagine the lack of variety could be bothersome to some gamers. That nitpick aside, the game's remaining sound design elements really shine - especially its excellent voice acting. The main characters were done extremely well, and the voice actors did a fantastic job of bringing these characters to life. There were some NPCs that were not very well acted, but they didn't detract from the experience at all.
Dragon Quest XI was an incredible experience and is likely my favorite game on the Switch. The portability of the system made such a difference as I likely never would've finished this game without that ability. I loved the game's traditional turn-based combat (with some nice quality of life updates to make it feel modern), its expansive world, and its charming cast of characters. I highly recommend this game to those new to turn-based JRPGs or veterans of the genre. This is one heck of a great game, and it shouldn't be missed by anyone.
i actually played this fucking game so much time ago but a friend of mine said ughhh achtualyl you cannot say you finished the game before finishing the post game thats like an integral part of the main story and I was like OK WHAT THE FUCK OK and got burned out because this is legit a 100 hours game do you think in that span of time I would not get burned out + i forgot some of the stuff in the main story sorryyyyy teehee
played a lot of mainline dragon quest games in my life and I can confidently say that IX is my favorite one of the bunch and V and VIII coming closer to the top like it has all the legacy best elements with the added QoL and mechanics of the newest generation of videogames this ones great
now this one i cannot really say where it sits in the top and i wont even ask you to entertain the thought of making one due to the fact that I love all my babies a damn lot and I wont decide one over the other (IX is perfect im sorry im gonna pick that one kisses)
so umh I genuinely don't know where to begin reviewing this game because its basically so fucking big a game I have no real idea what to say
let's just go over the gameplay so we can get this shit out of the way and the TLDR of all this is gonna be this is genuinely one of the greatest JRPGs in terms of accessibility difficulty overall fun gameplay incredible personalisation tons and tons of content and variety in game flow and execution
as a textbook RPG I'm surprised at how good the battle system and general sense of pacing is like the main combat is as basic as it gets but it has so much shit put into it and never really feels bloated instead it's a perfect tool for both novices of the series and hard-core fans to explore a lot of strategizing customizing and battling with different characters and tactics and a shit ton of skills equipments spells attacks skill trees there's something for everybody lets just say that - gia gunn and seeing how expansive the overall game feels I can understand how the combat too benefits from that
also I realised at half my playthrough that i could switch characters IN BATTLE and I'm still pissed off by that like how much stupider can you get I pushed through the entire game convinced that I it wasn't possible to change almost dead characters and now you tell me I actually can BS this is basically final fantasy X type of gameplay and no tutorial actually explained it to me thats wild
apart from the usual dragon quest flare during the battles you got some more stuff like powers that activate randomly and combo stuff that really give a nuance to this game compared to the others and honestly I really like those even tho it's kind of a random thing and if you want a specific power you need to wait like 9+ turns for them to activate but they're such ace moves that it's understandable they work like that
and yknow thats it but the general flow of the gameplay is actually pretty damn tight seeing that you can actually do a lot of shit in battle I ended up going head first into enemies because fighting them was just THAT addicting
exploring the overworld is also a big mechanic of the game and the fact that you have to forage and find treasures for equipment or to create stuff in the furnace really makes the game even more expansive than it already is since everywhere you're gonna find some loot to enhance your general party stats to the point that most of the OP equipments are gonna be found just by exploring and crafting or doing some special side quests
oh yeah ! side quests suck ! as they always did in any game ever in the history of videogames so im not gonna shit on them this is like the standard for the industry so who am I to judge
sooooooo I think I talked about everything in this department so
art direction it is
when I first looked at these characters and NPCs general art style I was like damn this is actually the final iteration of toriyamas style like you can't get a better understanding of his shapes and design ethics than this
the world is filled with some incredible people apart from the main protagonists which we will get there don't worry we are left with a world feeling alive and breathing and all this with so many flawless details all around every single town in the game is absolutely unmatched they give off some particular vibes since they're always based on some culture and shit and it's just so good to traverse them and seeing the different architecture and dressing style and culture it's just so so good and this doesn't only apply to town even the overworld is filled to the brim with so much incredible scenery that every single frame of your playthrough can be confused as an impressionist painting im not joking there's something about the lighting the colors and everything that feels so profoundly evocative dragon quest was always dreamlike but this shit is off the charts
so yeah but what really takes the cake for me are the enemies and specifically the enemy rendition in perfect HD graphics I always had a thing for dragon quest monster designs (not a huge fan of the countless recolors tho that shit sucks ass) and seeing them come to life in such an animated and artistic masterpiece is honestly incredible and I loved the fact that in the beginning of the battle you find them in the classic pose before they shift to the idle animation I almost cried at how devotedly they used the source material and recreated something genuinely breathtaking like look at the gryphon (he's pretty hot) or the spitzfire or the professaurus (he's pretty hot) and many many many more that honestly I'm embarrassed to say this but there's some monsters I'd fuck this is the furry gene acting up
that being said yeah the first dragon quest iteration into the next gen consoles really gave us some of the most jaw dropping graphics ever and I'm not gonna lie and i need to show this game to people that say no I only play games with hyperrealistic graphics umh sure hetero but look at this
