If you want to give the heroes in the JRPG a mission, I think most of the heroes will pick up their swords and resolutely walk towards the castle where the demon king is, but what about the demon king? When the perspective switches to the enemy of humanity, do you choose to destroy the world or change the way? The answer seems to be a little different, as a spin-off of JRPG's super popular series IP "Dragon Quest Monsters Arc 3: The Journey of the Demon Prince and Elph (DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: The Dark Prince)" (hereinafter referred to as "DQM3"), the story of the Demon King is not as cold and evil as imagined, but - with a series of monsters to start his own journey as a master of taming!
Many people's understanding of this series of works even stays on the GB platform, "DQM1" released in 1998 with the character Terry of "DQ6" as the protagonist, different from the protagonist group who carries the fate of the world and fights against the demons, the story of "DQM1" focuses more on some interesting experiences or experiences of Terry, of course, the gameplay is also very different, after all, it is around the monsters in this battle layout. In the Japan game market, works with styles such as monster capture, hatching, and combat are of course led by the IP of "Pokémon", but "DQM" at that time also gained a lot of fans based on this one.
Unfortunately, the first victory did not continue to carry forward the DQM series, as evidenced by the fact that 26 years after the release of the first generation, DQM3 has landed on steam, but there are very few people who have reviewed it after purchase. While feeling sorry for an excellent IP, I can't help but be a little curious, what is the quality of this game?
The journey of the prince of the demon world to become a king
"DQM3" chose the villain of "DQ4" "Death Pizarro" as the protagonist, and like Terry, he is a very popular character, this demon king with a legitimate motive for revenge on humans, how did he embark on this path in the first place? How did you recover the army of the Demon Realm? These are well answered in the game.,In addition,The elf wife of the Demon King, Rosalie, also has quite a lot of plots.,This elf whose tears will turn into treasures is also a tragic character.,At the same time,"DQ4"The brave group will also be mentioned in this work.,Although I personally think that the plot of "DQM3" is slightly shorter and lacks some depth.,But there are still more small easter eggs left for fans of the series.。
If Pizarro wants to ascend to the throne, he does not rely on the protagonist group like the brave or his own ability, on the contrary, because he angered his demon father in childhood, he will not be able to rely on his own ability to attack the demon army, so how to use the captured monster attack has become the core gameplay of "DQM3". Unlike the Pokémon series, the protagonist can control 4 monsters at the same time to fight. The protagonist stands in the back and can carry out a series of supports.
The formation of the adventure is not limited to a formation of 4 monsters, this is because the monster itself has a size setting, the large size (L) monster will occupy two squares, but the advantage is that it can act multiple times and add some special attributes, and the small size monster (S) only uses one grid position. In terms of size, this work does not have the super-large monster set before, so the combination can be 2L, 4S or 2S1L formation, "DQM" uses the Ming Thunder mechanism, and the size of the monster encountered is clear at a glance, which is convenient for players to capture later. The characteristics of monsters are not only reflected in their size, but I often encounter monsters napping on the side of the road while exploring, and this is when triggering a battle can be a huge advantage.
The monsters of different shapes are taken from various mobs and popular bosses in the "DQ" series, and more than 500 monsters eventually form part of the world ecology, especially with the game's four seasons and the alternation of day and night, the interaction logic of players, worlds, and monsters will produce some changes. When the spring breeze blows, the scene not only becomes vibrant, but vines also grow on the cliffs for the player to climb, and when the wind and snow pass, the bleak winter brings a touch of white, and the ice on the river can also allow the player to walk. Those seasonal monsters will also show their own figures for players to challenge. The seasons don't have to be long, but if you want to make the trip more efficient, you need to plan well.
Pizarro's "Rosalita" for Rosalie has become a mobile fortress that travels through various demon worlds, and six worlds full of characteristics, such as Overlord City, Purgatory Pass, and the Temple of the Flowing God, constitute the game's outdoor scene. In each map, the player needs to defeat the corresponding boss in order to obtain the teleportation stone and move on to the next map. Each world is also divided into three levels of difficulty: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, and there are still many parts to explore.
