Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince (Switch) Review | Backlog Battle

[@sachitechless]

I remember playing DQ Monsters Joker ages ago on the DS and I remember this getting announced but didn't realise it had come out. I'm glad to hear it's still a fun game spinoff series.

[@kylernyhagen7519]

I do wish the Dragon Quest franchise would cool it with the "Release on Switch, then release on PC several months or a year later". I ended up skipping on Dragon Quest Treasures because by the time it came to a console I'd want to play on, I had already moved on. Thanks for the review Alex!

[@SlimeBlueMS]

You missed out big time. Treasures was awesome

[@pkilljoy5797]

treasures is worth a playthrough so definitely go back to check it out!

[@theonewhowrotethis5681]

Definitely give Treasures a try on either platform if you get the chance. Definitely a decent title if you can grab it on sale (which it is currently for Switch physical copies at various stores).

[@matthewmicallef3947]

OR maybe a Japanese company is releasing their games on the most popular console in their home country, instead of giving it to PC pirates to distribute. Shocking, I know!

[@MJ-oi6ul]

Tbf many games come out on other consoles first then take 3 years to come to switch like Digimon cyber sleuth or Nier Automata (usually with all their DLC included in to make up for it) and are both games I highly recommend playing!

[@AndrewTime9106]

I’ll take any sort of throw back to gen 6 of consoles any day. This one feels like it has the heart of a GameCube (or ps2/Xbox) game.

[@BacklogBattle]

I mention it in the review!

[@JesseDylanMusic]

Play rocket slime sometime, if you can handle playing a (beautiful, 2D) NDS game! Man I had a blast with that one in like 2006.

[@theonewhowrotethis5681]

I second that! Rocket Slime was amazing! Kinda sucks that the original and 3 are stuck in Japan, but 3 did get a fan translation that was decent.

[@blockrate383]

10:15 that's exactly the intention of the developers and the main focus of DQM since the very first game on Game Boy, Synth-ing and creating the perfect team and having faith that they will do your bidding(lol). Honestly it's hard to sell the game whenever people hear "you dont control the monster", they really need to experience how good the team creation process is to appreciate how unique DQM is.

[@baalfgames5318]

Except, you... CAN control the monsters in the game if you wish.

[@blockrate383]

@@baalfgames5318 Im referring to Arena and Online Battles.

[@uncledrake6606]

@@baalfgames5318 Not in arena tournaments and not in multiplayer, which is exactly where you shouldn't be able to anyway. You are a monster SCOUT, not a trainer, not some sort of general giving orders. Your job is to find / synthesize the best talent, and make them into a working team.

[@josephcronin2965]

I have not played this game but with all the other games in the series, the monsters use their intelligence stat to determine how smart they fight. They will almost alwyas use the "right" move with max intelligence (e.g. healing or reviving at the right moment or using the correct family slash, lowering a high attack enemy's damage output or raising party's defense).

[@keshang_laow8325]

Bruh as someone who's lived off of DQMJ1 and 2 frame rate is the last time I'm concerned about

[@Sylentmana]

I remember being a 90s kid when everyone was playing Pokemon and I was the only one playing the original DQ Monsters.😅

[@curtneedsaride]

I’ve been loving it! I love its save system. You can just open the menu and save anywhere! Reminds me of the quick save option in the mobile games. I sure would have loved XI more if I could have just paused and saved instead of planning to need 30 minutes to make it to the next save point. 😂

[@HybridAngelZero]

I have a lot of catching up to do with the Dragon Quest series, but I am excited for when I get to this one. The demo was so fun!

[@pichirisu]

Glad someone else has found the glory of dragon w/q monsters.

[@JesseDylanMusic]

A lot of reviews mention the lack of direct monster control, but in the non-colosseum battles, you can choose individual actions, can’t you? Or did I hallucinate that?

[@BacklogBattle]

As I said, you still can. But there’s really no point to it since a majority of the enemies are easily dispatched via Auto Battle anyway. Hence why the party composition is more important.

[@SlimeBlueMS]

Good luck killing a boss on auto-battle lol

[@theonewhowrotethis5681]

@@SlimeBlueMS It's totally doable if your tactics and skills are well designed (like the Gambit system from FFXII) or if you have a strong party like in the first two SMT games, but you will have to turn it off every once in a while to use items on your party members.

