Hello fellow RPGers. Nice to meet you! I’d like to start off by saying that I have only play a handful of RPGs in my life:
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VI
Breath of Fire II
Secret of Evermore
Lufia II
Star Ocean
Tales of Phantasia
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star IV
Darkstalker
…and now, finally, my first Dragon Quest game, Dragon Quest V, for the Super Famicom. I just completed it yesterday. Man, I’m at a lost for words. This was one of the most kick ass rpgs I’ve played in a long while. Yes, there were a few annoyances here and there, but my God, what a story! And the monster recruiting system is just too much fun(props to my homeboy Curie for your excellent healing abilities. Wouldn’t have made it without ya! ^-^). Other posters on various other forums were right on the money about this series being impressive, yet very traditional and straightforward but you know what? I loved it anyway!
The story wasn’t super duper epic and over the top but it was told in such an entertaining fashion that I couldn’t wait to see how it wrapped up and how the hero would go about finding his mother. I ended up marrying Bianca because she kicked so much ass and I really enjoyed her cuteness and lightheartedness at the beginning when she saved little Borongo
The battle interface was simple but I didn’t mind and though the battle frequency was pretty high, it help my party in a big way leveling up to where I needed to be towards the end. Not a particularly difficult RPG, 'cept for Bruon and Esturk(bonus dungeon). Man those guy were tough. Mildrath was kinda easy, though I admit I used the “Terrific Slash” trick with the hero. For the record, beat it with my hero being at level 62, while the kids and a couple other monsters I used often were right around level 45-50.
Graphics didn’t bother me at all after a while, though I admit I did think to myself “Man, I can’t for the eye candy in DQ VI”.
Anyway this game was fantastic and definitely worth playing. I was absolutely hooked for the 10 days or so I played it.
Well, now I am here to ask you for recommendations on which DQ game I should go for next. Unless you recommend otherwise, I am considering moving on to VI. I’m trying to keep my expectations low but it’s going to be difficult after reading so many good things about it. I did briefly fire up the import version of DQ III Remix for the GBC(I don’t have an English copy yet). I dunno…not sure I can deal with such a limted color pallette on a big screen TV…but then the discovery of the lack of backgrounds upon entering into a quick battle really really turned me off. Not to mention I’m not sure I can go without monster recruiting anymore…it was just so much fun. So am I right in assuming part V and upwards have monster recruiting but none of the games previous to that(including remixes) have them? Oh well, VI and VII should keep me busy for awhile. Perhaps I’ll jump into I&II Remix after I play those…what do you think? shrug