Mere minutes after it was released in Japan on 3DS and PS4, Square Enix released a video announcement that Dragon Quest XI, now subtitled "Echoes of an Elusive Age," is coming westward in 5 different languages next year.

No further info was given on whether the game will include voice acting (absent from the Japanese releases) or what platforms it'll be on. Personally, I think the Switch is a given; the question is whether it'll be accompanied by PS4, 3DS, or both. I'm sure we'll hear soon.

So who's excited? For me, this is the game I've been waiting for since DQ8. DQ9 was fine, but it had a completely different feel from 8. A feel I hope the PS4 version of 11 to recapture.

I'm currently waiting for my Amazon Japan orders of the PS4 version, along with the Liquid Metal Slime New 2DS XL bundle (which crazy enough, is still in stock as I type this). Should be arriving in a few days. Then it's time to lock myself in a dark room while I marathon the heck out of the PS4 version.

Great! I've been wondering if this we'll ever come over, I probably need to finish playing DQ8 on my 3DS at some point.

Couldn't be more excited to hear this news! I'm hoping it comes out on both the 3DS and PS4 (and Switch) here because they both look great in their own way, plus the 3DS version has that 2D mode as well. Some fans have pointing out that the "T" in the English logo is a sword so that could means that Square Enix is localizing DQXI themselves (because for whatever reason Nintendo replaces the sword with a regular "T" whenever they published the DQ games in the West) so it could come out on any platform here. Guess we'll see soon enough. Again, very excited :)

I should receive a copy for PS4 and 3DS via amazon.co.jp next week, no way I'm waiting for next year to play this. I can't wait to play this. I just have to finish Final Fantasy XII this weekend and I'm all set.

So I received the game today. About 4 hours in and I still haven't gotten stuck so far. In fact, I'd say this is probably the easiest DQ to play without being able to understand Japanese.

Important NPCs are marked with a pink bubble/dot, whereas optional quest NPCs are purple. Points of interest are also marked on the map with arrows. Of course, being able to read even a little Japanese does go a long way.

Some observations:

- Not seamless. Nope, not by a long-shot, lol. Though it's already a major step up not having to endure a loading screen every time you enter a house.

- The game now autosaves after each loading screen, a first for DQ. In addition, you will also run into camping spots on the map where you can save your game.

- As with DQ8 on 3DS, you fully heal upon level-up, meaning that MP conservation is basically thrown out the window.

- For whatever reason the game defaults to the awkward and pointless free movement battle mode. Just go into the settings menu and set it to auto camera, and the game will play like DQ8.

- All the churches now have peace signs on them, which I find amusing as I tend to associate that sign with hippies, not priests.

- Not having voice acting is kind of bummer. It makes the game feel less... alive. Of course, there's no way they'd release this in the west without VO, so don't worry about that.

If anyone has any questions on the game, I'd be glad to answer them.

switch plz

@axersia: I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to release DQXI here without voice acting. Square already doesn't seem a hundred percent confident that it will do well here.

While I would prefer good voice acting, I personally am not going to be too bummed if they don't include it. I'll just shrug my shoulders, go "ah well" and then buy it anyway.

I have being playing the Japanese 3ds version having fun with it despite i speak / read 0% Japanese.

Yes! Fantastic news!

@axersia which version are you playing? PS4 or 3ds?

I watched one of the japanese commercials for it and got a bit hyped. Kinda makes me want to dig back up my copy of 4 and play through it in anticipation.

I already ordered the PS4 version before this announcement and I'm playing through it right now since I wasn't expecting it to be announced anytime soon. The game is really great and reminds me of the feeling of playing through VIII for the first time. I definitely preferred VIII's more open overworld to XI's broken up zones but this approach has allowed them to put a lot more varied environments and towns close to each other.

Voices would definitely help me with the Japanese I don't know, but I've already gotten used to it's absence but orchestral music is definitely something I hope they put in the Western release.

