After playing both the original Dragon Quest XI as well as the definitive edition, I came to a certain conclusion. Though the game is good is suffers from a disappointing third act that seems more bland than fun. Before I start this post will contain major spoilers for Dragon Quest XI. This is also purely opinion, if you liked it that’s fine.
At the end of the 2nd act of the game you have finally defeated Mordegon and now the world can begin to rebuild. Unfortunately Veronica died at the end of the 1st act so she was unable to see this happen. The heroes travel to The Tower of Lost Time to undo the damage that was done and bring back those that died. This isn’t a bad thing but only the main character gets to travel through time. You travel to the exact moment where Japser attacked you and your party at the end of the 1st act. This is where things for me took a turn for the worse
Due to you traveling back in time all the charter development from the previous act is completely thrown away since the events of the 2nd act never happened in this new timeline. One of the main characters Serena had to deal with her sister’s death as well as becoming more independent since she was no longer there. You get to see a new side of the character that gets completely thrown away due to you traveling through time. The knight Hendrick, who is relentlessly hunting you down, has most of his character growth in the 2nd act. He comes to see the error of his ways and joins you to save the world as you begin to search for your companions. In the 3rd act he simply joins you on your journey with little development.
The last act was also more grind heavy than all the other parts. The bosses were pretty difficult to get through. I honestly would have preferred if the game ended in the 2nd act. I would have liked an ending where now the world can rebuild rather than everything has a happy ending. The best part of this game to me was the shock of being defeated and having to find your party members to bring peace back to a world that has fallen into chaos. With all that said I still really enjoyed this game I just did not like the last part.
As always thank you all for reading. If you’d like to keep up with what I’m posting and when you can follow me on Twitter @realgamerwithg1. Let me know what your thoughts on the last act were down in the comments.
4 Comments
Brink
Mar 15, 2021 9:28 amI agree 100% with you. I loved Dragon Quest XI and it might be my favorite in the series, but I think the story would have been stronger if it ended after Act 2. I suppose for future play-throughs I could just NOT DO Act 3 and pretend it never happens… 😛 But yes! I loved Serena’s character development after Veronica’s death. She might even be my favorite character because of her growth! But taking that away from all characters was a major bummer.
TheGamerWithGlasses
Mar 15, 2021 9:36 amI honestly wonder why they thought it’d be a great idea. Taking away character development is pretty odd since that what makes people like a character.
Brink
Mar 15, 2021 12:53 pmVery true. I think a better alternative would have been “rescuing” Veronica from the past, then bringing her back to the present. It would have maintained the character growth, but also provided the traditional DQ Happily Ever After finale.