in general its really a fun time but the only downsides here is the ost now as much as I know they completely rehauled the music in the definitive version giving it an orchestral rearrangement now these songs are really beautiful nothing to say but it just feels like a dragon quest series medley at a theatre there's not a whole lot of new cuts here and there and the ones that they added are either annoying or passable sure dragon quest music as a whole is still pretty beautiful but I wanted some more into the game BUT they also gave me the greatest boss battle theme ever with that trombone going PRRRUHHUH I basically played the game waiting for that ost
that being said its time for SPOILER TERRITORY with characters and story
so first and foremost I love this cast and its probably gonna be one of my favorite rooster of characters not only in the dragon quest canon but also in the videogame landscape in general they're all so deeply written and they feel alive and breathing and they have some of the sweetest interactions ever in the universe thank you
the protagonist isn't really gonna be the deeper character in the game but they really augment the whole feeling and background with him being actually the song of the king there or whatever and it has to be said that his father is actually pretty fucking hot not gonna lie
being a silent protagonist of course you're not gonna get a lot out of him apart from the hilarious "no" options throughout the game and some one sided interactions between characters but he's still gay
and he also has some of the most fun character building in the entire party he's so versatile you can tackle him either as a physical fighter or a magical healer you can do whatever you want with him deadass
erik is probably my second fav one of the bunch he's a thief he's had it rough and he's basically a homosexual runaway after people actually got his sister or whatever now since he's traumatized and shit he actually shows little to no emotions but the little interactions he has they always deliver and sometimes he can be pretty fucking funny nonetheless
as a first party member it's clear he's the love interest im not gonna make any argument on that this is set in stone and I don't care one fucking bit now go away
his part of the story with his sister backstory and the loss of memory shit is interesting but never really left a big impact on me as much as I wanted to there's characters with some deeper storybeats and character development but I still love him a whole lot and always put him in the slutty outfit
serena and veronica are probably the characters who have the most focused story of the bunch they're the heroines of the game and its interesting that they actually split them in 2 different people so that one could be the over religious christian holy pure girl who always puts other in the first place and talks in formal japanese even when she's on the brink of death and veronica instead is the absolute peak characterisation in any way shape or form she's not only the most incredible comic relief character out of the bunch has some of the most fun punchlines I've ever witnessed in dragon quest she got cursed to be in a baby form and that makes it 100% funnier and she always packed some of the most heart wrenching lines and story developments out of all the characters in the entire game im not gonna lie
i have it ingrained in my fucking mind when you camp out in the open and serena goes to veronica and she says "sister when our leaves fall from the great yggdrasil do you think they're gonna fall together ?" and veronica says "don't say stupid stuff like this . but I hope they do" and then they get back to sleep together in serenity guys
no im not joking this moment was possibly the hardest hitting moment in the entire game beside the rab crying in front of the grave scene I was a complete fucking mess after this cutscene I cried for like 10-15 whole minutes because this was possibly the most bittersweet exchange in the entire game and when you also add the fact that they're both one of the most well written characters in the game you really get a glimpse of veronica actually being the big sis of the two even though usually its serena who's the one that looks like the wiser one (mentally and obviously physically in this moment)
like the bond these two share is so fucking deep I cannot even write about it without tearing up and the whole serena trauma arc after the sacrifice of veronica when she actually SAVED all her fucking friends and left her sister alone even though she said she wouldn't is probably the most depressing plot moment of the bunch I just cannot think of other stuff that hit this hard not even the mermaid storyline not even rab storyline nothing came close to serena cutting her own hair and inheriting most of veronica powers and moving on thats so fucking powerful
a pity they shit in the face of this beautiful writing epilogue with act 3 but we are gonna get there !!!!!!!!
so yeah I love veronica and serena they're my sweet little babies that I love very dearly and apart from this they also were fucking essential in battle serena is the ultimate healer of the bunch and can give some pretty drastic buffs to the party and veronica is the ultimate magic user using her fire magic to obliterate everything in front of them I'm sorry I love these girls too much
sylvando is an interesting case since I thought he was gonna be an incredibly homophobic character but instead he's actually a really good trope of gay guy and they treated him with a lot of care and respect and I was NOT expecting that its just so fucking good a character he's funny he's interesting he has a lot of depth and he's basically a huge metaphor of queerness and coming out and shit like that and I gotta say I really loved that
I'm not that huge of a fan of how japanese people treat gay characters but this time they outdid themselves like he's not just a queer walking trope character just for the sake of having a recurrent deprecatory and homophobic trope but he's actually a guy with a lot of facets apart from being queer and thats not ALL there is to him this is such great writing and the little talk with his father about him being a circus clown and his father accepting it was just heartwarming enough for me I love the guy
plus his father is pretty hot im sorry
and he's also a jack of all trades in the battles he can use like every single weapon ever and every single skill ever so that's fun
rab is an interesting case in the fact that I love the guy too damn fucking much but of course he's gonna be in the bottom of the characters list because old guy etc etc BUT his story of sorrow and sadness due to the loss of his daughter and her husband ? or son and his wife ? I told you I don't remember the story anyway yeah there's some really sad storybeats regarding him and I loved all of them plus the old dirty guy trope makes me always laugh idk
he's a mage and that means he can do a lot of stuff with his hands but since he's more of a versatile type of mage he doesn't really shines in any given skill but yknow he's useful sometimes I like him
jade is my girl I want her to kick me in the balls and call me slurs she has a little bit of backstory that makes some of her relationship to eleven clearer but ultimately I wanted the writing to give more focus to her character as a whole and not only the oh yeah she's the one who saved eleven as a baby because story and shit like that but STILL incredibly good character and a femme fatale to boot
and in battle she's also a fucking dmg queen and when you get her to higher levels she's basically a staple for metal slime grinding with erik
hendrik and jasper have a homosexual relationship and it's pretty funny how that's the entire motive for jasper being evil like "I just wanted to be like you then I realised I wanted to fuck you in the ass and then helped mordegon" ok internalised homophobia pop off so whatever they're both hot and they both care for each other and that's basically their entire plotline ngl
hendrik is super hot and i want to suck his dick so you might imagine my absolute awe at the fact that in act2 he's gonna join you like what the hell who even thought about giving me this heavy meat right in front of me like hendrik is one of those characters that make me quote tiffany new york pollard "I know his dick is big I know it I know is big oh god my heart hurts" so there's that
the bad guy to good guy change was kind of expected but I was not expecting him to join the party more power to me I guess I will just start playing this game with only one hand he's still one of the tankiest ones in the entire party and his longswords swing even harder than his longsword if you know what I mean
and he's just eleven but buff and no magic in the battle department so yeah there's that
jasper is a good villain and is also pretty fucking hot when he gets all naked and sweaty and mordegon is also an interesting villain in the series since this time its not gonna be an intergalactic demon conqueror thing because THATS FOR THE ACT3 WOWOWO
ok story
I enjoy this story but I think it has some ups and downs definitely
act1 makes a huge fucking impact in exploring the world and making new friends here and there and I'm a fan of basically every single story beat (albeit sometimes kind of side questy like most of the stuff youre gonna do here is padding in the different cities but it's FINE) a huge highlight for me is the little prince of that kingdom with the horse racers what was his name ok faris I want to fuck faris pretty hard so this was a huge highlight for me sorryyyyyyy teehee the mermaid quest is also pretty good in the fact that it made me mentally unstable and cautious of this game and also the winter witch quest is kind of fun like look at her ice britney spears
the final part of the act1 with mordegon destroying yggdrasil actually made me lose all my hair since I wants expecting this kind of climax in the middle of the story I was absolutely destroyed by this and the beautiful animated cutscene me when the whole world is destroyed: dayum kinda beautiful innit
so they all get scattered and it's time for extra stories
I'm not a fan of these extra stories !!! the end
sylvando one is a fucking chore eriks is ok and actually makes some sense to the amnesia shit because i wouldve been like huh ???? jades sexist as hell she is still pretty hot but idk if I wanted to see that and rab actually made me bawl so yeah nothing new
act2 is pretty interesting and also has some ups and downs particularly because youre gonna revisit the same exact places you did in act1 and see how they changed while also looking for your friends now I'm not against this because the scenery changes according to the new environment but its still a chore to go around places you already visited but whatever now there's hendrik following you so I can have some eyecandy at least and yeah this all takes a damn good spike in the story as soon as you find out veronica is dead and everything fucking crumbles and serena gets depressed and does the sakura move that shit actually HIT emotionally and also on a gameplay standpoint because at this point their gonna be like omg mordegon you bloody pooping proper
so kill mordegon
the end everyone's happy
good fucking story UNTIL act3
now I'm not a huge fan of act3 it takes everything that made act2 beautiful and spits in its face and says OK actually let's redo all that but with veronica alive which is fun
now I'm not against this kind of treatment because it made me see an alternate universe of things and watch some little changes in interactions throughout the different cities but it's YET AGAIN another act2 I cannot go on like this honestly I have the very based belief that this part of the game was basically put for the people who really love this game and want an endless variety of stuff to do
revisit old towns and go do according dungeons and see what differs from act2 some more trials here and there infinite side quests a lot more customization and levelling up and grinding to do and possibly the most BS final battle in the entire universe this is basically just made for dq11 ultra fans and even though I'm not one of them I ended up playing and finishing it anyway lmao
now I mean I'm not so much against this because I see it as extra stuff but if people tell me "dq11 is ALSO act3" I have to disagree this honestly all feel like a padding for those more 40 hours into the game and giving a honestly fun what-if scenario but apart from that nothing too hype if I have to be honest
still the serenica incident is a nice touch to the whole lore and I was convinced of the fact that erdwin was actually the guy from dragon quest 3 and I was like oh ok that's cool this is a sequel then you get to the finale and this is actually a prequel to dq3 because I confused erdwin with erdrick and how the fuck is this game a prequel If environments are definitely more technologically advanced than dq3 but I digress
whatever its cool and the ending made me teary eyed ngl
then you get the ending scene which is the beginning of dq3 and I fucking scream to hell and back what a nice way to finish this game i still got shivers what the fuck this was the sealing deal of how this game is actually just a love letter to the entire series I can't stress this enough
so uh good game one of the finest dq out there if it weren't for the fact that they're all good
veronica I love you so much
played a lot of mainline dragon quest games in my life and I can confidently say that IX is my favorite one of the bunch and V and VIII coming closer to the top like it has all the legacy best elements with the added QoL and mechanics of the newest generation of videogames this ones great
