Dragon Quest XI S is a game that is as strange as it is charming. As complex as it is simple. A game that sticks to its series' 30 year-old roots and doesn't shy away with doing so. Every aspect from the visuals to the story is exactly what you'd expect from a modern entry of a legendary long-standing series such as this.

Series Consistency
Dragon Quest XI S stands out when compared to the modern entries of some other long-running legendary video game franchises. Not in terms of quality mind you, but with consistency . So many franchises go on for so long to the point where they forget about why they were beloved in the first place and instead change the series formula drastically and forgoing staple series quirks in an attempt to sway the modern mainstream audience and to act as the video game equivalent of Oscar bait .

That is why even though Dragon Quest XI S is a big budget, AAA, Unreal 4, massive Japanese console game, this entry still prides itself over all the retro bells and whistles that the 10 previous main titles have established from the past several decades. The game takes all the series staples such as the turn based combat, characters, story, music, and heart , and used the modern hardware capabilities to make them shine brighter than ever. Rarely compromising on anything presented to the player.

Technicals
As previously mentioned, the game was developed using Epic Game's Unreal Engine 4. And Dragon Quest XI S is one of the best Japanese games that make use of it. The engine's capabilities lend well to this title's overall art-style and lighting. Never once do the semi-realistic environments ever distract from cartoon-y designs of all the humans and monsters.

Speaking of which, Akira Toriyama returns to lend his blessing for the character designs of Dragon Quest XI S. Never have the characters and monsters looked as clean and expressive as they do in this game. And to make them stand out more, the game has lent them fantastic voicework from a full cast of talented voice actors. Not just from the accents, but certain characters way of talking from others also help to establish a vast world full of cities that have developed with their own personal histories.

Gameplay
As you may have pieced together so far, Dragon Quest XI S can be described as a retro and classic JRPG with the coat of paint of a modern big title. Everything from the way its story unfolds, the overworld exploration, party recruitment, and combat flow screams traditional JRPG. So in turn, anyone familiar with the genre can hop into this game without much problems.

The game being traditional isn't a minus at all as what I have learnt from the having beaten it is that as long as the execution of a game's features are done expertly, you can still get away with providing the players a fun and memorable experience. And Dragon Quest XI S excels at that, more-so than other dedicated retro callback games.

How they even got away with making this games still baffles me. Dragon Quest XI S is the perfect example of sticking your guns and your dedicated fans, while providing meaningful tweaks and improvements to the series experience that helps it stand shoulder to shoulder with other excellent games of today.