Current Events > I've beaten all the mainline Dragon Quest games (besides X). My series rankings?

(+) Yeah! (+)

1 - Dragon Quest 5 : Definitely my favorite of the series. Turning the conventions of the series on their head, you do not play as the legendary hero, but rather his father. A major component of the game is the choice you have in a wife, and the story of your SON becoming the legendary hero.. The gameplay is great and I feel it is the quintessential Dragon Quest game.

2 - Dragon Quest 7 : You gotta have balls to start the first 2-3 hours of your game without battle. World building is everything in this title, as the whole concept of the game is that you rebuild the world and reconnect it all together. You have to literally grab what amounts to puzzle pieces that coincide to areas of the world. You travel through time to help these areas and then see what they are like in your time in the future. It is 100+ hours of greatness that is not afraid to take its time with story telling. Also, having a main story character and your best friend decide that one past scenario is where he belongs, and just stays there? Damn good story telling.

3 - Dragon Quest 4 - I loved how the game told individual chapters of how the characters all came together. This allowed every character to be the "main character" for a time in the narrative, and not just in a "oh look a sidequest!" way, but rather the entire narrative being about their story of how they eventually joined with the hero. Very fun, and just a great game.

4 - Dragon Quest 8 - Classic. What FF9 did for the Final Fantasy series, Dragon Quest 8 did for the Dragon Quest series. A loving homage to all the classic tropes, it is like a nice warm blanket. First time the series had voice acting, it was also the first entry a lot of people played. It is fun, familiar, and everything you want from Dragon Quest.

5 - Dragon Quest 11 - I feel this guy is also a very classic DQ title. The most recent, it has an excellent cast of characters and a pretty cool story, if not a little cliche. Trust me though, Dragon Quest revels in its nostalgia and cliche.

6 - Dragon Quest 3 - As the chronological start of the DQ1-3 trilogy, DQ3 definitely paved the way for some interesting DQ staples. The first game to allow you to make characters and have a job system (the job system being an idea that is brought back in a few future games), it also told a really awesome story that pays off the entirety of the DQ1-3 trilogy in a way that probably blew fucking minds at the time.

7 - Dragon Quest 9 - This game felt, to me, like the job system and making your characters was the big draw. At the time, if you COULD play it with friends, it was a very unique experience as you could basically play the game coop with others, and a lot of other features were available to take that into account. It is not available anymore though, and really does take DQ9 down a few pegs.

8 - Dragon Quest 6 - I was not the biggest fan of this one honestly. While it did evolve the job system from the third game quite well, I was just not as taken with the narrative as I was with DQ4 and 5, both of which were DS games for me as well. It felt like the weakest of that trilogy of games.

9 - Dragon Quest - More purely a nostalgia thing for me, I really enjoyed the start of the series. While obviously not as technically proficient as the sequels, there is a certain charm to basically being a one man wrecking crew and destroying the all-evil as one man.

10 - Dragon Quest 2 - It was fine as a sequel to the first game, but felt lacking in heart compared with the original. While it had a party instead of being the one man army, it was just not enough of a leap forward, especially when compared with DQ3.

---

I've played a variety of DQs and only ever managed to finish 8... wondering if I should get 11 or 7 next, I could play them on my Switch and 3DS at least

---

i bought 7 on 3ds recently and the game looks interesting but i don't know if i'll have the patience to power through the game.

---

Nightmare_Luna posted...

i bought 7 on 3ds recently and the game looks interesting but i don't know if i'll have the patience to power through the game.

The few issues that 7 had were fixed by the 3DS version.

---

that's a relief to hear. just heard the story has glacially slow pacing even then? i don't mind a slow built story with a lot of worldbuilding. though part of the problem is that my original 3ds from 2011 cramps my hands when i play on it now. might need to play the game on citra or something.

---

I think most of the stories you come across definitely pay off. The individual stories have a nice pay off and it starts to work towards the whole "Why is this happening?" as a whole.

---

i'll rank em later

---

Anyone have any experience with 10? Was it any good as an MMO?

---

I largely agree with your list but didn't enjoy 4 as much and enjoyed 9 more than you did.

---

Basically top to bottom agreed

---

im just glad 5 is on top
because it belongs there

---

What do you think of dragon quest monsters op

---

Never played any of the offshoots yet. It's on my list with like, a million other games.

