• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Dragon Quest 11 (JP) |OT| whynotboth.gif

That's the battle I mentioned earlier being really fun and I was glad I wasn't overleveled for. What level were you, out of curiosity?

I figured it was.

Hero - Level 45 (not just from going after Metals but fighting strong red aura monsters)

Other characters 41, 40, and 40 (Sylvia, Row, and
Greig
)
 

preta

Member
How's the difficulty in general? I know a guy who's been playing it lately who told me he found it much easier than any other DQ he'd played and basically spammed attack through the entire game except for the final boss. Would you say this is at all accurate, or must he have been grinding a ton or something too for this to be possible?
 

Aeana

Member
How's the difficulty in general? I know a guy who's been playing it lately who told me he found it much easier than any other DQ he'd played and basically spammed attack through the entire game except for the final boss. Would you say this is at all accurate, or must he have been grinding a ton or something too for this to be possible?

It is not extremely difficult, but no DQ game post-NES is. I will say that I find it unlikely that someone just spammed attack through the bosses in the second half of the game, unless they were massively overleveled.
 

preta

Member
It is not extremely difficult, but no DQ game post-NES is. I will say that I find it unlikely that someone just spammed attack through the bosses in the second half of the game, unless they were massively overleveled.

Alright, that's good to hear. I won't worry about it then.
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
The post game level grind is real. Since Ōkami mentioned that the final boss was hard even when above level 80 and I will definitely not be able to get ultimate equipment for most of my team, I was trying to get to level ~90 yesterday. The one dungeon everyone and their mother recommends for post game grinding has a lower Metal spawn rate than I expected, so it took me 3-4 hours to get from 65 to 80 yesterday. At least you can always use one of the renkeis to
try to call a full party of metals (or regular enemies, I guess it's luck based)
.

Edit:
I was looking for articles with some guidance on how to easily enter the zone and found this one, which explains how to easily get over 500k of experience from one battle. Not an exploit, just using renkeis you get at post-game levels (70+ iirc). I like that the game has such systems in place, because it feels like it doesn't want to waste player's time.
 

Shouta

Member
Sorry, this will be a little disorganized, I just kind of wrote it all in one thought and without structuring it much.

As I mentioned in my last post, I finished the game last night at about 100 hours. This includes the post-game but honestly, it's more of like part 3 of the story than it is a post-game. Part 2 is definitely the end of a story but it's not the entire story so definitely play through it. There have been a couple of games that have done this mid-game credits role to signify the end of a tale but still continues afterwards.

I played the PS4 version so the first thing I have to praise is the graphics. The game is seriously gorgeous and breathtaking. The environments are varied and detailed. They also have day and night cycles as well so you get to see and enjoy all the regions in all phases of the day. Fields get a lot of attention but what's extremely impressive are the cities. Each one uses a different architecture style to represent cultures from the real world. The first town you visit is the classic European/medieval castle town you'd expect from DQ but later on you get towns inspired by Japan, China, even ancient Greece. This isn't new for the series but the level of detail is just so much higher. In addition, the game makes them feel a lot more real by actually designing them instead of just throwing a hodgepodge of buildings in a flat area and calling it a day. It really makes you feel excited to explore the towns as soon as you visit it.

The other aspect to the graphics are the character models. I don't think this game gets enough credit but it does a really fantastic job all around. From the models themselves to the animations, it's really fantastic. The monster animations in particular have so much movement and personality to them, including the bosses. The characters get in on this too though there's a bit more recycling of core animation from DQX for them. There's a lot of new ones though like all the new dancing animations for the characters when you get hit with a Sultry Dance. Someone in the thread found or made this one of Veronica dancing but everyone else has their own unique dance, often reflecting their personality.

One thing I have to point out about the animations though is how much attention they paid to both the movement and facial animations during their cut-scenes. They took a lot of the lessons they learned from Dragon Quest X and just took it to the next level. Many of the more powerful moments in the game just hit harder because they very deliberate with what they wanted to convey. It just pulls you into the scene so much more seeing the subtleties to the facial expressions. The story in Nagimuna Village is a great example of this because the story has been done a few times across all the DQ games but the way they took it and the direction of it was just amazing.

The game's story is great and it has a narrative that really propels it. It's really a flip of what usually happens. You're often given an objective or a mystery at the start of most DQ games and that becomes what propels you. DQXI gives you that but adds a lot in the middle to fuel the characters, the setting, and the history. That doesn't mean there aren't the classic vignettes DQ is known for though as they're in there in full force. The result you get is a game that feels like a real journey with all the twists and turns as you'd expect. As far as DQ games go, I think it's the most satisfying tale they've told outside of DQX.

I really enjoy the characters in this. I didn't get much time to explore their extra dialogue options as I was playing on stream for most of my run but I loved what I got from them in the main story. Lots of personality without being too overbearingly tropey.
Gameplay is classic as always though the PS4 version is a bit different than the 3DS version from what I hear. Instead of picking everyone's commands at the beginning of a turn and then executing them all, when a character's turn comes up and they immediately do their turn after you select a command. It'll take a little bit to get used to if you're not accustomed to it but it's not all that unfamiliar.

The skill panel system is a great addition to the game instead of the linear categories from DQVIII. There's a lot of room to customize how you want to play thanks to being able to decide which skills you want to take or not. When you combine this with a lot of the changes they took from DQX in regards to weapon and the like, it's really enjoyable. All the weapons are viable and fun to use, even the daggers which received the biggest boost. In DQX and DQXI, daggers can inflict status effects, sleep and strong poison to your opponents. When your opponent is afflicted with these, your dagger wielding character can use an attack called a Hunt which deals significant damage to them. Hypnos Hunt deals 6x damage to enemies that are slept or paralyzed while Thanatos Hunt deals additional damage to enemies afflicted by Poison or Confuse.

Crafting was a fantastic idea to port over to the game from DQX. It's a lot more involved than the alchemy pot and it allows you to create more powerful gear by doing it well. It feels satisfying to get a +3 equipment and then wrecking with it.

The game is fairly easy though, even by DQ standards. This is mostly because your characters are waaaaay stronger than any other SP game in the series. You just do a ton of damage on a regular basis and most things just can't survive the onslaught. There are a ton of multi-hit attacks and the attack values really skyrocket later on. Even the mages can do some wild damage with magic buffs and abilities like magic critical circles or echo casting.

There are a few minor negatives though. I wish there was a dash so that you had a slightly faster movement option when your mounts like the horse or monsters aren't available. Checking where you get materials for crafting and then gathering them can be a little annoying. It's silly not to be able to check where something is acquired from the crafting menu, you shouldn't need to go all the way out and into the records menu to check. I wish the game was a bit harder or had harder optional content to take full advantage of all the new things they put in. Free movement camera in battle is totally pointless. The anti-save scum system they put in for crafting (5 minute cooldown) and the anti-AFK for the casino (magic slots break down) are what the hell as well.

The biggest negative is probably the NPCs in a story that involves Sylvia in the later half of the game. Sylvia himself is great as he's well characterized, respected, and flamboyant without being over the top. However, the NPCs
in his Parade Troupe during his story are baaaad. No one treats them poorly in the game at all but they're portrayed in over the top effeminate gay stereotype. Their animations and speech patterns are just awful. At the very least, they're able to bring a lot of energy to towns and gets everyone dancing and in good spirits where they are. So it's not all bad but it's just really bleh when they did Sylvia pretty well.

Overall, I really feel like the game is a love letter to the franchise as a whole. It's specifically meant to invoke your memories of older games. I think some might misconstrue this as the game recycling old elements from the other games but it's on purpose. There are just so many elements they pull from various games and you can obviously tell which ones if you're a fan. They even pull from DQ manga too in this, both in special attacks and some story beats. Warms my heart to see Dai no Daibouken and Emblem of Loto get a bit of love in the anniversary game.

As to where I'd put this amongst all DQ games, I'd need to stew on it but my feeling right now is that it's right near the top. I need to see how it holds up on a second playthrough but at the very least, I think the game surpasses the game it most closely resembles, Dragon Quest VIII.

The post game level grind is real. Since Ōkami mentioned that the final boss was hard even when above level 80 and I will definitely not be able to get ultimate equipment for most of my team, I was trying to get to level ~90 yesterday. The one dungeon everyone and their mother recommends for post game grinding has a lower Metal spawn rate than I expected, so it took me 3-4 hours to get from 65 to 80 yesterday. At least you can always use one of the renkeis to
try to call a full party of metals (or regular enemies, I guess it's luck based)
.

I beat the final boss in the low-70s. I did get the ultimate equipment for everyone and +3'd it though.
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
I beat the final boss in the low-70s. I did get the ultimate equipment for everyone and +3'd it though.
Looking at some of the material requirements, I think I'd rather spend some more time on getting to higher level than going around and finding everything I'd need to forge the ultimate equipment. I think I've missed some recipes too at one point.
 

Ōkami

Member
Similar to the ultimate dragon or God the final boss gets plenty of moves per turn and loves to cast debuffs on your party, rather than being super strong he just uses nasty strategies on you, he also seems to have a really good AI because he kept targetting my key party members.

