Dragon Quest XI

[sa cyred]

You're not the only one. Speaking from the perspective of a NES player, DW1 is better than DW2. DW2 is really unbalanced. The third game is completely awesome though and I highly recommend it.

Great! I heard about 3. Almost done 2, so I am just guiding it to beat it. Yea 2 is definitely abit of a drag. I like the multiple party thing, but I am just trying to push through it.

 

[member 157595]

Great! I heard about 3. Almost done 2, so I am just guiding it to beat it. Yea 2 is definitely abit of a drag. I like the multiple party thing, but I am just trying to push through it.

I haven't played X (never released here and don't like MMO's anyways) nor XI, but I'd personally rank the games in the following tiers:

5, 8 (MUST plays; two of the greatest RPG's ever made)
3,4,6,9 (all terrific games and if you don't play them you're missing out; the original VI is better than the DS remake though, I don't like that they took out the monster recruit option)
7 (there's a lot to love but the game is INSANELY long)
1 (primitive but has a charm that is hard to match)
2 (I like the concept but the game is simply painful to play at times)

 

[sa cyred]

I haven't played X (never released here and don't like MMO's anyways) nor XI, but I'd personally rank the games in the following tiers:

5, 8 (MUST plays; two of the greatest RPG's ever made)
3,4,6,9 (all terrific games and if you don't play them you're missing out; the original VI is better than the DS remake though, I don't like that they took out the monster recruit option)
7 (there's a lot to love but the game is INSANELY long)
1 (primitive but has a charm that is hard to match)
2 (I like the concept but the game is simply painful to play at times)

Awesome thanks man. Looking forward to playing them. Glad to know two is the worse. I like the storyline and reliving old parts of 1 (how the world changed etc), but there is literally NO direction at all. Im not expecting it to hold my hand, but literally nothing to push the story.

 

[X66]

Oh god damn it. You guys are going to be responsible for my inevitable divorce...

There are some things the significant other just has to accept.

Although I have to admit I was pretty embarrassed playing Xenoblade 2 in front of my wife, every time I unlocked a new blade and it was just another female with a ton of cleavage showing, there was no way to defend it lmao.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

About 10 hrs in to DQ:XI.

I'm liking it a lot but I don't think its better than part VIII.

The controls are a little clunky.

Graphics and art is amazing as always. Music is top notch. Combat is still fun.

The skill tree is complete garbage.

 

[The Macho King]

About 10 hrs in to DQ:XI.

I'm liking it a lot but I don't think its better than part VIII.

The controls are a little clunky.

Graphics and art is amazing as always. Music is top notch. Combat is still fun.

The skill tree is complete garbage.

I actually like the skill tree. I mean, I'd probably prefer a job system, but I think this is a solid compromise to allow characters to feel different from both each other and not to samey across playthroughs.

I'm not super far into it yet though.

 

[misterchainsaw]

I'll write a fuller review when I finish it, but right now I'm a good ways into the game (35 hours or so) and it just feels like there's so much missed potential. It's not a bad game by any means (I don't finish bad games), but so far it falls well shy of what I'd consider "great".

Probably doesn't even crack my top 3 JRPG's for the console at the moment, TBH.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

I'll write a fuller review when I finish it, but right now I'm a good ways into the game (35 hours or so) and it just feels like there's so much missed potential. It's not a bad game by any means (I don't finish bad games), but so far it falls well shy of what I'd consider "great".

Probably doesn't even crack my top 3 JRPG's for the console at the moment, TBH.

Wow!

 

[Master P]

Just picked this up yesterday. This game couldn't have come out at a better time for me. It just manages to hit every itch i've been having. I know spider man and Red Dead 2 are coming out but I just can't get excited for them. I think its because i've "been there, done that" with those types of games and its been so long since i've had a legit traditional jrpg to dig into. Regardless, this game is looking like its gonna be one of my all time favorites.


Also, I would gladly pay for a DLC that added the orchestrated music. I know its complete bs that its not in the game already but I do think that it would be the cherry on top.

 

[RandV]

I'll write a fuller review when I finish it, but right now I'm a good ways into the game (35 hours or so) and it just feels like there's so much missed potential. It's not a bad game by any means (I don't finish bad games), but so far it falls well shy of what I'd consider "great".

Probably doesn't even crack my top 3 JRPG's for the console at the moment, TBH.

I'm curious what your criticisms are. I won't be able to play it till I upgrade my PC, but when I'm looking into an overwhelmingly positive reviewed game on Steam I always like to see a well reasoned negative review to balance things out and get a better idea what I'm looking at. I'll probably fall into the category of people who think DQXI is great either way, but still.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

I'll write a fuller review when I finish it, but right now I'm a good ways into the game (35 hours or so) and it just feels like there's so much missed potential. It's not a bad game by any means (I don't finish bad games), but so far it falls well shy of what I'd consider "great".

