Dragon Quest Tact is finally here. The long-awaited Tactical RPG by Square-Enix is available for both iOS and Android now.
Dragon Quest is a unique combination of Akira Toriyama’s art style, made famous by Dragon Ball, and Medieval Fantasy. It has always been a beloved J-RPG franchise.
Familiar aspects combined into something new
Dragon Quest Tact starts with a nostalgic song playing right when the game loads. You learn that you have to work with monsters, as humans did long ago, to overcome the darkness and save the world.
Once you go through all the text and the J-RPG like “save the world” theme is presented, have some in-game currency and get you some monsters to save the world.
If it seems a lot like Pokémon, it’s probably because it is. You do get to recruit defeated creatures, but there’s also a gacha-like system in which you spend in-game currency to recruit a random monster.
The gameplay is how Dragon Quest Tact earned its name and distanced itself from Pokémon. You fight on a grid, much like old tactical J-RPGs. If tactical combat is not for you, you can also just hit the Auto button and let the monsters slap one another on their own.
The business model of Dragon Quest Tact
The monetization model is nothing new on mobile platforms. You have different currencies that you spend on several things. One of them, gems, can be purchased with real money.
You can use the in-game currency to upgrade your current monsters, recruit random new ones, and even buy some boosters. Although paying does help, it doesn’t seem that microtransactions ruin the fun for a casual player.