Product Description

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker DS

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2987 in Video Games
• Brand: Square Enix
• Published on: 2007-11
• Released on: 2007-11-06
• ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
• Platform: Nintendo DS
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .64" h x 4.97" w x 5.76" l, .25 pounds

Features

• Created by Yuji Horii, Akira Toriyam and Koichi Sugiyama
• Create new species as you synthesize customized monsters from a selection of more than 200 different creatures
• Challenge your friends via local wireless play to see whose team is the strongest
• Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection component allows players to upload and download monster team data for battle on their Nintendo DS systems

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Customer Reviews

Not a Pokemon Wanna-be
Dragon Quest Monsters initially began as Enix's answer to Pokemon. However, since it's beginnings on the Gameboy, it has grown into so much more than just a Pokemon clone. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker has its own spin on the "gotta catch'em all" philosophy. First of all, rather than using "pokeballs", you must impress Monsters using your Scout abilities to get them to join you. The higher rank the monster is, the more powerful your team must be to impress it. Second, your team consists of 3 primary monsters and 3 backup monsters. During battle, you are allowed to have out 3 monsters, but you cannot switch to your backups during battle, making for some difficult fights. Monsters level up in the style of Dragon Quest 8, where you gain skill points in addition to stat boosts that you can allocate as you see fit to the monster's skills. Monsters can use spells and abilities just like in the regular Dragon Quest games. Third, rather than breeding monsters, monsters are synthesized to create new breeds of monsters.

The main difference between this game and the regular Dragon Quest series is that rather than have random monster encounters, you can actually see the monsters on the field. This is great because you don't have to go through the guesswork of having to encounter the monster you want as you do in Pokemon. You can just walk around until you see it, then run up to it! Personally I like being able to see the monsters before I fight them so I don't have to waste time looking for certain ones. Also, the monsters respawn at a fairly rapid rate, so you don't have to worry about running out of monsters to fight when leveling up. An interesting part of this is that as you explore, you may notice certain strange objects in the area. These are actually indicators of rare monsters that may show up in that area. For instance on an early level, you walk by a campfire and some giant stones that look like dumb-bells. If you come back, you might encounter a Gigantes in that area!

As if that were not enough, Dragon Quest Monsters Joker also has an online battle portion where you pit your team against other teams on a regional, national or global scale to find out who's the best. Unlike other games where your only reward is bragging rights, this game has in game rankings and you earn items and monsters for each victory!

Dragon Quest Monsters offers solid gameplay on par with the main Dragon Quest series. With over 200 monsters to choose from, excellent online play and a great storyline, this is one game that is not to be missed!

Not a pokemon in sight, but a monster battling game all the same
I was a little worried when I first thought about getting this game; I knew it had the Dragon Quest name on it, so I thought it should be good. But, from game play descriptions (and my own imagination), I was a little worried I might be buying a slightly more "mature" pokemon game. Thankfully, I was wrong, and what I ended up with is one of the most-addictive, fun, and time consuming games that I've played for the DS. For those of you who've played Dragon Quest 8 for the Playstation 2, the game plays much like DQ8 does if you have a monster party fight for you. And of course there's scouting to allow you to get new monsters; you must impress the "wild" enemies by a show of force from your current monsters (basically a regular attack that does no damage). Other than that it's a fairly typical RPG, but instead of just leveling up your monsters, you can also combine ("synthesize") monsters to create new, more powerful ones. The story is a little weak, but the fantastic game play more than makes up for it. Plus you can battle over wi-fi against your friends' monster teams to see how you both stack up. Overall a very solid game; DQ fans should definitely pick it up, and so should most fans of RPGs.

Dragon Quest 8's little brother...I love it.
I'll start by saying, I'm a huge fan of Dragon Warrior/Quest as a series, however I am not a fan of the Monsters series. Having partially played the previous installments with a steaming pile of dislike, I came into DQM Joker with low expectations only to be suprised at how great of a game this is.
I mean it, this game ranks among my favorite Dragon Quest/Warrior titles ever. DQM Joker is a perfect companion to Dragon Quest 8, and runs on a similar game engine to boot. Where the previous Monsters games felt more like Pokemon rip-offs, Joker distances itself almost completely. Aside from the fact that you're collecting monsters to battle, there is no Pokemon likeness in Joker at all. It truly feels like a Dragon Quest game of its own.
I recommend this title to anyone who enjoyed DQ8 but haven't experienced any other DQ/DW games, and I HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the non-Monsters series of Dragon Quest.