So, after putting over 80 hours into the game, full of grinding, questing, and gambling, I have come to the conclusion that DQ11 is, IMHO, the best DQ game to have been released to the West to date. The story through all acts is just amazing and everything seems so fluid and awesome.

Pros:

-The story is one of the best stories in the DQ franchise

-The combat system feels more relaxed and comfortable

-The characters have a rich backstory and MC's lineage story is awesome

-Fun-Sized Forge was a great addition to the game, crafting overall was much better

-The tie-ins to previous games in the Erdrick timeline and the final cut scene Easter Egg that could suggest the game is actually a prequel to the DQ series (or possibly just DQ3) is so cool

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Cons:

-The ending of Act 3 and beating Calasmos (I'll make a short rant at the end about this)*

-The grinding (Another short rant at the end of this)**

-Sylvando, he's possibly the most annoying, irritable character the DQ series has ever had to endure

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So, here are my small rants:

*There's a few things I feel I should mention about this. First, nowhere in the world of Erdrea does it tell you that you can use the Super Sword of Light to remove the dark barrier from Calasmos and weaken him. No reference to it anywhere (that I could find) and it feels more like an "easter egg" to me rather than a part of the story. Second, once you defeat Calasmos and bring the Sword of Light back to Yggdrasil and meet Yggdragon, you see the cut-scenes, then after the cut-scenes, it makes you reload a previous save. I was expecting to be able to go into the world post-Calasmos, finish the side quests, beat the final 2 parts of Trial Isle, and complete the Wheel of Harma with the new, saved world, but instead it brings me back to right before beating penetrating the dark sphere and fighting Calasmos. A bit irritating, but it is what it is I guess

**The grinding. Now, I'm no stranger to JRPG games, have played them my whole life. FF2 & 3 on the SNES, DQ 1/2/3/4/8/9, couple of the Tales games, Legend of Dragoon, I could go on. Most JRPG's I've played I felt like I've been able to go through the story and not have to do tons of grinding to be able to complete the game and be appropriate level. DQ11, however, I felt like I needed to REALLY grind metal slimes to be able to level properly and beat the game. The end of Act 1, going through the story normally and fighting most every enemy I saw, upgrading my gear and everything, I still ended up taking about 2-3 hours worth of hardcore Metal Slime grinding to be able to complete Act 1, as there were several places I was just too under-leveled/under-powered to be able to defeat them. This same thing goes for Act 2, and Act 3 is the worst. With Act 2, Mordegon wasn't that bad. TBH, the Jasper fight was harder than Mordegon. I beat both of them around mid 50's. With Act 3, there were tons of places where I felt I was going to have to grind to beat. Some of the more notable places was Jormunn to rebuild cobblestone, Trial Isle, defeating the 2nd and 3rd trial bosses, and Calasmos was the worst offender of this. I get that it's an end boss and it's common to have to grind to beat him, but if you go normally through the story, fight almost every enemy you see, upgrade your weapons and armor and such, you still only end up at about mid 70's, and the Calasmos fight (even with the barrier broken) is still beyond difficult to complete. I didn't feel like I could be able to beat him until about low 90's, then I just blasted him with every possible force I had. I don't mind grinding, I really don't, but to have to run the Metal Slime grind/Gold Grind for probably 10 hours worth of game time just to be leveled enough to beat the end boss seems a little... over the top for me.

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Now, I'm not trying to say the game is terrible or the systems they have in place are bad, but these two things (mainly the post Calasmos fight) really just irk me on how it was set in place. As for Sylvando, he is just a disaster of a character. He's the worst of the bunch, and is only really there as a half-ass support and to be able to do the proper Metal Slime grind. Other than that, he's annoying, obnoxious, underwhelming, and worthless. I wouldn't mind him as much if he actually was worth something in the game, but he's really not.

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Still, even with these few faults, this game shines as my honest favorite in the series (behind 8 and 9) and was so remarkably done. By the time I 100% this game, it'll probably be close to 110-120 hours and I've enjoyed pretty much every minute of it.

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TL;DR This game is the best game so far (IMHO) in the DQ series, however the Calasmos fight and post Calasmos Fight are a bit irritating on how they're designed/put in place, the necessity for hardcore grinding is a bit of an overkill, and Sylvando is the DQ series new worst character