Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince Review (Switch)

Fair score. I wouldn't blink at anything between 7 and 9 after playing it: the core gameplay (monster collecting, synthesis, and battling) is way too good and substantial to go lower, but whether the visuals and performance (muddy and rough but not outright broken like a Scarlet and Violet) and the story (good, but told in a pretty formulaic progression) are sticking points will vary.

Funny how much people expect performance wise from Pokémon S/V, then along comes another game of the same ilk from a big developer and lo and behold, they can't do much better. Makes you wonder whether people's expectations be whack 😜

I have no significant issues with Pomemon S/V performance and I'll be getting this game. The question is, what's the physical situation? I hear Square might be being ****s in Japan about physical supply, or is their "Buy digital" messaging just temporary?

@gcunit The Pokemon franchise has more money and resources. This game also doesn't randomly crash all the time (I can't speak to the reviewer but I've not had a single crash and I've had 9 in Scarlet) or have you clipping through enviroments or anything. It just looks old and has some frame-stuttering (fine for a turn-based game if mildly disappointing).

Been playing DQ Monsters series since the DS. I love this new game, feels like a proper elevation of the series (despite one DQM game on the 3DS was a Japan exclusive). Though the graphics and performance could be better, I vastly prefer Toriyama's art to be colorful and anime-ish compared to being toned down and more realistic like in DQ XI.

My worst criticism is the Mole Hole DLC. Gathering the same monster again and again can be a hassle and can be overwhelming when your aiming for monsters that you want. The DLC almost acts like a demon compendium from SMT, making gathering the right monsters easier. It does feel like something that was removed from the game and sold as an add-on, despite being so essential in function.

@gcunit My physical preorder (US) was delayed by 5 days, so I think S-E didn't make as many cartridges as they needed. Whether this was because they underestimated demand or were trying to drive people to digital is anybody's guess, but I'm sure there will be more copies available soon enough.

One question tho, how many different monsters, does this game have?

With this (and treasures), as well as the Pokemon Games, this is just further proof we need a Switch 2 / Pro already.

One that can do 1080p 60 fps games that look good (switch does have some that do that but i'm talking even more higher detailed games), and have PS5/Xbox Series style patches for older games that can bring up the res/fps.

@TechaNinja "It feels an awful lot like Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is a poor port of a game released for much stronger hardware."

😉

@tsdenizen Potential budget is irrelevant. Until someone actually releases something that stands out as better in most areas then I think it's a case of supping that stfujuice.

I do have a question for those that have played the game: are battles entirely done via AI control (you issue broad "attack", "heal", etc commands), or can you turn by turn select each action like you would in a normal DQ?

Memory is extremely fuzzy, but I recall one of the previous games being forcibly stuck on AI orders, which is why I never got into the Monsters subseries.

@gcunit I liked Scarlet despite its issues. But yeah: this is better in most areas imo. Like I said, the performance isn't good, but it's better than Scarlet. The battle system is more complex, monster customization is more in-depth, seasonal changes make exploration more varied, the story is has fomulaic progression but the actual narrative is good. It's a little weird to compare them I guess (there's the Pokemon/Nexomon/Temtem style of monster collector and there's the MegaTen/Cyber Sleuth/DQ Monster style) but yeah. No it doesn't "dethrone" Pokemon but some will prefer this. I do.

Looks good, and I loved the original DQM for GBC. I'll add it to my wish list. 2023...what a great year for video games!

@Browny You can select individual orders, except when in the colosseum battles. For those, you can select broad tactics and you can alter frequency of move usage from your main menu, so it's pretty customizable. But 95% of the game, you can pick your moves directly turn by turn.

@The-Chosen-one +1

@tsdenizen
Oh... so for the actual big battles you can't directly command the team?

That's a level of RNG I can't abide personally. I remember the utter frustration of that in DQ8, and that was simply a side quest.

Thanks for the info! I'll continue to steer clear of Monsters.

@Erigen That's one of the main reasons why I'm not buying the full game. Paywalling quality of life features is sh*ty and not a practice I support.