[@eliotwildermann]

Game got some great sales in Japan can always count on the Japanese to show up for dragon quest 😊😊😊

[@Dratio]

It's strange how much of those environments totally lack shadows where they should be. This is far below DQXIS. Wonder why they didn't reuse XI's engine?

[@mandatorial]

Exactly my thoughts. Maybe they want to avoid the Unreal license?

[@JesseDylanMusic]

It’s a totally different dev, so I’m sure there were some barriers. DQ 11 was Ilka (Iruka?); this one is TOSE, one of the most ancient helper devs to exist

[@adam_antoise]

Yeah it looks like they forgot to turn the lighting engine on

[@asm1590]

Honestly, when the DQ8 footage came up, kinda feel that 18 year old game looks better.

[@PlazDreamweaver]

Could be any reason, but I guarantee you the reason is a good one.

[@Makoto03]

Great review. Dragon Quest monsters has been fantastic. I'm loving seeing more and more monster taming alternatives in the past couple years, since i've gotten bored of recent Pokemon. The monster synethizing system is cool and i like the story.

[@eliotwildermann]

I can't wait for 3s remake and 12 to be released 😍 😊

[@shoked99]

Thanks for the nice review. I plan to try the demo for sure.

[@marlowemichaelson1366]

I wish I could get into monster collecting games but they always strike me as being too grindy. I barely made it through Monster Sanctuary lol

[@tweezy5804]

Yea, and that game has no grinding, did you try casette beast?

[@JuliaSin]

It took me way to long to realize i could use talent points from the paddock change party menu.....😅. But i dont wanna restart to course correct since im already moving at a decent clip

[@BacklogBattle]

That's ok! Once you start getting into synthesis, you can course correct easily!

[@JuliaSin]

@@BacklogBattle yup. Definitely enjoying this game..its something i can easily play without thinking while at my moms various doctors apts too. Btw thank you, for all the content and recommendations you have put out this year. Its helped me get through alot of tough things over the last year. Youre awesome.

[@femtrooper]

Great review as always!

[@wafflesarelove]

Haven't touched a DQ game since the Gameboy advanced. Definitely picking it up

[@sukamadik5983]

More like the mildly grey prince than a dark prince but I'll take it. This looks like a really fun on-the-go type of game given the nature of the gameplay loop/combat. Thanks for the review.

[@thommccarthy1139]

I feel that DQ side games have a sonic type thing where a 7/10 means an 8.5/9 for fans. I'm so glad this game is pretty good after Infinity Strash being complete garbage.

[@JustJulyo]

Still waiting for a proper DQ 12 sequel

[@Ragna25]

Being new to dragon quest in general, only played 11 so far. Wondered is this a canon prequel to dq4 or a more what if like Hyrule warriors AoC

[@BacklogBattle]

It’s not canon, or more specifically, it’s on a different timeline

[@theonewhowrotethis5681]

Alternate telling of IV (both before and during) from the eyes of the antagonist. Events also play out differently, so while the setting is the same, events are different. In your analogy, closer to AoC or FFVII Remake than DQM1 or Treasures. Like the presenter of the video said, basically an alternate timeline.

[@halvsketchy9293]

Played through the demo and I loved it. Bred lots of monsters to the point where question marks show up (weren't allowed to breed higher than F) and finished the tourneys out rank D. If i dont get it for christmas, I will buy it. I played monsters joker 1 on ds, is the incarnus still a thing?

[@slackjaw2643]

I didn’t see the puppy monster in game but it’s still fun! I also loved joker

[@marciobastos6429]

Only thing I don't like is to loose the controls of the monsters in the arena. In pvp we loose it too ?

[@BacklogBattle]

Yes

[@marciobastos6429]

@@BacklogBattle oh noooo. =(

[@BacklogBattle]

@@marciobastos6429 that’s why I placed a lot of emphasis on party composition. Once I did that, I did a ton better in the arena and PVP!

[@marciobastos6429]

@@BacklogBattle for the arena I still can understand, but for the PVP it's more complicated. Thanks a lot for the information ! ^^ If one day you have a little time check my indie games Vairon's Wrath and Myoubouh Catcher.

[@pablocabrieles6411]

So is this like dragon Warrior monsters on the gameboy color? Just Updated?

