Dragon Quest Monsters (Series)

Dragon Quest Monsters or Dragon Warrior Monsters as its known in North America is a spin off series of the Dragon Quest games. Published by Square Enix, it sets the player in a medieval/fantasy world filled with magic, monsters and knights. Unlike the original Dragon Quest games, the player's character doesn't do any of the fighting in battles; instead the player has to rely on capturing, breeding and raising monsters to do the fighting for them. The character and monster designs are by Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama.
== Games ==
=== Dragon Warrior Monsters (1998) ===
The first title in the series was released in Japan on September 25 1998 (as Dragon Quest Monsters) and in North America in December 1999. It was released for the Game Boy Color before the console itself was released, however the cartridge was backwards compatible with the older Game Boy in black-and-white.
===Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 (2001)===
The second Dragon Warrior Monsters game for the Game Boy Color featured two different versions of the same game, Cobi's Journey and Tara's Adventure. Unlike the first game, this one focuses on attaining keys to unlock new worlds to explore and find monsters.
===Dragon Quest Monsters 1+2 (2002)===
Dragon Quest Monsters 1+2 is a remake of the original Game Boy games for the PlayStation, released only in Japan. The game featured updated graphics and a new interface.
===Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart (2003)===
Caravan Heart is the third game in the series, released only in Japan for the Game Boy Advance. It features Keifer, the prince from Dragon Warrior VII.
===Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (2007)===
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker for the Nintendo DS, initially revealed through the publication Shonen Jump was released on December 28th 2006, in Japan. It is the latest installment in the series and the first to be featured in full 3D. The game is set around a tournament referred to as the Joker GP. It also features Wi-Fi multiplayer play through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service and full 3D movement and battles. Unlike the other games in the series, this game has no random battles.
==Common Game Mechanics==
===Starting Monster===
 The first monster the player gets in each Dragon Quest Monsters/Dragon Warrior Monsters game (excluding Joker) is the Slime, who is also the official mascot of the Dragon Quest series.
===Battle System===
A battles consist of one to three opposing monsters displayed in the center of the screen, with your own monsters Name, Health, Mana and Level displayed at the top of the screen.
Once the battle has begun, the player will be given four battle commands:
*Fight: simply lets your monster attack.
*Plan: opens up another menu with another four commands
**Charge: will attempt to make your monster attack or utilize an offensive spell. Raises Bravery and Morale and slightly lowers Prudence.
**Mixed: will attempt to make your monster use support abilities, such as shields, stat enhancements, summons and the like. Raises Prudence and Morale while slightly lowering Caring.
**Cautious: will attempt to make your monster use defensive abilities, such as heal, revive and abilities that remove harmful stat effects. Raises Caring and Morale while slightly lowering Bravery.
**Command: not able to be used in arena battles, command allows you to give direct orders to your monsters. This will simply lower Morale.
*Items: opens up your items list and lets you use that item, either on the opposing monster or your own. Monsters will follow their personality if an item was used that round.
*Flee: attempts to flee from the enemy. This will greatly lower both Bravery and Morale.
====Personalities====
A message may appear that says "will attempt" for some of the commands; this is because each monster is given a certain personality depending on the player's actions used in combat. Those actions are Charge, Mixed and Cautious, which when used can raise/lower one of three hidden stats, Bravery, Prudence and Caring. These stats are determined at high, medium, and low levels. Personality is affected by Morale, which determines how quickly Bravery, Prudence, and Caring rise and how much is lowered from the plans used.
Basically this means a monster high in one of the three stats will be better at using an attack of that type and more likely to obey, for example a monster with the Personality type Reckless (which is high in Bravery but low in Prudence and Caring) will be more likely to use a Charge attack, whereas a monster with the Personality type Careless (a type high in Caring but low in Bravery and Prudence) will be more likely to use a Cautious attack. Personalities change quickly at lower levels than at higher levels, also monsters with a high wildness are harder to change personalities.
The player may also use books to change a monsters personality.
*Quest Book - Makes the reader braver. (Costs 10000G) Raises Bravery 1 level
*Horror Book - Makes the reader more cowardly. (Costs 10000G) Lowers Bravery 1 level
*BeNice Book - Makes the reader more kindly. (Costs 10000G) Raises Caring 1 level
*Cheater Book - Makes the reader more sly. (Costs 10000G) Lowers Caring 1 level
*Smart Book - Makes the reader more thoughtful. (Costs 10000G) Raises Prudence 1 level
*Comedy Book - Makes the reader simpleminded. (Costs 10000G) Lowers Prudence 1 level
The best personality in the game is Hotblood (High in Bravery, Prudence, and Caring), and the worst being Lazy(Low in Bravery, Prudence, and Caring). Personality's make the game more challenging in the area battles, where the option to give direct commands to your monsters is not available. A monster can have one of 27 personalities.
