An extremely unusual creature-raising sim, mostly to its benefit but sometimes not.
Whereas Pokemon and SMT offer huge, linear worlds and DWM 1-2 have procedurally-generated dungeons, Joker has a small set of mid-sized sandboxes. They look good, but repeatedly traipsing over the same ground gets old—and this is a grindy enough game that you have to do that. Fert Isle is the worst; it's too linear.
Joker's full-3D, over-the-shoulder graphics are very impressive for a DS game; I struggle to think of another DS RPG that took the same approach or another DS game of any genre with such detailed models. It's Dragon Quest, so the monster designs are great, though the palette swaps are a little disappointing coming from other raising sims that aren't Monster Rancher.
The soundtrack is good but tragically unvaried. Of the seven explorable islands, five share a single theme; all of the dungeons but the last share a theme; and so on.
I don't like how the skill point system forces you to choose between interesting skills and vital stat point boosts, or the way it pushes you to spend a monster's skill points before fusion (which requires you to swap them into your party, annoyingly).
The English text is well-written and well-edited.
Whereas Pokemon and SMT offer huge, linear worlds and DWM 1-2 have procedurally-generated dungeons, Joker has a small set of mid-sized sandboxes. They look good, but repeatedly traipsing over the same ground gets old—and this is a grindy enough game that you have to do that. Fert Isle is the worst; it's too linear.
Joker's full-3D, over-the-shoulder graphics are very impressive for a DS game; I struggle to think of another DS RPG that took the same approach or another DS game of any genre with such detailed models. It's Dragon Quest, so the monster designs are great, though the palette swaps are a little disappointing coming from other raising sims that aren't Monster Rancher.
The soundtrack is good but tragically unvaried. Of the seven explorable islands, five share a single theme; all of the dungeons but the last share a theme; and so on.
I don't like how the skill point system forces you to choose between interesting skills and vital stat point boosts, or the way it pushes you to spend a monster's skill points before fusion (which requires you to swap them into your party, annoyingly).
The English text is well-written and well-edited.