Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

(Placeholder score.) A classic (some would say generic) fantasy story with all the tropes and clichés you could ever think of. The synth music is very repetitive and got so obnoxious I eventually turned it off. The characters are appealing enough, and the story gets better after you've assembled your party. Good voice acting. Wasn't a big fan of the "kiddie" aesthetic, especially the Pokémon-like enemies with goofy designs and punny names. Persona 5 has ruined me on JRPGs, I guess.

If I were younger I would have ate this up but nowadays for as much as I have a soft spot for JRPGs, I do need a little bit more to truly love one. However, this really is fundamentally strong. A charming art style, an ass load of whimsy, and just about everything you'd expect from a JRPG. There are some quality of life improvements over the classics, but it doesn't advance the genre. It just does the classic style well.

This is the most classic JRPG that has ever classic JRPGed, straight up like playing a JRPG from 1991 with anime graphics but that otherwise hasn’t evolved a thing gameplay wise (turn-based battles, cutscene, town, dungeon, boss, repeat). And that’s arguably unambitious but at the same time also kind of comforting and nostalgic and addicting and great. For better or worse the game is also insanely, 100+ hours long. This ain’t a brisk little playthrough, this is a months-long commitment.

I played in 3D mode. Just couldn't dig it. The music was pretty poor.... the characters and graphics, mostly loud and obnoxious... the design of the enemies, were they done by 8 year old children? The story, riddled with too much with lore I didn't care about.