The latest installment of Square Enix’s Dragon Quest franchise is out now. Once again taking the mantle of the Hero, you go out looking for the mysteries surrounding your birth and origin. Upon reaching King Carnelian of Heliodor you’re sent to the dungeon after being accused of being a Darkspawn; a powerfully evil being said to destroy the world. Learning the truth of your role as the Luminary, you escape with help from an ally named Erik and seek to control your powers to protect the world from the true Darkspawn.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is a 2018 JRPG, it is developed and published by Square Enix and is currently available in the West on PC, Playstation 4, and now Nintendo Switch.

Editor’s Note: A review copy of Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age was provided by Square Enix in support of this review. Medium to near complete spoilers for Dragon Quest XI may be present within this review. It should also be noted that this is my first experience with the Dragon Quest franchise, so please take that into account when reading the review. This is a 2-in-1 review for the base version and the “S: Definitive Edition” Nintendo Switch version of the game.

The newest hero in the Dragon Quest franchise rises as the Luminary; an ancient warrior said to end the evil in Erdrea.

So I think it’s confession time again, before last weekend I had never played Dragon Quest. Some of the few things of the franchise that I’m aware of is the fact that Dragon Ball’s Akira Toriyama does the character designs, the main theme is a beautiful listen, and that the series is immensely huge in it’s home country of Japan. With that being said, I was never too personally interested in the series overall. Friends suggested it to me over the years, but I still had no real reason to give it a go. That all changed with the release of Dragon Quest XI, featuring colorfully astounding graphics (or pretty as my niece puts it when she witnessed me playing), charming character designs from an artist I’m quite familiar with, and some classic JRPG gameplay on modern gaming hardware I finally bucked up and took the given opportunity to sit down and play an entry in the series.

The “S-Definitive Edition” version of Dragon Quest 11 features enhanced visuals and other upgrades from the previous versions of the game.

THE GOOD: With over 40 hours of base story playthrough (upwards of 80), Dragon Quest 11 is sure to make any long-time fan gleam with joy as they tear through the world of Erdrea; a massive world map with plenty of areas to explore and monsters to battle. For newer players like myself JRPGs such as Dragon Quest can be a bit overwhelming, it’s partly why I prefer action-RPGs over them, but the handful of JRPGs that I have played I’ve enjoyed for a multitude of reasons. I must admit that I am a bit embarrassed being a 90’s gamer and never playing Dragon Quest even once. However, being at the age I am now it makes it easier to appreciate playing it for the first time and in that regard Dragon Quest 11 makes me appreciate the hell out of the franchise in spite of my status as a franchise late bloomer.

Travel the world of Erdrea in Dragon Quest XI.

Dragon Quest XI features a turn-based gameplay system like with most JRPGs in which one player character attacks, performs spells, ally buffs, and other such tasks in-battle followed by an enemy. This is normally one by one between player and enemy though it can vary depending on the enemy and player character’s respective speeds. Most of the battles are optional within the world map and there’s options to gain an advantage such as early damage dealt before the battle even begins if you’re lucky or quick enough. Along the way you’ll fight alongside a party consisting of four members each with their own unique attributes to battle such as spell casting, damage infliction, ailment inflicting, unique weapon perks, etc. These attributes can be unlocked via leveling up in the skill tree and experiencing the game’s story. Speaking of the skill tree each character including the main character of the story are presented with four weapon type sets of skills, and if you don’t have a certain perk certain weapons won’t do much damage to enemies despite how greatly they raise your attributes. In fact some weapons will greatly decrease your strength regardless of your level if you don’t have the correct perk to wield said weapon

Travel Dragon Quest XI’s huge map on the back of mounts to make it easier.

You travel the world map with mounts such as your trusty stead or certain monsters that you defeat & and each monster has a unique travel aspect such as flying or wall climbing. Eventually you’ll unlock the camp which allows you to craft new weapons & gear, as well as save, heal, revive, cure, and undo attributes for yourself and party members. In the world you can find side quests, but these are usually limit to basic item fetch tasks. Such as retrieving an item that can be bought in a shop or found in the wilds somewhere. In regards to shops it varies depending on the area, but they usually contain weapon, armor, and consumable pieces to help improve your character stats for battle. The Nintendo Switch version of the game includes some extra content including additional quests and some soloing adventures for certain characters. There’s also a 2D mode that also helps speed the game along in certain instances, though it seems blocked for certain quests. That mode was a direct port of the 3DS version apparently, which I guess explains a lot. There were a ton of complaints for the initial release not having orchestral music and the Switch version has also included this in the ‘S: Definitive’ Edition.

Dragon Quest XI is full of fun and unique characters spread across its story.

The story starts off with your mother; the Queen of the now destroyed Dundrasil, trying to escape with you in her arms only to be forced to hand you off to the Princess of Heliodor with plans to meet up later as the three of you escape. Unfortunately, the King and Queen are killed and Princess loses track of you in the chaos. Several years later you grow up as a man living in Cobblestone a small village not far off from the Kingdom of Heliodor. You come to learn that you are the Luminary an ancient warrior meant to end the  Darkspawn a demon with the power to end the world. Your adoptive mother sends you to Heliodor to meet the King to aide you in your destiny, only for him to accuse you yourself of being the Darkspawn. Sent to the dungeon you meet Erik, a thief who was tasked with guiding the Luminary and helps you escape. Along the way come across twin sorceresses Veronica and Serena who instantly recognize you as the Luminary, a circus performer named Sylvando (my personal favorite), and your biological grandfather Rab as well as the  aforementioned Princess of Heliodor Jade who all join your party to help you on your quest to recover the magical orbs and travel to reach the world tree of Yggdrasil to rid Erdrea of the evil forces plaguing it.

The Dragon Quest XI battle screen.

THE BAD: If you’ve never played an entry of Dragon Quest or a JRPG in general before then Dragon Quest XI might might not be for you. It’s not like Western RPGs and is full of typical tropes associated in the former, so if that’s not your thing it’ll be a tough sell. Though I do recommend renting it at the very least for a new comer. While I appreciate a voice track for the Western version of the game I am heavily disappointed that both versions (standard and S: Definitive Edition) don’t contain the Japanese voice audio. The English audio isn’t completely awful, but there were most certainly some areas where performances just fell flat and came off as badly. Hopefully when the Switch version has been out for a bit the PC and Playstation 4 versions of the game will have had the upgraded elements and enhancements.

Use Pep Up powers to combine party member abilities for powerful attacks and spells.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive age was my very first experience with the franchise and I’m happy  to be able say I experienced more joy playing it that went beyond merely checking a point off of the bucket list. If you just to happen to own a decent gaming PC, Playstation 4, and/ or Nintendo Switch (the 3DS version never came to the west), then if you’d like my advice on which version to get then here ya go. Without question the Nintendo Switch’s S: Definitive Edition is indeed the superior version of the game. The PC and Playstation 4 versions may have 4K support, but the Switch version just has way more than supped up resolution backing it up and it feels like there was even more love put into it than the base version of the game, not to say that the dev team lacked it for said version, just that the Switch version has too much going for it to not make it your top priority if you want to hop into the franchise with that title.