DRAGON QUEST® XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age™ - Definitive Edition

I wanted to give the Dragon Quest series a try with DQ11 because it is a fixture in the JRPG and Japanese community overall. But it pains me to say that this game has ended up being depressingly disappointing. I really tried to like it but I am dropping the game after completing Act 2, which is around the 50 hr mark and around 60% into the game, by my approximation. I could likely go into great length describing why I feel let down by almost each and every game feature but I’ll elucidate just my biggest grievances here: The biggest disappointment here is the gameplay system. Combat is quite the let down both in difficulty and complexity. Addressing the former, the game is so painstakingly easy on the default difficulty that outside of boss battles you will find the most value out of using the auto battle feature to just do the tedious work for you. Even bosses are generally beatable in a single try without too much effort. Part of this is due to the latter issue in that the combat design is surprisingly simple. DQ falls into the pitfall of many turn-based games in that battles follow Occam’s razor. There are plenty of different combat options that boast potentially intriguing interactions or uses but they are far inferior to the simple “hit enemy hard” and basic buff/debuff loop. Enemies have different archetypes which you would expect to provide some divergent gameplay, but in nearly every situation ignoring these traits/elements is the most efficient solution because the generalist damage skills are the most powerful ones. Bosses also rarely have any intriguing gimmicks or mechanics so the simplest solution is to just keep using the same attacks over and over. Another annoying part of the combat system is that while your interesting spells rarely ever land, the enemy’s is pretty consistent. Essentially the battles in this game are only difficult when the boss gets lucky enough to inflict you with status effects turn after turn that you spend effort dispelling or trying to mitigate. The surrounding systems of combat are also lacking and my main annoyances are with the skill tree, pep system, and item systems. I disapprove of the skill tree in DQ11 due to how you unlock more powerful skills by having to dip through multiple specialized skill trees. For example, unlocking a strong weapon skill for the protagonist requires investment in both the great sword and one handed sword skill trees. Naturally you can’t use both great swords and one handed swords simultaneously, so there’s a feeling of waste that in order to get a cool skill you have to waste nearly half of your skills. This philosophy extends to the entire cast of characters and it feels absolutely abysmal, especially with the slow rate at which you garner skill points. Another lamentable inclusion is the pep system, which is basically a nearly random system in which your characters will enter “the zone” which improves their stats and allows for powerful combination attacks. The main rub here is that the activation of the state is fairly random. You can often get a feel for approximately when it should happen, but the rate at which characters enter this state typically varies so you’re often left without the opportunity to use the cool combo skills. The most common solution is tossing a character with pep into the backline until the other members of the combo attack get their own pep which is another miserable chore that you have to engage in with combat. Another aspect where I feel the game flaws flat is in terms of itemization. There is an monumental variety of gear, but at the end of the day it falls into the same trap as combat in that the simplest options are the best. Sure you can fine tune your stats a little bit based on certain pieces but most of it boils down to the same choices based on the type of character you are building. Many of the accessories are also pointless due to having very specific use cases. It would be interesting if you could anticipate the type of accessories that would help during battle, particularly the ones warding against status ailments but there is no way to know in advance what you need and often just by bonking the enemy you’ll win so you don’t get the opportunity to retool and retry the fight. The world doesn’t feel exciting to traverse either due to the linear nature and simplicity of each zone. Rarely felt any excitement looking through every nook and cranny of each zone, due to the simplicity and fairly linear nature of all the zones. It doesn’t help that the game makes you retread the world quite often, even taking away your fast travel points at certain parts of the game. The soundtrack is fine. I actually adore the symphonic tracks that permeate the game, but the downside is that there seem to be a lack of variety and I felt like I was hearing the same 5 tracks the entire 50ish hour run I had with the game. To give credit where it is due, the visuals are an absolute treat and somehow Akira Toriyama’s artstyle remains eye catching decades after first exposure via DragonBall. The characters are all a delight to spectate and the world is simple yet beautiful. I appreciate the town design too in that it feels relatively natural compared to many other JRPGs. There’s a sense of realism to the city that you can infer based on the structure placement, npc behavior/dialogue, furniture arrangements, even architecture often aligning with what you would expect in a certain environment. Entering a new town and looking at all the people and places was easily the highlight of the game. I’ll end by mentioning the writing because it is more of a subjective issue. The entire writing of DQ11 can be described as simple. The silent protagonist has nearly no personality of his own and most plot events occur just because. The supporting cast have somewhat interesting arcs individually, but that falls flat because their relationship with the protagonist and each other are pretty basic. Most of the cast join the protagonist because “plot told me to do it” and you rarely see any of the cast interact with each other. Enemy and ally motivations are also just as unexplored and most conflicts resolve with straightforward solutions. And somehow, someway, a plot with almost no substance is bloated and has one of the longest main story quests of any JRPG I’ve played. That being said I can imagine this being a boon to certain demographics, particularly the working class of Japanese society. The writing of this game is great in the sense that after a brutally long day of work you can just sit down and jump in and not have to invest too much brain power. There isn’t a long central story with interwoven subplots that you need to focus to retain. DQ11’s plot, paired with its great visuals, lets you just sit down and play the game for like an hour before you go do something else. I can see the appeal and I wanted to give DQ11 its flowers, but for me this is just another negative aspect to the game. I wanted to like it. I really did. But at the end of the day there are far more enjoyable JRPG series out there and I don’t have the time or patience to waste on another DQ game.

