DQM: Joker 2 - Complete

So I beat Joker 2 today, or at least the first part. I beat the final boss, which then allowed my airship to travel again, and I flew to the tournament we were originally going to anyway and won. I like how they did it, too - since I had just played the game for 25 hours, the game skipped all the low level fights and took me right to the championship bout - which was relatively easy (it wouldn't have been if I didn't have a monster with Armor Seco Rain, which completely heals everyone in 2 turns).

Disappointed you don't get to participate in an actual tournament like in the first game? Don't be! After the credits roll, your character and the crew of the ship fly back to the island they crashed on, where the moles are holding the official ORIGINAL Scouting Championship. It also unlocks some more monsters around the island, and it also lets you SCOUT THE GIANT MONSTERS THAT HAVE BEEN HOUNDING YOU THE WHOLE GAME.

They're very difficult to scout, though. I've only scouted the very first one so far (the giant worm, who takes up three party spots so you can only use him at any given time). I'm raising his levels right now, to fully unlock his unique abilities. I'm not quite sure what will happen if I fuse him - will I be able to scout another one? - but his stats are already kind of low compared to my highest leveled monsters (I have an A+1, the giant worm is only a D). So I'll probably fuse him eventually.

I think the biggest compliment I can give this game is that I still want to play it, even after 25 hours of monster grinding. I probably won't go nuts and get every monster or even beat the scouting challenge (lots of games are coming out for the next few months, you see) but I sure would like to catch all those giants. When I beat Pokemon White earlier this year, I was relieved to just finally be done. I had very little desire to keep exploring the world and raising monsters. Like I said in my last post, I think it comes down to exploring the world... Actually seeing how big these monsters actually are, and avoiding getting slaughtered really makes the world seem more organic and interesting. (By the way, like in all Dragon Quests and Pokemon, when you lose a battle, you get sent back to the ship minus half your gold. There's a bank on the ship that lets you mitigate losses by depositing gold before you venture out).

So, yeah, I want there to be more Joker 2... Square Enix recently announced a 3DS remake of the GB Monsters game (which I actually own, but haven't played), so I'll probably just wait for that (and Rocket Slime 3DS!).

This has also made me want to go back and actually finish Dragon Quest V or IX, too. They're the only two DS Dragon Quest games I haven't beaten (besides the original Joker, but screw it, Joker 2 is better in every way so it doesn't count).

Anyway, Joker 2 is amazing, and is highly recommended to anyone who likes games like Pokemon - even if you aren't necessarily a Dragon Quest fan.

This means you, Kyle.