Dragon Quest XI

[Perkel]

I need to think more of using party chat, in 4-5-6-7-8 it was often funny or useful (in some games they have something new to say after nearly every random NPC you talk to, Lunar 1 and 2 style), but now that there's a menu in between and it's not a single button press (and there's like a second or two of load time) I use this function a lot less, and when I used it they were just saying "we need to go there next". I'll try to think of using party chat a lot to see if they sometime say interesting stuff.

Camp talking kind of took that role. But you are right party talk is just help to what you should do next.

 

[aweigh]

Party chat really shined in DQ7. Oh, Maribel!!!

 

[HoboForEternity]

Coincidentally, maribel is the only one i like from DQ vii. Everyone else are just eh.

Kiefer is a dumbfuck whos naivete and dick bigger than his brain

Boo.. is boo. Despite interesting origin, he is is very unremarkable.

The old knight guy was ok. He is the second best party member, but he still is kinda really just there.

The other girl is also such borecrap i evem forgot her name and she appears so late into the game i stopped caring altogether.

I think so far 7 is my second least favorite DQ that i played. (Played 4,5,6,7,8,9,11) the worst one is easily 9, with 5 as my favorite (11 is probably gonna be my favorite if the quality hold up until the end. )

anyway fought auroral dragon, got kicked, and decided to take a break and play vigilantes instead. I have been playing every day since last saturday after work.

 

[Perkel]

"Finished" DQ11 (61 hours). I didn't expect another NIER like "ending" which surprised me.
Either way credits rolled, obviously story continues after their roll but developers said it is "the end" so:

Really great JRPG that just have charm. It is like listening traditional kids story that are supposed to teach you about some topics of life.
Could be way better if not for pretty lame paced first act of the game and generic as fuck elements of it.
Second act is like text book case that regardless if you have generic characters, generic story etc. it is the journey that makes it special.
Like i said before game feels like game made by top dog jrpg extraordinaire SquareSoft rather than diseased shadow SquareEnix.
I didn't expect to like this cast of characters. And my go to hate for Silvano changed to basically best character from game.
I am pretty sure his VA played as King Julien from Madagascar kids movie and his voice coupled with hilarious animations for him are something to behold.

As for technicalities i am pretty shocked that SE actually made JRPG in old vein with literally hours of cutscenes and FMVs! (though not that many as in FF7-9). I thought that FMVs in jrpgs are dead since FFX. What i am shocked most about is that FFXV which is clearly SE key game received like 5% of what DQ got in therms of FMV, cutscenes etc. Graphically game is really nice. I didn't dig it at start but liked Toriyama character/monster design from start but it grew on me very quickly. Music is imho only minus. I don't have with midi but with music itself. It is pretty generic and there are like 2 tracks that are pretty good, rest of them are just either generic as fuck or just bad and could be replaced by virtually anything else and would be better.

Battles and gameplay. Overall i think this is pretty great improvement over traditional jrpg battle systems which are rife with sameness and usually aren't fun because they are painfully simple and shallow. Gear while follows traditional jrpg new weapons = better stats thankfully doesn't run away like some Larian game and you can keep your favorite gear for good few hours before changing it and unlike most of jrpgs there is plently of "sidegrade" that offer you interesting spins on character builds. Speaking of character builds. DQ11 have FF12 license plate system albait each person has unique skills and spells are restricted to levels of some character. Overall unilke most of jrpgs it provides you with some decent customization and you can create some builds so it is not painfully boring like in other jrpgs. Focus on defense ? Maybe focus on insta kill etc ? There is plently of ways to uniqly create different strategies for each boss etc. Imho it is much better system than Bravely Default one which was up until now best jrpg combat system imo.

Overall i think anyone who forgot why JRPGs are/were good he should give DQ11 a spin.

TLDR:
- Generic characters and story but journey redeems them and i would say it hits FF7-FF9 quality in all aspects.
- Plenty of cutscenes and FMVs like in old Square games.
- Good character skill/ability/spell system which beats Bravely Default system for jrpg combat crown.
- Lot of good exploration in old JRPG style, hunting for things of value etc.
- Plenty of equipment to use and collect which doesn't get outdated fast like in Larian game.
- One of the best JRPG in last 20 years. Like Square never stopped existing or something.
- Humor in style of 80 anime, and a lot of it.

edit:
I am yet to finish after story and end game content which seems to be a lot so this opinion might change.

