Traditions From One Series Are Being Broken by Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince

Although Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince isn’t the most conventional game in the series, it nevertheless defies convention in subtler ways.

Although Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince isn’t the most conventional game in the series, it nonetheless defies convention in a few less evident areas. The Dragon Quest Monsters series concentrates on mixed parties of people and 

monsters, in contrast to standard Dragon Quest games, which feature a group of humans travelling on whimsical fantasy adventures.

Dragon Quest Monsters is everything a spinoff should be: it features whimsical settings, gameplay that includes both monster-catching and fusing, and even more cartoonish than typical visuals.

 It creates a distinct personality for itself while adhering to the fundamental principles of the Dragon Quest series.

Nevertheless, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince stands out even among the other spinoff series. First of all, since DQM: Joker 2 was launched in 2011, this is the first Dragon Quest Monsters game to be distributed outside of Japan.

Not only that, but it’s the first Dragon Quest Monsters original game ever released on the Nintendo Switch, which has only seen remakes of prior Dragon Quest Monsters games (at least in Japan).

The contrasts between The Dark Prince and a regular Dragon Quest Monsters installment, however, go well beyond the fundamentals of its distribution; they are also plainly seen in the game.

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The First Antihero in the Dragon Quest Monsters Series Is Psaro

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince’s white-haired hero, Psaro, stands in a dimly lit castle hall and pulls his sword.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince will include a villain as the primary character for the first time ever in the franchise.

Psaro first appears in Dragon Quest 4: Chapters of the Chosen, when he seeks to usurp Estark, a much more formidable foe, and take over as Ruler of Evil.

Dragon Quest Monsters typically features characters from the series’ protagonists: Dragon Quest 6’s Terry led the original game; Dragon Quest 7’s Kiefer made an appearance in Caravan Heart; and Dragon Quest 11’s Erik starred in Dragon Quest Treasures, which started off as a Monsters game. Though it’s unlikely that Psaro would be overtly bad in The Dark Prince, it may still be an intriguing reversal.

Dragon Quest Builders 2’s Lead Is Being Followed By Dragon Quest Monsters

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, on the other hand, is breaking this tradition by cleaving to another one that was started by its sibling spinoff series, Dragon Quest Builders.

Malroth, Dragon Quest 2’s main enemy, was portrayed heavily in Dragon Quest Builders 2 in a supportive capacity. 

Malroth was a demonic being in his first form, determined to do as much damage as he could. However, he makes an appearance in Builders 2 as a kind and kind person who aids the heroes in repairing a broken and frightening world. 

Giving the usually undeveloped villain a chance at redemption and significant character development was a brilliant approach to studying him.

For Psaro, Dragon Quest monsters could easily accomplish the same.

In the Dragon Quest 4 remakes for the PlayStation 1 and Nintendo DS, Psaro already had a sort of redemption story.

Both of them have an additional chapter at the conclusion, when the heroes work with Psaro to save Rose from dying and restore equilibrium to the planet. 

Therefore, there are two possible settings for Dragon Quest Monsters: either place it in the universe where Psaro succeeded in saving Rose and tie in with the events of Dragon Quest 4, or set it before his heel flip and develop his connection with Rose. 

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince has the chance to defy series convention and give one of its greatest villains further nuance, whatever path it chooses to go.