For an ultra-traditional JRPG with nothing particularly new or exciting going for it, this game holds up extremely well for what it does. The formula of these games is sharpened to their current peak with this one. Thanks to nearly forty years of polishing and perfecting the formula, it's hard to find anything that isn't well done.

While the game isn't particularly exciting, it's still extremely enjoyable all the way up until you realize you forgot to do all of Tickington, and then have to do it all in one go. This game is also full of "That Part" moments where it's not as enjoyable as it could be, but it's nothing particularly offensive.

There's nothing in particularly I could point out that I flat out disliked about this game, but nothing really wows you either. It's just an extremely refined but fairly simple JRPG, exactly what Dragon Quest is all about.

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TLDR: A really great game that's optimized well for Steam Deck use. It's perfect for anyone who's looking for a casual experience on the couch/bed while playing something on a TV in the background. If you love traditional JRPG formats, this'll be right up your alley.

I enjoyed the story and wasn't actually expecting to have so much to do in this game. It's a classic RPG save-the-world type of experience with plenty of twists and turns, providing a cast of characters that were very enjoyable and dynamic. I will say that my favorite characters by far were Sylvando and Hendrick , who I felt brought a great deal of dynamic to the party itself, especially in Part 2 and onwards.

The story does start somewhat slowly in the beginning, but once you have 4 to 5 people in the party it'll start to really pick up. This shouldn't take too long considering the game nudges you to continue the main story until you get 7 of the 8 members.

The additional story content after you beat the final boss in the main game was also great. It closed out several plot points left unanswered in the main story. If you do plan on doing the additional content, I'd highly recommend being at max level 99 to enjoy everything in it as many of the bosses are difficult.

I finished all of the story content and attained almost all trophies on my first playthrough. I could definitely 100% this game if I put more hours in, but I'm honestly satisfied with all I've done. At the time of this review I'm at 137 hours.

Compared to RPGs like the Persona games or Expedition 33, I would say DQ11 is more simplistic in combat design for team dynamics. That doesn't entail that it's boring though. In fact it's quite fun and easy to pick up right away for anyone; a hard skill to nail down for any game dev team.

There were plenty of times where I had to really think on combat strategy and how best to optimize my battle roster for chaining attacks. What made the combat really fun were five main things:

• Skill Trees, which provided a variety of methods and skills to grow and optimize for each individual character.
  
• A variety of weapons/classes to chose from for each character's load out.
  
• A huge roster of special abilities called "Peps" that are offensive, defensive, and loot/item focused. The number of these Peps grow with Skill Tree perks and story beats. They are specifically tied to certain characters being in combat.
  
• The ability to freely load out characters and weapons on the fly.
  
• Finally, the LARGE variety of unique enemies to fight. Yes there is the classic "let's just reskin this monster to signal that it's a stronger version", but that didn't really bother me considering how many different types of enemies there were overall, and the variety of combat skills they had. I felt like I was on my toes often enough to be weary of new enemies previously unencountered.

Outside of the main story there is PLENTY of side content that didn't feel bland or similar. Maybe you could argue that for a lot of the side quests, but that didn't bother me as the main incentive was always the loot you'd get when completing them. And this sentiment's coming from someone who's very particular about side content in games.

Speaking of loot, it plays a very important aspect since some of the best weapons and equipment in the game are going to be more likely forged by you rather than bought in stores. There is a direct incentive between combat and getting the best items, so it plays extremely well in promoting you to do quests and explore the world. What's more is that DQ11 has some pretty cool unique outfits for each character, so that was a plus for me in being incentivized by loot.

Finally, I just want to note that it's SO cool that you can play this experience in the classic 2D format as well. As someone who works in software development, I know that that was most likely a heavy lift to include and in my opinion would've been considered a nice-to-have outside of MVP for any game. If I had to guess, they most likely had to dedicate a small team of programmers/designers just for the 2D experience. I also heard that this game has a special 3DS port as well which is wild to me.

Last but definitely not least is what I consider to be the most important aspect for any game nowadays considering most AAA studios can't make a stable/performant game for crap. It's personally my main grading criteria for when giving a yea or nay on any game.

How games play on the Steam Deck is usually my low-end hardware benchmark. If a AAA game can hit a very stable 30+ FPS minimum when noted as either "Playable" or "Verified", it gets an approval from me unless the game itself is not fun/bad. This game very much clears that bar, as the experience is more than enjoyable on the SD. I also want to note that the only reason it's not "Verified" is because the keyboard has to be pulled up when naming you character; "Playable" on a technicality.

I'll say that you're most likely going to see your FPS between the 40-60 range on the Steam Deck, with 40 in the more open world spaces. In smaller and more enclosed areas like a dungeon or battles, you'll see closer to 60. What REALLY impressed me most about this port was it's ability to hard cap at 40 FPS for more graphically demanding areas of the game. Maybe like once or twice for a split second did I see it hit like 39 FPS throughout my whole playthrough.

Overall a really great job here from the team.