With only a couple days remaining, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is set to release on Tuesday, September 4, 2018. As such, major video game journalism outlets such as Kotaku, Polygon, and IGN have presented their reviews of the upcoming title, with generally favorable accolades.
Players begin the game on the continent of Erdrea as the Luminary, a reincarnation of the legendary hero Erdrick (or Loto if you go by Japanese naming). Accused of being a fraud, he is hunted down by agents of the kingdom and must team up with other unique characters in order to rid it of the dark influence lurking just beyond the bend.
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Kotaku journalist Tim Rogers makes the bold statement that "This is the best Dragon Quest game" in the series. Granted, Rogers himself mentions that he has had prior exposure to this particular iteration of the franchise in that he's also logged well "...over 300 hours, starting with the release of the Japanese version in July of 2017". As such, he may be a bit of biased commentator, but perhaps noting that very fact, in and of itself, is a recognition, no, a testament that this game lives up the high standards of longtime fans. Despite this praise, another contender in the video game journalism corner reports that this game may not live up to the hype or current expectations of most other games.
According to his testimony and that of journalist, the main game takes approximately 70-80 hours to complete.
Tim Rogers praised the game for its depth and intricacy. In particular, he noted that the game has a dubious amount of hidden arithmetic and structure.
Jeffrey Parkin claims that Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age "...is the best example of a Japanese role-playing game", yet criticized the overall length of the game, noting, that at times, it felt "shallow" and limited in scope. Ironically, Parkin admits that he "found himself [sic] rushing past intricately detailed locations just to get to the next waypoint." Thus, he wasn't truly taking the time to appreciate the aesthetics of the world before him.
His main argument is that many of the cities felt too similar in structure and that the NPCs tend to only provide "vague hints of where to go" and broad descriptions of the town or city in which they reside. However, this is typical of most JRPGs and despite his arguments that "Dragon Quest 11 is a linear game" most games have a beginning, middle, and end like any other linear plotline.
His further arguments seem to be that of a person whom is not particularly fond of turn based RPGs or those that involve certain nuisances or tropes. Instead, he seems to chastise that very aspect claiming that "frivolous dialogue" and text based menus bog down the experience as a whole. It's rather confusing that he states that "fighting monsters becomes an annoyance" even though there are no random encounters. That's a monumental change from typical RPGs! You can dictate when you want to hit the grind hard before and after a boss fight!
He even concedes that "It’s been a long time since I played a turn-based JRPG,". With this in mind, Jefferey Parkin perhaps was not the most appropriate candidate for this genre of game to review. Even so, he seems to at least acknowledge that those with an appreciation for Dragon Quest games will enjoy it nonetheless.
Nonetheless, I myself will be posting my own review upon completion and I for one, am excited to play this tantalizing title. (especially considering that I have only ever played one game in the DQ series, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies for the Nintendo DS when that first came out in 2010. It's been eight long years. I need my JRPG fix.)
Works Cited
Players begin the game on the continent of Erdrea as the Luminary, a reincarnation of the legendary hero Erdrick (or Loto if you go by Japanese naming). Accused of being a fraud, he is hunted down by agents of the kingdom and must team up with other unique characters in order to rid it of the dark influence lurking just beyond the bend.
Kotaku journalist Tim Rogers makes the bold statement that "This is the best Dragon Quest game" in the series. Granted, Rogers himself mentions that he has had prior exposure to this particular iteration of the franchise in that he's also logged well "...over 300 hours, starting with the release of the Japanese version in July of 2017". As such, he may be a bit of biased commentator, but perhaps noting that very fact, in and of itself, is a recognition, no, a testament that this game lives up the high standards of longtime fans. Despite this praise, another contender in the video game journalism corner reports that this game may not live up to the hype or current expectations of most other games.
According to his testimony and that of journalist, the main game takes approximately 70-80 hours to complete.
Tim Rogers praised the game for its depth and intricacy. In particular, he noted that the game has a dubious amount of hidden arithmetic and structure.
Jeffrey Parkin claims that Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age "...is the best example of a Japanese role-playing game", yet criticized the overall length of the game, noting, that at times, it felt "shallow" and limited in scope. Ironically, Parkin admits that he "found himself [sic] rushing past intricately detailed locations just to get to the next waypoint." Thus, he wasn't truly taking the time to appreciate the aesthetics of the world before him.
His main argument is that many of the cities felt too similar in structure and that the NPCs tend to only provide "vague hints of where to go" and broad descriptions of the town or city in which they reside. However, this is typical of most JRPGs and despite his arguments that "Dragon Quest 11 is a linear game" most games have a beginning, middle, and end like any other linear plotline.
His further arguments seem to be that of a person whom is not particularly fond of turn based RPGs or those that involve certain nuisances or tropes. Instead, he seems to chastise that very aspect claiming that "frivolous dialogue" and text based menus bog down the experience as a whole. It's rather confusing that he states that "fighting monsters becomes an annoyance" even though there are no random encounters. That's a monumental change from typical RPGs! You can dictate when you want to hit the grind hard before and after a boss fight!
He even concedes that "It’s been a long time since I played a turn-based JRPG,". With this in mind, Jefferey Parkin perhaps was not the most appropriate candidate for this genre of game to review. Even so, he seems to at least acknowledge that those with an appreciation for Dragon Quest games will enjoy it nonetheless.
Nonetheless, I myself will be posting my own review upon completion and I for one, am excited to play this tantalizing title. (especially considering that I have only ever played one game in the DQ series, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies for the Nintendo DS when that first came out in 2010. It's been eight long years. I need my JRPG fix.)
Works Cited
Parkin, Jeffrey. “Dragon Quest 11 Review.” Polygon, Polygon, 28 Aug. 2018, www.polygon.com/2018/8/28/17763578/dragon-quest-11-review-ps4-pc.
Rogers, Tim. “Dragon Quest XI: The Kotaku Review.” Kotaku, Kotaku.com, 28 Aug. 2018, kotaku.com/dragon-quest-xi-the-kotaku-review-1828646512.
