Dragon Quest Community Thread |OT| Party Chat

heavenly/almighty shrine/holy order's abode in the sky

I wish that they had done something more like "buy weapons in Ballymoral, sell them in Endor and pick up armor there, which you then sell in Ballymoral. Do this back-and-forth a couple times to set up shop." I think the amount of "get items as drops (even though they don't drop for other people" and sell lots of armor to Ballymoral isn't entirely ideal and isn't maximally representative of playing the role of the merchant. They have you sell weapons to Endor eventually anyway; I think they should've just combined those events. Maybe make the marriage or war scenario a little longer and arm them both for war :P.

I also wish that the buy prices weren't so randomized in Ballymoral. I like that they make you role-play haggling and searching for a good price, but that was better handled in DQVI, imo through having a plethora of merchants and searching for who to sell to/buy from.

IDK. I didn't have as good a time with this chapter as I've had in the past, but it is still fun taking on Torneko's role. I like the adventure aspects of the chapter the best: getting the magical vault and the goddess statue in the trap filled dungeons crawling with monsters; getting the bridges and tunnel built to keep exploring the world for treasure to sell; the packed lunches your wife gives you. I just wish the buying/selling had been more fun and there'd been more of a trade route type thing going on.

Also, attempting to buy all those steel broadswords for cheap from the fox people...lol. It was fun getting fooled like that.

The flow of the chapter is a bit weird, especially the detour for the gunpowder and the chancellor who hates loud noises, but it ended strongly with the forced defeat by the true source of the treachery in the court, and the flight from the castle with Oojam buying you time.

Oojam was a bit overpowered as a companion for my taste and that kind of took away from leveling Meena and Maya in the second half of the story, but the mines are a really small dungeon.

The priest guarding the bunny girl from having to go the palace to please Balzack is a nice touch.

I think my main wish is that there had been more of an event at their home town and at the grave, leading into searching for that silencing device and Oojam. I feel like I remember there being more there, especially in that polluted basement.

Similarly, I wish the reason for going to the mine had been stronger. Thematically, the mine fits in well with the alchemy (turning metal into gold) and greed angles. It is reflective of Balzack that you have people digging deep for gold and releasing poisonous gases and getting sick in the process. It is also reflective of the Marquis selling his soul to the devil.

You're going to hit a point where you need some rainbow water. You will find it by going through the blue portal at the main shrine, where you will find a waterfall. In the PSX version, you would have seen this place in the opening segment, but they optimized it out and now it's a Guide Dang It moment in the remake.

In Dragon Quest tradition, there is a victory tour. There's a ? shard to collect, then save post-credits. When you reload, you can go put the ? Shards on the pedestal downstairs in the main shrine to get the bonus dungeon.

You have to beat the bonus boss within a certain number of turns and you get to pick a reward.

But I want Ragnar! And I want him when my hero is also level 15 like him, so he isn't behind

So what's up with Senika going into the past to meet Rosha? The both have hero mark on their hands, and when hero's mother is reading the book at the very end, she puts in on the shelf and there are two books with hero marks on them. I immediately though that the implication is that Senika and Rosha get married and their kid is DQ3 protagonist. Since she came from the timeline where 11's hero get the title of "Hero of Loto", she brought it into the other timeline and that's how her kid gets title of Loto in the end of DQ3. Is this how most people understand the ending, or am I missing something very obvious here?

The genealogy is Senika-Rosha --(unknown number of generations)--> MuteGuy-Emma --(maybe not even the same world)--> Ortega-??? --> DQ3 hero. I presume there are two books because the first volume is Senika-Rosha and the second is the DQXI main story. I don't think Senika-Rosha are actually any part of the DQIII canon but rather it's implied everything is cyclical.

A simpler explanation is that the true ending ending panders the crap out of its fanbase so they shoved that easter egg in there and the reasons don't have to be sensical. I wouldn't overthink it.

I think the two books might actually just be a metaphor for Dragon Quest 11 itself and how there are 2 versions of the game. Notice how the colors correspond to both Veronica and Senya, so maybe they're both the same story and one is written by Senya and one is written by Veronica. Both of them were the only ones that were witness to the Dragon God and the story he told to the protagonist. The books themselves also look basically the same as the DQ11 special editions (minus the fact that one of them is blue instead of green).

The book that 3's protagonist's mother puts away shows the story of DQ11 which theoretically wouldn't happen in Senica's timeline. I guess you could argue that Senica herself is responsible for passing that story down but I don't know. Sounds like a bit of a stretch.

