Square Enix has provided a new update on Dragon Quest Treasures giving a detailed breakdown of the gameplay loop in the Dragon Quest spinoff starring Erik and Mia.
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The siblings venture off into five different islands to find Dragonstones. Before entering an island, Erik and Mia's Spirit Guides, Purrsula and Porcus, provide a treasure forecast telling players what kind of treasures they can expect to find on the island.
As Erik or Mia first start wandering an island, there will be a lot of useful materials to find in foraging spots, vegetation nodes, mineral deposits, and so forth. Their monster allies will notify them if a bric-a-brac or treasure is nearby. Bric-a-bracs are easier to find, since their location will be displayed on the map once players are close enough to them.
Meanwhile, treasures are more difficult to find and players might have to utilize the new Fortune Finder tool available to Erik and Mia in Dragon Quest Treasures. Fortune Finder allows them to utilize Treasure Visions, which grants players the ability to locate the treasure through the eyes of their monster companions. The entire screen will warp, shift, and transform depending on how the monster views the world through their eyes, so players have to keep that in mind when marking the treasure's exact spot.
With several treasures at hand, Erik and Mia can travel back to heir base and appraise them; they can either take the train back or use a chimaera wing to instantly teleport back to it. Appraisal happens instantly upon arrival.
Dragon Quest Treasures also starts its physical and digital pre-orders today. People who pre-order will receive the following:
5 Chimaera Wings - Returns players to base immediately without losing any treasure
15 Better Buddy Bullets - Increases the likelihood of a monster wanting to join the player’s gang
5 Fullheal Pellets - Fully restores the HP of a single ally
Dragon Quest Treasures releases on December 9 for the Nintendo Switch. You can find a full, detailed breakdown of all the new information on Dragon Quest Treasures down below as it was detailed on the Square Enix blog with a handful of brand-new screenshots.
Welcome to Draconia… and its many treasures
The floating continent of Draconia, where our adventure takes place, is formed from the ancient bodies of two legendary golden dragons. It comprises several islands.
It’s home to the seven legendary Dragonstones - special artifacts sought after by all treasure hunters worth their salt.
Each of the Dragonstones is shaped like a part of a dragon’s body.
You won’t find any Dragonstones on the island where your base is located. You’ll need to travel to the other five islands to find them, using hints to help you close in on their hiding places.
Of course, Dragonstones aren’t the only valuable items in Draconia. Far from it, in fact…
As you explore the islands of Draconia, you’ll find many items. These are classified as “treasures” or “bric-a-brac” depending on their rarity. Extremely rare pieces are considered “iconic!”
Iconic treasures are far from easy to acquire - and their value reflects this! Getting hold of iconic treasures is essential if you're to become the world's greatest treasure hunter.
Treasures can be placed in many different subcategories, including weapons, armor and items.
You may even recognize some of them as being very important indeed...
Iconic treasures tend to get eye-poppingly high valuations!
A guide to finding treasure
You may be wondering: how do we find all this wonderful loot? The process of finding treasure can be broadly organized into four steps…
Step 1: Choose an island to start your journey
The first step in any expedition is to choose the island on which it will take place. Check out the destinations list from the station at your base and select an island on which to go hunting for treasure!
Erik and Mia’s mysterious accomplices, Purrsula and Porcus, will provide a "Treasure Forecast" for each island that tells you what kind of goodies you can expect to find there.
In addition to the treasure forecast, Purrsula and Porcus will show you the Golden Ratio for that island. This tells you your current party’s suitability for finding treasure there.
The higher the Golden Ratio, the easier it will be for you to find treasure, so be sure to keep this in mind when selecting an island to visit.
Once you've selected a destination, it's time to hop on the train - with your trusty monster companions by your side, of course!
Step 2: Finding materials and bric-a-brac
Once you arrive on your destination island, the treasure hunt really begins! To start with, try walking around with your monsters in tow - they'll let you know if they sense any treasure. If you see your monster pals getting excited, you know there's something of interest hidden nearby!
There are lots of foraging spots on each island.
Useful materials can be found in clumps of vegetation, conspicuous mineral deposits, and other similar locations.
These speech bubbles mean that your companion monsters have detected treasure nearby. A silver treasure chest icon indicates that bric-a-brac has been detected, while a gold treasure chest icon indicates that treasure is in the vicinity.
Bric-a-brac has a silvery glow and is relatively easy to find. Its location will be shown on the map when you get close enough to it.
Any treasure you dig up will be carried by your monsters. The number of treasure chests that can be carried varies from monster to monster.
Step 3: Finding rare treasure
Real treasure is harder to find than bric-a-brac, and often hidden in rather inaccessible locations. In order to track it down, you may need to use the Fortune Finder, a special power that's only available to Erik and Mia.
The Dragon Daggers, which Erik and Mia stumble across at the start of their adventure, allow our heroes to use the Fortune Finder.
Using the Fortune Finder when there's treasure nearby will activate Treasure Visions, allowing you to see the treasure's exact location through the eyes of your monster companions.
Treasure Visions vary depending on the monster that's providing them. Compare the visions from all three of your companions and scour the nearby terrain to work out the location of the hidden loot!
Here are some examples:
Here is a Muddy Hand’s Treasure Vision…
…and a Hades Condor’s…
…and finally, a Restless Armour’s.
Once you’ve worked out where it’s hidden, the treasure is yours!
Step 4: Appraising Treasure
Once you've found some loot, take the train back to your base and have your finds appraised.
Alternatively, you can use an item known as a chimaera wing to instantly return to base from any island, with all your treasure intact. They're very precious items indeed, and nigh-on indispensable for any serious treasure hunter!
Appraisal takes place as soon as you return home and reveals the name, appearance and value of your treasures. A treasure's value depends on its condition, be it "mint", "fine", "fair", or something else.
Always try to find treasure in the best condition possible!
If you bring back a piece of treasure that you've already got in your collection, the item in the best condition will be kept while any others will be discarded.
Bringing a lot of treasure back for appraisal at once might provide a bonus to its valuation!
That’s the basics of finding treasure… but of course there’s more to it than that. You’ll have to deal with hostile monsters, rival gangs and more!
You’ll be able to experience it all for yourselves on December 9, 2022, when DRAGON QUEST TREASURES launches for Nintendo Switch!
