Dragon Quest XI (Release date: 9/4/18)

So, the game allows you only to play @ 30 fps or 60 fps. Even if you turn vsync off and can play at a higher fps, it locks it to whatever fps you chose. (Why anyone would ever play 30 fps, well, I guess if you had a very old computer). Also, no HDR, and limited graphical options. Shadows and antialiasing, that's about it. I guess they learned from previous games where users had high refresh rate monitors which would cause problems, so this is the fixed they chose.

I use a gamepad, so never really tested the mouse. Now, I do find it stupid that you need to start the game to actually exit the game. Dragon Quest has always had a Rest & Title Screen feature, but to exit the game, you need to actually be playing the game. So just save, and don't quit your adventure. Kind of pointless, but oh well.

Overall, the gameplay is Dragon Quest. But in terms of PC specific features, expect the absolute bare minimum of support.
 
So, the game allows you only to play @ 30 fps or 60 fps. Even if you turn vsync off and can play at a higher fps, it locks it to whatever fps you chose. (Why anyone would ever play 30 fps, well, I guess if you had a very old computer). Also, no HDR, and limited graphical options. Shadows and antialiasing, that's about it. I guess they learned from previous games where users had high refresh rate monitors which would cause problems, so this is the fixed they chose.

I use a gamepad, so never really tested the mouse. Now, I do find it stupid that you need to start the game to actually exit the game. Dragon Quest has always had a Rest & Title Screen feature, but to exit the game, you need to actually be playing the game. So just save, and don't quit your adventure. Kind of pointless, but oh well.

Overall, the gameplay is Dragon Quest. But in terms of PC specific features, expect the absolute bare minimum of support.

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I'm playing at 1440p since in 4K the FPS fluctuates too wildly for my liking. I was getting anywhere from 30 to 60 FPS @4K depending if the camera was turning or what wall I was looking at, kinda weird. The game doesn't seem very graphically demanding except for the shadow details so I'm not sure whats kicking my PC in the balls.
 
^^ Optimization issues are probably a given in the early goings.



Controversy exists about this understandably:

The music is a letdown even though it's the usual composer. Long/short: People have been rallying to get the music upgraded to the symphonic instead of the antiquated sounding synthy music as is. It's jarring and distracting. Xenogears music from 1997 kicks the crud out of it as an easy frame of reference.


This is a serious letdown vs the gorgeous visuals and everything else. I know Kotaku and a bunch of other outlets also mentioned this to the point they even turned the music off outright after a time. I'll start out with 5/10 on music volume at most. That's very sad for something like this.

They called it MIDI music and they weren't kidding.

I shouldn't have to (I stress this) but I'd pay another $5 on DLC to upgrade this music if I had to and I know others feel the same way out there.


Yes, the PC features and graphic options are somewhat spartan as Nytegard and others have indicted.

At 4k I'll never get past 60fps myself but certainly for anyone below 4k that's a potential letdown although this kind of game I'm not sure how they even handle higher fps. I wouldn't let just this stop you.

Yes, the Denuvo talking points. Not happy about it.


We'll see what the post release support looks like. Overall, it's stable and it's gorgeous with lots of depth and the solid gameplay you would hope to expect here. It's got it all where it counts for sure and lots of it.
 
I've been waiting an eternity for a proper DQ thats not on a handheld and then they pull this shit...God fucking dammit. I really should just quit gaming.
 
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Dragon Quest XI  Echoes of an Elusive Age Screenshot 2018.09.04 - 13.48.55.97.png

As for 4k, I'm running at a solid 60 fps, with slight dips into the 50s, so I'm guessing some optimization issues. I would say though, if you can't get 60 fps, just drop the resolution down a notch. This isn't going to be a game where 4k is going to look miles better than 1440p.
 
Looks like Kaldaien has set his sights on this game now. He's planning to try adding HDR support to the game. Game seems to run pretty well so I don't think he'll need to do much by way of performance fixes.
 
So, the game allows you only to play @ 30 fps or 60 fps. Even if you turn vsync off and can play at a higher fps, it locks it to whatever fps you chose. (Why anyone would ever play 30 fps, well, I guess if you had a very old computer). Also, no HDR, and limited graphical options. Shadows and antialiasing, that's about it. I guess they learned from previous games where users had high refresh rate monitors which would cause problems, so this is the fixed they chose.

I use a gamepad, so never really tested the mouse. Now, I do find it stupid that you need to start the game to actually exit the game. Dragon Quest has always had a Rest & Title Screen feature, but to exit the game, you need to actually be playing the game. So just save, and don't quit your adventure. Kind of pointless, but oh well.