---

Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

The few issues that 7 had were fixed by the 3DS version.

there are some new problems introduced unfortunately

the most glaring of which is that the game uses visible monster encounters in a game that was never designed with them in mind. the dungeons in the 3DS remake are an absolute chore to navigate, as they are comprised largely of narrow hallways, making it almost impossible to avoid encounters with monsters, which also spawn insanely quickly and run basically as fast as the player. also holy water or other monster repellent will not work unless you severely outlevel them. i never played the original, but i would bet that you'd have less battles with random encounters than visible ones.

anyway, my top 3 DQ games are definitely VIII, V and IX

---

For people who really enjoyed 9, did you play them coop? I never got the chance to, and I wonder if that would have shaped my opinion differently.

---

Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

For people who really enjoyed 9, did you play them coop? I never got the chance to, and I wonder if that would have shaped my opinion differently.

I did. Especially the post-game. Lot of days wasted in undergrad burning through dungeons with friends.

---

Haven't played XI or X yet but seems like a very solid list. Personally 3 is my fave though.

---

Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

For people who really enjoyed 9, did you play them coop? I never got the chance to, and I wonder if that would have shaped my opinion differently.

a little bit but it didn't really define the experience for me

i personally loved the greater emphasis on vignette storytelling and character customization

---

Squeenix has been toying with the idea of an offline DQ10 for a while now.
https://www.siliconera.com/dragon-quest-producer-wants-to-bring-dragon-quest-x-to-the-west-possibly-an-offline-version/
They've never bothered with an international release, and Japanese gamers were moderately annoyed by the superscription model anyway.

I would consider myself a p decent DQ fan but I did not care for 7 all that much. I feel like many of my issues were very much related to the 3DS version though

---

8 > 11 > 9 > the rest don't matter

NinjaBreakfast posted...

I would consider myself a p decent DQ fan but I did not care for 7 all that much. I feel like many of my issues were very much related to the 3DS version though

What issues? The only issue I think I ever had was the high encounter rate which is an issue with DQ and nearly all JRPG's like... forever.

---

I ended up deciding to start 5 DS instead of doing 7 now and I'm loving every second of it. I can already tell I'm in for a great game with this one.

---

Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

The few issues that 7 had were fixed by the 3DS version.

They really weren't. You've got about 20 hours or more of the game to play before combat gets even slightly interesting. It's not a slow-burn it's just bad and poorly structured. Don't think I've ever been more let down by a game.

We will have to agree to disagree. If you are playing Dragon Quest for innovative JRPG gameplay look elsewhere.

---

1: DQ 9. I loved the mechanics and the world of 9 if not so much the several plot twists. It had great pacing and while being extremely long it never felt dragged out. It simply had an EXTREMELY large world that it introduced you to at a steady pace. Like the addition of infinite procedural generated dungeons as well, along with reintroducing a ton of classic bosses as unique Legacy encounters. Overall a very solid title.

2: DQ 4, for exactly the same reasons TC listed. It was an excellent spin on the RPG genre. My only complaint was that it was either EXTREMELY difficult at times (if you played on the NES version) or basically a cakewalk (if you played the DS version). The difference? In the NES version all your allies were AI controlled starting in Chapter 5. You could only directly control the Hero, leading to some extremely frustrating boss battle where your allies did not perform as you might want them to. The DS version fixed this, and suddenly the difficulty of Chapter 5 evaporated entirely.

3: DQ 3, mostly for the reason TC listed. I'm a sucker for customizable job class systems and this is the grandfather of them all. The superior SNES/GBC ports added some extremely nice features including two post game dungeons. I've always loved the way it opened with a branching personality quiz that had significant ingame effect as well. Also Zoma is absolutely my favorite Demon Lord. Good design and excellent lore.

4: DQ 1. I'll be honest, the game holds up horribly. Ultra grindy (world record speedrun for Any % no RNG manipulation is over 5 hours, 3.5 hours of that is grinding) and fairly slow....but it is nostalgic AF for me. One of the first games I've ever played and I actually enjoy occasionally trying to challenge my personal best speedrun time. Recently, like many old games, it got a Randomizer that's flat out fun as hell. I've played many, many seeds on it.