[@theonewhowrotethis5681]

Closer to Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 1, but the same general idea. When compared to the original Dragon Warrior Monsters game, these are the major changes: 1) Skills are handled via Skill Trees that are inherited through parents or via scroll items that you find everywhere. Think closer to Dragon Quest VIII's approach (Joker borrows a bunch of ideas from that game). Some Skill Trees require maxed out parent trees to unlock (e.g., Frizz Aficionado -> Frizz Virtuoso), and some require specific combinations to unlock (e.g., Zap Virtuoso + Splash Virtuoso -> Polarizer). Also worth noting is that stronger versions of the same skill (e.g., Kafrizzle) replace the weaker versions (e.g., Frizz) in the menu, so MP consumption is a concern here. 2) Breeding got replaced with synthesis. The same general idea exists, but genders / polarity don't exist anymore, so ANY monster at level 10 or higher can be fused with any other monster. 3) Sizes exist. In DWM, you had a party of 3. In this game, you have a party of 4 slots. Some monsters can take up 2 slots (this feature was added in Joker 2), but they have some benefits when compared to small monsters like improved resistances, more level-up abilities, and better stats. 4) Grandparent/Quad Fusion exists. Essentially, some monsters require 4 specific monsters to be fused together. For example, in Joker 1, you could get the King Slime by merging 2 Slimes together to make one monster, 2 other Slimes together to make another monster, and then merge those two resultant monsters together to get the King Slime. While the King Slime Grandparent Fusion doesn't exist in this game (though doing the same steps does still get you the King Slime as King Slime requires two Behemoth Slimes, and you get Behemoth Slimes by merging two Slimes together), others definitely still do. 5) The game's in 3D now.

[@hannariel]

No, the core gameplay is the same, but the mechanics was simplified in comparison like @theonewhowrotethis5681 said.

[@ArchitecturalAesthetics2046]

You played p5 without taking control of the whole party????

[@BacklogBattle]

Just the protagonist!

[@90shandheldgamer]

Thnaks for the in depth review. I dont think i can get into this game though. I like a more involved combat system.

[@SlimeBlueMS]

What do you mean? You can fully control your monsters and issue commands

[@90shandheldgamer]

@@SlimeBlueMS it's seems very minimal. And in certain battles you can't even issue commands.

[@Nano_blaster]

​@@90shandheldgamerthat's only in colosseum battles.

[@BacklogBattle]

@90shandheldgamer What do you think of the Dragon Quest series, in general? The game plays quite similarly to the mainline games, except for the fact that you control Monsters instead.

[@theonewhowrotethis5681]

@@90shandheldgamer It's not minimal. For ALL battles except for the coliseum battles (which are extremely easy if you have a decent enough team through synthesis despite also restricting item usage and the ability to scout enemies), you can issue whatever command you want to your monsters. As such, for 95% of the game, you have full control over your party. You do lose access to controls in PvP since that's done in a coliseum setting as well. Sometimes it's more efficient to let them do whatever they think is right at the time and have them do one of the presets (e.g., some of the multi-attacking monsters), but you generally have full control over them. You can also change the relative frequency of usage of each skill that each monster has to make them use some skills more often than not when they're in auto-pilot mode. As such, you can completely disable skills, make them less likely to be used, or make them more likely to be used in the coliseum. Basically, the coliseum matches are the Battle Maven from Pokémon Emerald's Battle Frontier but done well as the player has more overall control over them through tactics swapping and skill prioritization. The rest of the game (pretty much 95% of the package) controls normally like a standard Pokémon game from an orders standpoint, but they also give you the option to make it into the Battle Maven if you WANT to. Give the free demo a try to see if the gameplay clicks for you. If you don't like the demo's gameplay loop, then you won't like the full game's loop. If you like the demo's gameplay loop, then you'll find the rest of the game to be great.

[@mandatorial]

I feel like the Monsters series could do more to stand out from the main series. They could differentiate them by having co-op in the Monster games, or a different combat system, and the main line games could be more story focused.

[@theonewhowrotethis5681]

Co-Op would be neat in a Monsters title, but I prefer them keeping the current battle system. DQ and DQM should remain turn based while other spin-offs like Builders, Rocket Slime, and Heroes should do their own thing. Monster Taming and Monster Fusions are plenty enough to differentiate it from the main series as V, a subquest in VIII that enables temporarily replacing your party, and the SNES version of VI are the only three titles that focus on Monster Taming in your main party (VII's just brings them to the Meadows and has you get their hearts to have the main characters transform into those monsters for skills). Changing the core gameplay would alienate fans (like how IX was announced as an ARPG at its initial reveal and the fanbase pushed back to the point that the devs reworked the game to make it a classic Turn-Based RPG). XII is aimed at being revolutionary for the series (or at least more "adult"), so having Monsters be the stable franchise for now makes sense.

