strange entry that i ended up coming to terms with eventually. the budget was absolutely not evenly applied to this game but unlike most games where this is true there's way more care and effort put in to the latter half of the game than the former. lots of odd narrative choices and callbacks to the previous two games, as well as attempts to spice up the series competitively (4 slot max-slotters are insane, but capable of being overcome with careful party setup, which is neat) and near the end of the main story, which has much tougher bosses than the past couple games' postgames. also gave us multi-palette fusion-transferrable shinies - all this cool stuff lets me look past the wonkiness a little.

The first two Monsters Joker games were some of the few 3D world RPG games on the original DS. This 3DS sequel takes all the best qualities of those games and pumps them up with tons of quality of life changes. Battles are now 4v4 instead of 3v3, assuming you're not using MASSIVE monsters that take up multiple slots. Every single of the 500/700+ (depending on which version of the game you're playing) monsters is ridable. Yes even the ones that are the size of mountains! I love how the story is a bit more sci fi than most other Dragon Quest games are. The original of this world, the tie ins to other games, the islands floating in space setting, and nearly everything about it was interesting. This is one of the greatest Dragon Quest games and monster tamer games ever made.

Read my review of the enhanced Professional version of the game here:
https://www.backloggd.com/games/dragon-quest-monsters-joker-3-professional/

square enix refusing to release most of the Dragon Quest games that came out on the 3DS over here is a freakin' travesty

If mashing monsters together to make cool powerful dudes designed by Akira Toriyama appeals to you then man do I have the subseries for you! Some overhauls make creating powerhouses a bit easier in this game (and for making the monsters you like powerful, too), which I honestly think is fun! As a result the game does end up on the easier side, except for the end- and post-game where a lot of bullshit gets cranked up to maximum. Think the only real downside beyond that is the lame accessory crafting and customization system, which has materials that are a pain in the ass to get in meaningful quantities.

Oh yeah, and I love the sci-fi-fantasy aesthetic the game has going on. It's fun!