Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

[Monocle]

DRAGON QUEST Xl: Echoes of an Elusive Age follows the perilous journey of a hunted hero who must uncover the mystery of his fate with the aid of a charismatic cast of supporting characters. They embark on a quest taking them across continents and over vast oceans as they learn of an ominous threat facing the world. 

DRAGON QUEST Xl brings a massive, gorgeous world to life in a style that blends stylistic cel-shading with photorealistic detail. 

Engage in a turn-based battle system that eases players into combat with an accessible experience, featuring mechanics simple enough for novices but with enough depth to satisfy long-time fans. 

DRAGON QUEST Xl features tons of side-quests and mini-games that provide enough content to keep you playing for well over 100 hours. 

Yes yes yes yes yes. I'm a huuuuge dragon quest fan and now it is here! I'm loving it so much. Definitely isn't perfect but it is hitting all the things I want it to hit. 

Anyone else playing it? I mean besides DL who I know has it lol

[Dragon Lord]

I'm not really sure I'd say I'm really playing it. Usually I start it up, get board of it two seconds after loading my save, and then start playing SO: A on my phone, my Vita or FFIV Rando instead.

Anyways, game is pretty meh overall. Extremely boring, uninteresting story, only a couple of good characters, god awful voice acting (thankfully you can turn the voices off). The music is pretty mediocre too, which doesn't help how boring the game is.

The only thing I can really compliment about the game is the visuals. Game looks really pretty, but other than that it's pretty forgettable. I'll finish it eventually for the platinum, but that's really the only thing keeping me going at this point. Maybe the story will pick up and actually be interesting down the road, but I'm doubting it.

I give it a 3/10 so far (one point for each of the characters that are actually decent).

[Monocle]

Well, I love the game. I acknowledge it isn't perfect but the things I like about it, I think they do well.

The characters are actually one of my favorite parts. Especially later on when you delve into their back stories. The visuals are just beautiful. The town designs are some of my favorites. Super super traditional gameplay, almost outdated feeling, but that's what I expected and desired from it. Totally disagreeing with you about the voice acting. Aside from some hard misses, I think the voice acting is amazing, especially Pang who is my favorite voice so far. they made it pretty but didn't modernize it that much. I grew up with the series so that's perfect for me but for people who are just starting it, it can be really hard to fully immersify yourself into it.

130 hours into it and I'm still not done so I'm glad the game is really long. Although at least 20 hours of it was spent at the casino sooooo... oops lololol

[Dragon Lord]

I haven't turned the voices on to see how other characters sound, but Sylvando is enough to keep me from ever wanting to turn the voices back on. Part of me wants to hear how Erik, Veronica and Jade sound, but it's not worth having to listen to him. I really wish they would have made it so you could turn certain character's voices off, so that way I could turn off the annoying ones like him.

Also I'm not looking to "immerse" myself in the game (honestly, immersion is completely stupid). All I'm looking for is the game to entertain me, and so far it hasn't done that great of a job at it.

[queenzelda]

I'm playing & I'm in love with it. Erik is my favorite & even if DL hates Silv, I think he's awesome. Jade is kick ass & Rab is definitely a master healer. I'm pretty far in my playing it & I really love the way the world is laid out, the fact that there's rain on random days. How well the foreground is animated with the clouds, for me it's very easy to get immersed in it. More so since I always name the hero after myself.

Some ppl may not like immersion, but others do. How people play their games shouldn't determine judgement on weather someone is 'playing it right' or not. Play how you wanna play, live how you wanna live. Is my thought.

[Monocle]

I'm playing & I'm in love with it. Erik is my favorite & even if DL hates Silv, I think he's awesome. Jade is kick ass & Rab is definitely a master healer. I'm pretty far in my playing it & I really love the way the world is laid out, the fact that there's rain on random days. How well the foreground is animated with the clouds, for me it's very easy to get immersed in it. More so since I always name the hero after myself.

Some ppl may not like immersion, but others do. How people play their games shouldn't determine judgement on weather someone is 'playing it right' or not. Play how you wanna play, live how you wanna live. Is my thought.

where you at right now? gonna make sure I don't spoil too much lololol

[queenzelda]

I just got the final orb. I've yet to head out to the deep dark forest, or where ever. I was planning to lvl grind for a bit before hearing out there tbh. Though the final boss might be a pushover. lol

[Monocle]

I just got the final orb. I've yet to head out to the deep dark forest, or where ever. I was planning to lvl grind for a bit before hearing out there tbh. Though the final boss might be a pushover. lol

Yeah I'm waaaaay past you. You aren't even halfway through the game. Definitely not near the final boss. Even I'm not at the final boss lmao.

[queenzelda]

Yea, I figured as much. I'm guessing something tosses a wrench into the works as to why you & your group have to keep traveling. My guess is to do something that the tree of life shows you to do. For Dragon Quest Hero's that was gathering tree droplets, I'm guessing the same will prolly apply here.

[Monocle]

Yea, I figured as much. I'm guessing something tosses a wrench into the works as to why you & your group have to keep traveling. My guess is to do something that the tree of life shows you to do. For Dragon Quest Hero's that was gathering tree droplets, I'm guessing the same will prolly apply here.

Not gonna spoil you but you're not even close with your guess lmao. I love what they did though.

[ShiraNoMai]

Y'all makin' me want this game so bad >.<

I think one of the most positive aspects I get from it, completely outside everything everyone's discussed (as this is more a Dragon's Quest thing than specifically this entry) is the monster designs really make me wish Pokemon would reference titles like this. They remind me a lot of Red/Green era Pokemon when the design was either something zany and referential to a thing, or a strange beast.

Anyway, as you are 130 hours in at least, what part of that would you say is the main quests? I know you said 20 was spent mini-gaming in a casino so

[Dragon Lord]

The monster designs remind me more of Gen 6/7 Pokemon. Childish and just overall not very good. There's a few decent looking monsters in DQ, but overall they just look stupid and are one of the worst aspects of the games.

They don't need to look super realistic or edgy, but they could at least look not as... stupid.

[Monocle]

Y'all makin' me want this game so bad >.<

I think one of the most positive aspects I get from it, completely outside everything everyone's discussed (as this is more a Dragon's Quest thing than specifically this entry) is the monster designs really make me wish Pokemon would reference titles like this. They remind me a lot of Red/Green era Pokemon when the design was either something zany and referential to a thing, or a strange beast.

Anyway, as you are 130 hours in at least, what part of that would you say is the main quests? I know you said 20 was spent mini-gaming in a casino so

Well, thanks to my children, I know a lot of it is downtime while I make dinner or bathe them. I do spend a lot of time grinding but I'd say 85+ hours are the main story if you're also doing side quests, forging, letting the actual voice actors say their complete lines, and exploration. It is a pretty game and just looking at the visuals is enjoyable imo.

And yes, I love the monsters but I can admit their designs aren't that great. Guess growing up with the series has given me appreciation for it regardless of their childish designs. Hard for me to say bad things about the series but I know that it is stuck in the past and that's by choice.

[queenzelda]

Personally I like the monster designs. There was a spot where I ran across golden looking Chinese dragons & I would antagonize a few just so I could look at them. But, that's me.

[King Atem]

I'm looking to get this myself, but I've been hesitant. But with queenzelda tweeting about her playing it, I only get more intrigued. With Thanksgiving around the corner, I'll wait & see if there's an early black Friday sale on it.