Personally, I had only ever heard of the franchise Dragon Quest back in 2017 when the eleventh iteration of the game was released. Still, knowing its name gave me no desire to pick it up or even look at it. Even more puzzling for me with my love of Square Enix’s published works. Having the opportunity to play Dragon Quest Treasures seemed like a good time to finally see what I have been missing out on.

Dragon Quest Treasures is one of the multiple spinoffs of the franchise and with Square Enix co-developing it with Tose Co., Ltd. I was soon left with bewilderment as to how Dragon Quest has had so many games released when Dragon Quest Treasures is so boring.

Dragon Quest Treasures is a role-playing game that has you playing as Erik and Mia. Erik and Mia are orphans aboard a Viking longship with a constant yearning for adventure and treasure hunting. Whilst the Vikings’ party, Erik and Mia decide to seize the opportunity to disembark from the ship and explore the nearby islands for treasure in secret. Upon reaching the upper deck they discover two bizarre creatures held in a cage; Porcus, a green flying pig, and Purrsula, a pink flying cat.

Erik and Mia decide to free the creatures who soon lead them to one of the islands covered in ruins. Delving into the ruins, they soon discover two daggers locked in crystals. Removing the daggers from the crystals opens a portal in which Porcus and Purrsula immediately enter, and Erik and Mia soon thereafter.

On the other side of the portal, Erik and Mia are separated and you play as Mia until you reunite with Erik. During this time, you learn about the world known as Draconia. It was during these revelations I got a very morbid piece of information that I just couldn’t shake. Draconia is made up of two dead dragons, and everyone on them is picking them clean of their treasure. The mental imagery of flies buzzing about a carcass, slowly devouring it from the inside out still sits with me now.

Anyway, once reunited, the daggers in your possession activate an old train system that takes you to a new location. It is at this new location you decide to make it your base of operations for treasure hunting. Porcus and Purrsula also inform you of their quest to obtain the seven Dragon Stones, and this becomes your main mission while on Draconia.

Gameplay in Dragon Quest Treasures is very simple, and thusly, makes it very boring. You will be fed constant tutorials and tips about everything. After 10 hours of play, I am still receiving them, and looking at the menus after all that time, there are still items listed in there with question marks, meaning there are even more to endure. From your base of operation, you set out to one of the islands of Draconia and collect treasure.

You then bring that treasure back to your base and have it appraised. The more treasure you collect, the more your base can expand. When out on these islands you will have to navigate around monsters or fight them. Fighting them, however, is not a task you are good at. Fighting is done primarily by the monsters in your team. You can only direct your monsters to attack or return to your side.

The monsters choose who to attack if there are multiple enemies, as well as what moves they want to use when attacking. You can assist, but your input into the fight is so negligible that you run more of a risk of being killed and having to reload than helping. Defeating monsters also allows you a chance to have them return to your base to be recruited.

Different monsters come with different abilities, known as Fortes. There are many Fortes, and all will help you navigate the environment and discover more treasure. In your base, and out in Draconia, you will encounter non-player characters that will give you quests. A lot of these quests involve collecting more treasure and returning it to the requestor. Unfortunately, all these quests feel like empty busy work as they often only reward materials you can collect for yourself. Things like a daily bulletin board of quests had me questioning if there was meant to be more to this game than what was delivered.

This brings me to the graphics. The cartoony, low-poly choice felt lazy and out of place, as I was sure the advertisements I had seen for Dragon Quest XI looked better. So, I checked online, and though Dragon Quest XI had the same cartoony look, it certainly was a lot more textured than Dragon Quest Treasures. Adding further to the feeling of things missing was the music. Music was repetitive and would sometimes cut in without reason or be playing in what didn’t feel as though matched the scene.

All up, Dragon Quest Treasures feels like an unfinished game with a hollow experience. The rotten taste left in my mouth for the franchise is unfortunate, and you’d think that with the mainline games having 11 titles in the franchise, there must be something enjoyable there. Unfortunately, this spinoff has done more harm than good as a way of inviting me to play more of their titles.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove