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.
