Compare & Contrast: Dragon Quest Monsters

Pokémon isn't the only monster-training game

Welcome to the third edition of this horribly-stalled feature known as Compare & Contrast, where we look at various other monster training games and compare them to Pokémon and each other!

Ever since Pokémon came around, it seems there's been a boom of monster-training games. In our previous C&Cs, we looked at two that came before the popular franchise came about. Today, we're not only going to be looking at one that came after, but we're also going to be looking at our first formal monster training game, AND our first series of it. It's the Dragon Quest Monsters series.

We established everything about DQ in our previous C&C, correct? We know it's like, the most popular thing ever in Japan. Even if Dragon Quest VIII of all things is pretty much the only game where the Japanese got the short end of the stick (the US and European releases included an enhanced soundtrack and voice acting that’s actually good!). So when Pokémon came out, the creators of DQ were licking their chops, and decided "hey, we've done monster-training before, we can do it again!" And that is exactly what they did. With not one, not two, but five games in total, and that's not counting additional versions or re-releases. The latest in the series, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, has been out in Japan for over a year, got an expanded "Professional" version a year after that, and was released stateside on September 19th, 2011. Unfortunately, it's the former's release, not the latter's. What the hell, man? Is this revenge for DQM:J1 being improved in the US release?

But let's go back to the beginnings of the series. Back when the game was still known as "Dragon Warrior" stateside due to a copyright conflict. Back before the apocalypses of 2011, when we had recently evaded the apocalypse of 1992, and the most recent death of the world was to be in 2000. Back when Pentium was the hottest processor, and Netscape Navigator users roamed the web. Back when The PokéMasters was debatable as the biggest Pokémon fansite. Back when some of us were in elementary school, some even doing the backstroke in their dad's... well, you get the idea right?

The game

The year was 1998, the month September, and the date the 25th. That's when Enix unleashed Dragon Warrior Monsters upon Japan—with subtitle Terry's Wonderland. It'd find its way to Europe four months later, but America got screwed, and got it a year after that. It's compatible with the Game Boy Color, and was later stuffed into an enhanced remake on the PSX, along with Dragon Quest Monsters 2. A remake for 3DS came out on May 31, 2012. In Japan.

Reception towards Dragon Warrior Monsters was surprisingly good. Being one of the first games of the genre released after the Pokémon games, it was indeed labeled as a clone, but its merits were recognized. And rightfully so for reasons that we will get into later! This game is a prequel to Dragon Quest VI, which otherwise was unreleased in places not named Japan.

So that 3DS remake. It's going to take features from the Joker series of games and implement them into it. It may turn the entire game on its ear! Therefore, any number of the mechanics information you read here may or may not apply to it, should you get interested and for most of us—if gets released in the Western world (I'd put in a Capcom/Ace Attorney comparison joke here, but that's already been milked to death). In other words, this article is written with the original GBC release in mind.

The plot

Dragon Warrior Monsters puts you into the shoes a young Terry from Dragon Quest VI. You're in your bed one night just minding your own business, doing whatever it is kids in video games do in bed. Note that he's wearing what look like pajamas, which is acceptable and makes sense given the context, but they look like a different version of the clothes he wears as an adult in Dragon Quest VI. Which does make you wonder.

Anyway, so this grey bear-like thing called Warubou comes in and takes your sister Milayou (which is what you get when you transliterate "Milly" out of Japanese) away, and a blue palette swap of him known as Watabou comes in and asks for your help. What do they mean? Hell if I know. You meet up with the King of GreatTree, who explains his situation and rivalry with the nation of GreatLog, and gives you the Slime Slib to start you on your monstrous adventure. An adventure to win in the minor tournaments to earn the right to represent GreatTree in the Starry Night Tournament. The reward for winning? A wish! You can like, wish your sister back!

The plot from there on out is fairly straightforward. You go from Traveler's Gate to Traveler's Gate, fighting through pseudo-randomized areas to become stronger in order to win at the tournaments. And… that's pretty much it, really. At the end of each Traveler's Gate is a boss monster, many of whom are references to previous DQ games (such as the Dragon from DQ1). Some of these join you automatically upon completing them. Some of them can join if you feed them enough meat, and others won't join at all.

There are a number of levels of the qualification tournament, ranging from G to S. The more tournaments you beat, the more Traveler's Gates you unlock. You don't necessarily have to do them in order: you may enter into any tournament up to D at first, and after beating that, you can enter into any tournament up to S. Incidentally, those two are the only ones you must beat. The only downsides to skipping around are missing out on a few interactions in GreatTree. After D, you get a visit from the King of DeadTree, and after that go to the Gate of Anger to investigate a disturbance. After you beat S, you're officially the representative for GreatTree in the Starry Night, and head to the Room of Reflection to see the future. Specifically, whether or not you win the tournament. Does it work? Eh, not really.

So once you get to the Starry Night, things start to hit the fan. Plot twist, yadda yadda and whatnot, then the final battle. If you win? You beat the game!!! Then, in the post-game, you can go on into several extra dungeons which house the final bosses from past Dragon Quest games. If you lose? Nothing happens. Seriously. Losing the tournament that only comes around once every some odd full moons just results in being able to try again—no harm, no foul, not even any damage control text. Isn't being the protagonist great? In the post-game, you can also challenge the Master himself in an extra-hard fight. There was also supposed to be a Gate with 100 floors, but it got axed.

There's really not much to it, as you can see. But the gameplay is where it's at.