now this one i cannot really say where it sits in the top and i wont even ask you to entertain the thought of making one due to the fact that I love all my babies a damn lot and I wont decide one over the other (IX is perfect im sorry im gonna pick that one kisses)
so umh I genuinely don't know where to begin reviewing this game because its basically so fucking big a game I have no real idea what to say
let's just go over the gameplay so we can get this shit out of the way and the TLDR of all this is gonna be this is genuinely one of the greatest JRPGs in terms of accessibility difficulty overall fun gameplay incredible personalisation tons and tons of content and variety in game flow and execution
as a textbook RPG I'm surprised at how good the battle system and general sense of pacing is like the main combat is as basic as it gets but it has so much shit put into it and never really feels bloated instead it's a perfect tool for both novices of the series and hard-core fans to explore a lot of strategizing customizing and battling with different characters and tactics and a shit ton of skills equipments spells attacks skill trees there's something for everybody lets just say that - gia gunn and seeing how expansive the overall game feels I can understand how the combat too benefits from that
also I realised at half my playthrough that i could switch characters IN BATTLE and I'm still pissed off by that like how much stupider can you get I pushed through the entire game convinced that I it wasn't possible to change almost dead characters and now you tell me I actually can BS this is basically final fantasy X type of gameplay and no tutorial actually explained it to me thats wild
apart from the usual dragon quest flare during the battles you got some more stuff like powers that activate randomly and combo stuff that really give a nuance to this game compared to the others and honestly I really like those even tho it's kind of a random thing and if you want a specific power you need to wait like 9+ turns for them to activate but they're such ace moves that it's understandable they work like that
and yknow thats it but the general flow of the gameplay is actually pretty damn tight seeing that you can actually do a lot of shit in battle I ended up going head first into enemies because fighting them was just THAT addicting
exploring the overworld is also a big mechanic of the game and the fact that you have to forage and find treasures for equipment or to create stuff in the furnace really makes the game even more expansive than it already is since everywhere you're gonna find some loot to enhance your general party stats to the point that most of the OP equipments are gonna be found just by exploring and crafting or doing some special side quests
oh yeah ! side quests suck ! as they always did in any game ever in the history of videogames so im not gonna shit on them this is like the standard for the industry so who am I to judge
sooooooo I think I talked about everything in this department so
art direction it is
when I first looked at these characters and NPCs general art style I was like damn this is actually the final iteration of toriyamas style like you can't get a better understanding of his shapes and design ethics than this
the world is filled with some incredible people apart from the main protagonists which we will get there don't worry we are left with a world feeling alive and breathing and all this with so many flawless details all around every single town in the game is absolutely unmatched they give off some particular vibes since they're always based on some culture and shit and it's just so good to traverse them and seeing the different architecture and dressing style and culture it's just so so good and this doesn't only apply to town even the overworld is filled to the brim with so much incredible scenery that every single frame of your playthrough can be confused as an impressionist painting im not joking there's something about the lighting the colors and everything that feels so profoundly evocative dragon quest was always dreamlike but this shit is off the charts
so yeah but what really takes the cake for me are the enemies and specifically the enemy rendition in perfect HD graphics I always had a thing for dragon quest monster designs (not a huge fan of the countless recolors tho that shit sucks ass) and seeing them come to life in such an animated and artistic masterpiece is honestly incredible and I loved the fact that in the beginning of the battle you find them in the classic pose before they shift to the idle animation I almost cried at how devotedly they used the source material and recreated something genuinely breathtaking like look at the gryphon (he's pretty hot) or the spitzfire or the professaurus (he's pretty hot) and many many many more that honestly I'm embarrassed to say this but there's some monsters I'd fuck this is the furry gene acting up
that being said yeah the first dragon quest iteration into the next gen consoles really gave us some of the most jaw dropping graphics ever and I'm not gonna lie and i need to show this game to people that say no I only play games with hyperrealistic graphics umh sure hetero but look at this
in general its really a fun time but the only downsides here is the ost now as much as I know they completely rehauled the music in the definitive version giving it an orchestral rearrangement now these songs are really beautiful nothing to say but it just feels like a dragon quest series medley at a theatre there's not a whole lot of new cuts here and there and the ones that they added are either annoying or passable sure dragon quest music as a whole is still pretty beautiful but I wanted some more into the game BUT they also gave me the greatest boss battle theme ever with that trombone going PRRRUHHUH I basically played the game waiting for that ost
that being said its time for SPOILER TERRITORY with characters and story
so first and foremost I love this cast and its probably gonna be one of my favorite rooster of characters not only in the dragon quest canon but also in the videogame landscape in general they're all so deeply written and they feel alive and breathing and they have some of the sweetest interactions ever in the universe thank you
the protagonist isn't really gonna be the deeper character in the game but they really augment the whole feeling and background with him being actually the song of the king there or whatever and it has to be said that his father is actually pretty fucking hot not gonna lie
being a silent protagonist of course you're not gonna get a lot out of him apart from the hilarious "no" options throughout the game and some one sided interactions between characters but he's still gay
