Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age |OT| Classic Combat Camera is Crucial

Himemomoko · Nov 5, 2018

Exentryk said:
Thanks. And yeah I agree with your comments regarding the Draconian options. Since this was my first Dragon Quest game, I was really looking forward to seeing what kind of equipment/armor/accessories it had. But the No Armor option meant I couldn't use any of that. Using the correct equipment is an important part of strategy in RPGs, so losing this aspect was a big deal. It even denied a complete skill tree for one character coz no shields. Shypox was also really annoying and just added more RNG to combat. Regarding Holy Water to prevent ship random encounters, I think my levels were low so that never worked.

Maybe I'll use armor/accessories in post-game, so I get to enjoy that aspect as well. Though I fear that if I start to go for the best gear, I'll end up losing another month in this game haha!

It works when you reached the level i mentioned, you'll reach that level naturally in the late act even you avoid field fights. I also play under-levelled intentionally in act 2 this playthrough, with all draconian restrictions. I reached lonalulu and finished all the related quests on the sea/islands without encountering any enemy by using holy water. I did this before final boss in main game. (MC was 42 and party average was 43).

The only situation where you have to encounter random battles on the sea in act 2 is when you are heading to

Alizarin

.
in that case you have to fight 2-3 battles before the boss. Also, random battles on the sea are not totally "random", the encounter steps will reset after you port on islands (and get an autosave), you can take advantage of this to reduce the fights on the sea.

I do have a lot of gripe on shypox tbh, it is nearly incompatible with low-level play. Especially for some single-character battles, what we do is essentially using Save/Load to practically turn-off shypox lol. But anyway, I still give it credit for the reason i mentioned previously (fits DQ's philosophy, and adds more content), plus:
1) we know from the description that this option means "give me RNG!!" so we can't really complain about the RNG it brings. 2) gamers who play under-levelledly are minority.

Equipping armor or accessories significantly decreases the RNG in the battle when playing under-level. The extreme case is

Rab

With proper armor one can defeat him at level of 13 (on normal, i suspect it should be somewhere around 18 on hard with armor)! Because you can equip an accessory which let you recover 25 HP per turn which is very significant at low level, and his magic attack damage is proportional to your total HP (55%). You can also use Rab's staff (Rab's default weapon) to get a HOT buff (8HP per turn) as well. With proper set-up on MC, the doppelgangers' magic and physical damage will also be reduced to a reasonable amount as well.

This part is somehow expected. Another important thing is that it could help players to easily manipulate the turn order by adjusting AGI on the fly (e.g. simply equip/unequip meteorite bracelet in the battle) thus enables some very fancy strategies .
For example Eric's deadly combo:
turn1: poison - beast mode - dirge
turn2: let boss move first(sleep) - devide- persecutter (equip meteorite bracelet before using the skill)
turn3: devide - victimizer(move before boss) - boss die

It is also possible to do this without changing accessories, but it needs extra person to cast decelerate(and this could fail. accelerate is not so effective since your character's basic AGI is low.) or just rely on RNG (in the case that character and boss' AGI are close).
I used this combo on the second-to-the-last boss in the main game to get a fast kill with all restrictions(link), who has about 320 agi on hard mode. But admittedly, successful sap/decelerate in a row is not easy on this one.

Xagarath · Nov 5, 2018

Hit a brick wall on my Stronger Monsters playthrough against the final boss of Drustan's trials,

Overweening Pride.

My party are around level 77 with decent equipment, but he puts out an absurd amount of damage (one-shotting my characters even with defensive buffs up) and high-threat summons and regular Disruptive Wave. I could probably beat him by spamming Magic Burst and Elixirs, but I'm trying to avoid that for anything outside the Wheel of Harma.
I might need to go in with more Pep powers ready.

Neifirst · Nov 5, 2018

Bummed to say it, but I'm throwing in the towel after 40 hours. The music was such a turnoff that I was listening to podcasts instead and then I couldn't get fully immersed in the world and I adored DQ8 back in the day! Maybe the eventual switch version is a better option for me.

Gloam · Nov 5, 2018

Neifirst said:
Maybe the eventual switch version is a better option for me.

Why would it be different?

sibarraz · Nov 5, 2018

I'm now on the 1st episode, in that city where

you have to fight against the woman in the mural

how much I have to play before I reach episode 2?

Exentryk said:
Finished the main game (part 2) with the main character at level 43 and with all 6 Draconian restrictions. It's been a long journey and I've been playing it for nearly 2 months. Overall, I've mostly enjoyed my time with the game.

Pros:

Storytelling

Amount of Content (Lots of unique cities and places, etc.)

Voice Acting

Monster Design and variety

Cons:

Silent Protagonist

Music (Poor compositions, Repetitive Use of Same Tracks, Midi Quality)

Combat System (RNG filled, Poor abilities, Poor Pep system, Poor Draconian options, etc.)