@Browny No, the colosseum battles are minor. Only a couple are mandatory and they're piss easy. The game largely has traditional DQ bosses and you have control in those. Although if the DQVIII stuff frustrated you, this is about the same level, though you do have more control over the AI.

@tsdenizen
I was under the impression the colosseum was an integral part of the narrative, and you'd have to go through most if not all the tiers.

And yes, it's the fact that I have to rely on the AI that personally aggravates me. All it takes is one instance of the monster doing something different than what I would've done and already I'm peeved. If I make a decision and lose, it was my decision and I can live with that. If the AI does a stupid move that costs me the fight, then I feel cheated by the game.

I'll look into the game down the line when a sale happens, half off or more. I've always wanted to like Monsters, but giving up that direct control in an RPG is just rather frustrating, personally.

@Browny You have to do a couple of the earlier stages but the later stages are optional. It's almost always a traditional DQ story boss that gates progression. The lion's share of the game is 18 large-ish areas each with a story quest and boss. The first "boss" is a low-rank colosseum battle: the enemies hit like wet noodles and it's basically impossible to lose. You have to revisit a couple times but not many but it's basically the same deal. These don't get tough until they're optional. You do get some good items from them but they aren't essential. If not having absolute control at all times is a dealbreaker, yeah steer clear. But, the AI is pretty good if you take the time to customize it (you can increase/decrease move usage move by move or even shut off moves you don't like). If you're good at building teams, you'll probably only have to repeat A and S rank: everything lower is a breeze.

I think Nintendo fans need a dose of reality. There's no way that the Switch should be stuck with having to choose between good performance but sub-par visuals or good visuals but bad performance. People need to stop blaming the developers for this (with a few exceptions like Pokémon, as that's first-party), because it's clear that the Switch is not a powerful enough console for this day and age.

And don't give a "well Breath of the Wild ran well and looks good" excuse, becuase it doesn't look good compared to PS5 and Xbox Series X games (and imagine how much better they would look if they had a more powerdul console) and honestly, the loading screens in those games are really long because the console can barely even play games that look like they were from 2012...

TL;DR, stop blaming devs for EVERYTHING.

I’ve been enjoying Cassette Beasts way too much to jump ship and swim over to this one. Someday maybe but right now I can’t put CB down!

I love DQ but that demo was awful. It looked and ran horribly. I'll wait for a PC release and hope by then it is in a better state. We shouldn't be okay with games that look and run like this in 2023.

A 7/10?!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This game, with all of the fun and laughs I've constantly having, is easily a 9/10 in my book. Possibly even more. The gameplay loop of scouting and synthesizing monsters is extremely addictive and the Dragon Quest puns return in full fashion. Also, I am not seeing the technical mishaps Nintendo Life is having (pop-in backgrounds, crashing during battles, etc.) The game exceeded my expectations and it's all the better for it.

I'm very interested in this but I think I will wait for the price to go down/see if it gets patched. Love Dragon Quest and always wanted to give this spin off a go.

@twowingedangel what about Dragon Quest 11? That game looked a lot better and the port ran much smoother as well, at least compared to what I experienced in the demo. This should not be a particularly taxing game, even for the switch, I think we can very much blame the devs in this case.

Only put in a couple of hours, but I can already tell it’s going to be a good one. The party building and presentation is my jam. I like how it still feels like a classic DQ game.

Performance shouldn’t be compared to the Pokémon SV games. It’s no where close to that kind of bad.

Can't believe people are defending the graphics and performance of this game and Pokemon Scarlet/Violet.
There's tons of games on the Switch with bigger worlds and better visuals. Besides the Zelda games there's also the Xenoblade games. The performance and draw range for XC3 is excellent.
Yes, the Switch's hardware means that some games like SMTV can't keep up with loading it's own textures. I think that's an example of something actually being the Switch's fault.
But you're likely to see performance issues when a game has been rushed and not polished enough, like Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, or when a dev team simply isn't used to making a game for the Switch yet, like this game and even Fire Emblem Three Houses. If you look at some of the environmental textures for Three Houses or around the monastery, you'll find quite a few glaring flaws or low quality. This is because the previous FE game was Fates on the 3DS and I'm sure you can all imagine that creating a world for these two consoles is very different, but that doesn't mean that the Switch's power itself was the biggest problem, because they improved a lot with Engage.
Likewise, if this is the same team that made the previous 3DS DQM game then they probably weren't used to the Switch and most likely had a deadline to meet on top of that. That still makes it more of the dev's problem than the Switch's. We can't always expect perfection and for other devs to do as well as Nintendo's best on their own console, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't expect more from them when they falter like this.

