A fun addition to the Dragon Quest series. In some ways I get even more excited to play Dragon Quest spinoffs than the mainline entries, and had fun with this one.

The handful of new character and monster designs introduced in the game are pretty dang good, and the gameplay itself is fun as well. The treasures you can obtain are all references to different entires in the series, both to the mainline titles as well as the spinoffs, and it was fun spotting stuff I recognized from the other games.

It did feel a bit lacking in some areas, though. The amount of monsters in the game is remarkably limited, and I was a bit let down by there only really being 17 or so unique types, with the rest being palette swaps. For a game with monster recruitment as a main mechanic, it felt a bit sparse on variety, given the Dragon Quest Monsters series usually features hundreds of different varieties with mostly unique designs and only a handful of palette swaps. I wasn't expecting as many as there are there in those games, but it just felt kind of underwhelming in comparison. I also felt the maps were a bit TOO easy to totally explore, so after a certain point it doesn't feel like you're progressing as much.

Despite my nitpicks, I like this game a lot and recommend it if you're a fan of the series, or just looking for a more casual RPG-type game.