A sumptuous, generous and absolutely gorgeous RPG that
isn't quite the measure of Dragon Quest's illustrious past.
You don't really play a Dragon Quest game for surprises. This is a
series built on tradition - and on traditions that you can trace back
some 32 years - so it's always going to be angling towards a
more traditional brand of role-playing game. Indeed, Dragon Quest 11:
Echoes of an Elusive Age - which marks the first mainline release for a
new game in Square Enix's long-running series in the west for almost a
decade - makes a virtue of that. There's no DLC. There's no online.
There are no expansion packs or future amendments planned, and almost
certainly no patches that might alter the story or introduce whole new
chapters. This is a resolutely, almost aggressively old-fashioned game,
one that feels like it's stepped out fresh from another era entirely.
And that's absolutely fine, especially when it's a game as
sumptuous as this. Just as Dragon Quest 8 dragged the series into the
world of 3D, Dragon Quest 11 does a fine job of introducing it wholesale
to the HD generation (indeed, so belated has its introduction to that
world been that it's also available in 4K on PlayStation 4 Pro, where it
looks absolutely splendid). Those rich blues, greens and yellows that
serve as the core part of Dragon Quest's palette, that feed into that
feeling of sun-parched days that stretch out endlessly for summertime
adventures, have never looked better. The turn-based combat is kept snappy, and the presentation is a loving throwback to older games.
Neither has its world, with Dragon Quest 11's kingdom of Erdrea
full of exquisite detail. It's the way the landscapes dip out towards
the distance, selling the scale of a game that'll happily consume 80
hours before you see its end; the way the treetops dance in an invisible
breeze, selling Dragon Quest's stately, blissed-out pace just as well
as Koichi Sugiyama's score. It's how Akira Toriyama's artwork has been
expertly met by Square Enix's modellers, selling the comic menace of
bodkin bowyers and lump mages with an all-new level of fidelity. It's
about seeing familiar things presented to a level you won't have seen
before.
And, in its tale, it's also about familiar tropes being wheeled out
for the umpteenth time. Echoes of an Elusive Age is about a mute hero,
orphaned soon after birth who slowly awakens to his innate powers and
his destiny to do no less than save the world. It's a tale of idiot
princes, evil kings, sassy mages and wise-cracking thieves - nothing you
won't have seen before, essentially, but as ever it's not about the
tale so much as the telling, and this is complete with the charm that's
always defined Dragon Quest. This is a splendid looking game - and one of the draws
of seeing through the adventure to the end is making sure you see every
inch of the glorious world Square Enix has conjured.
Thank the localisation team in part for that, the ample voice-over
work nailing the regional British accents that have long been a part of
Dragon Quest's fabric (and introducing a voice-track that was entirely
absent in the Japanese release). That team has done a wonderful job of
preserving the character that provides Dragon Quest's real pull - the
quirks of character, or the godawful dad jokes (perfectly embodied in
Hotto, say, a spring town that's brilliantly on the nose in its naming
and in which everyone speaks in clipped haiku). It's a whimsical world
throughout, often winningly so.
Even beyond the localisation, Echoes of the Elusive Age feels like
it's been set up as an entry point for the series and an attempt for
Dragon Quest to emulate the phenomenal success it sees in Japan over in
the west. This is a linear adventure, but it's one that will go out of
its way to lead you along its path (one that's lined with sub-quests and
side missions, of course, as well as the welcome distraction of horse
racing and gambling), and one that presents a stripped back, simplified
take on traditional RPG combat. You can drift your horse, which pretty much puts this in Essential territory.
Encounters aren't random - you'll doubtless be pleased to learn -
but battles are strictly turn-based, the option to move around when
facing an enemy having no bearing on the combat itself. You can opt to
play from Dragon Quest's more traditional perspective, and even opt to
set up your party to tackle battles themselves should you want to take
some of the pain out of grinding. Dragon Quest 11, if you allow it, is a
game that can play itself.
It's a little like Final Fantasy 12, but without much of that
game's depth, and it's not the only trace you'll find here. Characters
are levelled up via a builder that works like Final Fantasy 12's Licence
Board - or Final Fantasy 10's Sphere Grid, if you prefer - with ability
points unlocked upon levelling up exchanged for new skills. Combine
that with the crafting system - fuelled by a cute mini-game in which you
hammer away at a forge, but hampered by the fact you'll need to have
unearthed the recipe for any given item first by rifling through
bookshelves and drawers - and you've got some scope for customisation. There's not much by way of customisation of the hero
character - you'll have to put up with his centre-parting throughout,
and only certain armour items have a cosmetic impact.
It doesn't quite have the depth of its predecessors, though, and
coming off the back of the exquisite Dragon Quest 9 - the last numbered
entry in the west, with the MMO that followed it never making it out of
Japan - it can feel a little flat. There's no job system in place, the
only real wrinkle in combat provided by pep attacks that allow you to
unleash more power, and in tandem with other party members. Indeed,
Dragon Quest 11's big addition to the series are the mounts that come in
various shapes and sizes - skeletons that'll help you scale a wall in a
dungeon to obtain an item, or dragons that'll help you fly to a new
part of the map.
It's a cute touch, but it pales in comparison to the quirks that
previous games have introduced - Heavenly Bride's recruitable monsters,
say, or Chapters of the Chosen's episodic approach. Dragon Quest might
be a series anchored in its traditions, but the pleasure of playing a
new one has often been seeing how they're subverted, or played upon.
Echoes of the Elusive Age is defined by its conservatism, and even given
the number of twist and turns its plot throws at you it always ends up
back on the straight and narrow.
And after the boldness of past entries - whether that's the
not-so-recent Dragon Quest 9, or even the perfectly executed Builders
spin-offs - Echoes of the Elusive Age ends up feeling like it's missing a
trick. This is a pointed return to a different age of RPGs, a throwback
to a golden era that shines brightly in its splendour. You'll be hard
pushed to find a more lavish production this year, or one that's so
generous, though you can't help but wonder whether it's too much of a
backwards step.
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