Dragon Quest XI S on PS4 Is a Switch Port, No Upgrade for Existing Dragon Quest XI Players

Lol. Well, I just bought this game last week for £22 on Amazon.

I saw it on the Summer Sale today panicked thinking it would be cheaper, but saw it for £24 and thought I’d made the right choice.

Now this... Damn. I wish I waited.

I have access to my son’s GamePass which the game will be on at launch so on all accounts I made the wrong choice. Doh.

Wait we have to pay $40 for a few upgrades and the game looks worse than it did before? What is this crap?

@Kienda It’s debatable which is the better version. Consoled yourself with the fact that you’ve got the graphically superior version with less padding.

As much as I loved DQXI, I'm not paying 40 odd quid for it again, even if you can marry Jade and her lovely big.......legs.

Wtf? No, no I won't buy this game, I thought it's a new upgraded ps4 game like persona 5 royal (which I have no problem buying)

@Ryall yeah, but the graphical differences aren’t massive when looking at comparison videos.

The quality of life changes like faster battles seem like they will help me personally as time is limited. Not to mention the better soundtrack. Plus, I just would prefer the full experience.

I’m just a bit miffed especially as many of those who bought the game helped fund these releases and showed its popularity in the West which helped motivate Square Enix to push this onto other consoles.

Instead, Xbox players benefit whilst PS4 players are screwed over.

I dunno, just doesn’t sit right.

QoL improvements, extra story content, 2D mode, actually enjoyable music, etc. is worth dealing with downgraded lighting and textures.

I guess I'm not really surprised. DQXI S wasn't just DQXI with a few adjustments to graphical presets. It's an entirely different version of the game, built and optimized for a portable console.

On Switch, it's damn impressive. On PS4? ...well, like I said, it's still easily the better version of the game.

So awful Anti Aliasing and craptastic draw distance.

I played it first on PS4 physical, sold it and got the PC version for my collection on the cheap. No point in going backwards on everything else for a few story DLCs.

I bought in on both PS4 and Switch just because I want to support the series as much as I can so they keep releasing it in english, but I gotta say I was pretty underwhelmed with the upgrades of the definitive edition. It's cool to choose your waifu I guess, but the new side chapters didn't do much for me.

i am more horrified that this is going to be a visual downgrade from the vanilla ps4 version — it being a switch port and all. while it sounds like the resolution will be higher than the switch port, the fidelity will be a downgrade, such as textures, lighting, draw distance, shadows and anti aliasing. rather than work with the ps4 source code, s-e thought it was a good idea to rehash the switch port? s-e has lost its ****, that's for sure.

@Agramonte The Definitive Edition S extras are massively over rated. It was just Switch owners/websites giving it 10/10 just because it was exclusive to their version. Saw my girlfriend play the Switch extras after I had already finished on PC and I was massively underwhelmed.

The visual downgrade was pretty rough to watch even for just the few hours it took her to finish.

Honestly looking at the gameplay shots from the Xbox video, it looks totally fine? I was expecting worse based on all this, but it looks pretty close to what I remember from the PS4 version.

So let me get this straight. You're buying a game which is a downgraded port of an already existing PS4 game albeit with new stuff.

Well, that's just plain silly.

Having played the Switch version, the new stuff is what basically feel like DLC episodes showing a brief look at what each party member was doing while the hero was out of commission after Act 1. It was nice but nothing special. Then there's the 16-bit thing where you visit tiny areas based on previous DQs. You're really not missing much if you ignore it all, it's pretty tedious fetch quests where you visit SNES-like areas to hand stuff in. If this (a) wasn't a visual downgrade (I never stopped noticing all the LOD problems where NPCs and objects would visibly be built up as you approached them) and also (b) was sold as an upgrade, it'd be worth it. As it is, this is a waste of money.

It's funny how Square gets some things so right, but others so, so wrong... I'll stick to the discounted original version, thank you very much 😁

Yikes, well I'll watch a few comparisons to see just how bad it is. The good news is that thisll likely go on sale way faster and at better deals so I can just wait again

I don't get it though, why? I understand releasing a version with switch content but just a direct port on a system that already has the game. Just what's the logic behind this apart from of course pure laziness. All it does is confuse people that too on one of your biggest franchises.

I'm not too bothered about graphics and that, so the DQXI S version with the extra content and orchestral music would be the best one for me to buy.

Obviously better graphics is better, but it's not a deal-breaker for me.

Oh... That is very disappointing. This was my game of the showcase, but knowing that the Switch version is probably the better one to just buy (designed to be played at lower resolutions with lower graphical fidelity), I think I'll get the original on PS4 and S on the Switch. I waited all this time for nothing. 😢

Then again, it might have a separate Trophy list, so 2 Platinums... Hmm...

