I feel like more and more I'm liking better Dragon Quest games than FF ones.

[Dark_Castle]

Yeah as much as I like FF7 remake, I still prefer a good old classic JRPG done right, and that's what DQ11 was.

That's why i really hope FF goes back to the roots for their FF16. Turn based, classic fantasy setting.

 

[Deleted member 9584]

Dragon Quest has become my favorite RPG franchise because they stay traditional and don't try to reinvent the series with every single entry. They make high quality turn based RPGs with great worlds to explore.

I feel like so many people have their hands in the FF-Cookie Jar and they're always trying to one up each other, which ends up missing the mark most of the time. DQ has a template each game follows and some key mechanics / ideas the series follows and it shines because of it.

 

[night814]

DQ is definitely more consistent and rooted, FF tends to go off in weird directions at times and gameplay changes that can tend to be devisive like staggering in 13.

 

[Deleted member 43657]

I wasn't exposed to Dragon Quest games until much later, born and raised in Mexico, you wouldnt hear much from DQ, it was more talks about FF6, FF7, 8 and X eventually.
It wasn't until I played Dragon Quest VIII on 3DS that I began on a search for Dragon Quest games and i fell in love with the magic of these RPG's and how much care these games have, they're simply consistently good.
It doesnt really help that the best FF games are in the past, and the newer ones, well i'll leave that to each one's opinions but to me they havent been the best, especially FF7R Under Nomura's direction, which is clearly there.


Anyways without getting into too many details, has this happened to anyone else that started with FF games?

Click to shrink...

Yes! Exactly this!

FF was my jam as a teenager. The DQ games always had the reputation of having by-the-numbers stories and FF was considered the superior series in the States.

I've since played every single mainline DQ game and it is, without a shadow of a doubt, the superior series. The stories are so beautifully told; they actually make SENSE; they unfold like an elegantly written manga series. They're very much in line with Chrono Trigger in their execution.

Also, the battle system is fantastic. Instead of starting with a new battle system in each game, the battle system in DQ games becomes refined with slight enhancements here and there. There is a through line throughout the series based on these elements—it's simultaneously comforting and impressive how they've refined this system into, in my opinion, the best JRPG battle system of all time. Truly, truly fantastic!

There's a reason why park benches and Lawson's in Japan are plastered with DQ iconography on a semi-permanent basis. This series is incredible!

All hail Dragon Quest! I can't wait for DQXII after the outstanding DQXI!

Great thread, OP!

 

[TimeFire]

I agree completely, OP! Dragon Quest 3 in particular was such a marvelous experience, specially playing 1 and 2 before it. 4 too. And 5. Aaah, they're all great!! Can't wait for my financial situation to get better so I can finally buy 11S

 

[Lunar Wolf]

Dragon Quest is too samey for me and the music is nowhere near as good.

But I've also never been a fan of turn based combat either. I'll stomach it for a good story but I prefer Action RPGs in general.

 

[VanDoughnut]

I've since played every single mainline DQ game and it is, without a shadow of a doubt, the superior series. The stories are so beautifully told; they actually make SENSE;

Click to shrink...

LOL forreal, modern FF could try it sometime.

 

[Misterhbk]

Hard disagree with the thread in general. DQ is far from what I want in a JRPG outside of 8 and 11. All the others leave me wanting so much more.

 

[texhnolyze]

I believe it's a good thing that FF and DQ are branching out and become their own thing instead of too similar to each other like the old days.

DQ can always stay true to the classic system, while FF can go wild and try different things.

 

[Future Gazer]

I love Dragon Quest but the generic fantasy settings and cookie cutter writing will always hold it back. Final Fantasy is simply a far more exciting and disruptive series.

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

DQ11 for me was a revelation. THAT's what Final Fantasy should strive to be

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What about it was so great?

 

[I KILL PXLS]

I don't get it personally. Everything about DQ and it's insistence on traditionalism feels generic to the core to me and is the epitome of why I fell out of love with JRPGs over time. FF switching it up so often and dramatically is what keeps me paying attention to them when one is announced despite the fact that I don't play as many JRPGs any more.

