Part 33: Postgame Chapter 6: Dragon Quest Monsters Joker Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Cheat Codes

Last time, Euchre started his task to obtain every monster in Green Bays. This time, he'll be finishing off that task.

Music: Monster Battle



The first job to take care of is scouting a Metal Slime. As you can probably guess from this scouting percentage, this is incredibly hard to do and requires a lot of setup, as well as monsters powerful enough to raise the percentage an appreciable amount anyway. This is incredibly time-consuming, for obvious reasons.

If you want to do this legitimately, it's entirely possible to get strong enough for this through excessive grinding. Tartarus has changed since defeating Dr Snapped, but not in an obvious way: Metal King Slimes now roam its halls, making it hands-down the best place to go for gaining levels.



I'm not doing that, though. It'd take far too long, so in the interests of time I'm going to be cheating monsters in from here on out. Hopefully nobody is too horrified by this.

Metal Slimes originated in the original Dragon Quest for the NES! They were notable in that game for giving out the most experience out of any monster at a whopping 115, and have appeared in every game since. Their payouts have since become inferior to their larger relatives, but they're still a viable early grinding option. They're also impossible to synthesise, so there are no shortcuts to getting one.





Metal Slimes have the Skill Slimer, which was one of the very first Skills Euchre could obtain. As for Traits and resistances, they've got the same as all the other metal monsters we've seen so far: Metal Body and Escape Artist, and they're Practically Invincible.

Slimer, as I said, was one of the first Skills Euchre encountered. More specifically, it was on Slimes back in Part 2.

Music: Appearance of the Town



Now for something incredibly important. The Monster Matchmakers are a somewhat useful tool for some synthesis recipes, but Metal Slimes are where it becomes incredibly important. Because it's harder to scout monsters if you've already got one of the same species, and Metal Slimes' only recipe involves synthesising two of them together, the Monster Matchmakers' Metal Slime is a godsend.



This recipe makes a Liquid Metal Slime, which is the only way to synthesise them. That's not important right now, though.

Music: Scoutpost





There's a Quadrilineal synthesis recipe for making Metal Kaiser Slimes that involves two Metal Slimes, a Liquid Metal Slime and a Metal Slime Knight, and it's so much better than the alternative: a Metal King Slime and a King Slime replacing the two regular Metal Slimes. Remember, a Metal King Slime is the equivalent of eight Metal Slimes! Metal Kaiser Slimes are new to this game, but they're a palette swap of something else that started off in a previous game. We'll be seeing that monster soon enough.





Metal Kaiser Slimes get Bang & Zam as their Skill, and have the exact same Traits and resistances as Metal Slimes. That means Metal Body and Escape Artist again, and they're Practically Invincible.

Bang & Zam is unique to Metal Kaiser Slimes! We've already gone over this one, though, because Belial already got Bang & Zam II back in Postgame Part 3.







Grandpa Slimes are another Quadrilineal synthesis-exclusive monster, and this is the only recipe. These are the palette swap of Metal Kaiser Slimes that I mentioned, and they're the first monster we've seen lately that originated in a non-main series DQ game! They're from Dragon Quest Monsters 2, in fact. The Monsters games have a habit of adding in a few new Slimes every game, and there are a ridiculous number of them now.





Bang & Zap is the Skill here, and it's really rare! Psycho is a great Trait, and Magic Regenerator is even better. Add in the now standard immunity to Whack, and you've got a solid mage.

Bang & Zap is new, but like all the Skills of this type it might as well not be. You can probably guess what its deal is at this point.





We've got yet another Quadrilineal synthesis recipe here! It's two Grandpa Slimes and two Gold Golems. Gem Slimes, despite their looks, are actually considered to be metal monsters! Like all the others, it has low-capping HP and high-capping Defence. This guy hails from the first DQ Monsters game.





Gem Slimes also get Bang & Zap as a Skill for some reason. Since they're metal monsters, they've got the standard metal monster set of Traits and resistances. I've already listed them twice in this update, so I see no reason to do it again.

