When I think of Dragon Quest games, I think of the amazing artwork by Akira Toriyama, the simple yet complex combat system and some amazing "Cor Blimey" moments. So very recently I got my hands on Dragon Quest XI and was excited to jump straight in. This review will cover my thoughts on the game based on a completed end game file. This Review will not contain story spoilers however it will contain some mechanic spoilers present within the game. So sit back, relax and buckle in because this is going to be a long one. So now the only question is, where do I begin?
Silence Is Bliss
So I think I will start with the one thing that Dragon Quest has been known for a very very long time. Some people may also be asking does the Hero speak!? Well the short answer is no. In Dragon Quest games you are the Hero. I have always liked this feature as it gives me a reason to focus on all the other cast members. Personally in my opinion I like focusing on the guest characters more than the main character in a game just because the personalities vary so much. So what better way to do that than to give the Hero your personality? While I enjoy the whole Role playing aspect of this feature I do have some issues with it.
Dragon Quest games have a particular formula and that said formula works very well however in some aspects of Dragon Quest XI I can really see it's age poking through. More specifically in this section, the Hero. As the Hero is mute and doesn't say anything I was really hoping to see some innovation in some more dialogue choices. However you really only ever get 'yes' or 'no' options and even then it usually ends in forcing the 'yes' option. And really I am nitpicking because at certain points you can choose to do things in a particular order which I guess does make it feel a bit more immersive.
Anyway that is my 2 cents worth when it comes to the Hero. He is a mute and I like it.
Venture Forth
There's nothing worse than playing a game with a lackluster story. I like to be in the action I crave the twists and turns and all of the surprises in between. Without spoilers can I really tell you about the story of this game and if it is worth your time? I think so!
Dragon Quest games always put you in control of a Hero that you can name. Someone had called him Trunks, good choice! Now I don't care much for Political Correctness but I know some people may be wondering, Can you choose the gender of the Hero? No you cannot, the Hero is a young man with big shoes to fill. Along this journey you will encounter a relatively large cast of vastly different characters all of which have a strong individual personality. On this journey you will encounter some pretty intense, emotional, and aggravating moments until you finally come to the end. Although that is a brief and pretty generic story, I found myself wanting to find out more as every cutscene went on. This was difficult for me because I am a perfectionist and I feel the need to go ahead and do as many if not all side quests available to me at the time so for me this game was a very very long game. In fact the story itself goes for about 50-70 hours. With all the side content included I have more than 100 hours clocked into the game. Yes I understand that is a lot considering how long the game has been out.
Ultimately if you are looking for a game that has a lot of content to keep you entertained for hours on end then this game really is a no brainer. If you have never played a Dragon Quest game before this is a great place to start. However this will also be determined on what kind of game play you prefer. So that leads me into the next topic:
Boom, Crack, Whack
Ok another aspect of the formula(and I will be referring to the formula a lot) is the combat system. If it's not broken don't fix it right? Well the developers agree. The combat system is exactly what you would expect from a Dragon Quest game. The game uses the traditional turn based combat system that fans of the series love. However with some amazing improvements. First of all and possibly my favourite improvement is the ability to swap out characters on the fly. Very similar to Final Fantasy X or Megaman X Command Mission. This made strategies vital and made for some interesting fights depending on combinations.
Now with that feature comes a way better one. If your party wipes then the second party joins the fight. This made for some really easy fights but some that still left me sweating.
Another new addition to the formula which I liked but hated at the same time is the 'Pep" System. So for people familiar with Dragon Quest VIII, this system may make you feel a little bit at home. Once a character has taken enough damage or performed enough actions the character enters a state known as Pep. This is like 'High Tension' in Dragon Quest VIII. However this state lasts a few turns to compensate for what I believe is the most frustrating thing in the game and that is Pep Powers. These are abilities that can be performed with multiple characters. Some of which require the said members to be pepped up as well. The game does offer some items that put characters into a pep state but they are very late game and I feel like that is a bit of a let down. I would have liked to have seen an indicator stating when a character is almost pepped to make some abilities a little bit easier to use. In saying that, this is only an issue with a restricted party as characters who are pepped can be swapped out and will keep their pep until spent in an active party(SAVING GRACE!!).
