As a long time fan of this series, I was not disappointed with this installment.

Pros:
-The story is unique enough that it doesn't feel like a repeat of any of the prior games, but similar enough to make you feel immediately familiar if you have played any of the previous games. Overall, the game tugs at your emotional heartstrings far more than you'd probably expect unless you are familiar with the franchise.
- It keeps the alchemy mechanic from prior installments and improves upon it greatly by creating a more user-friendly interface and an easier upgrade system as well as low necessity for grinding until post-game.
- The soundtrack, despite its tendency to have a repetitive nature, never grows overly annoying due to the constant motion the game puts forth. Just as you may be growing accustomed towards the cheery tunes, the game's pace gives way to a different melody that puts you back into the atmosphere of this fully-developed world. Overall the musical component of this game is stupendous and the works you'll hear while playing it can trigger the widest range of emotions when paired with the surprisingly emotional story that it overlays.
- Speaking of pacing, this game does it quite well. It slows down during some transitions in the story, and it even finds itself coming close to a crawl if the player hasn't properly managed his/her characters' levels. Despite these minor setbacks, upon completion, the game leaves you wanting more.
- And more you shall get. Like all good dragon quest games, XI contains an absurd amount of post-game content for the player to fulfill that craving for more story. This isn't just a single boss with no context either. The post-game bosses and quests provide you with an entire new section of the story with a greater purpose than the actual final boss of the main story.
- Now to some more technical successes. The graphics are the best this series has ever seen and displays some beautiful cinematic scenes as well as some great combat special effects and cutscenes for special abilities.
- The combat system stayed pretty consistent with the rest of the installments, so there isn't much to complain about in this regard. The game designers have practically perfected their own style of turn-based combat.


Cons:
- Upon reflection, the "faults" that I find with this game are generally just minor complaints that have to do with my experience with the franchise and consequent hyper-attention to the minutia of the game. That being said, a review of a game warrants a fair examination of the positive and negative aspects of the game.
- Dungeons. At some point, a dungeon becomes tediously long and overly complex. The endgame dungeons, while still fairly linear, definitely mark a part of the game where the player can feel the pace grinding to a sudden stop as he/she reaches the end of the game. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as this sudden slow grind prepares the player for the end in both character levels and emotional ones, it still causes a slight detachment from the story that can feel really disappointing after such a commitment to get that far.
- I miss the Alltrades Abbey. While I understand the departure from the vocation system to the skill point system - which, I might add, is extremely well done - I find myself wishing I could train through all the classes on the hero and work my way towards the master classes that we last saw in Dragon Quest VII.


Overall (Tl:Dr) - This game has a great story, a great soundtrack, mechanics that have been perfected over many years, and in the few moments where the pacing falls short the story and unique characters picks up the slack. This game is one of the best of its kind.
9.8/10
4.9 Stars

A truly beautiful art style, complex character interactions and arcs, next-level voice acting, a soundtrack that will give you goosebumps, and a story that is so investing you'll want to keep throwing yourself through hell - literally in this case - just so you can see what happens next. The nature of a Roguelike can be repetitive, but Hades game design shines brightest with the sheer number of options with which to customize your game experience with each individual run.

This game is a true masterpiece and a great example of what happens when a developer works with its player-base to give them the best game possible.
10/10