Dragon Quest XI S

This game is pretty boring and basic and yet I still am interested in it after like eight hours? No idea what it is. I think it's short enough with just enough visible over the metaphorical narrative hill and minimal friction to get there to be like "okay let's go see what's over there." I have no idea if it'll pull me through the entire runtime, it's very long, but I said that about P5R.

I thought I was getting close to burning out on this but kept going. I dunno what it is. It's just...fun.

I think Vince is let off the hook pretty easy for being pretty heinous.

Holy shit the mermaid?

The structure of the game is pretty good now that I can fully see it. It's like an old season (as in like 24 episodes) of television. You have your monster of the week episodes and that are their own self contained little story but it still feeds into a slow burn ur-plot. I assume it'll mostly keep that structure until we get to the equivalent of a multi part season finale.

I wrapped up the northern section of the medals academy, beating up a giant bird for an orb. It isn't lost on me that my first Dragon Quest game has me collecting a bunch of spheres that were scattered around the world to collect with characters designed by Toriyama. Where have I seen that before? Hmmmmm.

I appreciate that this game is easy enough that I just feel like I can ignore a lot of little things. I just got this magic key, and am I going to go back and hunt down all the spots from before? Heck no. If I see it I'll get it.

Preliminary party member thoughts:

Erik seems generic as a character but since he started dual wielding he does good damage and is a go to single target guy.

Jade is kind of a slightly more useful Erik in that she has more stuff to hit wide and it feels like she has abilities that hit more specific classes of units, but in bosses I like Erik's toolset better. I think I might slightly prefer her as a trashmobs/exploration person just because she can do some aoe.

Sylvando has kind of improved into a good all-rounder. He's using whips so he's good at cheaply dealing with mobs, he has some support and a bit of healing that's useful.

I can't talk about the twins without talking about Rab, who is basically my magic user of choice. He's well rounded enough to toss a heal when needed or damage when he's got a free turn.

I also think, realistically, that the difficulty of this game is so low that it doesn't matter who you use at all? I know there are ways to make it harder but I'm concerned that it'll just make combat more LONGER and more damage spongey without making it more interesting since the combat system appears to be very basic here, or at least it doesn't tell you how it's not basic. (Are there resistances? Weaknesses?)

I used cheat engine to change the flag on it, damn thing also installed some garbage on it I didn't realize. This should be a crime. Punishable by death.

Okay, so the draconian change is significant and does make combat more interesting than the prior faceroll. I did the Royal Library dungeon, apparently out of sequence, and it was tough. I basically ran on empty MP wise, I had a fight with a mimic too that REALLY put the hurt on me.

I'm not sure I'll end up keeping it though just because it takes so much longer and it does actively make me kind of want to play it less. Like I had the option for it, or Castlevania earlier and I was just like uhhh, Castlevania, I don't want to slog through it more. And again, it is more interesting, but I think it might be something like 50% more interesting for 100% more slog. Not a good trade off.

DQXIS doesn't have to be a challenging game to be good though. It can just be kind of warm and fun and welcoming, like a good Pokemon game. Another thing I do like about it is that I don't feel the need to really do everything. The Tickington stuff just...didn't really resonate with me and I don't feel compelled to do every side quest. This is something where I can comfortably just follow the critical path and be okay with it.

Yeah I turned off the Draconian Quest. Got absolutely bogged down just dealing with trash mobs in the hekswood. Also the fact that the Draconian Quest thing just stays up there the whole time is so annoying.

Also found out I sequence broke some after getting totally lost? There was just nothing to do in the library nor the hekswood, so I googled it. Apparently you have to visit the Queen first? Went around and did the things I needed to do. It wasn't bad, went much faster without the Draconian Quest.

