Dragon Quest XI's Tickington: A Fun Throwback To The 16-Bit Era

Dragon Quest 11's Definitive Edition had a few minor changes. One quest changed the location of an inscription. The other interesting aspect is the Tickington Town -- which can only be played in 2D. Yes, 2D! I didn't grow up owning a Super NES, nor did I play Dragon Quest on the Famicom (which would be in the JAPANESE language). I dropped Dragon Warrior VII all too soon. Now, it was time for me to go through Tickington's 16-bit SNES retro style. 

It's an interesting sidequest I didn't do UNTIL I prepared too hard. I finished Act 2, did Act 3, and I spent time using the Electro Light PEP move. I reached up to Level 99 and prepared some really good weapons. It was kind of annoying for me at times. I was too used to Dragon Quest VIII's animated turn-based gameplay. Tickington used the classic SNES-style narrative -- which had limited animation and the like. It was also confusing without an Internet game guide. It also required me to find Tockles on the 3D world to unleash the content I needed.

What annoyed me in Tickington are the following:

• Random encounters can be annoying when this game only uses them at ocean levels.
• The slow pace of the 16-bit battle system. It can be annoying how the narrative goes like "X gets hit" and "Y evades". This means boss battles are going to be more difficult.
• The Hall of Remembrance has some incredibly difficult boss battles. End of Time is also way harder than the actual boss, Calasmos.

Of course, one of the side quests involved me having to find a Dragon Quest II FAQ. The Cave to Rendarak is one incredibly MOFO of a maze! I finished it (actually) but it was really driving me crazy. Yeah, probably a big source of gamers' rage for a lot of NES/Famicom and the SNES/Super Famicom owners. 

Those who grew up with an SNES would know the feeling. In my case, I was able to know the feel through Tickington. It also makes me realize why I have ZERO intention to play the game in 2D. I tried playing the game in 2D and I didn't like the battle system. That would mean I have zero intention to play the first seven games! That's really how picky I can get.

IMHO it was an interesting achievement. However, Dragon Quest XI doesn't really appeal to my inner child too much. I was trying to focus on the game with an ADULT mind. That's probably why I find Tickington to be not-so mandatory.