Tag Archives: Dragon Quest Monsters Dark Prince

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince – Post 3

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***** SPOILERS THROUGHOUT POST *****

The Final Team

I did another round of synthesis grinding. It sounds weird but it really is part of the fun for me. I really liked the team I ended up with and I like having 8 monsters instead of 3 that I’ve been building all game. They were all pretty powerful but man they could burn through MP in a hurry.

The first of my final team to be synthesized. Pazuzu is a demon monkey that debuted as a boss in the final dungeon of DQ2. He’s been a single-target specialist for me with the fiery Kafrizzle and dark Kazammle. Then I synthesized him into a new Pazuzu with some more endgame spells.

With a name like that he has to be a healer. These large green slimes debuted in DQ4 along with the blue normal King Slimes and have appeared in every main DQ since. He has Health Professional to heal better and with less MP. Omniheal isn’t a full heal like in the past but still powerful, and necessary in the endgame.

They and their lesser cousins, Liege Lizards, debuted in the lost DQ, DQ10. But they appeared in DQ11 which is what I know them from. I always thought their design was cool and they were tough. This guy had some various breath weapons and debuffs.

The upgrade of my old friend, Orochi. King Hydra debuted in DQ3 along with Orochi and was the first boss in the final boss rush. Hydra here had a ton of HP and was difficult to bring down. He also had a lot of breath weapons and a strong physical attack.

A leopard swordsman. He was a major late-game boss of DQ9 who then was brought back for the final dungeon. Even though physicals aren’t as good in this game his attack was really high and he had great physical attack skills. And if those didn’t work he had Kaswooshle for powerful AoE wind damage and a surprisingly high amount of MP to cast it.

In DQ8 he was an ordinary dog that touched a cursed scepter and turned into a monster. He would be the third holder of the scepter the heroes pursued and was a late-game boss. Here he had a bunch of powerful attack spells, debuffs, and some breath weapons. Included was Kacrackle, the top ice spell, and Crackmeister (ice attacks do more damage and cost less MP). He was damn lethal with it.

Look at this guy! Looks like a badass slime knight warrior! He debuted in DQ9 in high level grottos (random dungeons that make up most of the postgame). He’s also been a fan favorite for players of this game: I see so many posts with him on a team. I guess he dominates the meta. He has Health Professional like King Cureslime but also Tactical Trooper. That sometimes gives him an extra turn and is usually reserved for Large-size monsters that take up two slots but he has it as a Small. My version also had powerful attacks like Gigagash (AoE lightning sword strike).

Here we go! This is part of the reason I love the DQM games: getting up to and including final bosses. Orgodemir here is the Demon Lord and final boss of DQ7. My version had powerful AoE spells and a single-target Kaspashle, a water spell. He had the most MP on the team and could actually bust out his attacks without running out quickly. He also has Disruptive Wave, a mainstay for final bosses, which removes buffs from foes, including Frenzy which had given me trouble on earlier bosses.

The Upper Echelons

I really enjoyed the Upper Echelons. It was a good kick right out of the gate when I went to Upper Indulgence thinking cake land would be a piece of cake. Then the pastries started using stuff like Blessed Breath on me doing huge damage and inflicting confusion. But they also give a lot more EXP so my team gained power to stand with them. There’s lots of cool monsters to scout too.

The DQ4 references return as most of the Upper Echelon areas have a boss from DQ4. Specifically, the four guardians that protect the barrier to the final dungeon of DQ4. Each Circle has its own plot spanning its Lower, Middle, and Upper Echelons and they get concluded in the Upper.

Special mention to Aamon who is a figure DQ fans love to hate. In DQ4 and this game he tried to orchestrate Rose’s murder to drive Psaro over the edge. In the DQ4 DS remake they added Aamon as a postgame bonus boss even though you already killed him once. Here you get to have Psaro and Rose personally confront Aamon. But not before going through his water-based keep. Something about water dungeons in video games man, they tend to have frustrating puzzles. I spent a ton of time trying to figure it out.