@Menchi Yep, PC version is the best of the bunch. And it is $30 at GreenManGaming right now. This is just SE being lazy and greedy.

So it'll look worse but have extra features? Surely they'd upgrade the graphical feature set from the Switch version. I might just go ahead and pick it up in the current sale after all

I already got the ps4 version.no thanks.word up son

What about Steam version? Is that also a Switch port?

@Agramonte And everyone make sure you mod in the orchestral soundtrack!

Wait a minute... we’re not the ones supposed to be getting the ports here... #sonymasterrace

I'm just glad they added the orchestral soundtrack. Hopefully they'll let us play it as intended on PS4 and not Switch. I can only hope...

waits for Digital Foundry comparison video

@Ralizah I was hoping that they would release the 3DS version in the West because I love those dual graphics but now I'll be able to play the Switch version on Xbox which looks fine in my opinion 😁. Probably, it's an enhanced port.

@EddieGreenheart Yes, it'll be interesting to check out so we know for sure.

@crimsontadpoles Square-Enix loves people like you.

Getting screwed over and still giving applause.

Square-Enix shareholders

@EddieGreenheart

Does anyone remember a time when Square cared about quality? Oh yes: the 90s.

It is an insult to port the game back with a downgrade instead of optimization in spite of the extras—might as well just buy the Switch version or let the title have remained a version exclusive.

Sadly if people buy this it will reward bad behavior, and people will.

@BlueOcean Yeah. I mean, it'll look like the Switch version running at 4K, probably. If you were cool with the 3DS version, this'll still look infinitely better. And, of course, 2D mode is beautiful, too.

@Menchi I never used it but I hear there is also HDR10 mods for it

@Flaming_Kaiser The graphics problem isn't something that I particularly care about, so I'm not a sucker for wanting this game. Claiming otherwise is just hater logic.

So much for the definitive version at least that way I don’t feel bad about having the vanilla version

I don't understand how this is bad but Persona 5 is fine. They literally added about the same amount of content and charged you for a full game.

Mind I still bought P5 and P5R and already own DQ11 and DQ11S so this doesn't matter to me really.

I'm going to buy it but I'll wait for a sale, seems lazy of them to do it that way.

@Severian I’m going to have to correct you on a few things..
Firstly, ‘90s Squaresoft wasn’t particularly “high quality”. Heck, even FFVII had glaring and jarring translation issues and terrible glitches/bugs. ‘90S Squaresoft also never backed up the source codes of their games, especially FFVIII and FFIX, which is why their remasters are practically only the models and there’s no original backgrounds to even enhance at all.
Secondly, Squaresoft went bankrupt (technically twice! First was resolved, second is what caused Enix to have to save them, and it was Sakaguchi’s fault because of Spirits Within being a financial failure), and Enix has always owned/developed Dragon Quest, and is still an entirely separate studio than literally ANY of the Final Fantasy dev studio teams. If you’re going to point fingers, at least point it at the ENIX part of SQUARE ENIX (and considering Enix is the reason Squaresoft franchises even still exist, and old Square dev studios still have their job), because Square has absolutely nothing at all to do with Dragon Quest, as Enix has nothing to do with Final Fantasy.
As far as the quality comment goes, there are plenty of examples as to SE showing exceptional high standard, FFVII Remake part one looks stunning, and their graphical/animation quality is hugely positive.
This instance, granted, is extra dumb on the part of the DQ dev team. But SE has shown better. World of Final Fantasy’s Maxima expansion, for example, was essentially akin to DQXI’s S added features, it was a DLC add-on for PS4 (which already had the original WoFF), and was a full price game when Maxima came out for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
This is literally just a massive oversight by the DQ team and Enix specifically, NOT the Square side.

So the definitive edition being released is a port of the Switch version, meaning better/same resolution as original PS4 release, but looking graphically the same as Switch, meaning less foliage and other details.

I am baffled by Squenix, but at the same time, I find this incredibly funny. I was waiting until payday to buy the Switch version (enjoyed the PS4 original version very much), but then saw this. Knowing what I do now, I think I will continue to buy it on Switch for portability now I know that graphically there won't be much difference. But still, this is amazingly baffling.

As a huge dragon warrior/dragon quest fan- I’m super bummed by this. It makes far more sense to just give us an upgrade... I’d gladly pay for that.

