A few months back I made the sensible, at the time, but daunting decision that I would play through and complete all of the games I was interested in on ps plus all at once since my subscription ends at the end of December, and those renewal prices are hilariously bad than they already are for what's even been offered now. I've went through many and bounced off a lot including Returnal and Neo TWEWY, which I'll get back to at some point because they're both excellent and might become huge favorites once I dedicate even more time to them. Dragon Quest XI was one on my list to hopefully complete before this year ends. Unfortunately, alongside FF XII, this game has lost me after putting more than 30-35 hours into it these past two months. That's like ten more hours I put into FF XII before I peaced out despite the really intriguing job system attached to it, but this isn't about final fantasy, sort of.

XI isn't even my first dragon quest game; I vaguely recall having one of the DS remake entries in the mid 2000s at some point but...any memory of playing the starting hours of that is lost to the void of my mind somewhere that I won't recall anytime soon. Maybe my long forgotten childhood memory urged me to play this? Maybe me getting more into mainline final fantasy after years of putting it off led me here?

Beating around the bush but I really don't know what to write about in a comprehensive, compact way about Dragon Quest XI outside of riffing about it here. It's a solid jrpg with a narrative stuffed with the usual suspects of the genre, but the core of it is very, very charming and echoing of a bygone era of medieval fantasy classic rpgs, similar to a certain final fantasy game I completed in April/May to prepare for FF XVI. The main combat loop of XI is pretty basic, but what's there works and still gave me some enjoyment and even challenge with a few of the boss fights. The cast fills out to a fun bunch of people as well, Sylvando being a favorite of course. The landscapes are standard but full of life with the many charming beasts roaming around. The side quests blow, but the dialogue and detail that went into the text in every book, every npc, and every waking moment of this game more than make up for the absolutely bland quests and progression. Did I say this game is really charming? Well in addition to how funny this game can be, there's also this intriguing world fully in 2D and the-

So as much as I enjoy the coziness and general retro vibe that DQ XI brings, the tedium of this game, whenever I play or whenever I think of picking it up again, is unbearable. The world is fine with a crazy ambitious scale with decently good music populating many of the spaces, but it all collectively never grew on me with the many tasks and whatever directions the plot wants me to go. The story works with a compelling and appealing cast of characters where I enjoy every single one of them, but I feel so passive to it all outside of the few emotional beats I've encountered so far. The combat is...competent but encounters, especially the litany of random ones while sailing the seas, make me groan with how too familiar they've gotten at this point. DQ XI in general just wallows; it is very witty and enjoyable, but it's also so shallow.

None of what I said I liked before is untrue and I'm so sure there is something really special at the core of this game somewhere along the 90+ journey that this game most likely deserves since it is so well loved on this site and other spaces , and I can see a few of those things even like a third through XI. But real, I think I'll come back to it at some point in like a year or two and finish it and delete this ramble-y ass log with something more concrete and informed of the rest of the two-thirds that I haven't experienced yet. Wouldn't want the 30+ hours I committed to become a very vague memory like the last DQ I played.

Anyways, back to Dead Space until then.