Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting Dragon Quest XI
You Can Improve Any Piece of Equipment
The Fun Sized Forge is a big part of the equipment system in Dragon Quest XI, and it’s easily where you can get most of the best equipment throughout the game. However, one thing that isn’t made completely clear is that you can use the forge to rework any piece of equipment in the game. The game tells you that you can rework an item you’ve failed to forge correctly, but by going to the “Rework” option on the forge menu you can actually rework any weapon, piece of equipment, or accessory, outside of a few specific late-game weapons.
The catch here, of course, is that you’ll need an item called Perfectionist’s Pearls to rework things. Each time you forge a new item you’ll get rewarded with Perfectionist’s Pearls, or you can also buy them from a shop at L’Academie de Notre, a location you’ll visit a ways into the game. You’ll have to play the forging minigame, but any item can be boosted up to a +3 state, so it’s good to pop in and rework the equipment you pick up in chests or from shops.