Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker
Encyclopedia
is a Nintendo DS
role-playing game published by Square Enix
, and the fourth installment of the Dragon Quest Monsters
series. Square Enix released the game on December 28, 2006 in Japan
and in North America on November 6, 2007.
This is the first game in the series to have online play, via Nintendo Wi-Fi. Like the other games in the series, the character and monster designs are credited to long-time Dragon Quest
series artist, Akira Toriyama
, with the music composed by Koichi Sugiyama.
. It uses cel-shaded animation
, and the battles are of the same type in other Dragon Quest games: commands are issued in a turn based style, then are executed in full 3D.
The player's avatar is that of a tanned, grey/spikey haired youth with an editable name. He dreams of becoming a world famous monsters 'scout', which is a tamer of wild monsters who uses them in battle. There is a link to real world scouts in that there is a landmark in-game known as Baden's bell which is a reference to the scouts creator Baden Powell.
The battle system itself is very similar to previous Dragon Quest Monsters games. The player controls up to three monsters that make up the party, and can issue them direct orders or set them to one of 5 AI settings. The main character does not directly participate in battles except for when the player uses items.
Joker does not have random battles. The only way to encounter enemies is to run into one on the overworld. The monsters can be seen, avoided, and attacked from their back to get a free attack round. Later on, the player gets the Whistle ability. This can be used at any time, other than in the city and where monsters don't appear, and in a way does count as a random battle as the enemies are randomly chosen.
The game takes place in the region known as Green Bays, consisting of seven islands. A jet-ski is used to travel from one island to another, with specific paths defined for every couple of piers. However, the main character may notice uncharted islands beyond some of the main islands. The chances for this are completely random and are not located on the main map. Pirates may also appear when traveling between islands, with the pirate captain, Crow, counting as a rare monster.
The monster families have been rearranged into a different categorization, so some monsters are in different families than they were on previous Dragon Quest Monsters games.
Unlike previous games in the series, there is not a Boss family. The Boss monsters (end game, or powerful bosses from Dragon Quest games) have been merged with the other families. For example, Zoma
is now in the Demon family.
Monsters now all have a rank associated with them: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, and X. The ranks give an idea of how quickly the monster's stats will grow, and how hard they are to get/synthesize. There are 210 different monsters, though some are just color swaps of others, with different stats.
There are three monsters, Trode (トロデ, Torode), Leopold (レオパルド, Reoparudo), and Empyrea (レティス, Retisu) that can not be scouted or bred in the normal game. The only way to get these monsters is to visit a DS Station
in Japan or get all the monsters in your library and talk to a guy. There, one can use the games' Wireless mode to fight against these monsters and attempt to scout them. Leopold and Empyrea are required in order to synthesize the main monster into its final forms.
Some skill sets can be upgraded by maxing them. Others can be unlocked when parents have specific skill sets mastered. When synthesizing, the resulting monster can choose its skill sets from those its parents had, the ones that monster naturally knows, and any new ones unlocked.
There are also skill seeds, which can be found during the night, and give 3 skill points to the selected monster.
After being told that the opening ceremony has been postponed, Joker heads for Infant Isle to take the Scout's Pledge. After reaching the peak of the mountain, Joker witnesses a female scout attempting to scout a canine monster. The monster, who, unlike other monsters, can speak the human tongue, derides her attempt to tame him and escapes. The girl introduces herself as Solitaire.
After taking the Scout's Pledge and attending the opening ceremony, presided by Dr. Snap, the head of the Monster Scouting Organization, Joker heads for Xeroph Isle, the desert island. After falling through quicksand into an underground cave, Joker witnesses the monster that Solitaire tried to tame falling unconscious after being attacked by an orc. Joker defeats the orc and takes the wolf to the island scoutpost to be healed, but the staff are unable to do anything due to never seeing him before. Strangely, Dr. Snap appears and heals the creature. Joker overhears Dr. Snap talking to the wolfpup about the Incarnus, a legendary creature that once saved Green Bays from destruction. After Dr. Snap leaves, the creature asks Joker if he would accompany him to a shrine on the island, which he had been attempting to enter when Joker found him. Joker agrees and the beast, Wulfspade, joins him.
Joker and Wulfspade find the shrine and enter the innermost chamber where, after defeating a guardian Golem, Wulfspade transforms into a featherless avian creature, Hawkhart. After Joker agrees to give Hawkhart the Scout's Mark, the prize for winning the tournament, Hawkhart joins him permanently. They travel to Palaish Isle where, after finding the island's shrine and defeating its guardian, Hawkhart transforms again into a primate creature, Cluboon. It is here that the creature reveals to Joker his true identity: the Incarnus. He has appeared again at the sign of a great catastrophe, which he is trying to stop, and each transformation grants him greater power to do so.
