After taking a break from the overwhelmingly expansive, planning-heavy maps of Genealogy of the Holy war and the labyrinthian branching story paths that make up Three Houses, I was really in the mood of a more stripped back Fire Emblem experience. Once in a while, I don't want to worry about who is being reclassed to what, which skills I need to pick up at what levels, or which romantic pairings I need to build up enough rapport with to make the best "children" in the next phase of the game. I just want to hang out with memorable characters and enjoy the ride.

Thankfully, that's exactly what this game gave me. Eliwood, Hector and Lyn are already some of my favorite lords in the series, and I'm sure my opinion of them would be even higher if gaining support conversations weren't so bafflingly difficult to attain in this one. You have to put in WORK and waste many, many turns making sure two units end up next to each other again and again if you want a shot at even seeing the "C" level supports, which is a shame considering how likeable the cast is. Regardless, it's hard not to root for Eliwood and his crew throughout the 40 hour story. Even if the tale isn't anything revolutionary and has certain tropes that we'd continue to see echoes of in future installments, I think it hits all of those beats so well that they stand out on their own anyway. I genuinely got emotional towards the end knowing that my trio of multicolored-hair friends would be at the end of their journey once the big bad was vanquished, and Roy will certainly have big shoes to fill when I eventually start Binding Blade (I know it came before this one, but I'm playing in story order!).

The gameplay is extremely solid too. It's standard Fire Emblem--literally--but the progression of leveling up your units and skills just feels so good, and it's especially satisfying when you find new items and weapons to use via exploring towns or straight up stealing them from the enemy with thieves. The final map is the perfect blend of grueling and rewarding, using everything in your arsenal to survive a final boss that's almost impossible to kill, but not quite. Up until that point, the difficulty can certainly fluctuate more than some would like--I went from having to reset several times on a map where a magic user kept sniping me from the shadows to feeling overpowered and breezing through one laden with ballistae that didn't hit me a single time---but I see that kind of relief as being rewarded for slugging through the harder moments to find a feeling of empowerment on the other side. At the very least it's not as consistently easy to be over-leveled as it is in Sacred Stones.

With so many other supports to see, characters to try using, and a hard mode starring Hector, I'll definitely be coming back to this one in the future. Still a solid point to start in the series if you're curious.

Think this would fall at a 7.5-7.9 for me! Not amazing, but far more charming than it gets credit for.

- Presentation is incredible for a PS2 era game. The music is lovely, as is the deeply immersive world of Ivalice. Art direction was a huge plus and kept me captivated for a hefty playtime.

- 70+ hours in and I still can't decide if the battle system is more dynamic than it is repetitive or vice versa. I found MMO style combat REALLY boring growing up (everyone hacks at one monster at different tempos until it fades away unceremoniously), but this one felt much livelier than I expected. Though still a little droning to watch over long periods of time, it was deeply engrossing experience once I got momentum with finding more frequent equipment upgrades. The meshing of battles with traveling the overworld---no "random encounter" interruptions this time around---feels like a largely welcome change for smoothing out the pace of exploration. I DO think the really high level Hunts (i.e. Fafnir) should've had separate music tracks so that you're not waging epic battles accompanied by the same melancholy piano track as you'd get with regular world traversal, but that's getting pretty picky. I'll have to play more early entries to gauge just how much I miss the turn-based format in comparison. On another note, I rarely saw any advantage to using summons/Espers over Quickenings, but maybe I was playing it wrong.

- Coming off of playing IX, the story here doesn't hit quite the same high for me. Reading up on how the main character was meant to be Basch does make a lotta sense in context; with Vaan and Penelo added in, the focus of the story comes off as diluted overall and I would've liked a more central theme to guide the games many twists and turns throughout. IX was about death, coming to terms with your own mortality, and embracing friends as family when you have none to go back to, so what's XII about? Something to do with brotherhood (Basch) and some exploration of "breaking from your family lineage" (Ashe, Balthier, Fran), plus some Star Wars prequel-y political intrigue and some rejection of religion thrown in, I guess. These are all concepts that I really dig, but would've liked less of them if it meant sharper focus on the rest.
I didn't feel particularly connected to any of the cast except in a handful of emotional moments, though those moments were really, really well done. And so is the voice acting!

After getting through The Old Hunters DLC and finally defeating the final and then FINAL final boss, I can say that this is probably the most depressing game I’ve ever played while at the same time being unbelievably awe-inspiring and addictive at the same time. The story and world, while cool, I do wish were more clearly laid out. Digging through item descriptions as the MAIN means of piecing together some through line of a plot is unique and not something I’ve ever seen in a game before; however, when one cryptic NPC speech bleeds into the next with little fanfare in between, it does leave one a bit lost and wondering about the point of it all without instantly taking to an online forum for possible explanations.

Agressively mediocre fanservice schlock. 23 hours felt like 40. Makes you stupider the longer you think about it. I made a point to play through as many of the optional missions I could before finally giving up and admitting that 1) they are all essentially the same and 2) none of it really matters. Excruciatingly repetitive butt-rock permeates the musical score, though the barebones piano tracks and echoes of old FFVII themes are alright. Plot-wise it presents a handful of interesting character moments and mysteries that could certainly be elaborated upon, but are not. It is absolutely baffling how quickly the last act of the game wraps up without exploring the multitude of its threads in any real depth. You fight the boss and a 30 minute clipshow puts all the characters where they have to be by the end before and post credits trailer shouts "PLEASE PLAY FINAL FANTASY VII AGAIN."

On the upside:
Zack and Cloud's relationship. Genesis is hilarious. It is physically impossible not to crack a smile while watching the most well known RPG villain of all time answer a flip phone to say "Sephiroth here".

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.

Finally went back for the 100% before Metroid Dread. Pretty much as beautiful and engaging as I remember it, and the added difficulty with Hard mode this run was much needed. Still, the “endgame” for hopeful 100%-ers—rounding up all the items that were previously locked behind walls that are now open—is a drag and highlights my main problem with most games in the series: why are there this many expansions to find and just WHEN am I gonna need all these damn missiles anyway???

Next time I’ll go for Fusion mode.