Upper Circle of Conquest

The Upper Circle of Conquest is the final area. It’s a 3D remake of the portion of Nadiria we see in DQ4. It also has the barrier towers and four new bosses for them. Then the final dungeon is the Conquerer’s Keep, the same final dungeon as DQ4. At the entrance you fight Dolph the Destroyer, the elder brother you’ve heard so much about. Straightforward fight.

The Keep is a dead ringer for DQ4’s final dungeon. At the end you finally confront Randolfo the Tyrant in a two-form final boss fight. His first form is straight-forward. Powerful attacks but nothing Omniheal can’t handle. Issue is he has a lot of HP and resistances to fire and dark, two of my best single-target elements. He was weak to ice in both forms so Evil Sir Leopold with his Kacrackle had a field day.

But he still took a bunch of punishment and my team tore through their MP. Good thing I do like a lot of RPG players do and hoard high-end items. I busted them out here. DQM games are unique in that the monster master is considered to use the item so one of your main party doesn’t use an action for the item; the item is like a bonus action.

The second form was tougher. Better attacks including his own Kazammle which did a ton of damage. Wave of Panic is a party wide debuff of all stats. One of his weaknesses was Agility so my healer always went before him. I didn’t want to risk the dreaded turn-based boss-double-turn-before-healer so I’d always use a Panacea to restore my healer when his Agility was debuffed. He’d also use Katox to poison the group. Not super threatening on its own but I was often too busy to heal it and that damage adds up over time.

As is tradition he’d use his own Disruptive Wave. I usually praise buffs, especially Oomph, but my team just ended up in a spot where buffs don’t do a lot for them. In most games Disruptive Wave really sucks to face but ironically here it was a waste of a turn for him.

Ultimately, having a team of 8 well-built monsters and a pack of items to restore MP and status was too much. I was never really in danger of losing.

Difficulty

DQM The Dark Prince gets a 9.30 on the difficulty spreadsheet. That’s compared to a mean of 24.49 and a median of 15.11. It’s 121st out of 192, 37th percentile. It’s next to games like Dragon Quest V, Metroid Prime Remastered, and Final Fantasy X. That seems right on the money to me. Like any game it has some tricky spots but most of the game was cruise control.

Conclusions

This was a great game. For reasons I can’t explain, the Joker games didn’t quite capture the magic of the first two Dragon Quest Monsters games for me. But this one did. I loved synthesizing the monsters and honestly could spend a bunch more time getting final bosses if I had more time. Building the team is the highlight of these games and it was a ton of fun. The plot didn’t grip me a ton but it was cool to see Psaro’s point of view on the events of DQ4.

***** PLOT SECTION *****

The Fall of Psaro

We see Psaro’s point of view of finding Estark. As in DQ4, Psaro is too late to get to Estark. The Hero and his party destroy Estark. Then Psaro is alerted that Rose is in trouble. Before he and the Hero can confront each other, Psaro leaves to help Rose.

He returns to Rosehill Tower to find Rose is fine and Toilen is back. Rose says Toilen arranged her kidnapping. Toilen says he was too late to prevent Rose’s kidnapping; this Rose is an imposter. Given how Toilen left and Psaro’s hatred of humans I figured he wouldn’t believe Toilen. Hoo boy, there sure was a scene after that.

Toilen leaves in anger. Psaro and Rose sit down to have dinner but it comes out that this Rose is, in fact, an imposter. Psaro rushes to find the real Rose. As in DQ4, he is too late. Psaro cuts down her tormenters but it’s too late for her and she dies in his arms, pleading for him to give up his quest for revenge.

He does not give up. Filled with wrath he uses the Secret of Evolution, turning himself into his final boss form from DQ4. It’s interesting to see this from Psaro’s perspective. He ramages through Nadiria, destroying many of the innocent monsters he helped in this game. Then he is put down by the Chosen. Psaro is killed.

