The GWJ JRPG Club - Q1 2021 - Dragon Quest XI!

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Going into 2021, we all need some heroism. We need a classic bedtime story about a destined hero overcoming the forces of darkness. We need a game so iconic that a weekday release would disrupt the entire economy of Japan. We need a seamless blending of new and old, one that lets you explore an open world with modern conveniences, while simultaneously letting you feel like a kid, playing Nintendo again. We need Dragon Quest XI.

According to HowLongToBeat.com, this game, the "main" part of this game clocks in at about 60 hours, and the "main + extra" clocks in at about 90. I don't really know how people are classifying their plays, but I can say this sounds about right to me.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/FCcxHO4.png)

I've heard this game has extra stuff at the end?: Yep! Ever since DQ VI, Dragon Quest games have had a pretty robust "post-game" section, which often end up including significant story components. This one is no exception.

Broadly speaking, the game is broken up into two Acts. If you find yourself wondering "am I in Act II yet?," you aren't. When you move from Act I to Act II, you'll know. You'll also know when you're done with Act II -- that's when you've beaten the main villain and the credits roll. In this game, the post-game is so robust, and involves new content all over the map, such that it's really a whole new Act III. Some people like it (I loved it); some don't, but for club purposes you've finished the game when you claim victory over Act II.

Happy gaming, everyone!

Oh, this is a game about the Smash Bros character? Excellent! Looking forward to starting it.

Edit: Can we start since the thread is active? I am lucky enough to have the week off so could get a good start.

Go right ahead!

I'm playing on my Xbox, and I'm working on catching up to where I've been before. I found all the party members, but I never reached the end of Act 1. I'm in 2D mode for now, which is quicker but I miss the good cut scenes.

Interestingly enough, the game switched back to 3D mode during a certain event in Gallopolis.

Have been playing this for several months now and I think I am about 2/3rds of the way through. Definitely one of the best JRPGs I have ever played. Great choice for the club!

I'm in.

I picked it up for the Switch on sale recently, and when it got picked, I started playing it a little. I've only made it to the second town, so it's very early. Strong monsters is turned on, and it's already making common battles a bit of a challenge to keep damage and healing up (although I only have the main character so far). I've actually gotten in the habit of juggling which weapons I use; usually it's the sword and board for the extra defense, but if I need that extra 1 or 2 damage to get a kill, I'll switch to the greatsword.

I love the music in this game so far as well.

I'm in and have put in a few hours already (although it says 17 hours which is likely some type of suspend mode issue). Looking forward to the journey.

I'm in the second town too.

I'm loving the retro style so far. Much like Bravely Second earlier this year I'm enjoying playing a game that seems like a more direct modernization of the games I loved from the SNES/PS1 era rather than the more action RPGs we tend to get now (which I also love but in a different way).

This time, I'm actually going to start the game on time. For Cold Steel 2, I didn't get to start until a couple months in and got way behind. Woo!!

Cronox wrote:

I'm in the second town too.

I'm loving the retro style so far. Much like Bravely Second earlier this year I'm enjoying playing a game that seems like a more direct modernization of the games I loved from the SNES/PS1 era rather than the more action RPGs we tend to get now (which I also love but in a different way).

This. I love that playing DQ XI (or any DQ, really) feels very, very similar to playing any of the old games. Modern design, classic style. It's a beautiful thing.

Sundown wrote:

I'm in.

I picked it up for the Switch on sale recently, and when it got picked, I started playing it a little. I've only made it to the second town, so it's very early. Strong monsters is turned on, and it's already making common battles a bit of a challenge to keep damage and healing up (although I only have the main character so far). I've actually gotten in the habit of juggling which weapons I use; usually it's the sword and board for the extra defense, but if I need that extra 1 or 2 damage to get a kill, I'll switch to the greatsword.

I love the music in this game so far as well.

For me, the two hardest points with stronger monsters were (1) the first boss monsters you face after getting the second party member, and (2) Dora-in-Gray, a mid-Act 1 boss (seriously, f*** her). Those first bosses can be a pain but can be overcome; Dora-in-Gray really needs items that mitigate status ailments. There were plenty other fights that were hard, but manageable.

One piece of advice, especially for that first hurdle: you can get status ailments to work on bosses in this game. I never expect that they will, in a JRPG.

I think that has to be one of my biggest complaints about JRPGs, Status Effects. Ideally you want to be at the point where they are fairly useless against normal monsters, but the game makes bosses immune to them most the time, so I never use them. Probably because I was playing without stronger monsters, but I never made use of status effects in this game.

Maybe I will try and scrounge up some time to pick up my stronger monsters playthrough I started.

That feeling when the village dog can tank and deal damage better than I can. But hey, at least I can talk! (oh wait, this is a silent protagonist game)

merphle wrote:

That feeling when the village dog can tank and deal damage better than I can. But hey, at least I can talk! (oh wait, this is a silent protagonist game)

That is my biggest complaint about DQXI honestly. They lock you into being a specific character (you can change your first name, but your character is locked male with a look and backstory), yet they still refuse to give him a voice or even any unvoiced text lines. At least for me personally, outside of Link, I feel the silent protagonist actually detracts from the story these days.

I agree completely. Unfortunately I think this is something Yujii Hori is unlikely ever to change.

I'm in.

Didn't know about the strong monsters before I started. Wondering if I should create a new game since I'm less than 2 hours in. Then again I am a Dragon Quest newbie so it might not be that bad.

I've made it a bit farther, and I'm now in the Manglewood with two party members (like 2.5 hours or so). One thing I'm finding is that Stronger Monsters feels more like a Hard mode than a true normal mode (considering the base game is supposed to be easy). I'm absolutely having to play smart against even common enemies. the Bodkin archers, for instance, have overwhelmed me a couple times with buffing their defense and summoning allies. I've had to do a bit of grinding to stay on what feels like the level curve. That can either be bad, if you're not up for it, or can be fun (for now) if you want every battle to make you think at least a bit about what you're doing. Now, once we get a full party up the story may be different, but it's more of a challenge than I was expecting so far.

I'm all for this being a causal game for me, so I went with the normal monsters. Things can sometimes still go sideways, but I'm not really stressing about every encounter or when I saved last. I'm also not worrying too much about min/maxing my equipment for now.

I switched back to 3D mode right before I was introduced to the 6th and 7th party members. This has produced a weird bug on my Series X: when I suspend the game, the in-game timer does not stop. My save file says I have over 70 hours in the game, when it is more like 20-30, and honestly this is really going to bother me.

I've reached the point where you gave to get six items, and suddenly there is a lot less direction, which was a surprise.

I had the same suspend issue on the xbox one. It says I have 20 hours in but I have more like 6 or 7.

To harp on the difficulty a bit, I've probably wiped about 5 times so far in this game, and just once to a boss. The bodkins can get overwhelming, but generally I lose when I'm unlucky in who they target (double or tripling up on a single person), or I heal at the wrong time. Stronger Monsters feels like you really have to play more defensively and heal a lot, and not leave yourself open to dying quickly. And why the Bodkins are so annoying, since you can't always win through attrition, since they can buff their defense and spawn more. A bit of grinding has gone a long way, but the exp requirements also seem to be going up very quickly at a point, so the grinding won't be infinite.

I like the idea of the challenge so far, but I can absolutely see how that won't be for everyone.

For those playing with it, I wonder how far you all are into the game, and how you'll feel about it a little bit down the road?

For me, stronger monsters definitely left the beginning feeling pretty tough. But the random encounters became much more manageable once I had a full compliment of four party members, and especially once I had Sylvando.

Aristophan wrote:

I'm all for this being a causal game for me, so I went with the normal monsters. Things can sometimes still go sideways, but I'm not really stressing about every encounter or when I saved last. I'm also not worrying too much about min/maxing my equipment for now.

I'm doing a normal playthrough too and enjoying the easier encounters so far, partially because there is so much combat.

I'm still working through Chrono Trigger as well and I appreciate that a lot of the combat there really benefits from targeting specific enemies first or using specific elemental attacks, but CT also feels like it has a lot less combat in general, with much shorter dungeons and no combat on the overworld, making these more complex fights less of a drain.

I'm just getting the third and fourth characters in DQ and am having a really good time so far. It's such an easy game to sink a few hours into. As somebody who hasn't played much DQ I'm really enjoying the monster designs.

I started with shypox, talking, and stronger monsters. I'm going to shut it all off. Sure, the game will be easier, but now I can auto battle random monsters and make the game a bit quicker.

I had previously played the game up to act 3.

I cannot imagine doing shypox and stronger monsters at the same time. That's bold.

Y'all do what you want, but when I played without Stronger Monsters before long I was avoiding EVERY avoidable encounter to try to avoid leveling up and STILL the monsters couldn't seem to catch up. Even with Stronger Monsters on I mostly stuck to auto-battle in non-boss-fights and was fine. Yeah the first couple of hours are a little rough with SM, but there's a LOT of game that comes after it in which the combat is utterly trivial without it.

(Of course, the obvious solution would have been to make the Draconian Quests fully togglable so that you can turn them on mid-playthrough if you find yourself getting bored, and it honestly kind of baffles me that they didn't do that, didn't even think to add it as a feature alongside the other QoL stuff in the Definitive Edition. That's one of my only real complaints with this otherwise fantastic, well-designed and player-friendly game.)

I got a little further and decided to keep things on.

I started playing the game with Strong Monsters on, and then realized that I can only really play one JRPG at a time, so I'll get back to DQXI once I'm done with Trails from Zero (in a few weeks). I did get a wipe within the first hour outside the starting village, but it doesn't seem too bad. Once I resume, I will leave it on for now and give it a few hours. If it's too much, I'll start over without it.

You can always turn Stronger Monsters off if it's turned on, but for whatever reason you can only turn it on at the very beginning.

I started a second playthrough with Stronger Monsters and Shypox, and while I enjoyed some of the dialogue that would pop up as a result of shypox, losing combat turns to it made it a no-go to me. I really wish I would have been able to turn on stronger monsters in my first playthrough, because once I had 4 party members, regular encounters were a complete joke, but when you have 1 and 2 party members they are quite difficult.

That time log issue in the Xbox is a bummer. I have it too. I really like knowing how much time, I’ve actually played. At this rate, it’ll say a thousand hours.

I appreciate the discussion about the Stronger Monsters setting. The only DQ game that I have ever played is IX on the DS and I recall that it was way too easy except for certain boss fights. I'll turn on stronger monsters for my playthrough.

Malkroth wrote:
merphle wrote:

That feeling when the village dog can tank and deal damage better than I can. But hey, at least I can talk! (oh wait, this is a silent protagonist game)

That is my biggest complaint about DQXI honestly. They lock you into being a specific character (you can change your first name, but your character is locked male with a look and backstory), yet they still refuse to give him a voice or even any unvoiced text lines. At least for me personally, outside of Link, I feel the silent protagonist actually detracts from the story these days.

I agree. Not being able to speak while everyone around me have wonderfully acted voices and dialogue is off-putting and kind of silly.

I'm in Octagonia for the Arena battles. The partner selection scene was funny.

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