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| From: Square Enix
Category: Video Games
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $19.83
You Save: $10.16 (34%)
New (36) Used (10) from $15.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 2357
Platform: Nintendo Ds
ESRB: Everyone 10+
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Operating System: Nintendo DS
Shipping Weight (lbs): 16.3
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0 x 0
MPN: 90712
UPC: 662248907123
EAN: 0662248907246
ASIN: B000SSNCYU
Release Date: November 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New Factory Sealed US Retail Copy. Ships with free tracking/delivery confirmation usually within 24 hours. Check my feedback and buy with confidence! I give combined shipping discounts for multiple purchases, check my other items!
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| Customer Reviews:
 The 3rd U.S. entry in the Dragon Quest/Warrior Monsters Series December 10, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the third entry in the Dragon Quest/Warrior Monsters (DQM) series in the U.S. The DQM series is based on the Dragon Quest/Warrior RPG series but focuses on collecting and training the series many monsters in a style similar to Pokemon. It should have appeal for both fans of Dragon Quest and those of monster collecting games.
Joker is one of the few fully 3D games for the Nintendo DS. The graphics style is taken from Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2 and most of the monsters should be familiar to fans of that game. The animations are fairly fluid and the monster designs colorful and detailed.
Players take control of a Monster Scout to form teams of three monsters. The game features over 200 monsters total broken into several families. Pairs of monsters can be synthesized to form new, stronger monsters whose level 1 states and skill levels are calculated from the parents' stats allowing stronger and stronger monsters to be made with each generation. Skill points are earned every few levels and can be applied to skills, allowing the player to customize the abilities and stat bonuses of each monster. Each monster can also equip a variety of weapons with various effects.
Joker does fall short on a few points. The game is on the short side and raising powerful monsters requires a fair amount of grinding. Some of the more powerful monsters must be synthesized from specific monsters and so the player will almost certainly have to consult a guide to figure out how to unlock some of the creatures. An online battling system is available, however trading can only be done locally. Travel between the games islands can also be frustrating since a roundabout path is sometimes the only way to get from one island to another, even later in the game. Fans of earlier DQM series should also note that the leap to 3D has mean not all monsters from the previous games make an appearance in this one.
All in all the game is a good one. Fans of Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest Monsters, or monster collecting games will certainly want to try this one out. Anyone looking for a light RPG or just a change of pace for the DS should also consider checking out this game.
Maybe someday they'll get it just right December 10, 2007
9 out of 14 found this review helpful
Having spent many, many hours playing the earlier Game Boy versions--Dragon Warrior Monsters 1 and 2, I would like to compare the newest version to those games.
Upside--
Much better graphics than the earlier games.
More of a feeling of an RPG--tough bosses, especially the final boss, and more RPG-like dungeons.
Simplified, quicker, and less frustrating scouting and breeding system. (I do, however, detect the influence of Puritan Parent Feedback in the fact that breeding is now called "synthesizing.")
Downside:
Less of an incentive to go on after the closing credits than in DWM1 and DWM2.
DWM1 had a better dungeon structure system. There were many, many floors, and the types of floors were randomly generated. Even though the routine enemies eventually became easy to defeat, there were challenging, unpredictable masters and arenas that could be encountered at any point. However, there was one FATAL flaw for those trying to collect all the monsters in the game: two of the dungeons, both of which contained monsters unattainable elsewhere, could be accessed only by winning 5 consecutive rock-paper-scissors games each from three different masters. Think about that. That's an average of 3 x (3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3) games, or 729. And even worse, unless you got lucky, you had to endure having the instructions of the game read to you each and every one of those 729 times. Were any playtesters involved in the game's development?
DWM2 also had an interesting feature--in the aftergame, one could acquire magic keys that opened up new worlds, each of which contained several dungeons to explore. The dungeons themselves were less interestingly laid out than in DWM1, but did provide plenty of monsters on the player's current level, and the suspense of not knowing whether there would be another magic key at the end.
So if DQM2 comes out, it would be nice to see the current graphics and boss system expanded in the regular game (possibly with 9 large dungeons, as in Zelda), and with an aftergame that uses the dungeon generation system of DQM1, possibly with the the magic keys from DQM2.
