As has previously been announced, the new trailer for Dragon Quest Treasures confirms that the game’s protagonists are Eric and Mia. Eric and Mia are party members from Dragon Quest 11, though in Dragon Quest Treasures they’re much younger and on an unrelated adventure. Players will be transported to another world, where Eric and Mia have to collect an incredible amount of treasure including the powerful seven Dragonstones.
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Gameplay in Dragon Quest Treasures heavily revolves around exploration of the world of Draconia. In order to do so, players will have to recruit a party of monsters, each with their own unique abilities. These abilities are not only useful in combat against the endless enemies spread throughout the world, but are also key for traversal in the 3D world. Monsters can help players overcome a variety of obstacles that will keep players from progressing and gathering the world’s hidden treasures.
When players aren’t exploring Draconia and finding treasures, they’ll be building a base for their gang of treasure seekers. At the base, treasure will be appraised of value and added to the gang’s vault. Ranking up the gang will unlock new areas of the base, including ways to recruit monsters, store them in the Dormatories, or send them out on treasure-gathering missions. It’s not a base-building game necessarily, but it should be full of all necessary resources.
Suffice to say, while it’s not named after the Dragon Quest Monsters spin-off series, Dragon Quest Treasures is perhaps best considered a successor to those games. There’s monster taming and battling, even if the goal of the game is focused more on exploration and treasure hunting.
For Dragon Quest fans that want something more action-oriented, but still straightforward in the way that Square Enix’s Dragon Quest series so successfully does, Dragon Quest Treasures offers something of a new and intriguing experience. It features the taming and monster collection elements of Dragon Quest Monsters, but new exploration elements to distinguish itself. How the mix of ideas comes out remains to be seen.
Dragon Quest Treasures releases December 9 on Nintendo Switch.
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