Compare Revisions

11 Monster wranglers in DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: The Withered World do not fight. Bianca and Nera assemble a party of monsters they have befriended and command it, and every battle is resolved by that party rather than by the character you are playing. Combat is turn-based.
22  
33 Party structure
44  
55 You can field up to four monsters at once and keep four more in reserve, which Square Enix sums up as a maximum of eight monsters with you at any one time. Reserves are not locked away: you can swap them in and out whenever you like.
66  
77 Slot groupCapacityNotesActive partyUp to 4 monstersThe monsters that actually fightReserveUp to 4 monstersSwappable in and out freelyTotal carried8 monstersSquare Enix's own summation of the two groups
8+The battle screen
9+ 
10+Square Enix has published stills of a fight in progress, and they fill in how a turn is presented. Battles run in numbered rounds, with the current round shown in the upper corner of the screen. Each of the four active monsters gets a stacked pair of bars along one edge, one for health and one for magic, with the current figures printed beside them. The enemy side is drawn as portraits along the opposite edge rather than as bars, so you can see how many opponents are left without seeing how much fight is left in them. Damage lands as a number over each target, and a single action can put a number over several enemies at once, which is what an attack that hits every enemy on the field looks like in practice. The wrangler herself stands on the field while all of this happens.
11+ 
12+ 
813 Sizes and slots
914  
1015 Every monster is either small or large, marked S or L. A large monster takes up two slots in the party instead of one, so an L-size creature costs you half of an active formation. The trade is real rather than cosmetic: large monsters carry more Traits than small ones, and many of them can act more than once per turn. Sizes are one of the four structural properties covered on Monster Families and Ranks.
1116  
1217 Giving orders
1318  
1419 There are two ways to run a turn. You can issue a direct order to a monster, or you can hand it a general strategy and let it decide for itself. Square Enix frames the choice as a knowledge test rather than a difficulty setting: whichever method you use, knowing what your monsters are good at is what makes it work.
1520  
1621 Spells, abilities and Traits
1722  
1823 Monsters carry a range of spells and abilities. Some hit every enemy on the field, others heal injured allies. On top of whatever you order, each monster has its own set of Traits, which are innate abilities that can fire during battle independently of the action you chose. Traits and the Talents that teach new abilities are covered on Monster Growth and Talents.
1924  
2025 Two ability names have surfaced ahead of launch, Gust Slash and Stone's Throw, in the North American rating summary for the game. Square Enix has not published an ability list, so those two are isolated examples rather than a sample of a known set. The same summary describes defeated monsters vanishing and leaving coffins behind.
2126  
2227 The Wrangler's Spirit
2328  
2429 Bianca and Nera each carry a mysterious power called the Wrangler's Spirit. Once per battle it has a chance to activate, providing boosts that can turn a fight around. It is worth reading that wording carefully: the power is limited to one activation per battle and it is not guaranteed to trigger at all.
2530  
2631 ProtagonistWrangler's Spirit effectBiancaHeals HP and boosts attack powerNeraRestores MP and raises defense
2732 Which of the two you are playing is therefore a party-building decision as well as a story one. See Characters.
2833  
2934 Monsters in the field
3035  
3136 Outside battle your monsters follow you around the world, and any monster can come along regardless of its type or size, so the large creatures that eat two party slots are still field companions. Exploration is covered on Story and Setting.
3237  
38+Not everything out there is an even fight. Some monsters roam the field wearing an ominous, swirling reddish aura, which marks them as far stronger than their neighbours. Square Enix pairs the warning with the payoff: beating one is a real test and you are told to make sure you can before starting, but an aura monster befriended becomes a powerful addition to the party. Recruiting works the same way it does anywhere else, and is covered on Scouting and Recruitment.
39+ 
3340 Fighting other players
3441  
3542 Battles against other wranglers are handled through the game's Online Battles feature, which is separate from the story party and has its own subscription requirements. See Online Features.