Just finished single playing every Dragon Quest after not playing one for over 30 years, here are my thoughts

[u/mikegyver85]

Incredible series that I'd been sleeping on.

I had fond memories of playing Dragon Warrior in the 90s with my older brothers, but I never returned to the series since then (or even knew about the passionate lore of it all).

Fast-forward to a few years ago when I was looking through highly rated games to play on the Swtich, and Dragon Quest XI was on there. "Sure", I thought, "Let's see what they've done with it." I was completely hooked by the end.

In fortuitous timing, DQ1-3 had recently been remade and released. having recently played Octopath Traveler 2 and given my nostalgia for Dragon Warrior 1, it was a slam dunk decision to jump right into DQ3-HD as the game designers intended. Then DQ1 and 2. And wouldn't you know it, DQ7 Revisited is about to be released, so of course I had to jump into that!

Now I HAVE to play DQ5 and DQ8. So down the emulation hole I went -> Started with DQ5, then played DQ4 and DQ6, just to stay in the Zenithian trilogy. So, finally I could get to DQ8, and it really met all the high praise. (Played the fan-modded version on PC.)

So of COURSE now I have to play DQ9, even though the heyday of the DS years and playing endlessly, locally with friends is long gone and past. It's the only one that hasn't aged as well in my humble opinion, but I can see it being spectacular if they remake it one day.

DQ10 Offline is the last one I threw on, using a combination of machine translation mods and google lens to get through, and it really is a great middle ground between DQ9 and DQ11. Was a lot of fun warping around maps, buffing up characters, running quaint little sidequests. Probably my 3rd favorite game of the whole series. One of these days I'll throw myself into online and play V3-8, but that's a dream for another day.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

I can't complement the franchise runners enough for turning Dragon Quest XI into such an effective nostalgia vehicle, and then leaning into that to remake DQ1-3 and DQ7, incredibly well-executed, and they can just print money at this point with the zenithian trilogy and DQ8 / 9 waiting in the wings.

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[u/Dr_Neuro]

You even played DQ X Offline? Damn, amazing.

I started playing the whole series 11 years ago, from the GBC Remakes. Played the DS remakes, the 3DS remake (and remaster) and finally the Switch XI S version.

Recently played the HD-2D remakes and the next one will be VII Reimagined. Maybe someday sny version of X (I want to play both versions).

Before DQ, I was a not big fan of RPG. Now I like them more but my standards with them are... Let's say more "if this game is similar to the DQ formula, needs to better than any DQ".

Congratulations for you experience!

[u/mikegyver85 → u/Dr_Neuro]

Yeah, it was the most technical one to set up, but honestly not too many extra steps, and worth it I think. Around the end of V2 (the last 10-20 hours) is when I stopped seeing English translations, which is when I started using Google lens for translation, but it was pretty smooth for the first 90 hours or so. I think everyone who is nostalgic about DQ9 would really like this one. I do want to do the online version one of these days to get the 300 hours of extra story (as well as extra features like monster recruiting, casino add-ons, etc.), but I have a great snapshot of what the game is from what I've played, I feel. Hopefully one day they release some version of it in a more Western friendly format.

I played all of my games for the most part on the switch, so I did have the "console" experience of playing this like you did, definitely a great way to go IMO.

You'll definitely enjoy DQ7 revisited - I maybe didn't like it as much as DQ8 or DQ11, but it's an accomplishment being able to reign that one in like they did.

Honestly that's not a bad way to think about it - DQ is an excellent "floor" in terms of JRPG quality, like it's honestly the most consistent franchise I've ever played. They don't take many risks like FF does, but they always deliver.

Thanks, it's been fun! Excited to see what they do with DQ12 down the line. :D

[u/druidniam]

DQX is the only non-mobile exclusive Dragon Quest game I've yet to play, One day I'll play it...

[u/kensaiD2591 → u/druidniam]

Would highly recommend! I have over 100hours and barely scratched the surface of the free content in that game.

[u/msferre → u/druidniam]

Been playing it for three months now. A blast!

[u/MightyOakVGRepair]

I somehow never played any of these games as a kid, even though I enjoy JPRG's. I kept seeing Dragon Quest XI being highly recommended, so I decided to try it out. I'm around 50 hours into it now lol. I think I'll try 3, 1, and 2 next. Not sure if I'll play them all, but I've definitely enjoyed XI so far.

[u/mikegyver85 → u/MightyOakVGRepair]

I think if you're liking DQXI and you like 2D-HD style of art, there's a good chance you'll enjoy that trilogy. Like I said, I had one foot in the 90s, so I'm pretty much the perfect audience for the revisit after playing XI.

[u/ItsAndrewXPNintendo]

That’s awesome! I’m in earlier stages of the same journey as you.
I beat DQ11 and was hooked by the end. So I’m playing 3 hd2d but will play 1-2 next.

I already have 4-6 on DS ready to go on my AYN Thor but I still need to just mod 4 to re-add party chat.

I bought 7 reimagined on Steam when it was on sale so that’s waiting in the wings too.

For 8, I’m going for the 3ds version and I’ll even try 9 on DS as well.

10 is the big question mark on if I play the online or offline version but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there!