 

[Fred]

Yeah, you have quite a lot to go still. I agree with your review.
For the musics, I don't know if the debate about midi made me miss that crucial information, because I read this nowhere and realized it myself, but all of the music in the game is from previous DQs. I thought Nautica music was a new one, but then I realized it's from a very specific part of DQ6, during the blood in the river story, when you reunite the lovers, this music plays (it plays this once in the entire game I think). See here https://youtu.be/rJd6lUb7E4o?list=PLeZSRkjynvkuL9ct3d13mmeYoANhfoQzF&t=943 at 15mn40
The only music that could be exclusive is the Hotto town one, this one I'm not sure where it's from.

 

[Sentinel]

Yeah, you have quite a lot to go still. I agree with your review.
For the musics, I don't know if the debate about midi made me miss that crucial information, because I read this nowhere and realized it myself, but all of the music in the game is from previous DQs. I thought Nautica music was a new one, but then I realized it's from a very specific part of DQ6, during the blood in the river story, when you reunite the lovers, this music plays (it plays this once in the entire game I think). See here https://youtu.be/rJd6lUb7E4o?list=PLeZSRkjynvkuL9ct3d13mmeYoANhfoQzF&t=943 at 15mn40
The only music that could be exclusive is the Hotto town one, this one I'm not sure where it's from.

which makes it incredibly hilarious when people say the music is shit compared to previous DQ games.

 

[jungl]

i got around to playing this and started my playthrough on hard. Its too hard. I don't know how anyone can enjoy this difficulty. Enemies have a flat 20% boost to their stats. Shit reminds me when I played avernum 2 on the hardest difficulty without a min/maxer party setup. Have to constantly look for opponents you can fight and ignore anything strong. Game becomes xp/item grind focused which is tedious and loses its fun. And there is RNG bullshit added to the mix when it comes to fights. Ya fuck all that I set the difficulty back to normal.

 

[Fred]

i got around to playing this and started my playthrough on hard. Its too hard. I don't know how anyone can enjoy this difficulty. Enemies have a flat 20% boost to their stats. Shit reminds me when I played avernum 2 on the hardest difficulty without a min/maxer party setup. Have to constantly look for opponents you can fight and ignore anything strong. Game becomes xp/item grind focused which is tedious and loses its fun. And there is RNG bullshit added to the mix when it comes to fights. Ya fuck all that I set the difficulty back to normal.

Ignore everything at first, especially level 3-6 are hilariously hard (the soldiers in the sewers did exactly my max health per 2 attacks) and I only found that the sort of green flying enemies on Heliodor region were easily disposed of, I killed 3 groups of them for a level before continuing (or farm a lot of them if you like that). It will get better (well some bosses will require some special measures), but you can deactivate the hard mode at a save point....which you did now that I re-read your post, sorry =D

 

[Perkel]

I think my review is missing something.
Humor. A lot of it exist in game. It is kind of 80 anime humor, especially in animation department which i really like.
I don't remember honestly any rpg which made me laugh out loud but i DQ11 definitely did on several occasions.

Yeah, you have quite a lot to go still. I agree with your review.

Well i finished game in about 60 hours and i just hit 72 hours playing non stop after story so i guess you are right.
It really feels like ACT3 rather than just post game content. Especially with how things ramped up to 11.
I am yet to even delve into actual optional content, i am yet to find silver key which opens up a lot of places.

which makes it incredibly hilarious when people say the music is shit compared to previous DQ games.

Well i played before DQ Builders (which i liked tbh) and almost all DQ11 music is from that which by itself is from previous games.
That doesn't mean that it is good. There are like 2 tracks really good rest of them are pretty media-core to bad.

i got around to playing this and started my playthrough on hard. Its too hard. I don't know how anyone can enjoy this difficulty. Enemies have a flat 20% boost to their stats. Shit reminds me when I played avernum 2 on the hardest difficulty without a min/maxer party setup. Have to constantly look for opponents you can fight and ignore anything strong. Game becomes xp/item grind focused which is tedious and loses its fun. And there is RNG bullshit added to the mix when it comes to fights. Ya fuck all that I set the difficulty back to normal.

As someone who "finished" game i'd say keep it on. Game without it is defo very easy. I died like 2 times only and i never grinded to lvl up and mostly skipped enemies. Though it was pretty nice romp.

 

[Reinhardt]

I am yet to finish after story and end game content which seems to be a lot so this opinion might change.

I'm regretting doing part 3. Part 2 ending is perfect.

