Game Commentary: Dragon Quest XI

So I finished Dragon Quest XI at around 105 hours with all three acts finished including beating the true final boss and witnessing the true ending. I did not get the platinum (are you crazy?) but I believe I am in a fit position to give a game commentary on this game as a whole and my view on the franchise moving forward.

Firstly, I should make note that I wasn't really impressed by Dragon Quest XI. I had tried the game prior to its release and I even wrote my impressions of the game from the first 7 hours in this article here. I was not really impressed by everything and I was somewhat baffled by fans calling this the best iteration.

Now, after finishing it all, I can safely say that I am a huge fan of this game and will probably be playing all Dragon Quest games moving forward. While most people might say to go back and play all the good ones, unfortunately for ya'll, I don't do that. I can't. A lot of battle systems for old games are too dated for me and I cannot for the life of me invest so much time to go through so many old games when I still have a flurry of modern ones I have not yet touched.

Anyways, I digress. I really enjoyed my experience with this title and everything aside from the music really impressed me regardless of the unexpected and hated grind in the third act.

The story was very well told, very interesting and never lost spirit even till the very end. I didn't expect to tear up but I did, I didn't expect to laugh as much as I did, I didn't expect to get so angry at the villain, I didn't....you get the point. One could say that my expectations were set very low and that may be true but that does not and should not detract from the overall quality of the story. The pacing was incredibly well done even through the long slog of the second and third acts while the mini story arcs for the individual stories/side stories were exceptionally well done.

Overall, while 10-20 hours of the 105 were spent on grinding, most of it were just getting through the main story with all side quests completed. That's how large the story is. I also respect their dedication to build on it and really show you how alive the world feels. They injected lots of humour when it was required, they set the scale for the tragedies in a very thought-out way. Honestly, I'd say the story was the best part!

Also, the story wouldn't have been just as amazing if it wasn't for the stellar characters. Honestly, I didn't expect to like the cast as much as I did. I'm not just talking of the main characters. I'm talking about all the characters! Some of them are written incredibly well while some simply fit into the mould the story had built for them. Even through some questionable voice deliveries, I can appreciate these characters as I do in a lot of my beloved JRPGs. Also, Jade may be waifu but we all know Veronica is best girl.

I would say that while the gameplay is great, it was definitely bogged down by the need to remain 'traditional' or 'retro' or 'familiar' or whatever it is. The gameplay only starts to get good around midway through the game when you have enough party members, spells, abilities and weapons to have strategies involved in your battles. Without those, it falls flat far too quickly.

I'd must enjoyed if they could allow me to speed up the animations or skipped some outright. I tend to like to compare this to Persona's battle system because although both have animations with each action taken, Persona bleeds style and is always worth the eye-candy. Dragon Quest feels a little dry in a lot of aspects mostly because of the rather cartoony design. I mean, I get that it has its own flavour but it's very limited in its reach.

The progression system though, I have to admit, is incredibly satisfying to go through. It is very simple and very obvious stuff but I enjoy that simplicity. I think it complements the adventure very well and I'd say if they want to change it moving forward, it'd be wise to keep this system as the backbone for any future designs.

The real issue for this game, at least for me, is the music. It uses a mostly midi mix with very few orchestral tracks and just some painfully poor decision making in choosing the right tracks for the right times. I find this mind boggling that they even had a whole orchestral mix up but didn't bother allowing access to it in the PS4 version. Midi music does not belong in 2018 and while I get that they wanted to sell the nostalgia feel, they didn't need to. The package would have been a 10/10 by me if not for the music. Disappointing honestly.

Overall, I have no regrets going through that whole adventure and I hope more people start to see this game in the mainstream circle as it is seen in Japan. They have a Dragon Quest day for crying out loud!

If you enjoy JRPGs, I'd highly recommend picking this up. Give the combat a chance initially and I'm sure you'll love it down the line. If you do not particularly fancy JRPGs, then I might actually say to really think twice about getting this. Because while I really enjoy it and I think it's a very good game, if you're not as experienced or well-learned in the genre as I am, it might get under your skin far too quickly/often. Ultimately, it's up to you! The adventure awaits either way!