We were ten hours into Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age when we realised something: it's been way too long since we played a proper, old school Japanese role-playing game -- especially on PlayStation 4. Despite being over 30 years old, the Dragon Quest series hasn't changed much at all on a fundamental level, and for some, that might be a criticism. But for us, here and now in 2018, Dragon Quest XI feels oddly refreshing. It's scratching an itch that we didn't really know we had, and boy is it good at scratching.
With its turn based battles, classic Dragon Quest music, and delightful art style, Dragon Quest XI is a joyous return to the good old days. Except now, it's wrapped up in some lovely looking modern graphics, and incorporates a number of quality of life improvements to bring the overall package up to speed.
Obviously, Dragon Quest XI isn't the only game on today's market that's still chasing a much more traditional experience. In recent years we've had the likes of I Am Setsuna dipping into the purest of JRPG blueprints, and just a few weeks ago, we had Octopath Traveller on the Nintendo Switch reminding everyone that, yes, there's still a lot of love for nostalgic JRPG adventures to go around. But Dragon Quest XI seems perfectly happy to fully embrace its roots, only making minor changes to its trademark structure.
It's funny, because where Final Fantasy has almost always sought to innovate, regularly re-imagining itself with each instalment, Dragon Quest -- another Square Enix property -- has stuck rigidly to its tried and tested formula. Both are reasonable routes to take, but in standing its ground for such a long time, it feels like Dragon Quest has somehow come full circle. Dragon Quest is Dragon Quest, and as strange as it may sound, there's honestly nothing quite like it in modern gaming.
And that's why we're finding this latest title to be such a breath of fresh air. Playing it is an exercise in appreciating the smaller things -- the stuff that we take for granted in many modern games that can be so stuffed with buzzword features. The addictive quality of exploring the world and levelling up your party, opening conveniently coloured bright red treasure chests, and smacking amazingly designed monsters until they expire in a puff of dark smoke -- it's just timeless.
We know that we're not very far into Dragon Quest XI, but needless to say, we're enjoying it quite a lot. The story's starting to pick up, and although it's predictable and admittedly cliche, it's told with a degree of charm and character that few games can equal. It's classic Dragon Quest, but at the same time, it's Dragon Quest built for 2018, and now that we've played it, we think it might be exactly what we wanted.
Are you excited for Dragon Quest XI? We'll have a full review for you soon, but until then, let us know if you'll be going on a grand adventure in the comments section below.
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If anyone's got any questions about the game just ask and I'll do my best to answer them.
I remember hearing about how some Dragon Quest veterans are happy about this game staying true to it's roots.
I've never played a main Dragon Quest game, so I'm excited to give this game a try.
Looking forward to this turning up tomorrow, the negatives that sites like polygon are saying are postives for me.
https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/28/17763578/dragon-quest-11-review-ps4-pc
I want to get this but I'm still busy with guacamelee 2, dead cells, fortnite, and of course spider-man (next week). I'll pick this up in the future though.
That's what I love about it. For me, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
With other big games releasing in the near future, I keep forgetting about this one. But I'm fairly sure that if I start playing DQXI then I'll love it.
Looking forward go getting this tomorrow. I used to love the old style jrpg's. FFX was my favourite. Blue Dragon was ok but seemed to drag on a bit. Lost Odyssey was also good.
Ive never played a Dragons Quest title before but from what ive seen this looks good. I like that there are no random encounters and you just fight the ones you want to. This should keep me busy till Tombraider comes out.
@ShogunRok do you prefer the English voices or Japanese?
@ShogunRok Is there an update/patch/internet connection required before I can play?
I've just moved and don't have internet until this weekend, but I am really tempted to pick it up tomorrow...
Now I'm busy with NiNo Kuni 2 and I'm glad I waited since now it has a reasonable difficulty level.
@ShogunRok I read elsewhere there's an option to increase difficulty changing monsters' stats. What can you tell us about that?
@Ridwaano The Japanese version had no dubbed dialogues so you can play this with English audio or just with mumbling characters as in the original release.