 

[Perkel]

I am yet to finish after story and end game content which seems to be a lot so this opinion might change.

I'm regretting doing part 3. Part 2 ending is perfect.

Yeah i can see why they wanted to end it only on ACT2.
ACT3 while takes everything to 11 also kind of feels like justification to make dat cat suit not being a waste.
Still they got me when they were talking near tree that they "have seen it before for some reason".
I am doing Trials ATM before breaking into Lantern. Is this only it or few more hours ?

 

[Fred]

If you're at the trials you should have the key, unless you talk about the Alma wheel trials at Angry-La ?
The key is not hidden and in the path of the main story it's in

Spoiler

Heaven's Above where the Elder is sleeping, right in the middle of the place, you see the chest during the cutscene iirc

.
I've seen a lot of people missing it because it's so obvious and usually people look around it, that's why I tell you.

Some trials are quit long (especially the last one) so yeah you still have some time, + the last boss who is not very friendly, + all the optional bosses/subquests.

 

[Reinhardt]

Actually last boss is one of the easiest in game, if you use certain item.

 

[Abu Antar]

Finally had time to play again. I beat the boss in Octagonia or w/e the place is called. I was thinking to myself what a complete shit fight this was. I haven't been so pissed in years. I might have been overleveled at 22, but it was very challenging in all the wrong ways. My characters were confused for half the fight. I used up all my Yggdrasil Leaves and some strong antidotes. The amount of moves the boss got was infuriating. Luckily, I had kabuff to help out, and Erik's rock watchamacallit that did damage every time the boss attacked. I feel like I was very lucky. I was ready to give up a few times, but thought to myself "fuck it, if I'm going to die, I won't give up that easily". The confusion attack and the multi-target one, then the web. It feels like they just wanted to fuck you up, to be honest. I'm glad that I beat it, or I would probably have dropped the game for at least a week. What pisses me off is that I did not see a save point close by.

Had I been able to save, I would have not had any problem at all with the difficulty. But if I had died, I would have had to go through that dungeon again. Said dungeon was already a pain. I do admit, though, that I was not wearing the most up to date gear the game has to offer.

Oh well! On to the next challenge. I'm probably going to revisit all areas that have these targets you shoot, to collect seeds.

 

[Jinn]

Had I been able to save, I would have not had any problem at all with the difficulty. But if I had died, I would have had to go through that dungeon again. Said dungeon was already a pain. I do admit, though, that I was not wearing the most up to date gear the game has to offer.

Oh well! On to the next challenge. I'm probably going to revisit all areas that have these targets you shoot, to collect seeds.

If you ever face such a roadblock again, I highly recommend at least going and gearing up as much as you can. But yeah, that boss is pretty notoriously difficult if unprepared. I think I beat him the 3rd time after leveling up one more time. I personally loved the challenge.

 

[Villagkouras]

Finally had time to play again. I beat the boss in Octagonia or w/e the place is called. I was thinking to myself what a complete shit fight this was. I haven't been so pissed in years. I might have been overleveled at 22, but it was very challenging in all the wrong ways. My characters were confused for half the fight. I used up all my Yggdrasil Leaves and some strong antidotes. The amount of moves the boss got was infuriating. Luckily, I had kabuff to help out, and Erik's rock watchamacallit that did damage every time the boss attacked. I feel like I was very lucky. I was ready to give up a few times, but thought to myself "fuck it, if I'm going to die, I won't give up that easily". The confusion attack and the multi-target one, then the web. It feels like they just wanted to fuck you up, to be honest. I'm glad that I beat it, or I would probably have dropped the game for at least a week. What pisses me off is that I did not see a save point close by.

Had I been able to save, I would have not had any problem at all with the difficulty. But if I had died, I would have had to go through that dungeon again. Said dungeon was already a pain. I do admit, though, that I was not wearing the most up to date gear the game has to offer.

Ι did it at level 20-21 I think, yesterday. Exactly my thoughts like you, if I die I lose a lot of progress, so I tried to think a lot. The fight lasted over 30 minutes for me. I don't know if I have to count myself unlucky because the resurrection spell failed a lot more than it succeeded (and it's supposed to be 50%) or lucky because my last move was to resurrect Erik and then envenomate the boss which was a desperate move, but it worked.

I was so pissed with this fight, like you. Now, as I think of it, it was very thrilling, memorable and taught me a few things which probably come in handy later on. Would it be better if there was a save point before this fight? Honestly, I don't know.

