Backlog Breakdown: Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Launching in 2017, ‘Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age’ marked the first mainline game in the series to launch on a home console in over a decade. In a genre that has largely changed from classic roots, ‘Dragon Quest XI’ marks a return to formula for the truly classic Japanese role playing game. It leaves players with a sense of adventure that will carry on well past its nearly eighty hour runtime. ‘Echoes of an Elusive Age’ is not only one of the best JRPGs ever made, it easily competes for a top spot in gaming’s most prestigious titles.

The ‘Dragon Quest’ series has seen many ups and downs since the first title launched for the NES in 1986. Often overlooked in favor of ‘Final Fantasy’, the ‘Dragon Quest’ games have always had a tough fight ahead of them but that hasn’t stopped the titles from being hugely popular in Japan; so much so that the developers made it a requirement for new titles in the series to launch on Saturdays in order to prevent a country wide workforce shortage due to the newly released ‘Dragon Quest’ game. However, the series never made much headway in the west, until 2004, when ‘Dragon Quest VIII’ finally broke down the western wall. Eight would go on to sell over two million copies in two days, paving the road for the series’ breakthrough in the West. Although the Playstation 2 game would make a major splash throughout the gaming industry, the series would not see another home console mainline single player title until 2017 with the launch of the original ‘Dragon Quest XI’.

‘Dragon Quest XI’ very simply put is one of the most beautiful video games to ever grace modern day consoles. The scope of the game leaves players with an immense sense of adventure as they travel throughout the world of Erdrea. Players take control of the protagonist in his quiet hometown, but soon discover he is the reincarnation of the legendary hero, the “Luminary”. Your mother and the rest of the town see you off as you head toward the capital to meet with the King. It’s the basic set up that any fan of the genre will be familiar with, a hero of light seeking out to fight the darkness. While the opening hours of the game may seem familiar, the rest of its nearly eighty hour runtime will take you on one of the grandest adventures in all of gaming.

Traveling throughout the world of Erdrea, players soon begin to gather their party, which will see powerful and unique party members introduced throughout the first dozen or so hours. Each party member brings their own useful skills and abilities which makes the choices between them more and more difficult. You may only have four active party members in your team at once. Each individual character also has an extensive skill tree to dump skill points into. Each one of these trees has different paths depending on what path you want to take the specific character on, leaving an absurd amount of customization throughout your party. Much like most JRPG’s you play, you can choose your party’s weapons, armor, and accessories, adding to the deep and rich customization allotted for each of the characters. Characters can have a radically different play style by simply relocating skill points to different branches and swapping weapons. This can leave each party member with the ability to do practically any task you need them to accomplish.

The turn-based combat system is a truly classic setup that any fan of the genre will be familiar with. Players utilize skills, abilities, items, and defense to carve their way through the game’s many hurdles. Each party member can be controlled individually or can be swapped to auto fight, allowing the computer to make decisions on your behalf. Inside of these automatic systems, are different categories you can change depending on if you want the specific member to attack, heal, conserve magic points,  follow orders or more; giving you all the tools you need to handle the many enemies and bosses you will face throughout the game.

While the game is not technically an open world, more of an “open area” with short loading screens between each, the world still feels like a massive sprawling fantasy setting. Each region you come to feels unique from the last, with its own enemies, cities, and dungeons. The insane detail the studio put into each of these regions, as well as the crazy detailed video game towns you encounter, made for a truly unique experience. These towns are full of life, from the townspeople you meet, to the various shops and inns you come across. Each town feels uniquely different from the previous, a feeling that continues through the entire play through. 

The game quickly becomes a masterclass in level and enemy designs as you path your way throughout the game’s many regions. An incredible amount of detail has gone into the enemy designs, from their unique death animations, some of which are brilliant, to the way they effectively use their own tools appropriately. The games many dungeons help add to the overwhelming feeling of adventure, leaving plenty to discover and solve. Combat in the game no longer relies on random encounters as in previous entries. Each enemy is present allowing you to avoid or attack them freely, by either running into them or using a preemptive attack to lower some of their health. After nearly eighty hours, the combat never once got stale because of the sheer amount of customization between characters. There’s always something new you’re trying to work towards, whether it be a shiny new weapon, a crazy detailed town to explore, quest item, or items for the in game recipes.

One of the most addicting mini games in ‘Dragon Quest XI’ is its brilliantly designed forge mechanic. This allows the player to find recipe books throughout the world to make new armor, accessories, weapons, or outfits for their party. The mini game sees players attempt to hammer the right amount on multiple sections of whatever item they are trying to craft. Landing the bar perfectly in multiple sections will net you with a plus three of whatever item you’re crafting. Flourishes allow for special ways of hitting each of the squares, whether it be four squares at once, a light strike, or a double strike and many more. This quickly becomes a fun distraction from the game and very addicting as you attempt to craft the perfect gear.

Along with the main quest, there are an abundance of side quests throughout the world. Often found throughout the game’s towns, side quests are simple fetch quests but allow for more distractions by adding to the deep immersion players already feel in each town, solving the towns problems before moving on to the next. Players can easily find themselves plenty in the way of a break from the main story including various collectibles that can be turned in for rare rewards, horse races, casinos, trials and much more. The game gives players enough to do that even after almost eighty hours, the game never once feels stale or repetitive. Players are never far from a new shiny treasure, underground labyrinth, or newly discovered village.

On the topic of the “Definitive Edition” of the game, which is the version we played for this review, the biggest differences seem to be quality of life improvements. While we can’t comment on the direct comparison as we haven’t played the original, players have stated the game has taken a slight graphical downgrade from its original release. Possibly due to the title being a Switch game, which was then ported to the other consoles. For the uninitiated, these graphical downgrades aren’t abundantly clear with the game often looking and performing beautifully. The “S” version also added exclusive outfits, Japanese voice acting, and the ability to play the entire title in a classic 16-bit style. While this style is impressive and fun to mess around on for a bit, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by playing your first play through entirely in 16-bit, missing the often breathtaking world as it was meant to be played originally.

‘Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age’ marks a triumphant return for the series by dropping the need for change, which sees games in the genre take a head dive, and bringing back the truly golden age JRPG. Returning to form allows the series to finally stand up against ‘Final Fantasy’, a series ‘Dragon Quest’ has always been in the shadow of. It’s clear that Square Enix has finally begun listening to their fanbase after years of missteps and poor choices. ‘Dragon Quest XI’ is not only a monumental step for the genre as a whole, it’s one of the greatest video games ever made.