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They say a man dies twice: once, when his body becomes dust, and again when his name is spoken for the last time. Square Enix must think this is true for Dragon Quest, because they are determined to keep their games immortal. As much as I adore the franchise, it’s positively bonkers how many times these titles have been reborn across various platforms, and not always for the better. The mobile edition of the first Dragon Quest/Warrior is a deeply unpleasant feeling compared to the original game, what with all the smoothed edges and bubbly text boxes. But if there was a game that would somehow outlast us all, it would, naturally, have to be the most difficultly named of the entire series. Now approaching a fourth iteration in twelve years, we take a look at Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.

When we took a look at Dragon Quest XI years ago for the PlayStation 4, there was still a long life ahead for the game, but a lot that Thomas said was salient and remains so. At the core, this is a delightful JRPG that doesn’t necessarily rock the boat in one direction or another, but is deeply comforting in what it delivers. You get to be the silent protagonist who was actually born to be a reincarnated hero that will beat back the darkness, so you depart your plucky hamlet of a village and set out into the big, wide world to see just what lies in store. You meet a ragtag group of strange but supportive side characters, do a bunch of quests and battles, beat up some minor baddies on the way to the big bad, and then, yes, get a jaw dropping twist ending.

However, the complaints levied in the review have been quashed, as this was before the S and Definitive Edition were added to the game. The loading screens have been severely lessened and everything runs significantly better. You have a choice to use a classic or orchestral scoring, and you can blend the two to create a wonderfully dissonant situation where sweeping strings and horns play against old school sound effects. The audio can be set to Japanese or English and, as much as I support Western voice actors, you should absolutely keep it set to Japanese. The game has been flushed out with longer story beats for certain characters in the context of marriage and cohabitation. You can speed up the battles and, for those looking to ruin their own enjoyment, turn on Draconian Rules that make the game wildly unfair. Everyone dies if I die? Perfect! I’m the protagonist, dammit!

I love that we’ve gotten to the point where devs can just add Calvin Ball rules.

Plus, the addition of the 2D mode. For those who don’t know, Dragon Quest XI was, inexplicably, simultaneously released on the 3DS, which had a less detailed version of the 3D game on the top screen and a God’s honest 2D version on the bottom screen, looking like a slightly better SNES version of the game. If you want, you can play the game entirely in this 2D mode, but it has a bit of a caveat. For one, you can’t just randomly jump in and out of the mode: you have to activate it from a save point, and it will only pick up at the last major checkpoint. So, if you’re in the middle of a larger chunk of adventure, you’ll have to start from the last time the story beats reset. As it is, a stylistic choice that has no versatility is an interesting oddity, nothing more.

All of these facets make for a fairly fantastic presentation of Dragon Quest XI, and it’s one of the reasons that I really enjoyed getting the Definitive Edition a few years back for my Switch Lite. It’s got charm and spunk, and it genuinely looks fantastic in handheld mode. When you think about what the Switch promised at launch years ago, we all had no idea that such a robust and charming title would be released that could captivate people in a real “gaming” sort of way. It’s got the feel of an open world without it being completely off the rails, because, in actuality, it’s a 2D JRPG masquerading as a fully 3D world. You have the illusion of combat being an intricate, spacial battle like Xenoblade Chronicles, but it’s just a turn based fight with some additional flair to distract you.

This was fun to check out, but I personally wouldn’t recommend the whole game in this style.

That’s sincerely not a bad thing. We’ve seen the growing pains of games trying to find their way in the modern era, and it’s not always pretty. Sure, Breath of the Wild was a defining moment for the Legend of Zelda series, but the reboot of Saint’s Row proves that it’s possible to “improve” and still fail. Borderlands 4 should have been a dirt simple success, and it was panned. Even something older like Bioshock Infinite proves that, the longer we have to look back on the series, the more we see that the departure from Rapture and the attempts to capture lightning in a bottle again made for a game that’s decidedly mediocre. For Square Enix to want to preserve the core ideas of Dragon Quest and still appease the masses who demand something shiny and new, this was the best of both worlds.

Now, here’s where it gets difficult, because, unfortunately, I’m not here talking about the Switch release of Dragon Quest XI S. That particular boat sailed seven years ago, and it’s been riding high on the list of “you could get them elsewhere, but why not get them on the Switch?” titles that I recommend. All of the bountiful side quests, creative monsters and impressive arrays of weapons and accessories means very little in this particular review, because that simply isn’t new. We are taking a look at the Switch 2 Edition, which is here to bring the delightful tale of the world of Erdrea and the quest of the reborn Luminary to the modern hardware with 60fps graphics, 4K output capabilities when docked and the option to switch between prioritizing graphics or performance. And…that’s it. This is strictly a visually updated form of the game for the Switch 2.

The effects of rushing water are improperly captured in a still frame. It really is gorgeous.

And don’t get me wrong, it looks fantastic. If you were around to make the jump from SD to HD on televisions, you might have an inkling of what to expect with this edition. While things like cutscenes and character portraits remain mostly unchanged, it’s noticeably sharper and with more robust draw distance when out in the world. The already gorgeous land is allowed to showcase a vaster array of landscape details, giving you a really immersive feeling. Best of all, in my opinion, the difference between graphics or performance is negligible unless you have a ton of NPCS or mobs on the screen at once. As a result, it’s best to just stick in graphics focused mode and enjoy the crap out of how the game looks as you start this 60+ hour game from the very beginning.

I don’t pretend to understand coding or what goes into it, so I cannot cite any decisions as being lazy or sloppy when it comes to upgrade ports for the Switch 2. That would be unfair and unjust for everyone involved. I can, however, voice my displeasure at the idea of wanting to see how good Dragon Quest XI is on my Switch 2, not having access to an upgrade patch, and also having save files be incompatible between the original Switch and new Switch 2 versions. This seems like a ridiculous ask for all parties involved. There is a significantly stronger base of players who previously owned a Switch 1 rather than came into the Switch 2 as their starting system, so this feels like a very limiting choice for how to release the game. It could potentially remove my desire to play it further.

Woah, you wanna go tell everyone what we just did? Girl, you freaky.

But that’s the thing…it has been long enough. Dragon Quest XI S dropped eight years ago. There are so many more Switch owners now than ever before, and the rapid sale of the Switch 2 indicates that the numbers are there, and the under the hood action for this Switch 2 release doesn’t diminish how positively enthralling this game is. As much and as wonderful as the more recent Dragon Quest VII remaster is, XI is a fantastic starting place for players less familiar with the series, as it borrows more conventions from classic JRPGs while still standing proudly on its own. Pound for pound, you get more longevity from XI than any other offline Dragon Quest.

If you already own Dragon Quest XI S, then you’ll be hard pressed to come up with a reason to buy it again. The upgraded fidelity is beautiful, no doubt, but it might not be enough to double dip. But if you’ve missed out previously and have a Switch 2, I would, without hesitation, recommend getting this new and more beautiful version of the game. There’s just an incredible amount of content, well balanced combat, a stellar score and fantastic voicework from the Japanese cast. It may inspire you to get into the series if you never have before, and you’ll find yourself seated at one of the best buffets available. The bright future of the franchise is in continuing to be retold again and again in new, dynamic ways, proving that a classic tale really never gets old as long as the storyteller loves what they do.

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age: Definitive Edition is available now on Steam, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch/2.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2.

A copy of Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age: Definitive Edition was provided by the publisher.