Mothergamer Plays Dragon Quest Treasures

 Right away Dragon Quest Treasures reels me in with one of my favorite characters from Dragon Quest XI, Erik when he was a child and his sister Mia is with him too. This is long before the events of Dragon Quest XI and has nothing to do with that story, but as spinoffs go the game is well done with a lighthearted and joyful adventure with the twins. The story starts with Erik and Mia on a Viking marauder ship talking about how they're going to find their own legendary treasure. Erik and Mia find a captured talking flying pig and flying cat on the ship and free them. Things happen and Erik and Mia fall through a portal to another dimension with their new friends and that's when their adventure truly begins.

Erik and Mia ready for adventure!

The world of Draconia is colorful, vast, and a lot of fun to explore. Draconia is a world where dragons turned peoples memories and hopes into treasures. The dragons are long gone, but their bodies make up the various floating islands of Draconia. It's actually pretty cool and the various regions are beautiful with places like green meadows with mountains or a Winter wonderland. You can play as Erik or Mia in the game and it doesn't matter who you choose, they have the same fight style and magic. I personally went with Mia. The main goal is to find the seven legendary Dragon Stones, but it's not the only thing to do. One of the other major things to do is to build your own treasure base to store all the loot you find on your adventure. This also helps fund restoring the magical trains that allow you to travel to the different islands. 

Of course the twins need help doing this and this introduces a mechanic in the game that I really enjoyed, recruiting monsters to join your treasure hunting team. Luckily, there are tons of monsters in each region ready to be recruited. It's pretty simple with an item called the Buddy Bullet which you fire at them with a slingshot weapon called a catapult. Sometimes it takes a few tries with the Buddy Bullet, but once it succeeds the monster joins you. When you get back to your base you talk to an NPC there and they will show you a list of potential recruits of monsters who want to join you. You have to pay the monster's hiring fee which can range from a certain amount of money to a specific item. Once you do that, the monsters are happy to join and help you on your treasure hunting journey.

A monster joins the team!

Each monster has different abilities that help you explore the areas. You can get to hard to reach heights with a flying monster or slip under small entrances with stealth with different monsters. The monsters also help you battle enemies with their skills. It makes exploring and boss battles a good time as you try out different monster team setups. 

Monsters can do lots of things.

You can have three monsters in your party so I liked getting to try out different team setups and seeing what worked for me best with each area. There are also monster medals which can be equipped like armor because the medals have different stat boosts like higher defense, more magic points, or stronger attack abilities. There are mini quests you can do as well which reward you with special items, treasure, and sometimes story related items. The user interface menu is easy to use which makes things easier to navigate.

Nicely laid out menu and team. 

All the treasure you find on your travels gets appraised the moment you return to your base. The treasures get stored in your base and there are plinths that you can display your treasures on. This leads to those displayed treasures sometimes getting polished which increases their monetary value. Some treasures are more valuable than others with things like priceless treasures which increases the overall quality of your treasure vault and base. 

Treasure appraisal done!

Your treasure isn't always safe however with other treasure gangs coming for you out in the wilds or to your base directly. When they come to your base this plays out like a capture the flag minigame. You battle the other team and when you defeat them this also increases the value of your treasure vault and also levels up the strength of your entire team. The battles aren't terribly challenging, but they're a lot of fun. 

Victory!

Overall the story in Dragon Quest Treasures isn't terribly serious and is very much a fun romp in a different dimension giving Erik and Mia a good story that is charming because of the way they're written as well as the myriad of interesting characters they meet along the way. It's a cute fairy tale that celebrates just having a great time and the spirit of adventure. I really enjoyed the game because of all that charm and the story itself is well done which made for a fantastic time. 

What a fun adventure!

*Dragon Quest Treasures is available to play on the Nintendo Switch

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Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance High School, Love, and Cryptids

 Note* I received a Nintendo Switch code for the game for my honest review. Thank you to Rocket Adrift for the game code.

When I read the description of Raptor Boyfriend I was intrigued and amused. A high school romance dating sim set in 1997 in a town called Ladle that has magic creatures referred to as Cryptids and three of those romance options are a Velociraptor, a Fae, and a Bigfoot. What also caught my eye was the artwork because it was colorful, stylish, and really well done. 

