I've never thought of DQ's battle system as being "archaic." It works just as well today as it did 20 years ago, probably even better thanks to the streamlining over the years. To me, there's no real advantage gained by putting a layer of "fake" action on top of the battle system the way most RPGs do these days. In a way, it just adds extra fluff that gets in the way and makes it worse. There are fewer games like DQ every year, which in a weird way makes it unique and standout from every other "JRPG with an action-oriented battle system."
I'm not surprised by the confirmation that you'll need to be online in order to play the game, though. That was the tone they had during the conference. They never actually mentioned an "offline" mode, just that you could get by using generic AI characters for your party. There are way too many things that require you to be online to use effectively. That does kinda suck that it's look like Japan will have to pay a subscription fee regardless of how they play it.
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peace comes from within