Also the game makes a big deal about the protagonist of 11 inheriting the title of Loto and his descendant being the protagonist of 1 but if the protagonist of 3 came from the timeline that Senica created, that wouldn't be the case so that whole angle becomes weird and disjointed. I think they showed the Senica timeline just to show they "hey, they got a happy ending too" and maybe the next game might even take place in that theoretical timeline. Who knows. As said, it's also possible they there were just throwing references at people without regard to whether they actually make sense or not lol

Ahh right, that continuity makes sense. Well, sort of, anyway. As does the fact that they've just thrown this whole last bit into the game to hype probable DQ3 remake (just in case, even if there is no plan to make right away.

Right, I totally forgot about the books. Maybe I'm reading to much into this ending scene haha.
But you know, as I was playing I was thinking that it would be cool to make an FFX-2 sort of sequel, where the story follows Rosha. Would be cool to do the same time travel trick, with the game "ending" with Uranus betraying Rosha, but then Senika coming back in time from 11's ending and remaking the timeline, the same way 11's protagonist remade Ulnoga's corruption of the world. Plus, it would be interesting to see Lotoresia in its earlier days, how the kingdoms started and so on.

I don't remember the Marquis giving me this much trouble in the past. It was a fun fight. My answer ended up being getting Kiryl to 16 so he had both Midheal and Kabuff. I then had Hero, Meena, and Kiryl with Midheal and Alena with a stack of herbs. With 2 layers of Kabuff and repeated use of the spell every couple of turns to stop the buff from lapsing, his physical attack was meaningless whenever he used it, lowering his burst damage, which is usually how he would kill and also just lowering the healing burden so the Hero could spend more time attacking and less time assisting my priests.

Everyone went up a level, so most of my party is level 17 now, with Torneko 19 and Maya 18.

Poor Ragnar is 15, but I've got my whole party back now :).

I think this a great, straightforward, DQI-esque introduction with the twist of having the adorable Healie thrown into the mix. The story was interesting--palace knight tasked with finding lost children who were lured away from a play place to be killed by monsters trying to prevent the messiah from coming of age and preventing their demonic plans. It is reminiscent of, say, the birth of Cyrus, without the grisly twist of Hapargus unwittingly eating his own children in the tyrant's revenge upon finding out he'd spared the child :P. Such a classic basic story premise and it is carried out swiftly. The final fight was very fun for me--Healie died to the winky going mad and I only finished the fight on the last possible turn I could before the boss would've killed me instead.

As I said above, I think this chapter has some pacing hitches, like when the boy with the dog is the one who lets slip what you are supposed to do about the captured "princess" or when you have to talk to a variety of people in a variety of places to get the information about the elf nectar. Add in the fact that I did the whole dungeon related to that before I went back to the castle to start that story.

That said, I really like the premise and the themes of the chapter. Alena is a go-getter tomboy, who, in the world of increasing monster populations, sees her cause to break out, go adventuring, and become stronger with the tourney over in Endor being the means she plans on using. It is her occasion to act and she has no compunction in breaking out of the castle to see to it that she does with the young clergy man who has a crush on her and her old teacher chasing after her.

Of note is that, other than the Tsar when he loses his voice (and later Kiryl when he gets ill), Alena goes about saving women, namely the girl to be sacrificed, the fake princess, and then the princess of Endor threatened with marriage to the tourney winner. This serves to highlight both Alena's breaking out of traditional roles (by juxtaposing her with other women) and the way doing so gives her agency against various forms of victimization. Importantly, it also isn't polemical--the women Alena saves aren't set up as worse than her, nor is their life style necessarily denigrated. It is about building Alena up rather than tearing other women down.

Moreover, as Opa-Pa noted, she's the fighter type and her male companions are the support classes (with Borya being an excellent sapper/oompher as the game progresses and Kiryl being a healer)

I wish that they had done something more like "buy weapons in Ballymoral, sell them in Endor and pick up armor there, which you then sell in Ballymoral. Do this back-and-forth a couple times to set up shop." I think the amount of "get items as drops (even though they don't drop for other people" and sell lots of armor to Ballymoral isn't entirely ideal and isn't maximally representative of playing the role of the merchant. They have you sell weapons to Endor eventually anyway; I think they should've just combined those events. Maybe make the marriage or war scenario a little longer and arm them both for war :P.

I also wish that the buy prices weren't so randomized in Ballymoral. I like that they make you role-play haggling and searching for a good price, but that was better handled in DQVI, imo through having a plethora of merchants and searching for who to sell to/buy from.

