I love this game even more after finishing my 2nd playthrough.
The first time I played DQ11 was also my first experience with Dragon Quest as a whole, and for that reason I don't think I appreciated it as much. Since my first go around I've played through a few more DQ games as well as many more JRPGs and this is the absolute cream of the crop.
My original impressions of this just being a generic fantasy JRPG with turn based combat, but executed very well were not exactly wrong, however I think there's more to the story than that. What I initially read uncharitably read as "generic fantasy JRPG with turn based combat" is actually the result of 30 years of honing a formula to perfection. The generic fantasy setting lends itself to a cavalcade of tropes, and many of those do appear here, but each has its own twist or a way of tying into the meta-narrative that DQ11 paints about the genre that keeps them interesting. The turn based combat seems barebones by comparison to many of its flashier contemporaries, but once you look beyond the surface you witness a deep chasm of number crunching complexity that allows you to pull off all sorts of crazy things within the system while never completely trivializing the game.
One thing that contributed more to my enjoyment of the writing this time around was the knowledge of what Act 3/the postgame entails. No spoilers for that here, but it re-contextualizes the entire journey in a way that makes it read completely differently on replay. I know it's a huge ask for the average person to commit 80 hours to a game once, let alone twice, but that knowledge definitely enriches the experience and I recommend a replay if you were on the fence.
Overall I'm walking away from this playthrough with a strong feeling that this might be a top 5 of all time game for me if only the soundtrack was just a little bit better. RIP BOZO.
The first time I played DQ11 was also my first experience with Dragon Quest as a whole, and for that reason I don't think I appreciated it as much. Since my first go around I've played through a few more DQ games as well as many more JRPGs and this is the absolute cream of the crop.
My original impressions of this just being a generic fantasy JRPG with turn based combat, but executed very well were not exactly wrong, however I think there's more to the story than that. What I initially read uncharitably read as "generic fantasy JRPG with turn based combat" is actually the result of 30 years of honing a formula to perfection. The generic fantasy setting lends itself to a cavalcade of tropes, and many of those do appear here, but each has its own twist or a way of tying into the meta-narrative that DQ11 paints about the genre that keeps them interesting. The turn based combat seems barebones by comparison to many of its flashier contemporaries, but once you look beyond the surface you witness a deep chasm of number crunching complexity that allows you to pull off all sorts of crazy things within the system while never completely trivializing the game.
One thing that contributed more to my enjoyment of the writing this time around was the knowledge of what Act 3/the postgame entails. No spoilers for that here, but it re-contextualizes the entire journey in a way that makes it read completely differently on replay. I know it's a huge ask for the average person to commit 80 hours to a game once, let alone twice, but that knowledge definitely enriches the experience and I recommend a replay if you were on the fence.
Overall I'm walking away from this playthrough with a strong feeling that this might be a top 5 of all time game for me if only the soundtrack was just a little bit better. RIP BOZO.