Poor Quality of Life

No Save Anywhere

No Quick Save Option

Random Encounters on Ship

No way to return to main menu during combat

No way to hide HUD

Slow Menus and Text (Make them instantaneous. Saving shouldn't take that many button presses)

Poor Inventory Management

Most of my complaints are with how archaic the systems are. Still, the story-telling being as good carried the game for me. I still have post-game to do, which I might rush through on normal to see the true ending. Need to start on other games.

I agree with your review except for the No Save Anywhere complaint. I feel that part of the experience in this game is venturing into a dungeon without really knowing if you are capable of going forward in your actual condition or if you must rest/return to be more prepared, if you have the option of saving anywhere you lose the tension in the game, and overall gets easier. Besides that, thanks to zoom is very easy to go to any rest, save and mov on, so isn't like more hardcore RPG's where you have zero options to save when you want to stop

FSLink · Nov 5, 2018

sibarraz said:
I agree with your review except for the No Save Anywhere complaint. I feel that part of the experience in this game is venturing into a dungeon without really knowing if you are capable of going forward in your actual condition or if you must rest/return to be more prepared, if you have the option of saving anywhere you lose the tension in the game, and overall gets easier. Besides that, thanks to zoom is very easy to go to any rest, save and mov on, so isn't like more hardcore RPG's where you have zero options to save when you want to stop

Should be noted that the 3DS version allows you to save anywhere.

Deleted member 2834 · Nov 5, 2018

Man, this game is overstaying its welcome. I'm pretty fucking bored by now. Xenoblade 2 is so much better.

Exentryk · Nov 5, 2018

sibarraz said:
I agree with your review except for the No Save Anywhere complaint. I feel that part of the experience in this game is venturing into a dungeon without really knowing if you are capable of going forward in your actual condition or if you must rest/return to be more prepared, if you have the option of saving anywhere you lose the tension in the game, and overall gets easier. Besides that, thanks to zoom is very easy to go to any rest, save and mov on, so isn't like more hardcore RPG's where you have zero options to save when you want to stop

The thing with dungeons is that you can essentially do them without even running into a single trash encounter. And bosses usually have a save near them anyway. If they don't, it's easy to just zoom out and return. So in the end it just becomes tedious rather than having any tension.

So I'd much rather have a Save Anywhere to reduce that tediousness and improve the QoL, even outside of dungeons.

Himemomoko said:
It works when you reached the level i mentioned, you'll reach that level naturally in the late act even you avoid field fights. I also play under-levelled intentionally in act 2 this playthrough, with all draconian restrictions. I reached lonalulu and finished all the related quests on the sea/islands without encountering any enemy by using holy water. I did this before final boss in main game. (MC was 42 and party average was 43).

The only situation where you have to encounter random battles on the sea in act 2 is when you are heading to

Alizarin

.
in that case you have to fight 2-3 battles before the boss. Also, random battles on the sea are not totally "random", the encounter steps will reset after you port on islands (and get an autosave), you can take advantage of this to reduce the fights on the sea.

I do have a lot of gripe on shypox tbh, it is nearly incompatible with low-level play. Especially for some single-character battles, what we do is essentially using Save/Load to practically turn-off shypox lol. But anyway, I still give it credit for the reason i mentioned previously (fits DQ's philosophy, and adds more content), plus:
1) we know from the description that this option means "give me RNG!!" so we can't really complain about the RNG it brings. 2) gamers who play under-levelledly are minority.

Equipping armor or accessories significantly decreases the RNG in the battle when playing under-level. The extreme case is

Rab

With proper armor one can defeat him at level of 13 (on normal, i suspect it should be somewhere around 18 on hard with armor)! Because you can equip an accessory which let you recover 25 HP per turn which is very significant at low level, and his magic attack damage is proportional to your total HP (55%). You can also use Rab's staff (Rab's default weapon) to get a HOT buff (8HP per turn) as well. With proper set-up on MC, the doppelgangers' magic and physical damage will also be reduced to a reasonable amount as well.

This part is somehow expected. Another important thing is that it could help players to easily manipulate the turn order by adjusting AGI on the fly (e.g. simply equip/unequip meteorite bracelet in the battle) thus enables some very fancy strategies .
For example Eric's deadly combo:
turn1: poison - beast mode - dirge
turn2: let boss move first(sleep) - devide- persecutter (equip meteorite bracelet before using the skill)
turn3: devide - victimizer(move before boss) - boss die

It is also possible to do this without changing accessories, but it needs extra person to cast decelerate(and this could fail. accelerate is not so effective since your character's basic AGI is low.) or just rely on RNG (in the case that character and boss' AGI are close).
I used this combo on the second-to-the-last boss in the main game to get a fast kill with all restrictions(link), who has about 320 agi on hard mode. But admittedly, successful sap/decelerate in a row is not easy on this one.

Regarding sea encounters, it would have been nice if there was a way to avoid encounters regardless of level. Since I wasn't intentionally trying to play low level (if I accidentally ran into something, I'd just fight it rather than reload my save), I explored a fair bit on the ship to see all the islands in act 1. Resetting the encounter steps via obscure ways isn't something I'd have done anyway, but good to know the option is there.