Does it allow for Japanese voice over? Actually can you switch to Japanese language overall (including text?)

Edit: Nevermind, Japanese is listed in the languages description.

@DDFawfulGuy I think the biggest problem is devs are even trying to build games for the Swtich that really can't run well even with all of the oPtImIzAtIoNs in the world.

I'm not defending games like the Switch Pokémon games or other first party games; I'm defending the indie devs or devs in general who legitimately try to port their games to the Switch properly only to find (often late in development) that there isn't enough power on tap to make the game work, so they either are forced to release it in a not great state or in some cases (like Marvel's Midnight Suns) the game has its Switch port simply canceled because they can't make it run any better because the console is worse than even a Xbox Series S.

When Valve releases a device that can play PC games like Hogwarts Legacy at decent settings with the proper open-world format unlike the lesser format the Switch port was forced to use because the console can barely run modern games at good settings levels, then Nintendo either needs to step it up and release a Switch 2 in 2024 or watch themselves head into another Wii U era.

Maybe that's why many third-party developers that historically were Nintendo developers now release onto Steam as well.

@shining_nexus Thank you for being fair to the game. Pretty much every modern Pokémon game on the Switch performed worse than this game does.

Now if only Square Enix would release the game on Steam...

@twowingedangel
Ports? But wasn't DQM3 made for the Switch specifically?
I'm really confused by what you're saying because I've already said that sometimes there are issues caused by the Switch's hardware and some by dev teams not having enough time or knowhow. And what indie dev is making a game that's more taxing than Nintendo's own AAA titles? I feel like you didn't really take in what I said and you're trying to argue for something else entirely.
I'll admit that if Nintendo had a more powerful console then more games would come to it. I think that's just common sense since games like the latest Street Fighter and Tekken are skipping the Switch. But if you think that anything could make the Switch suffer as much as the Wii U then you're honestly delusional. The Switch is already a major success; far, far outselling the Wii U. Nintendo will be fine even they did wait until 2025 for the Switch 2.

This is a wait till it’s £20 for me

My excitement is immeasurable and my day has been made.
(No but seriously I’m really excited for this.)

@gcunit This might be the most disingenuous take I've ever seen here. The issues with S/V are in a whole other league compared to this game. And it isn't even close.

@MARl0 I agree with you. It's incredible how the devs of DQM: The Dark Prince managed to make this game look worse and run worse than Pokemon S/V.

Still sounds worth playing more than Scarlet/Violet.

Also people here are really upset that there are people that is willing to play a game despite a performance issue.

If people here didn’t learn already is that people can look past that if the rest of the game is appealing enough. Otherwise none of us would have played Bethesdia games back in the day.

I cleared SMT V and didn’t let performance issue get in the way for how good the game was.

People trying to use Scarlet/Violet as an example of a “gotcha” has zero clue. For that game performance is just one of the many issues that game has

DQ Monsters is one of my favorite series of all time. I'm so happy to finally get a new entry since the DS.

@Arawn93
"If people here didn’t learn already is that people can look past that if the rest of the game is appealing enough."

Exactly. That's the reason Pokemon SV has sold more than 23 million copies so far. Because it's a fun open world Pokemon game.

@Zeroo I couldn’t get into Scarlet/Violet and even if the performance issues were non existent it just has too many gripes for me to enjoy :/. Good for others that like the game though.

@The-Chosen-one 500+ if I'm not mistaken

For me it's about catching and making the best party....

Cheers for the review. Sounds like something I would like a lot. My youngest would as well. The cons are consistent with what othe reviewers are saying.

@MegaMari0
Wow thats a lot. Thanks!

@TechaNinja No, it's not. There's no technical reason why this can't run well. It's either rushed or badly programmed.