A Second Chance

But that’s not the end of this story. Toilen has some Sands of Time from the beginning of the game. He uses it to turn back time to the pivotal choice. Knowing what will happen, Psaro now knows to believe Toilen. They defeat the imposter and rush to save Rose. This time, they succeed and Rose is saved. Toilen reconciles with Psaro and rejoins him. And Psaro is convinced to abandon the Secret of Evolution and his grudge against humanity. He still wants to go after his father, Randolfo, though.

From here on out the plot diverges from DQ4.

The Final Battle

Psaro makes his way to the Conqueror’s Keep to fight Randolfo. He is met at the entrance by his elder brother, Dolph, and a horde of monsters. Psaro is outnumbered but the Chosen show up to help! It’s a cool scene to see Psaro fighting alongside the Chosen. That said, the Hero tells Psaro in no uncertain terms that they’ll fight each other some day. I always imagined the Hero would be perpetually pissed at Psaro but it actually makes less sense in this version of the story since Psaro didn’t burn down his hometown.

Dolph talks a ton of shit to Psaro. After the gameplay fight, he uses a spell to banish Psaro’s monsters so they can fight one-on-one. But Psaro is still cursed and unable to harm Dolph. Dolph’s talking all big but he didn’t even put the curse on Psaro but it effectively wins the fight for him. Anyway, the Hero cuts Dolph down. Psaro enters the Keep.

Psaro finally confronts Randolfo the Tyrant. Randolfo congratulates Psaro on getting so far and offers for Psaro to join him. Psaro refuses. The fight, and Psaro comes out on top. Randolfo dies gracefully. He removes the curse from Psaro and says Psaro is the rightful ruler of Nadiria. His first act as ruler should be to finish Randolfo. But Psaro is no longer so bloodthirsty nor does he want the throne. As he dies Randolfo warns that if Psaro doesn’t take the throne some powerful monster will.

Epilogue

The Zenith Dragon congratulates Psaro and his party on their victory and flies them back to Rosehill. ZD asks Psaro if he will renounce his monster blood to live as a human but Psaro refuses. ZD understands that Psaro has learned how to be himself. With Rose and Toilen accompanying him Psaro intends to continue training his monsters and go on more adventures.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince – Post 2

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Past Posts

Post 1

***** SPOILERS THROUGHOUT POST *****

Quality of Life Improvements

One thing that’s struck me is all the QoL that’s been introduced since DQM1. I still love DQM1 and 2 and would like to play them again sometime but there’s some noticeable improvements here. The biggest improvement is in synthesis. Since DQM1 there was either genders or polarities that limited what monsters could be synthesized. There are already complex recipes to get rare monsters but you had to waste additional time every step of the way to make sure you also have monsters with opposite genders/polarities. Now they finally got rid of that so you can synthesize any two monsters.

There’s some features common to other games. Fights can be sped up. The Zoom (teleport) menu has been given its own button and there’s plenty of checkpoints to teleport to. There’s an in-game monster encyclopedia that also keeps track of what monsters’ you’ve ever had. You can teleport right to the Altar of Amalgamation where synthesis is done. While synthesizing the game highlights if a combo is part of a unique combination that results in a new monster.

Overall it’s been a pretty smooth experience.

Team Update

The Attackers – Physical attacks aren’t as powerful as I’m used to in DQ’s. Usually your offense against bosses is Oomph the attackers, Sap the boss, and go to town. Sap doesn’t seem like it has as high a hit rate. And even fully buffed attacks may not do as much damage as a powerful breath weapon or spell. That’s not to say they’re worthless, just not the stars I’ve come to expect. New examples: Grim Baron (zombie baron on horse), Great Sabrecat, Axeraptor (dinosaur carrying axe).

The Wizards – So the role of offense goes to dudes like these. I got the high level Frizz (single target fire) spells on Pazuzu (demon monkey). They do a ton of damage. New examples: Silvapithecus (lesser demon monkey), Abracadabrador (wizard dog).

