Finally Done with Dragon Quest XI

28 Nov 2019

After getting hooked on the ridiculously long demo, I dove into Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age when it came out for the Switch at the end of September. 118 hours later, I’m finally done with the game!

This game is great! You build a unique cast of characters and the game does a good job of developing each of their personal stories. The world is big but doesn’t feel like it’s repeating itself; the overworld music being shared across snowy tundras and dry deserts doesn’t help here though. The story - divided into three acts - takes a while to go through. Some plot twists are expected and easy to see coming, especially for those who have played previous Dragon Quest games but the end of Act 2 really took me by surprise.

My gripes with the game are relatively minor, but if ever addressed, would make Dragon Quest XI an all-time great:

• A repetitive soundtrack - the battle theme being reused in the horse races takes the cake here for me.
• A silent protagonist - give him a voice!
• Painful item management - transferring items from the Item Bag to each character is annoying.

Waiting for the Definitive Edition on the Switch was worth the wait as it includes many quality-of-life improvements and additional content. This includes an optional superboss, the Timewyrm, that challenges you both in strong it is and in how quick you can defeat it. I took it down in 43 actions which earned me the Warp-Speed Wyrminator accolade. Accolades are the in-game trophy system; we should all continue to pray for Nintendo to one day build a proper trophy system. 🙏

Overall, I am very pleased with Dragon Quest XI. It’s a JRPG through and through that I very much enjoyed.