RPG Diary

Dragon Quest XI S

Dragon Quest XI came out at a time in my life where I was not playing many RPGs (or even video games at all), so I completely missed all the buzz about it. This turned out to be serendipitous for me though, because a "definitive edition" was released just two years later with extra content. I wasn't sure what to expect with this one — I loved Dragon Quest VIII, but I hated Dragon Quest IX (and Dragon Quest X was an MMORPG).

Title	Dragon Quest XI S
Year	2019 (Original 2017 )
System	NS PS4 XB1 WIN
Developer	Square Enix
Publisher	Square Enix

Thankfully, Dragon Quest XI is a spiritual successor to Dragon Quest VIII. Both games feature memorable characters and a clear central narrative, which are not a guarantee in a Dragon Quest game. Both games are also gorgeous full 3D, though I prefer the cel shading style of Dragon Quest VIII.

The story was hit and miss for me. Act 1 is fairly standard Dragon Quest stuff. Although there are a few scenes related to the central narrative sprinkled in, the game is mostly just another adventure in search of arbitrary magic items and bumping into things along the way. I didn't see Act 2 coming, so when I thought the game was ending with Act 1, I was all ready to move on to something else. Act 2 on the other hand really blew me away. The World of Darkness reminded me of Final Fantasy VI's World of Ruin, but with a stronger and more focused narrative. I also liked how all the party characters really got fleshed out in Act 2. This was probably my favorite part of any Dragon Quest game.

Surprisingly, the game continues in a significant way after the credits. While it has become common to add extra challenges after the final boss, Dragon Quest XI actually resumes the story! Unfortunately, I really did not like how the story progressed at this point, and I thought it ruined the original ending. The sudden and barely explained introduction of time travel is a complete deus ex machina and it retcons all the emotional scenes and character growth that happened in Act 2. These plot points have to be resolved again in the post-game, but they are mostly just hand-waved and it felt forced so that the game could continue. Similarly, the tie-in to Dragon Quest III felt equally forced — while there were clear references to the game throughout, it's only in true ending that Dragon Quest XI is explicitly revealed as a prequel. This felt like cheap fan service, because it didn't add anything to either game.

Mechanically, Dragon Quest XI pretty much had everything that I want in an RPG. Like many other modern games, random encounters are replaced with monsters on the map, which makes it much easier to avoid battles if you don't need the experience. The skill system from the previous games returns, but now it is clear when skills will be learned, skill points can be even be reset (for a trivial amount of money). This really lowered my anxiety as I experimented with my builds quite a few times during my play. Finally, while Dragon Quest XI has more party members than can participate in battle, the reserve still gain experience from battles, even if they never appeared. I really appreciated this, because I did not enjoy constantly shuffling characters around in Final Fantasy X to share experience.

Ultimately, Dragon Quest XI was a roller coaster of emotions for me: I was bored of it, then I was really into it, and finally I was annoyed with it. It's a solid but unspectacular game, so I am unlikely to ever replay it. (It's also very long!) One of the additions in the defintive edition is a separate 2D version that reenvisions the game as a SNES-era Dragon Quest. I stayed completely in the 3D version this time (minus Tickington of course), so if I did ever replay it, I would check that out and see how that changes things.

After completing a game, I add it to my overall enjoyment ranking which orders the games I've completed from those I most enjoyed to those I least enjoyed. Dragon Quest XI has its moments, but overall I found it to be a thoroughly standard RPG. I'll place it below Final Fantasy XII which was similarly uneven, but I'll give the advantage to the game that starts off stronger.