Games Happy

Final month, Sq. Enix introduced that the once-Swap-exclusive Dragon Quest Monsters: The Darkish Prince would come to PC, lower than a 12 months after its authentic launch. Whereas, frankly, the announcement of a PC port isn’t a surprise in any respect given the priority of a number of different Sq. Enix ports in recent times, it was much less anticipated that Sq. Enix would additionally launch the sport for cellular units on the similar time.

We at RPG Web site had an opportunity to take a look at each the PC and cellular variations of The Darkish Prince. You could find our impressions beneath.

Dragon Quest: The Darkish Prince – PC Model Impressions

Writer: Adam Vitale

I’ve performed a model of each mainline Dragon Quest title (save for Dragon Quest X, the MMORPG that was by no means launched in English), and I’ve performed a number of of the spinoffs, together with the latest Dragon Quest Treasures. So, I feel it is protected to say I am a well-known fan of the Dragon Quest sequence. Nonetheless, the Monsters spinoffs — a sub-series that has a comparatively storied historical past of its personal — is one which I’ve by no means had the chance to go to. With a brand new PC (and cellular) port now obtainable for the latest entry in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Darkish Prince, this Dragon Quest vet dove into the sub-series for the primary time.

Cullen reviewed the unique Nintendo Swap model of Dragon Quest Monsters: The Darkish Prince earlier this 12 months, and he’s very thorough in discussing his impressions of the sport’s mechanics and programs. So, please discuss with his textual content for an in depth overview of the sport itself if you’re in search of a full evaluation. Whereas Cullen — by his personal phrases — went into The Darkish Prince as a fan of Dragon Quest IV in search of one other story in that universe, I as an alternative noticed the Dragon Quest IV aesthetic extra as a coat of paint – a dressing to what would hopefully be a compelling monster-collecting expertise.

The unique Swap model of The Darkish Prince was plagued with efficiency points, most notably in its framerate, reportedly struggling to hit 30 FPS in most areas across the recreation’s launch. Unsurprisingly, the PC model fares significantly better on this regard, able to hitting 4K resolutions and framerates effectively above 60 fps.

Nonetheless, the sport’s PC configuration choices are missing. There may be an possibility for low, medium, or high-quality graphics preset. There’s an possibility for low, medium, or excessive anti-aliasing. There is a decision & framerate part, a toggle for VSync, and that is about it. After all, the sport can have no downside working on most trendy PCs — the advisable GPU is a GeForce GTX 950, a graphics card that was launched virtually ten years in the past.

Whereas the artwork model is charming and the presentation is colourful, it is abundantly clear that The Darkish Prince is a Swap recreation at coronary heart. Environments stay comparatively easy, character animations are all the time a bit stiff, and most textures go for a flat cell-shaded look. In some methods, The Darkish Prince even appears to be like noticeably worse than Dragon Quest Treasures – one other Swap unique dropped at PC (and certainly, the configuration choices for Treasures are no less than a bit bit extra assorted). Nonetheless, it is a clean-looking recreation that runs effectively, simply do not count on top-notch visible constancy. 

As for the sport itself, I come away from it with ideas considerably just like what I felt about Dragon Quest Treasures. The construction of the sport is kind of completely different, going for a extra step-by-step development by way of the Circles of Nadiria as an alternative of Treasure’s extra free-form exploration, however there’s nonetheless a comfortable allure to all of it. I have never but accomplished the sport as of the time of this writing, however I’ve discovered a rhythm in capturing monsters, coordinating my social gathering composition, defeating the “Huge Hitters” that stand in my means, and rating up within the recreation’s coliseum bouts. I hope the sport will get a bit tougher as I enter the again half of the sport, however nonetheless, it is a comfy if easy monster-collecting expertise.

One key part to notice is that whereas all of the DLC of the unique Swap launch is included within the base value for these new ports, the ‘on-line battle’ characteristic of the Swap model has been eliminated totally. Whereas no cause is particularly given for this removing, I assume this determination was made as a result of Sq. Enix might discover coping with dishonest in these on-line matches to be extra effort than it’s value. It is an comprehensible determination, I suppose, however disappointing nonetheless.

Though the port is comparatively fundamental, and the sport itself is not a powerhouse by way of visuals, it is nonetheless an enchancment over the Swap launch. Ideally, Sq. Enix will launch future video games multiplatform concurrently, and we will keep away from having to attend months or longer to take a look at Sq. Enix’s titles. Having extra choices is often good, proper?

Dragon Quest: The Darkish Prince – Cell Model Impressions

Writer: Cullen Black

There was a good quantity of buzz across the state during which The Darkish Prince launched on Swap final 12 months. The framerate at launch was wildly inconsistent, and even after a much-needed efficiency patch a month after launch struggled to hit a strong 30 FPS. I used to be instantly intrigued by the thought of Android/iOS ports of this recreation given my experiences with the Swap model. As a shock to utterly nobody, cellular {hardware} launched after 2017 appears to have the ability to deal with the sport with little difficulty. Effectively … principally. For context, the cellphone I used for this impressions piece is a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 (launched in 2023).

The graphics settings are just like the Steam model of the sport, however only a bit extra restrictive. The one choices on provide are the graphical preset, with Antialiasing, Body Fee, and V-Sync controls being absent. It appears that evidently they’ve tucked choices round this behind the presets, however I can solely estimate based mostly on what I noticed as I performed. Your three presets are: Low, Medium, and Excessive. Low appears to be a concession for almost any cellphone, however makes the sport so blurry that I’d argue it might be principally unplayable. Medium’s graphics appear on par with Swap. Excessive matches your cellphone’s show decision, and for some cause is the one graphics mode the place it appears to bump the Body Fee up from a 30 FPS cap. One annoying distinction from the PC launch is that you simply can not change your preset whereas the sport is working. You’ll must go all the best way again to the title display screen every time you need to tweak your settings. Is Excessive supplying you with an expertise that runs and appears simply too good in your thermals to take? Higher save, sit by way of some loading, navigate again to the title menu, decrease it, and sit by way of some extra loading earlier than you get an opportunity to proceed monster accumulating.

For these serious about enjoying this model of the sport with any form of cellular doohickey dock or a controller, you’ll be dissatisfied. As of now, I discovered no approach to play the sport with a controller, as my makes an attempt to launch the sport with my Dualsense synced to my cellphone proved fruitless. The contact controls on the sport are strong sufficient, however don’t work effectively for lengthy play classes exploring the massive zones the sport has to supply. I notably discovered digicam controls a bit tough, particularly on a cellphone as large as mine. Battles no less than nonetheless work effectively with the touchscreen controls for the menus. It really works effectively sufficient, even when the sport’s scope is likely to be only a bit a lot for the sort of informal expertise related to cellular play.

There’s a enjoyable novelty in enjoying this recreation on a cellphone that I simply couldn’t resist. Whereas it isn’t the best port it might have been, it will get the job carried out. Should you’ve purchased a cellphone in the previous couple of years, there’s a very good likelihood your system will be capable to run The Darkish Prince significantly better than even an OLED Swap might, and have it look significantly better in each means. I want they put just a bit bit extra effort into it. Vertical show choices, extra customizable graphics choices (a framerate cap could be good!), and controller help could be nice incentives to have this be your go-to model of the sport. It’s actually compelling since this model of the sport has content material parity with the PC model and is offered at a launch low cost of $23.99 till 9/22/2024. For now, I feel I’ll keep on with the Steam Deck.