Shulou(Shulou.com)12/24 Report--

It has been seen for seven years, a series of orthodox new works.

Before the formal evaluation begins, the author would like to spend a little ink to introduce this old series, which now seems to be a little unpopular. As a derivative branch of "Warriors fighting Dragons" series, one of the national RPG in Japan, "Wonderland of Wonders fighting Dragons" (hereinafter referred to as DQM) was born on the GB platform in September 1998, slightly later than the "Pokemon Red and Green" which was born in 1996.

"DQM" first featured Terry, a popular character in "DQ6", about his wonderful experiences as a child. However, the real protagonist is the "DQ" series of various monsters. The monster design of the cartoon master Akira Niaoyama is a big selling point. The rules of system play are integrated into the characteristics of "DQ" on the basis of the essence of "Bao Ke Meng", with monster capture, cultivation, synthesis and war as the core. Although the performance is not as good as the "Bao Ke Meng" series that swept the world, the initial sales of "DQM" also reached 2.3 million, successfully creating a branch series for "DQ".

Limited by the characteristics of the "brave fight the dragon" IP itself, the main market of "DQM" has always been in Japan. In the NDS era, the "DQM Joker" series also relied on communications to hold some official competitions, but sales went from bad to worse. After reproducing the first and second generations of the series, "DQM" in the 3DS era ended temporarily with 620,000 sales of "Joker 3". (note: DQM Super Light, a mobile game launched in 2014, has been doing well, but it has also been announced that it will stop service on January 31, 2024 and have a life span of up to 10 years. )

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the "DQM" series. For fans, the Journey of the Warriors against Dragons, Monsters, Wonderland 3 Demon Prince and Elves is the orthodox sequel of seven years after the end of the "Joker" trilogy, 22 years after "DQM2". The production team can also be said to be full of feelings: the protagonist chose the popular villain of "DQ4"-death Pizarro. In fact, one of the companions in "DQ4", "Hoymi Slim" is the first monster companion in the history of "DQ" series.

The story of "DQM3" shows how Pizarro went from prince to king of the devil. Rosalie, an elf close to him, also has a lot of roles in the game, even the protagonist of "DQ4" will appear, and there are some egg dialogues such as "staff of change", but there are also plots that are different from the original, and there are not too many spoilers here. For fans who have played "DQ4" series, "DQM3" will have a lot of feelings and fun bonus, of course, have not played 4 generations will not affect the understanding of the plot.

In terms of monsters, this book includes classic monsters up to "DQ11", including the most popular villains-the commander of the devil's army and the witch of ice. Before "DQ11" was ready to launch the decision version, players were asked to vote for the new companions they wanted to add, and both of them were in the forefront, but it was a pity that the "DQ11 decision version" failed to do so. Now fans have finally got what they want in DQM3, and the use of generations of classic BOSS has always been one of the selling points of DQM.

The addition of monsters to "DQM3" plus a small number of newly designed monsters brings the total number of monsters in "DQM3" to 500 + (there are 523 icons in the game body at this stage). The number of this monster is not large in the series, due to the existence of a large number of "color-changing monsters", resulting in even fewer types of actual monsters, as the 25th anniversary of the series appears to be insincere in this regard.

Feel the changes of the seasons and observe the monster ecology as a Japanese round RPG series, "DQM" since 3D, the traditional maze exploration has also added a new meaning-the presence of various monsters not only becomes visible to the naked eye, but also presents some simple ecological characteristics, making players feel that these monsters are "living" in this land, rather than simply brushing monsters.

The field map of spring, summer, autumn and winter in the same map "DQM3" has seasonal changes, as well as differences in day and night and weather. With the passage of time, the season and climate will change in real time. These changes will not only affect monsters infested in the wild, but also change the terrain and machinery. For example, in winter, the river will freeze into ice, and you can walk on it; in summer, vines will grow on the cliffs, allowing players to climb onto the platform, and so on. Each map is different. The terrain changed by the changes of the four seasons will be prompted by icons on the map, and there will also be colorful "four seasons goblins" in the scene as a guide, adding some fun to the map exploration.

As part of map design, the types of monsters and the ecology they present are also an important part of adding realism. In addition to the plain of the preface chapter, the map of this work can be divided into six areas, each of which is divided into primary, intermediate and superior, and the topographic features are very distinct. For example, the scene of "Dessert House Devil World" is composed of cakes, macarons, biscuits, doughnuts and other desserts, mostly monsters such as "chocolate tower", "honey bag" and "dessert magic man". Other monsters are also dominated by colorful colors.

The size difference of the monster is visible to the naked eye on the map, which is helpful for catching L-shaped monsters. Simple interactions sometimes occur between similar monsters or different monsters, but I personally think that the interaction is still too little. The upgrade of the game platform from 3DS to NS, in addition to the evolution of picture quality, the ecology should have been richer. In addition, there are also some problems in the judgment of the enemy, such as the monster is clearly alert on the map and actively approaches the player, which may still be undiscovered after triggering the battle; on the contrary, touching the sleeping monster, there will be a sneak attack after the war-these details should have been handled better.

