It’s not called Dragon Quest XIIbut good Dragon Quest Treasures. So why did we feel like we were seeing winks for the duration of this preview. That is the question we are going to answer during this preview. But first, we must appreciate at its fair value a DragonQuest. And in this case, this series is above all beautiful stories that give us the impression of having already been told a thousand times, but which always seduce us, if only for the emotions they give us. provide.
From what little we’ve seen of it, Dragon Quest Treasures is eye-catching.
Spin off or not, Dragon Quest Treasures does not escape this general truth. Whatever the context or the characters, we can count on the series to make us travel to the end of the world and in very good company. That of Dragon Quest Treasures is all the more sympathetic that we already know it. In fact we follow Ericthe same one we encountered in the past in Dragon Quest XI. Him and his sister Mia give the tempo of this new adventure which tells us about their childhood against a backdrop of piracy. Despite what the scatterbrained Vikings holding them back on their ship think, the twins have an innate talent for unearthing treasure.
It is therefore armed with their courage and accompanied by a very strange cat and pig that they take the plunge towards an adventurous life. Without a bad pun, the pitch is ultra boat, but at the same time, it does not take much more to find this side feel good who succeeds so well in the series. Already lightly sprinkled with fan servicethe scenario and the universe work from the first minutes of the game. And if very quickly the process becomes very basic, we can at least say that Dragon Quest Treasures is a worthy successor to the saga for what it conveys. As for how to play, however, the spin off tries new approaches to stand out. It may be the fault of a preview too short, but it is still unclear whether the treasure hunt phases that justify the name of the game will have a big impact on the overall game.
To put it simply, these are sequences of rather funny puzzles, during which our heroes have a vision of the location of a treasure. Your goal is simply to find the place you saw to unearth the riches. Funny on paper, this treasure hunt turned out to be a bit short, leaving us wanting more. However, we feel compelled to point out that this was only the beginning of the adventure. In other words, we expect this mini-game to grow a little bigger or risk completely missing out on the characteristic element of this spin off.
And since it is a question of handling, the experienced player will quickly realize that the fights reserve some surprises. The biggest of these is obviously the pure and simple abandonment of turn-based confrontations. Obviously only real time works in the eyes of Square-Enix and, to tell the truth, it is far from disturbing us. Simply, the action is not very impressive. We would even say thatEric and Mia drag a bit when it comes to smashing monsters. They aren’t the stars of the fight anyway, but the team of monsters they can put together to help them in their quest.
Dragon Quest Treasures catches the eye.
The initiative is quite amazing, as we thought the developers just wanted to get away from the DragonQuest traditional. Instead, here they are bringing back a good old mechanic that not only makes combat more interesting, as it’s more varied and strategic, but also exploration more enjoyable, as your creatures can help you roam the lands of Draconia. Between tradition and modernity, as some uninspired titles would say. In the case of Dragon Quest Treasuresthe right balance seems to have been found, but it is still too early to judge. Admittedly, we now know the main lines, the title has yet barely been touched upon. Showing one’s potential is one thing, but revealing the full depth of gameplay which will be necessary on the length, it will obviously be for another time.
Our first impressions: Good!
They are far from definitive, but from what little we have seen Dragon Quest Treasures to attract attention. It is much more for his universe and all that the name of DragonQuest than for the gameplay itself. Not that there are any problems with the grip, the gameplay is for the moment too succinct to know if the mixture of fan service, the return of monsters and the abandonment of turn-based combat will work in the long term. On a small session, it is in any case encouraging and quite different from what we know to scrutinize the game’s release, on December 9, with interest.
You can pre-order Dragon Quest Treasures on Amazon for €59.99.