2D remake. Same general gemeplay, just less controls. And it's more robust so you need to put something in each element to get combined spells. You want Healing Lv 1? Put some in both Water and Earth. Etc. Other important thing is that stat goes up very differently, though some similarities, and you need to finish a battle for them to count. I can go into it more if you want me to.
Magic is also wayyyyyyyyy stronger. It's more challenging, especially with a Game Over factor. On the other hand, it has a better start menu.
DQ Monsters is fun, not super different from usual team battle games, probably akin to DQIII. I haven't played beyond 2 among the regular DQ series. It's kind of akin to Golden Sun(in DQM1) where you restore MP by walking around. Many similar spells/abilities are there. You start off with Terry, the younger version of the DQVI hero, as your trainer of sorts. Then you get Slime as a starter. You're able to catch more Monsters with types of Meat. Main issue is a very limited monster set. Your ranch has a pretty small amount. So if you intend to have one of each monster, it's impossible. Pokemon didn't have that option till later due to not enough boxes, but you could keep a lotttttt of them. DQM unfortunately has... what was it, around 40 max? A "ranch where everyone is asleep", your regular ranch, and well, 3 current party members. I might be thinking of the differences from the second game though. That said, the biggest weakness of these games is your ranch(not the asleep one) gains experience, but not any monster abilities. So if you don't rotate them out, you can't train them well. :/