Dragon Quest XI - Video Review

HiddenX

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Work To Game checked out Dragon Quest 11:

Is Dragon Quest XI Worth Playing? [Review]



To put this plainly, Dragon Quest XI is the BEST RPG I've ever played. Period. It's not just the best Dragon Quest game or the best game I've played in 2018... It's the best RPG that I've ever played. I say this with the utmost confidence that Dragon Quest XI is better than Chrono Trigger, Better than both Final Fantasy VI and VII, and yes, even better than the amazing Legend of Zelda. These aren't words that I put together lightly, because everyone who sits down to play this game won't have the same experience that I have been blessed with over the course of my playtime. So is Dragon Quest XI a perfect game? No, but it's very close to perfect. It really flexes its muscles and shows me what is once again possible in an RPG. It is with that, I present my review for Dragon Quest XI.
More information.
 
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It's the best RPG that I've ever played. I say this with the utmost confidence that Dragon Quest XI is better than Chrono Trigger, Better than both Final Fantasy VI and VII, and yes, even better than the amazing Legend of Zelda.

Seems the reviews rpg experience is contained to Jrpg’s. If that’s the case this reviewers taste are too different from mine for thier opinion to be useful to me.

Having said that I do still want to play this and judge for myself.
 
I'm playing this game right now. Charming characters and a nice story make this game a fun experience. The turn based party combat is easy to handle, made for younger gamers. Crafting is implemented with a well made minigame.
 
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Can the game be made difficult enough to be challenging ?

I'm playing this game right now. Charming characters and a nice story make this game a fun experience. The turn based party combat is easy to handle, made for younger gamers. Crafting is implemented with a well made minigame.
 
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That's a bold statement, saying this game surpasses Final Fantasy six. It's on my radar to pick up, perhaps during the winter time. I keep reading great reviews, so I will get around to playing this.
 
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Somehow I could never really get into Dragon Quest series although I tried several times. Last attempt was I think with remastered DQ VII for 3DS. Not sure why as Im usually able to enjoy JRPGs a lot. Maybe I will give this a try anyway, when its out for Switch.
 
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To put this plainly, Dragon Quest XI is the BEST RPG I've ever played. Period.
This is bullshit.

Seems the reviews rpg experience is contained to Jrpg’s.
Doubt it as there are plenty of jRPGs better than this mediocrity. For example Tales of Berseria, Legend of Heores series (Tits and ToCS), Valkyria Chronicles 1&4, Yakuza 0, etc. Even Ni No Kuni 2 that has the awful endless dungeon to grind is more fun. It we'll look only at technical side and music (midi in 2018, lol), it should instantly hide from FF15.

The game is better than The Last Remnant, Dragon's Dogma and numerous RPGmakerlike clones I admit, but that doesn't make it the best rpg ever played period.
 
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It is challenging, but don't exspect Wizardry 7 difficulty.
There are no difficulty settings.

While it doesn't have the traditional Easy, Medium, Hard difficulties, it does have a system called "Draconian Challenges". You can opt for things like harder enemies, no armor, no shopping, etc. I'm playing with the harder enemies option, and the difficulty has been just right so far.
 
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Just to reiterate Zborno's comment - don't make the mistake I made and play on "normal" difficulty - it's just far too easy.

Indeed, much as I love Dragon Quest and have spent quite a few hours on XI, I have to admit that I have bounced off it for a while close to the end of Act 1 (there are 3 Acts, with the credits rolling after Act 2). I want to go back, but I found it a bit… erm… bland. Which literally pains me to type (I feel it in my stomach!).

A big part of this was the difficulty - I haven't lost a fight, nor been threatened in one (since near the beginning). Between pre-order bonuses and low difficulty, it's… erm… not well balanced. The Draconian Quest options are key to making it more fun, BUT CAN ONLY BE TURNED ON AT THE BEGINNING. You can turn them off later, but never turn them on.

So, take the plunge and at least turn on tougher enemies (or "only get xp from monsters above your level"). The former will make fights more meaningful, and the latter will prevent you overlevelling/grinding.
 
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After seeing thousands of 10/10 review scores and reading a few reviews, I tried this one out.

I guess I'm not a jrpg fan.

This game is a long cartoon where you play during interludes simply to unlock the next chapter of the cartoon. As far as I can tell (I did not finish it) there are zero choices to make outside of choosing skills to train.

It's colorful, it's cute and it's very polished. I had fun with it, but c'mon... it's one long cartoon!
 
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After seeing thousands of 10/10 review scores and reading a few reviews, I tried this one out.

I guess I'm not a jrpg fan.

This game is a long cartoon where you play during interludes simply to unlock the next chapter of the cartoon. As far as I can tell (I did not finish it) there are zero choices to make outside of choosing skills to train.

It's colorful, it's cute and it's very polished. I had fun with it, but c'mon… it's one long cartoon!

That's mostly what JRPGs are, and I love them because of that. The choices you have are usually character/party build oriented, not lore. JRPGs pretty much tell you a story which you experience (but not alter).
 
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That's mostly what JRPGs are, and I love them because of that. The choices you have are usually character/party build oriented, not lore. JRPGs pretty much tell you a story which you experience (but not alter).

There surely are JRPGs that play with story branching and c&c. For example today already ancient Chronotrigger had several endings ( if I remeber it correctly its Joxers favorite :biggrin: ). There are others, like Radiant Historia for example and Im sure its possible to find many more. And on the other hand there are many "western" RPGs that only pretend story branching and c&c is only artificial, which is often not so visible on first playthrough. Just wanted to mention its not all black&white :).
 
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You got thumb up regardless of your "joxer favorite" example. :)
Yes, not all jRPGs are totally linear.

But anyway…

After seeing thousands of 10/10 review scores and reading a few reviews, I tried this one out.

I guess I'm not a jrpg fan.
Being jrpg fan or not doesn't change the fact this game is just slightly above mediocre (puff puff scenes saved it). I have absolutely no idea where did you find thousands of 10/10s, but I've often posted how mundane DQ11 content is here on the forum. Why did you choose to trust thousands of 10/10 reviewers over someone who is always sincere when it comes to game impressions, dunno.
Maybe it's too late to say to you, but maybe someone still didn't buy DQ11 and is reading this. IMO among all jrpgs I've bought this year DQ11 is the lousiest one. Outdated designs. Utterly disappointing.

EDIT:
Went on metacritic. 80%?! That's way too overrated.
 
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There surely are JRPGs that play with story branching and c&c. For example today already ancient Chronotrigger had several endings ( if I remeber it correctly its Joxers favorite :biggrin: ). There are others, like Radiant Historia for example and Im sure its possible to find many more. And on the other hand there are many "western" RPGs that only pretend story branching and c&c is only artificial, which is often not so visible on first playthrough. Just wanted to mention its not all black&white :).

Yes of course, and there are western RPGs that play like JRPGs, it's not like devs say "hey we're making a JRPG so let's restrict choices", but I've played many many JRPGs and the vast majority just tell you a story.

Many have multiple endings but usually they're not about choices you made, but more like things you didn't do, so you get a 'normal' good ending, a 'true' ending (that you pretty much have to follow a guide to get in one playthrough), and a 'bad' ending (if you really screwed it up). There are others that have different 'endings' depending on which waifu you selected, etc. but don't expect a Mass Effect when playing a JRPG.
 
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Many have multiple endings but usually they're not about choices you made, but more like things you didn't do, so you get a 'normal' good ending, a 'true' ending (that you pretty much have to follow a guide to get in one playthrough), and a 'bad' ending (if you really screwed it up)
You forgot Nier Automata style where "true" ending is possible to get only by rince&repeat through the whole game over and over again. ;)
 
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You forgot Nier Automata style where "true" ending is possible to get only by rince&repeat through the whole game over and over again. ;)
Ah yes the staple of the JRPG genre. Had enough of that in the 1990's and 2000's. Nothing like having to replay a game three times just to unlock the secret true endings.

Don't forget the Neir games were based on the Drakengard games.

Link -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drakengard_(video_game)
 
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I'm playing DQ11 now. It's cool. It is ridiculously easy and sometimes it just seems like you are waiting for the next cutscene, but the exploration is nice if you like crafting because there are a lot of boxes and crafting stuff to gather. The game is easy and almost auto-plays itself but it is rather fun if you want something really light and the story is very decent.
 
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