====Wildness====
Another reason monsters might not obey commands is their wildness (WLD in the game). A monster with a high wildness is less likely to obey commands. Newly caught monsters will have high wildness, and also monsters kept in the farm for long periods of time. Monsters kept in the farm but are sleeping will not gain Wildness. To lower a monster's wildness, the player just needs to keep them in the party for a while or by feeding them meat items.
===Capturing Monsters===
As with other RPG's once the player defeats the opposing monsters and the battle ends, he or she is awarded a certain amount of experience points (EXP) which are used to level your Monsters. At the end of the battle, there exists a small chance the opposing Monster may join the party. In the newest addition to the series, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, you actively scout for monsters during battle.
This chance is increased by the use of meat items which lower a monsters wildness, although its not always a guarantee, the more the player uses, the lower the monsters wildness will be and the more likely it is to join. Certain types of meat lower monsters wildness more and creates more of a chance to catch them. Those types are,
*BeefJerky - First obtainable meat. Lowers wildness by 5. (costs 20G)
*Porkchop - Lowers wildness by 10. (costs 80G)
*Rib - Lowers wildness by 20. (costs 300G)
*Sirloin - The best meat in the game. Lowers wildness by 100. (costs 1000G)
*"BadMeat" - The same as BeefJerky, except that it poisons.
It is even possible to use Rib and Sirloin meat to capture monsters off opposing Monster Tamers encountered in the wild.
===Monster Families===
*Materials - These monsters are all composed of metals or other minerals. They are resistant to Ice and Fire attacks and have a high defense. Examples: Golem and Muddoll.
*Bugs - Insectoid monsters are part of this family. They start with weak stats but grow to have good attack and defense. They usually learn many poison based skills. Examples: Hornbeet and Armorpede.
*Plant - The monsters in this family include trees, flowers and other plants. Examples: Rosevine and Facetree.
*Zombies - This family comprises undead monsters. Examples: WhiteKing and Hork.
*Slimes - The monsters in this family are all variations of the Slime monster. Examples: Slime and GranSlime.
*Birds - This family consists of mostly winged mammals and birds. They are usually the easiest to raise of all the families. Examples: Dracky and RainHawk.
*Dragons - This family consists of lizards and dragons. They are strong in most stats but use more EXP to level up. Examples: Dragon and Divinegon
*Beasts- This family is made up mostly of mammals and have high HP and Attack. Examples: Antbear and Unicorn.
*Demons - This family comprises mostly humanoid monsters that are generally considered to be evil. Examples: MadKnight and AgDevil.
*Water - New family introduced in Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 made up of sea monsters. Examples: KingSquid and WhaleMage.
*Bosses (???) - These are the most powerful monsters in the game, having very high stats and learning lethal skills. They are also the hardest to obtain. These monsters are sometimes referred to as Demon Lords due to them being bosses or major enemies from other games in the Dragon Quest franchise. Examples: Zoma and DracoLord. The Boss family does not make an appearance in Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, instead members of the boss family are now members of other families.
===Currency and Items===
The currency used in the series is Gold (G). Basic items that can be found in all the Dragon Quest Monster games can be found in the Dragon Quest Monster series. Examples include herbs and antidotes. Items are usually bought from vendors, found in dungeons, found in chests, or won from arena battles.
==Release Dates and Systems==
In Japan,
*Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland (1998) - Game Boy Color
*Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru's Adventure (2001) - Game Boy Color
*Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Lucca's Journey (2001) - Game Boy Color
*Dragon Quest Monsters 1+2: (2002) - PlayStation
*Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart (2003) - Game Boy Advance
*Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (2006) - Nintendo DS
In the US,
*Dragon Warrior Monsters (1999) - Game Boy Color
*Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Tara's Adventure (2001) - Game Boy Color
*Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Coby's Journey (2001) - Game Boy Color
*Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (November 6th, 2007) - Nintendo DS
==est Monsters: JokerReferences==
==External links==
*Square Enix's Official Dragon Quest Monsters I & II PSOne Port website (Japanese)
*Square Enix's Official Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart website (Japanese)