FF9 v Dragon Quest

I’ve never been a Dragon Quest fan. I played the original Dragon Warrior on the NES and liked it a lot – even going so far as drawing maps of my own made up worlds and naming my own types of swords and armor and imagining myself playing through my own game. But I never had a chance to play any sequels (in the main series) until Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2 and the remakes DQ’s on the DS. Now, I find the formula archaic: the relentless random battles, the constant grinding for experience and gold, etc…

I hear that DQIX changes the formula for the better, but I have not yet brought myself to play it. I’ve been burned by this series so many times that it’s hard for me to believe that it has really changed. Like that abusive ex, you know? I dunno, maybe I should give it one more chance…

GamePro put up an article on their site, which you can find here.

Comparing Dragon Quest to Final Fantasy IX based on graphic style alone bypasses the fundamental differences between the two, both in gameplay style and storytelling philosophy. Sure, both feature RPG battle systems with a blend of Medieval and Renaissance (with a dash of Victorian) architecture, fashion and color palate. But that’s like saying the White House and the Taj Mahal are similar because they are both big, white buildings. Art style and graphics in games are merely the coat of paint.

The battle system in FFIX (while not as nuanced as in FFX) has a lot of depth, not merely focusing on elemental magic alignments, but also a pick-you-ability system, character specific abilities and skills and boss battles that require more strategy than just a beat down. DQ has maintained a very traditional battle system that borders on bland for decades. The battles are almost an afterthought as you run to the next town/castle.

And you run to the next castle so that someone can tell you through tedious exposition the next town/castle you should go to or next cave to explore so that you can hear more tedious exposition. FFIX’s method of storytelling evolves much more organically and viscerally from the gameplay. The characters are more interesting and have more depth. Each have their own arc to complete and their own motivation for embarking on their quests.

To be fair to the GamePro article, they pointed out some narrative similarities. But to me personally, the two have far more differences than parallels.

Also as a disclaimer, FFIX is my favorite in the series and I can get very defensive over it. I think it perfectly embodies everything that was awesome in the 16-bit FF’s while modernizing the graphics and interface. I love that the characters are not fully customizable and that the games does not allow you to access all of them all of the time. It gives you a party and a quest and forces you to make the best of who you have – like the 3 branching stories in FFVI.

Anyway, I could do a whole blog post on the awesomeness of Final Fantasy IX, but that’s for another time. I really wish I liked Dragon Quest. The fans of the series get a ton of enjoyment out of those games and I feel like I’m missing out.