Dragon Quest XI Review for PlayStation 4

If you haven’t played Pokemon recently, there’s a good chance that you haven’t picked up a true turn-based JRPG in a while. The genre has certainly seen better days in Western gaming markets, but it may just be ready for a comeback. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, Square Enix’s eleventh entry into its Dragon Quest franchise, succinctly encapsulates the salient elements of the JRPG genre. It shows how turn-based JRPGs have the potential to not only subsist but also to thrive, even amidst the releases of Triple-A FPSs like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and stealth games like Hitman 2.

From its complex plotline to its vast setting, Dragon Quest XI offers players a wealth of quality content worth delving into. Players can expect to spend upwards of 60 hours in Erdrea, the mythical kingdom in which the events of Dragon Quest XI‘s plot take place, in order to merely finish the game’s main story. While that figure may initially engender skepticism in potential players as to whether the story is padded with extraneous errands, that notion couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The heart and soul of Dragon Quest XI, the JRPG’s main plotline is very well paced and keeps players thoroughly invested in its outcome. The story begins as a quintessential bildungsroman, with a 16-year-old Hero (players can name the Hero whatever they please) and his best friend Gemma climbing a mountain called the Cobblestone Tor in what constitutes a coming-of-age ritual in the small village in which he grew up. When the pair reach the mountain’s summit, they’re attacked and are only saved when a mysterious symbol on the Hero’s hand lights up. After telling the village elders about what occurred, the Hero is told two things: that he is the reincarnation of a hero called the Luminary and that he needs to go to the nation’s capital to consult with the king. When, instead of celebrating the return of the Luminary, the king declares the Hero to be the Darkspawn and imprisons him, the story takes off.

From when the Hero wakes up on the cold floor or his jail cell, he embarks on a complex, harrowing journey that sees him travel throughout the entirety of Erdrea. He meets interesting companions that join his roving party and enhance the dialogue with their distinct personalities, and ultimately must prove his innocence in the eyes of the king and stop the ascendancy of the Dark One. The story is a powerful tale of love and redemption, of noble deeds and friendship. Aside from a slight penchant towards the melodramatic, Dragon Quest XI’s plot is executed nearly flawlessly and makes the game worth playing on its own.

While Dragon Quest XI’s storyline itself is extremely captivating, the environment it is situated in is also beautiful. Erdrea is rendered in great detail, and it’s obvious that the developers spent much time making the world as rich and rife with life as possible. Exploring the world for curiosity’s sake, however, can lead players to feel a bit restricted. Despite being vast, Erdrea is not an open world. Players will get turned away from areas they are not supposed to traverse to yet, and will often encounter an invisible wall that prevents them from taking any route other than the pre-laid path.

Besides for engaging with the plotline and setting, players will be spending a large chunk of their time in Dragon Quest XI fighting against a multitude of enemies. Square Enix attempts to modernize turn-based combat in Dragon Quest XI, sectioning off a portion of the map whenever a battle begins and allowing players to move about it while fighting. While this idea could have had Dragon Quest XI straddle the line between turn-based and free-flowing combat, there is no actual consequence to moving around. Striking an enemy from behind doesn’t inflict additional damage, dodging to the side when a foe attacks doesn’t increase the chances that it misses, and so on. This feels like a missed opportunity, even if it does indicate that Square Enix is hewing as close as possible to the turn-based combat formula employed in the JRPG’s of old.

Since this game is an RPG, players will need to level up to stay competitive against the enemies they encounter as they progress through the storyline. So, the mechanism that enables players to choose how many characters to personally control (which can be as few as zero and as many as all of the members of their party) turns out to be extremely useful. Players will inevitably need to level up to stand a chance in an upcoming boss fight, so the fact that Dragon Quest XI offers them the option of skipping over the tedium that is battling random enemies solely for experience points is a huge plus.

But when players decide to actually take the reins, fights can get intense fairly quickly. Players need to manage the line between casting spells, using abilities, and attacking with a weapon such as a sword, knife, or boomerang. Fighting with spells or abilities costs MP, so players will need to weigh whether it’s worth it to save up for an opportune moment or to just unleash the strongest moves they possibly can. Spells, which can be unlocked by spending ability points gained by levelling up a player, are extremely varied in that some can heal party members and others can inflict damage in a variety of different ways.

But the best combat moves in Dragon Quest XI are known as Pep Moves. Players need to get their Hero and an accompanying character pepped up to have the option of utilizing a Pep Move. Pep Moves can inflict serious damage, heal everyone in the party, or convey a variety of other salutary benefits, and can almost singlehandedly turn the tide of a given battle.

Dragon Quest XI is a masterpiece of storytelling only slightly hampered by a tendency towards the histrionic and a map that, while scenic and varied, curbs a player’s exploration. The game’s modernization of turn-based combat does fall a bit flat, but the combat system it does possess is both deep and fun to engage in. It is an archetypal JRPG that, while not perfect, is definitely worth playing.

Rating: 9.1/10

Here is the New Dragon Quest XI Launch Trailer “A Legend Reborn:”

DRAGON QUEST XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is now available for PlayStation 4 and Steam .

Jori Grossman

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I'm a recent graduate of Columbia University. Gaming has been a passion of mine my entire life; I enjoy everything from RPGs and FPSs to stealth and narrative-driven games. I love the deeply immersive quality that good video games inherently possess, and am looking forward to highlighting games worthy of acclaim. When I'm not studying or reading, you can catch me playing games like Uncharted, Dishonored, The Witcher 3, and Far Cry.

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