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Japanese consumers pick their favorite Dragon Quest game

L

Lumpy Onion

Member
Glad to see III is so beloved. DQ III is my favorite and I enjoyed both NES at launch and SFC. Still have fond memories of the scenarios you encounter in that game and the absolute freedom you had over your party. It became even more special going through DQ 1 right before the SFC English version a couple years back.

I'm not a big DQ fan though. Even though I own I-IX I have only beaten I, III, and IV. Also, DQ I is a charming little adventure and I would love more JRPGs of that length.
 
N

Nairume

Banned
ElFly said:
it certainly got help from the higher sales of the console at that point, and sf2 helped move sfamicoms

compare to FF4 released only a year after release and sold a lot less
Click to expand...
FF4 was actually only eight months into the SFC's lifetime (Easy Type was closer to the console's first anniversary, though). I wouldn't read too much into it selling less than two games that came in after it had more time to build up a userbase, especially given the two games in question.
 
R

Rpgmonkey

Member
You can tell the mainline series started to develop more and more empty space between games around the mid-90s with VI, and the games aren't falling into successive generations as neatly as they used to with I-V as a result.

The 10 and 20 year olds "reach into the past" more often for their favorites (especially the 20 year olds who didn't really get much new material when they were kids or teenagers), compared to the 30 and 40 year olds who had a more consistent stream of mainline entries when they were younger to look back on, and a particular entry (mainly III and V) that stands out among the others for their generation.
 
I

Irishonion

Member
Still have 2 copies of gbc dragon 3. One from when I first played with over 200 hours. And one when i bought another copy, thinking I lost the first one.
 
T

The n00b Avenger

Member
ElFly said:
it certainly got help from the higher sales of the console at that point, and sf2 helped move sfamicoms

compare to FF4 released only a year after release and sold a lot less
Click to expand...

More consoles at the time certainly helped, but I think people are a little taken aback by the choice of words of "riding SF2's coattails" when talking about a series that sold better than SF2 with the previous 2 entries and 5 itself selling just as well as SF2.
 
R

RevenantKioku

PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS oh god i am drowning in them
ElFly said:
it came relatively early on the Super Famicom life. without checking, I think it came a few months after Street Fighter 2, so it rode on the coattails of that title on a moment the console was getting a bunch of big hits
Click to expand...
Ah, thanks for the laugh.

Still don't get the five love. It's okay, but like six it just diddles around the bottom of my list. Neither especially fun nor memorable.
 
Z

zakujanai

Member
DQ8 is one of my to 5 games of all time, so strange to see it behind 3 & 5 by so much. I lost interest before even finishing 4, 5, 6 & 7.
 
Bitanator

Bitanator

Member
V is my favorite overall, VIII has my favorite characters in Trode and Yangus, I think VII has my favorite overall stories.

I,II, and III are great on the GB, I replay them almost every year along with the monster games
 
C

cubicle47b

Member
III is my favorite in the series. I played the original and Final Fantasy IV before it, so it wasn't my first RPG, but it was close (I was ~12). The fight on the main menu between Ortega and a dragon won me over immediately. The size of the world, freedom of exploration, difficulty, and party customization all blew me away. Then you get the story revelation after beating Baramos which made it legendary.
 
U

urfe

Member
II is my favorite, but I get that's for nostalgia, and it's not the "best" game. It was the game that I was most attached to at age 7-8.

V is probably what I consider the best game, but III is the "best at being Dragon Quest", which is a dumb thing to say as it probably just defines to me what Dragon Quest is. What's that called tautological?
 
1

1upsuper

Member
urfe said:
V is probably what I consider the best game, but III is the "best at being Dragon Quest", which is a dumb thing to say as it probably just defines to me what Dragon Quest is. What's that called tautological?
Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean. III to me is basically the platonic form of the JRPG.
 
F

FlynnCL

Unconfirmed Member
Dragon Quest IV is by far my favourite, with III being a distant second.

I thought V was a disappointment even though it's an incredibly nostalgic game for me. II bothered me a lot with its cryptic tile hunting and prolonged length.

I've yet to play any other beyond V.
 
L

Lynx_7

Member
theofficefan99 said:
What makes V so amazing? Genuinely curious as I might pick it up for my DS.
Click to expand...

It's a very personal tale and few other games have done the whole coming-of-age narrative as well as DQ V. It's cool to see how the world changes as your character grows up, and at the end of your journey it truly feels like you've come a long, long way. There's just something magical about it, game has heart. If you like traditional turn-based JRPGs and/or DQ games give it a shot. Just don't expect much spectacle or a cinematic story to follow as that's not really what DQ is about.

zenspider said:
DQV has two entries. Would be No.1
Click to expand...

It actually has 3. DQ V is in 4th (SNES), 5th (DS) and 11th (PS2) place simultaneously. It's such bullshit that they're not counted as a single entry. Same for III NES (3rd), SNES (13th) and GBC (26th).

Makes it hard to gauge which of the two is truly the most popular when they're fragmented like that and there are no vote totals for each entry.
 