IDK. I didn't have as good a time with this chapter as I've had in the past, but it is still fun taking on Torneko's role. I like the adventure aspects of the chapter the best: getting the magical vault and the goddess statue in the trap filled dungeons crawling with monsters; getting the bridges and tunnel built to keep exploring the world for treasure to sell; the packed lunches your wife gives you. I just wish the buying/selling had been more fun and there'd been more of a trade route type thing going on.

Also, attempting to buy all those steel broadswords for cheap from the fox people...lol. It was fun getting fooled like that.

The flow of the chapter is a bit weird, especially the detour for the gunpowder and the chancellor who hates loud noises, but it ended strongly with the forced defeat by the true source of the treachery in the court, and the flight from the castle with Oojam buying you time.

Oojam was a bit overpowered as a companion for my taste and that kind of took away from leveling Meena and Maya in the second half of the story, but the mines are a really small dungeon.

The priest guarding the bunny girl from having to go the palace to please Balzack is a nice touch.

I think my main wish is that there had been more of an event at their home town and at the grave, leading into searching for that silencing device and Oojam. I feel like I remember there being more there, especially in that polluted basement.

Similarly, I wish the reason for going to the mine had been stronger. Thematically, the mine fits in well with the alchemy (turning metal into gold) and greed angles. It is reflective of Balzack that you have people digging deep for gold and releasing poisonous gases and getting sick in the process. It is also reflective of the Marquis selling his soul to the devil.

I think the opening arcs are strong. As I said, the beginning fit well with chapter 1's foreshadowing and quickly tossed you out into the world and onto the quest. Casabranca was a nice nod to Dragon Quest III with the adventurer group heading out and also set the story that you were going to go out and gather your companions to have a party like that.

Meena joining you upon reading your fortune and realizing you were the one she needed to help to save the world (and see to her revenge) as mentioned by the seer in chapter 4 was simple and effective. Maya's gambling explained the loss of funds :P. There was a bit of a level-/gear-check in the first dungeon when you are separated from Meena and Maya. I had a lot of fun barely scraping by the first fight, but when I encountered the second fight, I realized I needed to improve my hero somewhat. I ground him up to level 8 or so and that was enough to also buy him his iron gear, if not enough to also improve his weapon. It was overkill, tbh, but I think, personally, I either needed the gear or the levels and getting either I could get both.

The Torneko story picked up nicely from where you had left him at the end of chapter 3, with him having bought himself a grand boat to continue his adventure for treasure. I liked the Pharos Lighthouse dungeon. It was an effective way to make Torneko need you and join his efforts to yours, made sense for the monsters, and was a fun dungeon with a well-balanced boss fight (my hero and Hoffman were the last ones standing and it felt like a true coming of age and importance to the party for him).

The Alena story was also nice. You got to watch her bust down that door, see that Casabranca party in action again, and see her trying to save Kiryl, which fit well with her being the brave, dashing princess and also played with Kiryl's infatuation with her.

I think the next arc of the chapter is a bit rougher. I get Ragnar setting out to combat monsters as well as look for the hero and coming to Leon: Leon is ruled by a monster and home to that seer. I just think the pacing is a bit weird with the re-use of the dungeon from chapter 4 and the very tight boss fight. I had a lot of fun with the Marquis, but it took two levels on top of what I had (14-15 to 16-17) for me to get him well under control. The thing is, because the dungeon was reused, there was little need to explore it and I guessed/remembered the chest with the secret button correctly the first time. If there had been more reason to look around, I'd probably have ended up around where I was when I beat the boss instead of a tad under-leveled imo. It is a bit of a pacing hitch, but not much of one. Getting Kabuff and Midheal on Kiryl completely changed that fight and made it into an enjoyable and rewarding, if long, war of attrition where I was in command of the flow of battle. It felt like if I'd gotten lucky, I could've killed him earlier but with his breath attacks and spike damage, but Kabuff/Midheal were when I felt like I had an answer to him. Still, those two levels happened very quickly and most of the issue was beating my head against the wall trying to beat it before doing them.

This awkwardness continued a bit with Baalzack just being in a castle without much reason to run into random battles before fighting him. I ended up going up one more level and getting Frizzle on Maya. Frizzle plus Kabuff made him a fairly trivial fight. Just reusing the strategy I had used on the Marquis proved to take too long. Idt I tried subbing in a sapper for Meena, though--that might've been an answer for me too. It was unsatisfying that doing this didn't seem to do anything as far as the problem in Zamovska and just served to satisfy Maya and Meena's revenge.