The Healer – I’ve been upgrading my healer and healing skills. Multiheal with Health Professional (passive that lowers MP cost but raises effectiveness of healing) has finally made healing worthwhile. And my healer has some attacks like Kazam (single-target dark attack) and Freezing Blizzard (mid-level ice breath weapon). New example: Flutter Slime (slime with wings).

The Middle Circles

After visiting all the Lower Circles of Nadiria you get access to the Middle ones. As expected, it’s a notable step up for the monsters. You also get to choose what order you go through them in. The Middle Circle of Conquest was especially tough. It had tough monsters like Ursa Major, a bear that acts twice and hits like a truck. The boss at the end of Middle Conquest took me to the brink. He had a variety of attacks so I couldn’t nerf him with one debuff. Then he entered a Frenzied State which made him a ton more dangerous. I barely scraped through with a Silvapithecus casting Kafrizzle for high damage while everyone else dedicated to keeping it alive.

An update was made to the game later to show how dangerous each circle is and sure enough Middle Conquest is the toughest. After that, the others were a breeze. Nevertheless, you get a wide variety of new monsters. Middle Caprice really stuck out to me. It’s a desert with lots of sandstorms. It has a variation of the classic Golem enemy: the Stone Golem. And it has a surprisingly sad plot: the Stone Golems are forced to serve an abusive master who works them to death and revives them to do it again. You learn of this in a giant Stone Golem graveyard with noticeable Golem remains all over.

The trend I was noticing with bosses is that many aren’t too bad unless they enter a Frenzied State, giving them huge stat bonuses and an extra action per round. One exception was General Chayne in Diabolic Hall. He’s tough without Frenzied. He has strong physical attacks that hit the whole group. The worst is his Hatchet Man. Hatchet Man is less accurate but when it hits does an automatic critical. His version hits the whole party so anyone it lands on gets hit hard, might even be a OHKO. And Blunt doesn’t do enough to take away from it. But on my second try I found his accuracy can be lowered which made most of his attacks miss. That gave me the time needed to get hits in and end the fight.

The Great Synthesis Grind

A time honored tradition for me. As I mentioned in the last post synthesis is the pathway to a lot of rare monsters but it’ll take some doing. So in these games there’s always a point where I want certain monsters and grind through a bunch of synthesis to get them. This isn’t necessary as just going through synthesis and scouted monsters will probably get you to victory. But getting rare monsters is part of the fun.

Here’s the list of monsters I ended up with after the first great grind: Great Dragon (a badass looking European style dragon), Orochi (a multi-headed dragon and my old friend from DQ3), King Slick Slime (brown melty king slime), Flutter Slime, Pazuzu (demon monkey boss from DQ2), King Foo Dog (spellcasting dog and enemy from DQ4), Fright Knight (skeleton knight first appearing from DQ7), and Dark Sabrecat (dark version of the ferocious cat from DQ5).

***** PLOT SECTION *****

A Parallel Journey

The plot begins to parallel DQ4’s. Monsters that were bosses in DQ4 begin joining Psaro. The bosses of Chapter 1 with Ragnar join Psaro and help him out a few times. The Flamethrower (toga wearing monster that throws flame) that is fought to recruit Torneko is recruited by Psaro after Psaro helps him in a rebellion against a dragon that has been sacrificing monsters. The Restless Armor (living suit of armor) that guards Rose in DQ4 is helped by Psaro and then comes to Rosehill Tower to serve his purpose of guarding Rose.

Events that Psaro interferes in DQ4 also happen. Psaro enters the human fighting tournament in Endor until he learns that Zamoksva has heard about the Lord of the Underworld. He leaves the tournament and imprisons the people of Zamoksva just as he did in DQ4. He acquires the Armlet of Transmutation, needed for the Secret of Evolution, from the monsters that stole it.

Then there’s the attack on the DQ4 Hero’s hometown and murder of all he holds dear. I was wondering how they’d handle this. The twist is that while Psaro is there he doesn’t launch the attack. Instead, his elder brother Dolph leads the attack but for some reason says that he’s Psaro. This leaves DQ4 Hero thinking it was Psaro.

Journey for Estark

In the Circle of Corruption Psaro meets a strange man named Ludo who is the warden there. Ludo guides Psaro to memories in the area. The memories show of devastation wrought by a Zenithian named Azabel. She stole the Secret of Creation and created three abominations. One of these was Estark, the Lord of the Underworld. Just like in DQ4, Psaro decides he wants to revive Estark and subjugate it to wage war on humanity.

The Zenith Dragon confronts Psaro. ZD wants Psaro to work with the Chosen Ones from DQ4. Psaro refuses. ZD gets angry and banishes Psaro from Zenithia. Then Toilen gets mad at Psaro. Makes sense; Toilen is a human and Psaro’s going on and on about wanting to bring humanity down. Toilen leaves Psaro.

Rose is sad to see her friends feud and is worried Psaro is on the wrong path. We see her at her window saying lines seen in the dream sequences of DQ4, asking for someone to stop Psaro. Nevertheless, she still accompanies Psaro in his journeys. Many of their trips are helping innocent monsters which she supports.

Psaro learns that another also seeks Esturk: Zangiel the Omniarch. Zangiel is lord of monsterkind in Terrestria (the overworld of DQ4) in a similar way that Randolfo the Tyrant is in Nadiria. Psaro goes to Zangiel’s Diabolic Hall to face him. He first faces his servants, including General Chayne. General Chayne found a young Psaro at the beginning of the game and helped him. Psaro defeats Chayne and goes to face Zangiel.

To his suprise, Zangiel pledges his allegiance to Psaro. Zangiel has been waiting for Psaro’s return. Zangiel has also become old and soon dies. The monsters of Diabolic Hall pledge themselves to Psaro. This explains this being Psaro’s stronghold in DQ4.

A Surprise Confrontation

In the Middle Circle of Conquest Psaro meets Ludo again. Turns out Ludo is Psaro’s younger half-brother, this time by Randolfo and an elf. Ludo has established a haven for weak monsters. However, a wyrmhole dragon named Wyrmsworth reveals Ludo’s true intentions. He wants to destroy Terrestria, Nadiria, and Zenithia to create a new world as he sees fit. He wants this because of all the despair in the world.

Psaro is forced to have his monsters fight Ludo and strike him down. Ludo harbors no regrets and is glad Psaro is so strong. He hopes Psaro will see things how he did someday.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince – Post 1

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Introduction

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince was released in late 2023. Its the 7th game with the DQM name but referred to as DQM3. The ones between DQM2 and 3 are Caravan Heart and the Joker games, which are sort of spinoffs of spinoffs. DQM3 celebrates the series’ 25th Anniversary and is the first one to be officially released outside Japan since 2011.

Psaro and DQ4 Recap (Spoilers for DQ4)

Past DQM’s sometimes had you play as a young version of a past main DQ, like Terry from DQ6 being the PC of DQM1. This time, we get a villain. Psaro, the antagonist of DQ4, is our avatar.

Quick recap of Psaro’s role: he was the Master of Monsterkind and led a campaign to exterminate humanity, who he saw as evil. His hatred was driven by how humans treated his elf friend, Rose. Rose’s tears were rubies so greedy humans tormented her for them. Rose is killed during DQ4 which makes Psaro desperate to end humanity, even losing his sense of self to do so.

DQM Mechanics

Once in a battle, DQM acts like any DQ game. It’s how you build your party that’s different. Your party is made up of all monsters who you recruit and synthesize. Recruiting is done through a “Show of Force” where your party builds up a percentage chance through their Attack or Wisdom and then rolls a dice against the result. This Show of Force was introduced in the Joker games and I think it was a big improvement. So far I’ve found the odds very reasonable and I can get most of each monster type in an area without too much trouble.