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker December 9, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm a big fan of the dragon warrior monsters series. I loved both DWM 1&2. I bought Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker thinking this game would be like Dragon Warrior Monsters series. When i received my game, I right away opened the game and started playing it. It was fun for a few days. But after awhile experiencing it, the fun was fading away. Where is all the original monsters from Dragon Warrior Monsters 1&2? Why scouting? Why not taming monster with meat? Why are monsters soooooooo easy to make? They should have left the breeding the way it was like DWM 1&2. This game was overall fun and lasted me a few weeks but I decided to just wrap it up and give it away for a Christmas present. Sorry but this game isnt as impressive as I thought it was going to be. 4 Stars Overall and 3 Stars fun .
 Lots of Level Grinding November 21, 2007
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker
Because I'm a devout fan of Dragon Quest video games, I got Dragon Quest Monsters to add to my collection. Monster collecting games like Pokemon do not appeal to me, because they involve tons of level-grinding. This game is no different.
In the game, there are 7 different islands. Each island has different monsters, ranked according to their power from "F" being lowest to "A" or "S" being highest. Going from one island to the next involve a dramatic increase in the challenge in this game--hence, the need to level-grind to increase the levels of the monsters in my party.
Fusing monsters is a key element to this game. However, doing so is a bit tricky. Fused monsters start off with stats that are half those of their parents. So, it's best to level-up the monsters so that they won't be too weak when starting out.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the third entry in the Dragon Quest Monsters series to reach America. This game features many modifications. The player can now store up to 100 monsters in inventory from the beginning. The monsters no longer have the WLD feature that makes them unruly or run away. When monsters in inventory level-up, they gain skill points, which the player can allocate at leisure. The player assigns skill points to certain skill sets for their monsters to learn. Each monster can learn up to three skill sets when fusing them together. When both monsters know much of a skill set, but haven't mastered it, their child can learn a more powerful version of that skill set. Another major change to this game is that the player no longer uses meat treats to tame monsters. Instead, the player tames monsters by using a scout feature, in which monsters attempt to impress a new monster by displaying their attack power. It works fine at taming multiple weak monsters at the beginning, however, the more of a type of monster a player has, the harder it is to impress.
This game makes minimal use of the touch feature. Touching the bottom screen moves the map and makes selections in inventory. The top screen shows the action in the game. I, however, tend to play the game without touching the bottom screen at all. It's an optional feature that people can use, if they want to.
The most appealing aspect of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the graphics. The game is full 3-D, just like Dragon Quest VIII. Pokemanics craving monster collecting in 3-D can look here to get their desires met.
This game uses a wi-fi feature that ranks the player against other players according to performance. The wins prizes for connecting to the network each day. The player can also battle copies of another player's team, and can get a prize for winning, too. I have yet to try that, but I keep starting this game over from the beginning. The further I go into the game, the more level-grinding I have to do, and I *hate* level-grinding. However, folks that love level-grinding would probably enjoy Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker.
 Beautiful and Addicting November 20, 2007
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the latest in a spinoff series from Dragon Quest (also known as Dragon Warrior). On the heals of the critically acclaimed Dragon Quest VIII, DQM:Joker uses the same cell-shaded visual style with original character designs by the famous Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball). The game looks absolutely beautiful in full 3-D on the Nintendo DS. The colors are sharp, the characters are creative and the Monsters look better than ever before in this series. Although there is some very rare graphical pop-up, for the most part the game runs smoothly. Undoubtedly this will be the basis for the engine to be used in DQIX.
The gameplay is incredibly in depth and offers a much deeper experience than any other game in the monster genre. You "scout" monsters by impressing them with your monster teams power. You can also synthesize new monsters by combining the ones you have. The battle system is tried and true with new twists and skills. The story is also much deeper than previous DQM games have been.
Basically, if you like monster hunting, or you like RPG's this game will be well worth it for you. It is an epically long quest with tons of variety and replayability. I have been a DQ fan for a long time, but I can honestly say this game is for everyone.
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