I enjoyed these two fights, but their context was a bit weird and the game picked up for me when my adventure turned east. (Well, I did Canalot first, but that wasn't particularly noteworthy, imo. I also did the Rose story--it was nice giving Psaro some background as to why he is so angry). I loved the dungeon for the armor, which I did next. The dragon riders hurt a lot and it felt like I was getting away with something by using Kabuff. It was an exhilarating feeling and given where they also showed up, it was skipping an enemy set or so. Kabuff is so amazing.

Next I went for the shield in Femescrya. I just remembered that I needed to use the magma staff to clear the path. Not sure what was supposed to tell you that, so I can't speak to the flow there, but I liked the Femescrya story and leaving poor Torneko in the jail cell while I went to prove my innocence and catch the thief. I love that he ran away and you had to actively accost him to start the boss battle.

The liquid sword dungeon was somewhat lame, imo, and had an enemy set that felt like a step down, but the mod rod dungeon was fun as was the expanded upon DQIII callback down in the down under :P. I also like the story touch with a monster rebellion contributing to Psaro's descent into madness (through kidnapping Rose) and how Aamon planned to rule monster kind in the aftermath of evolved Psaro's apocalypse, which set its roots here.

And then the Estark sequence was strong, tying back into the themes of dangerous greed in Leon and setting up what Psaro would go on to do to himself. It also felt like an urgent mission, like when Weapon rises from the depths in FFVII. It was a shift in paradigm, however, and Estark was more dangerous when he was sleeping than when he was awake (I like the sleeping gimmick btw). The bosses wouldn't be so exciting for me again until the final encounter with Psaro. The air baloon lacks some flair imo to be the secret technology locked up with Estark, but it isn't a big deal.

Yggdrasil was a nice event and it was fun to finally get to that X on the treasure map Torneko was after. It was cool that it was at the top of the tree and that there was an angel there to further transition the story to being about going to Zenithia. I liked that the sword itself was temporarily disappointing. I don't like that it was permanently so coming from the liquid metal sword :P.

The final continent and slew of dungeons were rewarding in their battles and in how quickly my characters grew at that point. I finished the game with my party mostly at level 31 and they gained so many cool abilities in the last couple of hours or so delving those final dungeons and fighting those final bosses. I wrote about the boss fight above, but it was extremely satisfying too.

As to the hero and Psaro narratives:

The hero's is fairly simple but together with the theme of humanity's wrong in Psaro's story it was interesting to see the angle on heaven's wrong, with a) the tragedy of his mother and father and b) the tragedy of heaven using him for its purpose and then spitting him out back into the emptiness of his life ruined because of that purpose. Eliza seems to have come back to the life at the end, but the whole ending video I was thinking about this. Also is Eliza and elf like Rose? Not sure if this is a connection between the hero and Psaro or not.

The hero's story in VIII repurposes this story and its themes of the tragic wrongs of heaven and tells it more at length, but it is less connected into the main narrative of the game.

I think the monster rebellion angle is the strongest part of the Psaro story, followed by the loss of self and purpose to evolution. The Rose tragedy throws in a nice melodramatic note and a twist of regret that humanity has something to be blamed for, but Psaro's reaction is an obvious over-reaction in its jump to genocide. The amulet angle is a bit undercooked, although it was a nice touch connecting the thieves in chapter 2 to the shady shop in Endor and then there being a burglary there. It'd have been nice to have more of a narrative around Psaro getting his hands on it, but that isn't a big deal.

Still, I was talking about Magus from CT being a twist on a monster overlord from DQ upthread and playing this again makes it clear he's a twist on Psaro in particular.

The whole thing is incredibly on point, in particular with respect to the main character being a child. He half remembers another life he left young; his father Pankraz's movements and motivations are obscure, fitting seeing them from a child's eye; your father walks you around the world map and tends to your wounds with the only times you are able to do this without his protection are when a) you sneak out at night or b) Pankraz's attention is urgently elsewhere--you are very much under your father's power; and, of course, the stories that you go through: following your father into the cave but having to take the "baby" path; sneaking into a haunted house on a dare in order to save a kitten and getting sucked into a ghostly drama; aimlessly milling about town and happening upon a fairy (by chasing her series of mischievous deeds) who only children can see who needs your help in saving her kingdom from an evil snow queen; and having to play nice with a spoiled royal kid only to have to run to get your father when he is kidnapped. The adventures are simultaneously small, child-themed, vibrant, but also demonstrate the main character beginning to grow in independence and capability as he goes off on secret adventures, makes new friends, and saves little worlds. It goes perfectly with stumbling through the early levels of his growth.

