Prima Game of the Week | Dragon Quest XI

Why You Should Play

• Classic turn-based RPG gameplay.
• Easy to get into, but with enough depth for seasoned genre veterans.
• Extremely lengthy experience, providing nearly 100 hours of play time.
• Casino area for side event fun!

If you’ve played Dragon Quest games in the past, you should already have a pretty good idea of how Dragon Quest XI plays. It’s designed like Square’s classic RPGs, using a turn-based combat system. However, where classic Final Fantasy might be considers a game for more hardcore gamers, Dragon Quest XI offers an experience that novice gamers or even kids can get into. There’s a little something here for almost every RPG fan!

Gameplay

Dragon Quest XI offers tradition turn-based gameplay, similar to Octopath Traveler, the last Square Enix published RPG (in Japan). Battles aren’t random like some other RPGs. Instead, all enemies are visible in the open world, and you can choose which enemies you want to battle against and which enemies you’d rather avoid. Just like most other RPGs, there’s a lengthy story in which you come across a number of characters that will join your party as you attempt to save the world.

As your party members level up, you’ll unlock skill points that can be used to purchase new skills from a skill grid that’s similar to the skill system in Final Fantasy X. While the skill grids aren’t linked together like FFX, they are based on the weapons your character can use. There’s no real class system in Dragon Quest, but the weapons each character can use help to define how that character should be played. For example, characters that can use wands should be mages or healers.

Visuals and Performance

What makes Dragon Quest XI a bit more unique is the fact that it’s moderately catered toward a younger crowd. The gameplay is still similar to other traditional RPGs, but the artwork is draw by Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball. In fact, the main character in Dragon Quest XI looks very similar to Future Trunks from Dragon Ball Z. He even uses a sword as his primary weapon.

The game plays well on PlayStation 4 and PC. While a Switch version is coming at some point in time, there’s no release date yet and we have no idea how well the game will play on Nintendo’s latest console. While the visuals don’t sell you on a PS4 or gaming PC, the cartoon-styled artwork looks good in high definition and matches the nature of the franchise.

Game of the Week

Dragon Quest is one of the most classic and storied RPG franchises in gaming. With roughly 100 hours of gameplay, depending on how much of the side activities you partake in, there’s a lot to do in Dragon Quest XI and plenty of gameplay to keep you occupied for a very long time. The casino returns from previous entries in the series, and is one of the most fun side activities you’ll find in a modern RPG. All of this combines into a very solid and traditional role-playing game, and that’s why Dragon Quest XI is our Prima Game of the Week!

If you just started playing Dragon Quest XI, be sure to check out our game hub to learn about the controls and other basic aspects of the game!