The gameplay of an RPG can really kill a great game for me. I have a number of games in my library that make me cringe with guilt and frustration because, though I really like the games, there is some element in the gameplay that ruins it enough for me to put the game down. For example, when it first released, Bethesda's Skyrim was amazing, but after putting many long hours into the game, I just couldn't tolerate the long load times anymore, moving between indoor and outdoor environments. Thankfully, Skyrim VR on the PS4 is much better and load times are fast, but the point is, things like that can ruin a game for me. I remember Dragon Quest VIII, and it had an element of gameplay that nearly killed the game for me, and that was the frequent, invisible, unavoidable random encounters. This is a staple of older RPG's, but I've always hated it, because I don't want to be in battle every 10 seconds of movement—I want to advance the story and not feel punished for exploring! Thankfully, Dragon Quest XI has done away with the random, unavoidable encounters, and instead there are little animated monsters that move around the landscape. You can run past them if you choose, and though you may occasionally get “caught” by a monster, most encounters are totally by choice. Like DQVIII, DQXI encounters are amazingly fun and bursting with character. The battle system has an added option to allow you to move your character around, and even though it is only aesthetic and has no bearing on the fight, it's a nice touch. I would have liked to see a monster/character order indicated so I can better strategize during battle, but in a way, the lack of it creates more tension: will I have time to heal my character before he/she is attacked again?! There are a few more nice elements of gameplay I'd like to mention...
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