Overall, the gameplay is Dragon Quest. But in terms of PC specific features, expect the absolute bare minimum of support.

The escape key works just fine for me in the main menu or in game for quitting.
 
this game looks pretty awesome, definitely gonna get it at some point. shame, i'm currently inbetween jobs - i have plenty of time on my hands inbetween interviewing but lack of funds is killing the dream!

last DQ game I played was 8, guv'na. Man was that dude annoying - I want to say his name was Yangus?
 
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As for 4k, I'm running at a solid 60 fps, with slight dips into the 50s, so I'm guessing some optimization issues.

Frame drops/dips happen in every game.. Plus 4K isn't exactly not demanding.

Planing to pick this game up later since I'm gonna be playing the new ps4 spider man soon. My last japan rpg was ni no kuni 2 so I hope this is just as good too.
 
Need to remember to get some screen shots next time I play but man this game is pretty. Seems like SE switching games over to UE4 was a great idea. The art style combined with some pretty good looking textures are great.

Music is....Not the best in the series. Its low quality because the composer is a jackass (no, seriously dude refuses to allow orchestrated music in the games because he thinks it will effect CD sales) so hopefully someone will find a way to mod in higher quality audio.

Gameplay is really good. It's a Dragon Quest game, so it still plays a lot like an old school RPG. The new skill system is nice. The game is not very hard, but that is also common. There is a harder difficulty, called Draconian, but I haven't tried it yet. If it's possible to change modes I'll probably check out the harder difficulty at some point.
 
Looks like Kaldaien has set his sights on this game now. He's planning to try adding HDR support to the game. Game seems to run pretty well so I don't think he'll need to do much by way of performance fixes.

Decided to pick this up after hearing about the added HDR support with Kaldaien's Special K mod. It looks absolutely stunning! Can't wait to dig in to this game :)

Here's the link for the mod: https://steamcommunity.com/app/742120/discussions/0/1735463620103882377/
 
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Decided to pick this up after hearing about the added HDR support with Kaldaien's Special K mod. It looks absolutely stunning! Can't wait to dig in to this game :)

Here's the link for the mod: https://steamcommunity.com/app/742120/discussions/0/1735463620103882377/

LOL, already?!


Now I'm hoping we get a Special K for audio to fix up this barebones MIDI music.

Derangel made a reference a couple of posts up to the headache inducing soap opera behind this absolutely wretched decision. This is basic MIDI from 30 years ago. It's terrible. It's a creative travesty.

It harms the product and something needs to be done about it.

I shouldn't have to but I'd pay extra to get the music upgraded to "nicer synths" or something past this. I am killing the music volume outright as is. That's a real shame.

Otherwise these are .pak files and I hope some intrepid modder deals with it. Whatever it takes.
 
Music is....Not the best in the series. Its low quality because the composer is a jackass (no, seriously dude refuses to allow orchestrated music in the games because he thinks it will effect CD sales) so hopefully someone will find a way to mod in higher quality audio.

I had to turn the BGM volume down to 5 after a few hours as it really started to get on my nerves full blast while in town or exploring. The MIDI type music is easily the worst part of DQXI.
 
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First time playing a Japan RPG. Some thoughts:

1. Weird game, gonna take some time to get used to the quirkiness.
2. Lots of dialog, and why do I have to press enter all the time, after every sentence, every monster kill. It's a little annoying. But the voice acting is great.
3. My character doesn't even speak, why?
4. No mouse support in the main menu, and unable to get to the system settings unless I quit and start the game.
5. Graphics are excellent, music is whacked, so I had to turn it down to 2/10.
6. Fighting the different monsters is pretty cool.
 
First time playing a Japan RPG. Some thoughts:

1. Weird game, gonna take some time to get used to the quirkiness.
2. Lots of dialog, and why do I have to press enter all the time, after every sentence, every monster kill. It's a little annoying. But the voice acting is great.
3. My character doesn't even speak, why?
4. No mouse support in the main menu, and unable to get to the system settings unless I quit and start the game.
5. Graphics are excellent, music is whacked, so I had to turn it down to 2/10.
6. Fighting the different monsters is pretty cool.

1. I don't know if you are an anime fan but think Dragon Ball Z set in a medieval fantasy setting with more humor than power level e-peen fights.
2. JRPGs are usually dialog heavy. Most newer games, with voice acting, auto advance the dialog. But you have to understand Dragon Quest is the grandfather of JRPGs and sticks to its old timey ways a lot.
3. Standard trope of a lot of JRPGs including Dragon Quest games.
4. Make your life much easier when playing console ports and use a controller. You can access system settings in your menu under the Misc. option.
5. Agreed.
6. Lots of variety since this is the 11th Dragon Quest game and they included a lot of monsters from the previous games.