Bang & Zap is on the monster directly above this one, Grandpa Slime. It's not like there's much to say about it anyway.







Dragonlord comes from two Alabast Dragons, Captain Crow and a Gem Slime. This is the only use for Gem Slimes, and also the only recipe for Dragonlord. He's the final boss of DQ1, and is in fact who the whole series is named after. It's quite an achievement!





His blurb even contains a reference to the original Western name of the series, Dragon Warrior! Since he's such a significant monster, it's no surprise that Dragonlord has a Skill named after himself. Trait-wise he's got Psycho (not much of a surprise here) and resistance-wise he's immune to both elemental breath types and Whack (even less of a surprise here).

Dragonlord is a really good Skill! It's got both great damaging options and great support options. First off, damage: Kafrizzle, Cold Blizzard, Inferno, C-c-cold Breath and Scorch. That's three top-tier abilities right there! As for support there's Fullheal, Spooky Aura and Wave of Panic, all good abilities. Overall this is a solid choice for pretty much any team. Just be aware that it's incredibly frustrating to get because of the sheer length of the synthesis chain needed for Dragonlord.





Dragonlord plus Rhapthorne 2 makes a Dragovian Lord, who is one of the postgame bosses from DQ8. He's called Lord of the Dragovians there, though, so maybe one of the translators just didn't get the memo. In any case, he has a voice actor! Unfortunately he doesn't have many lines and I can't find him listed anywhere, so this occasional segment will have to be cut short.





Dragovian Lord has a unique Skill, once again named after himself. Critical Massacre and Desperado are nice Traits to have together, and to my knowledge this is the only time they come together. That's because they stack, quadrupling Dragovian Lord's critical hit rate at low HP. As for resistances they've got immunities to fire breath, ice breath and Whack, just like Dragonlord.

The Skill Dragovian Lord doesn't seem to be quite as good as Dragonlord, though it still has its merits. Offensively it's still got C-c-cold Breath and Scorch, which are both great, and Gigagash is too, but Zapple, Kazap and Magic Burst just aren't that useful considering their company. Magic Barrier and Wave of Relief fill out the Skill's support roles, with both being solid. The main problem here is that Gigagash comes after Magic Burst, so it's unavoidable if you want the best ability from this. Overall this Skill is definitely workable, but there are generally better options available.





Dragovian Lord is something of an evolutionary dead end, since there are no recipes that it's a part of, so it's time to move onto something else. Beetlebully is a monster that makes its first appearance in this game, and I have...issues with it. See that Metal King Slime that it requires? Beetlebullies have the same recipe in Joker 2 as they do here, but with one key difference: they're not used in anything there. They're almost completely pointless. Thankfully they're useful here, and can be synthesised together with Psaro to make Estark.





Bounty Hunter is the Skill here. Psycho's kind of expected at this point, and Beetlebullies are immune to Dazzle. Unfortunately a weakness to Frizz is kind of dangerous. It's a pretty common element, after all.

Bounty Hunter was found on Brownies in Postgame Part 5.







Darkonium Slimes are, unsurprisingly, new to this game. After all, this is the first (and only) DQ game that mentions darkonium outside of these guys, to my knowledge! This is the only recipe, once again. It's a very common trend for the high-rank monsters. It's also a very important monster to get if you're serious about getting the "best" monster in the game. Here's a good tip, though: don't.





Darkonium Slimes get Fire II as their Skill, which is okay. Being palette swaps of Gem Slimes, they're also metal monsters. As such, you can probably guess what their Traits and resistances are.





Despite Darkonium Slimes being useful eventually, they're not right now. That means we're moving on to a new synthesis chain, and the first monster in it is Mortamor! This is, hands down, the best use for Estark. Every other recipe he's involved in can have Psaro substituted instead. Anyway, Mortamor: he's the final boss of DQ6. He's unique in the series as a final boss with multiple targets! His hands are both targets during his fight, and can even revive each other and his head. Sadly that particular gimmick isn't represented in this game.