And yeah, that act 2 fight with only the main character was the worst fight in the entire game so far because of the RNG. It's probably not so noticeable without Draconian 6*.

I like that poison, wild side, sleep, decelerate + knives attacks. I avoided using sleep and poison for Erik simply to reduce the reliance on RNG with those debuffs to stick. But it's nice to see when they all work. I used part of that setup with sleep, divide+swords, decelerate, divide+swords against the final boss (part 1).

And yeah, when I read the 200 agi bonus on meteorite bonus, I thought of the same strategy with turn order manipulation. I've missed out on a bunch of these strategies due to the restriction.

Taborcarn · Nov 5, 2018

Imp the Dimp said:
Man, this game is overstaying its welcome. I'm pretty fucking bored by now. Xenoblade 2 is so much better.

Man, I had the exact opposite reaction. DQ11 was a treasure that I enjoyed the whole way through. XB2 was a slog that I needed to skip all the optional sidequests just to be done with it.

Deleted member 2834 · Nov 5, 2018

Taborcarn said:
Man, I had the exact opposite reaction. DQ11 was a treasure that I enjoyed the whole way through. XB2 was a slog that I needed to skip all the optional sidequests just to be done with it.

I thought Xeno 2 was so well paced, possibly the best paced 100h game I've played, bar maybe the 9th or 10th chapter (

the one that takes place mostly in the World Tree, whichever one that was.

). DQ XI is getting really old really fast. I did enjoy it for~25h in the middle part, which is fine but I felt the beginning wasn't great and now it's on a downward slope again in chapter 2. I just want to see the credits and bail out. I've invested too much time to not finish it.

There's just soooo much blablablablablablablablablablablabla right now, it's off the charts. I don't care about any of this.

1upsuper · Nov 5, 2018

I've got a Draconian Quest-related grinding question for the very end of the post-game (end of Act 3 spoilers):

I would like to grind to level 99 with the pep power strat but due to my reduced EXP Draconian Quest, I have to first defeat an enemy in the battle that gives full EXP before doing Electrolight. But now that I'm level 80 even enemies in Drustan's labyrinths mostly give me reduced EXP. What are the highest level enemies in the game that I can use for Electrolight fodder?

Phonzo · Nov 5, 2018

Imp the Dimp said:
I thought Xeno 2 was so well paced, possibly the best paced 100h game I've played, bar maybe the 9th or 10th chapter (

the one that takes place mostly in the World Tree, whichever one that was.

). DQ XI is getting really old really fast. I did enjoy it for~25h in the middle part, which is fine but I felt the beginning wasn't great and now it's on a downward slope again in chapter 2. I just want to see the credits and bail out. I've invested too much time to not finish it.

There's just soooo much blablablablablablablablablablablabla right now, it's off the charts. I don't care about any of this.

If you cant bear to go nonw you should probably stop. Cause it'll take you atleast 60hours to really beat the game.

SantaC · Nov 5, 2018

The game really picks up in octongia

Tournament was super fun

Taborcarn · Nov 5, 2018

Imp the Dimp said:
I thought Xeno 2 was so well paced, possibly the best paced 100h game I've played, bar maybe the 9th or 10th chapter (

the one that takes place mostly in the World Tree, whichever one that was.

). DQ XI is getting really old really fast. I did enjoy it for~25h in the middle part, which is fine but I felt the beginning wasn't great and now it's on a downward slope again in chapter 2. I just want to see the credits and bail out. I've invested too much time to not finish it.

There's just soooo much blablablablablablablablablablablabla right now, it's off the charts. I don't care about any of this.

*shrug* Different folks for different folks I guess. But again I feel like the exact opposite of what you posted. There was tons of superfluous dialogue is XB2, after rescuing Nia from the ship I jUst wanted to skip it all. I didn't care a bit about these characters, where DQ had an ensemble that made me feel engaged and want to learn more about them.

Jet Jaguar · Nov 5, 2018

Is there a place in chapter 2 to farm metal slimes? (as in see them on the map roaming around like other enemies etc)

MoonFrog · Nov 5, 2018

Jet Jaguar said:
Is there a place in chapter 2 to farm metal slimes? (as in see them on the map roaming around like other enemies etc)

Don't think they ever roam the map outside of that opening sequence, no.

To farm them, there is the summoning method, if you really want to.

demosthenes · Nov 5, 2018

Just finished Spider Man on PS4, which means I'm going to start finally getting into this game.

Last DQ I played was VIII. What's the word on length so far and any stupid beginner tips to know (oh I really wish I would have known about ______)

I blind bought this based on VIII and from very minimal looks online. I was SUPER disappointed by NNK2. Am I in for more?

Suburban Thug · Nov 5, 2018

50 hours in and I just got all the orbs. How much longer until the end? Another 50?