Synthesis has been around in some form since DQM1 and it’s part of what makes the series fun and unique. You combine two monsters to make a new one. The new monster’s stats and skills are determined partially by its parents and by its type. Finding new types is a big part of the fun and challenge. Through this system you can get anything up to and including the final bosses of the DQ main series. But to do so you’ll have to do a bunch of synthesis as rare monsters are required to make the bosses and they have their own requirements. I’ve seen detailed recipes posted online on how people made rare monsters for this game.

The Monsters

One big change for this game compared to previous ones is the size of the party. Four-monster active party instead of three. I like a party of four but it is a bit weird now to not be so restricted.

In addition, you get a full reserve team. I keep raving about using my bench more in DQ games and this one is no exception. I’m loving hauling around eight monsters and switching them in and out. And with the synthesis and building skill lists, it means more synthesis and more skills.

The Heavy Hitters

Skeleton
Briny Bronco
Cannonbrawler

No matter what, you gotta have some dudes laying on the hits. Some of these guys have also had status hits to inflict sleep or poison. Examples: Skeleton(has a sword), Briny Bronco (seahorse with attitude), Cannonbrawler (small cyclops riding a cannon)

The Healer

Healslime
Snowmangler

I’ve only built one dedicated healer and with only a single target moderate heal his healing hasn’t kept up. But it’s useful for long treks. And eventually I figure the healing will catch up. Examples: Healslime, Snowmangler (snowman slime)

The Buffers

Box Slime
Slick Slime

Buffs are powerful in DQ and that holds true here. Oomph (single target attack buff) and Oomphle (full party version) are great. Kabuff (defense buff) keeps the team up. Oomph also raises Scout chance quite a bit to recruit new monsters. Examples: Box Slime, Slick Slime (goopy maroon slime).

The Debuffs – My debuffs have been spread among the team. Sweet Breath (AoE sleep) has been great. Early on I used lose-a-turn moves like Sultry Dance and War Cry. Use on big groups and they come in handy. Sap (defense debuff) and Blunt (attack debuff) are great for bosses.

Party Damage

Drake Slime
Ham Shamwitch
Meowgician

These have also been spread a bit. I’ve found a lot of breath weapons. Chilly Breath did good damage early on but is starting to fade. Some spells like Woosh and Sizzle have made it in but it’s been tough to get their upgraded versions so far. I also managed to upgrade a breath weapon skill set to get tier 3 and 4 breath weapons and that’s been overpowered so far. Examples: Drake Slime, Ham Shamwitch (wizard pig), Meowgician (cat wizard).

Seasons

Every outdoors area has seasons and I’m unsure if they’re a net good or bad so far. The aesthetics part has been great. Like a fiery area where in one season it’s raining fire (no damage to you). There was a candy/sweets area where sometimes it was raining gumdrops.

Gameplay-wise seasons have different features. E.g. In winter any liquid freezes and you can walk over it to small side areas. They marked season-specific events on the map which has been a great QoL feature. Different monsters can also appear in different seasons.

My issue is waiting for seasons. If I’m done with a season or want a specific one I often have to wait. If there was an item to instantly switch the seasons that would be amazing. Maybe there’ll be one at some point.

Arenas

Past DQM’s had one arena but this one has two: the Endor Colosseum which also appeared in DQ4, and Nadiria’s Maulosseum. I haven’t noticed a huge difference between the two other than Endor’s announcer acts like a boxing announcer and the Maulosseum one clearly wants blood.

But there have been some decent challenges in them. In particular, rounds that follow the small-large-small mold get my attention. Monsters all have a size and so far 99% have been small, which seems to be the standard size. Large monsters take up two roster spots but have great stats and seem to always be able to act twice. The first one I saw was in Endor featuring a Bag o’ Laughs and Jailcat as the small monsters and a Flython (snake with wings) as the large. On my first try the Flython poisoned my whole team with Poison Breath, which dug away at their HP as the fight went on. Its attacks and Fire Breath further eroded their HP and they didn’t have the offense to win on time.

