Gotta say, the DQXI comments have me scratching my head. My first playthrough of that game was only with Stronger Monsters on, and I thought it was a solid challenge for sure. Honestly harder than a lot of my favorite RPGs (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3, EarthBound, etc). OP, you may be some sort of expert on turn-based RPGs. How far are you exactly? I recall the Slayer of the Sands (the first "real" boss battle in the game, about a dozen hours in) being a pretty big roadblock.
If that's too easy, you could always throw all of 'em on, although you do need to start over. But Stronger Monsters amid things like Shypox and No Equips (except weapons) can be absolutely brutal.
That said, I do agree that the base game is too easy with no Draconian Quests. Most of the original releases of mainline DQ games had some serious fangs.