Again, Mortamor has a Skill named after himself. Steady Recovery and Magic Regenerator are, of course, great Traits. Immunity to both ice and fire breaths as well as Whack is very welcome too.

Mortamor's Skill is kind of meh. The first few abilities (Dazzleflash, Venom Breath and Burning Breath) draw you in, and then you get Meditation and it all falls apart. Inferno, Kaboom and Kazam are okay, but a monster this late has no business having its only offensive options being tier 3 spells and breath. Disruptive Wave, the final ability, is at least good. Overall this probably isn't a Skill you should take over its alternatives.





Mortamor is going to be traded in immediately for Orgodemir, the final boss of DQ7. That Alabast Dragon isn't actually required here! Dragonlord could be used instead, but...why would you do that? Other than for that awesome Skill, that is. Orgodemir is fought on two separate occasions in his home game, and this form is his second in the first battle and his first in the second.





Orgodemir, surprisingly, doesn't have his own Skill! Instead he has Muspell, which we've seen before. Double Trouble is a good Trait to have, of course - it looks like almost every monster around here has either that or Psycho - and Whack and Paralysis are good immunities. A weakness to Confusion is very unfortunate, though.





It's at this point that Euchre has all but one of the monsters it's possible to legitimately obtain. So what's the last monster in the game?



Why, Dr Snapped, of course! Yes, it's possible to get Dr Snapped on your team. He's considered to be the "best" monster, requiring some of the hardest monsters to obtain in the game and also Captain Crow. In fact, it's probably possible to get Dr Snapped before the final boss fight! It's incredibly ill-advised, but it's possible.





Dr Snapped, unsurprisingly, has his own Skill named after himself. His Traits are amazing, having both Double Trouble and Psycho, and being the only monster to do so. Unfortunately this isn't Joker 3, where Accumulate Tension is an AI option. Still, he's healed by Zam and immune to Whack. A weakness to Zap is unfortunate, but what do you expect from a monster created from concentrated dark matter?

Dr Snapped as a Skill is, surprisingly, not all that great. Most of the abilities are support, but for offensive options it has Kazammle and...Lightning Storm? Wulfspade's signature ability? Okay, then. They're both good, at least. Unfortunately the other abilities are where this whole thing falls down. War Cry is okay, but there are much better ailments out there than Inaction. Clang is baffling, and as usual incredibly situational. Meditation is just horrible when Fullheal and Omniheal are available. Wave of Panic is great. Decelerate Guard and Gobstopper Guard are fine, but don't fit with everything else whatsoever. And, finally, there's Kasag. It's good enough. Overall, there's really nothing to recommend this Skill over more focused ones with better abilities.


So now that Euchre's got all the monsters it's possible to get, what is there left? Why, Skills of course! There are some Skills that aren't available without scouting specific monsters randomly held by scouts or even synthesising other Skills together. Add that to the fact that I never went over the stat-boosting Skills that are on almost everything and you get a lot of Skills to look over. Let's get started! If you're not interested in this sort of thing (and honestly I wouldn't blame you) then you can skip ahead to where the images start up again.

So, remember when Gypsum got both Frizz & Bang III and Crack & Zap III? This is why that was important. If you get 100 points in two dual-element tier III Skills that combine Frizz, Bang and Zam and then synthesise, you get Uber Dark Dynamiter. This is, in short, a very good Skill to get, if only as an intermediate stage to something else. Kafrizz, Kazam, Kaboom, Kafrizzle, Kazammle and Kaboomle make up the spells, and Inferno Slash, Blast Slash and Shadow Slash make up the physical attacks. In that way, it's very much like the Skills that have to be used to make it. Despite this being a solid Skill, though, I honestly can't recommend it. If you can get this, you can get something better, and I'll talk about that soon enough.