Okay I really liked the ice city arc and I don't know why. Maybe it's because Krystalinda can get it. But even considering my time wasting out of sequence here I found myself looking fondly at it after we left. Maybe it's the fact that there's just some odd stuff and this place doesn't feel done. The Krystalinda/Queen thing doesn't seem done (the queen is a doofus the witch literally just tried to imprison you again and yet you'll trust her?) There was also the frozen dragon in the fjord on your way out that's definitely going to come up again.

Also poor Rab just randomly getting embarrassed for no reason.

We continue ever onward. I assume there's some big act 2 turnaround about to happen at this big ol' tree. I'm banking the pep of my people for the big lottery pep power. I love that thing, getting the huge payout feels awesome.

Poor Hendrik. I'm very here for Sylvando Quest so far. So apparently I'm roughly a third of the way through now? Stunning how much game there is here.

I played a bit of this to get through Jade's vignette and a bit into Erik's. You know, I'm not sure I need vignettes for EVERYONE but maybe it'll payoff at some point?

I'm thinking I'm not going to end up adding anything, I have quite a bit of DQXIS to get through still and I'd like to get that done before Zero Company comes out.

I've finished the vignettes, I was really afraid there'd be one for every character which would have felt like a bit much.

I appreciated the comic nature of the fisherman pulling my character out in full plate and just assuming I'm another fisherman stealing bait off his line, and the surprising warmth and care of the character.

That's the recurring theme within dqxis, warmth and hope in darkness and while it does bludgeon you over the head with it and that's anything but an original story, I think it wears that with such earnestness that it still feels good.

Okay we're back in the main thrust of the story here finally. The king thing was mildly confusing at first since I thought he just...wasn't real or had died or whatever.

I don't understand why I'm so deferential to Hendrik or why he's such a dick! I really expected a contrite "hey I really fucked up but I'm here for you to help right this wrong and my part in it." I also don't get why the king is just the guy in charge either. Shouldn't everyone be looking to help ME instead of giving me orders?

I guess my silent ass couldn't tell them what to do anyways. I really think this game suffers from the devotion to the concept of a silent protagonist. It just makes them so weird and agencyless. don't think there is any value to that in this game. Just make him a regular person.

Hendrik is also the worst robo party member. Dude just hit them, stop buffing and stuff. I do find a perverse joy in looting all this stuff in front of him. Your king's shit is my shit now.

Okay, a bit of contrition from Hendrik. Thank you for acknowledging you suck and I did nothing to deserve it.

The fuck is this shit King? Hendrik saved us all? That dude was just in the vicinity while heroism and history happened. I see now why other guy went to the dark side.

The little vignettes are apparently only in the S version and I cannot imagine how fucking random Sylvando's whole deal feels without that extra information.

This game goes ON. Damn. It feels like most of the runtime of act 2 is going to just be getting the band back together.

Rab does some noble shit and they can't stop shaming him for his girlie mags God damn.

My biggest issue with this game remains the music. The music is good, there's just not enough of it. I just like cannot give this game my full attention because it gets on my nerves.

I'm not certain by what right Irwin is king but I'm not sure whether I'm more offended that Eleanor should be queen and the realm is sexist, or if I should be mad at me for saying just because Irwin doesn't have the right to rule due to his birthright.

It's interesting to me how bloodless this game is. Like some dark shit happens, like betrayal and such but the blades always come out clean. It's also just tonally so weird in general. We get some whiplash from the tragic end of King Irwin to the GLOOMIVORE.

Erik's memory loss seemed so random and unnecessary. Like we could have just not had that plot beat at all?

Mia says she hasn't been Mia for a long time but she was a gold statue until the world tree fell which seems like it wasn't actually that long ago. Maybe she was thinking inside the gold statue in which case I would say she's SHOCKINGLY SANE. Impressively so.

I also feel like Erik got on board with sororicide very quickly. Like of course at the end he can't do it but he spent almost zero time being like "there must be another solution."

Okay I liked this arc but I feel like I got general whiplash from it. Mia was very evil "for a long time" and then was not very evil. They didn't really make it seem like "oh no she was under a spell" it was just she didn't...want to die? Which I guess fair. We also just found out about this sister, and what happened to her, and then that was undone off screen. And Erik being so gung ho for murder and then actually no.

