Dragon Quest XI

Tell us about games you are currently playing. "Quick hit" reviews.
User avatar
ptdebate
Posts: 1072
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 8:39 pm

Dragon Quest XI

Postby ptdebate » September 4th, 2018, 11:30 am

I was able to get this game at 9pm last night thanks to my local Gamestop foregoing a midnight launch.

So far, this is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. You may find the art direction similar to Breath of the Wild, but with so much more detail. The Akira Toriyama characters are wonderfully animated and very well voice-acted. The synthesized soundtrack isn't quite as lush as the orchestral one featured in the US version of DQ8 but it's still very nice and fits with the rest of the series.

Nothing surprising so far, but traditional Dragon Quest goodness cranked up to 11 (pun intended). I'll update as I get further in.

David
Posts: 191
Joined: April 20th, 2015, 3:10 am

Re: Dragon Quest XI

Postby David » September 4th, 2018, 6:44 pm

I love this series. It feels so great to have a mainline Dragon Quest back on home consoles, at least in the US. Agree with you on the music - was there some type of licensing issue where they couldn’t use the orchestral tracks? I’m glad they didn’t voice the main protagonist. Like the Persona series, I don’t care to have the player character voiced. Everything gets across just fine without it. One of the rare times I’m glad I have Wednesdays and Thursdays off.

David
Posts: 191
Joined: April 20th, 2015, 3:10 am

Re: Dragon Quest XI

Postby David » September 6th, 2018, 9:28 pm

I’ve played quite a bit over the past couple days (I’d prefer not to say how much) and I have a couple more thoughts...

Not to be completely cliche, but it’s Dragon Quest. The story is very simple so far, but it’s enough to keep me interested. The series has always been good at having a basic overarching narrative, with lots of little stories in the undercurrent as you meet new characters and find new towns.

The non-orchestrated music hasn’t really bothered me too much. It’s good enough sound wise to me, and most the music is very upbeat and Dragon Questy...except the overworld music. I’m not a huge fan, which is unfortunate because Dragon Quest is one of the few series I don’t mind grinding my characters. I like the typical cheery music, but the overworld song has some very intense sequences in song I don’t like. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s not good either.

The last thing that’s stuck out to me is the quality of life improvements. No random battles (not new to the series, but still). A heal all option. The fast travel spell “zoom” works pretty much everywhere, whereas before it wouldn’t work anywhere where there was a ceiling above you. A respec option, which does cost money, but it is there. A quest log documenting side quests. It does make you go back and talk to the character once you complete the task, instead of instantly rewarding you a la Xenoblade, but with fast travel it’s not too much of an inconvenience.

Still loving the game though.

User avatar
ptdebate
Posts: 1072
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 8:39 pm

Re: Dragon Quest XI

Postby ptdebate » September 11th, 2018, 12:28 pm

I agree with all of your points. I'm not sure where you are at but I recently recruited the 4th party member, Sylvando. What an awesome character. I love how he adds humor and levity right when you need it, and how he combines strength of character with quirkiness and whimsy.

The overworld music isn't my favorite either, but so far I love pretty much everything else. The town music is catchy and upbeat, pairing well with the visuals and scenes. The event music can be equally somber or melodramatic.

User avatar
Gentlegamer
Posts: 784
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 1:01 am

Re: Dragon Quest XI

Postby Gentlegamer » September 11th, 2018, 1:02 pm

I haven't attempted to play DQ since my free copy of Dragon Warrior made me mad 30 years ago.

I've seen some streams and it looks like you can dodge wandering monsters like in Chrono Trigger. I may try it.

User avatar
ptdebate
Posts: 1072
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 8:39 pm

Re: Dragon Quest XI

Postby ptdebate » September 11th, 2018, 1:25 pm

Gentlegamer wrote:I haven't attempted to play DQ since my free copy of Dragon Warrior made me mad 30 years ago.

I've seen some streams and it looks like you can dodge wandering monsters like in Chrono Trigger. I may try it.


Yes! No more random encounters - just like the 3DS re-release of DQVIII.

If you like Chrono Trigger, you'll definitely appreciate DQXI. Like Chrono Trigger, I feel like it represents the culmination and refinement of the best ideas in turn-based JRPGs from the past decades.

User avatar
JustLikeHeaven
Posts: 333
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 9:35 am

Re: Dragon Quest XI

Postby JustLikeHeaven » September 12th, 2018, 1:27 pm

It's taking everything in my power to hold off on buying this. I always wait for games to drop in price, but I REALLY wanna play this. I love Dragon Quest.

David
Posts: 191
Joined: April 20th, 2015, 3:10 am

Re: Dragon Quest XI

Postby David » September 14th, 2018, 7:04 pm

ptdebate wrote:I agree with all of your points. I'm not sure where you are at but I recently recruited the 4th party member, Sylvando. What an awesome character. I love how he adds humor and levity right when you need it, and how he combines strength of character with quirkiness and whimsy.

The overworld music isn't my favorite either, but so far I love pretty much everything else. The town music is catchy and upbeat, pairing well with the visuals and scenes. The event music can be equally somber or melodramatic.


I’m on the verge of getting the fifth character now. I also like Sylvando’s personality a lot. He really reminds me of Hank Azaria’s character in The Birdcage. I haven’t used him much in the party yet though. He seems like he has lots of support skills, but I like having Serana as a dedicated healer, Veronica as a mage and Erik has a secondary damage dealer with dual knives. I also really liked Prince Faris. It was fun seeing him acting cocky and immediately getting shown up multiple times.

Have you run into any metal slimes yet? I was googling where to find them, and only saw one randomly in battle in the desert area with another random monster. I still haven’t seen any on the actual overworld.

User avatar
ptdebate
Posts: 1072
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 8:39 pm

Re: Dragon Quest XI

Postby ptdebate » September 15th, 2018, 11:58 am

David wrote:Have you run into any metal slimes yet? I was googling where to find them, and only saw one randomly in battle in the desert area with another random monster. I still haven’t seen any on the actual overworld.


I ran into one but it immediately escaped after the first turn. The game was just teasing me...

David
Posts: 191
Joined: April 20th, 2015, 3:10 am

Re: Dragon Quest XI

Postby David » October 15th, 2018, 3:15 pm

Quick update - I’m about 45 hours in now. I’ve really been taking my time since I’d like to get the platinum trophy for the game, so I might be halfway through maybe? There was a plot twist and now I have a new character to play with, so that was pretty cool. I really love the characters in the game. A lot of them have really exaggerated accents depending on their region. I’ve been grinding a bit, but it’s not necessary. My party hasn’t gotten wiped yet, but having a really challenging game isn’t why I play these games. The music is starting to get a little grating, and having listened to the orchestrated OST I’m really upset they didn’t include it in the game. The entire mix of the soundtrack is completely off, where there’s very little subtley for certain instruments that’s present in the orchestral version, and it’s enough to change the entire feel of the songs.


Return to “Now Playing”