There's a counterpart to Uber Dark Dynamiter: Uber Blessed Blizzardier. The conditions for getting it are similar to Uber Dark Dynamiter, but the elements it requires are Crack, Woosh and Zap instead. Unsurprisingly, the abilities it teaches are similar: Kacrack, Kaswoosh, Kazap, Kacrackle, Kaswooshle, Kazapple, Blizzard Slash, Gale Slash and Sacred Slash. Since it's so similar, just take what I said for Uber Dark Dynamiter and apply it again.

So now we've got two separate Skills that do very similar things for different elements. What would happen if they were to be combined? You'd get Uber Mage, of course! Both Uber Dark Dynamiter and Uber Blessed Blizzardier have to be at 100 Skill Points. Uber Mage is basically just better than those two for magic-focused monsters, since it teaches all the tier 4 spells. The main problem those have is that they cost loads of MP, so it also teaches Magic Scrooge! As the name suggests, this is the ultimate Skill for offensive magic, and I think it lives up to that.

Uber Breath is next, and there are a lot of combinations for it. There's Fire III + Ice III + Bad Breath, Fire III + Ice III + Graveheart, Breath III + Bad Breath, Bad Breath + Dragonlord, Bad Breath + Dragovian Lord, and Bad Breath + Rhapthorne II. As for the Skill itself, it's pretty good too. Sweet Breath, Venom Breath, Bemusing Breath and Burning Breath all inflict good ailments, Deep Breath and Blowback are great support abilities for this set of abilities, and Scorch and C-c-cold Breath are the highest tier of fire and ice breath respectively. The capstone ability here is Gobstopper Guard, which is a great passive just in case an opponent is packing a Gobstopper-inflicting ability.

Uber Knight is probably the hardest of the Uber Skills to obtain on normal monsters. The combinations that make it are as follows: Firewind Slashes + Thunderwind Slashes + Iceplosion Slashes + Darklight Slashes, Fire Fighter + Boom Boxer + Wind Blower + Icemeister + White Knight + Dark Knight, Firewind Slashes + Darklight Slashes + Captain Crow, Cleric + Cluboon III, and Captain Crow + Cluboon III.The third of this is, obviously, the easiest to get on non-Incarnus monsters. As for abilities, it's strictly damaging ones. All the elemental slashes are here, plus Gigaslash and Gigagash. It's pretty good!

Uber Healer is our sixth Uber Skill. This one has the distinction of having the most recipes out of all of them at seven! There's Healer + Cure-All + Mage Aid, Healer + Mage Aid + Bolsterer, Healer + Mage Aid + Barricade, Healer + Cure-All + Bolsterer, Healer + Cleanser + Cleric, Healer + Mage Aid + Crusader, and Cure-All + Crusader + Cleric. Crusader is exclusively on Wifi-only monsters, though, so there are effectively five recipes instead of seven here. Now, on to the Skill itself. Unsurprisingly, it's great! Fullheal, Multiheal, Omniheal and Kazing are obviously going to be there. Otherwise there's Give Magic, Magic Barrier, Mist Me and Wave of Relief. Honestly the weakest link here is probably Give Magic, because there's no way to refill MP after giving it all away.

Next is Uber Helpful, which is arguably not as helpful as its name sounds. First off, though, the recipes: Fortifier + Enfeebler + Saboteur, Champion + Defender + Thief, or Saboteur + Thief. So what's the problem with Uber Helpful? It gives every buff and debuff, so it must be good, right? Well, it only gives the multi-target variants, and those aren't always the best option. It can still be useful, of course, but it's much more down to personal taste than the other Uber Skills.

The final Uber Skill (sort of), although not the final Skill we'll be looking at here, is Uber Charmer. Its job is to teach lots of abilities that cause ailments, and its potential components reflect that. The recipes are as follows: Seal + Hypnotist, Hypnotist + Fear-monger, Hypnotist + Cold Sleep, Hypnotist + Diabolist, Hypnotist + Hive Mind, or Hypnotist + Mage. Let's move on to the abilities it imparts, shall we? There's a bit of redundancy here, unfortunately: Fuddle and Kafuddle, Fizzle and Kafizzle, and Snooze and Kasnooze all come up at some point. Otherwise there's Dazzle, Drain Magic and Magic Frailty. I don't think this is a very good Skill, to be honest. Its ailments just aren't that good compared to Uber Breath, and there just isn't much versatility.