and he also has some of the most fun character building in the entire party he's so versatile you can tackle him either as a physical fighter or a magical healer you can do whatever you want with him deadass
erik is probably my second fav one of the bunch he's a thief he's had it rough and he's basically a homosexual runaway after people actually got his sister or whatever now since he's traumatized and shit he actually shows little to no emotions but the little interactions he has they always deliver and sometimes he can be pretty fucking funny nonetheless
as a first party member it's clear he's the love interest im not gonna make any argument on that this is set in stone and I don't care one fucking bit now go away
his part of the story with his sister backstory and the loss of memory shit is interesting but never really left a big impact on me as much as I wanted to there's characters with some deeper storybeats and character development but I still love him a whole lot and always put him in the slutty outfit
serena and veronica are probably the characters who have the most focused story of the bunch they're the heroines of the game and its interesting that they actually split them in 2 different people so that one could be the over religious christian holy pure girl who always puts other in the first place and talks in formal japanese even when she's on the brink of death and veronica instead is the absolute peak characterisation in any way shape or form she's not only the most incredible comic relief character out of the bunch has some of the most fun punchlines I've ever witnessed in dragon quest she got cursed to be in a baby form and that makes it 100% funnier and she always packed some of the most heart wrenching lines and story developments out of all the characters in the entire game im not gonna lie
i have it ingrained in my fucking mind when you camp out in the open and serena goes to veronica and she says "sister when our leaves fall from the great yggdrasil do you think they're gonna fall together ?" and veronica says "don't say stupid stuff like this . but I hope they do" and then they get back to sleep together in serenity guys
no im not joking this moment was possibly the hardest hitting moment in the entire game beside the rab crying in front of the grave scene I was a complete fucking mess after this cutscene I cried for like 10-15 whole minutes because this was possibly the most bittersweet exchange in the entire game and when you also add the fact that they're both one of the most well written characters in the game you really get a glimpse of veronica actually being the big sis of the two even though usually its serena who's the one that looks like the wiser one (mentally and obviously physically in this moment)
like the bond these two share is so fucking deep I cannot even write about it without tearing up and the whole serena trauma arc after the sacrifice of veronica when she actually SAVED all her fucking friends and left her sister alone even though she said she wouldn't is probably the most depressing plot moment of the bunch I just cannot think of other stuff that hit this hard not even the mermaid storyline not even rab storyline nothing came close to serena cutting her own hair and inheriting most of veronica powers and moving on thats so fucking powerful
a pity they shit in the face of this beautiful writing epilogue with act 3 but we are gonna get there !!!!!!!!
so yeah I love veronica and serena they're my sweet little babies that I love very dearly and apart from this they also were fucking essential in battle serena is the ultimate healer of the bunch and can give some pretty drastic buffs to the party and veronica is the ultimate magic user using her fire magic to obliterate everything in front of them I'm sorry I love these girls too much
sylvando is an interesting case since I thought he was gonna be an incredibly homophobic character but instead he's actually a really good trope of gay guy and they treated him with a lot of care and respect and I was NOT expecting that its just so fucking good a character he's funny he's interesting he has a lot of depth and he's basically a huge metaphor of queerness and coming out and shit like that and I gotta say I really loved that
I'm not that huge of a fan of how japanese people treat gay characters but this time they outdid themselves like he's not just a queer walking trope character just for the sake of having a recurrent deprecatory and homophobic trope but he's actually a guy with a lot of facets apart from being queer and thats not ALL there is to him this is such great writing and the little talk with his father about him being a circus clown and his father accepting it was just heartwarming enough for me I love the guy
plus his father is pretty hot im sorry
and he's also a jack of all trades in the battles he can use like every single weapon ever and every single skill ever so that's fun
rab is an interesting case in the fact that I love the guy too damn fucking much but of course he's gonna be in the bottom of the characters list because old guy etc etc BUT his story of sorrow and sadness due to the loss of his daughter and her husband ? or son and his wife ? I told you I don't remember the story anyway yeah there's some really sad storybeats regarding him and I loved all of them plus the old dirty guy trope makes me always laugh idk
he's a mage and that means he can do a lot of stuff with his hands but since he's more of a versatile type of mage he doesn't really shines in any given skill but yknow he's useful sometimes I like him
jade is my girl I want her to kick me in the balls and call me slurs she has a little bit of backstory that makes some of her relationship to eleven clearer but ultimately I wanted the writing to give more focus to her character as a whole and not only the oh yeah she's the one who saved eleven as a baby because story and shit like that but STILL incredibly good character and a femme fatale to boot
and in battle she's also a fucking dmg queen and when you get her to higher levels she's basically a staple for metal slime grinding with erik
hendrik and jasper have a homosexual relationship and it's pretty funny how that's the entire motive for jasper being evil like "I just wanted to be like you then I realised I wanted to fuck you in the ass and then helped mordegon" ok internalised homophobia pop off so whatever they're both hot and they both care for each other and that's basically their entire plotline ngl
hendrik is super hot and i want to suck his dick so you might imagine my absolute awe at the fact that in act2 he's gonna join you like what the hell who even thought about giving me this heavy meat right in front of me like hendrik is one of those characters that make me quote tiffany new york pollard "I know his dick is big I know it I know is big oh god my heart hurts" so there's that
