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LTTP LTTP: Dragon Quest XI

(Late to the party)
Sadist

Sadist

Mad Titan
Founder
Pronouns
He/Him
Or is it late to the Quest?

Anyway, with Dragon Quest VI being my only experience with the series, which I enjoyed but it was a bit too traditional to my liking back when I played it. Fast forward to XI and while it took some time for to get really started, I really enjoy my time with the game.

While the story is super traditional, I’m kind of liking its straight forwardness. Even your main party, while not really original is fun. You have the thief with a heart of gold, you have the twin sisters with one being the sassy one and the other being more kind, tough but kind Jade, the old man with all of his wisdom. The only standout is Sylvando, who is great and a ball of energy.

The story has its moments, I have just completed the part with the

mermaid, Michelle and her story
which was sad actually.

On the gameplay side it’s very sufficient and the turnbased battles are fine. Its like a comfy sweater to wear, you know what to expect. The coolest thing about it are the enemies. I mean, slimes are adorable, but enemies like Platypunk, Cruelcumber and many others are really cool. Even their little animations like the Hood enemy, who when he is defeated falls over, his axe flying into the air, coming down and its hilt knocking him out gave me a chuckle. Even boss characters, like the Octopus character I beat who appears on scream and exclaims “GARGLE BLARGLE ARGLE” is hilarious.

I haven’t hit the twenty hour mark yet and it’s a long road to the end. But I can understand (seeing the massive amount of content still left) people might burn out on it, but I’m just taking it slow and enjoying my time in this quest.

The only thing disappointing me now is the OST being so limited. Not a lot of variety going on there.
 
Enjoy! One of the best jrpgs of last generation. I played it on ps4, I played it on Switch, and I played it again on xbox series x. It is that good.
 
Have fun! XI was my first mainline DQ game and I absolutely frikkin' loved it. It had been years since I found a game that could scratch that Final Fantasy IV itch, and I had tried many many JRPGs over the years, but this one finally hit the nail on the head.
 
Sadist said:
But I can understand (seeing the massive amount of content still left) people might burn out on it
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This was definitely my case. Without spoiling anything, I made it to chapter 10 before running out of steam. I can do basic JRPG combat just fine, but that combined with the overarching plot taking a backseat in favor of smaller adventures wasn't enough to sustain my interest that long.

The chapters after the mermaid one take place in some great locations, from what I've seen that aspect of the game is very solid. It's probably the main reason why I do plan to pick the game up again at some point, since the cast is likeable enough and 3D JRPGs with such a well-realized world are a rare thing. And also:

I know there's two other acts to the game, somehow? Considering how simple the story is on the first act, I'm mildly curious about what they'll do to justify them.
 
I bounced off hard on this game on PC despite being a huge JRPG fan and really liking VIII... But I really do want to give the Switch version a shot. Just waiting for the right price at the right time. ;)

Now give me some Switch collections of the previous games!
 
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I had only beaten Dragon Quest spinoffs before XI as I started but abandoned playthroughs of the others I tried. I’m glad I stuck with this one until the end since I ultimately had a lot of fun with it. The main field theme is awful though lol. Especially on PS4 without orchestration.
 
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While I appreciate the musical (among other) callbacks to DQ3, the third act/“postgame” of DQ11 is Horii trying to eat his cake and have it, too, and that didn’t work for me. Honestly, even the second act suffers in the pacing department (possibly due to content withheld for the third act).

I’m glad I played DQ11(S), primarily for all the classic DQ nostalgia, but I’m also glad I never finished any of DQ5-8 and am unlikely to pick up another game in the series short of some massive changes. More than anything else, DQ11 was a massive time sink.
 
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Dragon Quest XI is as perfect as games that aren't called Dragon Quest V come.

It's a shame the music is such a deal breaker for some. That SE let that douche call so many shots for so long is embarrassing, really. This game deserved a soundtrack as lovingly crafted as every other element.


Also I didn't burn out because Dragon Quest makes my brain feel good, but people tell me seeing each arc as an individual arc of a much larger anime, and breaking it up that way, really helps.
 
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I never quite made it through the third act, but I was super impressed by the effort Squeenix put into the Switch port. The game looks and plays wonderfully.
 
Have fun! This is one of my all-time favourite JRPGs, but it is super long. I needed to take a break from it in between because of that, but I enjoyed it a lot regardless. Very charming game.

Looking forward to reading more of your journey!
 
While it's great SE offered such a generous demo, I wouldn't be surprised that many got their fill from just that - it's roughly 10 hours you get out of that.