And then at the end you have the tragedy of Pankraz's death and your enslavement alongside Harry. You lose your father but also both your growing freedom and the "spoils" of your youthful adventures: the golden ball, the saber kitten, and the fairy's branch. Moreover, you are forced to fail against Ladja after succeeding up until that point. It is a complete tragic end to everything going on in the act.

Pankraz's death is set up by his mysterious quest and station as well as the rumors of his dreadful nemesis: it is suggested doom is chasing him. His sacrificial death is both a demonstration of his strength, which has been on display throughout the chapter (finding him in that final dungeon was such shelter and solace), and to his love of family, which, as you find out as he dies, is the driving force of his wandering.

The second act is in very direct conversation with the first. After briefly showing your life as a slave (I do wish they'd actually made you do labor instead of just watch the dreadful conditions), you are set free back onto the continent you were abducted from with Harry and Maria, but everything is changed. Whealbrook has been destroyed. Bianca has left Roundbeck. Coburg is under a new ruler--Harry's brother with his "mother" holding true power--and is a violent, oppressive place. And Harry himself is completely different. You come back to a desolated world that reflects the multifaceted loss you experienced. You restore Harry to his kingdom, destroy the monster influence in Coburg, and set off to another continent, taking up your father's quest as your own. This begins the long rising arc of the act.

It is also worth mentioning the blossoming romance between Harry and Maria, well, mostly the blossoming of Harry's fixation on Maria. It delivers you from slavery and brings Harry happiness despite all of his loss, and, indeed, he seems more preoccupied with her than his loss. This foreshadows the magic that the hero's own marriage and the salvation delivered therethrough. You are called back to Coburg on account of this marriage directly before going Mostroferrato.

But, returning to the flow of the narrative, you land on the western continent and a) immediately see a father and son pair disembarking, reminiscent of how Pankraz and you started the game and b) are soon set on a quest that leads you towards reuniting with your saber kitten and picking up your father's sword. With the cleanse of the northern continent, you start picking up the pieces again and donning the mantel of Pankraz. It is touching that the sabercat comes back to you particularly because you are you and how he has been keeping Pankraz's sword for you.

The story surrounding zoom doesn't fit so much in this narrative and is more of a one-off, but it does bring you back to Coburg for that wedding.

The wedding arc continues these dual themes by reuniting you with Bianca (the golden orb and Honey being the remaining "spoils" to regain) and getting you married to one of the girl's who, like Pankraz's wife Mada, has a magical bloodline and will, at the end of the act and again like Mada, be taken away from you only to be ultimately saved in part by your children, much as you yourself save Mada.

Personally, I always marry Nera. This does cut the reunion with Bianca short, but tbh their friendship did not seem romantic to me and it feels kind of forced when you are given the choice to marry any of the girls at the end of the arc.

Idk. I just felt that Nera a) wanted to leave home and b) wanted to break with expectations and go off with the handsome stranger she found herself thinking about and marrying Crispin would've been another expression of meeting expectations of those close to her (his and his parents'). I think Nera was the persevering good girl who would continue to be such but there was a moment to give her something she just impulsively wanted. The game does send somewhat mixed messages about how she feels, unlike with, say, Bianca, but I think the positive signals are still stronger than the muddying ones.

I also feel that if I'm going to play with her hand for the sake of a family heirloom (the shield) and then get access to father's resources no matter what I do with it, that I shouldn't abandon her right at the end of the courting. I do think it can resonate with Pankraz going to a foreign land and "snatching" away a bride, although here it is much more amenable to the family and town. I do think leaving Bianca behind thwarts the "restoration" narrative somewhat and the parallels to the first act.

(I also just like her hair color and drawin g better :P).

But in any case, this situation does leave me a bit unsatisfied in the lead up to the marriage, but the journey with your wife to Gotha, your long lost and forgotten home, over the tall, snowy peaks, and then down into the forests and finally reaching the castle where she gives birth and you take up your father's throne is one of my favorite parts of the game. For so long you only have had monsters to talk to and now you can chat with your wife. There are the signs of her pregnancy culminating in the great birth scene where the game literally makes you pace about impatiently. There is the mystery being pulled back on Pankraz and your mother and the sight of the indistinctly familiar castle from far above. And the dungeon is just long and memorable for its ridiculous amount of treasures.

