4.5/5 ★ – soulfulgamer19's review of Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age.

Dragon Quest 11 is the ultimate feel-good, cozy JRPG. As the inimitable Tim Rogers said, “Dragon quest games are bedtime stories.” I couldn’t agree more. I played in short bursts at the end of the day to immerse myself in the comforting world of lovely Akira Toriyama art, leisurely turn-based combat, soothing orchestral music, a fairy tale plot, and a pitch-perfect tone of pathos mixed with humor. All told, I played Dragon Quest 11 in short sessions, for 80 hours total, spread across TWO YEARS. And somehow I still wish I could keep playing. Notably, Dragon Quest 11 is one of the very few modern AAA big-budget, turn-based JRPGs. And you can tell because it shines the most in its presentation. Relative to its contemporaries, the level of detail in Dragon Quest 11’s world is unprecedented. You can enter every building, see what people are eating, pull books from shelves and read them, talk to cows, ride fallen enemies as mounts, sail the high seas in a ship, dress all your characters in outfits, and even play the entire game in 2D if you want. This lavish attention detail further enhances the immersive comfort of virtually inhabiting this magical world. While it is true that the plot and structure are repetitive, this didn’t bother me because the settings and characters are all so diverse and lovely. However, I can see how this would be an issue for some people. The music also struck me as overly simplistic compared to the sophistication of other Square Enix soundtracks, but over time I grew to appreciate it because it adds to the soothing nature of the experience. While the commitment to traditional mechanics enhances the ease of playing, it does make the combat rote after a while. Because of this, I started to avoid most combat encounters and had to face every boss woefully under-leveled. Initially, this presented its own satisfying challenge, and I bested most of the bosses with strategy over bruteforce. However, I couldn’t crack the final boss and didn’t want to grind further, which ended my journey on an anticlimactic note. This means that grinding is essentially required to some degree, though you may enjoy just being in this world longer and grinding incidentally, which appears to be the game designers’ intent all along. I would heartily recommend Dragon Quest 11 to anyone seeking to play a traditional, turn-based JRPG. Dragon Quest is THE quintessential JRPG franchise, and Dragon Quest 11 is the most finely executed entry yet. Final Fantasy can keep innovating with every release — when you want to play something simple, dependable, and incomparably relaxing, Dragon Quest is the undisputed king.