Enjoy the experience and if you want to play more JRPGs feel free to ask for recommendations based on you preferences.
 
I had to turn the BGM volume down to 5 after a few hours as it really started to get on my nerves full blast while in town or exploring. The MIDI type music is easily the worst part of DQXI.

Mannnnnnnn....

Music is SO IMPORTANT in a JRPG.

(I haven't bought it yet, and now I'm actually hesitating....)

*Unrelated, but I've been having a hella good time playing Seiken Densetsu 3 (eng trans) with a buddy using ibuffalo snes controllers!
 
Mannnnnnnn....

Music is SO IMPORTANT in a JRPG.

(I haven't bought it yet, and now I'm actually hesitating....)

*Unrelated, but I've been having a hella good time playing Seiken Densetsu 3 (eng trans) with a buddy using ibuffalo snes controllers!

I honestly tend to play MP3's when playing most JRPGs. I find the music samey after awhile. The few that don't bother me would be Wild Arms and Suikoden.
 
1. I don't know if you are an anime fan but think Dragon Ball Z set in a medieval fantasy setting with more humor than power level e-peen fights.
2. JRPGs are usually dialog heavy. Most newer games, with voice acting, auto advance the dialog. But you have to understand Dragon Quest is the grandfather of JRPGs and sticks to its old timey ways a lot.
3. Standard trope of a lot of JRPGs including Dragon Quest games.
4. Make your life much easier when playing console ports and use a controller. You can access system settings in your menu under the Misc. option.
5. Agreed.
6. Lots of variety since this is the 11th Dragon Quest game and they included a lot of monsters from the previous games.

Enjoy the experience and if you want to play more JRPGs feel free to ask for recommendations based on you preferences.

Thanks Kamel, I appreciate the helpful info.
 
First time playing a Japan RPG. Some thoughts:

1. Weird game, gonna take some time to get used to the quirkiness.
2. Lots of dialog, and why do I have to press enter all the time, after every sentence, every monster kill. It's a little annoying. But the voice acting is great.
3. My character doesn't even speak, why?
4. No mouse support in the main menu, and unable to get to the system settings unless I quit and start the game.
5. Graphics are excellent, music is whacked, so I had to turn it down to 2/10.
6. Fighting the different monsters is pretty cool.

Just going to address 2. This is a common thing with JRPGs, but there is a good reason for it here. The Japanese version of the game did not have any voice acting. The VO was added for the Western release. So the dialog is like that because the game was not designed with voice acting in mind.
 
Has anyone confirmed that the PC version offers both A) English voiced-over vocals and ) Japanese original NO VOCAL setup, where there's only the old school "grumble grumble grumble / cursor chirps" noise when text is rolling out? Regarding the music, it seems people are suggesting that the default is "MIDI sounding" music - is this still the exact same soundtrack available in the Japanese version (and console version) or a different one for overseas? Is there also a symphonic or remixed soundtrack option? I know there's some sort of controversy about a few things related to the sound (ie would the West ever get the same options as Japan given the composer's erm...perspectives) , so I'd be curious to know exactly what options are available in-game . Oh! And don't forget to check outside the game itself for language type/audio settings - much like Metal Gear Solid V, lots of Japanese devs sometimes put alternate audio packages as a separate download option under Properties > Language dropdowns.

Thanks.
 
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The music is the same for all versions. I'm just not buying the talking points. Parts 7 and 8 both had much better music and even Dragon Quest Heroes 2...basically tripe... recycled the older music and it was more effective. Any of these options would have been superior and absolutely should have happened on this instead of barebones, 30 year old MIDI and nothing else.


We have Special K for visuals. We need Special M for music. ;)

Speaking of visuals: I wouldn't mind seeing this post processing effect that kicks in at night get a on/off option.
 
Anyway, have to give credit to Square on their Collector's Edition. First, they managed to replace the one UPS lost, but one thing I like about this Collector's Edition is that the actual items are completely separate from the game. So you can actually keep the entire thing shrink wrapped if you want to while still playing the game because it's a separate package.
 
Anyone having any issues with the save files? Mine keeps saying corrupt. Also when i first start the game it says an error has occurred.
 
How demanding is this game? Would a 1080 run it on 4k?

Not at 60 fps. Even a 1080TI struggles to keep 60 fps at 4k. But this isn't really a game where 1440p looks that much worse than 4k.

