Topic: The Universal Games Ranking Forum (Currently: Characters/Weapons/etc. You Hate Playing Against)

For me: DQ VIII, DQ VI, DQ V, DQ IX, DQ VII, DQ I, DQ III, DQ II, DQ IV (I really didn't like IV for some reason).

@CreamyDream, like most big JRPG series, none of the Dragon Quest games are tied to each other, so you can start anywhere you want, so the 3DS games are a good a place as any (especially since VIII is widely considered the best in the series, and both 3DS entries lack random battles, which I'm sure makes them even more inviting).

I think IV, V, & VI are the only ones remotely related to each other, but like the Zelda games, they're generations apart, so the connections don't go much further than some common locations that exist in all three, or an Easter Egg or two. You can play these 3 on 3DS too (as well as IX), since they're on DS.

4. Dragon Quest 7 (3DS)
It feels really strange putting this at the bottom of my list since this was my first Dragon Quest game and was what got me hooked on the series, but I can still recognize its flaws. The overall progression of the game is pretty slow. It takes hours before you even fight your first enemy and I about 20 hours before you unlock the class system. However I loved the idea of going back in time and visiting the different islands. Each island had a unique problem and most of them were a ton of fun to play through. A few were boring though and were a drag to get through. However it was always fun to go back to the present and see what it turned into. It feels very rewarding. Overall it's a great game and I'd highly reccommend it if you don't mind putting 100 hours or more into it. It's by far the longest Dragon Quest game I've played.

3. Dragon Quest 5 (DS)
This game has an awesome story, probably my favourite that from what I've played so far. There's plenty of unique ideas in the game, like playing through multiple generations. Sometimes it was a little hard to figure out where to go next though, and I felt that this game had the steepest difficulty curve in terms of enemies so it involved a bit more grinding for me which I wasn't a big fan of.

2. Dragon Quest 8 (3DS)
This game is an extremely polished JRPG. Everything from the storytelling to characters to enemy fights is enjoyable the whole way through. I appreciated the fact that it had voice acting since these games are always very long and it's nice to just sit back and listen during cutscenes. The remake added a handful of features that I'm a big fan of, especially getting rid of random encounters and instead letting you choose when to fight by walking into an enemy. The only downside to the game is it's a bit basic. Every other game I've played has had some sort of interesting or unique twist in the gameplay, but this one is pretty standard. It's very solid and polished, but didn't have the extra bit to put it over the top for me.

1. Dragon Quest 4 (DS)
I really loved the chapter system in this game. Playing through each of the stories of the different heroes, then watching their stories and paths come together was a huge joy. Each chapter felt pretty unique too since the characters all play very differently, especially the merchant. It was also the shortest Dragon Quest game I played, which is pretty nice if you don't want to invest 100 hours into the game. I'll definitely be playing this one again in the future when I get the chance.

@CreamyDream, unless the 100 hour runtime is a big turnoff for you, I don't see why it wouldn't be a good place to start.

For refrence, it took me about 40 hours to beat IV, 50 for V, and 100 for VIII (120 total, counting postgame stuff I've done).

I'm now beginning to question howlongtobeat's accuracy when it comes to the DQ series.

@CreamyDream @RR529 Actually, Dragon Quest I, II and III are the most closely linked in the series, arguably telling a single story, though each is also perfectly self-sufficient. You could as easily start with DQIII, where the series really found its feet and went stratospheric in Japan, as DQI - though I believe it's better not to start on DQII.

I think IV, V and VI have more of a thematic link than a narrative arc. As to where is best to begin, probably best to think about what gaming era you want to start in. The best of the JRPG scene in 8-bit, 16-bit or later?

However, I'd definitely recommend DQVIII as a starter - it's very long, but it's a wonderful time.

Dragon Quest VIII only took me 43 hours to beat. I didn't skip any of the cutscenes or dialogue too. I'm not sure where this 100 hours is coming from, but it's making me worry that I might have missed something. Maybe it's because I avoided a lot of enemy encounters and fought King Metal Slimes to get my exp which didn't take too long. For me the only dragon quest game that took anywhere close to 100 hours was Dragon Quest VII.

Right then, new poll just gone up, see what you think of this.

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=59a06695e4b05933ec3de398

Options this time around are:
3D Mario Games
2D Sonic Games
Core Street Fighter Games
Terrible Parts of Great Games

I might keep this one open a little less than before, dunno, so vote while you can.
Also @GoldenGamer88 I know you requested Mario platformers as a whole, but I went with just 3D ones for now just cause they're easier to compare and it'd be strange to have just 2D Sonic games but all the Mario ones. Sorry about that, but I'll pop 2D Mario games up another time.

Basically, the NSMB series is safe but 3D World is ripe for the picking.

@BigYellow It's alright, we could do the (N)SMB series another time, same with 3D Sonics.

Kinda off topic, but I like the random message that EasyPolls says after making the choice. This time, my choice of what games to rank was the radical option.

@crimsontadpoles Yup, that's me responsible for that. I just thought it'd be funny if the first poll said the 'Wrong option'.

And then the second said the 'Strange option.'

And then it all went downhill from there.

@BigYellow Nice, I just assumed it was the website itself that saying random things, I didn't know you can edit that message.

@Tyranexx, @Xaldin, I'm sure my runtimes for V & VIII are both a bit long on account of time spent grinding (and the photo quests in VIII). I know 8 is only supposed to take only 80 hours.

