Dragon Quest XI Beginners Guide

Our Dragon Quest XI Beginners Guide will help you learn everything you need to know about getting the perfect start to Dragon Quest XI.

Our Dragon Quest XI Beginners Guide will help you get acquainted with some basic core mechanics of the game including how your party works, combat, money farming, and XP farming.

Dragon Quest XI Beginners Guide

Before anything else, Dragon Quest XI is an open-world game. This immediately puts focus on exploration, free roaming, and getting to know the world in which you are playing. Be it for the purposes of lore, immersion, or leveling up, you need to know the ins and outs of Erdrea.

Most enemies would feel tougher than usual because you would not have leveled up the right amount to that point. Maybe you will be missing a key equipment that can prove to be vital in defeating that enemy or crossing a hurdle.

There are always hidden treasures, resources for crafting recipes from barrels and pots, and bits of lore from the books with the red icons. Furthermore, if you want to cut down on the costs of purchasing weapons and equipment from stores, why not just make them yourself?!

If you can gather enough resources and materials from your free-roam adventures, you can craft rare items at the Fun Sized Forge which you can access from resting at the campfires.

Not only do you get new equipment, you can upgrade your existing ones to higher versions as well.

Building the Right Team

Your AI party members mean a lot when it comes to the combat. With a wide variety of characters to choose from, you can build your party in a way which best suits your playstyle.

You can go for an offensive option with the mage attacks from Veronica or with devastating melee strikes from Sylvando.

However, this will not fare well at all times, do note. For clearing out a large number of particularly weaker enemies, you are fine.

When it comes to boss fights, you need all the healing you can get.

In that case, go for characters like Rab/Serena instead to keep in your party. They will ensure that the party can survive through what is likely to be a long fight with the boss enemy.

Therefore, weigh all the options. Again, each character will have their own special moves called pep attacks, so take that into account as well.

More often, it will benefit you if you were to control your team instead of letting the AI do the job. Though the computer still works for you reliably, there will be moments where you need to be the strategic brains of the operation; that is where the AI will lack in.

Regarding the skills of the party members, you will have only enough skill points to level up a single weapon decently. This means that if you are going for pure healing capabilities for Serena; spend skill points on her shield and for Rab, heavy staffs.

For the main character, if you are more defense-oriented, choose shield coupled with a regular sword, but for offense, always spend skill points on Greatswords.

Play Smart – Save up your time!

You will be encountering monsters throughout the gameplay over and over. Though the aspect of overcoming them to get easy XP seems tempting, fighting them can take up a decent amount of your time.

So, if you have already upgraded an area around a specific monster’s spawning location, its best that you skip the ecounter with it and proceed with the storyline.

Always keep looking at the map as it will guide you where you need to head next. Not only will this help you to keep on track, you will also be able to locate the sparkly notes which are used in Fun Sized Forge more easily. Also, in case you’re in need of any help while in-game, refer to the menu.

Follow the Game Instructions

Let the game tells what your next step needs to be if you don’t want to find yourself stuck at some dead-end.

Comb through each and every house and building you find on your way. You’re likely to find a chest, a wardrobe or even a bookshelf in each and every house.

Remember that the bookshelves wth the red book in the middle may contain recipes for cooking new items in Fun-size Forge

Money and XP Farming

Player experience points get you leveled up and it is this what you are looking for most of the times. Be it learning new skills, getting higher graded weapons, getting new party members, everything is dependent on the XP you earn.

Although you earn it from defeating enemies and progressing through the main story and side missions, chasing down the Metal Slimes will give you a decent amount of XP as well. Make sure you use only physical attacks on them and do not let them get too far.

Only spend money when you see that your weapon or equipment can receive a substantial upgrade to it.

We are talking about at least a +10 stat boost, otherwise, the upgrade is useless, and you have the Fun Sized Forge for that. You should also save your game and if possible, secure your money in a bank to rule out any deduction or penalty if you were to die.

Lastly, if you are feeling any confident, why not spend it at a Casino at Puerto Valor; you may get lucky you know.

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Ali is a passionate RPG gamer. He believes that western RPGs still have a lot to learn from JRPGs. He is editor-in-chief at SegmentNext.com but that doesn't stop him from writing about his favorite video ...