Become Master of Monsterkind.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince (Dragon Quest Monsters 3: The Demon Prince and the Elf's Journey in Japan) is the seventh installment of the Dragon Quest Monsters spinoff of the Dragon Quest series, and a retelling of Dragon Quest IV told from the perspective of the game’s Big Bad, Psaro. It was released on the Nintendo Switch on December 1st, 2023.
As a young boy, Psaro and his sickly mother were abandoned by his father, Randolfo the Tyrant; and were driven out of a human village that learned of Psaro's parentage. Psaro attempted to confront his father, only for Randolfo to blow him off and curse him to be unable to harm monsters. After settling in the dwarf village of Rosehill for years, one of the villagers presents Psaro with a workaround: he can become a Monster Wrangler, recruiting teams of monsters to fight on his behalf. Now with a clear path to breaking his curse and getting revenge, Psaro sets off to become the Master of Monsterkind he is known for, building an army of monsters, and meeting some friends along the way...
Just like the previous Monsters series games from Terry's Wonderland 3D onwards, both sides of monsters fight 4 on 4, with monsters of various sizes, and the usual skill trees, traits, and monster training.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: The game tends to present Psaro as more of an Anti-Hero than a full protagonist. On paper he's gathering power to take revenge against humans, but many of the subplots involve him taking on threats to innocent monsters (leaving it up to the player whether he's doing it out of the goodness of his heart or not). The game even whitewashes some of the crimes he committed in IV: he only intended to kidnap the Hero, and was framed for the hometown being slaughtered; and he didn't kill his opponents in the Endor arena as was originally implied.
- Adaptational Modesty: Maya's appearance in the game has her far more covered up than her infamously-skimpy dancer's costume from the original game, as she has shorts under her skirt and a second top beneath her bikini.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- The Mole Hole DLC is designed to make it easy to find specific monsters, including those that you've befriended before, since it's categorized by rank and size and includes monsters only found under certain conditions, including synthesis and eggs.
- The 1.0.3 patch made egg farming much easier by increasing rare drop rates, making eggs more common, and reducing the number of battles needed to reset the drops from 10 to 1.
- Some of the rewards you get for getting mini-medals are basic members of the Metal Slime family, which will save you some trouble of trying to recruit them.
- Arc Welding: While Dragon Quest IV through VI share common elements and are considered a linked trilogy, the nature of those links are pretty ambiguous. The Dark Prince helps connect them by being a prequel to IV but also including a young version of Toilen Trubble, a minor character from V.
- Archnemesis Dad: Randolfo is the Big Bad of the game, refusing to help Psaro find a cure for Miriam's illness and cursed him not to attack monsters when his son fights against him.
- Artificial Brilliance: The player is given the advantage of a more intelligent monster AI than enemy monsters. Player monsters won't try to cast spells or use breath attacks on their turn if they've just been inflicted with statuses that would prevent those moves, nor will they try to cast spells that they lack the MP for. They also recognize an enemy's weaknesses and immunities, and will try to target weaknesses if possible and avoid using moves the opponent is immune to. At the same time...
- Artificial Stupidity:
- Enemy monsters are much dumber than player ones, and will make all of the above mistakes.
- Player monsters, meanwhile, have no sense of pacing, and will indulge in No Kill like Overkill even at the cost of tearing through their MP against weak opponents. They're also really good at ignoring that Bounce is in effect - amusing when a Metal Slime does it, Crag goes around it, but not fun when your fire-weak critter busts out Kafrizzle.
- Ascended Extra: The game fleshes out certain monster characters that were encountered in IV, the Slime that stayed with Rose in Rosehill Tower being named Gloopert, the Minidemon that informed Psaro that humans have taken Rose being named Devilinnote , the Winky that accompanied Psaro's Pawn in the kidnapping of Strathbaile's children and fighting Ragnar being named Eileen, and the Powie Yowie resident of Rosehill being named Zowie.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: A large part of the game is Psaro building his reputation in Nadiria by seeking out the strongest opponents in each Circle and defeating them.
- Beef Gate: On occasion, really strong monsters will appear in low-level areas. A courageous or foolhardy player can challenge them, but defeating then is very unlikely unless you come back later.
- Breaking Old Trends: Previous Monsters games were disconnected from the main series — even when starring a previous party member, they took place in different worlds and had nothing to do with their original games' plots. This is a flat-out retelling of Dragon Quest IV and elaborates on that game's backstory, even showing that the entire party from IV appears in the game (including the Hero, when Heroes are often excluded from spinoffs).
- But Thou Must!: A franchise standard, but played with in that since Psaro is a Villain Protagonist, there's frequently times where he's asked to do the heroic thing only for the asking character to then not take yes for an answer. One section in particular is especially blatant at railroading you: Rose and Toilen are at odds, and you have to decide who to side with. Even if you think Rose's story is sketchy, siding with Toilen will just make Rose convince you to believe her anyway. This leads to the late-game events of Dragon Quest IV until a Reset Button is pressed, bringing you back to this moment... only now this time Toilen is the correct choice, and the game won't move forward until you pick him. No, you can't cut the whole thing short by selecting him the first time around.
