Dragon Quest XI: Newcomers fear not! | PAX East 2018 preview
By Matt Becker
We sat down with Square Enix at PAX East 2018 for a hands-off preview and discussion about Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age.
I will admit, I have never played a mainline Dragon Quest game. My experience with the franchise is limited to just a few hours playing the two hack-and-slash spin-off Dragon Quest Heroes games. The thought of trying to catch up to the eleventh game in a monstrous franchise is a bit overwhelming. Lucky for me and every other newcomer to the mainline Dragon Quest games, Square Enix is aiming for Dragon Quest XI to be the perfect starting point for someone new to the series.
This past weekend at PAX East 2018, I sat down with Square Enix Product Marketing Manager Neal Pabon to discuss the return of a mainline Dragon Quest title to the West. Our preview was completely hands-off, but we got the chance to watch a fairly significant portion of the beginning of the game and see some of the new changes coming to the beloved JRPG franchise.
Even though it’s the eleventh entry in the series, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is a completely standalone experience. This is the first mainline Dragon Quest game on consoles in thirteen years, and the first time one has made it onto PC. Square Enix is well-aware that many gamers in the West aren’t super familiar with the series, and they stressed that you do not need to have played any of the other games to hop into this one.
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The game released in Japan back in July 2017, but is set to release in the West on September 4, 2018. However, this version of the game is not a straight port of the Japanese version. Probably the most noticeable difference (outside of its beautiful graphics and art style) is that a complete English voiceover has been added into the game. The game also received an overhauled menu and user interface, improved character and camera controls, a new first-person picture mode, the ability to make your character “Dash” to run faster, and a new hard mode for experienced players called the Draconian Quest. Perhaps the most friendly quality of life feature is that the game gives you a short recap of where you are in the story every time you load up your current save file.
Dragon Quest XI‘s campaign tagline is “The Legend Reborn,” which has two real meanings. In a meta sense, it refers to the numerous changes the game has undergone for its Western release. In a more literal sense, it refers to the concept that you play as a reincarnated hero from the past. During our hands-off preview, we watched the beginning of the game where you just learn that you are the Luminary, destined for greatness, and must leave your small country village of Cobblestone to head to Heliodor City to tell the King that you the legend reborn.
In this early part of the game, you only control the silent protagonist. But in classic Dragon Quest fashion, you gain a number of different party members that accompany you along your journey. You do receive a wonderful horse right off the bat, though, which can be summoned by various bells placed throughout the world. The early game is also pretty linear, so we didn’t get a chance to see too much exploration. Several different branching paths open up as you progress throughout the game for more exploration. Don’t worry: there are plenty of secret treasures hidden throughout the world to find! The game’s day and night cycle also adds to this sense of exploration, as enemies and NPCs behave differently depending on the time of day.
There are no random battles throughout the game, which I find to be a nice change of pace from other JRPGs I have played. You can approach or avoid enemies as you please. If you are on your horse you can even run some of them over, which doesn’t give you experience points, but who doesn’t want to send a few slimes flying in the air from time to time? The game has a built-in aggro system in which some enemies will even run away from you if they see you on your horse, or if they see you are a much stronger than they are. You don’t even have to get off your horse to get into a battle or pick up items, either.
The turn-based combat system is similar to other Dragon Quest games with one small change. Players actually have the choice between two different camera modes. The classic camera automatically switches your view based on which character or enemy’s turn it is, and your party members stand in place. The free-form camera enables you to move your hero around during battle, almost like you are playing more of an action adventure style game. However, the combat is still turn-based, and moving your character provides no actual strategic advantage during battle. I can definitely see the appeal of this mode as a way to make turn-based combat feel a bit more hands-on when it’s not your turn.
When it comes to combat, your hero has both physical and magic abilities which are influenced by both your equipment and skills. Players have a branching skill tree in which they can unlock new skills adjacent to ones they have already unlocked. The game also features free action equipment swapping, enabling you to swap out any piece of gear on the fly to give yourself the best chance for success during some of the tougher fights. Only your choice of weapons is displayed on your character model, though, which is a bit disheartening. There are some costume equipment pieces you can pick up later in the game that change how you look though.
One aspect of the game I found interesting is how Dragon Quest XI handles quest progression. There are no blatant waypoints on the map that tell you exactly where you need to go. Instead, different NPCs have different color speech bubbles that indicate their importance. Pink bubbles signify main quests, white indicates short flavor text, blue indicates longer flavor text and NPCs denoted by purple have side quests and are also marked on your minimap. This way, players can quickly determine who they want to talk to based on how they want to play the game.
Dragon Quest XI also features some light platforming throughout the world. During our hands-off demo at PAX East, we watched one side quest involving rescuing a girl’s lost cat from the top of a roof. This showcased the verticality in the game’s environments as the player climbed upwards and jumped between roofs. There are also plenty of destructible pots and crates throughout the world for you to destroy: you never know what you might find!
Our preview concluded with the player finally reaching King Carnelian’s castle in the city of Heliodor. After proving that you are indeed the Luminary, you are seemingly greeted with open arms. However, the King actually thinks that the legend reborn is the “root of all evil” and orders his guards to take you away. Admittedly, this is a rather cliche plotline, but the demo left off at a cliffhanger that has me wondering what the rest of the game’s story will play like.
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Square Enix aims for Dragon Quest XI to be a complete experience right out of the gate: they have no plans for any DLC or microtransactions of any kind. You will definitely get some bang for your buck with this one, which comes as no surprise for fans of the series. We were assured the game would take around 100 hours for a player to complete without doing most of the sidequests. Marketing manager Neal Pabon also mentioned that after you complete the main quest, there is a lengthy epilogue that you should play to gain the full experience, likening it to NieR: Automata‘s story structure.
As mentioned, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is coming to PC and PS4 September 4, 2018. While it did come to the Nintendo 3DS in Japan, it will not make it onto that platform in the West. Square Enix stressed that they feel that the PS4 and PC were the two best opportunities for growth for the franchise. A Nintendo Switch version is in the works, but it will not be released this calendar year.