Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition ( - Revengeance: Dream Drop Distance; and the Giant Egg)

If you don't mind not having the extra content I'd go PC. If it wasn't for it having extra content along with not costing that much more, I'd would have gone for the PS4 verison (would have it been in mind though if not on Switch?) as I thought Switch version looked rough and the art-style was making up for it.

Balladeer wrote:

27th I mean.  I presume I'm the only one who's picked this up, as everybody else is busy on other games

It's this one for me, but I'm glad to hear based on reviews that this truly is a definitive edition if you've not played the game before. I'll probably dip my toes into the series with the much cheaper first trilogy, but I can foresee myself playing this during a quieter spell next year, perhaps.

Have you never played a DQ before Jay? I seem to remember dearly departed Zero saying that DQIX on (I believe) the DS was a good place to start. Didn't do much for me, but you might give it a try!

masofdas wrote:

If you don't mind not having the extra content I'd go PC. If it wasn't for it having extra content along with not costing that much more, I'd would have gone for the PS4 verison (would have it been in mind though if not on Switch?) as I thought Switch version looked rough and the art-style was making up for it.

Are you playing it any further Mas? Or still drowning under everything else?

Going to get Link's Awakening done then likely move on to this as Astral Chain really hasn't done anything for me.

'Sfair. My aim is to finish Goose Game (soon), then alternate Zelda, Sayonara, and this.

Balladeer wrote:

Have you never played a DQ before Jay? I seem to remember dearly departed Zero saying that DQIX on (I believe) the DS was a good place to start.  Didn't do much for me, but you might give it a try!

I have not, no! I think Dragon Quest as a series hasn't done as good a job as Final Fantasy at making waves amongst Western audiences. I've always found myself gravitating towards FF games as they've come across as marquee releases whereas DQ hasn't felt like a big deal - at least not until DQXI.

Also most for some time have only been on handheld, which wouldn't have helped.

True, but then again, I've had a 3DS for five years so that's not exactly stopped me personally. It'll have made a difference in garnering a bigger audience, for sure.

The plot has thus far been full of the most obvious twists and turns. It's been enjoyably enough told, but it is very standard JRPG stuff. Also the King reminds me very much of some DBZ villain - not overly surprising, perhaps, but not all of the others are quite so obviously from Toriyama's magnum opus. The battling too remains very basic thus far: Octopath had the decency to change it up with the whole turn-burning thing.

Also what the heck's the accent of the thief meant to be?

The problem with Toriyama's art style for me is that it's almost too recognisable - it's difficult to not compare his character designs to the likes of Goku or Vegeta as I'm so familiar with Dragon Ball and those characters. Maybe a proper go at the Dragon Quest series would fix that.

Having said that not all of the others fall into that trap, the thief then took his hood off (this happens in the prologue it's not a massive spoiler) and Jesus Christ.

Spoiler:

Balladeer wrote:

Having said that not all of the others fall into that trap, the thief then took his hood off (this happens in the prologue it's not a massive spoiler) and Jesus Christ.

Spoiler:

...I'm going to have severe problems in not comparing every character in DQ to a Dragon Ball equivalent, aren't I?

Spoiler:

The art doesn't help!

I've just got into the next area in the overworld.  It's a tropical swamp, and it has... exactly the same music as the rolling fields. That said, the monsters are really cute - almost too cute to kill. Little frolicking tiger cubs...

I've also unlocked the crafting functionality.  I know it's overdone in games these days, but I still feel a little rush of satisfaction when I craft a thing.

I think I'll play the original trilogy before jumping on board with this as I've heard it does call back to the first three games semi-regularly. I've also heard it's a massive love letter to the series as a whole, so perhaps I need to check out some of the DS/3DS games too. Regardless, this is 100% one I'll be buying down the line and that's not just wishful "one for a sale" chatter either!

