r/DragonQuestMonsters

I'm a huge fan of the series (and an indie dev myself!) so I really hope that Withered World has learned the lessons from Dark Prince, but so far I dont think so.
Withered World already has the terrible dialogue 'choices' that were infamous in the Dark Prince - where if you say the 'wrong' thing, the game just asks you to change your answer over and over. And the long, clunky cutscenes that feel as though they add nothing.
The levels look big but feel empty, like Dark Prince.
In the original DWM game boy games, the world was so small that it felt cramped - but paradoxicaly that made it fun and cozy, like there was something important in every nook and cranny. The characters actually seemed funny and often you were rewarded for chatting them up. Not so in Dark Prince or - so far - in Withered World.
The level curve in Dark Prince was just okay - with the difficulty highest in the midgame and getting easier towards the end. Original game boy games were almost perfect in terms of scaling, with the 'postgame' bosses of the first game a perfect grand finale that rewarded grinders. Dark Prince postgame was a joke, just trivially easy, in part because you could win by spamming healing items.
What do think? Will Withered World be better?

Played the demo up to the point that you can unlock synthesis and.... I feel like I'm missing the point here. Is there not really that big a stat difference between G and F rank monsters? Or is synthesis mainly just to get Talent Points? Or is it about inheriting skill trees?

I'd greatly appreciate some clarity because I'm really enjoying myself so far with the demo, but this..... feels like really obtuse homework/analysis paralysis.

In the case that we had to get one or the other before a DQM5.

A Caravan Heart remake could offer unique gameplay mechanics. It would be a great opportunity to bring back some forgotten, CH exclusive monsters that haven't reappeared in over 20 years. However, there is also a chance they might mess it up, resulting in a mechanical mess. I highly doubt they would make a 1:1 remake of the gameplay either, given how controversial it originally was.

On the other hand, a Joker remake would be the safer option. They could bring back monsters like the Incarnus, Ruin, Dr. Snapped, and Trode. That said, since the Joker series is officially finished, it is hard to say whether they would want to remake it. Personally, I think the whole island setting could provide a great template for a cool post-game, perhaps by adding two or three new islands to explore.