You become Pankraz through the rite of passage and are forced to face his tragedy that night as you are coronated and your wife is kidnapped, ending the rising arc of the act. In the end you surmount the monsters' tower and defeat Ladja's minion but then he shows himself and turns both of you to stone, for that way you cannot breed the hero. And there is the seed of hope, for little does he know that you already have done such :).

I love talking to the children. So far I have been disappointed with Lofty Peak, sort of meh with Dr Agon and Zenithia, but happy with the golden orb and with Crocodopolis. I also thought it was really weird that Nera's dad didn't seem to care she was missing still when I did the jar episode.

Lofty Peak is just sort of a non-event: they aren't angry anymore, they don't know much about your monster powers or Nadiria, and you just sort of wander around looting stuff in the town to move on.

As is the Zenithia tower event with the magma staff. It is neat playing that dungeon directly after playing it in IV :P.

The golden ball thing is great though as a) "it will get better" is exactly what is going on there b) the golden orb is destroyed cinematically in conclusion to the tragedy of the first act so undoing its destruction which powers a castle into a sky is a huge stab against the tragedy and for hope.

Crocodopolis brings vengeance for your slavery and restores that place. It also finally frees your dear wife :).

Child slave, forced by cultists to build a tower that will be used to resurrect an ancient being.

they did actually worship a crocodile =0

My wife killed Nimzo with Kafrizzle in the end and my family and the saber cat all saw use in that fight. I had killed some liquid metal slimes getting the main character's armor (a dungeon which was also optional) and the one metal king slime I encountered right before the fight, so it was a fairly comfortable battle, although I used my elfin elixers and I was getting down there on my insulatle pool on the hero (he had pretty much stopped using that move anyway though at that point, opting for desperate attacks instead). I was happy with the leveling curves: my wife and daughter got Kacrackle and Kasizzle at about the same time the way it was set up and I got Kafrizzle from that metal king slime.

My thoughts on DQV scenario are pretty much complete above. I enjoyed Nadiria, but it was mostly just the final dungeon, which wasn't scenario rich. One last thing I want to talk about in this regard is the main character and his mother's people. It is an interesting alternate hero concept for the series that affects the gameplay both in the monster recruiting system and in experiencing the traditional hero "second hand."

As to the first thing, Mada was an extremely saintly character who basically was trying to save and teach the denizens of hell, but the whole connection to Nadiria and the spooky ability to calm and command monsters (and calm Nera too through a quasi-hypnotic look) lends a much more "grey" vibe to the character type than the heavenly blessed hero. Add in that the monsters want Mada on their side to complete their aims. I really wish they'd gone into more in Lofty Peak.

As to the latter, it was interesting watching him grow up and gain access to abilities faster than the main character could. With things like insulatle, weaker physical attack (compared to Dragon Staff main character), quicker access to healing spells (and the lack of multiheal on the main character instead of the hero having omniheal), and my propensity to put the meteor bracelet on my hero character, the hero played more of a support role than he usually does for me while the main character played much more of a physical attacker than the priest usually plays for me. Both the mother and daughter being support/magic damage instead of Nera continuing to learn healing moves, fed into this too. It was interesting and different. It came together for me as the party leveled through their middle and late twenties; got their ending gear and abilities. It felt a bit awkward before then.

Continuing on about the main character's power, the mixed monster- and family-party system is something I have mixed feelings about. I gather that monsters are probably great and I'm guessing they're involved in the optimal parties but with such a strong focus on the central cast and their story together it was always for me that as soon as I had people, monsters got pushed out of the group, with the sabercat being the last to remain. I don't think that's unreasonable so it'd have been cool if these two aspects--the tight-knit family drama of tragedy and triumph and the special parties the main character's power allows for--had been better integrated.

It makes me curious about early Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei games, which I think also had mixed casts of humans and monsters? Also just spinning wheels about DQV style monster communing, hell gate opening and the various sorts of demon summoners in SMT games.

As a last thought, coming from IV, buff/kabuff are so much weaker and Borya's MP pool was crazy :P. Oh and the amount of money you get in V to cloth your horde just feels like so much for a DQ lol

The way the towns are designed, and the way that you have to navigate them to find "secrets" was really fun. Skirting the edges of the town without exiting, using previews of the buildings, etc... I appreciated that most of the NPCs had something useful to say. The Dragon King asking you to join him was an amusing little touch at the end. I also really enjoyed roaming around after I had beaten the Dragon King, visiting old areas (the poison is replaced by flowers!) and meeting the ghost of Galen, seeing the separated couple reunited, etc.