There are some measures to speed up the pacing, if you're lucky to happen upon them in shops or in a treasure chest. There are various items and spells that will teleport you closer to your goal, teleport the monster closer to you, lure everyone on the playing field--including the monster--to the same spot, damage the monster or your opponents from afar, and even give your opponents foot cramps so that they're limited to moving a single space for the next several turns. These abilities represent a good chunk of the friendship-destroying tactics in Dokapon Journey, and they're amusing to deploy when your buddy thinks he's got a monster on the ropes. Occasionally, there will be a random minigame to unexpectedly shake things up a little bit--one such challenge requires you to rotate a bicycle pedal with the touch screen as many times as possible--and strong harvests and droughts will add to or penalize your gold stash respectively.
But the very best moments of the game come with obnoxious, glorious opportunism. You can wait until a contestant engages in heated battle with one of the monsters, and then land on his space and steal his kill. Or you can defeat your friend first, and then steal his kill. Or you can let your friend kill the monster, engage him when he's weak, defeat him, and steal the town he just liberated. Anyone who is used to getting the "Opportunist" badge in Super Smash Bros. games, or who has enjoyed sniping an unsuspecting dimwit from afar in a first-person shooter, will cackle with glee at the possibilities in Dokapon Journey. The mischief you can cause is worth suffering through the pacing issues as long as you're lucky enough to have the opportunities present themselves to you and your party rather than your opponents.
Defeat someone, or just goad him into giving up. Then, steal his loot.
The key word is "party," which leads to another notable, though predictable, issue: Dokapon Journey isn't nearly as fun to play solo against computer-controlled opponents. At least one of them will always have precise spins that land it exactly where it needs to go (even on medium difficulty), will be able to guess your battle maneuvers with astounding accuracy, or will get the most appropriate item out of a treasure chest. The main Story mode isn't entirely deserving of the name, with each "chapter" merely representing a new goal from the king, such as "Find my daughter the prettiest dress around," "Find the four items needed to create a ring," or "Defeat the posers who are impersonating you around my kingdom."
There are other gameplay modes that require you to track down the most special colored orbs, defeat your rivals the most times, or liberate the most towns. While these modes do provide something different for you to do, the biggest complaint here is that Dokapon Kingdom is the only playing field you're given. Granted, because the kingdom is sprawling and you've got a variety of spellcasters, fighters, and thieves from which to choose, the experience differs any time you dip into a different mode with a different character class. It would have helped, though, if the boards varied in size, theme, and challenges; staring at the same game map, with the same towns, shops, and caves over and over again gets kind of old.
Nevertheless, if you take delight in tomfoolery and need a game that will test relationships on the go, Dokapon Journey should satisfy your craving. It offers minor tactical and strategic considerations--as well as more direct ways to disrupt your opponents' game plans--that something like Mario Party might lack, as well as a large playing field that will take you hours upon hours to explore. Those needing a new minigame every step of the way, however, will want to think twice.
Dokapon Journey (DS):
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