The difference in the size of the monster can be seen on the map, the traditional maze exploration of RPG is mainly reflected in the indoor scene. There is no seasonal or weather change in the room, so the monsters are fixed, and the complexity of the terrain will increase significantly in the medium term. However, due to the lack of "riding" and other systems, the maze is lack of fun and riddle to explore, and it is difficult to leave a deep impression.

Body system adjustment, the core charm is still "DQM3" continues the series of years of development of the system framework, the core charm is still the capture, cultivation and synthesis of monsters, only fine-tuning in some details, some optimization in the past works have also been inherited, such as the elimination of monster gender from "DQMJ3", more useful "search with" function and so on.

According to the composite object selected by the player, a new monster will be born according to the race and level to which it belongs. Not only that, but the offspring will inherit the skill tree of their parents, and the full-level skill tree may evolve. Therefore, the birth of a powerful monster should at least be cultivated from the grandparents. Coupled with specific combinations such as "four-body synthesis" and monsters limited by "hatching eggs", it takes a lot of work to cultivate a strong team in order to perfect the map. Players who want to save time can consider buying a paid DLC, which is of great benefit to both practicing and catching strange things.

Grandparents with a specific combination, directly determine the "four-body synthesis" of the third generation of monsters from the "DQMJ2" monster shape system has been greatly changed in this work, the general size is no longer exclusive to some monsters, but changed to a random attribute. Any kind of monster in "DQM3" can appear small (S) and large (L), the latter need to occupy 2 squares in the team, but they have three more features than their smaller monsters, and tend to act multiple times per turn. In addition, there are no more super-giant monsters occupying 3 or 4 squares in this work.

"characteristics + skills + growth" is a prerequisite for judging whether a monster is strong or not, while the existence of body size makes players have to choose. The three teams-L × 2, Lakers S × 2, S × 4 have their own advantages and disadvantages. Cultivate a powerful monster full of sense of achievement, in addition to being able to fight forcefully in the process and challenge the arena, the ultimate goal is to compete with other players in online warfare.

The large monster occupies 2 squares, and the networking elements that require players to choose "DQM3" include: "Master ranking Battle", "Friends Battle" and "multiplayer Championship"; "Quick Lien Chan", which automatically fights with other players' data; and "online Store" that updates products every day. The NS version of the network environment has been greatly improved compared with NDS and 3DS (especially for domestic players), and only online games need to buy membership services, the latter two do not need Nintendo Switch Online, stand-alone players are basically unaffected. However, the local game has been completely deleted, and it is hard to understand that the two players have to connect to the Internet even if they are face-to-face.

Conclusion the series of "the brave fight the dragon" has a long history and has plenty of accumulation in terms of monsters, and the system framework built by "DQM" for many years also makes the game highly playable. It's just that for fans of the series, "DQM3" is hardly a sincere work.

Although the plot has achieved "full voice", the handling of the animation is very simple and often blacked out rudely, and the story that should have been supplemented by "DQ4" is as insipid as water. Under the premise that the total number of monsters is small, the existence of a large number of skin-changing monsters even makes people suspect that they are preparing for "DQM3P" in advance. Paid DLC "Mole Maze" exists as a built-in reward maze in "DQM1" and "DQM2". Now it looks a bit ugly to sell it alone; it is against tradition not to support local war; the system also lacks the innovative courage of the "DQMJ" period; after updating version 1.0.2, the phenomenon of crashing and reporting errors still exists (very fatal for players who turn off the automatic save function to brush eggs).

The charm of "DQM" is different from the same type of "Bao Ke Meng" or "digital baby". There is no "substitute meal" on the market, so if you are dissatisfied, fans who like it will still buy it. And this is also the second official Chinese culture after the mobile game version of the "DQM" series, and it is a good opportunity for new domestic players to enter the pit. According to Fami, 398000 physical versions of "DQM3" have been sold in Japan for two weeks.

Although the limited monster of the linkage between "DQM3" and McDonald's in Japan is just a change of skin, the exchange code has been bought more than 4000 yen on the Internet. Of course, if the production team is willing, it can continue to add monsters through the network in the future ("DQM3" has launched three kinds of limited special monsters in Japan in the form of linkage with McDonald's), hold official competitions to stimulate players' enthusiasm and learn some operation ideas of mobile games. Try to prolong the heat and life of the game.

For this declining series, in addition to being made with sincerity, what is more urgently needed is a radical innovation like Pokemon AlZeus, which may bring about a turn for the better for DQM.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: UCGmedia (ID:UCG_Media), author: Mien Wind

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