LogFAQs > #939236431

9 doesn't get the respect it deserves since it has a silent protag and generic party. It has arguably the best NPCs in all of Dragon Quest as well as amazing game mechanics. Game is huge, too, and is paced well. Its an easy 60 hours without ever feeling slow or boring.

1 is a classic that everyone should play exactly once just to see what it is. The randomizer for it is actually really fun for people who enjoy it, removing the worst aspects of the game (the ridiculous grind) while keeping the best (the purest JRPG combat of all time).

I'm a sucker for job class games (see also my high praise for 9) so 3 is an easy fit for me, both from a narrative perspective and mechanically. Its a fairly simple class system but the GBC remake adds enough high level content to make it worth min/maxing.

Of the more traditional games 4 is easily my favorite. Love how the game is broken up into unique chapters each with its own special playstyles. It has one of the more interesting worlds as well imo. Unfortunately it is either ball-breakingly hard (NES version) or trivially easy (DS version) because the game was originally balanced around the concept that in the final chapter you could not control anyone but your Hero directly. In the NES version everyone except the Hero was controlled by AI which you could set to a few different settings which would alter party member actions. This resulted in a few boss fights being absolute slugfests that you had little control over. The DS version added a manual setting for all party members (which, ironically, is objectively worse for one party member) and with full control of your team pretty much every fight is a stomp. Still, like I said its world and lore are really solid. Good game.

As for the rest, 8 is great. 5 was ok. Not played 11 yet. 2, 6, and 7 were just not good to me. 2 is just lackluster in all regards, the series' growing pains game. 6 I found utterly boring. It couldn't keep my attention at all. The PS1 version of 7 was just plain bad. Conflicting mechanics (leveling up your characters made leveling up their classes harder), the most extreme difficulty spikes of any game I've ever played, insanely grindy, and probably the longest main story of anything I've ever played all combined together to make the game a horrible slog. The one bright spot in it was the story which was mostly quite good, probably one of the best in the series, but it was locked behind so much grind that I don't think its worth it. I've been told the 3DS version fixed a lot of those complaints though.
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Please, call me Bolt