This is more or less what you can expect.

I don't know if there's any, but armor resistant to sleep is a must to your main attacker, he constantly kept doing that to Camus, completely ruining my plans.

A couple of turns went like this

Cast Snooze
Heal
Attack all party
Heal again

Once he even healed 4 times in a row! still though, its a really fun fight, the music alone makes it worth it.
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
Ōkami;245722264 said:
Thanks for the tip, I will definitely try to buy/make equipment which would help with the above. Btw., I personally don't mind at all, but it might be a good idea to spoiler that for people who want to go into that fight completely blind.
 

Shouta

Member
Looking at some of the material requirements, I think I'd rather spend some more time on getting to higher level than going around and finding everything I'd need to forge the ultimate equipment. I think I've missed some recipes too at one point.

It's faster to get the material than it is to level, tbh. You can steal most of it or trade items for it depending on which items it is. Some of them might be a little more annoying if it's from a hard to get gathering point but that's about it really.
 

Rpgmonkey

Member
These boss fights in the second half are pretty intense! I just fought the one for
Camus' storyline
and I was really close to losing. The boss was at low HP with some additional monsters it called, and I had one character with 145HP left and no MP. Keeping mind that this boss can pretty easily one shot people, I decided to just attack and pray that it works. The first hit only did 80 damage and wasn't a killing blow, but it turns out it was the start of a new round of turns, I got to go first, the character went into Zone, and I got a critical hit at the last possible moment that killed it. That would've been 30000 G down the drain as I haven't gone to a bank in a while, so needless to say I'm quite happy.

...I also really need to upgrade my equipment, lol.

The main thing I've noticed is that in the second half almost every boss has one or two tricky or powerful abilities that help them manipulate the fight and can easily get you stuck in a defensive loop instead of dealing any real damage. It's pretty fun though, this game may have some of my favorite DQ boss fights.
 

Holundrian

Unconfirmed Member
Reached the ending.
Well the first one.
And damn honestly what fucking amazing game.
This year doesn't let up and Sen 3 around the corner too.
Again a lot to nag on the smaller lack of quality of life things but doesn't matter overall I'm just so happy this game is so true to what I want out of DQ especially when FF is just a decade of disappointments.
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
Aside from some smaller qol stuff, my biggest complain about DQXI is that you don't hit your head when you try to Zoom inside buildings/dungeons. Even DQX has that!
 

Holundrian

Unconfirmed Member
Aside from some smaller qol stuff, my biggest complain about DQXI is that you don't hit your head when you try to Zoom inside buildings/dungeons. Even DQX has that!

haha I'm kinda glad you don't tbh. It was a fun/charming joke but just teeeeeensy tiny bit annoying for me in dq8. What irks me the most right now is I can't reorder skills based on most used so that sucks.

Again I'm just so happy they managed to realize a true HD console dq this well.
I do hope though that we get voices some day. It's not that it bothered me but I also do strongly believe that with the right voice acting a lot of the game's charming/funny/emotional moments can get even more amplified.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Im curious, is DQ8 considered easy game? maybe because this my very first experience with DQ but the first boss kicked my ass at my first attempt but I did beat him on my second try.
 

AzureFlame

Member
My hype for this game cannot be contained anymore.. please be early 2018.

For those who played and finished it, how good is it compared to great jrpgs like Persona 5 and previous DQ games and even the FF games.
 

hongcha

Member
Superior version confirmed, I guess.

You can also go up and down chimneys in it, but not in the PS4 version afaik. I have been going back and forth between 3DS and PS4, and keep coming back to the 3DS ver. PS4 ver is gorgeous, of course, but I enjoy the gameplay more on 3DS.
 
For those who played and finished it, how good is it compared to great jrpgs like Persona 5 and previous DQ games and even the FF games.

I'm at the main game last boss and personally I'm enjoying it a bit more than Persona 5 and I would say it's at least in the top 3 for Dragon Quest games, up there with 3 and 5. I think it's better than 8, but 8 seems to be very much the darling of the series in the west by a wide margin so I don't know if that's a perception that will be shared by the majority.

Granted my opinion is worthless but hey
 

Holundrian

Unconfirmed Member
My hype for this game cannot be contained anymore.. please be early 2018.

For those who played and finished it, how good is it compared to great jrpgs like Persona 5 and previous DQ games and even the FF games.

I don't like to compare dq on that basis cause I think this and p5 are very different jrpgs with very different goals and both succeed immensely in what they set out to do.
As for FF... well I guess it succeeds immensely in making a lot of money.
 