Unlike the wild scenes, the indoor maze of DQM3 is not affected by the weather system, but as the exploration deepens, the complexity of the maze really continues the tradition of the DQ series, and the slow movement of the protagonist is in stark contrast to the huge map, which also gives me a deep sense of powerlessness. I can even imagine how cool it would be if such a large map could be combined with some monster mounts for interactive puzzle solving.
"Yes, we have a child"
Spit and complain,SE is not a little improved,In "DQM3",I was pleased to find that the core gameplay of the game - the synthesis of monsters has become more convenient,From the interface of retrieving descendants,It will be easier for players to filter out the monsters they want.
The synthesis of monsters is arguably the most interesting thing in DQM3, players can not only create more powerful and handsome monsters through synthesis, but also inherit the skills of their parents. Therefore, crafting is not something to consider in the late game, and players need to evolve their team through continuous synthesis in the early game.
The early DQM series had a complex development system
The skill points obtained by the monster upgrade will be left to the next generation with the synthesis.,So through the synthesis can make the monster's skill system more and more perfect.,It is conceivable that a monster that has never been synthesized,The skill points it has must be very limited.。 What's more, many skills must be crafted to advance. For example, if the sum of the points invested by the parents in this skill branch reaches the limit, then the synthesized offspring will have an advanced version of the skill branch "Dark Essence", which is a very powerful source of AOE and single skills in the game! At least in the early stages of the game, it's still very cool to watch your monster do hundreds of damage at once.
In order to raise a very strong offspring, players have to start planning when they are grandfathers, so crafting itself is a very brain-burning thing, especially when there are few series strategies, and the time cost of self-research is very high. Especially in "DQM", the parent will disappear after synthesis, so in some more complex synthesis, the capture process is quite long and painful, especially the setting that monsters can only be synthesized after level 10, so that the duration of the game can be easily extended to more than 100 hours. At this time, you need to enter the dungeon "Mole Labyrinth" through the NPC Mole in the ranch and capture those monsters that have been synthesized. This copy can be said to have doubled the process of crafting.
In last year's NS version, the response of "DQM3" was not good, because the Mole Maze dungeon requires additional DLC to be unlocked, and the first time, limited by the limited functions of NS, the long and frequent loading black screen and touching frame rates all affect the player's playing experience. But after landing on the PC, these problems are all solved. Better graphics and loading speeds, especially the Mole Maze DLC has been integrated into the base game, and I think it's worth trying.
A slightly regrettable battle system
In the plot of the game,The protagonist will lead his monsters to make their name in the arena,Similar to the gym in Pokémon,Compared with the previous work,DQM3The arena difficulty has been greatly reduced,To win the competitive game, you need to fight three times in a row,But after each game, the state of the monster will be full and directly enter the next battle,And the protagonist of the previous work did not have such a good treatment,If it is not numerically crushed,It is difficult for their own monsters to survive from the battle。
There are also online Master Ranked Tournaments and Multiplayer Tournaments, as well as Quick Combos, which are almost numerical battles against each other. But it's worth mentioning that since I knew that the game had online battles, I almost never managed to connect to the Internet, so I also went out of my way to search for players' reviews of multiplayer online, and almost all of them complained about network connection problems, which depends on whether the subsequent updates of the game can solve it.
Overall, I think the surprises of this game still outweigh the shortcomings, at least I, a player who is not too interested in pet fighting games, can also study the synthesis table and explore. But judging from the overall update speed of the series, SE still has a relatively conservative attitude towards the branch of "DQM", which means that the gameplay of this game is still traditional, if players are interested in the original jrpg gameplay, you may wish to try this game, compared to the brave who saved the world, watching the demon king in the electronic fighting cricket is also a good game experience.
Game Name: Dragon Quest: Monster Wonderland 3 - The Journey of the Demon Prince and Elf
Release date: 2024.9.11 (PC)
登陆平台：Switch、Steam
Overall rating: 8/10
Recommended for: Players who like to catch pets and fight JRPGs, fans of the DQ series
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