 

[El_TigroX]

This same thing happened to me, brought on by DQ4-6 remakes on 3DS. Just absolutely sparked a deep love and appreciation for the series that wasn't there before. I had always preferred FF, played some of the DQ games on NES growing up, but in hindsight wasn't really old enough to appreciate.

 

[Ze_Shoopuf]

I'm glad we have both!

 

[Mirage]

DQ is basically just my favorite JRPG series out there. So yeah I've said before I like it more than FF and I stick with that.

 

[Deleted member 43657]

It's a matter of taste. Storytelling in the Dragon Quest series is much more classically written, like a great television miniseries. It's easy to appreciate the storytelling in Dragon Quest games if you have more sophisticated taste in film and literature in general.

Frankly, the storytelling in modern Final Fantasy games is incoherent and often pretentious. It's not bold, it's not daring, it's just bad. Take for example the Final Fantasy VII Remake. What exactly was that? Incoherent nonsense.

I appreciate the Dragon Quest series so much for its elegant storytelling and commitment in telling coherent, relatable, human stories. Yuji Horii is a phenomenal scenario writer and the localization team that's been working on the Dragon Quest series has been doing fantastic work for decades. Truly this is the pinnacle of the JRPG genre by which all others should be judged.

Of course, it's a matter of opinion and taste, these are merely my own. If you feel differently, that's great!

Also, if you want to know what makes Dragon Quest so great, please watch Tim Rogers' excellent review of Dragon Quest XI.

 

[Łazy]

They have a better balance (in everything, from story to gameplay) and are well crafted in comparaison.
Maybe you like good work.

 

[inner-G]

I agree

I was the hugest FF fan, but I feel the series has gone downhill after X. I got DQ VIII on PS2 for the FF XII demo, and ended up liking DQ more. After playing the Personas on PS2 I moved on to DQ IX on DS and loved it so much I've been going through the series ever since. I particularly like the SFC/DS DQ games (4, 5 and 6).

I really prefer the turn based combat in my JRPGs and I really like the consistently charming and funny fantasy settings. (And the puns!)

All my fellow DQ fans will prob like this:

 

[Deleted member 43657]

I agree

I was the hugest FF fan, but I feel the series has gone downhill after X. I got DQ VIII on PS2 for the FF XII demo, and ended up liking DQ more. After playing the Personas on PS2 I moved on to DQ IX on DS and loved it so much I've been going through the series ever since. I particularly like the SFC/DS DQ games (4, 5 and 6).

I really prefer the turn based combat in my JRPGs and I really like the consistently charming and funny fantasy settings. (And the puns!)

Click to shrink...

Wholeheartedly agree. Final Fantasy X was the last Final Fantasy I truly liked. The series has gone downhill in my opinion. The early games are fantastic, specifically IV and VI.

I'd like to give a special shout out to Dragon Quest VII. Maybe, dear reader, you skipped it because you heard it's too long or maybe you skipped out for another reason. I'm here to tell you it's amazing. The way the story is told is incredible. The basic premise is you have grown up on what appears to be the only island in the world. Very quickly you begin to resurrect all the world's islands one by one. Each island has its own unique set of characters and problems for you to help work out. It's like an episodic anime. It's so fantastic. Some of the stories are devastating. Such brilliant writing. Please don't pass this one up!

 

[NioA]

I mean, DQ is the better series and way more consistent (which is fair, DQ doesn't experiment in the same way FF does), so I don't see why you should be surprised

 

[Sasaud]

The thing with DQ is that u almost know that ur getting a great game full of content, it might not be a revolutionary game but it doesn't need to, while with FF... u can say u never know what u will get.

 

[Arkeband]

Now play the best one...

 

[Deleted member 43657]

Now play the best one...

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Bold.

I liked this one well enough, but I would rank it among the lower half of the games in the mainline series. But, seeing this gif is tempting me to play it again!