MoonFrog · Nov 5, 2018

Suburban Thug said:
50 hours in and I just got all the orbs. How much longer until the end? Another 50?

I took 50 hours to finish the first act, 30 to get to the end of the second act from there, then did some side material for a while before killing the main game boss at 85 hours. I then killed the post game boss at 135 hours--could've killed him much earlier. Got the platinum at 150 hours.

Plenty of people took much less time than this though. Some took more too.

Deleted member 35048 · Nov 6, 2018

sibarraz said:
I'm now on the 1st episode, in that city where

you have to fight against the woman in the mural

how much I have to play before I reach episode 2?

You're almost there, that fight is a big difficulty spike (one of my favorite fights), so be prepared. After that the game starts to open up so that's cool.

Neifirst said:
Bummed to say it, but I'm throwing in the towel after 40 hours. The music was such a turnoff that I was listening to podcasts instead and then I couldn't get fully immersed in the world and I adored DQ8 back in the day! Maybe the eventual switch version is a better option for me.

If you have the PC version, that can be remedied with the Orchestral Mod, unless you're on PS4. You can keep the music on, maybe leave it low (3-4). If not then:

We can wait for Koichi Sugiyama to "sadly" pass away, maybe in time for the Switch release so they can use the orchestral arrangements
You can keep your PS4 on a low FW to get CFW onto your PS4 and wait for the Orchestral Mod to release on PS4
Wait for the Switch release, and for them to release the Switch version of the Orchestral Mod

That is if, they want to release console versions of the mod.

Ventilaator · Nov 6, 2018

Act 3 ruins the game and is a parody of what people who don't like JRPGs think JRPGs are.

but anyway, I have now finished the game and have been getting the remaining trophies. "All visual equipment" seems like a grind, but whatever, this is a podcast game for me anyway. But I'm getting increasingly worried about not having the "500 different kinds of items" trophy though. I'd expect it to just pop up at some point naturally, but I am several hours past the final final ending, and I still don't have it

Neifirst · Nov 6, 2018

Gloam said:
Why would it be different?

Good question. When I play games on my television, I need to be all in, but when playing on a portable I can have something on in the background and still enjoy the experience. More likely though this game just didn't click with me like I thought it would based on past experience with the series and other RPGs that were really lengthy like Xenoblade Chronicles 1, 2, and X.

Crawl · Nov 6, 2018

I know square said this game needed to sell well enough to get DQ games localized in the future.. did it meet those goals so we can keep getting dragon quest in the west localized?

MoonFrog · Nov 6, 2018

Crawl said:
I know square said this game needed to sell well enough to get DQ games localized in the future.. did it meet those goals so we can keep getting dragon quest in the west localized?

Nintendo at least seems to be bringing Builders 2 over (despite not bringing DQXI 3DS over).

I'm guessing Square will bring over Builders 2 for PS4 too.

NPD was trumpeting the revenue being strong, so it seems it sold at least somewhat more than on par with DQIX. Of course, it was also probably a significantly more expensive game to produce (multiple versions, HD version, etc.)

PspLikeANut · Nov 6, 2018

Well I finally started playing the game. Looking forward to this.

Free form or classic mode? Which mode did yall choose?

MoonFrog · Nov 6, 2018

I went classic. Free form weirded me out tbh.

Sagitario · Nov 6, 2018

I have played for ~70 hours and I just got to act 2.

What are the preferred classes for the hero, Rab and the eighth party member?

I've been using greatswords for the hero, but I feel the game wants me to be a sword user because the Sword of Light.
The Black Blade is the best looking greatsword and I don't want to change it, but it has been outclassed for a while now. Is there a better looking greatsword (subjective, I know) or a powered-up version of it? (like Nightcleaver - Blanishing Blade)

Are axes worth playing or should I stick to sword and shield for 8?

What's the stat I should focus on if I want to steal items with Erik? Is it worth it? Cause I'm getting tired of wasting turns to unsuccessfully get items :P

ghibli99 · Nov 6, 2018

What a difference a few days made. I was so frustrated last week, but spent the time to get my party up to 99, have done just about all of the postgame content, and just need to complete a few quests, two fights, and then the damn crafting trophy, which is annoying, but thank goodness the trophy doesn't require you to craft *everything* in the game. Then I'll have my plat, which I originally had no intention of getting.

Overall, this final third of the game more or less speaks to me in terms of what I like doing in RPGs, which tends to deal with the stuff outside the game itself, which mostly involves using the internet to find all the fastest ways to get things, etc. LOL I don't tend to be a checklist completionist though, and I don't like ticking boxes, which is why I don't care for the crafting trophy itself, although I do like all the appearance-changing gear you get as a result. It just takes so much time.

Anyway, hoping to have everything taken care of by the end of the week. Gonna need some short games after this since I'm already at 105 hours.

Orion · Nov 6, 2018

Ventilaator said:
Act 3 ruins the game and is a parody of what people who don't like JRPGs think JRPGs are.

