I’ve spent the past week casually streaming my adventures in Dragon Quest XI – clocking
in over 30 hours so far, which any Dragon Quest veteran knows to mean that I’ve barely
scratched the surface of the game.
But I’m not going to let that stop me from making a video.
So far I’m completely in love with the experience, leading up to the game’s release I had managed
to avoid all trailers and perelease-reviews.
There was a hairy day on Twitter when the embargo broke and everyone was retweeting
minor-spoilers but I managed to dive into the newest installment of my beloved Dragon
Quest series with fresh eyes.
I had seen the new characters, of course.
Yet I wasn’t sure what to make of them based on design alone- they all appeared derivative
of past heroes and I was feeling a bit meh about the whole party.
Then they spoke.
Which is funny because in Japan the game contains zero voice overs, and the imbued personality
of the voice actors is precisely what’s won me over in the localization.
Veronica’s sassy stubbornness, Erik’s dry sarcasm, and Slyvando’s fabulous enthusiasm
wouldn’t be half as impactful in text alone.
Cor blimey, they’re no Yangus, but this cast easily ranks among my favorite in the
series.
I haven’t gotten far with the main plot.
We’ve reach the time filler portion of the classic JRPG setup that has my party globetrotting
around the world fetching orbs.
I know that the silent protagonist is “the chosen one” but he, like the story have
taken a back seat to the undeniable charm of the supporting characters.
With a cast this likable I don’t care that the plot points are familiar and predictable.
Every cutscene is an entertaining diversion from the grind of battle and exploration.
But as bright and cheery as my party is the game has repeatedly delivered tragic gut punches
right to the feels.
If you’re new to the series don’t be misled, Dragon Quest may look perky with its adorable
smiling mascot but Yuji Hori is a sadistic heartbreaker.
Gameplay wise, eleven is everything I love about Dragon Quest.
Nothing says adventure to me quite like casually roving the countryside battling whimsical
monsters.
The game’s cell shaded illustrative aesthetic absolutely oozes with Toriyama’s signature
style.
Early on you’ll run up against sabercubs, adorable kitten enemies that flop over and
mewl when they die.
I was personally torn between battling them- because their animations are so freaking cute.
And not battling them- because hurting them made me feel like the monster.
Trolls make a familiar return, I love when they lose their footing and land flat on their
backs.
It’s an animation I’ve seen a hundred times, but it never fails to elicit a giggle.
The bosses have- so far- all been huge, colorful, creatures.
Each more fantastic than the last.
And despite their friendly demeanor, they’re starting to get nasty.
I died twice against an asshole spider monster before finally stumbling on the right strategy
to scrape through the encounter.
Which is all so-very Dragon Quest.
The battle system gives the player complete tactical control.
You choose who fights, which weapons they favor, which skills they learn, and if your
choices aren’t working out you can swap everything mid-battle and try something new.
The system is flexible and I love it.
Each character can specialize in one or more of select weapon types.
These weapons each have pros-and cons.
Erik my thief for example, can either use boomerangs to hit all enemies for less damage,
or knives for harder single enemy attacks.
You can focus on developing his critical hit percentage for infrequent massive damage boosts
or bolster his deftness and dedicate his time to pick-pocketing crafting components from
enemies.
There’s no wrong approach.
Different builds are better suited for different needs.
And it’s up to the player to decide how to best use the tools available.
The pep system is new to this particular game.
Each time your character gets hit they have a chance of going into a pep stance, with
their odds of peppiness increasing with each subsequent blow.
Pepped characters have heightened stats, and deal a bit more damage.
But more exciting they unlock powerful pep powers, some of which require multiple pepped
characters to use.
Because all this is random, and infrequent the pep system is less useful than the tension
abilities from Dragon Quest 8.
But you also don’t have to waste a bunch of turns doing nothing in order to pep up
either.
Instead of being something you can count on– other than counting on the bosses to go pepped
and kick your butt- the system is more like a fun reward that shakes up the monotony of
your current battle routine.
The only real downside is the game’s penchant to request you pull off specific pep powers
against particular enemies as a quest objective.
Because of the whole randomness of the system it can take multiple battles to synchronize
your pepped team and it’s just annoying.
On the other hand it is totally possible to pep up characters against trash mods, toss
them into your reserve party, and bust them out again in a boss fight.
I told you Dragon Quest was all about the strategy.
I also love the new improvements to the formula – every save file resumes with a quick recap
of your current adventure.
A feature sorely needed by every long form RPG ever.
No longer shall we be forced to abandon our quests upon forgetting where to go after an
extended gaming pause.
Serial television has had “previously on….”
Introductions for decades, and now so do JRPGs.
I just hope this is a feature that becomes commonplace in the genre.
And it’s such a little improvement, but that’s what Dragon Quest XI is: a very traditional
JRPG with a few slight modernizations.
Like jumping.
In a JRPG.
I can finally vault over minor environmental obstacles.
But not all of them, which is actually a little weird.
There’s no visual indicator of which ledges are jumpable, so occasionally you’ll be
awkwardly jumping around testing your boundaries and sometimes you’ll miss out of the way
chests because the necessity to jump is so infrequent you’ll forget it’s even possible-
until you go to mount your horse and hit the wrong button anyway.
Which, by the way yeah, mounts are a thing.
The horse is a nice feature, scattered around the over world are these bell stations you
can ring to summon a horse, which is great because it really speeds up travel time- especially
in the hours before you learn the fast travel “zoom” spell.
But again it’s a little awkward, if you play anything like me you’ll already be
halfway down the path before you remember the horse and then have to double back just
to summon him.
I wish I could whistle instead, and have the horse come to me.
But in addition to horses the game also includes monster mounts, which are ridiculously fun
to ride.
You’ll occasionally run into enemies surrounded by gold sparkles, and these baddies are yours
to control after defeating them in battle.
Monster mounts have special abilities which are useful, and sometimes necessary for exploring
dungeons.
Skeleton spiders can climb walls, hornets can fly over water, and mechanized eggs can
jump higher than the hero.
So if you’re in a dungeon, and see a chest you can’t reach, just look for the nearest
gold sparkly.
Chances are you just need a helping uh… claw.
But the most fun I’ve had with the game has been with the crafting system.
I don’t know what it says about me that I avoid all the monsters on the map as I zip
between sparkly harvest points.
I reserve my grinding for big mobs that are more likely to carry valuable crafting components,
and refuse to wear naught but crafted equipment.
Especially if said equipment changes my characters physical appearance.
I’m a sucker for cute costumes, to the point that I carry around tougher utilitarian armor
solely for boss encounters.
Because when you can swap equipment mid-battle, why not?
I love collecting recipes, and hunting down every NPC, red book, and breakable barrel
in existence has become a greater mission to me than what I assume will ultimately turn
out to be a quest to save the world from some jerkwad wizard-dragon.
If you’re not currently playing Dragon Quest XI, what’s wrong with you?
It’s a fantastic and addictive throw-back to the great RPGs of yester-year and sure
to be hallowed as a new classic in its own right.