the bad guy to good guy change was kind of expected but I was not expecting him to join the party more power to me I guess I will just start playing this game with only one hand he's still one of the tankiest ones in the entire party and his longswords swing even harder than his longsword if you know what I mean
and he's just eleven but buff and no magic in the battle department so yeah there's that
jasper is a good villain and is also pretty fucking hot when he gets all naked and sweaty and mordegon is also an interesting villain in the series since this time its not gonna be an intergalactic demon conqueror thing because THATS FOR THE ACT3 WOWOWO
ok story
I enjoy this story but I think it has some ups and downs definitely
act1 makes a huge fucking impact in exploring the world and making new friends here and there and I'm a fan of basically every single story beat (albeit sometimes kind of side questy like most of the stuff youre gonna do here is padding in the different cities but it's FINE) a huge highlight for me is the little prince of that kingdom with the horse racers what was his name ok faris I want to fuck faris pretty hard so this was a huge highlight for me sorryyyyyyy teehee the mermaid quest is also pretty good in the fact that it made me mentally unstable and cautious of this game and also the winter witch quest is kind of fun like look at her ice britney spears
the final part of the act1 with mordegon destroying yggdrasil actually made me lose all my hair since I wants expecting this kind of climax in the middle of the story I was absolutely destroyed by this and the beautiful animated cutscene me when the whole world is destroyed: dayum kinda beautiful innit
so they all get scattered and it's time for extra stories
I'm not a fan of these extra stories !!! the end
sylvando one is a fucking chore eriks is ok and actually makes some sense to the amnesia shit because i wouldve been like huh ???? jades sexist as hell she is still pretty hot but idk if I wanted to see that and rab actually made me bawl so yeah nothing new
act2 is pretty interesting and also has some ups and downs particularly because youre gonna revisit the same exact places you did in act1 and see how they changed while also looking for your friends now I'm not against this because the scenery changes according to the new environment but its still a chore to go around places you already visited but whatever now there's hendrik following you so I can have some eyecandy at least and yeah this all takes a damn good spike in the story as soon as you find out veronica is dead and everything fucking crumbles and serena gets depressed and does the sakura move that shit actually HIT emotionally and also on a gameplay standpoint because at this point their gonna be like omg mordegon you bloody pooping proper
so kill mordegon
the end everyone's happy
good fucking story UNTIL act3
now I'm not a huge fan of act3 it takes everything that made act2 beautiful and spits in its face and says OK actually let's redo all that but with veronica alive which is fun
now I'm not against this kind of treatment because it made me see an alternate universe of things and watch some little changes in interactions throughout the different cities but it's YET AGAIN another act2 I cannot go on like this honestly I have the very based belief that this part of the game was basically put for the people who really love this game and want an endless variety of stuff to do
revisit old towns and go do according dungeons and see what differs from act2 some more trials here and there infinite side quests a lot more customization and levelling up and grinding to do and possibly the most BS final battle in the entire universe this is basically just made for dq11 ultra fans and even though I'm not one of them I ended up playing and finishing it anyway lmao
now I mean I'm not so much against this because I see it as extra stuff but if people tell me "dq11 is ALSO act3" I have to disagree this honestly all feel like a padding for those more 40 hours into the game and giving a honestly fun what-if scenario but apart from that nothing too hype if I have to be honest
still the serenica incident is a nice touch to the whole lore and I was convinced of the fact that erdwin was actually the guy from dragon quest 3 and I was like oh ok that's cool this is a sequel then you get to the finale and this is actually a prequel to dq3 because I confused erdwin with erdrick and how the fuck is this game a prequel If environments are definitely more technologically advanced than dq3 but I digress
whatever its cool and the ending made me teary eyed ngl
then you get the ending scene which is the beginning of dq3 and I fucking scream to hell and back what a nice way to finish this game i still got shivers what the fuck this was the sealing deal of how this game is actually just a love letter to the entire series I can't stress this enough
so uh good game one of the finest dq out there if it weren't for the fact that they're all good
veronica I love you so much
Dragon Quest is the rice.
For the Japanese, eating rice is just a part of everyday life, nothing special about it.
It's not the rice itself that people complain about, it's the way it's cooked, the amount of water used.
It is not a complaint about the rice itself. I think that's what playing DraQue is all about.
You can make one comment about the quality of Koshihikari or Akita Komachi every year - "it's good", "it's very good", "it's not so good this year" - but no Japanese person will go into detail about the quality of the rice.
(Do Americans mention the taste of pizza or Coke in detail every year? The same applies to vodka for Russians. A Frenchman might give a lengthy evaluation of a cheese or a wine. I don't know about the English. Oh, I forgot. There was tea.)
In other words, it has become such a traditional and standard game series that it is difficult to critique and observe.
So it's very difficult, but I wanted to think a little bit deeper about this "11".
I don't like meaningless sentimentality. I don't like to spend a lot of time in nostalgia, I think I should be doing something else.
This 11 is littered with symbols from previous games.
The characters reminded me most of 4.
The events are too many to observe: I was surprised to find a fighting tournament from 3, and a quote from the Gaiden manga (Emblem of Roto, it's a classic manga).
The choice of background music had so many winks to the players of yesteryear that it was even annoying.
But I didn't feel the "sentimentality" that I hate. Strangely enough.
Maybe it's because I felt that Yuji Horii, the creator of this game, wanted to say goodbye and thank you to all the people who have played DraQue so far.
