Dragon Warrior/Quest

[c0r33]

What are the best ones or the ones that stand out in terms of story?

Im playing DW:7 right now I paid $12 for a nice condition copy. Thus far it has been very slow I haven't even had a battle yet. I haven't played much and the only other games I've played in the series are DQ:4 on the DS. I have been told the ps2 version was very good but I wanna finish 7 first. Should I work on 8 next or go back and finish older ones?

Also how is 9?

[corn619]

Drop VII and pick up VIII stat. Hands down the best RPG experience I've had in years. Part VII is probably the weakest the series has to offer. I really can't stress enough how great Dragon Quest VIII is. Its the only game I've ever played for 130 hours. Part IX is pretty good but the generic characters really hold it down from reaching greatness. The endearing characters in part VIII was one of the best parts of the game. In part IX there is no attachment to the characters and the story is pretty weak when compared to the other games.

[emwearz]

The series is not as story heavy as the FF series, 9 stands out as being the most story driven by far. VIII I liked however like every other game in the series, is really grinding heavy, however it is by far the easiest to play today. The NES titles are really grinding heavy and fairly weak on the story.

I would play 8 then 9, after playing them, you could try earlier games, however compared to modern RPG's they have aged pretty badly. (Too much grinding)

[lisalover1]

Although certainly not nearly as epic as other games in the DW series, I enjoyed the Dragon Warrior Monsters games for the GBC. They're fun, lighthearted, and encourage you to explore all the different worlds and quests in it.

[MrPopo]

DQ 4 & 5 on the DS have a pretty good story. 4 starts off by introducing all your party members, which gives them more backstory. 5 takes you from boyhood to fatherhood, which is something you rarely see in RPGs. 7 does start off slow, but it does pick up. What's nice is that the game is in a large number of small chunks, so it's easier to pick up, play a little while, then put down and do something else than most RPGs. 8 is fantastic, and so is 9. 9's narrative isn't as strong as 8's but it does have that satisfying feeling of building up your party's strength and it's loot. 3 is essentially 9 but scaled down to the NES. It has the same party mechanics and a class changing system that rewards you for training up multiple classes. 1 & 2 are rather primitive, so I don't know if I can recommend them unless you enjoy old NES RPGs.

[pepharytheworm]

read this and all will be revealed.
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... agon+quest

[mobiusclimber]

DWVII was my first game in the DW/Q series, and its still my favorite. Definitely not for everyone, but I loved the fact that the first three hours are just character and story building. VII is a really really long game with a great class system, an awesome story and engaging characters. It's also one of the darker storylines in a traditional RPG.

I would argue that most of the Dragon Warrior/Quest games have a great storyline, but not a great plot. Meaning it's more the way that the story develops than it is the actual story. The characters, their personalities and the way they interact with each other always feels authentic.

DQVIII has one of the best, most natural romances in any console RPG. My main problem with the game is that you don't need to do any grinding until you get to the final boss. Then prepare to grind away for quite awhile. Most of the other DQ games are a bit grindy throughout (either for experience, money or learning abilities in different classes), but DQVIII doesn't really have anything like that. I mean, you can, but in the other games you need to. So if you don't do any grinding before the final boss, you'll have a lot of catching up to do. In fact I thought the rest of the game was a cakewalk.

DW1 is a very good game if you can put up with how rudimentary it is. You have to go into a menu in order to walk up and down stairs or talk to people, for instance. It might be better to play this on a re-release, I'm not sure if they changed this aspect of it. What I like is that most of the game world is accessible from the beginning if you can make it through the random battles. So it really feels a bit more open-ended than many of the other console RPGs.

DW2 I didn't really care for. I can't quite say why tho. I think the larger world can be overly daunting. It's tough to even find certain places. The battles feel needlessly difficult and even grinding doesn't seem to help too much. The characters aren't very well developed, nor is the story, and a lot of feels like one fetch quest after another.

DW4 (haven't played 3, sorry) has a terrific storyline, tho the plot itself feels very cliche. There's a pretty large cast of characters, but you'll get to know all of them and really care about what happens to them. Heck, there are a few characters that are only in the game for a few hours that you end up caring about.

DW5 - I'm currently playing this one. It's all kinds of amazing. Again, the plot itself has been done to death, but they throw in a few twists to at least keep it feeling fresh. But it's really all about the characters again, and the way the story gets told, all the little details... It's just amazing. No other word for it.

So if you just can't get into DWVII, I'd suggest picking up IV or V for the DS. VIII is really good, but not as good as those two. But I'd still say, stick w/ VII for awhile. It's a great game, it's just slower than what most people are used to.

[AmishSamurai]

I'm playing IV now, and doing some grinding at the moment. I just assembled the party, so the real quest begins now.