Probably doesn't even crack my top 3 JRPG's for the console at the moment, TBH.

Agreed. Game got way over hyped.

I still think it's a solid game, but expected more.

 

[misterchainsaw]

I'm curious what your criticisms are. I won't be able to play it till I upgrade my PC, but when I'm looking into an overwhelmingly positive reviewed game on Steam I always like to see a well reasoned negative review to balance things out and get a better idea what I'm looking at. I'll probably fall into the category of people who think DQXI is great either way, but still.

Right now my biggest issue is with the games "dungeons". There aren't all that many, which is a minor quibble (especially when the field is as gorgeous as it is), but what's much worse is the quality of them. Sure, they're as beautiful as the field, but not only do you get the maps for them as soon as you walk in, but they are all extremely straight forward and linear - even the ones that have switches that nominally change the shape of the dungeon make it so you can only hit the switch once, making it more "hit switch, follow only path available, hit switch, follow only open path, etc" til you get to the end.

A secondary quibble is that the narrative just isn't that good, IMO. I'll try to be as vague as possible to avoid spoilers herw. I did have a major event happen last night, but before that and after a decent first 10 or so hours, the next 20-30 hours of the game are "wander to here, solve this towns problems" without a lot of connection to the games' larger story. A lot of the vignettes are decent enough on their own, but put together it makes your character feel like a personality-less errand boy - to an extent even greater than other RPG's with silent protaginists. They also go to a certain plot device that I won't spoil at least one too many times in the mid-game.

There'a a few other minor quibbles, but that's probably the two major things that have been bugging me. The dungeons in particular - I can't believe they both made them so simple and immediately give you a completed map the second you wander in.

EDIT: I said earlier it probably wouldn't make my top 3 JRPG's for the console. I understand that there's a large gap for traditional AAA turn-based RPG's in the market, and in that subsection, it probably is the best on PS4 (what's it's competition, World of Final Fantasy?). But I have a hard time saying it's objectively a better game than Ni No Kuni 2 or even I Am Setsuna (which is turn based but not AAA), much less the jewel of this generation, Persona 5 (which yes, is turned based, but is also half social simulator and takes place in a realistic setting, so I can see not calling it a traditional turn-based RPG, I guess).

I think it's probably better than the two Tales games and the Star Ocean game this generation though, which were decidedly average.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Ni No Kuni 2 was mostly terrible so if this doesn't clearly stand above, that's saying something.

 

[misterchainsaw]

Ni No Kuni 2 was mostly terrible so if this doesn't clearly stand above, that's saying something.

I don't agree with that at all - it didn't have quite the charm of the first one, but the battle system was better ans the plot was serviceable....and I enjoyed the kingdom building.

Anyway, I have NNK2 only behind Persona in terms of this gen's JRPG's (not that there's any great ones outside of Persona), so keep in mind I'm comparing my rather favorable opinion of NNK2 with DQ, not your negative one.

 

[BigMac1212]

You're not the only one. Speaking from the perspective of a NES player, DW1 is better than DW2. DW2 is really unbalanced. The third game is completely awesome though and I highly recommend it.

Thanks. Love your custom title. This FFVI fan gets it.

 

[RandV]

Right now my biggest issue is with the games "dungeons". There aren't all that many, which is a minor quibble (especially when the field is as gorgeous as it is), but what's much worse is the quality of them. Sure, they're as beautiful as the field, but not only do you get the maps for them as soon as you walk in, but they are all extremely straight forward and linear - even the ones that have switches that nominally change the shape of the dungeon make it so you can only hit the switch once, making it more "hit switch, follow only path available, hit switch, follow only open path, etc" til you get to the end.

A secondary quibble is that the narrative just isn't that good, IMO. I'll try to be as vague as possible to avoid spoilers herw. I did have a major event happen last night, but before that and after a decent first 10 or so hours, the next 20-30 hours of the game are "wander to here, solve this towns problems" without a lot of connection to the games' larger story. A lot of the vignettes are decent enough on their own, but put together it makes your character feel like a personality-less errand boy - to an extent even greater than other RPG's with silent protaginists. They also go to a certain plot device that I won't spoil at least one too many times in the mid-game.

There'a a few other minor quibbles, but that's probably the two major things that have been bugging me. The dungeons in particular - I can't believe they both made them so simple and immediately give you a completed map the second you wander in.

EDIT: I said earlier it probably wouldn't make my top 3 JRPG's for the console. I understand that there's a large gap for traditional AAA turn-based RPG's in the market, and in that subsection, it probably is the best on PS4 (what's it's competition, World of Final Fantasy?). But I have a hard time saying it's objectively a better game than Ni No Kuni 2 or even I Am Setsuna (which is turn based but not AAA), much less the jewel of this generation, Persona 5 (which yes, is turned based, but is also half social simulator and takes place in a realistic setting, so I can see not calling it a traditional turn-based RPG, I guess).

