This one is an early impressions for
@Castle
Dragon Quest XI
I'm five hours in and I know that is nothing for an RPG, especially DQ, but they feel as if they've been a long five hours.
I love looking at the game, it is damn gorgeous and the world is pretty and constantly surprising you with how much bigger it keeps getting and how grand everything is. When you feel like you've seen the crown jewel city in the game, you go to the next city and are blown away all over again.
The combat is fine too. No stupid gimmicks, just traditional turn based combat with everything you've come to expect.
The music is nice too and i really like the use of the old school midi sound effects from the first games in the series.
My problem is though.... it just isn't very compelling. Big things happen early on which should resonate on a emotional level but they dont. The tone is too upbeat for the terrible things that happen to hit with the weight that they should.
Wind Waker gets this down but Dragon Quest XI just doesnt. Aside from the tone getting in the way of the drama the main character serves more as a brick wall than an avatar.
The main character is mute. He's Link. He does what he is told all the time and never gives an opinion or emotes at all.
"Hey, you're adopted." *blank*
"Your village burned down." *blank*
"You're a god, Harry!" *blank*
Come on dude, I won't care if you don't.
No doubt things will get better and more interesting. The party members I have are all well written so far and their voice acting is on point. Even side characters put in some good performances and they're not too one dimensional either.
The world has wonder and i'm gonna enjoy seeing what's still left to see.
But that's just it. I feel more like a tourist in a pretty country than I do a reborn god trying to save the world...