U

Unison

Member
I loved III back in the day, but feel like I'd have little patience for it now. There are instant death spells combined with dungeons that virtually must be completed in one run and scarce MP regenerating options, as I remember. Tough, tough stuff.
 
J

Jacobson

Member
I played 4,5,6,9, and 5 is the best one hands down. Currently playing through 7 and 8.

edit: what's with the GAF hate boner for IX? I thought it was pretty good, I'd rank it 2nd after V.
 
H

Hilarion

Member
I loved IV DS, but never played the NES version of it. My favorite game in the series is V DS, but I've never* played a bad Dragon Quest game.

*Dragon Warrior II is not a bad game...I will never, ever play it again and the thought of touching it again makes me shudder even in the reduced-difficulty mobile port Dragon Quest II version, but it is not a bad...game...

I cannot believe that young me beat that game.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Jacobson said:
edit: what's with the GAF hate boner for IX? I thought it was pretty good, I'd rank it 2nd after V.
Click to expand...

One of the thinnest DQ's storywise since the nes and robotic teammates who don't care about anything that's happening.

Given how good DQ scenarios normally are it's very disappointing.
 
A

Amalthea

Banned
3 is also my favorite. I guess it's kinda how many classic Japanese game series hit theit stride with the 3rd game; SMB3, AlttP, Super Metroid, Castlevania 3, MGS, and so on.
 
M

Magicpaint

Member
IX isn't thin storywise. It's just not very plot heavy until later, but the individual scenarios are all great though and easily better than the ones in V and VIII. I also don't know why IX gets so much criticism for the lack of predefined party members when III gets away with it.
 
B

B_Signal

Member
I'm surprised so many people put stickers on 6, it's comfortably the worst one I've played

I've not played 3 yet, one day hopefully (I want to finish 2 first). 5 is one of the greatest games ever made, so if 3 is up there I'm looking forward to it
 
H

Hilarion

Member
B_Signal said:
I've not played 3 yet, one day hopefully (I want to finish 2 first).
Click to expand...

Good luck. There is no despair greater than Dragon Quest II. The Five Seals is one of the biggest dick moves I ever remember in a game. Also, the final boss has access to a recovery spell to recover all his HP.
 
F

FinalAres

Member
Ive never played Dragon Quest (actually I've played DQ1 on mobile) but in going to make whichever one comes to Switch first my starting point.
 
B

B_Signal

Member
Hilarion said:
Good luck. There is no despair greater than Dragon Quest II. The Five Seals is one of the biggest dick moves I ever remember in a game. Also, the final boss has access to a recovery spell to recover all his HP.
Click to expand...

hmm, in that case I want to play a chunk of it then forget it's on my phone
 
T

The n00b Avenger

Member
B_Signal said:
hmm, in that case I want to play a chunk of it then forget it's on my phone
Click to expand...

The phone version basically takes out everything obscure so collecting the seals are not a problem and iirc the final boss doesn't have a full heal spell anymore outside of the original FC/NES version.

The original FC/NES version is certainly an interesting experience though.
 
B

Barrylocke

Member
DQ V stays winning.

I'm not even the biggest fan of IX and I'm a little surprised at seeing IX being so panned by GAF. It has its strong points, especially in the gameplay department. I think 9 is the best game in the series when it comes to the combat related things, and the grottos add a ton of replay value to get the most out of that system. Create-a-character teams is not that fun imo, but III has it too and seems to do just fine with people. I personally am also not the biggest fan of III for the exact same reason.

But of course none of this matters, because it is V that is my favorite. The coming of age narrative focus really stands out to me, and monsters are fun.
 
S

Shahed

Member
I never played III, but V was legit awesome and I loved it. Either V or VIII is my favourite Dragon Quest game and I'm not sure which. I think the reason I like both V and VIII over the other games is how much more personal or intimate the games felt compared to the others. I appreciated the steonger narrative focus. I'd probably then go with IV and VI. I suppose technically DQIX would follow, but I wasn't a fan of that game at all and wouldn't want it on a list of my favourite DQ games.
 
PSFan

PSFan

Member
IX is the worst in the series. It was so boring and repetitive, and the characters felt so empty. V and VIII are my favorites.

Surprising to see X so low though. I thought it was more popular since they keep porting it to different platforms.
 
sublimit

sublimit

Banned
I'm currently playing DQV (on DS) and i love it.One of the things i really enjoy is how you can talk with the character currently in your group after you have talked to an npc and their dialogue will always reflect what the last npc has said!That's awesome.

My favourite is still DQVIII (PS2) though.
 
M

Magicpaint

Member
sublimit said:
I'm currently playing DQV (on DS) and i love it.One of the things i really enjoy is how you can talk with the character currently in your group after you have talked to an npc and their dialogue will always reflect what the last npc has said!That's awesome.

My favourite is still DQVIII (PS2) though.
Click to expand...
What you're referring to is party chat and it's not unique to DQV. It started with DQVII and has been included in the remakes of IV, V and VI and also VII.
 
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