Released on Nintendo Switch at the end of 2022, Dragon Quest Treasures positively surprised us: despite being heavily inspired by another historical spin-off of the Enix series, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, the title set in the Dragon Quest XI universe years before of Lucente's Adventure managed to capture attention for several hours thanks to its immortal imagery and effective gameplay. Now that it also arrived on Steam, we replayed it to understand which version is the best: ours Dragon Quest Treasures review for PC with Windows You will find the answer to this existential question.
Let's do a review
To know more about the content of Dragon Quest Treasures, we can only refer you to the Switch review that we published last December. The game developed by TOSE, in fact, is practically identical in content: in the shoes of Erik and Mia we will find ourselves in the archipelago of Draconia after discovering two magical daggers that allow you to communicate with monsters. Armed with this power, the two children form their own brigade with the goal of finding the Seven Dragon Gems, restoring peace to Draconia, and becoming filthy rich. Erik and Mia aren't Dragon Quest's lovable scoundrels yet
Square Enix has included a large number of citations and references to all Dragon Quests in the treasures to be found, which vary in quality and rarity: the general count of riches improves Erik and Mia's brigade, and it is precisely this mechanism that makes Dragon Quest Treasures a small and real addiction.
Each island represents a biome (desert, snowy mountains, countryside, etc.) and develops both horizontally and vertically. Monster abilities help the player reach different locations, but there is no linear progression to respect, as all abilities are available immediately: you just need to get the right monster. Defeated enemies can enlist on the corresponding screen. reclutamento, and we will only have to spend the necessary materials to add the monster to the team, which is made up of Erik or Mia - there is no playable or narrative difference between the two - and a maximum of three monsters. While the variety leaves much to be desired, each variant has specific vulnerabilities or abilities.
Choosing the right monsters is important not so much for their abilities, but also and above all for their perception abilities that help to better find the treasures hidden on the islands. And this is where the Treasurescope, an artifact that indicates the direction in which to search and that takes a photo from the perspective of each monster, leaving us the task of triangulating the position of the point in which to dig.
The PC version of Dragon Quest Treasures
Monsters can only carry a certain number of arcas per person, depending on its size and type. Additionally, if a monster is defeated or stunned, it could drop the chest, which we will have to rush to recover before someone else steals it. If Erik or Mia end up KOed or if we decide to return to the base with the emergency retreat, all the chests collected will be lost, and at some point we will also have to deal with the rival brigades, who will literally hunt us down. as we explore Draconia.
Il combat system It is very intuitive. Erik or Mia can stab, dodge, or steal items from enemies; We can only command the monsters in the group, which are controlled by decent artificial intelligence, to gather together, attack a certain target, or launch dragon attacks. With the slingshot we can heal our monsters when necessary and control the battlefield, using ammunition that paralyzes, stuns, sleeps, poisons or inflicts various elemental damage.
The combats in Dragon Quest Treasures are not turn-based, but they manage to be quite entertaining: using the right bullets and monsters, and dodging when necessary, it is possible to eliminate enemies much more powerful than the two protagonists and recruit them as they are. Therefore, you end up wandering around with the most disparate formations and progressing through the game based on your skill or perseverance, compensating for the monsters' weaknesses with Monster Medals, accessories that improve your statistics.
The narrative, however, depends on the growth of the brigade, which unlocks the floors of the Daedalus, a kind of dungeon in which each boss has a clue that leads to a Dragon Gem. There's also many missions that we can accept and complete in our own time and that reward us with consumables, materials or treasures. In short, it is a title rich in content, although sometimes you feel like you are a little overwhelmed by the interconnection mechanisms and the constant coming and going between cinematics, loads and long journeys. Some missions, then, are clearly structured to stretch the broth, making us go back and forth from the headquarters just to craft an item or recruit a specific monster.
Fortunately, compared to the Switch version, the Square Enix title on PC performs much better: it is obviously not a graphical monster (pardon the pun), but the developer has managed to optimize the code, aiming for high resolution and a stable frame rate that doesn't miss a beat even in the open world of Draconia, which on Nintendo's hybrid console suffered from pop-ins and annoying slowdowns. The camera also seems to work better, locking onto enemies accurately without getting scared in tense situations. In conclusion, unless you feel the need to play it on a portable version, Dragon Quest Treasures seemed much more fun on PC.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 49,99 € Holygamerz.com 7.5 Readers (2) 9.0 your voteDragon Quest Treasures remains a gem of a spin-off that we can't help but recommend to Dragon Quest super fans and those looking for a lighthearted, if a little repetitive, fantasy adventure. The PC version solves many technical problems: the game is still a slightly more than decent title from a purely graphical point of view, but the higher resolution and constant fluidity seem more than enough to recommend this conversion over the Switch edition, unless you want to. play portable.
PRO
- A fun title, dedicated to Dragon Quest fans
- The PC version is technically better than the Switch version
AGAINST
- Can get repetitive quickly
- No additional content compared to the Switch version