After this, Joker travels to Infern Isle, a zombie-infested island where a great disaster once took place, and from there to Celeste Isle, a large island with two great towered temples: the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon.
Joker competes in the tournament and wins. When he goes to receive the scout's mark, Dr. Snap gives him the mark but then takes the Incarni with him to Infern Isle. After journeying through several different isles a disaster strikes Infern Isle. Joker arrives at Infern Isle and starts scaling up the volcano. Near the entrance to the inner volcano, Joker must battle the Ace of Darkness. After defeating the Ace of Darkness, Joker regains the Incarni. Joker arrives at the peak of the volcano. There awaits Dr. Snap, who transforms into a monster after he absorbs darkonium, and attacks Joker. After Joker wins the battle the Incarni seals the portal and disappears. Later on, after Joker is advised to go back to Infant Isle, the Incarni reappears at the Scout's Stone and rejoins Joker.
, creator of Dragon Ball
, also returned for Joker, creating the visuals for the game in his unique style. Completing the Dragon Quest team, Koichi Sugiyama
composed the tracks for Joker.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker received fairly decent scores overall, gaining an average of 76% on Metacritic
. GameSpot
's Austin Shau gave the game a 7.5/10, or "Good", with mostly positive comments, but advised users to approach the intense level-grinding with caution. IGN
gave a similar score, 7.9, citing the game's excellent graphics and over all quality. IGN stated that the game "should definitely surprise some newcomers to the franchise in the sheer amount of depth and versatility it presents." Nintendo Power
gave the game 8/10, and defended Joker, saying it was not just a Pokémon
pretender. Similarly, GameSpy
gave Joker an 8/10, and enforced the idea that the game is more than just a copy of Pokémon. Gamezone also gave the game a positive review with a score of 8/10. However, GamePro
, who gave Joker a 3.25/5, felt the game was just "another monster catch-and-battle game" along the lines of Pokémon. The review also cited the Scouting to be tricky and that the battle camera can be annoying. Game Informer
gave the game 8/10, with the game receiving the "Handheld Game of the Month" for the December 2006 issue. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu
gave the game a positive review with a total score of 36/40.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker sold 593,994 units in the first four days after release in Japan. To date, it has sold over 1.45 million units. Joker was wildly popular in Japan, spawning merchandise based on the game, such as carrying cases for the Nintendo DS.
.
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
role-playing game published by Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
, and the fourth installment of the Dragon Quest Monsters
Dragon Quest Monsters
or Dragon Warrior Monsters, as it was known in North America, is a spin off series of the Dragon Quest games. Published by Enix Corporation , it sets the player in a medieval/fantasy world filled with magic, monsters and knights...
series. Square Enix released the game on December 28, 2006 in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and in North America on November 6, 2007.
This is the first game in the series to have online play, via Nintendo Wi-Fi. Like the other games in the series, the character and monster designs are credited to long-time Dragon Quest
Dragon Quest
, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005,Due to the inconsistent usage by sources since Square Enix obtained the naming rights to Dragon Quest in North America. Dragon Quest has been used by sources to refer to games released solely under the Dragon Warrior titles...
series artist, Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama
is a Japanese manga artist and game artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. Toriyama admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he remembers for the great art...
, with the music composed by Koichi Sugiyama.
Gameplay
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the first game in the Dragon Quest Monsters series to be in 3D, and the first to be developed by TOSETOSE
is a video game development company based in Kyoto, Japan. It is most known for developing Nintendo's Game & Watch Gallery series, various Dragon Ball games, as well as other Nintendo products...
. It uses cel-shaded animation
Cel-shaded animation
Cel-shaded animation is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. It is a somewhat recent addition to computer graphics, most commonly turning up in video games...
, and the battles are of the same type in other Dragon Quest games: commands are issued in a turn based style, then are executed in full 3D.
The player's avatar is that of a tanned, grey/spikey haired youth with an editable name. He dreams of becoming a world famous monsters 'scout', which is a tamer of wild monsters who uses them in battle. There is a link to real world scouts in that there is a landmark in-game known as Baden's bell which is a reference to the scouts creator Baden Powell.
The battle system itself is very similar to previous Dragon Quest Monsters games. The player controls up to three monsters that make up the party, and can issue them direct orders or set them to one of 5 AI settings. The main character does not directly participate in battles except for when the player uses items.
Joker does not have random battles. The only way to encounter enemies is to run into one on the overworld. The monsters can be seen, avoided, and attacked from their back to get a free attack round. Later on, the player gets the Whistle ability. This can be used at any time, other than in the city and where monsters don't appear, and in a way does count as a random battle as the enemies are randomly chosen.
