The Dragon Warrior/Quest Series

[CyzirVisheen]

I only got into the series with the release of Dragon Warrior 3 for the Game Boy Color, but ever since then I've been in love with the series. To this day, I still like their old-school style of RPG gameplay. They may not have the most compelling stories for the most part, but they are still quite enjoyable (I especially love DQ 7's story, though it did drag on a bit). I haven't played 4, 5 or 6 yet, but with the release of the DS Dragon Quest 4 port in Japan and the upcoming releases of 5 and 6, I might finally be able to play them without having to resort to downloading an emulator, using a translation guide or buying a new NES. So, which games of the Dragon Warrior/Quest series do you like the most (including the spinoff games, a.k.a Dragon Warrior/Quest Monsters, Dragon Quest Swords, etc.)?

EDIT: Just to be clear, you can vote for more than one.

 

[Niraj]

I don't remember when it was, I think 2001 maybe, I bought Dragon Warrior 3 for GBC. It's one of my all-time favorite games. Before that I just had experience with the first two. I did really enjoy Rocket Slime as well. Hopefully Swords will be a good experience.

 

[Big Bayou]

Oh God DQ. In addition to being a kickin' rad series (People NEED to play DQ5; it is seriously one hell of a game), Koichi Sugiyama and his quasi-classical style of composition produced some of the most underrated game soundtracks of all time. I never really got into FF too much so my early RPG experience was more or less dominated by the mighty Dragon Quest.

And Dragon Quest Monsters. Talk about nostalgia, I look back so fondly on my time playing that game that I almost feel guilty. The first one was a classic, the second a worthy successor, but...after 4 or so years of waiting was rewarded with the mediocre DQM: Joker, I felt a bit cheated. It's a decent game, to be sure, but it just lacks the magic of the earlier games.

Here's hoping that the next DQ turns out to be a good one.

 

[Ace777]

I personally liked Dragon Quest VIII the best. Maybe that's just me... Here's hoping that Dragon Quest IX will be good. To bad it hasn't been released in Japan yet... The Dragon Quest Monsters series were awesome. It's too bad that DQMJ didn't have cool monsters like Divinegon and Box Slime :[.

 

[CyzirVisheen]

@Ace777:
I enjoyed Dragon Quest VIII a lot too, but there were a few things I did and didn't like in it. I loved the fact that the skill system was streamlined, and the monster encounters were no longer random. Additionally, the voice acting for the NA release was pretty good (the voice actor's accents really suited the writing well). However, I did not like how they changed the spell names. Blaze, BlazeMore and BlazeMost aren't exactly the most creative names for spells, but it sure beats Frizz, Frizzle, Kafrizz and Kafrizzle... Bleh. Also, even though I liked the fact that the skill system was streamlined, I didn't like how there were a limited amount of skill sets to choose from, restricting customization a lot.

@BigBayou:
DQV, eh? I haven't heard too much about that game, but I do know that DQV was the first game in the series that had a post-game bonus dungeon, iirc. That, and the final boss turns into an ugly mo-fo.

Also, I played DQ Monsters 2 quite a lot, though I only got a few really rare monsters. I was really hoping that DQ Monsters: Joker would be awesome, but there was something that I was disappointed with, though I can't put my finger on it. What I missed the most, though, was the "enhanced" demon lords that were featured in Monsters 2. LordDraco (DragonLord or Dracolord), Genosidoh (Sidoh or Malroth), AsuraZoma (Zoma) and PsychoPizzaro (Necrosaro or Pizzaro or Psaro), I think they were. I was hoping that they would have enhanced versions of the Bosses of DQ 5-8... I wanted to see an enhanced version of Rhapthorne and Orgodemir...