Dragon Quest - Like a Dargon

[Rosewood]

DQIV is my favorite, too, if its being the only one I've played through more than once is any indication. I ended up being an unthinking iconoclast by not using Alena in either of my parties that beat the main story's boss.

 

[estragon]

I ended up not being particularly bothered by the three party member restriction in DQV SFC. I don't disagree with the decision to increase it to four party members in later releases, but also I think that the strongest section of the original release happens while dungeon crawling with the narratively suggested three person party in the last third of the game when they set you loose to piece together the puzzle of how to reach the endgame. It's a very well designed three person party that feels like a complete unit with each member lacking something important but coming together very effectively as a whole. Obviously it's totally optional to use this party in the first place, but the game really supports the choice to use them as a team. It's a nice narrative and gameplay capstone to the wandering protagonist's shifting companions and randomly gathered monster companions that often create the feeling that something is missing, especially in a three person team (not in the sense that you struggle with progression, but just in the sense that the parties for long stretches of the game feel a bit atypical).

I think the SFC release of DQV might be the easiest Dragon Quest of all time. Without grinding or lucking into any particular rare monsters (I didn't even get anything in the Heal Slime line!), I don't think there were any encounters that gave me the struggle I associate with more difficult Dragon Quest bosses except for the post-game hidden boss. This wasn't a negative for me exactly, but I was a little surprised by it.

On a replay, I think I like DQV a little less than I did in my memories of it, especially in comparison to replaying DQIV so recently before it. Although I did really like the dungeon crawling and party composition of the final third, I think the moments when DQV opens up and has you just figure out what to do are not as strong as other entries in the series. Those are maybe my favorite parts about DQ as a series, and I think that DQV maybe has the least of that. I know many find these parts frustrating, so this might be a reason why others might prefer DQV over other entires, though.To be clear, I had a great time and enjoyed experiencing the original version of it, but overall my experiences of playing the original release of DQIV and V is to like IV more than I did before and V slighlty less.

Will probably give DQVI SFC a go at some point, but SaGa Emerald Beyond comes out this week, so that will not be soon...

 

[Peklo]

Honestly what version preference ultimately comes down to for me is that only one iteration of DQV features Debora and it's not the Super Famicom game.

 

[YangusKhan]

I would also encourage anyone with the interest to check out the Japan-only PS2 remake of DQ5. Its presentation is sort of a souped-up version of the DQ7/DS remakes game engine. And there does exist fan translations for it, I believe in both "modern" and "classic" DQ varieties.