Japanese Role-Playing-Games are having quite a bit of a rebirth lately, with Final Fantasy titles still being developed or supported, quasi-RPG Kingdom Hearts III finally getting a release date, Octopath Traveler wowing RPG gamers, and of course, Dragon Quest XI.
Unlike the Final Fantasy series, Dragon Quest is not as well-known in the west despite being a cultural phenomenon in Japan. The franchise features beautiful worlds, stories, characters, and deep gameplay that the only real advantage of the Final Fantasy series is that Final Fantasy VII became a global phenomenon and things carried on from there. However, in this day and age where many RPG fans are longing for good old tactical, turn-based gameplay, this might be Dragon Quest’s time to gain wide-spread recognition because it offers those things and much, much more.
The main thing that gamers have to understand is that there is a reason why the Dragon Quest series is regarded as one of the deepest J-RPGs to have ever existed. Unlike Square Enix’s other famous RPG franchise, the series stayed true to its roots as a traditional role-playing game extremely well. As the latest in a series that practically created and popularized this type of game (Dragon Quest predates Final Fantasy by a year) Dragon Quest XI continues that “tradition of deep and complex mechanics that is refined enough to be accessible to newcomers to the series and traditional RPG gaming in general. I personally cannot remember the last time I played a Dragon Quest game (previously called Dragon Warrior) but after a slow start, I was able to enjoy the mechanics and adjust myself to a style of gameplay that I haven’t touched in years.
This accessibility without sacrificing depth is a mark of good craftsmanship: how the mechanics of the game are implemented matters a great deal to RPG fans. Sure, I loved Final Fantasy’s penchant for cinematic cut scenes, and constant “innovations” to the genre, but RPGs are meant to be “played”, and played for a long time and Dragon Quest XI offers you just that.
The game starts off slow and very old-fashioned (the decision to use MIDI musical tracks over symphonic ones don’t help matters), and if you haven’t played these types of games before or just haven’t for a long time, it will feel very strange. What it does (and it took me some time to figure this out) however, is to slowly orient you through the various mechanics and options instead of just throwing you into the shark tank, so to speak. It will eventually get really deep and complex, but you don’t have to worry since all you need is to be patient and you’ll eventually figure it out.
Eventually, things get a bit more complex down the road as your party grows and you gain access to advanced attacks and spells. The turn-based fighting has different set-ups that you can choose in the Tactics menu. You can either tell your party to attack with all that they’ve got or hold-back and be conservative about wasting MP. This game fights automatically based on your chosen strategy although you have a ‘manual’ option under the “Follow Orders” strategy to take full control of your party during fights. Eventually, you will figure out the best way to do combat, when to let the game take charge, and when to intervene.
The Character Builder makes you assign skill points to your party and unlocks attacks as well as other bonuses. In lieu of job classes, your party member’s personality is what dictates her default build. You have an aggressive magic user, and another who is a healer. You have an all-arounder too. Their skill-trees are determined by their traits and then some. For example, the Luminary (the character your control) can eventually learn how to fight with two swords. The same option may not be available to other party members whose development and progression are different from your own. How they develop and which skills open up to them is up to you.
Fast travel is available in the game and it is useful when you need to go from one map to another. But save points are fixed across the world (just like old RPGs) which are usually statues or churches in towns you visit. Replenishing your health and magic means you need to rest for the night in specific points like in an inn or campsite.
One of my favorite mechanics in the game is the Fun Sized Forge which is where you can build your own armor, weapons and other accessories. Each item can be forged via a mini-game and has you use specific materials you collect in the world. If you’re not up to the mini-game stuff however, these things can be bought in shops but they will cost you a lot of money that I recommend you just go through with forging.
Whatever the case, you will find yourself exploring the world of Erdrea anyway as you pick fights to level your characters up and procure items you can use to forge a more powerful weapon. Yes, this means you would have to grind, but this is part of the beauty of RPGs and games in general before micro-transactions became a thing. Each skill, weapon, armor, and accessories had to be earned by going through the world and actually playing the game as it should be.
The game does not force you to be on a very high level to complete the story missions though the higher-level bosses may pose a challenge. Fortunately, there are a lot of side-missions in the game that also award experience upon completion. The story and side missions will net you enough experience to be on a sufficient level for late in the game but the heart of the game is in the grind. In traditional J-RPGs, grinding is life, and I recommend players to go through it for the experience.
Dragon Quest XI has you born as the eponymous hero of legend, the Luminary. Meant to banish a forthcoming darkness, your quest starts as you have to travel to Heliodor to meet King Carnelian. You choose the name of the main hero, and he is deliberately silent so as to allow you to put yourself into his shoes a lot more.
Dragon Quest XI – like any true RPG – has a beautiful story that is filled with massive twists. Storytelling is quite the Dragon Quest tradition, and throughout its history, although much of the nuances and humor was lost during the localization of previous titles. For this game, however, Square Enix did a great job of bringing most of it over largely intact. This might be the reason why it took Square Enix a full year to get the localization done, because it required enormous work. A lot of names, for example, were changed from the Japanese original, but they were done to make the game accessible to the western audience. The changes that were made were done with a lot of respect to the original, and on the whole, they are actually minimal.
The visuals are one of the highlights of this game with bright high definition art by Akira Toriyama. While it eschews the realistic cinematic depictions that the Final Fantasy series has embraced, Dragon Quest XI decision for a cartoony style works because of how “clean” and vibrant it was. The music by Koichi Sugiyama brings you back to the RPGs of old, which is unfortunately undermined by the use of MIDI over symphonic music.
Verdict:
Dragon Quest XI isn’t just one of the best role-playing games of this generation: it is one of the best role-playing games of all time. From the beautiful story, well-developed gameplay, massive content, to its very deep but accessible traditional role-playing game mechanics. It rewards those who truly immerse themselves into the role-playing experience but also extends a hand to those who just wanted to play a nice game. A true role-playing game in every sense of the word, and a classic for the ages.