I think it's safe to say that with "11", DraQue has come to an end.
It seems that they are going to make "12", but it will be completely different from the previous games. (I'm predicting that 7 will be the closest).
Koichi Sugiyama san passed away at the end of September. Oh... 11 is truly the last Dragon Quest...
May he rest in peace.
Your music is eternal.
For the Japanese, eating rice is just a part of everyday life, nothing special about it.
It's not the rice itself that people complain about, it's the way it's cooked, the amount of water used.
It is not a complaint about the rice itself. I think that's what playing DraQue is all about.
You can make one comment about the quality of Koshihikari or Akita Komachi every year - "it's good", "it's very good", "it's not so good this year" - but no Japanese person will go into detail about the quality of the rice.
(Do Americans mention the taste of pizza or Coke in detail every year? The same applies to vodka for Russians. A Frenchman might give a lengthy evaluation of a cheese or a wine. I don't know about the English. Oh, I forgot. There was tea.)
In other words, it has become such a traditional and standard game series that it is difficult to critique and observe.
So it's very difficult, but I wanted to think a little bit deeper about this "11".
I don't like meaningless sentimentality. I don't like to spend a lot of time in nostalgia, I think I should be doing something else.
This 11 is littered with symbols from previous games.
The characters reminded me most of 4.
The events are too many to observe: I was surprised to find a fighting tournament from 3, and a quote from the Gaiden manga (Emblem of Roto, it's a classic manga).
The choice of background music had so many winks to the players of yesteryear that it was even annoying.
But I didn't feel the "sentimentality" that I hate. Strangely enough.
Maybe it's because I felt that Yuji Horii, the creator of this game, wanted to say goodbye and thank you to all the people who have played DraQue so far.
I think it's safe to say that with "11", DraQue has come to an end.
It seems that they are going to make "12", but it will be completely different from the previous games. (I'm predicting that 7 will be the closest).
Koichi Sugiyama san passed away at the end of September. Oh... 11 is truly the last Dragon Quest...
May he rest in peace.
Your music is eternal.
One of the strongest entries in the series. The cast is great, and fairly diverse. My personal favorite was Rab, because not only was he funny at times, he had a lot of depth to him that I didn't anticipate. Also he was pretty solid to use on the team.
Not only will this be one of my favorite JRPGs of all time, it'll be one of my favorite games of all time. It's one hell of an experience.
Not only will this be one of my favorite JRPGs of all time, it'll be one of my favorite games of all time. It's one hell of an experience.
This review contains spoilers
TL;DR: The third act ruins what was looking to be a near-perfect game.
For once, a Dragon Quest game ended on a bittersweet note. The world's been saved, but at what cost? Your hometown is a pile of rubble that now acts as a literal Last Bastion for the people that once lived there and, most importantly, a vital member of your party gave their life to save those she cared about the most.
Instead of leaving on that and letting the player roam the broken world in the post-game, looking for answers about their ancestry and the role they play in the world or testing their mettle against ancient evils that are even stronger than the second act's final boss, you discover that there has been a method to travel through time the entire game and immediately bounce to an alternate timeline before the ending events of the first act.
And with that, all the interesting character development from the second act is gone.
Without his sacrifice, Erik doesn't lose his memories.
He doesn't open up to the party about his younger sister Mia and the tragic events that unfurled prior to the events of the main game. If you decide to visit their hideaway during the third act, the Luminary just magically removes the Midas-esque curse that was placed on her and the two happily reunite.
Without the death of Veronica, Serena has no reason to ritualistically cut her hair and grow as a person, bonding with her sister's soul and unlocking an expanded skillset that makes her an essential party member when tackling any challenge the second act threw at you.
Without witnessing Jasper's betrayal and the fall of Yggdrasil, Hendrik isn't lauded as the Hero and the protector of the Last Bastion. He has no reason to have the Luminary prove himself in the defence of his hometown and pledge himself as their sworn protector once he comes to terms with his wrongdoings and the power that the Luminary holds.
Outside of the narrative qualms I had with the third act, I fucking loved DQXI. I felt like a kid again, embarking on a comfy adventure in a beautiful world with my little ragtag group of friends.
Oh and the music sucks, with little to no variety in regards to tracks and compositions that you'd expect to come from Sugiyama's understudy and not the man himself.
An easy all-time-great had the post-game/third act been different.
For once, a Dragon Quest game ended on a bittersweet note. The world's been saved, but at what cost? Your hometown is a pile of rubble that now acts as a literal Last Bastion for the people that once lived there and, most importantly, a vital member of your party gave their life to save those she cared about the most.
Instead of leaving on that and letting the player roam the broken world in the post-game, looking for answers about their ancestry and the role they play in the world or testing their mettle against ancient evils that are even stronger than the second act's final boss, you discover that there has been a method to travel through time the entire game and immediately bounce to an alternate timeline before the ending events of the first act.
And with that, all the interesting character development from the second act is gone.
Without his sacrifice, Erik doesn't lose his memories.
He doesn't open up to the party about his younger sister Mia and the tragic events that unfurled prior to the events of the main game. If you decide to visit their hideaway during the third act, the Luminary just magically removes the Midas-esque curse that was placed on her and the two happily reunite.