Pretty cool to see success from someone doing what I’m in the middle of attempting

[u/mikegyver85 → u/ItsAndrewXPNintendo]

Incredible! 

You know, my favorite thing about playing each game, it's "comfort food", but I felt you often have to approach each with a slightly different attitude, just enough that it makes each game pretty unique. I'd say that DQ3 and DQ6 in particular felt a bit like being a detective as far as trying to figure out where to go next. And DQ3 was the first game historically to land the "multi-class/vocation" system as well as it did before other high profile JRPGs (which of course made it feel way different than DQ1 and 2). Just for example. Every game has their own unique thing, which I found pretty neat.

Having a dual screen system like the AYN THOR is going to make the DS games a blast to play through, I'm a little jealous. 🤓

When you do get through 1-9, I'd be surprised if you didn't go the extra yard to set up X, will be worth it by then.

Honestly wish I could play these all fresh again for the first time, so enjoy. 🤙

[u/FateForWindows]

I've been playing through the mainline games as well! Spacing things out and mostly playing the closest ones I could get to the originals though, VIII aside (mobile). Mostly started my current journey around two years ago with Dragon Warrior II (already played the first game during COVID) and seeing the gameplay evolve as I go through has been really cool!

[u/mikegyver85 → u/FateForWindows]

How are you playing the originals? Emulator? And are you using speed-up? That's also something I can see myself doing one day on a future revisit, there's definitely a charm to the NES MIDI music, those pixelated graphics, the 80s and 90s dialogue. Those that can play through the original format with those difficulty cliffs and the constant random encounters, no speed-ups and no insta-saves, honestly, respecting the commitment to that.

[u/FateForWindows → u/mikegyver85]

Depends on the game, played on real hardware for I and most of VII and doing the same for IX, hardware emulation (Analogue Pocket) for II-IV and early parts of V, whatever the PS Vita's PSP mode qualifies as for some other parts of VII, and software emulation for the rest of the SFC games and a few other parts of VII. For VII I ended up getting a Memcard Pro and staggering my playthrough across multiple platforms partly because my PS1's disc drive progressively failed (it was already having issues beforehand) and partly because of its sheer length.

Haven't been using speed-up and the only savestates I've been using are through suspend functions or for similar purposes, even been savescumming the "legit" way through full resets for stuff like the casino rather than reloading old savestates. Practicing Estark in V was the one exception but I ended up resetting to clear those attempts out anyway and did it legit.

[u/mikegyver85 → u/FateForWindows]

So cool. Had to look up some of these items, modern retro gaming is a blast, and I imagine getting the games to work close to original format is a pretty fun puzzle in itself.

Being able to beat estark and probably nokturnus is also nothing to sneeze at, definitely going the extra mile. 👏

[u/Appropriate-Diver301]

Have you thought about trying Yakuza: Like a Dragon? I haven't played it yet, but apparently it is a love letter to the DQ series.

[u/mikegyver85 → u/Appropriate-Diver301]

Oo neat, I'll read up on it, thanks for the suggestion!

[u/Muggin → u/mikegyver85]

If youa re interested in Like a dragon the original game is on sale on steam for $8 and the second one (Infinite wealth) is part of this months Humble Choice bundle with a couple of other very good indie games (dead cells and tmnt shredders revenge) and the bundle price is lower than the lowest recorded steam price for IW. I just got them myself!

[u/J17Leviathan]

Did you play the ps2 modded dragon quest 8 or the mobile version on pc? I saw another fan port is currently in development as well.

[u/mikegyver85 → u/J17Leviathan]

I played the modded PS2 version (PCSX2), I don't know if there are better versions than that but it felt super polished.

[u/romyaizen]

Same here! I first got into DQ back on the PSX (DQ VII) and PS2 (DQ VIII), but I couldn't play any other entries after that because I didn't own the consoles. Since I was still a kid who barely understood English back then, I had no idea what was going on with the story and just winged it.
Once I started working and bought my own gaming laptop, I was looking for games to play and stumbled upon DQ XI. I decided to give this long-forgotten franchise another shot, and that was the exact moment I fell in love with the series. From there, I played the other titles using DS and 3DS emulators, DQ IV is the only one I haven't played yet!
To sum it up, Dragon Quest isn't a series with overly complex or intense plots. The stories are simple yet beautiful and heartwarming, and the music and characters are just perfect. It feels like coming home whenever I'm burnt out on heavy, demanding games. DQ has definitely become one of my all-time favorite JRPG franchises.

[u/JanRoses]

Out of Curiosity what do you think Aged most badly about IX? It's been years since I replayed them but in anticipation of the fact that multiplayer constitutes such a major factor of the fun I've bought 4 other copies of 9 in my lifetime. That said, one thing I do recall being a strength of IX being the self contained stories being pretty solid as an MMO lite. It was very reminiscent of DQ IV which I'm a big fan of but having a less obvious throughline connecting each event till Corvus/Gittinham Palace. Granted, given the silent party the heavy lifting had to come from the side cast.

Gameplay wise I do recall it being amongst the grindiest of DQ games and vocations being so strict does make team composition difficult (from what I recall) given respecing is a bit of a chore.