Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Wiki

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age is a turn-based Japanese role-playing game developed by Square Enix for the Dragon Quest series, produced by Yosuke Saito with music by Koichi Sugiyama and character design by Akira Toriyama, and built in Unreal Engine 4. The story follows a young man from the village of Cobblestone who learns he is the Luminary, the reincarnation of the legendary hero Erdrick, and is immediately hunted by the kingdom of Heliodor after being branded the Darkspawn. He gathers a party of misfits and outcasts, crosses the continent of Erdrea to reach the World Tree Yggdrasil, and loses everything when the Lord of Shadows seizes the tree's power, setting up a second half in which the party rebuilds and a third act in which time itself is rewritten. Combat is classic Dragon Quest: party-versus-monster turn-based battles with visible field encounters, a skill panel per character instead of a job system, Pep Powers that combine two or more characters into cinematic team attacks, and the Fun-Size Forge crafting minigame for gear. The S edition adds an orchestral soundtrack, a fully playable 2D mode, the Tickington side story, extra party stories, and Japanese voice acting alongside the English dub.

• Turn-Based Party Combat: Battles are fought by a party of up to four active members against monster groups, with turn order driven by agility, visible monsters on the field that can be avoided or ambushed, and a back line of reserve members who can be swapped in mid-fight.
• Skill Panels Instead of Jobs: Every character owns a personal skill panel that unlocks weapon-specific abilities, spells and passive boosts with skill points earned on level up, so builds are steered by which weapon trees a character invests in rather than by changing vocation.
• Pep Powers: When characters enter a pepped state they can combine into team attacks that range from heavy single-target damage to full-party heals and buffs, making party composition and pep timing the main tactical layer on top of the basic turn loop.
• Fun-Size Forge: A crafting minigame where gear is reforged from recipes and materials on a timing-based heat gauge, letting players upgrade weapons and armour well past what shops sell and reroll the stat bonuses on a finished piece.
• Draconian Quest Options: A set of optional self-imposed difficulty modifiers chosen at the start of a save, from stronger enemies and reduced experience to no fleeing and no shops, aimed at players who want the campaign to stay dangerous across all three acts.
• Three-Act Structure: The story runs through the Luminary's fall at the World Tree, a darker second act in which the party regroups against the Lord of Shadows, and a third act that reopens the timeline and sends the party back to undone events with the full roster intact.
• 2D Mode and Tickington: The S edition can be played entirely in a 16-bit style 2D presentation, and the Tickington side story sends the party into past Dragon Quest worlds as short nostalgic episodes.
• Field Exploration and Mounts: Erdrea is explored on foot, on horseback and on rideable monsters, with treasure chests, sparkly gathering spots, campsites for party banter and a map that opens up as regions are visited.