Best Dragon Quest game?

I can recommend either DQ VI or IX. I would lean slightly toward IX because you get Treasure maps that lead to dungeons where the best equipment can be found. It also has a really good crafting system. And if you are so inclined you can have lots of fun in multiplayer mode. you can also download a couple of special maps where you can fight bosses from other DQ games.

DQ VI does have it's virtues. It has a very interesting story but I guess the best part of the game for me was getting to have the Slimes in the party. There was also the Slime Arena where you get to fight your Slime against other Slimes for cool prizes.

I have played DQVI on both systems but DQIX is only on the DS. If you play on the DS then DQVI lacks a bit because you can not recruit monsters like the original, so if you only go DS I would say pick up DQIX.

I've only played 8, on PS2, and some of 4 and 9 on the DS. I liked 8 the best.

Well, if you thought VIII required grinding, you'll probably not like many of the DQ games, as I thought VIII was among the least amount of grinding I had to do in one of those games.

I'd guess I'd recommend V or VI. I think both have been remade for more modern systems (as opposed to Super Fam emulation), which means there's always a chance things got altered so you don't need to fight as much. Notes from my experience with the SFC versions:

V: You can recruit a ton of monsters and a lot of the fun is finding what each one does and which ones can be valuable party members (necessary for extended periods of time where you have either no other humans or just one in your party).

VI: Big draw is the class system, as you can build your party members in a variety of ways in the vein of Final Fantasy V. In the SFC version, you could recruit a few monsters, but I think that was cut out for the modern remake. Which helps keep things less cluttered, as you do have a good half-dozen or so human characters and once you get one, they stay with you pretty consistently, I think.

I'd probably go with VI first, just because it probably goes against the grain the most out of the older titles with that class system.

If you didn't like the gameplay in DQ8, then I'm not sure you'd like the rest of the series. Maybe give one of the four DS games a try. Avoid the first three DQ games for NES if you hate grinding.

Yeah, I wondered about the viability of the series for me, since VIII had so much going for it and yet still turned me off with grinding... I may give VI a whirl, though. Class systems somehow always made grinding more worth it to me. And then some games, grinding doesn't bother me at all and I can't determine what the reasons are.... like I really enjoyed DQ ONE of all things..... that's like the definition of grinding.

I think it was because there was actually a lot of difficulty to that game. Grinding wasn't just mindless, it was dangerous. I found the same thing to be true in FFIV (hard mode) when trying to level in that moon dungeon. I found DQVIII to be really easy, like I was rarely in danger, but I didn't do a whole lot of damage either... so that got old real fast.

But I've held onto the game. Maybe someday I'll start over and try again. For one thing, I would like to focus each character on a specific weapon in my next playthrough. I quickly started doing this after I realized that trying to skill up several weapons was pointless and wasteful, but I always regretted even those few mis-spent points.

Well, if you like DANGEROUS grinding, play DQ 2. Without a guide, so when you get the ship, you have no fucking idea where to go next. That's the definition of danger right there!

You liked the original version of DQ1? O_o

Focusing on specific weapons might be a good idea in DQ8. If you want battles to move more quickly, explore using the weapons/spells that target multiple monsters. First rule of DQ: Don't be afraid to use MP during regular combat. Winning boss encounters mostly hinders on lower MP-cost buff spells rather than attack magic.

It's so difficult to pick a favorite or rank the Dragon Quest games, but here's my attempt at ranking the first 7 from best to worst(I haven't yet played 8 or 9):

VI - Epic and fun with a great class system
II - Amazing sense of wonder, mystery, exploration... just great
III - Fun world, great multi-class system
V - The multi-generational plot was ambitious and the world was fun to explore
IV - The multi-chapter approach told several interesting stories
VII - This one takes forever to get started
I - Going back to this one is a bit of a chore

Dragon Quest is my favorite RPG series, ahead of Final Fantasy. It really embodies the RPG genre for me, though it fell out of favor as people started insisting on a heavier focus on plot such as the Final Fantasy series offered. I think we'd all be better off if Dragon Quest had remained the dominant one of the two.

I can only attest that the little bit of VIII I played had better writing than the last many years of FF games. I think I said something about this on facebook, already, but I grew tired of FF's so called "stories" ever since FFX-2. I just can't seem to get myself to finish FFXIII.... those few hours where I get to game these weeks are almost always better spent on Red Dead Redemption (thank you EmP for the convincing review) or Front Mission 3 (still deciding whether it's worth my time). Hard Corps has also seen a lot of use.

How's "Front Mission 3"? I'm playing the original on the SNES and enjoying it, and I'm curious about branching out into the rest of the series.

I played IV, V, VI and VII.

In my opinion you should play all, but if you want some sort of rating, then V>VI>IV>VII which is odd, since I really liked VII as well. V has the best story line, IV has in my opinion the best characters, VI is bloody long and also very enjoyable, plus it introduces the job system and VII is even longer, I think the longest rpg by a large margin on the PSone in terms of stuff you have to do to finish it, has some pretty difficult bosses and a few interesting plot twists.

I played the first four Dragon Warrior games on the NES (I think they're the same thing).

The first game is a very primitive RPG that's not worth looking at. I can't remember 2 but pretty sure I played it at some point... could be wrong, though. 3 was considered to be the best of the era though I disagree, nothing special to me. IV is probably in my top 5 JRPG's of all time, but a lot of the stuff in it is exactly what turns me off from those games today so I'm afraid to go back to it.

So I guess I'd recommend IV (NES version, never touched the other ones), assuming Dragon Warrior is the same as Dragon Quest.

I liked Front Mission 3. Probably in the 8 zone as far as scores go. It's been forever since I played it (bought it shortly after it came out), but my memories of it were pretty positive. I remember there was an Internet mini-game in it where you could go "on-line" between battles to look at various sites, emails, etc. If memory serves, there were some good things you could get if you spent enough time doing that. There's also an early-game choice you make (just a "do this or do that" option) that determines which of two branching plots you got. Enemies in one plot would be allies in the other and vice versa.

Front Mission 3 is probably the best in the series. It's got an interesting story, two story paths, that completely change the flow of the game, intriguing battle system and is hailed as the best of the series. I wouldn't be much of an expert, I only played the one on PS2, Front Mission 3 and I believe one on SNES, but that one I played just a few missions.

Cool. I'll definitely check out FM3 when I get a PSP.