Now that we're through the Uber Skills, what is there left? Well, next on the list is Attack Boost. This Skill comes in three tiers and ranks up in the same way as every other Skill like it. As such it's only worth looking at Attack Boost III. The whole thing is Attack and HP boosts, plus Sag Guard. The total boost to Attack is +70, and the total HP boost is +60. It's worth noting that these increases can push a monster over its natural stat caps.

Defence Boost is very similar, with the tier III version giving Defence +100, Maximum HP +80, and Sap Guard.

Agility Boost III has Agility +100 and Maximum HP +80, unsurprisingly. Decelerate Guard, too.

Finally (at least for the stat-boosting Skills) Wisdom Boost III gives Wisdom +100 and Maximum MP +80 in total. That's right, MP! It's the only one of these four that gives that. Oh, and Dim Guard is here too, I guess. Now lets' move on to the scout-only Ward Skills that haven't cropped up yet.

Funnily enough, the first one is Frizz Ward. This is one of the Magic Miser/Scrooge variants, with the stat boosts adding up to Wisdom +15, Maximum HP +20 and Maximum MP +10. Oh, and of course there's also two Frizz Guards.

Crack Ward is next. It also teaches Magic Miser and Magic Scrooge, as well as two Crack Guards. The stat-ups here add up to Wisdom +15, Defence +5, Maximum HP +10 and Maximum MP +10.

Thunder Ward is, you guessed it, another Skill that teaches Magic Miser and Magic Scrooge as well of two copies of its Guard, in this case Lightning Guard. Stat boosts this time are Attack +10, Agility +5, Maximum HP +10 and Maximum MP +20.

Fire Ward is, once again, a Skill that teaches Magic Miser and Magic Scrooge. I swear this is the last one! Again, two copies of Fire Guard, and again, some stat boosts. They're Attack +5, Wisdom +5, Maximum HP +10 and Maximum MP +30.

That's it for damage Wards, but what about ailments? Whack Ward gives out Steady Recovery, two Whack Guards, Maximum HP +30 and Maximum MP +20.

Dazzle Ward provides Magic Regenerator (very, very good), three Dazzle Guards, Maximum HP +10 and Maximum MP +20. I have no idea why these abilities are distributed like they are.

Antimagic Ward is next, and it also has Magic Regenerator. Two Fizzle Guards are obvious, and the stat boosts are Wisdom +10 and Maximum MP +30. How very appropriate.

Paralysis Ward! Steady Recovery! Three Paralysis Guards! Maximum HP +20! Defence +10! That's all the Ward Skills there are left!

Now onto something a little different. I already said that we've gone through all the Uber and stat-boosting Skills, but that's not quite right. There are Uber stat-boosting Skills, too! The first one is Uber Health Boost, and exclusively increases Maximum HP. By 150, no less. It's obtained by mastering both Attack Boost III and Martial Artist.

Uber Magic Boost is very similar, but it exclusively increases Maximum MP instead. This time it's by a whopping 200, though! Wisdom boost III and Mage are the combination you want here.

Predictably there are also Uber boosts for the other stats, starting with Uber Attack Boost. It's a total increase to its stat of 150, which is pretty incredible. Attack Boost III and Warrior make up this one.

Uber Defence Boost gives an extra 200 Defence to its bearer, although this is almost completely inferior to Uber Health Boost because of the way damage is calculated. Defence Boost III and Priest are the Skills you want in this case.

Uber Agility Boost is next, of course, and it imparts 200 Agility. There isn't much to say about this one, other than that it makes whatever monster gets it incredibly fast. It's made up of Agility Boost III and Thief.

The final Uber stat boost Skill is Uber Wisdom Boost, obviously. Wisdom +200 is arguably useful, I suppose. Wisdom Boost III + Sage is the recipe for this Skill.

