An Array of Quality of Life Changes
Dragon Quest XI was a hugely critically acclaimed JRPG when it launched in 2018, and our own review awarded it the rare 5/5 score. Despite being an instant classic, Dragon Quest XI still had a number of areas it could have improved in, and the Switch port of Dragon Quest XI S does just that.
There are a number of small quality-of-life changes made in Dragon Quest XI S, that help smooth the experience out.
First among these is the ability to skip cutscenes at any time, changed from the original which only let you skip cutscenes you’ve seen before. On top of this, battles now have an Ultra-Fast speed to really help get things moving in some of the longer dungeon segments.
The two main gameplay changes are the ability to use the Fun-Size Forge absolutely anywhere, not just at camps. You can also equip outfits as cosmetic-only items, a huge improvement considering each costume had its own stats in the original, and once you found better equipment it was usually not worth equipping anymore.
There are also a handful of other improvements like the Horse Hailer item that lets you call your horse at any time, the ability to talk to your party members instantly by pressing minus instead of having to go into the menu, purchased items going directly in your bag, killing monsters while on a mount granting XP, and much more.
Dragon Quest XI S is so much more than just simple port of the original, as Square Enix has liberally taken to making the game experience smoother than ever.
