DQ (Dragon Quest, not the ice cream parlor...)

[Souppp]

What's everyone's favourite Dragon Quest game ? And what is your favourite port of said game ?

Mine is Dragon Quest III on the Super Famicom. The graphics look the best out of all of the ports imo, and it was my first introduction to the series(... so maybe I'm a bit biased).
The story is really simple, but also really fun. I love hunting for medals, and the game is not too hard that its unplayable, but also not too easy that its... unplayable, it's a classic for a reason... such a great game to play if you just wanna turn your brain off and immerse yourself in a fantasy world.

 

[gwardojones]

I really like DQ 1-3 on the Switch (not the remakes--haven't played those yet, but I plan to). I believe they're the Android versions of the game. They're kind of a mess, but they've got an atmosphere that I can't get enough of. It's hard to pick which one I love the most, but it's a contest between 2 and 3.

DQ2 felt really open and a lot of the NPCs had their own stories that were happening separately from what the heroes were up to. It also did a great job guiding me to places to go without being heavy-handed about it. Whenever there was a place of interest somewhere around the town, the NPCs would make casual remarks.

"I heard someone mention a legendary sword, though they never said where to find it." Not literally this, but little messages that only came from towns where something interesting was nearby, and only enough to nudge you toward it.

I'm pretty sure it was DQ2, but there was one town where the NPCs had a boating accident and a bunch of their fellow townspeople were missing. You have no say in resolving that incident, but returning to the town regularly will give you little updates on it until you finally hear about their fate.

Stuff like this made the world feel alive and it also made me feel more like I was on a sprawling adventure in a world that knew I was there, but didn't make me the center of it.

DQ3, on the other hand, felt more vast, but more restrictive, which I was a little bummed about. However, the major story moments were really awesome and the class system added a lot of depth. I ended up putting a ton of time into that one just trying to beat Xenlon. That dude kicked the crap out of me for longer than the full runtime of the game. It felt so good finally returning the favor.

I really love these games. They all look the same, but that just makes them feel like you can't go wrong with any of them. Final Fantasy is a mixed back; some games are amazing and some are rough. But you can always count on a Dragon Quest game to be a good time.