Many people view the gameplay of a JRPG as their secondary objective, as if the story is some holier than now narrative that will carry the pacing on it's own merit. Dragon Quest 11s' story is very simple however, with the protagonist hailing from a small village must leave his humble roots in order to save the world. Despite the premise of such story being so contrived and non-innovative, the key story itself builds upon the foundation on it's many memorable characters that act as a direct defiance of the status quo and propel the (albeit silent) protagonist into the role of the player with some of the best world building I've seen accomplish in any game. It never questions the grasp on someone's judgement whether this is reality, but whether this is a fully functioning world all on it's own.

Mild gameplay spoiler

What I mean by this is there's a point in the game where you reach a sacred library of mythical tales and a optional book you read in there speaks of a dragon who was sealed away in ice 1000's of years ago. If you decide to go for some mild exploring outside that area, you will be able to find a dragon directly frozen in ice, but the real conclusion is far later in the game where you re-visit the area only to find that the ice has melted and the dragon is nowhere to be seen. If you missed the optional book encounter you would not understand the significance of the dragon escaping the ice as most people would either remember there was a dragon or forget it all entirely

This is the approach the Dragon Quest 11s tends to deal with it's exposition about the world, yet moments of direct character growth is also wonderful to witness too.

The gameplay is something that should have far higher priority in subject of a "game review", but the gameplay is really enjoyable. I really think this is the perfected form of turn-based combat, even though many people view that system of play with inherent contempt. Throughout standard gameplay, battles are won more-so by the preparation done before battles than the actions within so, however, luck is a consistent theme in this game so even go into a battle without correct upgrades, you could quite easily come out the victor. The game employs a crafting system for upgrades, that has every quality of life improvement from the original Dragon Quest 11. You can check the map for locations of materials and can easily access the forge from the menu so it makes crafting feels less tedious and more rewarding exploration. Each character has their own unique skill trees that can be upgraded upon a level up, or easily reset in a church. This is where I spent most of my time theorising and testing out the best possible combinations of skills.

I have played every single Dragon Quest game since it's inception and this game is easily the game I would recommend for new-comers of the franchise. It's both easy to engage yourself for a while and make severe progress based on the great pacing and easy to endure long sessions normally expected of a JRPG and feel this unbridled ecstasy of seeing yourself progress so much of the game.

That said, if you wish to 100% the game like I did - this is not a short game whatsoever. I unlocked every steam achievement after 152.7 hours of gametime and if you just want to experience all that you want to do, than you will have to expect a total playtime of 100 hours.

(update after a great year of JRPGs: still my favorite JRPG of the past decade)