I think it's probably better than the two Tales games and the Star Ocean game this generation though, which were decidedly average.

Thanks for the response, and just curious if you ever played Dragon Quest VIII? I recall the dungeons there being pretty small and straight forward through most of the game, so for me that and the story kind of sounds like a typical Dragon Quest game?

And going on a rant... on screen minimaps are my biggest pet peeves in these games. Drives me crazy when you can't just switch them off, and actually on a Steam forum when asking about this someone asked as a joke why I don't just cover the screen... and that's exactly what I started doing. Although that didn't work in Tales of Beseria which hit a new low for me where the devs decided having it in the corner wasn't bad enough already they had to move it further away from the edge of the screen. Trying to cover that blocked a sixth of my monitor and just made it too hard to play.

 

[misterchainsaw]

Thanks for the response, and just curious if you ever played Dragon Quest VIII? I recall the dungeons there being pretty small and straight forward through most of the game, so for me that and the story kind of sounds like a typical Dragon Quest game?

And going on a rant... on screen minimaps are my biggest pet peeves in these games. Drives me crazy when you can't just switch them off, and actually on a Steam forum when asking about this someone asked as a joke why I don't just cover the screen... and that's exactly what I started doing. Although that didn't work in Tales of Beseria which hit a new low for me where the devs decided having it in the corner wasn't bad enough already they had to move it further away from the edge of the screen. Trying to cover that blocked a sixth of my monitor and just made it too hard to play.

Yeah, I played through VIII a couple of times. I don't remember having a huge issue with the dungeons; from what I recall there weren't really that many, but the world's vast overworld and it's nooks and crannies mitigated the small number of dungeons. There's no such overworld here - the world is pieced together by field areas ala the most recent Tales/Star Ocean games.

Also, looking at a random DQVIII dungeon on youtube, they also weren't quite as linear or simple, IMO. As far as I am into the game, there's nothing I can even remotely call a puzzle in any of the dungeons I've encountered so far. Many of them can only be differentiated from regular field areas by the fact that you don't have targets to hunt down and shoot (a field mini game)

I actually think the battle system for XI is better than VIII - everything just seems to flow smoother and more quickly, and I wasn't a huge fan of VIII's power up mechanic. But VIII is a better game in just about every other aspect.

EDIT: And I actually don't mind the mini maps. My sense of direction is terrible in fully rotatable 3D worlds, and I like the idea of maps that you fill in as you go. It's not even solely that the maps are provided for you that makes the dungeons so disappointing. DQVIII provided you with the maps, but there were still puzzles and such you had to figure out inside the dungeon to progress.

My pet peeve for recent RPGs (which this one falls victim to as well) is that every character gains full EXP for your battles, whether you used them or not. It makes sense to an extent here - you can bring in any character at any time during the battle (at the cost of the current character's turn), but I wish they left it at 4 person parties only changable on the map. I miss having to rotate parties and having to fight with everyone to keep everyone's levels up. It also makes the game even easier than it is otherwise (and it's already easy) when even when you're starting 4 are wiped out your reserve characters just come in and continue beating down the monsters.

 

[McRpro]

I'm about 50hrs into it and the story has really gripped me after.....nevermind. It's really gotten good IMO.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Orchestral music mod for the PC version is out.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Orchestral music mod for the PC version is out.

30 hours in...haven't played a game this long in over a decade.

 

[Warden of the North]

I'll pick this up when it hits a price drop (or good sale). Havent played a DQ before, however I like JRPGs

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I don't agree with that at all - it didn't have quite the charm of the first one, but the battle system was better ans the plot was serviceable....and I enjoyed the kingdom building.

Anyway, I have NNK2 only behind Persona in terms of this gen's JRPG's (not that there's any great ones outside of Persona), so keep in mind I'm comparing my rather favorable opinion of NNK2 with DQ, not your negative one.

The story was shounen level of bad (like going from the plot of FFXII to FFXIII) and while combat was definitely more to my liking it was way, way too easy and mindless to be engaging. I think it was a failure on just about every front even if I wouldn't say it had nothing interesting going for it.

With the orchestral mod being out, I'll probably get DQXI on Steam tonight.

 

[member 157595]

Orchestral music mod for the PC version is out.

God damn it now I have to get it at some point. Curse all of you.

 

[RandV]

I'll pick this up when it hits a price drop (or good sale). Havent played a DQ before, however I like JRPGs

You can just grab DQVIII at any point, will be much cheaper and you can't go wrong with it.

 

[Warden of the North]

You can just grab DQVIII at any point, will be much cheaper and you can't go wrong with it.

I dont have a 3DS. I also dont want to play it on a tablet