 

[RingoGaSuki]

I only got into Dragon Quest in 2017, but it's become my favourite franchise. Every single game in the series is at the very least fantastic, and at their best they are just pure joy. The only ones I've yet to play are VI and IX, I hope to get to them soon (Switch ports please?). Even the spinoffs are all incredible. FF doesn't come close for me, I enjoyed IX and X, but can't get into any of the others despite trying on multiple occasions.

 

[Deleted member 5491]

Nah. Dragon Quest is too generic for me.
For a long time the gameplay wasn't evolving, I can't listen to DQ music without thinking at the piece of shit of a human being as the composer and I want huge stories and chnging elements and worlds in a new RPG and I can get this with Final Fantasy way more than with DQ.

 

[Meows]

I'm happy Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are what they are. I like that Final Fantasy experiments so much and tries new things, typically with a lean toward the sci-fi, while also keeping similar iconic imagery and basics (spells, items, summons, etc) which makes it have higher highs and lower lows. Meanwhile, Dragon Quest is an extremely consistent series that knows what it wants to be and sticks to the working formula, but has just enough innovation to keep you interested; it is like a comfort you can always go back to and always reliable. Personally speaking, I find the way they tell stories through the town vignettes fascinating and engrossing.

Grateful that both exist.

 

[AllMight1]

It's a matter of taste. Storytelling in the Dragon Quest series is much more classically written, like a great television miniseries. It's easy to appreciate the storytelling in Dragon Quest games if you have more sophisticated taste in film and literature in general.

Frankly, the storytelling in modern Final Fantasy games is incoherent and often pretentious. It's not bold, it's not daring, it's just bad. Take for example the Final Fantasy VII Remake. What exactly was that? Incoherent nonsense.

I appreciate the Dragon Quest series so much for its elegant storytelling and commitment in telling coherent, relatable, human stories. Yuji Horii is a phenomenal scenario writer and the localization team that's been working on the Dragon Quest series has been doing fantastic work for decades. Truly this is the pinnacle of the JRPG genre by which all others should be judged.

Of course, it's a matter of opinion and taste, these are merely my own. If you feel differently, that's great!

Also, if you want to know what makes Dragon Quest so great, please watch Tim Rogers' excellent review of Dragon Quest XI.

Click to shrink...

Thank you so much.

 

[Deleted member 11370]

I still think FFV is the best JRPG out there based solely on the quality of its Job system, but, overall, I vastly prefer the Dragon Quest series to Final Fantasy. DQ is just much more even. Maybe it doesn't take the wild swings in characters and settings that FF does, but it doesn't need to.

DQ is JRPG comfort food.

 

[CarlSagan94]

As a European, Dragon Quest never entered my gaming consciousness until DQ XIII. Even then I didn't enter the series until XI. The truth is that I am not an expert in either DQ or FF. I've only played FF 6 and 7, and DQ 1, 3 and 11 (though I have read and researched a lot about them). I've come to appreciate them for different reasons and experiences. I love turn based rpg so I find DQ very cosy as a series. The games just offer a very welcoming and cosy feel.
I respect FF a lot for trying different things, going from medieval fantasy to cyberpunk fantasy, trying new gameplay etc. It doesn't always work or stick but when it lands, it feels really special.

 

[CaviarMeths]

I've tried several times to get into Dragon Quest and it just never clicks with me for whatever reason, despite loving "old school" turn-based JRPGs. I've at least tried most of the games in the series, but DQ7 was the only one I almost finished. They're like consistently 6-7/10 games for me. Pretty alright, but not enough to keep my attention for 60-80 hours.

The problem with Final Fantasy is that after FF7 was such a huge success, the core creative team of that game were propelled to high-ranking positions in the company and have been responsible for most FF games game since. And uh... none of those made by the core FF7 team have been particularly great IMO (FF8, FF10, FF13, FF15, FF7R). I know I'm in the minority on this one. Clearly, the sales of these games tell a different story. They're hugely popular games. But for me, this is a string of 5-6/10 games. Well, maybe 7/10 for FF8. It's pretty good.

