Dragon Quest XI is the epitome of the fairytale format in JRPGs. Crazy high production values, tons of features, and great exploration are the high points of this classic adventure. There is a space for this kind of game, but I am at a personal point in my life where very little of the actual meat of this game managed to catch my attention. There is charm in the locales and different cultures that inhabit them that definitely helps creating a compelling journey that will resonate with people, but the core elements that punctuate this game tend to be too basic and boilerplate for me to care about the overall experience.

I would be more generous with the game if the basic plotting didn’t feel written and planned by an AI. This is not hyperbole. I want more of the DQIV brand of Dragon Quest: switching from playable characters of completely different backgrounds (sometimes accompanied by different gameplay styles!) to frame a colorful world full of life and mystique, all to culminate into that amazing classic adventure story that feels earned after exploring the precious and varied world that now needs a hero. Not… the chosen one plot but with Trunks. I think you gather dragon balls at some point?

I would be even kinder to this game if the music was great. Music is an important part of gaming for me and I have huge appreciation for it. Dragon Quest XI doesn’t have a terrible, godawful soundtrack, but it’s pretty bad by JRPG standards.

I dropped this game very early, around the point where Veronica first joins you, but I have a strict policy that if a game bores me to death, I should always drop it, and after hearing the 50th loop of that terrible world map theme and basic attacking and healing for 8 hours, I was dreading every single session with this game. I don’t think Dragon Quest is for me.