I’ve always had a hard time formulating the question, but in this case I think I’m more interested in what you think is the best series, not necessarily your favorite series. (Though I would think they would be one and the same).

Personally, I have very little experience with the DQ series, and it’s something I seriously need to address. I only played and finished the original Dragon Warrior on NES, and it was great for its time.

I’ve played many of the FF games though. I finished: IV and VI on SNES, VII through IX on PS1, X and X-2 on PS2. The SNES games were amazing displays of the hardware’s capabilities as well as having long and interesting story lines.

Feel free to share your own experience with the series.

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I can't really say. I've played a few Final Fantasy games; VI (which I love), VII (which I really like), and X (which I hate). The only Dragon Quest game I've played is the original NES Dragon Warrior, which is not bad, but it's incredibly antiquated compared to what the genre would offer later on. In general though I'm not really interested in Dragon Quest. Part of it is that I really don't care for Akira Toriyama's art design. At the same time though I don't really like the art design that most later Final Fantasy games have had either.

Neither.

But of the two, recently, I prefer Dragon Quest. Loved V and VIII. IX is dragging a bit for me though.

I'm not sure if any Dragon Quest can match SNES era Final Fantasy though. Maybe.

FF has some serious ups and downs. It can be far better or far worse than DQ (although far worse is much more likely these days). The character designs starting with the PS2 have gotten extremely obnoxious, and they've all poked around the "asymmetrical, uncanny valley" area for some time now. Lots of extraneous belts, straps, and zippers. Nomura is dragging this series down into the dangers of being labeled the cheesiest franchise ever. Too bad, because FF6 is brilliant and delivers everything I want from an RPG.

DQ is a lot more consistent, but the games all can get pretty grind-heavy to me, and with less variety in locations/eras and some moderate repetition between games (here's the casino town, here's the monster-raising element, here's Tower Dungeon #4) basically means I haven't really finished any besides 1 and 4. Even so, the series has a good amount of charm and some occasional moments of brilliance (like DQ5's early shocker with the slave camp at present day), and it's never given me a sense of "This is insanely cliche anime CHEESE" that a lot of the later FF games do.

I think I'll vote FF; FF6 is my #2 game and a masterpiece, while 4 and 7 are no slouches either.

I like DQ more, but I've only played one, and I kind of hate RPGs.

DQ is at least charming and seldom embarrassing.

That's perfect, Anand. "Charmind and seldom embarrasing."

So many FF games I've played have completely lacked charm. There's just nothing there that captures my interest. Shitty characters, stories, and melodrama do not pull me in.

Dragon Quest games are frequently more upbeat and light-hearted, yet still serious when need be. They cover a wider range of emotions or something.

Also, when FF games do try to get more light-hearted or silly, it just comes off as awkward, unnatural, and, well, embarrassing.


I mean, there are some really damn good FF games (IX is my favorite), but more often than not I find myself completely uninterested in what they have to offer.

Dragon Quest games, however, always make me

I have only ever really played One Final Fantasy which was X and one Dragon Quest which is currently IX. I loved Final Fantasy X back in the day but I was going through a semi-emo phase at the time so whether I would play it now and think good god its awful I don't know. Dragon Quest IX so far is alot of fun and I am really enjoying it, which is good because i have been hankering to get into a really long RPG for a while. The way I am feeling at the moment I think I will align with Dragon Quest.

DragonQuest is by far more charming, but the Final Fantasy games are far more diverse in gameplay and presentation.

In the grand scheme of things, I think I prefer Final Fantasy, but lately I've been enjoying DragonQuest more.

I can't really say objectively which is better. Sorry.

Final Fantasy easily... but I've only played Dragon Quest IX. While the gameplay was fun, it was really lacking in story, which Final Fantasy excels at, in older games anyway. I'm thinking of picking up Dragon Quest VI though but I honestly have no idea what previous games in the series have to offer compared to IX.

@VofEscaflowne

For the love of all that is holy, play DragonQuest V!

@GameDadGrant

Yeah... I wanted to pick that one up too. I wonder if they still have it for sale here. The only problem is that I really find it hard to get into RPGs lately and I already have two in my backlog (Valkyria Chronicles II and Persona 3 Portable) so picking up another one seems like it would be a waste.

@VofEscaflowne

Fair enough. Hope you get around to it eventually, though!

Haven't played enough of either to make a decision. Not counting spinoffs, the only Final Fantasy I've played and finished all by myself was the remake of the original in the Dawn of Souls pack for GBA. Have seen and/or played plenty of FF6-9 though. As for Dragon Quest, all I've played is the mediocre Wii spinoff sword game.

But I hope to really delve into Dragon Quest soon via the three DS remakes.

@VofEscaflowne

IX is kind of a big departure from previous DQ games in a number of ways, lack of focus on story being one of them.


I'd also like to mention I haven't played Final Fantasy I through III so I have no idea how the early games in that series compare to the barebones and archaic design of the early DQ games. (DQI is kind of the most basic basicness you could ever basic.)

I'm in the "I used to love FF but not lately" crowd. FF IX was the last numbered FF game I played and respected. I do want to give FFXI a try, but it's largely because of Fran and a couple other characters, not Vaan or the battle system.

I have even less experience with the DQ games, but I'm with Het_Nkik in that the few times I've played DQ, they tend to have more charm and lack all that melodrama that plagues the FF series of games these days.

It's funny this thread popped up now, because me and a good friend of mine were just discussing what FF has become and how much XIII just turns us both off. She flipped out in anger when she saw that they're ALREADY jumping back in with ANOTHER FFXIII game in FFXIII-2 ()which in her opinion is already ruining the story even more - I wouldn't know, I didn't bother with the game, it just didn't look appealing to me at all).

Square is leaning on that name way too much.

Regardless of how I feel about the series now though, I cannot deny that the early FF's set the tone for what I expect from a JRPG - FFiv, FFvi, FFiii (the DS remake), FFvii, and FFix all still hold special places for me.

Anyone play 4 Heroes of Light yet? It's got that light-hearted charm of the series from yesteryear...

it's really close though. but FF I-IV,VI,VII,XII push them above DQ IV-VII, and IX

great games though

GameDadGrant said:

Anyone play 4 Heroes of Light yet? It's got that light-hearted charm of the series from yesteryear...

How was it? i wanted to pick it up.

I haven't voted yet.

I..feel unsupportive of Final Fantasy in recent years. Their lack of Nintendo presence doesn't help me either. That said, Final Fantasy III(US) is my favorite game after Chrono Trigger. Its freakin' mint. I measure all RPGs against it.

Dragon Warrior IV is also awesome, and is pretty much the benchmark for 8-bit stuff, and still retails for $40 on eBay regularly. Good luck finding a complete one on the cheap. The first game isn't half bad either, but thats just what it is: the first game. Hard to ding a group on that.

So yeah, I don't know. They both have ups and downs. I almost want to vote for Dragon Warrior just because of all the crap I hear about recent Final Fantasy games. Lots of complaining..

Yeah, the FF series has two of my favorite SNES games, so it would nudge the vote in that direction.

@GameDadGrant I heard 4 Heroes of Light is good but also that it's too 'old-school' for its own good.

@roykoopa64

That's a good way to sum up 4 Heroes of Light. It's difficult. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you'll need to grind. A lot.

As for me, I've got to vote Final Fantasy, if only for VI and IV alone (and IX to a lesser degree, VII and VIII didn't do anything for me).