On the other hand FF12 and FF14 are masterpieces, among the best the genre has to offer going back to its beginnings on the Famicom. And FF4-7 and Tactics remain among my favorite games of all time. Probably always will.

So on one side, there's this series of consistently OK games that I was never really able to get into. On the other is a series that's been in a rocky place for over 20 years with a few mountainous peaks and a string of whatever in between.

The good news is that if I want to play a game that respects and continues the legacy of older Final Fantasy games, then Tomoya Asano is right there keeping me occupied.

 

[Snormy]

I actually love that they co-exist. DQ with the traditional approach, the same yet differences. The attention to details is so incredible. The world is so large and charming. FF feels like they are constantly striving to breakthrough and while it often misses, their production values and attempts are still appreciated. When they hit the right notes you soar incredibly high but quite often you're sort of simmering halfway waiting for the next boost with FF.

My biggest disappointment of course is that these two can't co-exist with the likes of Suikoden, Breath of Fire, and other loved but dead IPs.

 

[Redcrayon]

Seeing as I haven't enjoyed a FF game since 2006, didn't even play a DQ game until around then and I've enjoyed almost all of them since, DQ sits way higher in my list of RPGs that I enjoy. FF used to be a gaming event for me 20 years ago, now it's something that I barely take any notice of.

 

[Conrad Link]

I'm a lifelong FF fan... playing DQXI last year on Switch I realised THAT is what I wished FF was now instead of the current day shit we get.

Modernised form of the classic adventure instead of the 'what am I even doing here' battle systems and nonsensical, go no where crap story lines of current FF.

:(

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

It's easy to appreciate the storytelling in Dragon Quest games if you have more sophisticated taste in film and literature in general.

Click to shrink...

Piss off with this condescending nonsense 🙄

 

[Altera]

After playing DQ11 (best RPG of the gen, in my opinion), I've been going back and playing through the other DQ games and I've come to the conclusion DQ>FF

 

[harry the spy]

I just started DQ XI (my first one) and maybe three hours in (so admittedly very early), I can't help but find it pretty boring. It's so intensely formulaic I feel it's a game written by a child (as opposed to an edgy teenager for FF). Also the music is horrible and I don't know how I will be able to tolerate it. But clearly I must be missing something since everyone loves the game so much, so I'll stick to it. Hope it clicks!

 

[AllMight1]

Piss off with this condescending nonsense 🙄

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I personally didnt saw that as condescending even though my reading mostly comes from comic books lol.
Coherence and FF havent been hand in hand lately and it pains me so much, and even worse if they want Nomura to lead. My hype for FF games is over.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I personally didnt saw that as condescending even though my reading mostly comes from comic books lol.
Coherence and FF havent been hand in hand lately and it pains me so much, and even worse if they want Nomura to lead. My hype for FF games is over.

Click to shrink...

Okay

 

[rusty chrome]

I can't stand Dragon Quest games, they bore me to tears. And seeing how the series continues to lose popularity, I'm not alone there. FF will always shit on it.

 

[sir_crocodile]

Yes

The best Dragon Quest games are better than the best FInal Fantasy games
The worst Dragon Quest games are better than the worst Final Fantasy games

I started playing FF games in the early nineties, didn't start playing DQ games until the GBC ports in the late 90s, then I found the DQV/DQVI fan translations, and instantly thought that DQV was better then any FF games thus far (and all the good FF games except FF12 had already been released at that point).

 

[AllMight1]

You can't not get hype hearing this in battle

 

[Guru Meditation]

I'll take FF all day. Way more interesting and experimental imo.

 

[Death Penalty]

I played DQXI and really enjoyed it, but for some reason it left me with no desire to explore the series further. There was so much of it, and in my opinion there wasn't a lot that set it apart from the average JRPG beyond just doing what the genre tries to do consistently well where most others will fall short in some regard. I sorta feel like if I went back to the older games it would be like playing more of the same. That said, I haven't gone back and played any others so if this isn't the case feel free to tell me why.

 

[KernelC]

I think Dragon Quest is simply the safest bet. If you like one, you'll like 90% of them. They are extremely safe with little to no risks. It would be boring if they were a yearly franchise or Square would pump 2 per year, but they are very restrained so it never feels like they are saturating the franchise.