The game takes place in the region known as Green Bays, consisting of seven islands. A jet-ski is used to travel from one island to another, with specific paths defined for every couple of piers. However, the main character may notice uncharted islands beyond some of the main islands. The chances for this are completely random and are not located on the main map. Pirates may also appear when traveling between islands, with the pirate captain, Crow, counting as a rare monster.
Wi-Fi
The game also has a Nintendo Wi-Fi element. The player connects to the server, and their monster team is ranked. The DS then downloads a set of opponents to battle. The battles are against the monster teams of higher and higher ranked other players. For each battle you win, you get a reward, either an item or a monster. These rewards change daily and can range from unexciting items to rare monsters such as liquid metal slimes. This feature is designed to be used once per day. The player can only fight one set of opponents, and get a reward once each day.Monsters
The player gets more monsters by scouting them. Unlike previous games in the series, this is a battle command, and not the result of using items in battle. You can make as many scouting attempts as you want during a battle, until the monster decides to join, or takes offense. Success depends on the relative strengths of the monsters making the attempt versus the relative defense of the monster that is being scouted.The monster families have been rearranged into a different categorization, so some monsters are in different families than they were on previous Dragon Quest Monsters games.
- Slime (スライム, suraimu).
- Dragon (ドラゴン, doragon).
- Nature (しぜん, shizen).
- Beast (まじゅう, majuu).
- Material (ぶっしつ, busshitsu).
- Demon (あくま, akuma).
- Undead (ゾンビ, zonbi).
- Incarni (しんじゅう, Shinjuu).
Unlike previous games in the series, there is not a Boss family. The Boss monsters (end game, or powerful bosses from Dragon Quest games) have been merged with the other families. For example, Zoma
Dragon Warrior III
Dragon Warrior III, known in Japan as , is a console role-playing game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix . It is the third installment in the Dragon Quest series , first released for the Famicom in Japan, and then the NES in North America...
is now in the Demon family.
Monsters now all have a rank associated with them: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, and X. The ranks give an idea of how quickly the monster's stats will grow, and how hard they are to get/synthesize. There are 210 different monsters, though some are just color swaps of others, with different stats.
There are three monsters, Trode (トロデ, Torode), Leopold (レオパルド, Reoparudo), and Empyrea (レティス, Retisu) that can not be scouted or bred in the normal game. The only way to get these monsters is to visit a DS Station
DS Download Station
DS Download Station is an in-store demo service launched by Nintendo in early 2006. As the name implies, these are stations that can be used to download game demos and trailers to a Nintendo DS. The range of a Nintendo DS Download Station is approximately 65 feet...
in Japan or get all the monsters in your library and talk to a guy. There, one can use the games' Wireless mode to fight against these monsters and attempt to scout them. Leopold and Empyrea are required in order to synthesize the main monster into its final forms.
Skill system
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker features a skill system based on the one from Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. Skill points are gained on certain character levels, and these can be assigned to one of the monster's (up to) three skill sets, learning techniques or gaining stats boosts.Some skill sets can be upgraded by maxing them. Others can be unlocked when parents have specific skill sets mastered. When synthesizing, the resulting monster can choose its skill sets from those its parents had, the ones that monster naturally knows, and any new ones unlocked.
There are also skill seeds, which can be found during the night, and give 3 skill points to the selected monster.
Plot
The protagonist, Joker, is a young boy who wishes to join the upcoming Monster Scouting Tournament taking place in the Green Bays island cluster. Having been imprisoned for attempting to join without permission, Joker meets with Warden Trump, his father and leader of CELL, a secretive monster research organization. Trump gives Joker permission to join the tournament, but only to spy on the proceedings. After choosing his first monster, Joker heads for Domus Isle.After being told that the opening ceremony has been postponed, Joker heads for Infant Isle to take the Scout's Pledge. After reaching the peak of the mountain, Joker witnesses a female scout attempting to scout a canine monster. The monster, who, unlike other monsters, can speak the human tongue, derides her attempt to tame him and escapes. The girl introduces herself as Solitaire.
After taking the Scout's Pledge and attending the opening ceremony, presided by Dr. Snap, the head of the Monster Scouting Organization, Joker heads for Xeroph Isle, the desert island. After falling through quicksand into an underground cave, Joker witnesses the monster that Solitaire tried to tame falling unconscious after being attacked by an orc. Joker defeats the orc and takes the wolf to the island scoutpost to be healed, but the staff are unable to do anything due to never seeing him before. Strangely, Dr. Snap appears and heals the creature. Joker overhears Dr. Snap talking to the wolfpup about the Incarnus, a legendary creature that once saved Green Bays from destruction. After Dr. Snap leaves, the creature asks Joker if he would accompany him to a shrine on the island, which he had been attempting to enter when Joker found him. Joker agrees and the beast, Wulfspade, joins him.