A way of making combat a bit more personal is the addition of a character builder which is similar to the license board found within Final Fantasy XII. Each character has a few certain paths that require Skill Points to unlock and although I love building my characters in a specific way I found the pace of this system to be lacking and I got way too comfortable with the way the characters felt with one or 2 particular paths.
All in all I feel like the game has an elevated combat system filled with a similar yet fresh feeling of nostalgia.
It's A Small World After All
I love big worlds, large worlds even and I like traversing large open areas. Does Dragon Quest XI allow me to explore to my hearts content? Yes but well no, kinda? OK maybe I should elaborate on this a bit further. The game has zones and lots of them, some big and some small. But does this mean that exploration is limited? No, not for me anyways. The game adds sparkly spots and those sparkly spots can have ingredients and items that can be very beneficial for forging weapons. I will speak of that soon. The sparkly spots respawn after a certain amount of time and that means you can farm them. What makes this easier is the ability to set up camp and fast travel to these said camps(Use each camp at least once to secure a fast travel point). This leads me to my next point, setting up camp.
Setting up camp allows you to do a few things. Save, Forge items, talk to members of the party and rest.
The most important of these is the forging of items. That is this games way of saying "Hoarde all your money". You can deck your characters out in some very 'Overpowered' gear using the forge. But you can't just throw items together like you could in Dragon Quest VIII. You need recipe's and you need to play a little mini game to make the item. The good news is that you get the item straight away and depending on how well you did in the mini game you may even get a stronger version of the item.
Now back to the topic at hand which is the size of the world. Scale is important with this one because I think they have perfected it. Towns felt true to life in terms of scale and that means populated cities, shops and very large structures or buildings if you like. I have to thank the developers for allowing the character to jump! Nothing like some JRPG platforming. The scaling of buildings made raiding people's cupboards and breaking their pots so much more fun. Some NPC's even noticed what you were doing! Great addition.
The best thing about the world is that the enemies are all visible and can be avoided completely if you choose to do so. Do bare in mind that if you choose this path you are going to be in for a struggle! You do need to keep your wits about you as some enemies will chase you but they are very easily avoided. It is important to mention that If you are a lot stronger than the enemies they will run away from you which can be a little annoying if trying to farm items. Oh and speaking of running, this game has 3 methods of movement out in the world. Jogging, Sprinting and leaping onto your trusty steed. Just thought I would throw that out there.
In reality the world may appear large but it is a lot smaller than I first thought but in no way a short travel distance from one end of the map to the other(Loading screens make it a little longer).
Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane? We're On A Boat.
OK I could have been a bit more creative with the intro but I think it is enough to make this section relevant.
Again this is a mechanic spoiler but it is to be expected in any JRPG. Yes we get a method of sailing and yes we get a method of flying. So how did it feel in Dragon Quest XI?
OK first of all I have always hated boats in JRPG's and Dragon Quest XI is no different. Boats are the only method of coming across random encounters. You can find ways around this but I hated every minute of travelling in a boat. I wanted freedom in my boat to land on any beach and any little island but this wasn't the case. The boat could only dock at specified docks located on the map. I felt a bit let down by this but then again the less sailing the better, for me anyways. That's all I have to say about sailing.
Now my favourite part of Dragon Quest games is being able to fly wherever I want. However, and I hate to say this but I feel like this was a half effort to meet the JRPG stereotype. You cannot land anywhere you like, for example a previously inaccessible area but instead you can only land in exclusive flying zones that are marked on the map very similar to the docks when sailing. Is this a bad thing? Not really but I really wanted to explore for myself and was quite let down. It made it much easier to see every zone the game has to offer but I would have liked to have had a bit more freedom.
I am going to take a small section here to speak about a couple of things that kind of made me feel like the game was lacking a few things. First of all was quick access of certain items or abilities. While the game had a fast method of healing the party and fast travelling I feel like it could have also had a faster method of getting into the skies once you could access the skies.