I find Dragon Quest games comfort food. I like that the game is made up of little stories. I love the silly regional accents each location is given. I love the simplicity of the turn based combat (I have no idea what they were trying with that new battle option where you can walk around on the battle screen, but I turned that off straight away). I love the monster designs. Yeah, I was pretty chuffed when we got a Dragon Quest rep Smash. OK, the music is pretty forgettable for the most part, and whenever there was a track that stuck out in XI I often found it was piece from a previous game - at least I can feel guilt free for enjoying the games now that the problematic composer is pushing up the daisies.

Just a shame there's no new game+. I unlocked all these nice bits of armour so it would be cool to play through the whole game with them - what with the optional challenge toggles encouraging such a thing.
 
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That story you referred to, touched my heart. It is a good game, with a heart of gold. I wish one thing were different but that goes into spoiler territory.
 
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It's a wonderful game that really goes interesting places and plays around with a lot of things you might not think it's going to play with and mess with you, at least at first. Glad you're enjoying it! As for burnout, it does get very long, but things happen that will help with that.

The OST really is the only main negative, it's just not very good. The only good tracks are all from previous games.
 
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Lovely game. The first Dragon Quest I ever played and I'm dying to replay it. Never did
the third act, if only because I thought Veronica's sacrifice shouldn't be undone (not sure if it is but I don't want to risk it)
but as I completed it, it's pretty wonderful.

The complaints about the OST are valid but the Definitive Edition's orchestration is really wonderful at times.

 
Christo750 said:
The complaints about the OST are valid but the Definitive Edition's orchestration is really wonderful at times.

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I think most complaints about the OST are centered on the new compositions made for 11. The best tracks, like the one you posted, are from older games (Sea Breeze being from Dragon Quest 4 for instance). But the new overworld music is not something I enjoy listening to in MIDI or orchestrated form, and it plays way too much. The tanglewood should've had its own music instead of the overworld. The fact they were okay reusing a lot of music from past games makes the limited selection of tracks even weirder. Tanglewood could have had Garden of Time from DQ7.

That aside, I really loved the game, glad you're enjoying it, OP! I only played once all the way through on the PS4 when it first came out. I played the switch version just up to Act 2 to see the new content between Acts 1 and 2 but got too burnt out after that to finish my second playthrough. I know there's even more new content in the switch version later on so I really should go back to it sometime, maybe restart with some Draconian challenges considering it is a very easy game.

Erik was probably my favorite character, a large part of that is for how fun he is in battle. Erik's moveset is a fresh take on the thief class and he ends up being one of the strongest members. Lay down earth sigil DoTs, inflict poison and sleep then hit the enemy for bonus damage when they're inflicted with poison/sleep at the cost of removing the status, summon afterimage clones of himself for massive damage, it's just a really fun kit. Sylvando's great too, of course, he's got some great moments coming up in act 2.

It's not my favorite entry in the series, maybe in the top 5, but it's really a fun adventure.
 
Wonderful JRPG, probably my favourite one on the Switch and also in a very long time. I enjoyed (almost) every second of it, it’s like a big warm bath of everything I like about the genre. There’s a few relatively small things that didn’t land for me but for the most part it’s everything I wanted it to be. The main cast felt just right, their arcs work in sometimes surprising ways, and for every moment of melancholy, regret or shock, there’s a heartwarming moment around the corner to remind you that the world keeps turning and is what you make of it.
 
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As a JRPG player, it was hard to me to finish the 2 first Acts of DQ XI (didn't event bothered with the 3rd one after realizing it was mostly filler content).

While the game is highly polished (good graphics, good animations, no bugs or other issues), I felt that it lacks any exciting element.

Combat is basic and too RNG-based (the power up system works partially randomly, and so the reviving skills do), party members are too cliché (and the old pervy guy is a character trope that should have died in 90s anime), world/dungeon design is boring and bland (both artistically and design-wise), towns re-use the same NPC over and over, the main plot is another boring good-vs-evil shallow story....

There's some good story arcs here and there (albeit short) as the only really good element, and the music stands out as a really bad one, but if I need to describe the fame in one word, it's boring. Also the heavy re-use of the same areas 3 times was kind of baffling, the first hour of Act 2 hinted a "world of ruin" scenario but the game returned fast to the same cities, the same content and the same music.

I'm not a DQ fan so maybe my expectations were not aligned with what the series has to offer, but I would have preferred a more flawed and interesting game over this "JRPG template" with no soul.
 
