Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition |OT| 2D, or not 2D, that is the question (now available on PS4/XB1/PC)

[Biske]

No worries, thought I saw something when loading up my save form the title screen but clearly was losing it ;)
There are too many great details and enemy animations in 3d for me to play completely in 2d mode.

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Having played 3D I will say this about 2D... you are definitely losing a lot of the game. A lot of character work, interactions, cut scenes, world building just isn't there. The 2D game is really great and done really well (I would love to have seen the monsters animated in battle) and it plays much faster as it effectively shrinks the world down so for me its ideal to get back to my previous furthest progress point on the PS4 but its definitely obvious that it wasn't a game crafted solely to be 2D.

The ideal way would be playing through both versions or switching every other chapter I guess.

 

[ghibli99]

As charming as the 2D is, no monster animations sucks. It would have been a pretty monumental undertaking given the quality of smooth animation in DQ3 (GBC), DQ4-6 (DS), etc., but still. Anyway, I think it's great that it's in there though.

 

[FSLink]

I don't think I have cleared chapter one yet so I'm not sure how obvious the chapter breaks are as you are playing so I could end a chapter and be like "okay next chapter 3D mode" but that should be soon.

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It's not really clear, no.

I'm just gonna stick with one more for this playthrough and do the other next.

Since I already beat it on Steam with Stronger Monsters, I'm doing 2D mode + Stronger Monsters + a few other modifiers.

I'll do 3D mode + all Draconian Modifiers next playthrough.

 

[Dineren]

It's so weird that they mute the voices in the 3d intro when starting 2d mode. I could understand if they had remade that in 2d, but just having a bunch of mute characters in an otherwise modern intro is silly.

 

[Biske]

It's not really clear, no.

I'm just gonna stick with one more for this playthrough and do the other next.

Since I already beat it on Steam with Stronger Monsters, I'm doing 2D mode + Stronger Monsters + a few other modifiers.

I'll do 3D mode + all Draconian Modifiers next playthrough.

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I'm doing 2D mode with Stronger monsters and I will say, initially its a pain in the ass as the initial mobs straight wipe you and I haven't done any kind of grinding. kind of regret it ahahaha. I do remember how it was on the easier side for regular mobs but I enjoyed that cause I could never grind or battle when I didn't need to, gonna need to change that mindset a bit.

 

[Bitanator]

Looking at how long to beat, they say main story is 56 hours, I'm at 42 hours and not even in Act 2 lmao

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That time is crazy, unless they don't quest or casino at all.

 

[Draconian]

When do you get access to Tockington? Is it missable?

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Spoiler

As you make your way to Gallopolis. It's not missable.

 

[FSLink]

I'm doing 2D mode with Stronger monsters and I will say, initially its a pain in the ass as the initial mobs straight wipe you and I haven't done any kind of grinding. kind of regret it ahahaha. I do remember how it was on the easier side for regular mobs but I enjoyed that cause I could never grind or battle when I didn't need to, gonna need to change that mindset a bit.

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I have Shypox enabled for everyone + Protagonist dies = Game Over on top of Stronger Monsters, so there's times where I get lost in a 2D dungeon, get a random encounter and just get Game Over'd due to RNG, lol.

At least I just got Jade and Rab so it's getting easier now that I have more party members. Helps I know what to expect for the bosses this time around too.

 

[Deleted member 278]

Do I need to get to the end of the demo for the bonus skill seeds? Or will any save do?

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Having switched back and forth between 2D and 3D a bit, it's impressive to me how they look so different, but both are gorgeous in their own way. They really went all out with this game. I'm still super early (just got access to the forge), but it's definitely been worth the wait.

 

[Phendrana]

I'm finding it hard to play this. Something about the movement combined with the resolution/blurriness is messing with my eyes.

I've never had anything like this happen before.

 

[Wyze]

Huh, liking free forme camera for normal fights a lot. Battles are way faster for me since I can move the Hero right next to the enemy I want to attack so that spares me the 'go back to position' animation once he attacks. Also having the AI control my teammates speeds up things considerably for normal fights.

 

[Pat_DC]

I asked earlier but does anyone know if first person view was def taken out of the switch version?
Seems like such an odd thing to take out. Was the crossbow challenge also taken out?

 

[Deleted member 4090]

Huh, liking free forme camera for normal fights a lot. Battles are way faster for me since I can move the Hero right next to the enemy I want to attack so that spares me the 'go back to position' animation once he attacks. Also having the AI control my teammates speeds up things considerably for normal fights.

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But classic camera is like it is always closest, basically. It turns combat into a montage like a lot of modern RPGs do, so there's no "go back to position" animation, or at least truncated.

That time is crazy, unless they don't quest or casino at all.

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Pretty comparable to what I did, at the last Act 3 boss in around 58 hours. There's not really a lot of meaty sidequests in the main game, and the game's generally a lot more enjoyable if you pretend the Pep Up sidequests just don't exist.

 

[Deleted member 34881]

I forgot how sad some of the town stories can be for this game. For people who played already. Im talking about

Spoiler

The story with Michelle and Kai

 

[exodus]

Huh, liking free forme camera for normal fights a lot. Battles are way faster for me since I can move the Hero right next to the enemy I want to attack so that spares me the 'go back to position' animation once he attacks. Also having the AI control my teammates speeds up things considerably for normal fights.

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I really like the free form camera.

However, with ultra speed, it's a bit too hard to follow the action. I end up using classic as a result.

 

[Bitanator]

Pretty comparable to what I did, at the last Act 3 boss in around 58 hours. There's not really a lot of meaty sidequests in the main game, and the game's generally a lot more enjoyable if you pretend the Pep Up sidequests just don't exist.

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Just hard to see as a very methodical DQ player, playing it straight is for the birds, lol.

 

[Jesse_and_the_rippers]

2D mode is everything I dreamed it would be. What an amazing game.

 

[Fireblend]

Man, this game is really special, I can tell I'll end up loving it by the time it's over. There's something about the cast, the story and the overall pace that make the game a joy to experience.

 

[Deleted member 28461]

I realized I was getting way too derailed when I spent over an hour forging gear to make sure everything I had was +3. Decided to go back to exploring for my next objective.

Inadvertently made my way directly into the casino.

This land is boned if I'm the savior.

 

[Harpoon]

Man, this game is really special, I can tell I'll end up loving it by the time it's over. There's something about the cast, the story and the overall pace that make the game a joy to experience.

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It really does have a sort of... "timeless" feel that I think few other games have. It's lovely.

I'm currently in Octagonia. The plot here reminds me of the the Glitzville chapter from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Which isn't a bad thing!

 

[phant0m]

Loved every hour of this on PC when it came out, is the 2D mode worth a rebuy?

 

[Foxashel]

I'm finding it hard to play this. Something about the movement combined with the resolution/blurriness is messing with my eyes.

I've never had anything like this happen before.

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I had this problem on the PS4 Pro. Whenever you would turn the camera there would be this odd blurring/jutter that made it very hard to focus when on the move. I actually find it to be way better in the Switch version. It's weird.

 

[gasmo]

Started the game friday and i have a blast so far ! Most people recommended to enable super strong monsters so i did, it's really challenging but not impossible (except those hammer guys who smashed me with 2 crits in a row, that was fun). I'm only 5 hours in but i enjoyed everyon second of it.

 

[Seri]

I dont know if this is common knowledge but I thought I'd share that if you dont have all the items required for most of the crafts in the forge you can click them and purchase them anyway. I wish I had known this earlier so sharing to help others.

 

[THANKS]

It's so weird that they mute the voices in the 3d intro when starting 2d mode. I could understand if they had remade that in 2d, but just having a bunch of mute characters in an otherwise modern intro is silly.

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I think it's supposed to mimic JRPGs where you'd have pre-rendered FMVs. For example, FF7-9 has them.

 

[Meows]

The 2D mode is just incredible... wow. It is an entirely different game (just with the same dialogue). I never beat the original game so I'll probably go back to 3D as I don't want to rob myself of the cutscenes but damn. This is strong work.

 

[Luke88]

Started the game friday and i have a blast so far ! Most people recommended to enable super strong monsters so i did, it's really challenging but not impossible (except those hammer guys who smashed me with 2 crits in a row, that was fun). I'm only 5 hours in but i enjoyed everyon second of it.

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where is this setting in the menu ? I haven't seen it !

The 2D mode is just incredible... wow. It is an entirely different game (just with the same dialogue). I never beat the original game so I'll probably go back to 3D as I don't want to rob myself of the cutscenes but damn. This is strong work.

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I thought the cutscenes still played in 2D mode, I recall people saying that at least

 

[gasmo]

where is this setting in the menu ? I haven't seen it !

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It's an option from the Draconian Quest. You can only enable it when you start a new game, but if you disable it you can't turn it on again.

 

[1upsuper]

According to the JPN wiki, there's at least a few during part 2, and at least 1 during part 3.

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Cool, thank you.

 

[Robin64]

I thought the cutscenes still played in 2D mode, I recall people saying that at least

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Nah, you get classic 2D versions of them, with people hopping in place to show emotions and the like.

 

[gr0w]

My physical order will arrive within the hour 🎉 Now i just need to make it through the workday....
Can't wait to continue from my demo save, first JRPG here I come!

 

[Green Mario]

My physical order will arrive within the hour 🎉 Now i just need to make it through the workday....
Can't wait to continue from my demo save, first JRPG here I come!

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First ever? You're in for a treat. Make sure you download the free DLC and change the overworld music, though.

 

[Sera]

Got to a place now where i really wonder how they Translated it in other languages. In German they use some dialect (I think saxon or palatine, not sure). :D

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In english its localised as an okka australian
as an aussie i found it pretty on point and hilarious

 

[Poltergust]

Started the game this weekend, with the following Draconian modifiers:

-Stronger monsters (since I was told this game was rather easy otherwise)
-Less/No experience gain from weaker enemies (very useful at telling me when to stop grinding and just move on)
-Shypox/Super Shypox/Villagers Speak Tripe (because why not, although sometimes it can take me up to 3-4 times to actually speak with one particular person)

I'm about 8 hours into the game now. It's great!

 

[Deleted member 6230]

Tfw you finally find the fabled metal slimes and they immediately run off ;__;

Edit: oh my god I encountered them again but I couldn't beat them before they ran off noooo

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I've been soooooo lucky with metal Slimes. Be getting 3 to show up and I end up pepped and able to crit them easy lol

sometimes they don't even run away while I'm beating them down one HP at a time.

 

[Robin64]

Just started the third of the new Switch exclusive character stories. They're not terribly long, but they've been good so far and I can't imagine the game not having them.

 

[MoogleWizard]

I just finished Gondolia. This game is glorious. And it looks so clean and pretty on the Switch. This system is a gem. My one complaint is music variety, there should be more tracks. It's really lame that all these distinct towns share the same theme.

 

[Luke88]

I just finished Gondolia. This game is glorious. And it looks so clean and pretty on the Switch. This system is a gem. My one complaint is music variety, there should be more tracks. It's really lame that all these distinct towns share the same theme.

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As someone who is 2 towns ahead of you trust me, it only gets better.

 

[Rynam]

In english its localised as an okka australian
as an aussie i found it pretty on point and hilarious

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I assume they used a weird/funny dialect for every language then. :D

 

[Kain]

As someone who spent 100 hours on the PS4 version and completed everything but some side quests I'm so happy this exists. Such a great, great game. Enjoy it people, this is one of the best purest jrpgs ever.

 

[MoogleWizard]

As someone who is 2 towns ahead of you trust me, it only gets better.

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Can't wait. I hope there's lots of Sylvando. I even grew to like Veronica. When she showed up in the demo I had second thoughts about buying this game because I hate that "spunky, abrasive but super capable kid"-trope in JRPGs, but she's not that bad after all.

 

[Blade24070]

Sylvando is the absolute best. He and Veronica have the most personality in the cast. Serena is the plainest slice of Sara Lee, the worst "bread" on earth, but I heard she gets better later. Rab has been pretty good too.

 

[alundra311]

Anyone know where one can read the Dragon Quest XI prequel manga in english?

 

[Luke88]

Can't wait. I hope there's lots of Sylvando. I even grew to like Veronica. When she showed up in the demo I had second thoughts about buying this game because I hate that "spunky, abrasive but super capable kid"-trope in JRPGs, but she's not that bad after all.

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You can always put Veronica on the bench if you dislike her, I love her spells, but she's by far character that died the most on me, so I decided to swap her out

 

[Sera]

Sylvando is the absolute best. He and Veronica have the most personality in the cast. Serena is the plainest slice of Sara Lee, the worst "bread" on earth, but I heard she gets better later. Rab has been pretty good too.

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Serena really gets the short end of the stick seeing as

Spoiler: Act 3 spoilers

She gets character development and then she gets rolled back to "bread" default

 

[flatearthpandas]

Got this in the mail today.

It is...not comfortable (as expected). But had to have it for the novelty.

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That's what that is?? lol Saw that in the store when I grabbed my copy on Friday but didn't realize it was a controller. Hmmm... might need to run to the store

 

[Deleted member 10737]

 

[alundra311]

Got this in the mail today.

It is...not comfortable (as expected). But had to have it for the novelty.

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I'm so jealous!

Really hoping my local shop will get some stocks.

 

[Gloam]

I'm so jealous!

Really hoping my local shop will get some stocks.

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It's better as an ornament than a controller. I've the PS4 version, very uncomfortable. My son loves it though.