As soon as you start the story you're introduced to the main character Stella who has moved to the small town of Ladle her last year of high school. Stella mentions she has been to Ladle before when she was a kid going to Summer camp and about how she had so much fun and that the town has magic creatures called Cryptids. Stella also brings up the fact that she hadn't been back to Ladle in a long time and she's a bit nervous about school. I liked Stella instantly because I recognized a bit of myself in her. I graduated from high school in 1995 so I'm older than Stella by a couple years, but I was that shy awkward kid too so I could understand the anxiety of meeting new people and not knowing anyone. 

We meet Stella for the first time. 

The gameplay is pretty typical of visual novels. It's broken down into seven chapters that you read through and click on to the next page. The story is well thought out as you have moments where you have to choose a response for Stella and how you answer will affect how the other characters interact with her. Stella's first day of school introduces the three love interests and again I was impressed with the comic book art style. The first person Stella meets is the Velociraptor, Robert.

Robert the Velociraptor appears.

Robert is a funny and friendly jock type. He also likes to do silly pranks. I found myself laughing at his antics because I was friends with a guy like Robert in high school. He was always really easy going, liked to make people laugh, and he was a good guy. Robert is the first love interest that is introduced to Stella and they have some pretty interesting dialogue that shows Robert is more than what he appears and that he has some deep insight into things about himself. 

After that, we meet the second love interest Taylor who is a Bigfoot. I was surprised at the reveal that Stella and Taylor knew each other from before when they were kids because Taylor's parents ran the Summer camp that Stella went to. Taylor is definitely cute and he's very much the quiet, brooding musician type. However, there is a gentle warmth to Taylor I found really endearing. The fact that he and Stella had a shared history together definitely added a great layer to their story. 

Taylor shows up.

Finally, we meet Day who is a magical Fae and honestly I thought Day was beautiful. In fact, she was the first romance I chose on the first playthrough of the game. Day is smart, witty, and she's a talented artist. There's a lot of layers to her showing some of the insecurities she struggles with and how she handles that around Stella. I loved their interactions with each other because they were relatable and charming. 

Meeting Day for the first time. 

To get the story going, you have to choose one of your potential love interests to call on the phone at home. This gives you some insights into who they are and will also give you an idea about their feelings. I went for Day the first time through and I really liked her romance a lot because Day was so genuine as she talked about her passion for art and how she wanted to leave Ladle and see more of the world and learn more about herself. She also showed herself to be this incredibly thoughtful, loving person. She was also fun and funny which made me like her even more. 

Chatting with Day on the phone. 

While you do have moments with your love interest, you also get to know the other two characters a bit more as the story progresses. There's of course the high school angst which brought up memories of being that age and how serious everything felt at times, but then also remembering the fun times with your friends and silly things you would do goofing off because you were kids. It ties everything in the story together nicely and it shows overall that each character has things they're struggling with and it makes them all the more endearing. 

Everyone in the car!

I liked all of the romances and seeing the different endings for each, but Day was my favorite. That initial awkwardness of Stella and Day liking each other, but trying to figure out those feelings was beautifully done with care for both characters. The moments alone with Day having those conversations I loved the best because I got to see more of who Day was and was becoming as a person with each chapter and the affection she had for Stella showed through all of it. 

Day and Stella have a conversation.

When I got to the end of the story and the big romance moment with Day, I could not stop smiling. It was sweet, wholesome, and just a beautiful moment. I also loved the fact that there was a bit more after the credits with a bit of a time jump and showing Stella and Day together, having fun and being in the moment with each other. It wraps everything up in the best way. I did play through two more times to get the story arcs with Robert and Taylor and I enjoyed theirs also because I got to see more of who they were in their moments, but Day is still my favorite. 

Raptor Boyfriend isn't very long as I finished it in about three hours, but it's charming and wonderful. The story is good and the characters are definitely memorable with a great art style and a lot of nineties references that brought back some great memories. If you like dating sim romance novels, definitely check this one out because it's fantastic.

A beautiful moment with Day. 

*Raptor Boyfriend A High School Romance is available on the following: Nintendo Switch, Playstation 5, Xbox, Steam, itch.io

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer