Basically, as the title says. I’ve got the itch to play another dragon quest game and would like to know how well regarded the ones are I didn’t play yet compared to the ones I’ve played. Although I’ll probably play IV in preparation for the upcoming DQM game, as I love those, maybe I’ve got time for two. Anyways, here’s my list:
- DQ V (DS version)
- It’s got the overall best story thus far and includes monster taming, which I really liked. Overall just one of my favorite games.
- DQ VII (PS)
- I’m oddly fond of VII. I’ll acknowledge that it probably is not better than some of the following ones on paper, but it just clicked with me. I really like the beginning part of RPGs and VII got several of those with how disconnected it is at times.
- DQ XI (Switch)
- I loved every second of XI and would probably rank it higher if the post-game wouldn’t do what it does. While I really liked them later on, the Hero and both twins started off quite bland.
- DQ VIII (3DS)
- The game itself is still really good, but it never grasped me with its story as the ones above did at times.
- DQ IX (DS)
- IX never clicked with me at all. Having only silent no-names in you party already started off bad, but the overall story wasn’t my cup of tea either. I generally like class systems, but this one didn’t do it for me either.
Despite being really similar to DQ IX in some areas I disliked, I’ll definitely check out III once the remake is done. I’m surprised to see it at the top of a list but that means I gotta check it out for sure.
I just finished DQ IV and funnily enough, it’s also my new #5. I made sure to play a version without the automation since I dislike that in general. Although looking back, there are some characters I never issued any other command besides ‘Attack’ and ‘Defend’ (only twice for the last chapter 6 boss). Maybe playing the NES version some day, I’ll actually come around on automation.
Theres a cheat code to turn off the auto but it disables the wagon. I find I like chapter 3 the most. NES has some fun sequence break bugs to abuse too, like keeping Pannon in my party forever which is great for hunting metal babbles