It's really tough coming off of a marathon of RPGs right into this, having just played Persona 5 and Final Fantasy X. Both have incredibly intricate stories and characters, plus a couple neat quirks to keep the turn-based combat fresh. Dragon Quest has very little of this. The Pep Powers learned by each character feel like slightly upgraded Limit Breaks that somehow feel more random and less powerful. There's just not enough consequence for choosing to fight one way or the other. I love the different weapon classes you can choose from, but I don't love that all of them kind of feel the same to use and upgrade. I acknowledge that some of this was due to the game being incredibly easy. Easy games don’t usually demand much variety in approaching combat situations if one or two spells or techniques do the trick for every fight, and the same can be said here. I think replaying the game on “Draconian Quest” mode next time would greatly enhance this aspect.
The story evokes a Saturday morning cartoon with its villain-or-new-town-of-the-week structure that eventually builds up to reveal an overarching evil force at play. It's definitely charming, and I love that this colorful world is juxtaposed with splashes of really, really dark and sad moments to create a pretty compelling contrast. At the same time, when Rab or Erik show an inkling of growth or an opportunity for us to get to know them better, I always felt like the game shied away from it before we got in too deep.
Every ounce of me wants to adore this game. I love the art style, I love the traditional RPG tropes that it capitalizes on and doesn't apologize for, I love the voice acting, and I even love some of the characters too. But for me, the aesthetics do so much heavy lifting for an overall experience that's otherwise just "OK".
2024 EDIT: All things considered, in 2022 I was stranded with my partner in Kingman, AZ for 3 days with not much else to do aside from staying in at the Motel 6 and playing this game on my Switch. For all its flaws, Dragon Quest XI will always hold a special place in my heart for this.
The story evokes a Saturday morning cartoon with its villain-or-new-town-of-the-week structure that eventually builds up to reveal an overarching evil force at play. It's definitely charming, and I love that this colorful world is juxtaposed with splashes of really, really dark and sad moments to create a pretty compelling contrast. At the same time, when Rab or Erik show an inkling of growth or an opportunity for us to get to know them better, I always felt like the game shied away from it before we got in too deep.
Every ounce of me wants to adore this game. I love the art style, I love the traditional RPG tropes that it capitalizes on and doesn't apologize for, I love the voice acting, and I even love some of the characters too. But for me, the aesthetics do so much heavy lifting for an overall experience that's otherwise just "OK".
2024 EDIT: All things considered, in 2022 I was stranded with my partner in Kingman, AZ for 3 days with not much else to do aside from staying in at the Motel 6 and playing this game on my Switch. For all its flaws, Dragon Quest XI will always hold a special place in my heart for this.
DrinkyCrow
17 days ago