However, this is why I like FF more, I like that they take more risks, even if it doesn't always pay off, and for a couple of years, it felt like it would never pay off again lmao, god bless XIV Shadowbringers and VII Remake. With that said, I do enjoy Dragon Quest a lot. I know I'm not in the majority here but I did find DQ XI to be the best one of the ones I've played so far.

 

[Aleh]

What about it was so great?

Click to shrink...

The world is amazing first of all, nicely sized open maps but linear progression, amazing unique cities, great characters and interactions, great turn based combat, well paced for the most part, a shitton of content, charm for days.
The overarching story was just ok, pretty simple, but it's not like FF couldn't also stick to its more elaborate plot lines.
The only real blemish was the music

 

[Mirage]

Dragon Quest as a series while it has always kept its core gameplay really has done some interesting changes around it, especially for the time. Obviously some of that can come across as generic today since DQ popularized a lot in the first place.

I found it interesting looking back how DQ3 came out within two months of FF1. DQ3 really refined what the first two games in the initial trilogy were going for I think. And were all quite influential.

Then DQ4 came out in 1990 and had a chapter system where you play as different party members in their initial scenarios, and don't even see the Hero for awhile. As well as having AI controlled teammates.

DQ5 has the whole monster joining your party system and that came out in 1992, and is part of what inspired Pokemon. And a pretty interesting story with

Spoiler

time jumps

DQ9 I think had a pretty interesting way of bringing multiplayer in to a turn based JRPG.

 

[Sanctuary]

Anyways without getting into too many details, has this happened to anyone else that started with FF games?

Click to shrink...

Kind of. My first console RPG was the first Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior), and I played it and the second before playing FFI&II, then went on to play DQIII before FFIV on the SNES. After DQIV though, there was nearly a thirteen year gap before I ended up playing another in the form of DQXIII on the PS2. During that gap I played most of the Final Fantasies and other Square RPGs that were released in the US.

I do believe that the DQ games have remained fairly consistent, but sometimes to their own detriment. At least with those I've played (which is about all of them now besides X). It's true that they occasionally mix things up, but you'll never not know you're playing a DQ game. I guess overall I've enjoyed more DQ games than FF games as a whole, but I think only DQVIII can match, or come close to matching the best of the best FF games. DQXI was mostly good too aside from needing to be edited a bit, and probably the only console JRPG I've really enjoyed since Xenoblade Chronicles.

Spoiler

IV, VI, IX, XII, Tactics

You can't not get hype hearing this in battle

Click to shrink...

God did they miss the boat with the music of DQXI. The music of VIII was incredible at launch (non Japanese versions), and still holds up today.

 

[King Kingo]

Dragon Quest is Enix's Pokemon. It's formulaic but that formula makes good money.

The only reason why it took so long for Dragon Quest to get popular in the west was partly due to a copyright dispute and partly due to Enix America being awful at marketing their games before acquiring Square. Funnily enough, Enix had a joint venture with Eidos Interactive to rectify their previous failing in targeting the western market.

News from Enix

archive.rpgamer.com

 

[Oreiller]

I personally didnt saw that as condescending even though my reading mostly comes from comic books lol.
Coherence and FF havent been hand in hand lately and it pains me so much, and even worse if they want Nomura to lead. My hype for FF games is over.

Click to shrink...

That's always been the case with FF games, going as far as the first game. They always go bonkers in the last act, except maybe for FF6 and arguably 10.

 

[sir_crocodile]

Dragon Quest is Enix's Pokemon. It's formulaic but that formula makes good money.

The only reason why it took so long for Dragon Quest to get popular in the west was partly due to a copyright dispute and partly due to Enix America being awful at marketing their games before acquiring Square. Funnily enough, Enix had a joint venture with Eidos Interactive to rectify their previous failing in targeting the western market.

News from Enix

archive.rpgamer.com

Click to shrink...

I wouldn't call Dragon Quest popular in the west sadly