I got Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince for Christmas and started it up recently. The gameplay and monster collecting/fusing are all really addictive, though I prefer the old systems that were on the Gameboy games (this one is based on the Joker series, which I never played). The talent system isn't as fun or intuitive to me as simply fusing the monsters with abilities you want to get a monster with higher-level abilities. But still, it's very fun and I love breaking the game with ridiculously explosive attacks.
Performance is god-awful, like worse than Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. I had to carefully walk over a narrow platform to get to a treasure in one area and the game was dropping frames so bad, I almost fell of the edge. God help you if any weather pattern starts up. The graphics themselves aren't that bad and I like the cel-shaded style, but it just runs like complete ass. And the music, while not bad by itself, is disappointing. I expected the game to reuse all its music (DQ spin-offs nearly always do), but it's like they purposefully set out to find the absolute worst versions of every song they used and imported those. The quality and remix choice is just terrible.
Now, here's my biggest complaint: the story. This game may have possibly the worst-presented story I've ever seen in a video game. It's a retelling of DQIV, but it assumes way too hard you've played that game (I have not). But, even if I did have the context for the story, that doesn't change the fact that it really seems like half the script went missing. Things just happen with little to no prompts, like you'll have a scene that maybe is setting something up for the future, then all of a sudden, a major event will happen with little to no logical reason. Sure, you can kind of cobble together the missing context and make it make sense, but the story is just so poorly told, every scene is like intense whiplash. No spoilers, but there's legit a part of the game where you go to a town for a really important reason, find what you're looking for right away, and then just go to sleep before doing anything, despite what you're looking for being right there. It's absolutely infuriating and I feel like I'm having an aneurysm whenever a story cutscene starts.
And don't even get me started on the silent protagonist. You're playing as the literal main villain of DQIV, with the funniest, sour-ass look on his face, and you have no dialogue. Oh, but you do have plenty of "yes" or "no" dialogue choices that mean nothing! I think I told that little shit Toilen he couldn't join us like three times before finally giving up, since Rose kept saying OH COME ON, HE WON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER! Then why give me the option to say no?!
Games like DQ Builders are also retellings of old games (1 and 2), but they don't require you to have played those games to get what's going on. They're also well-told stories with logical progression. DQMTDP was clearly made on a shoestring budget, which all (thankfully) went to its very fun gameplay. The performance issues are a shame and the music could be better, but I'm be willing to look past all that. The story, however, nearly ruins the experience. And yes, I know that story has never been a big deal in the Monsters games, but this story is too invasive to ignore, as it constantly makes you go back to the hub area just to watch another incomprehensible cutscene. What was wrong with just keeping it simple, like "your sister has been kidnapped, so you need to become a monster tamer and win a tournament you grant your wish to save her" or "your new hometown is sinking, so travel all over the world to find a way to save it"? I wasn't banging my head against the arm of my couch trying to understand those plots!
6/10, and the gameplay earns all 6 of those points. Also, I don't think Florajay is in the game, who was one of the best monsters in the Gameboy ones, so it could never achieve anything higher than an 8 anyway.
ing uses] straight through his throat.
