So, I went pretty hard on Square Enix’s mobile approach only for the company to release Dragon Quest TACT in the West.
DQ TACT takes the Dragon Quest Monsters franchise into new territory with a tactical RPG approach. Is it a formula that works for the Western market?
A market that the DQ franchise has done decent-at-best in compared to Final Fantasy? Let’s take a look.
Dragon Quest TACT Abridged
If you’ve ever played tactical RPGs such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Disgaea, Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor, or so on, then you know the gameplay here.
You move your party of monsters on a grid-battlefield in combat against other monsters from the DQ franchise. Each monster has ranks, weaknesses, resistances, stats, and can be leveled up and ranked up thanks to XP scrolls and materials.
These XP scrolls and materials can be gained in battle or via the gacha element of the game. They’re also rewarded for meeting certain goals or completing gameplay tasks.
You know: “Defeat 25 slimes” or something like that. The story here is that a Devil King returns and has corrupted all the monsters in the land.
Monsters in this game are similar to the monster in DQM and Dragon Quest Dai where they get along with humans. At this time, the player arrives and has a staff or wand that can break the corruption spell over the monsters.
In doing this, some monsters will join your party. Your quest is to clear the battle arenas and defeat the Devil King.
It’s a very cut and dry DQ story where it’s just enough plot there that won’t continuously interfere with the gameplay. Of course, there are story cutaways in the main storyline but it’s not the deepest of stories.
Hell, the monsters that brought you to the dance early into the game and are part of the story become irrelevant as higher-ranked monsters join your ranks.
Plus, you’ll focus more on leveling up the S to B rank monsters than that D-rank Slime Knight who is your first monster.
Mobile Gaming Verdict: 8.75/10
This was the free-to-play game Square Enix needed to release the whole time. It’s largely unspoiled by ads but suffers from continuous “Timed Out” errors.
That flaw aside, this is an excellent mix of tactical RPGs with gacha gameplay. The RPG element is the dominant of the mix with gacha being there for you to explore as a break away from the chapters and events.
It’s essential to play the gacha stuff to get favorable monsters, XP scrolls, so rarer gear, and materials but you could also come across the XP scrolls, gear, and materials through the chapters if you’re the grinding type.
Or just do both and reap the benefits of the gameplay and whatever you can get with your multiple currencies and tickets. Overall, Dragon Quest TACT is definitely worth the download.