While i liked most of the other Dragon Quests i have played, none ever made it into my Hall of Fame. Until 11. It's without a question one of my favorite games ever and i enjoyed almost every minute of my 150 hours i spent with it. The gameplay while simple still was a lot of fun. Especially later in the game when you unlocked most of your pep powers and team combinations. Team attacks looked awesome and never got old for me.

But the thing that made this game a standout title for me were the characters. This includes your teammates as well as the various NPCs you meet on your travels. All their stories were touching and had a big impact on me. When it comes to the third act, which a few peeps found unnescessary, i found it well worth my time and very satisfying. You get a lot more context about your adversaries and the character scenes that played out differently compared to act two were awesome. It wasn't just a retread of what happened earlier which made it more worthwhile.

I had problems with some content, which i felt wholly unnescessary and demeaning, like Jade's character story sexualising her so much. It's a problem not unique to this game but that doesn't make it not disappointing. Jade was still an awesome character and her and her fathers story were just as touching as the others.

Overall i can wholeheartedly recommend this game to other JRPG fans for whome the characters are the most important aspect of any RPG.
 
EtherPenguin said:
I think most complaints about the OST are centered on the new compositions made for 11. The best tracks, like the one you posted, are from older games (Sea Breeze being from Dragon Quest 4 for instance). But the new overworld music is not something I enjoy listening to in MIDI or orchestrated form, and it plays way too much. The tanglewood should've had its own music instead of the overworld. The fact they were okay reusing a lot of music from past games makes the limited selection of tracks even weirder. Tanglewood could have had Garden of Time from DQ7.

That aside, I really loved the game, glad you're enjoying it, OP! I only played once all the way through on the PS4 when it first came out. I played the switch version just up to Act 2 to see the new content between Acts 1 and 2 but got too burnt out after that to finish my second playthrough. I know there's even more new content in the switch version later on so I really should go back to it sometime, maybe restart with some Draconian challenges considering it is a very easy game.

Erik was probably my favorite character, a large part of that is for how fun he is in battle. Erik's moveset is a fresh take on the thief class and he ends up being one of the strongest members. Lay down earth sigil DoTs, inflict poison and sleep then hit the enemy for bonus damage when they're inflicted with poison/sleep at the cost of removing the status, summon afterimage clones of himself for massive damage, it's just a really fun kit. Sylvando's great too, of course, he's got some great moments coming up in act 2.

It's not my favorite entry in the series, maybe in the top 5, but it's really a fun adventure.
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I did not know this! Interesting. So then yeah I guess the DQXI-specific music sucks then.
 
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It’s so long but it’s just so, so good. This thread makes me wanna play it again; did the original on PS4, then the S version on Switch. Great game to play and suspend at your leisure.

Maybe the best enemy animations in the genre?
 
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One of the best games ever made, easily. I really hope this game isn’t the last of its kind and DQ12 pulls a FF and tries to westernize.
 
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my copy has been unopened for over a year on the switch. I was hoping for a pro console with a boost in performance, but that's not happening. I'll settle for 720p docked and will probably get on it after I beat Arceus Legends and Metroid Dread.
Schlubotipelto said:
Been playing Dragon Quest since Warrior 1 on NES.

XI is incredible and up there with III, VII and Builders 2 as the bests in the series
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I really enjoyed the first Builders game.
I have mixed feelings about the second, notably the performance on switch... I want to get back into it though.

maebe said:
Dragon Quest XI is as perfect as games that aren't called Dragon Quest V come.

It's a shame the music is such a deal breaker for some. That SE let that douche call so many shots for so long is embarrassing, really. This game deserved a soundtrack as lovingly crafted as every other element.


Also I didn't burn out because Dragon Quest makes my brain feel good, but people tell me seeing each arc as an individual arc of a much larger anime, and breaking it up that way, really helps.
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By douche you mean the main composer, Koichi Sugiyama, who has faced controversy for some of his views... I know he he passed away like a year ago
 
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Definitely one of the best JRPGs ever. I enjoyed every moment with it.

Thats said I played the Switch version, which is great and has many important QoL features and story bits, that make it better than the original release. Meanwhile this S version has now be ported to other consoles too.
 
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The original DQXI soundtrack still had some great pieces. Like, this song here is one of the absolute best in the entire series, probably my favorite sad/emotional theme:



Problem is there were too few of them and they got lost in the mix. I like the battle themes, and I even like the overworld theme, I just think it should be limited to a few areas, like the Heliodor outskirts, and they should have used other themes for other overworld areas.
 
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I made some progress, made it to part 2!

Spoilers ahead

- Finding the orbs took a bit longer than expected due to the story content. Finding the blue orb gave me a cool battle, the mural was intense (Oomphle and Jade to the rescue).
- Really, Rab is the Master Roshi? Sigh.

- The Journey to the Yggdrasil core was quite cool, until Captain Ginyu showed his face.

- I liked the interludes; Sylvando’s was the best, in all of its fabulous glory. Erik and Rab’s are pretty nice too, Jade’s one isn’t bad… but why did it have to be a bunny suit.

- The Hero waking up as a fish was a big “wtf” moment. Still, him returning to Cobblestone and reuniting with his mom and Gemma was cool. The team up with Hendrik was bound to happen and him becoming a new party member is cool.

- Currently in Angri La that’s where I saved.
 
Sadist said:
I made some progress, made it to part 2!

Spoilers ahead

- Finding the orbs took a bit longer than expected due to the story content. Finding the blue orb gave me a cool battle, the mural was intense (Oomphle and Jade to the rescue).
- Really, Rab is the Master Roshi? Sigh.

- The Journey to the Yggdrasil core was quite cool, until Captain Ginyu showed his face.

- I liked the interludes; Sylvando’s was the best, in all of its fabulous glory. Erik and Rab’s are pretty nice too, Jade’s one isn’t bad… but why did it have to be a bunny suit.

- The Hero waking up as a fish was a big “wtf” moment. Still, him returning to Cobblestone and reuniting with his mom and Gemma was cool. The team up with Hendrik was bound to happen and him becoming a new party member is cool.

- Currently in Angri La that’s where I saved.
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This is the one place I think the original version is a bit better, or at least the pacing works better. In the original, you skip straight to waking up as a fish, and I think that massive tonal shift followed by the devastation of the world and seeing cobblestone as a warzone and the oppressive atmosphere really carries a lot more weight. I kind of wish that they had done the interludes differently and had them appear later in Act 2 instead of all right at the beginning.

Still, this is a very minor complaint, and I really love direction the game takes here. Turning the 'collect the 6 macguffins to get the sword to save the world' very traditional RPG fantasy quest on its head at the last minute was great.
 
Aaaaaand I completed the game, finishing Act 3!

First thoughts are that I’m glad I stuck with the game. In the end I think the game kind of drags its feet at certain points. I do appreciate the fact that the game has many substories, but if you aren’t a patient person I can see why you wouldn’t like it. Although leveling up can be quick; I used the Haulaluja + Electrolight exploit and two Metal King Slimes, which caused me to level up 22 levels in about 2,5 hours.

Spoilers

- In act 2 losing Veronica sucks :(

- But in Act III getting her back is yay! I know some people won’t like her sacrifice being undone, but with all death and the past two years I needed a truly happy end story

- The Final boss is Fat Cell lol
 
I’ve just started another run of this, I completed it all the way through act 3 on release, and it’s been long enough that it feels fresh. I love this rpg so much.

All the mechanics are clearly explained, the humour is warm throughout. New scenarios and ideas pop up often and briefly enough that you don’t get bored. Even Erik’s introduction avoids all the usual edgelord thief nonsense, he’s genuinely got your back every step of the way through the opening section and then finds a way to stick with you.

I even like the fun-size forge crafting despite avoiding a lot of crafting in rpgs, as you get just enough materials and recipes to make and improve things at a regular pace, it lets you buy common mats rather than hunt for them, you never need to go searching for stuff. I like to make and improve things just to sell them sometimes.

It’s just a joy to play, whereas the irritating casts and endless cut scenes and bloated, pointless content of several big JRPGs feel like a waste of time.
 
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I haven't played the Definitive Edition yet, but I bought it for the Switch. I'll wait until after I play through the DQ3 remake to refresh it in my mind so I can follow with XI and enjoy the references better. Maybe by then it will hopefully have gotten a sweet Switch 4k patch.
 
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Sadist said:
Aaaaaand I completed the game, finishing Act 3!

First thoughts are that I’m glad I stuck with the game. In the end I think the game kind of drags its feet at certain points. I do appreciate the fact that the game has many substories, but if you aren’t a patient person I can see why you wouldn’t like it. Although leveling up can be quick; I used the Haulaluja + Electrolight exploit and two Metal King Slimes, which caused me to level up 22 levels in about 2,5 hours.