Joker and Wulfspade find the shrine and enter the innermost chamber where, after defeating a guardian Golem, Wulfspade transforms into a featherless avian creature, Hawkhart. After Joker agrees to give Hawkhart the Scout's Mark, the prize for winning the tournament, Hawkhart joins him permanently. They travel to Palaish Isle where, after finding the island's shrine and defeating its guardian, Hawkhart transforms again into a primate creature, Cluboon. It is here that the creature reveals to Joker his true identity: the Incarnus. He has appeared again at the sign of a great catastrophe, which he is trying to stop, and each transformation grants him greater power to do so.
After this, Joker travels to Infern Isle, a zombie-infested island where a great disaster once took place, and from there to Celeste Isle, a large island with two great towered temples: the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon.
Joker competes in the tournament and wins. When he goes to receive the scout's mark, Dr. Snap gives him the mark but then takes the Incarni with him to Infern Isle. After journeying through several different isles a disaster strikes Infern Isle. Joker arrives at Infern Isle and starts scaling up the volcano. Near the entrance to the inner volcano, Joker must battle the Ace of Darkness. After defeating the Ace of Darkness, Joker regains the Incarni. Joker arrives at the peak of the volcano. There awaits Dr. Snap, who transforms into a monster after he absorbs darkonium, and attacks Joker. After Joker wins the battle the Incarni seals the portal and disappears. Later on, after Joker is advised to go back to Infant Isle, the Incarni reappears at the Scout's Stone and rejoins Joker.
Development
Developed by behind the scenes game developer TOSE, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the first Dragon Quest game to feature Wi-Fi capabilities. Yuji Hori, famous for leading the development for all of the Dragon Quest games, added new gameplay elements to this installment, such as "scouting" for monsters. Akira ToriyamaAkira Toriyama
is a Japanese manga artist and game artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. Toriyama admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he remembers for the great art...
, creator of Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the...
, also returned for Joker, creating the visuals for the game in his unique style. Completing the Dragon Quest team, Koichi Sugiyama
Koichi Sugiyama
is a Japanese music composer, council member of JASRAC , and honorary chairman of the Japanese Backgammon Society...
composed the tracks for Joker.
Reception
| Publication | Score | Review | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1up.com 1UP.com 1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009.... |
B | → | ||||
| Weekly Famitsu Famitsu is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD... |
36 of 40 | |||||
| GamePro.com | 6.5 of 10 | → | ||||
| GameSpot GameSpot GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which... |
7.5 of 10 | → | ||||
| Hardcore Gamer Magazine Hardcore Gamer Magazine Hardcore Gamer magazine is an American video game magazine published by Robert Kotick. First published in 2005, Hardcore Gamer has had over 30 issues published and has since spawned a website, .... |
9.5 of 10 | |||||
| IGN.com | 7.9 of 10 | → | ||||
| Nintendo Power Nintendo Power Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was... |
8 of 10 | |||||
| Play Magazine Play (US magazine) Play was a U.S.-based magazine focused on video games, anime, manga, film, DVD, television, comics, music and media. Published by Fusion Publishing, Inc. since 2001, Play magazine also had a separate Internet presence on its website, Play Online... |
7 of 10 | |||||
| Metacritic Metacritic Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,... Provides aggregate scores. |
76 of 100 | → | ||||
| Notes: |
||||||
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker received fairly decent scores overall, gaining an average of 76% on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
's Austin Shau gave the game a 7.5/10, or "Good", with mostly positive comments, but advised users to approach the intense level-grinding with caution. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave a similar score, 7.9, citing the game's excellent graphics and over all quality. IGN stated that the game "should definitely surprise some newcomers to the franchise in the sheer amount of depth and versatility it presents." Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
gave the game 8/10, and defended Joker, saying it was not just a Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
pretender. Similarly, GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
gave Joker an 8/10, and enforced the idea that the game is more than just a copy of Pokémon. Gamezone also gave the game a positive review with a score of 8/10. However, GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
, who gave Joker a 3.25/5, felt the game was just "another monster catch-and-battle game" along the lines of Pokémon. The review also cited the Scouting to be tricky and that the battle camera can be annoying. Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
gave the game 8/10, with the game receiving the "Handheld Game of the Month" for the December 2006 issue. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
gave the game a positive review with a total score of 36/40.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker sold 593,994 units in the first four days after release in Japan. To date, it has sold over 1.45 million units. Joker was wildly popular in Japan, spawning merchandise based on the game, such as carrying cases for the Nintendo DS.
Sequel
Near the end of January, Square Enix announced the development of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2. The game is not a direct sequel to Joker, featuring a new protagonist, more than 300 monsters (some from Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies) and direct online multiplayer battling over Nintendo Wi-Fi ConnectionNintendo Wi-Fi Connection
The is an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Wii games. The service includes the company's Wii Shop Channel, DSi Shop, and Nintendo eShop game download services...
.