It's less about being demanding though, and more about being poorly optimized. The graphics don't warrant the performance.
 
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Game definitely runs hot at 4k. There are some optimization issues to be sure so I'm going to run at 1440p temporarily and cut a couple of easy eye candy corners. Can't see any real differences to speak of.
 
So, the game allows you only to play @ 30 fps or 60 fps. Even if you turn vsync off and can play at a higher fps, it locks it to whatever fps you chose. (Why anyone would ever play 30 fps, well, I guess if you had a very old computer). Also, no HDR, and limited graphical options. Shadows and antialiasing, that's about it. I guess they learned from previous games where users had high refresh rate monitors which would cause problems, so this is the fixed they chose.

I use a gamepad, so never really tested the mouse. Now, I do find it stupid that you need to start the game to actually exit the game. Dragon Quest has always had a Rest & Title Screen feature, but to exit the game, you need to actually be playing the game. So just save, and don't quit your adventure. Kind of pointless, but oh well.

Overall, the gameplay is Dragon Quest. But in terms of PC specific features, expect the absolute bare minimum of support.

It's a Japanese game that's popular in Japan. In Japan on the only games people play on the PC are dating simulators, gay love fests, and hentai/rape simulators. So of course they are going to half ass it.
 
Not at 60 fps. Even a 1080TI struggles to keep 60 fps at 4k. But this isn't really a game where 1440p looks that much worse than 4k.

It's less about being demanding though, and more about being poorly optimized. The graphics don't warrant the performance.

Seems like the big performance killer are the shadows. This is one of those rare games where all the shadow options make a huge difference in how the game looks.
 
Seems like the big performance killer are the shadows. This is one of those rare games where all the shadow options make a huge difference in how the game looks.

Yep. Which is why I choose to stick with 1440p and max shadow quality than 4K and lesser shadow quality. AA does a good job hiding the jaggies and you only lose a little bit of the detail of stuff in the distance with a lower resolution. Worth the trade off for a constant 60 FPS.
 
Yep. Which is why I choose to stick with 1440p and max shadow quality than 4K and lesser shadow quality. AA does a good job hiding the jaggies and you only lose a little bit of the detail of stuff in the distance with a lower resolution. Worth the trade off for a constant 60 FPS.

I haven't run into issues, yet, but I'll probably drop back to 1440p if/when I do. Probably won't get back to the game for a bit though, due to Spider-man.
 
I haven't run into issues, yet, but I'll probably drop back to 1440p if/when I do. Probably won't get back to the game for a bit though, due to Spider-man.

I wanted constant 60 FPS with max settings and 4K wouldn't give me that even with a 1080ti. Unless there is some driver update that gives absurd amounts of performance or fixes a huge performance draining bug I don't see that changing.

Edit: For example, looking at a waterfall will give me 60 FPS at 1440p but switching to 4K drops it down to 31 FPS. And this is at nighttime where the shadows are not as taxing. I can wander around most areas and fight in combat at 4K and still be around 60 FPS but when it dips, it dips big time.
 
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I've had no problem with 4k 60 fps max settings with SLI 980ti's.

I'm enjoying the game so far. About 20 hrs in.
 
I wanted constant 60 FPS with max settings and 4K wouldn't give me that even with a 1080ti. Unless there is some driver update that gives absurd amounts of performance or fixes a huge performance draining bug I don't see that changing.

Edit: For example, looking at a waterfall will give me 60 FPS at 1440p but switching to 4K drops it down to 31 FPS. And this is at nighttime where the shadows are not as taxing. I can wander around most areas and fight in combat at 4K and still be around 60 FPS but when it dips, it dips big time.

Sounds like the game doesn't have triple buffering. Is v-sync enabled? You can use D3Doverrider to force triple buffering with vsync.
 
Sounds like the game doesn't have triple buffering. Is v-sync enabled? You can use D3Doverrider to force triple buffering with vsync.

Vsync is enabled. I'm already in the post game so I'll just stick with 1440p but thanks for the advice.
 
I got to put about 5 hours into thus far. I think the game needs a small optimization patch for smoothness, but overall, solid, solid port.
 
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So I just saw on the Steam forums near the top (yeah, I know)...4 people have come together and are near finishing a much needed music mod for this game that will use an injection process. If it works then they deserves major kudos for essentially finishing the game off. You don't put 30 year old bare bones MIDI on anything these days and it was astoundingly bad and senseless decision that harms an otherwise great game.
 
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I enjoy reading MEN complain, while my twitter feed of WOMEN enjoy the game. It amuses me.

Keep white knighting there folks.

*Pervert jokes are a long tradition in their culture*
 
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