Serena really gets the shortest fucking preamble to join. Everyone else was off doing shit and she's just kind of...around.

Man Serena is just the most non-character. For a while it was her and Erik but Serena is the most plain toast person in this cast. Maybe Henrik too I suppose. At least give Serena the protector reveal instead of Veronica? Part of my cynicism is that I don't believe Veronica will stay dead, if she does that's a real change for Serena.

I really like how the game commits to "talk to pink dot on map get a thing pointing to what to do next."

Oooookay so maybe Veronica is dead. Serena just getting her entire playbook seems definitive.

This dragon absolutely beat the shit out of me in the volcano. The town was so easy. I started to think this was a battle you're MEANT to lose.

Beat that dragon and it was a total walkover this time. I think just having Rab and Serena in the starting lineup helped. I just needed that healing throughput. Also felt like the dragon focused people else and spread the damage around.

Any time these characters do a charge up I just absolutely want them to go Super Saiyan.

What the fuck is Gyldygga doing here restraining the team?! Mia is a liar?!

Alright we've rolled credits but as I understand it there's quite a bit left!

Act 3 spoilers: Going back in time to undo shit is just the height of hubris and "I read the script." Like why would you gamble all of the success for a chance at bringing one person who knowingly sacrificed herself FOR THE WIN?

Narratively this is also just such a weird fucking choice. It undoes all the character growth that was had by these people, some of who had huge changes, like Serena and Hendrik.

I guess metanarratively it's the character doing a NG+.

I dunno. This is the first time I've felt like the game might be losing me. Narratively this seems like a weird decision, and mechanically I have to deal with these characters being crap again and having to unlock shit again?

And at this point why not just go back in time to the night Dundrasil fell and stop THAT? I guess that would be TOOOOO crazy.

I think it's weird this game expects me to care about Gemma. I really thought she would be the first party member.

Alright, advanced the plot some. Tried to get this thing for Serena's harp and got my ass beat by this Crystalotl thing. Gonna have to do some grinding!

Well, I'm not going to finish this before Zero Company, but that's fine. I'm pushing the critical path a bit more after doing some exploring and grabbing some more recipes and such.

Overall I still don't really know how I feel about the third act, or the concept of it. It just kind of tosses away the big moments of the first two acts and presents a new villain that I have zero attachment or caring about. It feels reminiscent of P5R, we went from Shido to the God of Control who I didn't care about. Heck, at least the God of Control was a twist on something and not totally random.

Like Veronica's death and Serena's transformation meant something and it felt interesting and impactful and now we're just back to plain toast Serena. Heck, I would have liked it if Veronica stayed big as the seer changed her, but now she's back to being a kid.

I'm going through this thing where Sylvando reconciles with his dad again and it's like...this feels less impactful than it did the first time, both because I've seen it and also because the build up to that was more.

The more I think about it, the more likely it is that zero company coming out is not going to just mean that I play Dragon Quest in parallel. It might just be a break from it

Did this Sylvando/Hendrik quest. Well tried to. I got to these bosses that you're supposed to take down with their pet power and then accidentally killed one so I had to restart. Then I didn't accidentally kill one and I switched in Hendrik and found out that I didn't have the pet power learned because you have to have a specific set of unlocks in both of their skill trees to do it. Which I don't think it told me, maybe I missed it. That's very annoying. I just assumed that as part of this quest they were given the pet power and would be able to unleash it.

Went to do the Crystalotl and it beat the shit out of me. Damn.

I think DQXIS is done. I thought about farming to be able to beat the Crystalotl and was just like...no, I'm good on that. What I might do is cheat heavily, give myself a bunch of free levels and then just finish out the game? But also I suppose I could just watch the ending on Youtube or something? I dunno. It's definitely done For Now. Maybe I'll come back.