An engaging exploration JRPG where X doesn’t mark a spot.
There’s something about Dragon Quest. I’ve only played a few of them, but I can appreciate how cozy these bright, poppy worlds are and how well Akira Toriyama’s character designs are. Offers. But if you’re not a die-hard Dragon Quest fan or a new player looking to experience the first Japanese role-playing game, Treasures is a poor sell.
Dragon Quest Treasures is an exploration-focused action RPG featuring Erik and his sister Mia as seen in Dragon Quest XI. The third-person game functions as a sort of prequel, with the brothers being children traveling on the Raider ship that picked them up.
In the intro, Eric captures two mythical creatures (a green flying pig and a purple flying cat, named Pocus and Prusula) on the deck of a ship and transports the brothers to another world in the sky. This world, Draconia, consists of a series of floating islands shaped like two dragons. When Eric and Mia enter a new world, they are given a dagger that allows them to speak with their allies.
Porcus and Purrsula are described as magical beings sent by the gods to collect the seven Dragon Stones, which are somehow important to Draconia. give a task. The catch is that the land is full of treasure so there are competing treasure hunters living in. Then establish a base and at the end of this his 2 hour tutorial, search for treasure and find stones sent to the world for
At this point, you’ll have access to all five of the Pokémon Legends in Treasure: Arceus-style biomes. Go to an open zone, find treasure buried in the ground, and hold the A button to dig it out. Find treasure with the help of up to three monster companions who travel with you and can sniff out valuables as you explore the world and complete quests.
Recruit monsters by fighting them in the wild until you want to join them via the “scout” process. You will then need to return to your base and provide them with the materials the base requests (usually found in various biomes) before joining your team. Thankfully, once you recruit, you have storage, so you’re not tied down to just three at any given time.
When the treasure is about to be found, the monster will alert you and you can use your magical compass to see a telepathic image showing exactly where the treasure is from the monster’s first-person perspective. Treasures are generally not difficult to find. Returning treasure to your base will give you “value” in your treasury and increase your treasure hunt rank. Raising this rank will allow you to progress in the story, hunt more Dragonstones, and strengthen your base’s facilities.
In addition to helping you find treasure, they fight alongside you in battle and each have one of several different Field Skills, one of which lets you sprint for a while. One skill allows you to glide through the air, while another makes it easier to find materials. For example, my king slime allows you to bounce on high cliffs to reach them.
These powers work similarly to the traversal options in this year’s Pokémon games, but are tied to a stamina bar that drains quickly. These are no good. Stamina does not make treasure better or harder. On Sabrecat’s back he runs for 20 seconds, then jumps off and it’s just frustrating when he has to jog in the open world for another 20 seconds while recharging.
Combat, on the other hand, happens in very light Action RPG encounters, just like a watered-down Xenoblade or Ni No Kuni. Your monsters will approach others in the wild and fight automatically. You can do some Pikmin-style commands, but most of the time it will auto-hit battle when you control your character (you can switch between Eric or Mia while you’re at the base. no difference).
As brothers, you’ll fight enemies with daggers at the touch of a button, but most of the action will be done from a distance with a catapult slingshot. Slingshots can fire everything from pellets to elemental attacks, buffs, debuffs, and healing items while monsters do their thing. There’s also a screen-clearing super move available via a meter that recharges.
The fights aren’t badly controlled, but the action isn’t particularly fun. Encounters with Treasures were pretty easy to get through, and by level 30 I was easily able to defeat monsters that were 10+ levels higher than me. I felt almost the same.
This combat and game may have been built with younger players in mind, and it could be more fun to run around the world with this style of combat, but for me, it’s a battle by the time it rolls. was running out of steam enough credits in about 14 hours. Whether it’s a regular monster with a long health bar or the same lion man that looks like five different times, it doesn’t help that most bosses are reused.
Similarly, there is a problem with monster selection here. Of his 75 monsters that can be recruited, about 20 unique races have their own animations. The rest are effectively repeated, alternating color schemes and sometimes with different powers. So blue slime, pink slime, king slime, queen slime, metal slime, etc. all exist as “separate” monsters. Bats, knights, etc. are the same, so the 144 recruitable Pokémon in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Door to Infinity seems like a rich man’s shame by comparison.
Another annoyance can be seen in the game’s rivalry mechanics. At some point in the story, rival treasure hunting gangs will try to steal your treasure as you explore the open zones. They were easy to take out and usually he found one banked supermove was enough. Still, these sequences can pop up every few minutes or so, making this otherwise chilling-atmosphere game somewhat annoying. , was enjoyed as a lighter version of the exploration gameplay found in Arceus. Digging up treasures and having them appreciated is a lot of fun. That’s because of the fun grind, and because treasure is often based on characters and items from previous Dragon Quest games (think Smash Bros. trophies).
Collecting cooler monsters and finding rare materials also contributed to a largely satisfying loop. I love exploring fun he JRPGs. I also like the colorful cel-shading graphics that are full of the charm of Dragon Quest. Thankfully it works fine on Switch.
The story is similarly a gripping, low-stakes affair about two brothers going on an adventure, but if you want character development, high-stakes, or an insight into the world of Dragon Quest XI, stay out of it. It’s the cool, low-result stuff that gets you through the game from start to finish.
The strength of Dragon Quest Treasures lies in this cozy atmosphere. At its best, Treasures is his JRPG candy, serving as a solid first his JRPG for new players or a relaxing distraction for series fans. I just hope the game doesn’t progress too far. If Treasure had more monsters, a more thoughtful combat experience, fewer annoying interruptions, and a few bosses, Treasure would hit the Saturday morning comic high for Level 5’s best title. Unfortunately this is a bit off the mark.