Did you think we were done? Of course not! There are still a few more to go. It's time to move on to the Uber elemental Wards. First is Uber Heat Ward, which is comprised of Frizz Ward and Fire Breath Ward. Obviously Fire Ward didn't feel like showing up. Anyway, it's kind of underwhelming, giving Maximum HP +50 and Maximum MP +50, as well as just one of each of Frizz Guard and Fire Breath Guard.

Uber Cold Ward is similar, requiring Crack Ward and Ice Breath Ward. It has the exact same stat boosts as Uber Heat Ward, but gives different Guards: Crack Guard and Ice Breath Guard. Again, it's pretty crap.

Uber Windblast Ward requires Bang Ward and Woosh Ward, and is the same Skill once again but with different guards. In this case they're Bang Guard and Woosh Guard, if that wasn't obvious.

Uber Darklight Ward is the last one of this line of Skills before we can move on to something more interesting. Once again it requires two Ward Skills - Zap Ward and Zam Ward - and it's got Maximum HP +50 and Maximum MP +50 again. No prizes for guessing what Guards this one has, but if you must know they're Zap Guard and Zam Guard.

Now that those are done, we're on the home stretch. Remember those Skill scrolls from the Domus Isle department store? Those contain the last few Skills on the list, and the first is Warrior. It's a mix of stat bonuses and abilities, like all the others. In this case the permanent buffs are Maximum HP +20 and Attack +20. Ability-wise there's Helm Splitter, Metal Slash, Dragon Slash, Multislash, Hatchet Man and Master Of Weapons, a passive ability that allows the bearer to equip any weapon regardless of their species. They're all pretty great, especially at the time they're first available to buy.

Second up is Mage, whose stat boosts are a magical counterpart to Warrior's: Maximum MP +20 and Wisdom +20. Its abilities are much more of a mixed bag, unfortunately. Swoosh, Frizzle, Crackle and Boom have long outstayed their welcomes at this point, but they might have been okay at the time. Kafizzle is nice, though, and Magic Regenerator is still one of the best passives in the game.

Priest is third on the list, and it's just as much of a mixed bag as Mage. Maximum MP +20 is the same, of course, but Wisdom +25 is slightly better. Heal, Squelch, Midheal and Zing are unfortunately the best this Skill can do in terms of healing which, again, makes it pretty bad right now. Then there's Whack, but you've seen how many monsters are immune to that. Magic Regenerator is here too, though, and it's still the best ability here by a long shot. Don't go for this one.

Next we've got Martial Artist. Again, let's get stat boosts out of the way first: Maximum HP +20, Attack +20 and Agility +20 are what we have this time. Ability-wise there's Heart Breaker, which we haven't seen in a while (it's an Inaction-causing physical attack, as a reminder) Body Slam, which we don't want to see ever again, Mercurial Thrust, which moves faster than the eye can see, Defending Champion, which will see to it that nobody gets hurt, Double Up, which will see us through with lots of damage, and Able Ambusher, which ensures that the enemy will never see us coming. So a lot of seeing all round, there. Unfortunately this whole Skill is thoroughly disappointing and doesn't really have a place anywhere.

Sage feels a bit like a combination of Mage and Priest, which is what it really should be. Maximum MP +20 and Wisdom +20 are borrowed from Mage, of course, and it teaches the tier 2 spells Zapple and Zammle. Dazzleflash doesn't really go anywhere, but hey, it's decent. The Priest half of the Skill imparts Multiheal and Wave of Relief, the latter of which is almost essential for a good healer. Unfortunately the former is not so great right now, although it was at the time when this was first available. The final ability on the list is Magic Scrooge, but I'm sure you all know how good that one is. Overall this isn't a Skill you want on an end- or post-game party by any means, but it might be serviceable for a while.

