Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition

 Switch
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 743 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 634 out of 743
  2. Mixed: 41 out of 743
  3. Negative: 68 out of 743
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  1. Kallenovsky
    Oct 25, 2019
    6
    Though I'm not a fan of the DB art style, this game is really beautiful on the Switch. I didn't notice any significant frame rate drops, even when running in enemy-heavy environments. The story is really interesting, which is to be expected from a Dragon Quest title. However, I think this game isn't forgiving enough for those new to the genre and battle style. It certainly doesn't helpThough I'm not a fan of the DB art style, this game is really beautiful on the Switch. I didn't notice any significant frame rate drops, even when running in enemy-heavy environments. The story is really interesting, which is to be expected from a Dragon Quest title. However, I think this game isn't forgiving enough for those new to the genre and battle style. It certainly doesn't help that there really isn't much of a tutorial to understand its battle features.

    DQXIS also suffers from an abysmal save feature. Essentially, if you're at a boss, and your party is wiped out, then you're back to the last autosave or worse. It's not fun trekking through the same dungeons and environments so many times during the most difficult battles when you just want to have another go at a boss. Even after 15 hours, though I only fell to a boss once or twice before figuring out a better strategy, having to trek back was once or twice too many times.

    I applaud the game's other special features, such as a 2D mode style, but its other problems do not warrant such high scores. I wanted to love it, but I just could not.    … Expand
  2. Rhokin
    Aug 3, 2022
    6
    I really wanted to like this game. It’s beautiful, plays wonderfully and the voice acting is phenomenal. The plot also seems decent as well, but I found it just didn’t grab me as I had hoped. The combat and character progression is where I feel the game could have really been a lot better. The combat is classic turn based with no gimmicks or anything fancy. The new moves and gear come in aI really wanted to like this game. It’s beautiful, plays wonderfully and the voice acting is phenomenal. The plot also seems decent as well, but I found it just didn’t grab me as I had hoped. The combat and character progression is where I feel the game could have really been a lot better. The combat is classic turn based with no gimmicks or anything fancy. The new moves and gear come in a slow trickle with very little in the way of improvement. The abilities just don’t feel impactful and the mana pools are huge so you can easily spam them in combat. All in all, it’s a classic JRPG that hangs onto some unfortunately archaic systems that are wrapped in beautiful world design, great voice acting and likeable characters.… Expand
  3. DinoBeam
    Mar 27, 2022
    5
    WARNING! This game is too easy, and the only other option is Very Hard mode, and you can't change difficulty after starting. This is a huge core flaw that really sucks, and is hard to understand the existence of. I don't know why this isn't talked about more, though it is talked about. I'm over half way through the game and I have to stop. While at first the characters were charming andWARNING! This game is too easy, and the only other option is Very Hard mode, and you can't change difficulty after starting. This is a huge core flaw that really sucks, and is hard to understand the existence of. I don't know why this isn't talked about more, though it is talked about. I'm over half way through the game and I have to stop. While at first the characters were charming and the quest fairly interesting, the story is just meandering from reason for it to keep going to reason for it to keep going using anime power up tricks and such. In addition, Akira Toriyama's art design of monsters is extremely hit or miss here, with half or more of the monsters looking like off-brand toys for very young children.

    The game also feels very cheap in a number of other ways, for instance you get to a cool new area only to hear the same exact music for every other area, then you go in a cave and hear the exact same music for every other cave and dungeon. This game is doing as little as it can to make a profit, making sure to extend the playtime so people don't complain. This game is very disappointing, and I am appalled at the praise it has received by players and critics alike.

    If you are looking for a good JRPG experience, I recommend these;

    Dragon Quest IV for the Nintendo DS
    Pokemon Blue or the updated Leaf Green version
    Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest 1
    Radiata Stories    … Expand
  4. Eve84
    Nov 30, 2019
    5
    Generally it's a good game, and the exclusive dlc type content is nice. But the visual quality is abysmal. I could live with pop ups that are right in front of you, but the general blurriness is seriously upsetting. You can't even make out faces sometimes.

