BluntForceMummy
OK. three recommendations.
① You should try out the demo for Bravely Default II on Switch. The game came out in early 2021. Unfortunately the demo does not carry over to the full version (it starts directly from a certain point into the game), but it can give you a taste of the experience and whether you vibe with the aesthetics and the battle system. The theme is a tad darker than DQ11 but it remains a rather orthodox, slow burn RPG in many ways, with a few twists and the expected conveniences of a modern game so I think it might provide something close what you are specifically looking for, and the demo should confirm that for free (FREE!).
② If you have an Xbox One, you could try Blue Dragon, which is an old Xbox 360 game retro-compatible on Xbox. I think pretty much everyone agrees Lost Odyssey (mentioned above) is a better game, but it’s closer to the PS1〜PS3 era of Final Fantasy games, with epic settings and broody characters and STAKES from the get go – so it doesn’t have that homely atmosphere you enjoyed in DQ11. Blue Dragon is much closer to that feeling, with a very simple, no-nonsense premise and the charadesign is by Toriyama Akira’s Bird Studio (the same studio in charge of Dragon Quest’s visual style). Note that it was designed about 15-20 years ago and therefore not all modern accessibility options / modern UI comfort will be there. But it was very stylized so it should still look and run pretty well. It’s unfortunately not available in the Game Pass but typically around $20 new and sometimes on sale.
③ I personally found the first few hours boring as hell but Ni No Kuni has indeniably been a huge hit in the West on PS3, PS4, PC and Switch. It looks like a Ghibli movie, it tries to capture the atmosphere of Ghibli’s worlds. No demo available but the $49 Switch version is frequently on sale on the eShop at absurd prices (it’s presently $9 until tomorrow!), so you’d make costlier mistakes…