AzureFlame

Member
Can't wait, it does look really promising and beautiful, i was in doubt when it was 1st revealed, saw the game and heard it will be also on 3ds which made me very worried, but after watching alot of streams and reading here im now super excited.
 

Holundrian

Unconfirmed Member
Postgame DQ11
just reinforces my believe that this might be the better road for persona too at least with seeing so many people complain about it. You tell your story to a natural and end the big god stuff you save for people that want to do it. Not that it bothered me personally but I feel like doing it the way DQ11 does and frames the extra stuff despite it continuing the story would probably erase the complaints towards Izanami and Yaldabaoth

edit: the horse races suck man... enemy ai is so mean and will just push you into the wall on hard.
 

Aeana

Member
The two versions were clearly developed very closely together, and a lot of tiny details are the same between the two... but then you have large things like not hitting the head when teleporting indoors on PS4 which is weird. But in terms of things that actually affect the player, not being able to teleport directly to camps on 3DS but being able to on PS4 is quite a major difference. As is being able to see resources on the map on PS4 and not on 3DS.
 

kromeo

Member
Im curious, is DQ8 considered easy game? maybe because this my very first experience with DQ but the first boss kicked my ass at my first attempt but I did beat him on my second try.

The first boss in 8 was always a pain, especially in the PS2 version when levelling up didn't restore your mp. It's an easy game for the most part
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
I got to the true ending! It took me about ~85 hours, maybe a bit more, since I don't know how long exactly I was afk with the clock running.

In general my thoughts are similar to Shouta's. I really liked the game, thought it looked gorgeous on the PS4. Characters and the story were really solid. As for the latter I mean both the overarching story and most of the vignettes. The game had a few really good surprises in store, which were great, since SE kept a lot of story related stuff hidden during the promotion. Kudos to them.

I think that this might be my second favorite (after 5, but before 8) DQ8 game ever. Depending on when you ask me, maybe even my favorite.

While the game had a lot of good qol improvements and interesting new systems, like crafting, there are definitely some unnecessary leftovers from previous games, like being able to buy only 9 items or the extremely unwieldy inventory. Splitting items between party members is as much of a pain as it's always been.

I think my biggest complaint would be the post game. While I wholeheartedly agree that everyone should clear it, because it adds a lot to the story and feels like an integral part of the game, I didn't enjoy
having to run through the same dungeons, fight the stronger versions of the same enemies etc.
I didn't find much fun in preparations for the final battle and no matter if you go the grinding or the equipment route, I feel that tying important story to the way the post game is paced wasn't a great idea. But hey, maybe I'm in the minority!
 

Sakura

Member
Sweet baby Jesus, I can now say farewell to the casino.
img_20170810_001658edtoyqf.jpg
 

Ōkami

Member
I got to the true ending! It took me about ~85 hours, maybe a bit more, since I don't know how long exactly I was afk with the clock running.

In general my thoughts are similar to Shouta's. I really liked the game, thought it looked gorgeous on the PS4. Characters and the story were really solid. As for the latter I mean both the overarching story and most of the vignettes. The game had a few really good surprises in store, which were great, since SE kept a lot of story related stuff hidden during the promotion. Kudos to them.

I think that this might be my second favorite (after 5, but before 8) DQ8 game ever. Depending on when you ask me, maybe even my favorite.

While the game had a lot of good qol improvements and interesting new systems, like crafting, there are definitely some unnecessary leftovers from previous games, like being able to buy only 9 items or the extremely unwieldy inventory. Splitting items between party members is as much of a pain as it's always been.

I think my biggest complaint would be the post game. While I wholeheartedly agree that everyone should clear it, because it adds a lot to the story and feels like an integral part of the game, I didn't enjoy
having to run through the same dungeons, fight the stronger versions of the same enemies etc.
I didn't find much fun in preparations for the final battle and no matter if you go the grinding or the equipment route, I feel that tying important story to the way the post game is paced wasn't a great idea. But hey, maybe I'm in the minority!
How did you felt about the final scene in the game, as in the very last part of the final cutscene?

Did you return to the hero's home afterwards?
 
Sweet baby Jesus, I can now say farewell to the casino.

With barely over a million coins? Pfft. I'd use that up in 5 seconds just getting 2 Metal King Helmets! And then I wouldn't have enough left to get the Gringham Whip

I'm currently sitting on over 9 million at the moment with 3 Metal King Helmets, 3 Metal Slime Swords, 3 Hats of Happiness(not including the ones obtained from other places)and a Gringham Whip.

Speaking of which, as far as I can tell the sage holy water in the 2nd casino gives the best coin to gold profit ratio for anyone wanting to profit from casino coins. Costs 1000 coins and sells for 750 gold. In the first casino I believe it's the gale bandana which is something like 2500 coins and 1050 gold
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
Ōkami;245761830 said:
How did you felt about the final scene in the game, as in the very last part of the final cutscene?