I'm partway through Act 3 and I have to admit I hate the turn the story has taken. I'm certainly not mad about the game being longer but at the moment I feel like the story should've ended with Act 2.

Or at least have an Act 3 that doesn't resort to time travel nonsense to give everyone a happy ending. Well, everyone except Jasper apparently lol. I mean I loved Veronica and yeah a lot of innocent people died, but undoing all that feels cheap and makes all of Act 2 and everything they went through feel pointless. And the other party members not remembering any of it really doesn't sit right with me. I thought their memories would come back when the Watcher Elder gave them back their levels, but nope. Serena's huge leap in character development? Gone. To make matters worse, the one who does remember everything is an empty shell of a silent protagonist so naturally he can't explain things to them, like oh I don't know, Mordegon possessing King Carnelian! No, best to not say anything, have a banquet together, then wait for him to attack you in your sleep I guess...

I can tolerate a silent protagonist for the most part but this was insanely frustrating. It's still one of my favorite games of all time and maybe I'll feel better about it once I've finished, but right now I'm not feeling this turn of events.

MoonFrog · Nov 6, 2018

Orion said:
I'm partway through Act 3 and I have to admit I hate the turn the story has taken. I'm certainly not mad about the game being longer but at the moment I feel like the story should've ended with Act 2.

Or at least have an Act 3 that doesn't resort to time travel nonsense to give everyone a happy ending. Well, everyone except Jasper apparently lol. I mean I loved Veronica and yeah a lot of innocent people died, but undoing all that feels cheap and makes all of Act 2 and everything they went through feel pointless. And the other party members not remembering any of it really doesn't sit right with me. I thought their memories would come back when the Watcher Elder gave them back their levels, but nope. Serena's huge leap in character development? Gone. To make matters worse, the one who does remember everything is an empty shell of a silent protagonist so naturally he can't explain things to them, like oh I don't know, Mordegon possessing King Carnelian! No, best to not say anything, have a banquet together, then wait for him to attack you in your sleep I guess...

I can tolerate a silent protagonist for the most part but this was insanely frustrating. It's still one of my favorite games of all time and maybe I'll feel better about it once I've finished, but right now I'm not feeling this turn of events.

I think there's a greater narrative reason for why it happens this way—the game was building to this moment—but I can understand the frustration.

Iori Fuyusaka · Nov 6, 2018

Is any of the preorder DLC actually exclusive? I thought it was until I found a healer card in game. I'm assuming the EXP/Gold boosting vests are?

Capra · Nov 6, 2018

Jesus fuck I wish I was on Sylvando's level.

Finding him and Smile just made my life and now this outfit is somehow better than my plate mail

Xagarath · Nov 7, 2018

Sagitario said:
I have played for ~70 hours and I just got to act 2.

What are the preferred classes for the hero, Rab and the eighth party member?

I've been using greatswords for the hero, but I feel the game wants me to be a sword user because the Sword of Light.
The Black Blade is the best looking greatsword and I don't want to change it, but it has been outclassed for a while now. Is there a better looking greatsword (subjective, I know) or a powered-up version of it? (like Nightcleaver - Blanishing Blade)

Are axes worth playing or should I stick to sword and shield for 8?

What's the stat I should focus on if I want to steal items with Erik? Is it worth it? Cause I'm getting tired of wasting turns to unsuccessfully get items :P

Deftness helps steal chances, but only by a small percentage.

Axes are pretty good because of Scrap Mettle, which has a strong chance of landing Sap on the enemy and isn't stopped by anti-magic defenses like Snub or Wall of Light. Parallax also does decent damage. However, 8th should focus on shields before any offensive skills - their best role is as a tank.

Switching between greatswords and regular sword is pretty easy because of how cheap respecs are. Just go with whatever you fancy.

Himemomoko · Nov 7, 2018

demosthenes said:
Just finished Spider Man on PS4, which means I'm going to start finally getting into this game.

Last DQ I played was VIII. What's the word on length so far and any stupid beginner tips to know (oh I really wish I would have known about ______)

I blind bought this based on VIII and from very minimal looks online. I was SUPER disappointed by NNK2. Am I in for more?

I really wish i would have known about the fact that spoilers are everywhere online. lol

Nothing significant is missable so just play it blindly.

1upsuper said:
I've got a Draconian Quest-related grinding question for the very end of the post-game (end of Act 3 spoilers):

I would like to grind to level 99 with the pep power strat but due to my reduced EXP Draconian Quest, I have to first defeat an enemy in the battle that gives full EXP before doing Electrolight. But now that I'm level 80 even enemies in Drustan's labyrinths mostly give me reduced EXP. What are the highest level enemies in the game that I can use for Electrolight fodder?

Pls refer to #9243. AFAIK the monster in the spoiler is considered as highest level in the game besides the bosses.

Avalon said:
Is any of the preorder DLC actually exclusive? I thought it was until I found a healer card in game. I'm assuming the EXP/Gold boosting vests are?

Nothing is really exclusive. You can get those vests from the casino.