Spoilers

- In act 2 losing Veronica sucks :(

- But in Act III getting her back is yay! I know some people won’t like her sacrifice being undone, but with all death and the past two years I needed a truly happy end story

- The Final boss is Fat Cell lol
Click to expand...
CONGRATULATE!! (that's what my phone autocorrected to and I don't know why. I'm leaving it)

I almost stopped when the credits rolled, because a lot of people called Act III the "postgame," which sounded to me like a lot of superfluous quests and difficulty spikes. But a couple people I saw said there's so much story left that I decided to bit the bullet and do it. I was shocked that they literally undid the last half of the game, but eventually realized that's how the Luminary saves the world.

I was sad about losing Veronica as a character but having Serena take on her spells meant functionally I could have both in the party at once without taking up two spots and I kinda felt bad about liking that. 😅

Also I'm glad I'm not the only person who noticed the true final boss is basically Cell. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
 
This is the second dragon Quest game I've finished the other being IX and I loved it, I still have to do the after credits content might do it later this year
 
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If you like 80’s shonen mangas/anime and have sympathy for Akira Toriyama artsyle you will love Dragon Quest.

DQXIS is the best RPG on Switch, 2nd place overall, a little behind Persona 5 Royal.

note: if you count elder ring as a action rpg, i would put it first.
 
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Playing through it again reminds me of how much I like Sylvando too, and how much it plays with expectations. You see him and think he’s going to be the jester character, but in short order he’s shown to be wise, empathetic, extremely capable and confident all at the same time. Just like Erik pretty much defeats all the annoying thief cliches I’ve sat alongside in tabletop rpgs all the years, Sylvando does so with the bard ones. Even his dialogue, where he’s lecturing the prince of Gallipolis on chivalry, claiming he’s just a jester, when he’s fleeing from his own expectations of what his father’s expectations are for him. It’s just really well handled, the whole party are warm characters you want to spend time with.

Veronica is another one. You start out thinking she’s gonna be rude, sarcastic and condescending in the tired ‘smallest character is most aggressive’ trope, but then look at how she acts with the kids with problems in Hotto and Gondolia, once she knows what’s going on she quickly gets the team moving towards solutions. Despite revelling in some cliches it really should leave behind (Rab and his magazine, the game clearly pigeonholing Jade as ‘let’s dress her up in sexy outfits’ here and there), largely the game subverts expectations while also being pacey and not dwelling on stuff, which then feels fresh despite it being the 11th entry in a 35 year old series.
 
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Just finished my second run though this. I still think it’s just magical, I was surprised at how much I had forgotten after just 3 years honestly.
 
I really, really liked this game, but for some reason I just wasn't motivated to finish Act 3. I don't know what it was - maybe it was that I'd already sunk in around 65, 70 hours or whatever, but I guess I never technically "finished" this one even though I rolled the credits at the end of Act 2.

Great example of a classic type of JRPG, though.
 
Cubs017 said:
I really, really liked this game, but for some reason I just wasn't motivated to finish Act 3. I don't know what it was - maybe it was that I'd already sunk in around 65, 70 hours or whatever, but I guess I never technically "finished" this one even though I rolled the credits at the end of Act 2.

Great example of a classic type of JRPG, though.
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Imo it got tedious when they kept revisiting those same areas over and over for different events or a new boss. It's a fun novelty once but it can get repetitive.

Also the difficulty spike would have made sense if Act 3 was an optional thing or for new game plus.

Other than that, it's one of my favourite JRPGs, i loved almost everything about it: the style and animations, the puns and attention to details in every dialogue (something i've always appreciated in the Dragon Quest games is the great work on the localization), and the combat. It's simple but it works so well.
 
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I think my one main criticism of the game (outside of adherence to the usual shitty tropes that I mentioned above) is how rough the Act 3 final boss is. It’s not one where clever strategy can get you through, if you aren’t of a high enough level with decent kit, it’s multiple moves a turn are going to wreck you. On both of my playthroughs, after I’ve finished tackling pretty much everything outside of a few of the more tedious ‘kill x using x pep power’ sidequests, I’ve still been about ten levels short of really being able to take on the final boss. Nothing 90 minutes of hunting metal slimes can’t fix, but I just don’t see why it was set at the level where you need to be a completionist for your party to be an appropriate level to finish the story.

Hilariously, for all that the story bangs on about how strong the luminary is, I leant on Erik’s doppleganger skill and critical claim, while oomphed, for massive damage this time.
 
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