Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince
MSRP $59.99
“Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is fun enough to give frustrated Pokémon fans a solid alternative.”
Pros
Fun turn-based fight
Charming monster designs
Engaging fusion system
Varied environments
Cons
Performance points, body charge drops
A little bit of a grind
Lack of evolution and innovation
The Dragon Quest collection by no means fairly reached the heights of recognition that its Square Enix brethren, Final Fantasy, loved outdoors of Japan. The identical could be stated about its spinoff collection, Dragon Quest Monsters, which many gamers contemplate a competitor to the dominant Pokémon franchise. In truth, the final Dragon Quest Monsters sport, 2016’s Joker 3 for the 3DS, by no means even left Japan. It’s a distinct segment inside a distinct segment.
Now, seven years later, Square Enix is lastly again with a brand new entry within the collection. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. Like its predecessors, it’s a turn-based monster battler spinoff the place gamers seize the primary franchise’s colourful creatures and use them to battle in opposition to their very own. In an age the place the mainline Pokémon RPG collection is gaining criticism from annoyed followers, it might be the choice gamers are in search of.
While it’s not going to deliver extra mainstream consideration to the spinoff collection. like 2018’s wonderful Dragon Quest XI did for the mainline franchise, The Dark Prince nonetheless delivers sufficient enjoyable with its participating monster creation system and pleasant turn-based battles. It simply suffers from rocky presentation and plenty of grinding that may seemingly hold it from absolutely capitalizing on Pokémon’s second of weak spot.
Brighter occasions for the Dark Prince
The Dark Prince follows a younger human and monster hybrid named Psaro earlier than he turned the Manslayer menace that he was in Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen. He harbors a hatred for people as a result of individuals mistreating him for his combined heritage, however his dying human mom’s final want was for him to be a superb particular person. As a end result, he marches onto his father’s entrance steps and will get demolished.
He then inflicts a curse onto Psaro that renders him unable to harm different monsters. It’s a intelligent means for the story to justify its gameplay; Psaro should now tame monsters to make them battle for him and get revenge on his father. The darker revenge-filled tone is juxtaposed with the cartoon artwork model that the broader Dragon Quest franchise is understood for. That offers The Dark Prince a novel voice of its personal.
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Even although it’s linked to an previous sport, it really works properly as a standalone story as gamers don’t have to have performed Dragon Quest IV to grasp what’s happening in The Dark Prince. However, longtime Dragon Quest followers and those that have performed Dragon Quest IV will take pleasure in that there’s a connection to a mainstream entry.
A world of monsters
The normal gameplay loop for Dark Prince is considerably just like that of Pokémon’s. Whereas Pokémon has gamers defeating sturdy Gym Leaders and amassing their badges, Psaro runs round numerous open areas all through the journey encountering monsters to recruit or battle. It ultimately culminates in a tournament-style boss battle and will increase Psaro’s popularity. It would possibly sound primary on paper, however I discovered the repetition oddly satisfying as I explored the world.
It’s at all times thrilling to come back throughout new monsters that I may add to my roster.
It helps that the open areas have a variety of environments. The Circle of Caprice is an exquisite, but contradictory mix of desert, forest, and water, whereas the Circle of Indulgence is made up solely of cake. The fixed change of surroundings helps hold the exploration contemporary all through.
The Nintendo Switch {hardware} does present its age in exploration; the visuals aren’t actually all that higher than these in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It has comparable efficiency points to its monster-capturing modern too. Load occasions are lengthy, and there are very noticeable body charge drops whereas exploring. Menus take a second or two to pop up when urgent the correct button. All of those points actually impede the general gameplay expertise, robbing it of a much-needed stage of polish.
Square Enix
Even with these points, I used to be nonetheless engaged as I found new monsters all through my travels. It’s at all times thrilling to come back throughout new ones that I may add to my roster, particularly due to to their artwork design. The critters are drawn and modeled after Akira Toriyama’s signature model, and the designs are fairly diverse. They vary from cute to uncanny; there’s all the pieces from a bull head on a fowl physique to a cob of corn with one eye to and a mole with a shovel. These designs strike a comfortable center floor between Pokémon’s family-friendly designs and Persona’s generally demonic monsters.
Commanding a military
The Dark Prince has a turn-based battle system like mainline Dragon Quest video games. Monsters can both be commanded individually or gamers can set sure behaviors and allow them to battle on their very own till the following flip. When permitting the AI to manage actions like therapeutic or defending, it follows these behaviors fairly properly. I like having the pliability of each choices in case I’ve a particular technique in opposition to a boss or I simply wish to bulldoze my means by means of a traditional encounter.
That system comes with some nice high quality of life options. There’s a fast-forward toggle to actually velocity up battles, and an auto-battle perform that lets monsters battle on their very own till all of the enemies are eradicated. These options assist take among the grind out of battles, one thing this repetitive RPG wanted.
I felt like I wanted to grind just a few ranges to get stronger, which dragged the journey down.
In order to recruit new creatures, monsters assault with a “show of force” that provides to a complete share of how seemingly gamers are to seize them. The stronger the crew is, the upper likelihood gamers must persuade them to affix. This system provides some stable suspense to battles, as the share blinks like a Pokéball, shaking just a few occasions earlier than it both confirms or denies your seize.
Those programs are capped off by some surprisingly difficult boss encounters. During my first match early within the sport, I shortly realized that I wanted a various crew with particular roles as a way to win. Unlike regular battles, I couldn’t simply energy my means by means of with 4 attackers. I wanted to include monsters that buffed my teammates and ones that healed them. Still, at sure factors, I felt like I wanted to grind just a few ranges to get stronger, which dragged the journey down.
Making extra monsters
The Dark Prince’s standout gameplay function is its wildly enjoyable monster synthesis mechanic, which is analogous to Persona’s fusion system the place gamers breed monsters to create new ones. Experimenting with totally different creatures is at all times thrilling, as I’m continuously discovering new monsters, a few of which might solely be discovered by means of fusion. The system incentivizes me to maintain creating new monsters too, as Talents could be handed down from the fusion monster materials (monsters caught within the wild solely include their pure Talents). It’s a pleasant midpoint between the easy splicing of Persona and Pokémon’s complicated, strategic breeding.
I do want it wasn’t so creatively secure.
When monsters stage up, they often earn Talent Points (TP) that may be spent to extend sure stats or study new strikes. When passing down Talents, the offspring recuperates some Talent Points that had been beforehand invested in it, giving the contemporary monster a head begin at stage one.
I like taking part in round with the fusion system and looking for methods I can create some really highly effective and damaged monsters that would overpower early sport threats. It’s one other function that helped lower the quantity of grinding I did as I noticed that merely leveling up my current get together wasn’t one of the best ways to get stronger. I needed to work smarter and take a extra measured strategy when constructing out my crew.
Image used with permission by copyright holder
I’m glad to see the Dragon Quest Monsters spinoff collection come again with a brand new entry, though I do want it wasn’t so creatively secure. It performs an excessive amount of like earlier entries, and the shortage of evolution and efficiency points are disappointing. Even if it doesn’t rise too far above its predecessors, the gameplay loop and monster fusion system are simply as participating as ever. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince gained’t be knocking Pokémon off its throne anytime quickly, however it’s nonetheless a enjoyable different for the coach who’s already caught ’em all.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince was examined on Nintendo Switch.
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