My friends know of my great love of Dragon Quest. These are the first JRPGs I was introduced to when I was a wee lad. I remember to this day spending days at my friends watching him play Dragon Warrior on his brand new NES and being enthralled with it. I loved it so much that I begged my father that whole summer for a NES. And that Christmas I found what I had dreamed of under that glorious tree, sans Dragon Warrior. It was a blow to be sure but a slight one. I had Super Mario and Duck Hunt!
It wasn't long before I did have a copy of Dragon Warrior however. I played that until I had completed it twice and I continued on with the rest of the series. DQII expanded the world and added more companions. DQIII brought me to how DQI started. DQIV brought in an amazing story with many disparate threads that converged into a single overarching story.
Alas DQ did not do so well here in the states as Final Fantasy. DQV and DQVI won't be seen here until well into the DS era.
DQVII came out on the PSOne but I wasn't able to play it until I had a PS2. The time travel aspect of DQVII floored me.
DQVIII was revolutionary, so far as DQ was concerned. DQ has held onto it's NES heritage like a drowning man at sea holds onto anything to stay afloat. The gameplay is basically the same since DQI. Sure they add stuff to it, you get more companions, more items and spells. They added monster taming and alchemy. But at it's core, there is little difference between DQI and DQIX. But here, in DQVIII we have moved more into the modern era. With the game fully voiced by professional voice actors and pushed into a true 3D world it seriously feels like DQ has moved into the future. By the time DQVIII came out Final Fantasy has already had it's hand with it's opus' of 7, 8, 9 and even 10!
DQIX continues the traditions but on the DS, where the hardware limits a bit as to what one can do with it. Still, DQIX is an excellent game!
This all brings me to now. I have fond memories of all of these games. But most in particular DQVIII and DQVII. I will be replaying both games in an effort to banish the fog of nostalgia and settle once and for all, in my mind at least, which is the greatest Dragon Quest of them all!