Bump. I started a new file in this the other day and it's even better than I remember. It's got all the charm of a Dragon Quest game, yet is surprisingly character and story-centric. The key plot points are compelling and heavy and I rather enjoy the cast (I like how the game decides that uber-brat Prince Harry will become your only friend for a decade, and become a decent guy in the process). I'm right after that point, and there's already been some sad, affecting points. Looking forward to seeing what happens, although I'm still about 5 hours behind where I quit last time.

I wasn't crazy about the Monster Recruiting element but maybe I'll like it more this time. The rest of the game feels strong enough to warrant playing through, and I've got my eye on the lovely Bianca...

Bump again!

Oh man, this game is breaking my heart. 20-ish hours in and watching the main character helplessly stare ahead in someone's yard as a statue was rough. But what was really affecting was the fact that he watched someone else's kid grow up while missing his own children's lives. Excited to see where it all goes! This is great stuff.

@TriforceBun Yeah, this game definitely has one of the best stories in a DQ game. You're also getting to what I felt was the better section of the game, where you can finally have some competent human party members.

@Mop it up
It does seem like DQV has finally addressed my one real complaint--it being too easy. The newer foes are giving me that classic DQ struggle and it's nice to see. It was also fun to take another "world tour" with my kids in tow and see how things have changed (and to party chat after every line of dialogue!).

I'm slowly clearing my party of the monsters, although Saber has a soft spot for me since he was directly involved in the story.

Party Chat is one of the best features of DQ games. That's usually where the personality of the characters comes out, and DQ VI in particular has some amusing stuff.

Finished Dragon Quest V!

I have a lot of praise for the first 2/3rds of the game--a couple sequences in DQV (the first meetup with Ladja followed by the slave camp, the entire statue sequence) are unforgettable gaming moments to me, and those always get big bonus points. In addition, the passage of time is used effectively for some empathetic minor character sequences that lay off the beaten path, leading to some subtle melancholy. The enemy design and localization add a lot of humor and charm to balance out the drama, so the tone of the game generally feels very endearing overall (even if a few spots get a little too jokey in the middle of serious moments--looking at you, Dragon Ned Flanders!).

Even the gameplay was solid. Despite a simple battle system, it mostly gets more interesting as you play and spells become more useful. That said, there were still a LOT of battles where I'd just attack with everyone, especially when using that frankly overpowered Boomerang weapons.

My main complaint is that the last chunk of the game doesn't quite match up with the first parts. You're always driven by very personal motives--which is great and one of DQV's strengths--but the late game pretty much devolves into dungeon--key item to unlock another dungeon--dungeon--key item, etc. with relatively little actually HAPPENING to the characters. If it wasn't for Party Chat (a great feature), a couple of the main characters would have like five lines apiece in the whole game! And the final boss gave me no emotional impact--he's just some demon who is a vague "threat" to the world introduced in the eleventh hour. Ladja ruined our main character's life three times over and would've made a far better final boss.

All that aside, still a great game. I think I'd like to do a full review of it soon.

@TriforceBun Since this game was originally on the SNES, it could be that they started to run out of time/money/space towards the end of the game, and that's why it's more simple and straightforward. This does seem like it was a pretty ambitious game for its time, assuming they didn't change much for this release.

Glad you enjoyed the game, it's a goodie.