I am more or less enjoying my time with this game, my first crack at the Dragon Quest series inspired by references in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The first few hours brought some unexpected quirky stuff, like a haunted mansion and a trip to a frozen fairy land — welcome surprises that definitely did not fit my preconceived notion of this series.

Unfortunately, some nice enemy sprite animations can’t fix the fact that the combat, which happens more than I would like in general, is pretty dull. And as interesting as some of those individual moments in the story are, the broad strokes, which I’ve heard rave reviews about, have not particularly been to my taste. At least the pacing is pretty speedy.

It’s been hard to feel super motivated to play the game more than a couple times a week, but I’ll keep at it for a few more hours and see where it goes due to the acclaim.