[@V3RD1CTtm]

Game ended up being a massive disgrace to me once I found out all the players in ranked just quit the game before they lose. This forces YOU the player to always lose points, and makes it 100% impossible to climb the ranked ladder. Completely ruins end game.

[@BacklogBattle]

I honestly don’t trust multiplayer in any monster taming RPG

[@envyryomou613]

DQM Joker was probably the most fun i've ever had playing a game, but like 15 years later this doesn't wow me. I'll buy it eventually for nostalgia but not yet.

[@alsan01]

If you liked joker you'll like this game

[@SonOfIzalith]

Yeah well team creation and synergy is the whole point of the franchise so.. I grew up playing Monsters Joker 1 and 2 and damn to this day i still prefer playing these rather than pokémon, and I love pokémon But DQM is special, it's not only because of nostalgia but there's always been something special They've done what pokémon never did before like.. late 2010s ? 3d exploration game where you can see monsters in the environment I still play Monsters Joker from time to time, it's truly a masterpiece for me, and I'm glad to see this new one coming in the west Fucked up framerate or not I'll still buy it, because I'm in love with DQM since childhood, and because I want these games to make it to the west

[@MrValgard]

when game looks like mid 3ds, it's not design choice, it's devs skill issue :P idk why nobody critique it (even as rumor say it was buried project now 'remade' and published, still they should put more effort in maps/geometry - how they have fps issues with such low graphics)

[@BacklogBattle]

So by that logic, every indie game that chooses to look retro is a skill issue. Tose is a developer that’s been around for decades. You don’t get to stay in this industry by being as bad as you say

[@MrValgard]

@@BacklogBattle how it's choose to look retro if it looks last gen, not 2gens+ and still don't works best? Just saying looks like they was too lazy to fix old project or remade it to looks modern, and i'm not saying they couldn't do, maybe they could, but don't have time/money. Anyway can't say something that looks cheap/unpolish/underdevelop it's retro by design. It's wishful thinking of fans, too forgiving on underdelivery. If there is somewhere develeper interview saying that - i will admitt mistake, but for me it's cash grab, and it's beyond me if anyone could think it was made deliberately ;)

[@Lvestfold4143]

Names Pokémon and Persona but not Digimon…

[@BacklogBattle]

I'm not going to list every single freaking monster collecting game out there. By the way, you forgot Jade Cocoon.

[@Lvestfold4143]

@ Digimon is iconic and at least deserve a mention

[@sukamadik5983]

Ah so this is the Dragon Quest Pokemon game.

[@sukamadik5983]

@@greatrulo 😂🤣

[@JesseDylanMusic]

To be fair, dragon quest V did it in 1992. But the first dragon quest monsters didn’t come out til 1998 (pokemon red/green having come out early 1996)

[@SlimeBlueMS]

Pokemon copied Dragon Quest :)

[@theonewhowrotethis5681]

While Pokémon did make the concept popular, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei on the Famicom was revolutionary back in 1987 due to it featuring demon negotiation and recruitment, which were not really heard of until then. Then Dragon Quest V did it in 1992 (you just KO monsters and they sometimes join your party afterward in this case), and it stuck around for VI and VIII while also creating the Monsters sub-series from there. Pokémon did come out in 1996, so it was definitely inspired by Megami Tensei and Dragon Quest V. However, the Monsters series did come after Pokémon as the first one came out in 1998. In short: -Megami Tensei revolutionized the concept. Seeing that SMTV on the Switch was the first non-Persona title to sell over 1m copies, this series is still pretty niche. -Dragon Quest V popularized the concept in Japan. DQ is still super popular in Japan, but it could be more popular overseas if it got better advertising. -Pokémon REALLY popularized it internationally. It's still super popular as it's one of THE highest grossing franchises of all time monetarily. As such, having all three franchises exist at the same time is a good thing as competition is a good thing to have to force companies to compete with each other. DQM1 can be sorta compared to Pokémon, but later titles are closer to SMT and DQVIII in overall execution (at least since Joker 1 in 2006). And then you have Digimon, which is still recovering from the massive loss in popularity after its all-time peak in the early 2000s. I think it's currently at its second highest peak, but it's nowhere near its initial peak. I hope it recovers too.

[@kitkat7074]

@@SlimeBlueMS dragon quest copied SMT :)