@ShogunRok My only concern is the saving. I know "old school" was all about the churches, but I only play about an hour a day. I know it's churches and statues now, their way of appeasing people with other things to do with their lives, but do they have fast travel to go along with the saving? Titan Quest had a 1 time 1 way portal, and Zelda BotW - which I'm assuming you didn't play - had one as a sidequst item that came in very handy. Though w/ the towers and jumping even in that huge Zelda world fast traveling to the towers was usually all I needed.
Amazon shipped my game about 90 minutes ago, due tomorrow, school starts Wednesday, homework follows. Are we going to be able to save at least every hour and move forward with the game? Constantly having to back track and then move forward again would suck.
@ShogunRok Have you seen if there's a synthesis system yet? I spent waaaay too long crafting items in DQIX.
I'm so hyped for this game it's unreal!Finally my most anticipated game of the year will hopefully be in my hands tomorrow and all other games will be put on pause (Apart from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on Switch).
This is the first hands on I have read as I haven't bothered reading any reviews so far because I'm going to enjoy it no matter what..but I'm glad to see its still classic Dragon Quest with no big changes like Final Fantasy.
@ShogunRok How are the characters? If they're even half as good as Jessica, Yangus, King Trode and co then it's all good.
@Ridwaano There are no Japanese voices — the game was totally voiceless when it released in Japan. So you can either play with English voices, or you can play with no voices.
I've thought the voice acting was good so far, though. One character's a bit iffy, but other than that, solid.
@Craggis19 No day one patch as far as I'm aware, so you should be good to go.
@andreoni79 When you first start a new game, you can activate modifiers to make it harder. You can make enemies much tougher, you can make it so you can't buy equipment, and a bunch of other stuff. You can toggle these modifiers individually, too, so you can choose to activate some but not others, depending on how hard you want the game to be overall.
Haven’t played anything in the Dragon Quest series before but this sounds like it might be just the kind of game I need right now. Will have to see how far I can stretch my budget...
@rjejr Save points are pretty regular, I think you should be able to play an hour at a time and have a save point nearby.
There's an autosave as well, but I don't actually know when the game decides to use it.
@nessisonett There is, although you can't just throw items together and see what comes out. This time, you need to find recipes before you can make stuff. You find them in chests or on bookcases.
@ApostateMage They seem great so far. There's a lot more party-based dialogue in this one compared to other Dragon Quest games, so right now, the characters do feel more fleshed out and interesting.
@ShogunRok Brilliant, thanks!
Between this and MH:Generations Ultimate I am set until the internet is installed/set for the next few hundred hours of gaming time.
@ShogunRok The main character is a male that does not speak as usual?
Also have they said if the preorder bonus will be sold seperetely on psn?
@suikoden I think that's a great review by the way. The review is pretty much asking the question: will this game finally mean the breakthrough for this series in the west, like Yakuza 0 and Monster Hunter World did for their respective series. Their answer seems to be no.
However, I think I like @ShogunRok a take on it even better, because the game takes a different approach, describing an experience that is rare to find.
The two articles complement each other well I think. Can't wait to read the review.
Excited for this, but I'll get it after Divinity. I'll be going in blind having seen only a few snippets of video and screenshots and the inevitable metacritic score.
@belmont Yeah, main character is always male and never speaks (although he does grunt and gasp from time to time).
No idea about pre-order stuff, unfortunately.
@ShogunRok Thanks. Hopefully the auto save is before bosses so if you die you can just replay them without having to go back 3 hours b/c you forgot to save or didn't know you needed to.
Playing JRPG for 20 years I've learned if there's a save statue before a door that means boss behind it, and I always save whenever I can, but every once in awhile a game comes along and puts the save statue after the boss battle. We hate those. But if there's a n auto save before and real save after that works too.
Those modifiers sound interesting. I'll never make anything more difficult myself but everyone was complaining about NNK2 being too easy. Even me until the end game, last area ramped up quick, I don't grind, just side quests.
@ShogunRok Thanks for the headsup. To be honest I never liked games with silent main characters. I can never connect with them. Characters like Link, Ruy or the DQ mains always seemed bland.
