Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker

by Square Enix

Product 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

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000SSNCYU
• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 6, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,949 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #40 in Video Games > Nintendo DS > Role-Playing

Product Description

Amazon.com

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the newest installment in the Dragon Quest franchise. Yuji Horii, the creator behind the series, Akira Toriyama, comic book artist and Koichi Sugiyama, composer and conductor have teamed up again to craft a gaming experience that has captivated more than one million players across Japan.

Enter the world of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker as the young hero, locked in a prison by your own father, the leader of a mysterious organization known as CELL. Released under orders to enter the Monster Scout Challenge, you will embark on a journey starting with a single monster and a scout ring, unaware of the dark and mysterious intentions that surround the competition.

Joker is the first game in the series to have online play, via Nintendo Wi-Fi. The battle system is similar to previous Dragon Quest Monsters games. The player has three monsters in a party which can be given direct orders or set to one of 4 AI settings. A player's main character does not directly participate in battles with the exception of using items when directed as such. The sole method of encountering enemies is to run into them on the overworld.

Features:

• The "big three" comprised of creator Yuji Horii, manga artist Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama, team up to create this gaming experience
• 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

Product Description

Square Enix DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: Joker 90712 PC Games

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a Pokemon Wanna-be, November 8, 2007

By 

David Michael Xanatos "hypercoyote" (Western KY, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (Video Game)

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!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, August 20, 2008

By 

M. Diaz "Smoke" (St. Amant, LA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (Video Game)

What can I say, DQMJ offers some of the most unique and interesting ideas into what appears to be a Pokemon clone. Even though the DQM series was inspired by Pokemon, the game and the series in and of itself offers inovative ideas to the "catch em all" formula. So let's begin. What sets this game apart from Pokemon?

-you can have 3 monsters in battle at once
-none of the monsters are rip offs of Pokemon monsters, they all appear in past DQ games
-monsters have skill sets which harbor a decent number of skills and each monsters can have up to 3 skill sets, offering a large number of skills on one monsters( lot more than Pokemon's 4)
-the breeding *Ahem* the synthesising system( it really is breeding but probably some people thought they didn't want their children to know that male and female = baby) is much deeper than Pokemon's breeding system
-ultimate monsters are created through repeated synthesising, which means if you like grinding to get higher numbers(ex. Disgaea) this game is for you
-in many ways the game is superior to Pokemon, although Pokemon offers better story and a more interesting catching system

Whew. Ok. So whats the goods right? If you like numbers, if you like struggling to make a monster better then you will love this game. The story is decent, but that is not where this game shines. Everything revolves around making bettter monsters and if you have wifi you will find that you will have to create some of the best monsters the game offers in order to have a chance at online play. A lot of hours will be spent on getting prepared to be a fair contender online(is Pokemon for Wii any different?). if you hate grinding, stay away form this game. This game is for grinding lovers, nough said. It's a great game, but it is NOT for everybody. Don't look at this as a role playing game because it's really not. It's a "catch em all" game. I really believe "catch em all" should be an actual game genre, because none of the the "catch em all" games feel like true RPGs. So if you are looking for some great epic story with many loveable characters, again, stay away. If you liked Pokemon you will likely fall in love with this game. It is a must buy for such players!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a pokemon in sight, but a monster battling game all the same, February 4, 2008

By 

Dan (Eastern Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (Video Game)

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.