168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prin🦂ce releasing in the West is something of a victory in its own right. The Monsters subseries of the wonderful Dragon Quest franchise has, historically, been a bit of a roll of the dice - you never truly know whether Square Enix will bother paying for a localization until the arrival of such a welcome announcement. Or the dead silence that indicates otherwise. The fact that this game even launched simultaneously with the Japanese releas♑e is rad beyond measure.

But none of this would have mattered much if The Dark Prince turned out to be a dud. If you're on the fence about whether you ought to bother forking over the cash to experience the latest in Dragon Quest's sweet monster-catching extravaganza, we're here to help. These opinions are ours, not yours, of course. But sometimes, a few opinions from relative strangers can be surprisingly helpful!

Review

Here at TheGamer, we like to review video games. It's a whole thing. And when Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince was en route, we could think of none better suited to review it than our very own Ryan Bamsey. For the full scoop, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:check it out here. For some notewort🃏hy excerpts that ouꩲght to help you decide whether this game is right for you, read on.

"The Dark Prince has nailed the gameplay loop," Bamsey writes. The various worlds you'll explore - though riddled with unfortunate performance issues that can rather undermine the experiences at times - combine the exploration and monster-searching with "the satisfying synthesis system is a chef’s kiss-level innovation." Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince contains hundreds of creatures, most of which can be created through this synthesis system. Some of the bonuses you'll get for doing so only further the fun factor, offering a degree of fine-tuning depth that's seldom been seen previously in its genre.

Heading back to your base to see what new powerful monsters you can cook up is eternally rewarding 🧜- as a longtime fan of the series, heading to the possible fusion screen and seeing some of my favourites like Hacksaurus and Gem Slime is an exciting time.

All this praise doesn't come without some serious disclaimers. As previously mentioned, Bamsey isn't thrilled with the game's performance on Switch. And frankly, no one should be. It can slow to a crawl in some worlds, while other, typically smaller, locations are handled a good deal better. Compounding this is the unfortunate nature of the game's protagonist, Psaro - destined to become the lead villain in the beloved Dragon Quest 4 - whose series-norm 'silent protagonist' syndrome can undermine every would-be emotional story beat.

The game's been awarded three-and-a-half out of five stars, which is TheGamer's equivalent of a 70. The turn-based mechanics are terrific, the variety is outstanding, and the technical and story-based hiccups can't weigh down those positives enough for a number any lower than that.

Time Expenditure

Dragon Quest's mainline games can be notoriously lengthy, which is hardly an issue for most of us hardcore fans. It's a quest, after all, and series creator Yuji Horii and his hard-working team of developers have always taken that to heart. The Dragon Quest Monsters series is a little harder to determine an average length for, howeverℱ; after all, completing the story can be one length, but getting helplessly glued to the nuts and bolts of the gameplay can very much be another.

We typically take a gander over at HowLongToBeat, a website wholly dedicated to these matters, when penning 'Is It Worth It?' articles. As of this writing, there hasn't been enough consensus (nor enough players, really) to provide statistics, so instead we'll rely entirely on our own experience.

To that end, we'll go with 40 hours or so for a story-focused playthrough, counting the time needed to grind a bit if you're skipping so much side content. A more thorough playthrough can last you well over 100 hours, should you elect to dabble in catching and fusing everything in sight, then raisi✅ng the new rec🥃ruits to great strength.

Cost (And Is The DLC Worth It?)

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince costs $60 USD on Switch, so it's a full-priced game by Nintendo's metrics even without the DLCs. But if you want the Deluxe Edition, which includes all three DLCs, you're looking at quite a hefty $85.99.

That's a lot to spend on even a cutting-edge PS5 or Xbox Series game, let alone something for the Switch, where prices are typically a bit more modest by comparison. We do think the Dark Prince is worth it at $60, but the prince is asking a bit much for that other stuff. Thus, it's with reluctant admission that we tell you two of the three DLCs are very good, and indeed, worth your consideration, despite the added expen൩diture.

All told, we'd say the Deluxe Edition is a good deal if you think you're going to love this game. On the other hand, if you're not sure if this is the game for you, but you're willing to pay $60 to find out, don't buy the DLC just yet. And if you end up buying the DLC separately, The Mole Hole > Coach Joe's Dungeon Gym >>> Treasure Trunks, to make things simple here.

What Are People Saying?

We like to end these guides with further words from more of our rad colleagues who have also played the game. Here's what a few of us think, including Ryan Bamsey, who took the time to summarize his thoughts better than we could have!

The Best Dragon Quest In Quite Some Time - Quinton O'Connor

There's been a slew of Dragon Quest spinoffs since the epic tale that is Dragon Quest 11 debuted, and as we all await the twelfth mainline entry, it's been hard to resist the impulse to play them all. They've ranged considerably in quality. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is sublime; Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai... decidedly less so.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince has so much going for it, from the rich and tough-to-put-down core gameplay loop to the additional challenges. Never mind the inherent appeal of the bestiary. So many monsters to love, with so many punny names to cackle over. It's just a real shame the performance is so rough, because it's harder to recommend The Dark Prince to anyone whose enjoyment will be squashed by terrible frame rates and some rather... unrefined... textures.

Deceptively Simple, Outrageously Fun - Haven Smith

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is a great return to the Dragon Quest Monsters series. It boast a massive cast of fun-to-use monsters, from the humble Slime to titans like the Drakularge, and the act of finding and synthesizing them is addictive. While there's some performance issues at times, it doesn't take away from the engaging story, the variety of beautiful places to explore, and how fun roaming about with all your favorite Dragon Quest monsters is.

A Sure Thing For Genre Fans - Ryan Bamsey

There are some issues with The Dark Prince that you can't ignore, but it's still the best Dragon Quest Monsters experience you can get, and stands as one of the best monster tamers in general. I'd love to say "wait for the PC release" but first, we don't know one is coming and second, I wouldn't give advice I'd never be able to follow myself. It's a damn good time.