- Call-Back: Pruslas tries the same Look Behind You trick that he tried on the Hero in IV in the original timeline.
- Call-Forward: To Dragon Quest IV and beyond:
- Toilen Trubble visits Nadiria to find magical reagents for his research in rediscovering spells lost to the sands of time, a hobby that would persist into his elder years in Dragon Quest V. When Dr. Helix Helix, one of Aamon's underlings, tells Psaro and his group that the Secret of Evolution will take a millennium to learn, Toilen exclaims he'll be an old man by then, which is exactly what happens in V, though that's AFTER Psaro, and later Aamon, are defeated.
- Rosehill is where Psaro stayed in his childhood, and will be its protector one day years later. The town's layout even largely matches how it was in IV. In addition, Beleths, one of the monsters encountered near the village, attack it to find Psaro, their future master, on orders from Randolfo.
- Aamon is scheming to get rid of Randolfo, just like he will scheme to get rid of Psaro during Dragon Quest IV, though the scheme is make Psaro strong enough to fight his dad, since he's not targeting Rose... yet.
- Monty aids Psaro as a Monster Wrangler, showing him how to make parties of monsters, is what he'll eventually do with the Hero of Dragon Quest V. (That said, he also appears in Dragon Quest VII and some spinoffs, which are entirely different continuities — it could be they're not literally the same person, just a recurring character archetype with the same name, like Abbot Jack and Patty the Party Planner).
- Cutting Off the Branches: The game's telling of VI's events features the male Hero, not the female version. It also presumes that the player recruited Healie during Ragnar's chapter.
- A throwaway line during the final battle with Dolph confirms that Torneko was the party member who stayed behind in the Femiscyra jail after Kirk Buzzer framed the party for stealing a priceless artifact from Femiscyra Castle.
- A Day in the Limelight: Psaro is the main star of the game, being a Monster Wrangler since he was cursed not to harm monsters.
- Decoy Damsel: Rose is taken by greedy humans, yet when Psaro returns to Rosehill, she's a-okay in the tower, but claims that Toilen Trubble orchestrated her kidnapping. Toilen calls her out and asks Psaro about who's telling the truth and who's lying. Regardless of which choice you make, "Rose" is revealed to be a Succubat sent by Aamon to distract Psaro from saving the real Rose.
- Demoted to Extra: While the game does flesh out certain prominent monsters under Psaro's command from Dragon Quest IV, at the same time it also demotes Marquis de Leon and Balzack to mere cameos that can be obtained for your monster party.
- Zig-Zagged in the case of Estark: While the events of the game go over his origin story and awakening him is still one of Psaro's main goals, much like in Dragon Quest IV he is killed by the Hero before Psaro can get to him, and he can only be obtained as a rare Synthesized Monster. Dumah even ends up being the only member of the Unholy Trinity to not be fought by Psaro, as he encounters Izmah exploring deeper into Estark's Crypt and Venjah is fought as a postgame boss in the Whispwoods.
- Do Not Spoil This Ending: Prior to the game's release, the development team posted a message asking new players to refrain from spoiling any content regarding the ending and all Post-End Game Content until after January 31, 2024.
- Dub Name Change: Keeping with localization tradition, the English names for Hero's party are kept, such as Ryan sticking with Ragnar McRyan, Torneko being Torneko Taloon, and Marnia and Minea being Maya and Meena respectively.
- Elite Four: The bosses of the Upper Eschelons consist of Psaro's four chief underlings from the original game. He fights Barbatos, Pruslas, and Rashalavak (here named Blaise) first and then faces off with Aamon in his Sanctum.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Even if Psaro agrees that Toilen was telling the truth, Rose sheds a ruby tear, causing Psaro to realize he was wrong and blows him off, allowing the same scence of "Rose" revealing herself as a Succubat and mocking Psaro that her ruby tear she cried was genuine to fool him.
- Frame-Up: As it turns out, Psaro wasn’t responsible for the massacre of Solo’s Doomed Hometown but rather his older half-brother, Dolph, framed him for the deed by pretending to be him when carrying it out. Solo just happened to see the real Psaro walking away, so it unknowingly did better than what Dolph had intended.
- Gameplay and Story Integration:
- Psaro is trying to build his reputation by defeating powerful opponents. Defeating an area's "heavy hitter" (level boss) actively improves the odds of scouting monsters in that area.
- If a monster is asleep in the overworld and you start a fight with it, it'll have the "sleep" status condition when the battle starts. Though the same can't be said for its buddies...
- Part of the Circle of Fortitude storyline is that Barbatos can only be challenged during the Steelgleam Solstice, when the sun is at its brightest. As such, bad weather conditions won't appear on the Upper Echelon until you defeat him.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Aamon is this for the game, scheming to get rid of the current Master of Monsterkind, this time using Psaro to usurp his father, Randolfo. Subverted, as Randolfo saw through Aamon’s scheme and he gets killed by Dolph before he can takeover, making Aamon a Big Bad Wannabe.
- Heroic Mime: While Psaro spoke freely in IV, being the player character means he's silent here. He'll occasionally be shown talking in cutscenes, but the player doesn't get to hear him.