@MJA24 while you raise good points, my view of square is that they were great while they were on Super Nintendo. I saw the PlayStation era as hit or miss and then almost everything since PS3 as mostly miss. Granted, I saw the bugs and translation errors on FF7 and its general setting unappealing, but this is because my own preference was Chrono Trigger and FF6, along with Super Mario RPG being my view of what the Squaresoft quality was. If you define it as the PlayStation era, your view is a little later than mine for 90s Square.

@Severian I could not disagree more if i wanted i loved the PS era of Squaresoft i loved 7/8/9.😆

@Flaming_Kaiser not a problem. They just weren’t my cup of tea (I did like FF9 and Xenogears though). Too bad there were still too many bugs in those games you like and my own favorite Xenogears was essentially incomplete and forced out by mandate as seen in disc 2.

@Severian I never encountered a game breaking bug i guess i lucky i played quite a few RPG's. Legend of Dragoon, Koudelka, Legend of Legaia 1/2, Breath of Fire 4 i had so much time back then i wish i was young again. 😆

@Flaming_Kaiser BoF4 is my favorite of the series.

@Flaming_Kaiser No, I just thought you were as excited as I was haha

Wow this is the worst possible news. I don’t even want it anymore. Downgraded graphics? full price? Good lord I hope SE gets a ton of backlash and delays it to at least bring it up to par with the original PS4 version.

Terrible. This is pure laziness.

Whole buncha people in the comments who've never touched an actual program, I guess. The Switch version came out over two years after the original release (in JP, at least) - that's two years of ongoing changes, tweaks, and optimizations to the game's codebase all intertwined with and tested alongside each other. The S edition is simply a different program, as a cohesive whole, than the vanilla game.

You can't just do a ctl-f and search for "only the good changes, 'k?" and then simply copy-paste them back into the original version. The planning, reintegration, and comprehensive testing and bug fixing to do what you guys are asking would likely end up being an amount of work on par with the original effort to create the S version in the first place, and while that might've made sense to do for a pristine audience on the Switch who'd been waiting for a promised release literally since before the Switch itself even had a name, the market for a rerelease of this edition on a system in its last year of life that'd already had one version of the game for several years was bound to be... lesser.

Take what you're getting or leave it, but don't cry that anything more is owed to you.

@EddieGreenheart Nice. 😆 👍

@Menchi Hey, already up on PC Game Pass. If you want you can see how it looks on PC for $1

EDIT: I guess it is not

@Agramonte Not out till December though iirc? It's the usual "100mb placeholder download".

I wouldn't waste the € though.

@Menchi 😅.. I thought it was...I did not actually click on it. Beat me to the edit.

Haha,so in a few months we are going to buy the ps5 in order to play ps3 quality games just because square enix is lazy and wants quick money lol.
What's the point of the new consoles then?
Just stick with the switch and the ps4 if 'graphics don't matter'.

This is weird...
Technically this is the first official demaster that ever has been released on the same console as the original release.

Seems like a great time to buy the original PS4 version for $20 at Gamestop.

No one asked for Switch ports on the PS4...

@Severian It was fantastic and getting all dragons for the best ending. 😃 Myrmidon i loved that dragon. 🤗

@Flaming_Kaiser Very much so. A bit short compared to how my favorite in the series was 2, but still loved it notwithstanding. Order of my BoF faves: 2, 4, 1, 3.

@GamerDad66 Astral Chain and Bayonetta 2 are some ports I recall people wanted on PS4 instead of Switch (or even Wii U).

@Severian I only finished 4 thats the one i started with i bought the other parts on PSP but i just could not bring myself too finish it. Now im still waiting for something great like that in a new game lets not talk about the game in PS2. 😬

Same with Final Fantasy i started with 8 loved it bought 7 loved it too death but 8 was a close second. Bought 9 loved it not as great as 7 and 8 those were A 10/9,9 for me personally but 9 was a easy 9,5. Then came a busy life 10 was fantastic but i just didnt finish it. Final Fantasy 12 i was in the game for 30 hours and i found out because i openend a crate in the start of the game and that i could not get the main character Final Weapon and i was so pissed i quit straight away. I have the PS4 version in seal of 12 in seal 😆

@lordzand It's bad because they are porting the switch inferior version without modifying the graphics except for the resolution, if it was the ps4 version with the extras I wouldn't mind but paying for a 'ps4' game with ps3 graphics because of the switch, no thank you.This is the reason why we bought a ps4 and will buy a ps5 otherwise we would stick with a ps3.

Do yall think there will be a graphical update in the future? I don't if I should pull the trigger and buy the ps4 version for 30 bucks. It's on sale right now. I also don't have a switch but I'm deciding between ps5 and switch