Yeah, I guess I wasn't too clear about that, but I mentioned in the opening post that I'm finishing the PS4 version first. Getting pretty close to the end now...

I also played a few hours of the 3DS version, and it's definitely not the one to play if you have a choice. I know many prefer to play JRPGs on a portable, but you just lose too much on 3DS... It's a much smaller game with a very different feel to it. Here's hoping the Switch version is indeed a port of the PS4 version like one would expect.

@petiew: I actually think there's a better chance of getting voice acting than orchestral music, tbh. Koichi Sugiyama has been really weird about that lately. The western 3DS releases of 7 and 8 were also not allowed to have orchestral music even though their Japanese counterparts did. It's not something I'm personally bothered by, though.

Square Enix finally breaks the silence.

- PS4 version still releasing this year, on September 4th
- PC version announced, also to be released on September 4th
- 3DS version canned
- Switch version to be released 2019 at the earliest

- Voiced dialog
- Addition of Hard Mode
- Overhauled menu interface
- Faster walking speed
- First person camera option

- No mention of an orchestral score

Source

Pretty much what I was expecting, though I did think they were aiming for a simultaneous release on Switch. Guess they just couldn't pull it off.

I'm just hoping there's the option to turn off the voice acting. Despite there being a historic precedent in the West, I'm not a fan of Dragon Quest's faux-British localizations, but I find reading the material exceedingly less annoying than listening to it.

Shucks, no orchestrated soundtrack, but at least we got voice acting. I'll take it.

Have to think the Switch version is going to be more than a port of the PS4 version at this point. Wouldn't be surprised if it turns into some sort "definitive version" that incorporates some the the 2D stuff from the 3DS version.

We'll ever come over? How the hell did I make that mistake?

Holy shit, I never would have thought DQXI would get a PC release. That is actually kind of crazy.
I love how many Japanese RPGs are getting ported to PC lately. As someone who is a fan of JRPGs but do not own any of the new consoles.

Yep, same here. I never understood the appeal of that kind of voice acting and translation.

@axersia: Not going to mention the release date? It's out September 4th.

@junkerwoland: I like the British voice acting but at the very least the game will most likely have an option to adjust the volume of the voices and you could set it to zero.

Anyway, a little disappointed that the Switch version is still far off but I am really excited to finally play a new console Dragon Quest title.

Also excited to hear that the game is coming to the PC. I will most likely play the game on my PS4 but having it on the PC means that maybe someday a fan could extract the script for the PC version and hack it back into the Japanese 3DS release :)

@axersia: ah man, that's kinda a bummer about the 3DS version. I realize i'll like the console version better anyway, but it would be neat to see the differences.

But hey, a Dragon Quest finally comes to Steam! That's great news.

I imported the PS4 version when it came out but with the improvements and the time since I played it it might have been long enough to make me want to play this again.

I don't understand why the DQ localisation team feels the need to change absolutely everything just for the sake of it though. I mean I can see why they'd change Kukuru to Angelo in 8, but Emma to Gemma, Camus to Erik, Greg to Hendrick? What's the point?

That's great news! Over the years, Dragon Quest has usurped Final Fantasy as my most played RPG series so I am looking forward to playing 11.

Still no news of the Switch version, other than that it's coming "much later". At this point I feel like they better either have a third visual style going for that version or else what the hell is taking them so long? Especially when the Switch is pretty in the zeitgeist right now.

I wanted the pixel art 3DS version so this is a bit of a disappointment.

Right, that too.

Eh, you're not missing much. I may have already mentioned this in this thread months back (too lazy to scroll back), but the world feels too large in the 16bit version. Proportionally it just doesn't make sense. It's also the reason they had to decrease the world size in the polygonal version to keep it 1:1, as it would've been even worse otherwise. The end result is a a severely gimped version of the game, and completely unnecessary considering the 3DS also runs DQ8 and Xenoblade. Not that it's bad, but it's clearly not the original vision of the game (they even said as much -- the 3DS version started development much later).