It's still early days yet, but I've been pleasantly surprised with a couple of plot things the game's done. The plot itself is as standard as they come, but it's told quite well - so when, for instance, the game obviously flags a very overdone JRPG trope, it doesn't, at least at first, play out exactly as expected - so that when it does play out it hits harder.

I'm less pleasantly surprised with a couple of Dragon Quest tropes that should have been binned long ago. We've talked about items needing to be allocated to bags, another layer of meaningless busywork; but there's also the complete lack of save points in dungeons, especially before the boss. Luckily the first boss fell pretty swiftly, but it's not a good look.

That part about each character having their own item pool as opposed to a shared one seems like it's a thing throughout the whole series and only wasn't noticeable in DQ1 as you've only got the one character to worry about it. DQ2 (which I'm playing and enjoying as apparently the Switch/Mobile version made some great improvements from the original) has that issue. It's not a big deal for me as I've played other RPGs that use that same idea, in particular the Mother series and of course, you know my thoughts on that one.

For the most part though, from what I've heard of the Dragon Quest series as a whole, the series openly sticks to conventions as opposed to innovating and refreshing itself. I was listening to a podcast which suggested that to truly make waves in the West, Dragon Quest needs its Monster Hunter World moment where it takes what makes the series so beloved in Japan and by the hardcore Western audience but makes it fresh and appealing to new eyes. Final Fantasy had that moment back with FFVII where it moved into 3D and introduced those - for the time, natch - stunning cutscenes and backgrounds along with building upon the characters and battle system that the series was known for.

Jay's right it needs that Final Fantasy VII moment.

I'm posting as I really shouldn't have bought this, not that it's not a good game but I missed on PS4 because too many games, was going to do same on Switch till I played the demo.

I've not touched it since and I don't know when I will, the games length doesn't help either. Guess only good thing doubt it go down in price and I've supported the series in the west.

I only just played the demo this last week and still have about 8 hours of it left available to me so I'll take my time with that before I move on to buying the full game, good first impressions though.

masofdas wrote:

I've not touched it since and I don't know when I will, the games length doesn't help either. Guess only good thing doubt it go down in price and I've supported the series in the west.

I’m alternating it with a couple of smaller games and I find that works well. For all that 60h+ JRPGs can be intimidating, they can be broken into chunks just like any other game. I generally play for an hour/session or so, then switch *click* to something else.

Just reached the Japan knock-off region, where... everybody speaks in haiku. For all that Jay and I have justifiably slagged the series off for not changing as much as it should, the weird regional stereotyping must never be lost. Never.

Yeah it does go well with shorter (don't like the term smaller) games but just what I'm playing now Outer Worlds, Afterparty, Luigi's Mansion 3, Close to the Sun (this is about 6hrs) that I sort of sooner be playing then Death Stranding will be here, then Pokemon which is a JRPG as well.

Basically too many games, December looks rather dead though, just it will then be sandwiched between Pokemon and Tokyo Mirage Sessions.

I'm 50+ hours into this, and it is a lovely yarn. I rarely use 'Follow Orders' in fights though, instead opting for characters to use different tactics. Which is a bit more autopilot, but I wouldn't have the time/commitment to finish it otherwise, and it means I can get stuck more into exploring, forging, and dicking about.

It's also one of those RPGs that - predictably - 'ends' (meaning that wasn't the end at all). From what I've read there are effectively 3 parts to it, and you understand what that means when you get to those points of the story. Does that make sense? Anyway, I'm on Part 3. Took a break to inhale Pokemon Shield, but will go back to it soon.

I'm back to this. The second boss is called Jarvis and makes a lot of jar puns. This seems familiar...

I'm still not really grabbed. Might try playing it in 2D.

Just picked this up for a cheap physical price.

Haven't touched a game like this in a little while so pretty excited to get lost in it!

Anyone got any no spoiler tips? I think DQViii is the last one I played

I really enjoyed it when it first released but for the life of me I can't think of anything that needed tips for, a pretty straightforward trad RPG really.

That is great news