Dragon Quest 11 Review
The last release of the main series of Dragon Quest was back in 2004 on PS2, almost after 10 years we have Dragon Quest 11. According to Yuji Horii, creator of the series, the development has been around since last decade. However it was not until this year till Square Enix decided to announce it at Nintendo’s E3 conference.
After 10 years in development, fans can finally play Dragon Quest 11. Currently it is only available on Nintendo 3DS and PS4. Playstation 4 version will be released early next year with extra content beyond the main story of 3DS release.
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The main protagonist is a young valiant boy named Amnesi. He has lost his memory and is found by the residents of Reveria, one of the regions in this continent. They take him to their village where he meets Sonia, princess of said region. She believed that she would marry whoever saved them from the crisis they were facing. Thus starts the journey of conquering all 4 regions, saving them from certain crisis and ultimately finding out Amnesi’s identity.
This latest installment in Dragon Quest series is a breath of fresh air for me. In terms of the story it takes the best from Final Fantasy without going too far or completely copying it. It has its own charm to please the fans of either series. It has drawn inspirations from several other JRPGs like Pokemon, Digimon and Dragon Quest Monsters which are already popular among young gamers.
Story
As such is not too complex and can be easily followed by those who are new to JRPGs. This makes it more accessible to wider range of audience as compared to other games like Persona 5 or Witcher 3 which require some time investment before truly immersing yourself in the game world.
Other than the story and battle system, one of differences I like about Dragon Quest is how it presents the game world. When you are exploring, your character moves to an almost top down view which gives a more strategic movement. At times I felt that it could be used in battles as well however since this was not implemented in-game I am guessing there will be some further upgrade in this feature.
Graphics
Is one of the strong points of this game. As expected from an RPG, text boxes are well illustrated with beautifully drawn characters. I have played it in both 3DS and Playstation 4 version and graphics is definitely better on the latter. However that being said even in 3DS, graphics was great for its handheld console.
I am sure almost everybody is worried about the length of this game. Generally RPGs are long which could turn off players who just want to play it for a short amount of time. However Dragon Quest 11 provides an option to speed up the battles by 10 times so that you can finish them quickly.
Music
The music throughout the game is composed by Koichi Sugiyama, who is known for his work on the long running franchises in Japan. For me he did not disappoint when it comes to this latest release of Dragon Quest series. However since I am not a fan of JRPGs in general, I do not have any other games from this series to compare and thus cannot say if this is the best of all.
Unfortunately there are no English dubs for those who like to play it in English, but since story is quite simple you can easily follow the dialogues without them. One thing I like about Dragon Quest series as a whole is how NPCs speak with different accents such as cockney, Scottish or Russian even though they are all human. It is enjoyable to listen to different accents whenever you visit new towns.
Conclusion
Dragon Quest 11 does have a lot of similarities with the others in the series but it has its own charm. Not to mention that I can play it on 3DS which is better than carrying around Nintendo Switch like my friends do. Overall if you are new to JRPGs, this game is definitely one to consider as your first experience before moving onto stronger competitors.