    I didn't finish it on PS4 but I wish I would've because this version is not good
  5. lione81
    Nov 7, 2020
    5
    Absurdamente largo y aburrido. Sobra medio juego. El acto 2 no vale para nada. Se me hizo pesadisimo y después de ver el 3 se me hizo absurdo y da que pensar sobre la dirección del juego. Dificultad aleatoria. Lo mismo te estás pasando todo sin inmutarse y aparece algún enemigo y te hace reiniciar o lanzar el cartucho por la ventana. Historia....pero tiene historia??
    Juego sobrevalorado.
  6. bingbang
    Jun 22, 2020
    5
    I understand why people adore this game, but I couldn't get past the tired cliches and stereotypes - I quit 20 hours in. We can expect more from a polished experience beyond fun gameplay loops and a gorgeous art style.
  7. Johannus
    Jan 8, 2020
    4
    Nice and calm, but very boring. The core of the game is like 20 years old, but it is 2020 and there are many better and/or innovative games out there. The graphics on switch is mediocre, but the art is very nice and the symphonic music is exceptional. I do not want bedtime story (books are so much better for this purpose), but I want to play actual (and at least little bit challenging orNice and calm, but very boring. The core of the game is like 20 years old, but it is 2020 and there are many better and/or innovative games out there. The graphics on switch is mediocre, but the art is very nice and the symphonic music is exceptional. I do not want bedtime story (books are so much better for this purpose), but I want to play actual (and at least little bit challenging or otherwise interesting) game. To be honest I quit after several hours, but I do no have time to try it more, when there are games like Sekiro, RE2, Death Stranding etc. to be played... :-)… Expand
  8. Ctarblu
    Oct 29, 2019
    4
    Better play DQ8. I dropped it after ~25 hours. I'm a JRPG fan boy and I'm quite familiar with games with 5-10 hours of introduction, but my God DQ11 has almost no story up to that point. Main plot is all about small side quest tier stories around the world that are completely separated from each other. You don't get a feeling that you are on a huge adventure, it's more like bunch of bigBetter play DQ8. I dropped it after ~25 hours. I'm a JRPG fan boy and I'm quite familiar with games with 5-10 hours of introduction, but my God DQ11 has almost no story up to that point. Main plot is all about small side quest tier stories around the world that are completely separated from each other. You don't get a feeling that you are on a huge adventure, it's more like bunch of big side quests replacing the story.
    Boss fights are almost easier than those in Chrono Trigger. Heck regular encounters in MegaTen games or some FF games are harder than bosses in DQ11. The game gives you a lot of options to be creative in those fights, but really all you have to do is buff your party and finish the boss in 3-4 turns.
    Characters are generic but ok. Except for Serena she literally doesn't do anything. I get that she suppose to be quiet and calm but Enix give her SOME personality traits.
    The world is actually pretty good I like the art style and level design for the most part
    Overall the game is below average    … Expand
  9. BeeBoss
    Sep 4, 2020
    4
    Not good, not bad, nothing special... and horse design is totally non-anatomical (looks like a horse from a preschooler's drawing)
  10. oldhorse
    Jan 29, 2021
    4
    Not captivating in the least. Voice acting is comically bad, which isn't totally bad because at least it's funny. But the combat is dull and repetitive. And moving around in the world feels like a chore. Story is cliche and dull. Camera controls feel clumsy. It is charming I suppose which I why I didn't give it a zero but it truly is a game of such an easy difficulty, I felt moreNot captivating in the least. Voice acting is comically bad, which isn't totally bad because at least it's funny. But the combat is dull and repetitive. And moving around in the world feels like a chore. Story is cliche and dull. Camera controls feel clumsy. It is charming I suppose which I why I didn't give it a zero but it truly is a game of such an easy difficulty, I felt more accomplished for stomaching the god awful story and mechanics.

    Do yourself a favor and don't buy this game    … Expand
  11. Dog4life
    Sep 27, 2019
    2
    The port suffers from an evident technical downgrade, longer loading times and especially on big screen the resolution looks milky. Some performance dips , but rare
    The added quests are quite short and the 2D mode is just a gimmick.

    Barebone combat system which is inferior the other recent jrpg counterparts and uneven difficulty. Most time way too easy.
  12. SylvaConnect
    Oct 30, 2022
    2
    This game is stupid Im sorry.
    Its filled with more filler A to B story quests than FFXIV. Its seriously painful. Starting act 2 was horrible. 10 hours just to get your party back and thats WITH rushing and skipping all scenes which there's tons of.
    Not to mention you lose ALL warp locations (zoom) and have yo re obtain every single freaking one Level and quest design get a flat F In the S    This game is stupid Im sorry.
    Its filled with more filler A to B story quests than FFXIV. Its seriously painful. Starting act 2 was horrible. 10 hours just to get your party back and thats WITH rushing and skipping all scenes which there's tons of.
    Not to mention you lose ALL warp locations (zoom) and have yo re obtain every single freaking one
    Level and quest design get a flat F
    In the S version slime island was also nerfed. No metal slimes in act 1 at all. Youre forced to use electro to spawn any. I save wizard’d my save on ps4 because its bs.

    If visual novel bs quests werent bad enough, nearly all quests have such a poor description on them that youre playing a freaking guessing game on what to do. People on Gamefaqs have 6+ pages long of replies just to answer how to complete one sinple freaking mission and they end up arguing about how its done. This is absolutely poor game design.

    SE forgot this is an RPG not a Visual Novel. And Ultra speed in the S version isnt even ultra, its normal. I had quit mid act 1 the first version because of the animation speed being crap.

