Review for Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of a Lost Age. Game for Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PC and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 29/07/2017 The version for PC came out on 04/09/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 31/12/2019
The success of some series in the field of entertainment in the Land of the Rising Sun does not always have an immediate impact on the Western market and it is often necessary to wait a long time before being able to get hold of Japanese productions: after a wait of almost a year for the version arrived on PlayStation 4 and PC, Dragon Quest XI finally arrives to touch even the unprecedented shores of Nintendo Switch, through the conversion of the Square Enix work for the hybrid of the large N, proposed to the public in a special edition, or Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of a lost age.
The story obviously follows the path already traced by the original title: our protagonist lives a normal life in the small village of Roccapietra in the land of Erdrea, until he learns of his true identity, kept hidden from him by his mother for some time: he is none other than a reincarnation of the Lucente, a hero known throughout Erdrea.
In search of more answers, the young hero heads to Hellador, the place where King Carnelian resides: by showing him a pendant of mysterious origins, the sovereign will be able to give him exhaustive answers to his certainly numerous questions. However, the plan will not go as planned and a series of adverse events will start a long journey which will take us to different locations in the kingdom.
The basic structure remains the classic one of the Dragon Quest, already widely examined in the review of the standard edition of the title: in Dragon Quest XI you will have the opportunity to control the protagonist and his team, moving around relatively large areas composed of bucolic landscapes and towns populated by curious characters.
The fights, in this edition, can be faced in the classic normal speed, both in the faster "High" and "Frenetica", all to be appreciated with one with a camera that can move automatically during the fight or be controlled directly by the player. Not a small factor, especially in phases of the game in which you try to increase the level of the team in an important way: take advantage of the increased speeds allows you to gain some time in the grinding phases. However, the whole is part of a work in which - a factor that is more evident after this addition - the level of difficulty is never set too high, on the contrary.
All this, translated on Switch's small portable screen, does not suffer from transposition in the slightest and is able to offer the same panoramas as the original Dragon Quest XI with a frame rate that remains solid in any part of the game: artistically the inspiration is always high and the character design loses nothing in terms of charm, with the distinctive trait of Dragon Ball's father - Akira Toriyama - always distinguishable and fully appreciable.
The idea of Square Enix is therefore to provide a product that not only allows you to play the original work, but can reward the wait with some juicy and highly appreciated news: first of all, we must underline the presence of the original Japanese dubbing, very popular also on the western shores but not arrived with the previous iteration of the game which presented only the dubbing in English. Just the original dubbing is really appreciable for its performance, especially in some important moment of the work in which excellent acting stands out.
Still regarding the sound aspect, this version adds a splendid orchestral soundtrack signed Sugiyama - author of several songs for the Dragon Quest brand since the release of the first chapters - which can be widely appreciated during the adventure, catalyzing the user's attention and allowing you to add the icing on the cake to an experience already in itself masterfully rendered in several aspects.
Another novelty, which follows what was the version released for Nintendo 3DS never arrived in Spain, is the chance to relive the adventure on Nintendo Switch in a 2d graphics with a retro 16-bit style: during the adventure it will in fact be possible to start a game in another save slot with a graphic design that wants to be a reference and a strong reference to different chapters of the brand: although it may seem an additional feature, the work done with this addition is also appreciable, capable of inserting an unprecedented feature able to push to relive the experience of this last chapter even to those who have already lived the epic told by the JRPG. Unfortunately, it is not possible to immediately change the appearance from 3D to 2D, but you can only - once inside the churches where you can save your game - select some key points of the game from which to start during your own adventure in two dimensions.
There is also no lack of additions to the game plot and in obtainable items, with several new contents related especially to the secondary missions, often linked to the members of the team of which some aspects of the plot will be deepened and that will allow us to obtain unique pieces of equipment. Just about the equipment, it is now possible to use the Forge - a fundamental tool for crafting operations - directly from the game menu at any time, thus being able to get to work without necessarily having to reach a camp as in the original.
We close with the Photo Mode, an appreciable addition that allows you to take advantage of a free camera, which can be simply moved through the use of the Switch analogs, and a simple choice of expressions for the character to be able to take pictures within the game world.
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of a lost era marries the portable nature of Nintendo Switch: the RPG is able to keep glued to the screens for many hours and having the possibility to play when and where you prefer becomes a boon from heaven, especially in this specific case. The additional content answers the question "Was it worth the wait?". The answer is yes: the only exempted are those who already stripped the chapter at the time (although there are several additions in this one), while the others will finally be able to have one of the best JRPG of this generation available on the Nintendo console.
► Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of a Lost Age is a JRPG type game developed and published by Square Enix for Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PC and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 29/07/2017 The version for PC came out on 04/09/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 31/12/2019