Did you return to the hero's home afterwards?
Oh wow, that's a cool way to tie it all together. Also explains the logo (If the callback to DQI is what you mean). "Afterwards" as in reload my save? I talked with my wife before going with the sisters, but that's it. Didn't look at the shelves during that time.
(ending spoilers)
 

Sakura

Member
With barely over a million coins? Pfft. I'd use that up in 5 seconds just getting 2 Metal King Helmets! And then I wouldn't have enough left to get the Gringham Whip

I'm currently sitting on over 9 million at the moment with 3 Metal King Helmets, 3 Metal Slime Swords, 3 Hats of Happiness(not including the ones obtained from other places)and a Gringham Whip.

Speaking of which, as far as I can tell the sage holy water in the 2nd casino gives the best coin to gold profit ratio for anyone wanting to profit from casino coins. Costs 1000 coins and sells for 750 gold. In the first casino I believe it's the gale bandana which is something like 2500 coins and 1050 gold

Considering how many hours it took to get just the million, I figured I'd get the helmet a couple swords and call it a day. Gotta continue on with the story at some point right?
 
Considering how many hours it took to get just the million, I figured I'd get the helmet a couple swords and call it a day. Gotta continue on with the story at some point right?

Yeah I actually just put it on auto and used Vita remote play to retrigger the auto every now and then while doing something else so it was a brainless process

I wouldn't want to try to go at the casino the normal way(at least not the first one since the slots are slow going)
 

Ōkami

Member
Oh wow, that's a cool way to tie it all together. Also explains the logo (If the callback to DQI is what you mean). "Afterwards" as in reload my save? I talked with my wife before going with the sisters, but that's it. Didn't look at the shelves during that time.
(ending spoilers)
I meant the DQIII one.

I noticed after reloading my save, but it might be there before seeing the ending cutscene, there's a nice frame picture in your house then.
 

Aeana

Member
Considering how many hours it took to get just the million, I figured I'd get the helmet a couple swords and call it a day. Gotta continue on with the story at some point right?

When you get access to the roulette and 200 coin machines, it's a lot faster to make coins.
I had a system with the roulette where I had about a 66% chance to make at least 270k coins each time.
 
When you get access to the roulette and 200 coin machines, it's a lot faster to make coins.
I had a system with the roulette where I had about a 66% chance to make at least 270k coins each time.

Whoa what is this magical method. I was just using the old 'bet everything possible in the middle 4 rows and reset when you miss' method which is like a 22.22% chance to earn 160,000, a 11.11% chance to earn 210,000, and a 50% chance to earn absolutely nothing. The remaining 16.666% is landing on the numbers right next to the middle which comes at a slight loss but not enough to need to reset unless it happens twice without a win. Well the presence of the treasure chest means the odds are ever slightly lower than that, but yeah.

Honestly that worked well enough
 
Are the items that you gamble for (aka the Metal King garb) better or worse than the items you can craft on your own?

In past DQ games, MK items are almost always superior to anything and everything.
 
How are y'all hitting jackpots like it's nothing? I think that has only ever happened to me once in DQ and I've played a ton of DQ in my lifetime.
 
How are y'all hitting jackpots like it's nothing? I think that has only ever happened to me once in DQ and I've played a ton of DQ in my lifetime.

I've hit 5 jackpots in DQ11 and probably two or three in every other Dragon Quest game I've played combined.

They just seem to pop up easier here, I dunno
 
How are y'all hitting jackpots like it's nothing? I think that has only ever happened to me once in DQ and I've played a ton of DQ in my lifetime.

I remember in V, I hit it all the time and in VIII (PS2) I did real well in roulette in and in 3DS both the slots in Palmid/Pickham and the roulette.
 
I've hit 5 jackpots in DQ11 and probably two or three in every other Dragon Quest game I've played combined.

They just seem to pop up easier here, I dunno
Interesting. Wonder if that's just the case with the PS4 version or across all three versions, but I like it! Slots are worthless when you can't win big most times versus the other Casino games.

I remember in V, I hit it all the time and in VIII (PS2) I did real well in roulette in and in 3DS both the slots in Palmid/Pickham and the roulette.
I win big in everything except slots :(
 
Interesting. Wonder if that's just the case with the PS4 version or across all three versions, but I like it! Slots are worthless when you can't win big most times versus the other Casino games.


I win big in everything except slots :(

V was HARD in my view. I had the best weapons early on even in the PS2 version but I had poor armor.
 
Top Bottom