Yoko Taro did it again! This expansion is the true finale of the game and is filled to the brim with plot twists and character development. Being a movie gacha game did still hold it back a little but this is absolutely NieR 3. The story is as wild and twist heavy as you'd expect from a game in this series. I loved 10H, Mama's twist, and how this expansion connected not only to Replicant and Automata but also to Drakengard 1 and to an extent 3. It's a love letter to lore nerds like me. I genuinely can't believe how many old characters were bosses in ways that made sense canonically. I'm unsure how I feel about the absolute ending ATM given I literally just beat it when I'm writing this but I can say for certain the journey through this game was worth it. I can't wait to see how the next game builds off the lore this established.

Other Story Arc Review:
• First Arc: https://www.backloggd.com/u/DayChan/review/1493449/
• Sun/Moon: https://www.backloggd.com/u/DayChan/review/1438202/

I love the new modes added. Had so much multiplayer fun with Lego, Racing, and Festival. This game and season in particular genuinely helped me connect better with my boyfriend's family which is nice. New skin crossovers like Metal Gear were fantastic. The new map felt a bit too basic though. A lot of the POIs don't stick out enough from each other. It was carried by thinks like the ever moving train and floating island but the train takes way too long to circle around so sometimes players don't even see it. I'm glad it was super easy to level up in this season though because I got to 250 which I had never done before. I barely ever got above 215 before after grinding hard but I don't even think i really grinded this time.

Main Story: April 22nd.
100%: April 30th (176 hour play time).

This is one of my absolute favorite games of all time and that's mainly due to the fact that DQ4 is in my top 5 games and I'm a huge monster tamer fan. Getting a combination of both with my favorite mainline character Psaro as the protagonist is just the perfect game to market towards me. I enjoy every moment of 100%ing this game over a nearly half a year period. I truly took my time with this game like none other.

Story & Characters:
Let's start with the flaws. Despite having dark plotlines this game was noticably always in an uplifting mood. That's not necessarily bad, heck most of my favorite games are like that, but I do wish this game put greater emphasis on emotional value of characters. That's a quality that made me fall in love with DQ4. This game is a nice add on to DQ4's narrative though. It's wonderful to see events transpire from a different point of view, getting to explore Nadiria further, and the new lore fleshes out the world's backstory nicely. I do wish the Chosen showed up more potentially in boss battles against the player. Dragon Quest isn't used to anti heroes or antagonists in the protagonist role and it does kind of show. I definitely prefer Psaro and Rose in DQ4 than this game in all honesty but that's not to say I dislike them here. There's just something a little off about them to me compared to how I interpreted them in the original game. The new characters like Ludo, Dolph, Randolfo, and Azabel are all super cool and interesting though. Ludo is my favorite amongst them. The family dynamic between some of the cast was awkward in a good realistic way despite the fact they're a crazy demon lord family that mostly hate each other. It was also neat to see Toilen from DQ5 in this game but much younger and with an entirely unique design this time around. Healie also got a human form redesign and he's honestly cute. I actually wish he was a party member that accompanied Psaro more often because of how great his design is.

Exploration & Season Changing:
This game is split up into regions that you can fast travel between. Early game typically has smaller areas and you unlock larger areas as you progress. Every area has its own distinct climate and season cycle. The human world now known as Terrestria has a typical Earth season cycle but the Circles of Nadiria are all so unique and interesting. One moment you're in a green poison swamp with acid rain and the next thing you know the season changes with a blood moon overhead. New parts of the map open up in some seasons like being able to ride large flowers through the air in spring, climbing vines in summer, or walking across water/honey in winter. Honey? Well yes one of the underworlds is food themed which is honestly really cool. The Circle of Indulgance is probably my favorite setting in game because of all the tasty looking food everywhere. The Circle of Caprice is hard competition though because I love the waterfalls coming from magic in the sky and the constellations in the night sky with shooting stars. Some areas in the game simply look nothing short of beautiful but there are some kind of ugly areas too TBH. One such area is the Circle of Temper especially during winter. I don't know why but winger tends to be the ugliest season in terms of textures in game. Spring almost always look beautiful everywhere though thankfully. I don't really care about graphics that much and I do think the good areas outweigh the bad but still it is a flaw worth mentioning.

Monsters, Taming, Fusing, & DLC:
Having over 520 monsters to collect even with some being recolors is very impressive. The fusion system that is akin to Shin Megami Tensei is quite fun to mess around with but it can make obtaining every monster the game has to offer a big time sink. The Mole Hole DLC helps save hours for sure but unfortunately it is a paid DLC mode. I do think it could've been free in base game along with multiple day one DLC. Regardless, I do think I got my money's worth out of all three DLC packs. I also managed to get a hold of a code for the McChallenge event which was fun and got me some very rare monsters that not many players have. Those monsters are rather low ranked though so after I beat the main story I dropped them in favor of more powerful monsters. This game has most mainline final bosses and some side villains but it's definitely easy to tell they didn't go as crazy as the Joker games which were full of other spin-off representation and some unique monster ideas. I would've loved to use the Rocket Slime tanks, the Realm of the Mighty, Gomechan, and other crazy monsters those games had again. That is one way in which I think Joker 3 is better than The Dark Prince. Still, most mainline games including 11 now are represented well. Only DQ10 felt a little lacking in The Dark Prince to me since it only has 3 bosses that are all from Version 1 but I'm not that upset by it since I know not many western fans have actually played 10. The Dark Prince's roster size took me 175ish hours to get em all so there's definitely not a lack of content. It's honestly kind of crazy that DQM2 remake on 3DS has even more monsters (600).

Joker 3 VS The Dark Prince:
Joker 3 has so many crazy monsters, new variation concepts, let you actually ride all the monsters, had a much cooler setting, and more too. A part of me wants to say Joker 3 is objectively a better Dragon Quest Monsters game but something about The Dark Prince does make me like it more. Besides the fact it's connected to DQ4 with Psaro as the protag (absolutely massive pro), I think being able to play it on my TV instead of only on a handheld system is a huge plus. No other DQM has that advantage. Handheld gaming is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I like to just lay on my bed with my TV nearby and chill that way. The seasons changing every few minutes to change what parts of the map you can explore and what monsters spawn is also a pretty big pro, especially when the changing is in real time and has a noticable impact on the map. At the end of the day exploring space with sci-fi elements and exploring the underworld with delicious treats are both fun. I love both games a lot, they're equally amongst my favorite monster tamers of all time, heck within my top 25 favorite games of all time too.

Conclusion:
The Dark Prince is a fantastic game that was well worth the decade long wait. It has flaws but so does every game really. In my eyes this game was a blast and a 10/10 experience which I don't say often. I would highly recommend it to fans of DQ4, monster tamers in general, and those simply looking for a calm turn based RPG that can help relieve stress. I love you DQM3 and I hope many more people try this game and enjoy it the way I have.

This DLC has the most to talk about for both better and for worse. It offers access to randomly generated dungeons that give chests and allow you to level up fairly quickly. It's genuinely a good way to improve your team and inventory. I was quite impressed early on, but I quickly realized it's just a hassle that I don't find much enjoyment in after a couple attempts. Needing to look through every room to find a monster with a key around it gets a bit repetitive. The rooms feel too similar most of the time. I did see a lot of monsters I was unfamiliar with but the game overall is good in this aspect so it's not really a dungeon specific pro. This DLC is absolutely the most content filled and debatably the most useful depending on your play style, but I will be ranking it under Mole Hole due to it being more to the point compared to this slower dungeon crawling mode. The longer dungeons just get boring too quickly even with immense difficulty cause hard battles and running around randomly is all it is for an hour. The fact that you can leave at any time but lose all items if you do just feels discouraging like why make it so that players actually have to play the dungeon for so long to get their reward? I guess they signed up for it if they chose harder difficulty dungeons and you can save within the dungeon but still.

This review is only for the original base story which was decent but the unfun mobile gacha mechanics made it not desirable to play though. Still, if you do complete it you will have part of a story that in the end eventually becomes something truly fantastic.

Other Story Arc Reviews:
• Sun/Moon: https://www.backloggd.com/u/DayChan/review/1438202/
• World/People: https://www.backloggd.com/u/DayChan/review/1493465/

Really useful DLC that makes capturing monsters you already had much easier. I do feel like this could've been in base game though, possibly as a late game unlockable dungeon. I'm not too upset by this being locked behind an additional paywall but that does make my score of it go down slightly.

Edit after beating the game's main storyline:
Okay this is actually way more useful in late and post game when you have multiple monsters that are only obtainable through synthesis only leading to more monsters that are synthesis only via the other synthesis only monsters. Almost feels like this mode is the only thing keeping me sane trying to get every monster. My rating isn't changing though since it still kinda sucks it's behind a pay well but def better this exists at all than if it didn't. Def the most worthwhile of the day one paid DLC.