The final Skill on the in-game list, although not the last one we'll be looking at, is Thief. Again, let's look at the stat boosts first. It's just Agility +40 this time, which is by no means a small amount. Accelerate and Acceleratle are decent enough buffs, and this being Thief, of course it teaches Klepto Clobber and Penny Pincher too. Dodgy Dance is good enough, and Decelerate Guard is fine as well. Overall this is a Skill that knows what it wants its recipient to do - go fast and steal things - and it's by no means unworkable, but it's mediocre and nothing can really change that.


Music: Contest Castle



Now that we're done with that long list, it's finally time for Euchre to receive his rewards for completing the monster and Skill libraries. This is another thing that it's impossible to do without cheating your way to victory, as I've already mentioned, so that's what's happening in order to show this off.



Let's check on Skills first. There are 192 of these in the game, so this isn't completely out of the question, but it'd still require a lot of grinding. Euchre had somewhere around 140 of them catalogued before his libraries magically filled themselves.

Well, that deserves a prize, doesn't it! Here you go: it's a Metal Kaiser Slime!



We've already seen one of these this update, so I see no reason to talk about it again.



Wunderbar! It's prize time! Here, have a Leopold!

Euchre receives a Leopold.



Leopold is one of those monsters that can't be synthesised and was otherwise only a Wifi prize because Square Enix hates you. His only appearance outside of the Monsters games was as a villain in DQ8, where he was a dog possessed by Rhapthorne, who is sealed inside the sceptre in Leopold's mouth.





Leopold's Skills here are exactly as you see above: Leopold, Whack Ward and Defence Boost III. Leopold is the Skill he gets on synthesis with the Phoenix Sceptre, which should be obvious. His Traits are Artful Dodger and Zammeister, and he's immune to Confusion, weak to Zap and absorbs Zam.

Leopold's Skill is okay. Its only offensive capabilities are ice breath, which goes from Chilly Breath to Cold Blizzard to C-c-cold Breath, and Uncarnate. Whack and Thwack are here and just not good any more because of rampant immunity to them. Critical Miss and Magic Frailty are here too, and they're decent enough. Overall this is, as I said, okay. It's not particularly great, but it's not particularly bad either. Maybe you can find a niche for it.



Why not try and complete your monster library too? That would REALLY be something! You'd win a VERY special monster prize then, I can tell you!

Unfortunately, even though Euchre's already finished the monster library, he won't be awarded the prizes for completing both libraries until he receives the award for it. That's the next order of business, then!



This particular mark is, once again, completely possible to do if incredibly frustrating. Just counting the monsters it's possible to get outside of these rewards, there are 204 in the game. 205 if you count monsters that can be seen but not obtained.

That certainly deserves a prize: namely, a Grandpa Slime!



Yep, that's certainly a monster. Again, we've seen these before. It seems a bit pointless to give one of these out with so few monsters left to get.



Such an achievement deserves a very special prize: namely, an Empyrea!

Euchre receives an Empyrea.



Empyrea sort-of makes her first appearance in DQ8 as the Godbird, a divine entity that helps the heroes on their journey...at least, after her inevitable boss battle. She's also known as Ramia, who appeared in DQ3 as a phoenix who acted as the party's method of flight. Her voice actor in DQ8, Jessica Martin, is more well-known for TV roles than videogames, and has acted in Doctor Who multiple times among other roles.





Empyrea gets the Skills you can see above: Crusader, Cure-all and Bang & Zap III, and when synthesising her (through Phoenix Sceptre again) she gets Crusader. She's got Artful Dodger and Zapmeister as her Traits, and is healed by Zap, weak to Zam, and immune to both Whack and Sleep.

Crusader is new, and it's...okay? Maybe? Damage-wise you've got Zap, Zapple, Kazap and Hallowed Slash. Zap has no place on any Skill obtained this late, of course, and I really wish each of those spells was a tier higher. This is clearly more of a support Skill, though, and that's where it's much better. There's Multiheal, Omniheal, Wave of Relief and Reheal, and Zap Guard. They're really standard healer abilities, though, and I'd find it hard to recommend this over Cleric other than the fact that it can cure ailments.