- Level Ate: The Circle of Indulgence is composed entirely of candy and treats, and offers sweets-based monsters like Crème Caraslimes and Chocolate Whisps.
- Market-Based Title: The US title is a severely shortened version of the Japanese title, Dragon Quest Monsters 3: The Demon Prince and the Elf's Journey.
- Mood Whiplash: Because the events after clearing each Circle that comprise the main plot can be done in any order, they don't have any bearing on the events within the Circles themselves. This means that Rose often goes from being driven to tears trying in vain to convince Psaro to turn away from his desire for vengeance one moment, to being excited about arriving in a domain comprised entirely of candy seconds later.
- Mythology Gag: One of the three Estarks that once terrorized the world long ago on Azabel's desire to purge the world of perceived sin, Izmah, resembles the King of Calamity's monster form.
- Named by the Adaptation: Many of the nameless NPCs from IV are given names here, such as the Roseville townsfolk and many of Psaro's followers.
- Origins Episode: The game shows how Psaro became the Master of Monsterkind, as well as his first adventures with Rose. It also shows that Estark wasn't just the Lord of the Underworld who discovered The Secret of Evolution, only to be sealed away by the Zenith Dragon before the events of Dragon Quest IV...he was actually named Dumah, one of 3 monstrous creations made by Azabel, a rouge Zenithian who stole the Secret of Creation to purge the world of perceived sinners.
- Point of Divergence: The Zenith Dragon shows Psaro what would've occurred had he got to Rose too late as he did originally. This along with Toilen using the Sands of Time lets him see through the Succubat's deception the second time and save Rose.
- P.O.V. Sequel: The game starts out seeming like a prequel detailing Psaro's efforts to topple his demon father Randolfo to become the new Master of Monsterkind before getting involved with the Hero and the Chosen, but after the Circle of Indulgence (Lower Echelon), it becomes apparent the game is taking place alongside the events of the main chapters of Dragon Quest IV, and thus shows what Psaro was up to behind the scenes trying to prevent the emergence of the Hero and finding the Lord of the Underworld, Estark, explaining things like why Zamovska was empty by the time of Alena's return from the Endor tournament (Psaro heard from Furgil that the king of Zamovska had a dream foretelling the return of Estark, and so imprisoned the entire kingdom at Diabolical Hall to prevent the rest of the world from learning about Estark and try to destroy him before Psaro can get a chance to subjugate Estark, abandoning the final match where he would have faced Alena in the process).
- Product Placement: At launch, the game had a special promotion with the Japanese branch of McDonald's; who distributed codes with delivery orders that could be redeemed for entry to special "McChallenge" tournaments with special fast-food themed monsters as prizes: a "Triple Splatty" (a hamburger-themed Slime Stack), a "Mimic with Cheese" (a hamburger Mimic), and a "Flurry Fiend" (an Imp with a McFlurry ice cream spoon).
- Punny Name: Carrying over from his first appearance in Dragon Quest V, Psaro is assisted by a young magic student named "Toilen Trubble", a pun on "toil and trouble" from the witches of Macbeth.
- Rank Inflation: Monsters are assigned ranks as they have been in the last few Monsters games, going up to A and then to S and X; only now the lowest tier is Rank G (it was only F before).
- Rare Random Drop: Some monsters are only available from randomly-generated eggs, with the rarest tier being Rainbow.
- Sequel Hook: Following Randolpho's defeat, Solo makes it clear to Psaro that he still very much intends to make the latter answer for his various crimes, setting up a future confrontation between the new Master of Monsterkind and the Chosen Hero.
- Seven Deadly Sins: The Circles of Nadiria include some of the Seven Deadly Sins' traits, with Indulgence being Gluttony with its world made out of food, Caprice being Greed with its sparkling gems, and Conquest and Temper doubling as Wrath with their focus on anger and fire.
- Starter Mon: When you start the game, you're given the choice of a Platypunk, a Fright Bulb, a Mud Mannequin, and a Cruelcumber.
- Suddenly Voiced: Shockingly breaking the series' tradition of Heroic Mime, Solo speaks.
- Superboss: The post-game includes fights against Estark Venjah, Wyrmsworth, Azabel, and an awakened Ludo, and defeating them unlocks the final S-Rank Cup in the Maulosseum.
- Villain Protagonist: The protagonist of the game is Psaro, IV's Big Bad, with this game showing how he became the villain he was in that game.
- Wake-Up Call Boss:
- Ludo is the first boss who needs smart tactics to win, as he attacks twice a turn, will buff his own attack, and can cast strong single-target spells and multi-target attacks. Going in with just a team of attackers will get you creamed unless you balance it with disruptors who can lower his attack or accuracy.
- If you haven't leveled up your team well, Petrarch will be throwing out Kazam and even Thwack to take down your team. He's also accompanied by two Sekerletons, who will require a bit more effort to kill than the average flunky.
- If you think you can get through the game without making use of the synthesis system and just leveling any monster you find out in the field, think again; General Chayne at Diabolic Hall will serve as a hard wall for monsters with only base-level stats due to sheer damage output with double attacks and the crit-hitting Hatchet Man, and he's the first case of a boss that hits the entire party
