No doubt “Dragon Quest” It is one of the most famous game franchises in the RPG genre. Or because of the character design Akira Toriyama or for its fantasy-filled stories, there was no shortage of adventure, and Square Enix kept the saga going with a steady supply that tends to give the game’s most ardent fans hundreds of hours of enjoyment.
To wrap up this amazing year in gaming, Square Enix brings us a new installment in the saga: “Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince” which was released on December 1 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch and which puts us in command of an army of creatures to become master tamers.
In search of a cure for the demon
The story of this new part leaves us in a mysterious land where a demon terrorizes the inhabitants who cannot pay tribute. Here we meet Psaroa young man who tries to live a normal life, but even though he tries to communicate, the town considers him a monster.
Soon after, Psaro’s mother dies and our main character goes on a journey of revenge against his father, who turns out to be an evil demon and king of these lands. Now this young man will seek to take the throne and change the world so that both humans and monsters can coexist.
Since the Demon King is not easy to defeat, he will place a curse on our protagonist consisting of not being able to harm the enemy with his bare hands.
These events will lead him to escape and take him to a new home, where he will find the perfect way to protect himself from danger. It’s about the ability to Collect wild monsters. Now Psaro must collect many creatures to complete the long journey ahead of him.
That’s one thing the beginning of the storyand throughout the game we will see one or the other surprise that fans may already know since Psaro is the main character in the events “Dragon Quest IV”. in general the story is pretty decent Although many of its elements are simple, but since it is about a to spin Nor should we demand too much from him.
Game duration, on the other hand, takes about 30 hours, and if we want to complete it completely, it may take another 20 hours. It should also be noted that Menu and subtitles in Spanishwhile the audio can be selected in either English or Japanese.
Return of the Monsters by Akira Toriyama
The last one to spin up of the Monsters saga was released in 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS. Seven years later. came back “Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Princee for Nintendo Switch, and again, the character designs are by Akira Toriyama. This time we will have more than 500 different creatures that we can catch, collect and train.
The most interesting thing about the Monsters sub saga is that, unlike the main parts, this one to spin various creatures are the main characters, because the entire gameplay revolves around them. Being an RPG, it stands out for its classic game mechanics. turn-based combatbut this time the creatures will do all the work.
As expected, there are very prominent mechanics throughout the game: crushing. This will take most of the hours of the title because it is summarized in a few words capture creatures, make them fight to level up and repeat the same until the experience points and skills are high enough to continue the adventure.
this can be a bit tedious Fighting gives experience to the entire group of monsters, but you have to do it many times to strengthen the team of creatures that you normally have in your group.
Combat, on the other hand, has quite a few options to choose from. We can choose automatic battles where monsters take the actions they think are best for each encounter, or we can manually choose which opponent to attack, which tactic to use, and which skill or item to use. In addition, the creatures have different profiles to defend, attack, heal or use only the skills you can designate to have a more tactical fight.
Another point to note is that in all encounters you have four main monsters plus four more reserve monsters, these can be swapped from the main menu and everyone gets experience points after every battle. Captures are also very easy, almost automatic, as creature intimidation only depends on the level of your monsters.
Perhaps the most distinctive thing about the game is that it has a hereditary mechanics, as new creatures can be created from merging monsters. The resulting view will store statistics and attributes original creatures, but like all species they will need to be raised and then mixed again to create stronger species to help us Overcome trials of the highest level.
Of course, that name also has an a online component where we can pit our group of creatures against another player. It should be noted here that the difficulty level of the online games is quite high, but at least there are two modes: traditional PVP and the one where battles are generated automatically is called Quick duel.
Intelligence, stations and coliseums
Another important game mechanic is this environmental researchwhich is not as extensive or populated as one would like, but it is extensive map to explore where we will find wild creatures, some treasures and some more difficult boss fights that will require a very strong team to defeat. Rewards, on the other hand, are the most common: monster items, healing equipment, gems to sell, etc.
The seasons, on the other hand, are an element that will help us in some way to know what type of creature to find, because depending on the weather, different monsters will appear on the map, but it will also reveal hidden paths or hidden rewards. We wish the changing of the seasons had more profound implications, but the mechanics are enough to keep you exploring the map a few times and finding something else or something else.
On the other hand, there are coliseums. Places where you can face you in tournaments different ranks to get better equipment and rewards. some fights They will be needed to progress through the story, but here we come back to the main point of the game: you have to level up your monsters or you will very likely end up below the level you need to continue the main adventure. at the end of the day This is the soul of turn-based RPGs.
Familiar graphics, acceptable performance
“Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince” works well in the graphical aspectas it keeps the design we know from Akira Toriyama’s franchise and adds an aspect shading cel shape everything we see here.
Regardless, the game looks pretty good Obviously, it doesn’t take advantage of the Nintendo Switch’s potential and capabilitiesIn fact, the resolution is just below 720p on the laptop and doesn’t reach 1080p in docked mode. Let’s just say it’s not the best graphics we’ve seen on console, but it’s not a disaster either. It has a colorful, bright and familiar look.
In terms of performance, we played most of the title without issue, 30 frames per second repeatablebut if there are areas and details where you can see some inevitable failures, as well as environmental elements that appear as you approach, it is famous popping out which is very common in open world games.
Finally, the musical features of the game family theme which appear in almost every game of the franchise, along with some new songs composed Koichi Sugiyama, the franchise’s original composer. Those of you who have played any “Dragon Quest” games before will be happy to hear characteristic orchestra when the most interesting battles are fought.
A quiet way to end the year on Nintendo Switch
After many releases that left us speechless and great deals from Square Enix, we can wrap up the year “Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince” in a very relaxed way. The truth is that it is to spin up It comes to entertain RPG and Nintendo Switch fans until the strongest games arrive.
It’s a game with a combat system that’s a little more nimble and less casual than other games, and that’s a good thing, because any type of user will be able to understand it while you learn to master it. On the contrary, perhaps the number of hours to level up monsters is a detail that no player wants to repeat. And yet, anyone who has played a turn-based role-playing game knows this This is necessary to complete the adventure in a satisfactory manner.
If you didn’t know about this franchise branch, “Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince” It’s a good title to start with, and if you’re already a fan of the sub-saga, you’ll surely be excited to return to this action-packed adventure full of familiar characters from the saga. Remember that this video game is now available on Nintendo Switch in both digital and physical formats, and you can purchase it on Amazon Mexico.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince (NSW)
*Some prices may have changed since the last review