My 2nd step in the DQ franchise (I felt a sour taste after DQ3 remake) and I must say this is a great game! I have to point out some things I didn't like but still I have enjoyed this adventure very much. So let's go through what I did not like: - traversing the 'open' world, so 1st things first these are more like glorified corridors rather than open zones, but that's not a big deal, game is streamlined and paced properly so no harm there, what annoyed me though is the inconsistency... on one hand You can jump down from cliffs and do some light jump parkouring but on the other sometimes falling through stairs to make a shortcut is blocked by invisible walls and jumping through a tiny fence is too much for our hero... it's just annoying inconsistency really - if You go for the more challenging encounters You have to grind which is typical for any jrpg really, but having to farm mats to craft something... I don't know...my MMO PTSD kicked in there (from the tens of thousands of hours lost there), again no big deal I guess (especially since it's fully optional) but still it's a strange design choice for a single player game - story, hard to describe without spoilers but let's just say that You actually have 2 games here (3 if You count the fantastic 2D), Act1 + 2 is a classic fantasy story which I loved, while Act3...I was not a fan of how it has been set up. Again no big deal but [spoiler] the going back in time mechanic is just lazy...it cheapens the challenges and sacrifices that have been performed i.e. Veronica, or saving/fighting Your father twice...meh [/spoiler] Still, this is a fantastic game. I loved the companions and how they have been portrayed, the voice acting is great (compared to DQ3 remake it's leagues better), music is enjoyable (highly recommend switching the world music to DQ8 as available in the menu), the leveling system, the party management (the ease of switching members, 'builds', party leveling etc.). A very solid modern take on a classical jrpg format. A solid 8,5/10

super duper slow start

游戏其实真不错，但是邪神篇素材复用，迷宫重复跑，怪物数值恶意拉伸，是太恶心了，好感败光。

Bueno juego, es de exploración sin se un mundo abierto. No hay forma de perderse y se puede jugar en sesiones cortas muy recomendado.

One of the finest JRPG's I've played, absolutely stellar from start to finish but I have a few small complaints! - This "S" version of the game uses lower quality graphics from the Switch port, you need to mod the original graphics in. - The soundtrack is a tad repetitive and can sound "silly" in some parts during overworld and battle, it is recommended to mod in the extra sound packs to get more varied superior music! - The character AI used for the auto battle such as "Fight Wisely" is very basic, a mod exists to improve the AI to use buffs and other abilities in battle Besides those listed above this is an absolutely solid game, retro JRPG style, wonderful Toriyama character designs and gorgeous locations, plus fantastic voice acting and brilliant cutscenes! I recommend picking this up! its one hell of an adventure!

神ゲーです