[Suzerain of Sheol]

Any fans here? I was playing these back when they were called Dragon Warrior.

1 was the first RPG I ever played, and was damned hard for a 7-year-old kid. Torches? Really? And, keys? God, the RPG genre has come far.

2 was just broken and impossible.

3 was fantastic. Class system, casino, creative dungeons... all the best elements of DQ.

4 is one of my favorite games ever. The final boss alone makes the game stand out in the genre, especially given its age.

I never played 5 or 6, but they've been released on the DS now, right?

7 has to be the longest game I've ever played. I was something like 80 hours into it and hadn't even gotten off the first disk. Great game, though the later party members joining with barely any classes was stupid.

I haven't played 8 or 9 yet. How are those (if anyone knows)?

[Serra Britt]

Yes, I'm a HUGE Dragon Quest fan, I can't tell you how many times I played DQ3 back on the NES before I had a lot more games to bog me down xDD Suzerain, if you have something to play GameBoy Color games, see if you can find the remakes of DQ1 and 2, they were a lot more balanced (and shiny!)
I bought and replayed 4-6 when they were released in the US on the DS, 4 I had played on the NES of course... 5 and 6 I played on an emulator because I was addicted. 6 is still my favorite even with the minor changes they made with the DS remake.
7 I liked a lot, I played through it twice both times fully savoring the battle system, though I have to say the story was a tiny bit weak.
8 was very pretty since it was on the PS2, and had all the great stuff from the previous ones like the casino and specialties, but I messed up with skills and couldn't finish the bonus dungeon T.T I have yet to replay it to do that.
9 was iffy...I get kinda OCD about optional quests and there were a lot of them, I got right to the end and then got panicky because I didn't finish some of the quests I was working on xD I wanted to play the local multiplayer for it too but I have no one nearby who has it :(

P.S. I'm a Dragon Quest fangirl >>

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I still have my GBA SP collecting dust somewhere. Maybe I'll give those a shot, it's been a decade and a half nearly since I played them, and I'm sure they're dirt cheap now.

I may give 8 a try, too, it somehow slipped my radar of PS2 RPGs to collect.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I've been on the lookout for a decent RPG for PS2, something besides final fantasy, but I haven't had much luck, unless one counts Okami. I haven't played any of the Dragon Quests though I've seen them around. Are they standard turn based fare or are they something different?

[Serra Britt]

They are pretty standard, in fact the newer ones were looked down on in reviews because they partly need griding in some spots. In some ways the gameplay is very oldschool but...I love them. I'm biased so don't just take my word for them ><

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Well, up until (I think) VII, the battles are in first person. I.e., you don't see your party, only the enemies. I think it's turn-based, based on agility usually. Most characters tend to learn magic, and the characters are generally very niche, each with a very clearly defined role.

Of course, VII introduced a really intricate class system that removes that element, but I think it's a good trade-off. I think the class system continued in VIII and IX, but I can't say for certain.

One thing about the games (the older ones at least) is that equipment is really expensive and monsters don't drop much money. You have to really budget yourself, especially early on. Like, a copper sword in IV costs something like 110 gold and a party of 3 slimes will drop between 2 and 6 gold for killing them.

[Obbiesan]

I have loved the dragon quest series but my favorite was the Dragon Quest Monsters Sub series it only had two games on the GBC but they were great games

[Serra Britt]

I was able to play the first Dragon Quest Monsters but never was able to find the second. but I did get the Joker one on the DS...it was pretty good except for that horrid monster quiz ><

[AceValkyrie]

I miss that game :) It was one of the first games I ever played actually

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I was just packing my old NES games away today, and it struck me how much more you used to get when you bought a game in those days.

For instance, my Dragon Warrior box has an instruction manual, a world map, a bestiary, a card with stats and abilities by level, a mini strategy guide, and a page-long letter from Enix thanking you for buying the game.

In contrast, I opened my Assassin's Creed 2 case today to compare, and inside was... a 10-page manual, half of which was credits. :|

[Serra Britt]

The original Final Fantasy was like that too, with the 84(?) page manual with a walkthrough of the first half of the game, along with a map and weapon list of EVERY weapon and armor in the game along with who could equip them too ;p
(oki slightly off topic xD)