Ordered it last night. Cant wait to play it once the countdown stops! This and Persona 5 will keep me going for a looong time. Backlog be dammed
Plan on picking it up tomorrow can’t wait!!!
Sweet can't wait to get hold of this game. The world looks gorgeous. This is gonna give me warm fuzzy feelings all month!
@Steel76 Just curious, but is the pre-order bonus packed inside the game box?
@Steel76 Oh, I pre-ordered mine from Amazon and it has "Arriviste's Vest and 3x Seeds of Skill DLC" pre-order bonus. Thing is my game will only arrive during the weekend. So I wanted make sure if it was packed inside the box or sent via email from Amazon. Sometimes Amazon doesn't send the pre-order codes and it can be quite frustrating having to deal with their customer service since some of them don't know what pre-order bonus codes are.
Can't wait, hopefully my copy arrives as early as possible today. I've been looking forward to this game for so long that it doesn't feel real that it's here.
It looks amazing! I'm too excited for Spider-Man now, but I'll definitely pick this one up after I'm done exploring New York in a red costume. I'm actually split between getting Dragon Quest or God of War after Spidey. Well, that's a problem for future me.
Playing through octopath traveler still, but once I’m done this is next on my list. I love these games, from the NES releases up to the remakes on 3DS. So ready
@ShogunRok I hate to ask this, but can you compare to cursed king? What I mean by that is, is it as good as that game from what you've seen so far? I ask because that is one of my favorite games ever, and if it is close to that I'll definitely pick it up.
Never played a Dragon Quest before but this really does sound like something I'd enjoy at the moment. Just finished the original Ni No Kuni on PS3 and loved that, and I keep wishing Final Fantasy would go back to its roots, so DQXI might be exactly what I'm looking for. Unfortunately...there's just no way I can squeeze it in at the moment! But I'll get it when I can.
Will be my first Dragon Quest game but i'm looking forward to it.
@ellsworth004 DQVIII is one of my favourite games of all time too, and with that in mind, I'm really, really enjoying DQXI. It reminds me of playing DQVIII for the first time on PS2, in the best way possible.
I don't think I'm far enough in to determine whether it's equal to or better than VIII, but so far it's very promising.
I prefer the FF approach that keeps things fresh and exciting but since I've never played a DQ game, XI will be a brand new experience for me.
I tried to buy my copy during work! Twice!! But sold out! Been reserved at the old Kent road Argos...... lol 😂👍
Just arrived, strangely i noticed it doesn't support HDR but that's a very small point
@WanderingBullet 31 people on Amazon complaining about not getting an email for the pre-order codes. I'm more concerned about the in box code items not showing up in game. 😠
@Steel76 Sorry but I haven't seen a forum for DQXI yet.
I got my code in the box, down loaded it, installed it, but can't find the 3 seeds of skill or the healer or supplication cards. I'm about 90 minutes in, first campfire. Found the bandana and coat from DQ8 no problem. I started a new save and down loaded and installed them again, still nothing. Considering deleting the game and downloads and starting over, 90 minutes won't kill me but decided to ask around first.
@rjejr "31 people on Amazon complaining about not getting an email for the pre-order codes."
Oh, do you mind providing me with that link? I just emailed Amazon earlier. Hoping to get a reply from them soon.
@WanderingBullet I've never posted a question link before but here goes.
https://smile.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx33YL6PFQ0P2TF/ref=ask_dp_dpmw_al_hza
@rjejr Oh, it's on their product page. Thanks.
@ShogunRok @ellsworth004 I never did beat DQ8 but have alot of fond memories...one day I'll get around to beating it on PS2 or 3DS, unless they port it to Switch.
@Steel76 Thank you. I had gotten as far as - press triangle to bring up menu - and I did look in Misc but I never thought to look under System Settings. Maybe if I played Pokémon and got a lot of free gifts over the internet.
I'm gonna go try it now, at 6:53AM, b/c I gotta know.
@Steel76 Found'em. Haven't used the skill seeds yet, I'll wait awhile until I get a handle on the game, but those healer and supplicant cards came in handy for some quick leveling up, just put those on and set the game to auto-play itself, easy experience.
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