5: DQ 5/8 tie. Both are solid titles overall but while both are extremely popular they fell a bit flat for me. I didn't like the trope inversion of 5. Playing thru a significant portion of the game only to lose my main character was frustrating. The game had other nitpicks as well, and felt like a step back from the imo vastly superior 3 and 4. For 8, the pacing felt weird to me and the story felt even weirder. I very much so enjoyed much of the side content, especially the monster arena. The addition of the Alchemy Pot felt great as well. I need to get around to playing the 3DS version.

7: DQ 6. Story was really wonky to me, characters seemed under developed, world felt cramped. Idk, the whole game felt like it was a bit rushed or something. I just didn't enjoy it.

8: DQ 7. Hoollllly shit, where do I start. To begin with, I've only played the PSX version which was riddled with issues. The most notorious was the grind. Game had hardcore difficulty spikes that killed the pace. You'd need to stop and level hard for some time to surmount them... Only to find out later the class system ACTIVELY discouraged XP grinding. You only gained class levels by fighting X number of "relevant" fights, IE fights with enemies aproximately your XP level. This made it extremely difficult to level your classes at times since you'd need to spend time grinding weaker stuff to even have a chance of advancing to stronger stuff. Also, gold was pretty scarce for most of the game and you'd either need to grind cash OR skip gear upgrades. That wasn't the worst for me, though. I played this in a time before online guides were a thing and I got hopelessly stuck because I needed a single puzzle piece to advance. I looked everywhere to find it, even consulting with the ingame oracle who gives hints to find puzzle pieces. Took me like a month. Turns out that sprites that are too close to the frontmost wall are just invisible unless you rotate the camera from its default position. Puzzle piece was in a chest inside a tiny house and you could only see it if you rotated the camera. The entire rest of the house was fine, just the ONE chest went AWOL. I was pissed. Aside from that, I'll say that the story was very solid and the side content was pretty damn good. I loved the city builder. I've heard the 3DS port fixed a lot of this but I was so burnt on the game I don't know if I'll ever replay it. The only reason this isn't the bottom of my list is...

9: DQ 2. Game is just plain bad. No redeeming features. Hargon is probably the least threatening villain of all time. Game is basically an RPG collect-a-thon with little to no guidance and most of the McGuffins are in super boring locations. Story is basically non-existent. Mechanically it is barely an improvement over the original, and I've always hated how the Prince of Middenhall had no special skills at all, just swing for the fences with whatever weapon you've bought (and yes, bought. The best weapon in the game is purchasble from a shop and vastly overshadows the iconic Erdrick's Sword), but real OGs ignored all the "good" weapons to use the cursed Sword Of Destruction with its massive Atk that you could one shot the final boss with a lucky crit (until the GBC remake anyway). Also bothered me that the Prince Of Cannock is borderline worthless until EXTREMELY late game. GBC version fixed this up a bit by improving his weapon selection. Overall a dull, uninteresting experience that should only ever be played once so a series vet can see how the Erdrick Saga wraps up.

EDIT: I've not played 11 yet, waiting for Nintendo to ship me back my Joycons. I got the dreaded left stick drift
---

fire_bolt posted...

DQ 2. Game is just plain bad.

The Switch port isn't so bad. Everyone tops out at 50 now, making Cannock a decent fighter and Moonbrooke not die all the time.

EDIT: I've not played 11 yet, waiting for Nintendo to ship me back my Joycons. I got the dreaded left stick drift

Get a Pro Controller.

5 is at the top, great list.

---

Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

1 - Dragon Quest 5

so, Bianca or Nera?

---

I never had issues with seven and the way it worked. I guess I didnt care enough about min/maxing and whatnot to really notice? I beat the PS1 version and I don't recall much grinding at all.

Also, Bianca.


---

Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

What issues? The only issue I think I ever had was the high encounter rate which is an issue with DQ and nearly all JRPG's like... forever.

the slow menu-ing as somebody mentioned

the on screen enemies stuff is really annoying and basically makes it impossible to avoid enemies entirely in some areas. this feels like something that was just added to appease people who complain about random battles but wasn't actually playtested.

honestly the music is kinda annoying. really misses out by not having orchestral versions but iirc there was some issue with them licensing these so cant complain too much.

the game is huge which i have nothing against but waaay too many of the quests are these annoying, stretched out back and forth fetch quests. there's one where you go back and forth between a castle and a like river area like 6 or 7 times. it's really boring, you can basically just avoid monsters on the world map. just feels really tedious.

i like a lot of stuff about the game cos i like DQ staples in general. i just don't think it's a great port.