The menu has a Misc option that shows you where to get certain materials but there is no method of seeing where that spot is from that menu so you then need to go ahead and navigate to the world map screen and find the nearest camp spot and fast travel. That is if I remember the name of the area by the time I have navigated out and such. I feel like navigating the menu could have been a little bit easier.
Post Game Shenanigans!
Yes this game has a post game and yes it is satisfying, without getting into spoilers all I can say is that you can expect to get a load of content that you'd expect from a post game for example: you get access to new dungeons, new boss fights and going hammer and thongs to get the best gear the game has to offer. However some of the post game fight mechanics were really beginning to drive me insane. Some fights were just ridiculously difficult, not because I was dying but because of the conditions laid out for the fight and although I welcome the challenge I don't really want to be grinding the same fight 10 times over. I will just say that the end game is challenging enough to be a solid end game.
Just quickly I would like to add that I am a huge fan of end game content but I am also a huge fan of new game + modes and at this time Dragon Quest XI does not have a new game + mode. It does have a harder difficulty though should you wish to try your hand at a harder experience.
7 7 Slime 7 7
Probably one of the funniest things I have done in my life is record myself slapping the life out of my knee in frustration over bingo in Dragon Quest VIII then sharing that said video with friends. So now it is a tradition to try and earn as many tokens as I possibly can within any Dragon Quest game I play. And let me tell you right now. That is exactly what I did in this game.
So the casino(s) consist of what you would expect: Slot machines, Poker, Roulette, etc. And even though I am a big fan of casino's in Dragon Quest games, this one drove me insane. The amount of save scumming I had to do to earn the tokens I needed to get some of the more expensive items was a bit much even for me. I feel like the RNG was way too much like a real casino and I ended up spending more time than I would like to share inside of the casino. I understand some people are luckier than others and that luck is the biggest factor when it comes to these mini games but I felt like I had a better chance of winning on real slot machines.
Nitty Gritty Technical Mumbo Jumbo
I am no tech expert at all and I really don't have a lot to say about graphics or performance within a video game but I do feel like there are a couple of things I found in my play through of this game.
I played this game on a PS4 Pro in what I believe was an upscaled 4k image. The game ran very smooth for me however, a lot of textures on walls and such would be visibly blurry for quite a long time until they finally fully loaded and looked beautiful. Doors were a strong example of this in my playthrough of the game. Was it annoying? Not really but definitely 100% visible. Speaking of loading, and possibly the issue I had with the textures. It is important to note I played this game using extended storage on a PS4 Pro however the storage device is very fit to play games at their best. Anyway loading times were not too bad. For exact numbers I cannot be too certain but they weren't 40 seconds long that's for sure. Some large areas would take a little while to load in to though. 10-20 seconds depending on where I wanted to go.
This Quest Has Been Transgressed With Finesse
Just quickly I want to touch on to character customization or costumes. Dragon Quest has costumes that can be equipped by finding a gear set that allows the character to change their appearance. I do like this but I just wish there was a way to have all gear change a characters appearance. I understand that it could be hard to do that but I hated going from an awesome costume back to plain old boring clothing.
So my overall experience of this game was very positive. The game is a great entry point and has some fun mechanics to it. The game does suffer from some technical issues like slow loading textures on walls and such but isn't too bad and can definitely be patched out. The menu can get annoying and could be a lot easier to navigate but nothing practice won't fix. The battle system is still fun after all these years but some mechanics were a little less enticing than previous entries. Exploration is fun and easy to navigate. Sailing and flying were a let down but added a few more accessible areas which added to the exploration of the game. The story is a long one and will take a pretty large chunk out of your life but is very much worth it and I would 100% replay this story again. Crafting is a great way to help keep your party up to date with gear and takes the stress off of grinding too much gold.
Pros: Amazing story with a solid cast of characters, Voice acting, crafting, exploration, turn based combat, Post game content, metal slimes.
Cons: Pep Up Abilities, Texture issues(on a pro), Flying, Sailing, Post game fight mechanics, No new game +, Character builder pace, Customization of avatar.
8/10
I would give it a 8.5 but I have to round down rather than up.