    The new act 2 quests are equally bad. Its just another 2 hours of complete visual novel GARBAGE.
    I love witcher 3, persona, FFX FFVII etc, other dw games are good too. This is garbage and all the high ratings are from people who probably think visual novels are any sort of interesting. Waste of time completely and a disgrace to JRPG.    … Expand
  13. webfubard
    Jun 19, 2020
    2
    This is my first JRPG and a first for Dragon Quest. I have been playing video games since the very first one was released many decades ago. The graphics are excellent & the story is good, but that's about it. The music is mind numbing and the ability to manipulate the characters is slim. During battle, you just basically stand there and do nothing. You can't use any items in your personalThis is my first JRPG and a first for Dragon Quest. I have been playing video games since the very first one was released many decades ago. The graphics are excellent & the story is good, but that's about it. The music is mind numbing and the ability to manipulate the characters is slim. During battle, you just basically stand there and do nothing. You can't use any items in your personal bag, you can't maneuver the characters other than moving, you just wait until you either win or lose, but what good is that? This is highly disappointing! Unless I am missing something, this is not a very Interactive game.… Expand
  14. Skyblue93
    Oct 1, 2019
    1
    Dragon quest is not good and will never be accepted by a world wide audience. Stop pushing this crap down our throats.

    Ugly graphics, unoriginal uninspired tepid story, boring gameplay and combat.

    This dragon ball z wanna be doo doo is not worth anyone’s time.
  15. Cesspul
    Jul 31, 2021
    1
    extremely boring dialog and storyline even 45 hours in. Combat and leveling system with the ability grid is like ff10 but for preteen super weebs. Very unstrategic and boring even late in the game. Worst rpg I've played in years. Music is annoying. How is this trash so popular?
  16. Phuz
    Dec 25, 2021
    0
    When a game is not compelling enough to even keep me entertained for the duration of a demo, then there is something wrong.

    Very strange choice of voice actors. The girl of young appearance, sounded like a middle aged British farmer. It felt like a chore. At least with ARPG's you mash A and continue. In this, as with many turn based RPG's you mash a and sit through the animations again    When a game is not compelling enough to even keep me entertained for the duration of a demo, then there is something wrong.

    Very strange choice of voice actors. The girl of young appearance, sounded like a middle aged British farmer.

    It felt like a chore. At least with ARPG's you mash A and continue. In this, as with many turn based RPG's you mash a and sit through the animations again and again. Quite frankly, after 3, or 4 times, I was mumbling to myself, something along the lines of please hurry the **** up.

    To me, games like this can be saved by a good OST. This however has a really old fashioned OST. It isn't even remotely memorable. For comparison, I didn't like XCDE very much but I still listen to the OST loads.

    DQ 11 is a failure.    … Expand
  17. GenkiYokota
    Jan 27, 2022
    0
    Imperfect version of a game gem originally released on PS4 and PC
    It has a brutal graphic downgrade and doesn't do justice to the original release of 2018.
  18. Kleptomacer
    Oct 15, 2019
    0
    Annoying characters, bad story, repetitive combat. Not really any fun at all.
  19. lalahand
    Mar 6, 2021
    0
    Another jrpg with disappointing story. I fell asleep several times while playing this game
  20. GreenPieceofMin
    Aug 15, 2020
    0
    Very superb game!
  21. T-RoyTime
    Jul 7, 2020
    0
    Honestly one of the best games on Switch, and probably the best JRPG I've ever played in general. The characters, the story, the music, and the gameplay, though a little bit repetitive at times, the payoff is great. If you haven't bought or played this game yet, I think that tis is something that you truly can't miss out on.
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best Switch Game of 2019
9
#9 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 50 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 50
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 50
  3. Negative: 0 out of 50
  1. RPG Fan
    May 11, 2020
    96
    Overall, there are not many negative things I can say about Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition. This version took the foundation of an already truly excellent RPG experience and built upon it further, offering new features and quality of life improvements along the way. I poured over a hundred and twelve hours into Dragon Quest XI S, which is more than I've spent on any other RPG recently, and I never once looked back with regret as I wholeheartedly fell in love with the gameplay and story. Having only played Dragon Quest XI S, I can't say for certain if there is enough new content here to warrant an additional playthrough, but if you've yet to play Dragon Quest XI and have access to a Nintendo Switch, this version is truly the "Definitive Edition" that the title claims it is.
    Read full review
  2. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 29, 2020
    95
    This game has become my favorite Dragon Quest ever, one of my favorite JRPGs ever and certainly one of the best games you can buy and play on the Switch. [Issue #43 – November/December 2019, p. 8SH]
  3. RPGamer
    Dec 5, 2019
    100
    Dragon Quest XI S is a game for both long-time fans and newcomers alike. There are many Easter eggs and references to past Dragon Quest games that will subtly reward fans, but at the same time, the charming world of Erdrea and its characters are appealing to newcomers of all ages. Even those who have played the previous versions of Dragon Quest XI may find the vast improvements of the Switch version compelling enough for another round, especially with the Tickington quests, new character content, and marriage options. This game is a masterpiece, and it sets a new high standard for not only the series, but console RPGs in general. Hopefully the series will continue outdoing itself with further instalments.
    Read full review
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