Doing Things Differently for Dragon Quest XI (PC)

I bought Dragon Quest XI today. That's exciting enough all on its own, but it's particularly memorable because the way I did it was so far outside my norm. I bought it:

• New (I can count the number of brand new games I've bought in my whole life);
• Via pre-order (calculate above and divide by 10);
• On PC (ditto); and
• Digitally (very taboo in my house).

It's not going to fit in with the piles of cheap retro mediocrity occupying my shelves. (It breaks my heart that there's nothing to sit there at all.) But I don't have a PS4, and the Switch release is in flux, so I had no other choice to access the latest entry in my favorite video game series of all time.

It's been a long time since I've been this excited about any game. I loved the 3DS remakes of VII and VIII, but those were still reincarnations of old adventures. I wasn't horribly excited about IX; I didn't have a DS when it was released, and it ultimately ranks low on my 'series favorites' list. That means it's been almost 14 years (the original release of VIII on the PS2) since I've looked forward to a game so much. I've probably watched the Happy Console Gamer's review of XI (below) five times already in preparation. Though he's generally positive and upbeat, his extra affinity for the Dragon Quest series in particular really shines through in his videos.

I might be over my head - and my free internet's 5 mbps bandwidth - but I'm looking forward to streaming a little and have prepped my Twitch channel appropriately, and maybe even taking a swing at a full YouTube review. That's how excited I am; all my inherently lazy tendencies have been replaced by visions of digital grandeur! Why, I may even put away the PS2 and PS3 for awhile; I certainly won't be needing either for the next 100 or so hours of gaming.

Thanks, Green Man Gaming for providing a nice preorder discount on this game that made my purchasing decision much easier, and thank you Happy Console Gamer for helping me stay amped up! Now I just need to convince my wife that I should burn all my accrued vacation time this week...