Without the death of Veronica, Serena has no reason to ritualistically cut her hair and grow as a person, bonding with her sister's soul and unlocking an expanded skillset that makes her an essential party member when tackling any challenge the second act threw at you.
Without witnessing Jasper's betrayal and the fall of Yggdrasil, Hendrik isn't lauded as the Hero and the protector of the Last Bastion. He has no reason to have the Luminary prove himself in the defence of his hometown and pledge himself as their sworn protector once he comes to terms with his wrongdoings and the power that the Luminary holds.
Outside of the narrative qualms I had with the third act, I fucking loved DQXI. I felt like a kid again, embarking on a comfy adventure in a beautiful world with my little ragtag group of friends.
Oh and the music sucks, with little to no variety in regards to tracks and compositions that you'd expect to come from Sugiyama's understudy and not the man himself.
An easy all-time-great had the post-game/third act been different.
The Dragon Quest series puts the feelgood factor at maximum. Dialogues, art style and gameplay reached a new climax. Dragon Quest XI S offers a traditional old school battle system without feeling outdated and extends the game with additional character arcs, new challenges, an orchestrated soundtrack and marriage options. It’s one of the most beautiful JRPGs I’ve ever played.
This happened to my buddy/husband Erik
I did not think I'd like this game. It's about as classic as you can get, there's little in terms of story, and the soundtrack sucks. Despite this, I found myself greatly enjoying the game after some initial discomfort (it is not fun with anything but a full party), and before I knew it, I was finishing the game with almost all the side content complete. (Note: at the time of writing this, I still intend to go and do post-game, but have not yet.)
The character building in this game is really good. Managing equipment and skill trees is very engaging for me, and it really feels like all the decisions you make in regards to building characters matter. The combat is a lot more built around RNG than I thought it'd be, but there's enough room for strategy in there to make it feel like something to work around rather than something to be at the mercy of. Another huge point in the combat's favor is that status effects actually work on bosses. It's not every the time, but it's enough for it to feel like using characters or abilities that are based around status actually feels like something viable, which is more than I can say about a ton of other RPGs. One caveat is that I was playing with the Draconian Quests for Stronger Monsters and Reduced EXP from Easy Fights, and I think the game would've been significantly more boring without those. The game not letting you turn them on after the start is a mistake, I think, when there is no real reason to do so other than to prevent people from getting achievements more easily, I guess.
As for the story, it's barely there. Usually I play RPGs for the story elements but for this one I quickly decided I just wasn't gonna have any expectations for this game's, and I'm glad I didn't. The occasional impactful scene came as a pleasant surprise, where as the rest of the "adventure of the week" type plots stayed mildly entertaining instead of disappointing.
Overall, I think this game is a great JRPG that got me interested in a series that I've been writing off for the last several years.
UPDATE: I played the post game. Note that I do not say finished; combat loses some luster once you get into late game, imo. The plot is actually pretty interesting in the postgame, but the combat and specifically the character building starts devolving. Eventually you get to a point where it stops feeling like making big choices about your new abilities and more like just checking boxes off of the list. Similarly, combat starts getting homogenized down to one-size-fits-all strategies (Magic Burst spam). I don't really hold any of this against the game; after all, it's post game, and I feel bad for punishing the game for having too much content, because I imagine there are people out there who enjoyed having all of it, even if that person wasn't me.
The character building in this game is really good. Managing equipment and skill trees is very engaging for me, and it really feels like all the decisions you make in regards to building characters matter. The combat is a lot more built around RNG than I thought it'd be, but there's enough room for strategy in there to make it feel like something to work around rather than something to be at the mercy of. Another huge point in the combat's favor is that status effects actually work on bosses. It's not every the time, but it's enough for it to feel like using characters or abilities that are based around status actually feels like something viable, which is more than I can say about a ton of other RPGs. One caveat is that I was playing with the Draconian Quests for Stronger Monsters and Reduced EXP from Easy Fights, and I think the game would've been significantly more boring without those. The game not letting you turn them on after the start is a mistake, I think, when there is no real reason to do so other than to prevent people from getting achievements more easily, I guess.
As for the story, it's barely there. Usually I play RPGs for the story elements but for this one I quickly decided I just wasn't gonna have any expectations for this game's, and I'm glad I didn't. The occasional impactful scene came as a pleasant surprise, where as the rest of the "adventure of the week" type plots stayed mildly entertaining instead of disappointing.
Overall, I think this game is a great JRPG that got me interested in a series that I've been writing off for the last several years.
UPDATE: I played the post game. Note that I do not say finished; combat loses some luster once you get into late game, imo. The plot is actually pretty interesting in the postgame, but the combat and specifically the character building starts devolving. Eventually you get to a point where it stops feeling like making big choices about your new abilities and more like just checking boxes off of the list. Similarly, combat starts getting homogenized down to one-size-fits-all strategies (Magic Burst spam). I don't really hold any of this against the game; after all, it's post game, and I feel bad for punishing the game for having too much content, because I imagine there are people out there who enjoyed having all of it, even if that person wasn't me.
This game taught me why Dragon Quest endures as a franchise. It's just a good old JRPG romp about faith and friendship, and you need to get into the right headspace to understand that DQ isn't "archaic", it's "timeless".
This was the first dragon quest game I played. I'm a fan of rpgs so this game really gave me the feeling of a grand adventure.