 

[MpuMngwana]

So hard mode Dora-in-Grey (glorious pun btw) is kicking my ass.

First I tried with Hero to deal damage, Erik for poison/sigils, Sylvando to heal/cure mesmerize and Rab to heal some more/debuff, and promptly got destroyed.

Then I tried a more defensive approach, replacing Erik with Serena for even more healing + buffs, and that went well until Sylv got his abilities sealed, at which point I was slaughtered. Everyone's level 28/29.

And in general, I don't see a way to survive some combinations of her attacks, like laser eyes + fingering main healer to death + charming auxiliary healer, all in one turn; at that point the only thing left to do is quit to desktop. Status-preventing items don't seem to cut it, her attacks still land more often than not.

Any advice?

 

[Fred]

Lvl28-29 is the absolute minimum in hard (got it at lvl29, wiped at lvl 27). Last fight before the save point sometime has liquid metal slimes (not the big guy but the 2 small one).
I managed it entering the fight with hero jade serena peped up so I used directly the "brownie thing" power (double kabuff, double ooomph and regen HP MP for all). I put a resist charm item on Sylvando and he resisted often enough (but he resist often enough by default).
Serena with shield is a lot more survivable than Rab.
I don't remember how developed Serena is at this point, but Snack Crackle poof (prevent any status ailment) on Slvando should be nice to have.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I'm pretty far out from that point but I tried to mitigate charm as much as I could. There is a beguile protection pendant you can craft and failing that, glasses you can buy from the Medal School that can reduce charm chance by 25%.
Think I ran Hero, Jade, Serena and Sylv? Have him on standby with heals, oomph and sobering slap and with two protection charms equipped. Serena has snap crackle poof, rez and I believe she can have self-rez with Grace of the Goddess by that point.
Jade and the Hero then heal with items but prioritize doing as much damage as you can. I remember being surprised at how little HP the boss had- this is not at all a battle of attrition and your party members will die but she is a glass canon so as long can keep putting out decent damage you'll win. Also debuffs are not that useful against bosses that take 3 turns imo, if you're lucky enough to land them they expire much quicker than buffs on your own party.

The team above was my go-to for a good portion of the entire game. I like Jade and the Hero because they don't need a lot of setup to put out great damage. Sexy moves scale off of charm (which jade is never lacking) and seem to ignore enemies defense and block stat, and unarmed moves scale off of ATK and do better with a strong spear equipped. Working towards pink tornado, sexy beam and multifeet will get her to a place where she's amazingly effective. Do the quest in the Mini Medal School to pick up a Belle's Bow. I'd recommend doing this really early and always (ALWAYS) keeping the Belle's Bow equipped... doing so early enough will allow you to get a 2nd one, which allows her to regen 12mp a turn and always shit out her most powerful moves worry-free. In the post-game Jade and Sylvando have amazing synergy due to one pretty handy skill that he gets, too.

 

[Fred]

For Dorian, even with the right setup if you're in the bottom range of the levels you'll still most likely need several tries, you can be very unlucky in this fight (like if she has initiative and crit someone before you can act).

Anyway, playing my draconian playthrough, just killed the griffins and got the red orb at lvl8. Wiped on random monsters once on the way >< And for some reason the game didn't allow me to load my autosave and sent me back to Cobblestone with half my gold :D No idea what happened. I know autosaves are basically cheats in the context of normal DQ, but still no idea why the game didn't allow me to load it, it didn't event present me with the loading options.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

Rabs pep power that puts enemies to sleep has also come in handy for me in the tougher boss fights. Debuffs suck against bosses with a lot of turns, but guaranteed status effects can really help when you're on you back foot.

There's a boss fight in the post game involving a lot of enemies at once, one of which takes two turns with party-wide physical attacks. Landing dazzle on him was key to winning that fight.

 

[MpuMngwana]

Thanks for the input, folks! After a couple tries, I managed to beat Dora without extra grinding. The winning team was Hero/Erik/Sylvando/Serena, they managed to output decent damage and keep everyone alive and non-charmed. I did get somewhat lucky with stuff like my Zings landing, I suppose a couple more levels wouldn’t have hurt. I guess the lesson here is that just because it’s easy to avoid encounters doesn’t mean I should do it all the time.

 

[abnaxus]

I wish you could keep the badass Serena.

 

[aweigh]

(and it's supposed to be 50%)

lukaszek

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG