Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition Review

It was bad enough that Western (and Australian) audiences missed out on Dragon Quest X. If you wanted to play DQXI, it was either on the Playstation 4 or on the 3DS (and PC). However, the 3DS version never left Japanese shores, leaving Nintendo Dragon Quest fans forsaken once again. While we had to wait for a little, Switch owners can rejoice and dance like a Dancing Devil has cast a spell on us, Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age is upon us! Now you’re likely curious as I was, ‘I wonder how well this thing runs?’ After all, the big console version is on more powerful hardware. Square Enix was nice enough to give us a surprisingly lengthy demo to try out if you’re not sure, but if you want to know how the rest of the game is passed that, join me on this review quest. 

You are a Hero, and while Smash Brothers Ultimate is happy to define you by your main character trait, Dragon Quest is nice enough to let you name him. As with many RPG heroes, you are the chosen one. A reincarnation of the Luminary, the one who will bring light to the darkness. To people this should be a great thing, the day will be saved! Turns out when there’s a hero of light, it must mean there’s also an evil being of darkness to defeat, which is pretty unfair to be tarnished by an unfortunate association. So while the Luminary is fighting evil and generally being a force of good, there’s those who fear what you herald and will try and stop you. Across your lengthy adventure, you’ll build up a party, starting with Erik the ex-thief whose hair constantly looks like he’s a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (not helped by character designs by the creator of Dragon Ball Akira Toriyama). Followed by Veronica and Serena, twin sisters who happen to be great at magic, along with the charming Entertainer Sylvando who tags along. There are a few more characters but to avoid spoilers it’s better you come across them instead. 

There’s a lot to this story. At nearly three hours in I finally hit the intro credits, and so many hours more before you hit the first end credits. Not that it ends there either if you really want to see everything the game offers it’s going to be nearly 100 hours. Prepare for a time investment of around 40 hours at least. To the game’s credit, you’re not going to be spending that time wandering around aimlessly. DQXI is a fairly linear game. It never felt like each new area was keeping me stuck hanging around, but this didn’t stop me from poking around and smashing every pot and barrel I could find, rummaging through every cupboard shamelessly as the owner of the house looks on. With DQXI being a member of such a time-intensive genre I was prepared to have to really grind for levels, running around forever fighting everything lest I get stuck in a boss battle severely under-levelled and thoroughly shamed. Dragon Quest’s story isn’t going to win any awards for its plot, traditional is a word you’d see associated with this series and it’s no different here. Like the other games in the series, it’s the characters that make the journey an enjoyable romp. Whether it’s when you’re first spending time with them, or many many hours in as you delve into their pasts. As a result, you care about the story, you want to see these characters on their quest and even if the story beats feel familiar, the world and its goofy charm make it all a pleasant experience.

If you’ve played a previous Dragon Quest game (or Final Fantasy, or any number of turn-based JRPGs) then you’ll be familiar with the gameplay here. You may be able to run around the field In the 3D battles here, but in reality, you are still playing an old school turn-based RPG with some sneaky illusions of free moving fights. When playing in the ‘2D mode’ it really exposes that its the same combat system it ever was, not that this is a bad thing by any means. You can control every character’s moves, or you can let the AI handle the other party members. One of the mechanics that will help in combat is called ‘pep’. Pep can be triggered through any action, although usually, it’s because you’ve been beaten up. Pepped up characters have increased stats and do more damage. If someone else in the party gets pepped, you can also unleash special pep powers together. These moves are heavy hitters, and sometimes you’ll even need three members to be pepped.

One standout in the combat to me was how good the monsters you fight look. Like the character designs, they are suitably cartoony and show off that this version of DQXI is no slouch in the visuals department. Throughout the game I never tired of seeing the amusing wordplay when it comes to naming the enemies. A real standout is Sham Hatwitch, a pig wearing a large witches hat. There are some other names that came close, but this early game magical pig just couldn’t be beat. It’s not just the amusing enemy names that helped make this game endearing. Differing dialects across different towns as well as the different visual styles make each area stand out. You rarely spend too much time in one area as the story continues, helped by the lessened focus on level grinding to progress.

Draconian Mode is where some of the new additions have been made. While some are Switch exclusive, others are features that were previously only available in the Japan 3DS version of the game. There are some toggles for making the game tougher for those that found the original too easy, as well as some goofier settings such as making some of the villagers lie and mislead you. One of the options I was most thankful for was the addition of one more setting of battle speed. Even on fast the battles felt slow, but this new setting helps those turn-based fights flow much faster. There’s a lot of other quality of life improvements as well as additional story elements, but having not played the original version I can’t really say how much there is. Although this game was already heaving with content, some changes streamline clunkier mechanics such as forging/crafting. I do know that even if you’ve played this before there is enough to make this worth checking out again.

One of the big notable additions is the 2D mode. A 16-bit mode, originally one of those 3DS features. It’s a great throwback to older Dragon Quest games, capturing the look and feel. It even brings back random battles! Some enemies are only found within this mode. From the beginning of the game or at any chapel/statue you can select to change between the usual 3D and 2D. Being able to go back to any previous parts of the story means you can re-experience everything if you wish to see how some of the memorable moments play out. Although once I did make a save file that starts back at the beginning. I tried to go back to the 3D-mode to jump back to where I was, but it turns out it’s more of a one-way trip. When you change modes you do get to make a new save file so you don’t get stuck in one or the other. I imagine it would be heartbreaking to go back to the start of the game in the new mode only to find out you inadvertently lost all your story progress. If you want to go back to where you were it is easy enough to go back to the original save, it just doesn’t feel as smooth as being able to change the mode back and forth more easily.

Like 2D mode, the ability to revisit worlds from previous Dragon Quest games is originally from the 3DS release. Rather unceremoniously within the first 10 hours of the story, you’re taken to the town of Tickington, where you meet the Tockles. He gives you the quest to repair books that contain the history of the past Dragon Quest worlds. You can’t just jump into them straight away, you need to find ‘pastwords’ to gain entry. These worlds are all 2D regardless of if the original games were or not, and like the 2D-mode the battles are all random encounters. I found that with some of these past world sections being quite small and basic, it meant nearly every third step was a battle. It’s a nice nod to Dragon Quest history and something extra for long term fans to enjoy, and to make newcomers curious.

The English voice cast adds some personality and charm as Dragon Quest VIII did. While there are some interesting takes on accents, they all grew on me. If you prefer the original Japanese voice track you can choose that too. There’s either the original synthesized or new orchestrated options for the music. After defaulting to the newly orchestrated version, going to the synthesized version feels like a real step down (unless you long for PS2 era music). Although that said there’s also the option for the Dragon Quest VIII (originally on the PS2 and more recently on 3DS…on mobiles too if you want to get technical) soundtrack outside of battle, which in some places I preferred over the intended music. 

My only concern with Dragon Quest XI coming to the Switch was how well will a game for the PS4 run? Sure, there’s plenty of ports, but for every amazing job done making a game work on the Switch, there are another that struggles. The good news is that the Switch version runs well, the cartoonish visuals look great on the TV or in handheld. Now its no surprise it’s not 1:1 with the PS4 version, it would be nuts to expect it to. It’s a version of DQXI that runs on a handheld and does it really well. If you want me to get really picky, the framerate can get a bit choppy in some situations but never impacts on gameplay or the enjoyment of the game.  

If you’re still on the fence, I heartily recommend downloading the demo. It doesn’t give you access to everything but you can see how it runs and if you enjoy the first 10 or so hours. Square Enix could have rushed out a straight port of the original game out on the Switch and called it a day. Thankfully they didn’t. Though technically not all the additions are ‘new’, Western audiences never got the 3DS edition the content came from and it’s great to have it all in one place. I’m not sure definitive edition does it justice, Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive edition is the ultimate version of what was already a great game. How many other games can be replayed as a traditional top-down 16 bit RPG?

Rating: 4.5/5