Square Enix has confirmed that its upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusiveDragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Princewill continue its tradition of offering just a single save slot to players. The save slot will be associated with players' Nintendo Switch accounts, which may be less restrictive than saves being associated with cartridges but has its own limitations. Nevertheless, it’s a decision prospectiveDragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Princeplayers will want to know about before they make a purchase.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Princewill be the latest release in the popularDragon Quest Monstersseries, aspin-off of the mainDragon Questfranchisethat focuses on catching, breeding, and battling monsters much like inPokemon.The Dark Princewill be the first new title in theMonstersseries in over seven years, but likely won’t change the experience significantly. It’s tentatively scheduled for release on December 1.
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A report from Noisy Pixel has the details regarding Square Enix’s plans for save files inDragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. According to an official statement,Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Princewill have just one save file. The save file is attached to aNintendo Switch player’s accountand not to the cartridge, so players will be able to make multiple accounts for multiple saves if they choose. Online play requires each player to own a copy of the game.
While the decision to restrict save files to individual Nintendo Switch accounts is frustrating, this isn’t necessarily a surprise. TheDragon Quest Monstersfranchise has been doing this for a very long time, going back toDragon Warrior Monstersfor the Game Boy Color. The precedent was set by thePokemonfranchise.Pokemon RedandBlueplayerswill recall only having a single individual save available. There are other games that have done similar, even beforePokemon, but that’s very likely whereDragon Quest Monstersstarted the practice.
Having just a single save isn’t as painful as it would be for many other games.Dragon Quest Monstersencourages players to invest a significant amount of time into a single playthrough.Players accrue collections of Monsters, which they can then take online to battle. There aren’t really branching paths or alternate storylines. Very few players will ever need a second save.
The one case where multiple saves would be necessary is taken care of, too. If aDragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Princeplayer has friends or family that also want to play, they’ll be able to create their own save using a separate Nintendo Switch account. That’s not something that was possible on the Game Boy Color. Hopefully, everyone that wants to playDragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Princewill be able to do so without saves being too frustrating of a situation.