Category D in both arenas was a noticeable step up. Monsters were doing a bunch of damage even with standard attacks. On my first try I could barely get past the second round so I left it for later. I came back with my Ham Shamwitch and its Deep Breather skillset, the one with high tier breath weapons. Blessed Breath did about 50% of their HP and confused a bunch of them.

Exploring Nadiria

Nadiria is broken up into Circles and Echelons. I’ve only been to the Lower Echelon of any area so far. The first one, the Circle of Conquest, is a swampy, dark area with lots of zombie monsters. The Circle of Temper is a fiery area with volcanos and lava. The Circle of Indulgence is an amusing area made of sweets and filled with monsters that look like pastries. The Circle of Fortitude is an industrial wasteland that I find fascinating to explore.

This part is where the usual DQ storytelling occurs. One-off bits where Psaro helps monsters or finds pieces of the Secret of Evolution. And there’s generally a boss for every Circle. One notable fight was when Psaro was getting some Penteractic Crystals. One crystal pile ended up being a Golem made out of the stuff. The fight went standard at first, we me debuffing it. The debuffs wore off and it went into Frenzy mode. That gives an attack buff and an extra turn. Suddenly the Golem was very dangerous. I couldn’t outheal its damage so all I could do was switch members in and go all out to damage race it.

***** PLOT SECTION, SPOILERS AHEAD *****

A young Psaro

Psaro’s mother is a human and his father is Randolfo the Tyrant, Master of Monsterkind in Nadiria. Psaro and his mother have been in hiding from Randolfo’s minions. Psaro’s mother, Miriam, wants him to embrace his human side and be a good person. But she’s very sickly.

Psaro and his mother live near a human settlement. Psaro tries to befriend a boy and helps stand up to some bullies with him. The two are attacked by monsters and Psaro is forced to use his superhuman strength. The boy becomes afraid and realizes Psaro has monster blood. He goes on to lead a mob to Psaro’s house and it’s torched. Psaro and his mother escape but his mother dies soon after. So we see the beginning of Psaro’s resentment of humanity.

But greater still is Psaro’s resentment of his father. Psaro goes to Nadiria to challenge his father. But Randolfo regards Psaro as a mere nuisance. Rather than kill Psaro, he puts a curse on Psaro that stops Psaro from harming any with monster blood.

Psaro flees to a village called Roseville. The villagers, made up of dwarves and monsters, take him in. But Randolfo’s minions continuously attack the village. A villager named Monty teaches Psaro how to become a monster wrangler and train monsters. Psaro’s monsters will be able to fight for him.

Psaro begins fighting in the arenas at Endor and in Nadiria in the Maulosseum. After a bout in Endor the humans bring out an elf. They reveal that the elf cries ruby tears and begin abusing her. Psaro helps the elf. Elves don’t give each other names so Psaro calls her Rose, after the village that helped him. Rose is grateful and wants to help Psaro break the curse on him.

Psaro and Rose run into a devious human named Toilen Trubble. Toilen is the name of a minor NPC from DQ5 who teaches the hero a couple spells, most notably the Zoom spell (teleport to previously visited areas). DQ5 takes place in the far distant future to DQ4 so time will tell if this younger Toilen Trubble is the same character. Anyway, young Toilen is a troublemaker who Psaro doesn’t trust at first but after helping Psaro the Dark Prince allows Toilen to travel with him.

Psaro meets a Meowgician named Furgil who begins to guide him. He says Psaro is too weak to challenge his father but with something called the Secret of Evolution he could succeed. Furgil later reveals he’s working for Aamon. In DQ4, the Secret of Evolution was how Esturk became as powerful as he is, several monsters use it to grow their strength, and then Psaro uses it to assume his final forms. Aamon is the treacherous advisor to Psaro who gets Rose killed to convince Psaro to go all in on the Secret.

Psaro travels the Lower Echelon of Nadiria, exploring the different Circles, helping monsters in need, and gaining strength. Furgil guides Psaro to Professor Helix Helix, who is studying the Secret of Evolution. Psaro begins carrying out jobs for the professor.