The most JRPG ever made. Full disclosure, this is my first DQ game since 1 and 2. The remasters, not the remakes.
What you have here is the most traditional JRPG I've played in decades. It is party based. It is turn-based. There is no ATB gauge, no dodges or parries, The most modern mechanics are the crafting, the skill system, and the open-world-with-guardrails design. It's like this is a remake of an unreleased game in '95 with updated graphics.
Is it good? Yes, I can say without a doubt it's good. I'd have a hard time saying much about DQ11 is great though.
Act 1 is basically just you trying to get to the worldtree for some reason. The highlight is the characters. They show actual growth and are all extremely likable. None of the main cast is annoying or tenuous, which is an achievement given the length of this game. The music, or lack thereof, really makes this game feel as long as it is. Even if it is all high quality.
Act 2 is when the game starts. The plot is... less complex. There really isn't one for the first like, 20 hours. Once act 2 hits you get an evil bad guy who wants to destroy the world. It's extremely underwhelming after so long. You could finish E33 in the time it takes to get an actual plot in DQ11. The cities are all distinct, but it's because they're all caricatures of a JRPG town. There's the Japan town, where they live under a volcano and speak in haiku. There's the middle-east town in the desert with horse racing. There's the snow town with vikings and an ice witch. Yawn.
Act 3 is when you say "Okay, I think I've seen enough." The difficulty is a huge issue. The non-boss monsters are zero threat throughout the entire game. They're all just padding. The bosses, on the other hand, are pretty good. There's only a few where you can just ignore the mechanics. "Turn on the hard mode," you say. Well, that fixes the trash mobs. But then the bosses are so overtuned you're just waiting for a blessing from RNGsus. Again: this is an extremely traditional JRPG. Other than levels and dice rolls, you have very little influence over anything. I turned off hard mode just before act 2 and I only regret not turning it off sooner.
I cannot understate how LONG this game is. I have 77 hours on this game and I just started the final act. There's another 30 or 40 hours ahead of me that I will not see. That includes the tockle retro 2D world that appears to be a complete waste of time in my opinion. Maybe if you're a DQ superfan you'd get more out of it.
The big selling point of this game is simply the tone. If you want and endless amount of a cozy, characterful JRPG, DQ11 will take you well over 100 hours to see everything. Will it be quality? Will it change the way you look at the genre? Will it even ask you to pay attention? Can you play it drunk as a skunk or high as a kite without any impedance? You have to ask yourself what you want out of a game like this and how much time you'd really like to invest in it.