@twowingedangel No, you need a dose of reality. The Switch is more capable than it's made out to be. But it's more susceptible to bad programming as it's weaker than other consoles. Because, yes, it is bad programming. The graphics on display won't win any awards, even on the Switch. It's probably just a case of bad optimisation. Which, mind you, you always need to do, because a bad graphics implementation can easily bring any powerful machine to its knees.

tl;dr: Stop defending corporations for doing a poor job for maximum profits.

All these flame wars over performance, and I’m just here wondering when my preorder will come in

The game runs great, I have been playing for a week. Love my team and have already dominated some randoms in online battle. Between this and Scarlet/Violet, mo-game fans have been a lucky bunch.

Technical issues aside - which don't bother me in most games as long as the frame rate doesn't often chug into the single digits - this game seems right up my alley. It'll be awhile before I seriously think about grabbing it though. I'm about to start another DQ spinoff (Dragon Quest Builders 2) and have plenty of other monster catchers backlogged.

Still, it's nice to see the DQ Monsters series return in the West.

The game looks like an upscaled 3DS game at points - not a problem, the aesthetics are charming, the colours are vibrant, and it has this sort of PS2 / PS3 retro charm to it, which is all fine and dandy.
Textures are flat and blurry & there's noticeable pop in - again, not super bothered, as one can ignore these when the gameplay is good, which thankfully it is!
Load times - patience, not at all bothered.
The FPS chugs along like your running through treacle.... ah, this one I can't ignore as it hinders enjoying the open segments / environments. This is inexcusable considering we can see it done properly in pretty much all first party games and many others to boot. Something tells me this is poorly optimised and rushed out the door for a quick sale. Luckily, I highly doubt the devoted DQ fans would not let their voices be heard, so hopefully a few patches will tidy things up. For now, I'm going to shelve it.
Hopefully Tose can sort this out as they are an accompished developer with a rich history of gems.

Review is fair. Hard to ignore the performance issues. Story isn't anything too special but still nice to have. Overall, I'm enjoying the game. It's nice to play a monster collecting game that isn't pokemon.

Performance can always be optimized better via a patch or two. Not a deal breaker.

This game is a conundrum for me, but to be fair it has to do with the company, not the game itself. Do I get it on the switch and deal with the performance issues, or do I wait for the inevitable Steam port and see how long Square-Enix taints it with Denuvo before they remove it?

The game itself looks fantastic, where and when to play it are the big questions. Hmmm.

Since Dragon Warrior IV is one of my favorite games ever, really I’ve been waiting for this prequel for 30 years. So far it’s great, other than the eye-stabbing framerate. I’ve synthesized every G and F monster, and have about 1/4 of the Es so far.

@TechaNinja wouldnt solve issue of gamereak terribly underutilizing it

Unless we're talking about a crazy impossible port, there is no excuse for shoddy performance. Games have been running perfectly smoothly on consoles ever since consoles have existed - you are supposed to build the game so that it runs properly on the hardware it's built for.
The Switch is much more powerful than a PS2 which runs DQ8 just fine. It has become no less powerful than it was when it launched... Games later in a console's life are supposed to perform better as developers get better and more knowledgeable about the hardware. Instead for some reason the opposite is true with the Switch - everyone seems to be starting their projects with PS5-level expectations and then just lazily pruning things back until they can say that technically "it runs". The only exceptions seem to be Nintendo themselves (obviously) and their close second-patties such as Retro Studios and Monolith Soft.

Got plenty of other DQM that I need to get back to as well...

@N64-ROX 100% agree.

@DDFawfulGuy
DQM3 was for 3DS, released only in Japan.

@HXLXIII
I've seen The Dark Prince being called Dragon Quest Monsters 3 online, including in Japan. I think the reason is because the Dragon Quest Monsters Joker games are considered their own games with their own numbers, so you're probably thinking of that game. I said DQM3 because it's the shortest way I can think of.

@DDFawfulGuy I guess I didn't realize that Joker kinda was it's own thing, I suppose. Hmm. Either way it's Dragon quest Monsters, and that's all that truly matters XD been waiting so long for a new entry.