@CreamyDream: I'm curious about what you thought about Earthbound Beginnings. I picked it up ages ago as a My Nintendo discount, but I haven't played it quite yet. I played Earthbound somewhat recently and quite enjoyed it. I've read that Beginnings is decent, but very hard.

@Snaplocket Quick note there: Earthbound isn't a remake...it is a sequel. Earthbound is Mother 2, Beginnings is Mother 1. The two games were a gen apart (mother 1 was famicom and mother 2 was super famicom) so it stands to reason that usually the sequel is better. (usually)

@CreamyDream: It'll be interesting since I've never played a RPG from the 8-bit days. I've read that the story and music are wonderful, but that the difficulty is too off-putting for some. That doesn't really concern me as much as the potential grinding since I'm not a fan of doing it long-term. I definitely plan on starting the game, but whether I finish it will depend on how I weigh the positives and negatives that you described.

If anything, it may make me appreciate its successor even more. I used to be concerned that Earthbound was overhyped to me, but I can say that it deserves all the praise it gets. Definitely one of my favorite RPGs.

@Snaplocket: I don't consider Earthbound to be a perfect game (no game is, really), but I enjoyed it enough that I'll likely revisit it at some point. Here's a brief rundown of some of what I liked:

• Most of the RPGs that I've played are more in the fantasy/medieval realm, so I found the more modern setting quite refreshing.
• While the writing probably wouldn't win any awards, I liked some of the off-the-wall stuff that happened in the narrative. I was told not to take the game too seriously, and I think that helped my outlook a bit. It helps that I've been playing Pokemon games for years. If I can handle a 10-year-old's mom allowing them to travel the land with monsters, it's not too far of a leap from there to let your son with psychic powers meet his destiny.
• The music, particularly Onett's theme.
• The off-the-wall enemy types. Coming from RPGs with classic creatures, the enemies in Earthbound ranged from refreshing to just plain weird. I've played very few franchises where you can fight piles of barf, gas pumps, and crazy hippies.
• I know other RPGs have done this, but this was the first one for me where the encounters weren't random. You could see what you were getting into, and what was even better was that you could automatically skip the fight if you were significantly stronger than what you ran into.
• Progressing in the game at times required some very...interesting solutions. I didn't appreciate all of them at the time, but I liked thinking outside of the box.
• Mr. Saturn. 'Nuff said.
• The final boss fight was amazing. The helplessness, the terror, the pure insanity....Loved it.

Bonus: ...I actually lucked out with Sword of Kings. I only had to farm for it for 20-30 minutes.

@Snaplocket Hey you have to use my entire name for me to get a notification. A remake and a sequel aren't the same thing at all. Otherwise every sequel is merely (or "basically" per your rejoinder) a remake because they are the same genre and use similar gameplay mechanics. Perhaps you are using it that way and that is your prerogative but it does mean that someone is going to comment on it. I was merely offering clarification since you mentioned your experience with Mother 1 was what you "seen and heard" which usually implies a lack of first hand experience (which lined up with your remake description as well).

Star Fox Zero was a re-imagining of 64 (which itself is a remake of star fox) so I'm not sure where you are trying to go with that analogy either...neither line up with how the mother series was done either. I'm guessing by your word choice that you took issue to me saying anything at all about your exposition on the mother series; which while I'm not sure why that would be the case as I was very friendly in tone, but I'll bow out of the convo since it would seem you didn't actually want to discuss it. Sorry to intrude. Have a nice day.

My assumption is that it was a fundamentally different type of JRPG with its humor and modern American setting/pop culture and strangeness that people played at a time where they were most likely to be deeply influenced by it, both because of its humor and general endearing childhood strangeness. And very much a "about the journey not the destination" scenario as well.

Now let's get something clear though. Many JRPGs do not have the best starts. Even one of my favorites that has an excellent first 10 minutes (Xenoblade) then immediately becomes the typical slow build towards greatness. Pokemon as a whole is a great example with tutorials and weak Pokemon and WHERE'S MY REPELS ALREADY? WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T CATCH ANYTHING YET. FAT GUY IN HOMETOWN SURE IS IMPRESSED BY TECHNOLOGY. I might be the only one, but Chrono Trigger I considered a pretty overhyped game for its first 4-5 hours. Now, Earthbound's not the best at this (srsly, you walk to the same place twice before anything of note happens), but it does have some advantages. Basically in that, if you're gonna require me to grind enemies in the same area ASAP, make sure it's a large enough area with things for me to do. And since you fight your first enemies in a town, there's quite a bit to do. Along with a bunch of item and healing places, it's filled with NPCs that have funny (or at the very least not boring) jokes. So in theory, by the time you explore it all, you've run into enough enemies to be strong enough to take on the first real boss in the arcade and then head on to the first dungeon.

I don't actually disagree with some of the complaints towards the game but it was such a unique game and its faults not enough to hurt it that it left a huge impact for people, whereas Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana and the SNES Final Fantasies and even much of the PS1 JRPGs etc all left relatively similar impacts for similar people. Earthbound was a real outlier in the genre, and that made all the difference.

Like tbh, that is the best description I can give. Many other people could provide better reasoning, I'm mostly just going off of what other people think about it tbh. But despite not being my favorite JRPG (except the ost, which is one of the best ever, no question), I respect it more than nearly any other game for its long lasting appeal (dated elements aside) and its massive influence on quite a few other games, among other things (SRSLY TREY PARKER PLAYED EARTHBOUND, THAT HAPPENED)

As a Pokemon fan, I found this quite humorous. XD