Crawl said:
I know square said this game needed to sell well enough to get DQ games localized in the future.. did it meet those goals so we can keep getting dragon quest in the west localized?

They announced yesterday that the game's sale figure reached 4 million worldwide (including download and shipment), the discussion thread is here.
I don't think it is sold well in the west to the point that would surely satisfy SE.

ghibli99 · Nov 7, 2018

After 110 hours, I got the platinum last night. The remaining trophies weren't too bad. I did have to create a spreadsheet of all the materials I needed for crafting though, which I have to admit was actually pretty fun. It was great seeing how my forging evolved. By the end, I felt like a master smith creating 5-star +3 equipment with ease.

Something DQ does really well is create small, memorable stories around what are pretty mundane/annoying quests. So in addition to the loot, the general NPC dialogue payoff usually has me smiling at their resolutions.

While I wasn't all that into the game's second act, and parts of the third almost made me quit, overall I have to say that this ranks among the best DQs I've played, up there with 3, 5, and 7 (with 4, 6, 8, and 9 not too far behind). It has a superb cast, although the silent protagonist thing feels absolutely out of place being surrounded by such a wide range of charismatic party members and memorable NPCs. The world was a joy to explore, with rewards and things to discover tucked away in every corner. Everything has a meticulous, handcrafted feel that makes every room feel unique and cozy.

Checkerboard rendering on Pro was hit/miss, but overall the game looked great. Character/monster modeling and animation are superb. Music, in either MIDI or orchestral form, gets the job done, but is nothing particularly memorable. I appreciate that DQ keeps on using the same old sound effects for things like leveling up, running away, going through doors and up/down stairs, etc.

I do also have to say that I liked the trophy set. They could have easily made it terrible by making you collect every item, complete every quest, craft every item, get every accolade, complete the bestiary, etc., but they didn't. It strikes a good balance of rewarding you for putting in the extra effort without being insensitive about the player's time.

Anyway, it will probably be a top 3 finisher for the year. I'd give it a 9.5/10.

Sagitario · Nov 7, 2018

Xagarath said:
Deftness helps steal chances, but only by a small percentage.

Axes are pretty good because of Scrap Mettle, which has a strong chance of landing Sap on the enemy and isn't stopped by anti-magic defenses like Snub or Wall of Light. Parallax also does decent damage. However, 8th should focus on shields before any offensive skills - their best role is as a tank.

Switching between greatswords and regular sword is pretty easy because of how cheap respecs are. Just go with whatever you fancy.

Thank you :)

splash wave · Nov 7, 2018

ghibli99 said:
After 110 hours, I got the platinum last night. The remaining trophies weren't too bad. I did have to create a spreadsheet of all the materials I needed for crafting though, which I have to admit was actually pretty fun. It was great seeing how my forging evolved. By the end, I felt like a master smith creating 5-star +3 equipment with ease.

Something DQ does really well is create small, memorable stories around what are pretty mundane/annoying quests. So in addition to the loot, the general NPC dialogue payoff usually has me smiling at their resolutions.

While I wasn't all that into the game's second act, and parts of the third almost made me quit, overall I have to say that this ranks among the best DQs I've played, up there with 3, 5, and 7 (with 4, 6, 8, and 9 not too far behind). It has a superb cast, although the silent protagonist thing feels absolutely out of place being surrounded by such a wide range of charismatic party members and memorable NPCs. The world was a joy to explore, with rewards and things to discover tucked away in every corner. Everything has a meticulous, handcrafted feel that makes every room feel unique and cozy.

Checkerboard rendering on Pro was hit/miss, but overall the game looked great. Character/monster modeling and animation are superb. Music, in either MIDI or orchestral form, gets the job done, but is nothing particularly memorable. I appreciate that DQ keeps on using the same old sound effects for things like leveling up, running away, going through doors and up/down stairs, etc.

I do also have to say that I liked the trophy set. They could have easily made it terrible by making you collect every item, complete every quest, craft every item, get every accolade, complete the bestiary, etc., but they didn't. It strikes a good balance of rewarding you for putting in the extra effort without being insensitive about the player's time.

Anyway, it will probably be a top 3 finisher for the year. I'd give it a 9.5/10.

Congrats! 110 hours doesn't seem unreasonable for the Platinum. Maybe I'll go for it myself...

I'm only in Act 1, nearing the end—is there any way I can start making the Platinum journey easier on myself right now?

MoonFrog · Nov 7, 2018

Hmmmm getting the platinum was mostly incidental to me.

The only thing I did at the end for the platinum and not because I otherwise wanted to do it was grind to 99. Last thing I did.

I wanted to get all 9 trophies at once; did not work out that way :( I got 6 in one batch, 3 in another shortly thereafter.