Well, well, I must give you your prize: it's a Robbin' Hood! TA-DA!

Euchre receives a Robbin' Hood!



Robbin' Hood is a bit of a weird one. Not only is he flat-out impossible to get without cheating, unlike every other monster in the game, but his origin is a little muddied. He probably hails from DQ5, but he's similar enough to Kandar from DQ3 (a recurring boss) to be him as well. The more recent localisation of his name is Robbin' 'Ood, though, and one letter changed could well make a lot of difference.





Sadly I couldn't find artwork of the palette swap used in this game, so artwork of Robbin' 'Ood will have to do. Sorry about that. In any case, Robbin' Hood gets the Skills Bounty Hunter and Assassin from getting him as a gift here, and using a Phoenix Scepter on him while synthesising shows that he'll get Bounty Hunter from that. He's got Psycho for his Trait and he's immune to both Whack and Inaction.

Since Robbin' Hood can't be obtained whatsoever, it's nice that his Skill isn't unique. Bounty Hunter was also on Brownies in Postgame Part 5.



Anyway, now that Euchre's gotten the reward for completing the monster library, it's time to go back to Skill library woman.

Then you must have a prize, young scout! Please accept this Trode!

Euchre receives a Trode.



Trode is the King of Trodain from DQ8, where he was turned into the form you see here by Dhoulmagus. It's kind of weird to see him here, since aside from his appearance he's completely human and wants to be treated as such. Oh, also, he's got a voice actor too! Jon Glover is primarily a television actor, and he's been in a lot.





Trode's got a unique Skill: Trickster. It's a little surprising that it's not named after him, but whatever. He's also got Attack Boost III and Dancer from this one-off gift. His Traits are Psycho and Counterstriker, and he's immune to fire breath, Whack and Fizzle. Seriously, though, why would you ever use him in battle? The poor guy's probably traumatised enough already.

Trickster is all about debuffing Agility and Wisdom. You've got Decelerate, Deceleratle, Dim and Stupefying Strike for that. There's also Breathtaking Bash and Break-dance Beat to stop breath and dancing respectively, which is pretty nice. Weird Dance isn't great, honestly, but it's there anyway and sort of fits in with everything else, but Double-edged Slash and Blowback don't fit at all. Still, they're good abilities. Overall this is a decent enough Skill, but I find it hard to recommend over, say, Diminisher.

With that, that's every Skill in the game covered! There are still two monsters to go, but they've got repeats.

Music: Scoutpost





Speaking of which, here's Ace of Spades. This recipe is notable in that it's one of two Incarnus recipes where the form it's in to start with matters. More specifically, Wildcard has to be a Wulfspade Ace to even consider this.





Wildcard's edgy DeviantArt recolour has the Skill Cursader and the Traits Psycho and Zammeister. He's weak to Zap, healed by Zam, and immune to both Fire Breath and Whack.

Cursader was shown in Postgame Part 2, where it was held by Tortured Soul.





And now for the final monster. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Wildcard! That's his name. And also his species.

Full disclosure: I thought it was hilarious when his name got voted to be that.





Wildcard's final form has the Skill Crusader, making him one of those unfortunate monsters that has the same Skill as one of their synthesis components. As the counterpart of Ace of Spades, he's got Psycho and Zapmeister as his Traits, is healed by Zap and weak to Zam, and has immunities to both fire breath and Whack.

Crusader was on Empyrea just a little further up this page. What a let-down for the final monster.


Music: Overture

So, now that all that's over with, what are my final thoughts? Well, I enjoyed LPing this game, although both the LP and the game are far from perfect. It's a lot of fun to see just how strong you can make your monsters, although some of the mechanics are very frustrating (a lack of decent fast travel, for one). It may not be the best DS game out there, but it's certainly a fun one if you're in the right frame of mind. Just make sure to hop off before trying to be a completionist, because this game hates you.

I have no idea how to end this thing, so...see you next LP! Hopefully it'll be better than this one!