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Dragon Quest XI S is one of the best JRPGs I’ve ever played, period. Personally, this is my first entry in the series, and from what I understand, this game is the culmination of all the past Dragon Quest games, being both modern and old-school in all the right ways.
Contrary to the Final Fantasy series, where each entry can be widely different from one another, all the main Dragon Quest games share the same foundations, making it more cohesive and refined over the years.
There is just so much to like about this game. It has a simple but good story, with a great cast of characters. The graphics are good, although they’re downgraded for the original release. But it barely matters because the Definite Edition is just better everywhere with only this exception. Also, since you’re playing on PC, there are mods available that improve the visuals closer to the original game. But the cell shaded graphics are nice, coupled with the Akira Toriyama character designs, similar to the Dragon Ball series.
The music is also great. The original release suffered from the lack of symphonic tracks, but that’s not the case on the Definitive Edition. I think that alone is better than having better graphics because you’ll notice the music more. There’re are a lot of tracks borrowed from past Dragon Quest games, and the music gets a bit repetitive, but I really enjoyed this soundtrack.
Combat is turn-based, but this game proves that this style isn’t outdated. It’s simple, yes, but functional and very enjoyable, with various options to auto-combat and speed options. It’s flashy and the animations are great. A great case of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
This game has one of the best crafting systems I’ve seen. It’s not complicated, but the fact that crafting is basically an entire minigame, it just adds more meaning to it. And speaking of minigames, this one probably has the best casino. The minigames aren’t that special, but they are rigged to be in your favor. Not only in the regular prizes, but in the Jackpots as well. They can still take a long time to happen, but they don’t deal with real odds. Overall, the house loses long-term.
But perhaps what I enjoyed the most was the game design. It’s more subtle, but it’s stuff like organized item trackers that really help if you’re aiming for 100% completion. Also, very uncommon for JRPGs, there’s barely any missables. For example, treasure chests that you may miss in unrepeatable dungeons get relocated somewhere else, so those aren’t missable. Or, if you didn’t fight a specific weaker enemy that later gets replaced for a stronger one, defeating that stronger version will unlock the bestiary entry for the weaker one as well. It’s a lot of attention and care like this throughout the game that I really enjoy. Lots of small details that add up.
The Definitive Edition also adds a lot of quality-of-life features, like a shortcut for common commands, a photo mode, having the party following you on the field, and the ability to freely change outfits. Not only that, but it also adds a ton on new stuff. Things like Japanese voices (although I recommend English, because of the different accents), extra chapters focusing on some party members, the symphonic soundtrack I mentioned earlier, and the biggest one, a 2D mode.
The 2D mode allows you to play the entire game in 2D! Granted, it’s not completely new, since it was present in the Nintendo 3DS version of the game, exclusive to Japan, but in practice this adds a radical new way to play the game, with sprites and gameplay more similar to the SNES games. And that’s awesome because it basically adds an entire new version of the game. You can also swap between modes if you want, however you can only go to past predetermined points.
My recommendation is to just play in 3D, because it’s much richer with all the voices and facial expressions, but after finishing the game you can swap to 2D and play again from the beginning, and since you retain everything except for that story progress and key items, it essentially acts as a new game plus. It has some limitations, but it tells the exact same story, it doesn’t miss anything. All treasures refresh on swapping, allowing for some item exploits, like duping unique items.
But there’s no need for that, because the 3DS exclusive content also got added, mainly the Tickington content. It’s basically a series of side quests that take place in short areas from all 10 past Dragon Quest games, plus some super bosses at the end. It’s a lot of extra content, and it’s played only in 2D, so even if you’re playing in the original 3D version, you’ll also get a taste of the 2D mode without the need to swap modes by playing this content.
The Definitive Edition also released with a cheaper price, even with all the added content and features. Unfortunately, owners of the original version couldn’t upgrade. I usually don’t buy games on release, and this one just further proves my point. Not only it’s a much superior version, but it’s also cheaper. Even without a sale, this is an easy recommendation, there’s a lot of value in here.
And the cherry on top, while it runs with Steam by default, the game can also run without it, essentially making it DRM-free! You’ll need to manually move the save files if you want to retain progression though, but this is a great pro-consumer practice, and games on Steam that can run without DRM should deserve that recognition.