Himemomoko · Nov 7, 2018

Horii's word to the heroes who bought this game (literally most posters in this thread :)):

I was truly delighted when I heard the news that Dragon Quest XI had exceeded four million sales worldwide. Back when I created the first Dragon Quest game, over thirty years ago, I could not possibly have dreamed that it would become a series that would cross the seas and be played by people all around the world. This is the eleventh numbered Dragon Quest title, and in depicting a 'hero's tale,' also represents a new beginning for the series.

When I think that there are now over four million of these heroes all around the world, and each one has gone on their own individual adventure, it reminds me how glad I am we made the game. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the people who played Dragon Quest XI, both the fans of the previous games and the new fans who started with this one. Thank you all.

ghibli99 · Nov 7, 2018

splash wave said:
Congrats! 110 hours doesn't seem unreasonable for the Platinum. Maybe I'll go for it myself...

I'm only in Act 1, nearing the end—is there any way I can start making the Platinum journey easier on myself right now?

Thanks!

Regarding the plat, nothing really if you're not rushing, spending time doing sidequests, thoroughly exploring, not skipping sparkly spots/ore deposits, etc. Don't sell materials either, although it becomes less of an issue later. These were invaluable resources for me when it came to doing postgame cleanup (careful, as there are lots of spoilers w/ names, locations, etc.):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...5t1_zMDCLpiw8pwB7y8fM3IKkA/edit#gid=268420710
https://wiki.etherealgames.com/dq11/
https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonquest/comments/9egaas/postgame_leveling_method_to_99/

Mauricio_Magus · Nov 7, 2018

I'm back to playing this after taking a break for like a month. I'm 30 hours in and still in Act 1, I don't even have the 6th and 7th party member so I'm taking my sweet time doing everything(level 24 right now). (I spent like 7 hours in the Casino haha)

Playing with Harder Monster on btw, which is pretty nice so far even if I did grind for a while for the first big boss.

I have a bunch of seeds and the pre-order skill ones, is there anyone I should be giving them? I've only spent all the strength ones on the Hero so far.

MoonFrog · Nov 7, 2018

Himemomoko said:
Horii's word to the heroes who bought this game (literally most posters in this thread :)):

I was truly delighted when I heard the news that Dragon Quest XI had exceeded four million sales worldwide. Back when I created the first Dragon Quest game, over thirty years ago, I could not possibly have dreamed that it would become a series that would cross the seas and be played by people all around the world. This is the eleventh numbered Dragon Quest title, and in depicting a 'hero's tale,' also represents a new beginning for the series.

When I think that there are now over four million of these heroes all around the world, and each one has gone on their own individual adventure, it reminds me how glad I am we made the game. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the people who played Dragon Quest XI, both the fans of the previous games and the new fans who started with this one. Thank you all.

Thanks!

Deleted member 18400 · Nov 7, 2018

Man I put it 15 hours on my days off (tuesday weds), up to 71 hours now and I still haven't finished Act 2. That's pretty crazy content from this game because I haven't grinded levels once, and I haven't really screwed around except maybe 3 hours in the Casino. I do listen to all the cutscenes and talk to a lot of people in the cities, but I think that is just basic RPG stuff.

I will say....I'm pissed off about...

Them killing Veronica. I loved her character and I waited all that time in Act 2 to get her back and they go and fucking kill her. Messed up. At least Serena is kind of a bad ass now. I am about to go up Mount Huji to kill the fire dragon guy. I think I must be getting somewhat close to the end of the game, not counting Act 3 stuff.

1upsuper · Nov 8, 2018

Himemomoko said:
Pls refer to #9243. AFAIK the monster in the spoiler is considered as highest level in the game besides the bosses.

Thank you for this. (Act 3 spoilers)

I looked for the Vicious Liege Lizard in the Trial of the Luminary castle but I can't find him anywhere. Does he spawn in the field or only in battle with other enemies?

AlanOC91 · Nov 8, 2018

Beat the

Slayer of the Sands

on Draconia Mode last night. Holy balls it was hard. Had to constantly daze him along with doing the Poison -> 6x Attack combo. Felt good when I finally beat him though!

Himemomoko · Nov 8, 2018

1upsuper said:
Thank you for this. (Act 3 spoilers)

I looked for the Vicious Liege Lizard in the Trial of the Luminary castle but I can't find him anywhere. Does he spawn in the field or only in battle with other enemies?

They only appear on the 2nd floor or external 2nd floor at night (you can only tell the time by press square during the trial)

Also remember that, the day/night swapping inside trial dungeon is different from the field. Within the same region even you reach the day/night bound, the camera will not raise then show the sky becoming bright/dark (thus the monster distribution won't change), although the clock still ticks.
You can change the day/night monster by entering/quitting the trial dungeon when the time is right. In luminary trial you can also swap it by going external/inside the castle (your current location will show on the left top of the screen. You'll also get an autosave each time you go outside/inside). But you can't do this by going upstairs/downstairs.

So enter the luminary's trial at night and be careful every time you go external/inside the castle (including a small balcony which is also counted as outside or external), make sure that your clock still points to night when you switch the region.

1upsuper · Nov 8, 2018

Himemomoko said:
They only appear on the 2nd floor or external 2nd floor at night (you can only tell the time by press square during the trial)

Also remember that, the day/night swapping inside trial dungeon is different from the field. Within the same region even you reach the day/night bound, the camera will not raise then show the sky becoming bright/dark (thus the monster distribution won't change), although the clock still ticks.
You can change the day/night monster by entering/quitting the trial dungeon when the time is right. In luminary trial you can also swap it by going external/inside the castle (your current location will show on the left top of the screen. You'll also get an autosave each time you go outside/inside). But you can't do this by going upstairs/downstairs.

So enter the luminary's trial at night and be careful every time you go external/inside the castle (including a small balcony which is also counted as outside or external), make sure that your clock still points to night when you switch the region.

Thank you! Got everyone to 99.

At 230 hours I've done almost everything, including the platinum. Played with harder monsters, shypox, reduced exp from weak monsters, and no fleeing. The only things I haven't done are make every single piece of equipment on the forge, complete my bestiary, and farm skill seeds, but I think I'm going to hold off on those at least for now. End of post-game spoilers:

I also beat Calasmos both with his shroud and without. Despite harder monsters and shypox, at level 99 with the best gear in the game he wasn't very hard even with his shroud. The fifth boss in the Drustan wish trials was way harder. The only thing I still want to do is find the rest of the 14 rarefied monsters, but I'm having trouble finding certain ones. I haven't found anyone online talking about where you can best find them in Act 3 since a lot of them first appear in Act 1 or 2. Can I still find the panda in the post-game? I tried fighting the Ursa Minors in the forest in Drustan's trials but even with the two accessories that boost the rates of rare monsters the panda never showed up, which makes me think he might not spawn there. But that seems to be the only place where the Ursa Minors show up anymore.

I'll probably post my overall thoughts soon but suffice to say I had an amazing two months with this game. It's absolutely one of my favorite DQs (and I love all of them) and easily the best new JRPG I've played in years.

JudgeN · Nov 8, 2018

Finished it , just now and really enjoyed everything. Glad it sold well and hopefully next time we get orchestrated music from the start.

Can only tell me the name of the song when your

Riding the whale post game, it was different from normal game

1upsuper · Nov 8, 2018

JudgeN said:
Finished it , just now and really enjoyed everything. Glad it sold well and hopefully next time we get orchestrated music from the start.

Can only tell me the name of the song when your

Riding the whale post game, it was different from normal game

Heavenly Flight. It's one of the series' most iconic songs. Debuted in Dragon Quest III but a lot of westerners first heard it in VIII.

Himemomoko · Nov 8, 2018

1upsuper said:
Thank you! Got everyone to 99.

At 230 hours I've done almost everything, including the platinum. Played with harder monsters, shypox, reduced exp from weak monsters, and no fleeing. The only things I haven't done are make every single piece of equipment on the forge, complete my bestiary, and farm skill seeds, but I think I'm going to hold off on those at least for now. End of post-game spoilers:

I also beat Calasmos both with his shroud and without. Despite harder monsters and shypox, at level 99 with the best gear in the game he wasn't very hard even with his shroud. The fifth boss in the Drustan wish trials was way harder. The only thing I still want to do is find the rest of the 14 rarefied monsters, but I'm having trouble finding certain ones. I haven't found anyone online talking about where you can best find them in Act 3 since a lot of them first appear in Act 1 or 2. Can I still find the panda in the post-game? I tried fighting the Ursa Minors in the forest in Drustan's trials but even with the two accessories that boost the rates of rare monsters the panda never showed up, which makes me think he might not spawn there. But that seems to be the only place where the Ursa Minors show up anymore.

I'll probably post my overall thoughts soon but suffice to say I had an amazing two months with this game. It's absolutely one of my favorite DQs (and I love all of them) and the best new JRPG I've played in years.

It's certainly spawn-able in act 3.
I think the monster (Vicious Ursa Minor, during forest's daytime) you mentioned in the sage's trial(during the day) is the right one to summon panda. How many you have defeated (check defeated list)?The number that below 150 is usually not that abnormal.

JudgeN said:
Finished it , just now and really enjoyed everything. Glad it sold well and hopefully next time we get orchestrated music from the start.

Can only tell me the name of the song when your

Riding the whale post game, it was different from normal game

It's called

"おおぞらをとぶ" in Japanese or "Heavenly Flight" in English. First appeared in DQ3 (1988) and reused in DQ8 (2004) and DQ11

Glad you like it. It's a truly legendary song that inspires many Japanese game composers (and of course players)
Perhaps the most famous story comes from Yoko Shimomura (the leading/only composer of street fighter II, Xenoblade 1, final fantasy XV, kingdom heart series and many more big titles) . This song is the direct motivation that makes her begin her career as a game composer. She even said during an interview "if i could ever compose a song like this, i could just peacefully die."

Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age |OT| Classic Combat Camera is Crucial

Prophet of Regret - One Winged Slayer

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