Dragon Quest V is a traditional JRPG through and through, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. The story was quite good and there were several twists that genuinely shocked me. The characters were pretty one note though and I never felt overly attached to any of them, not even the main character.

The turn-based battles were exactly what I expected from a Dragon Quest game, and they were fun for a while, but I eventually grew tired of the frequency of the random encounters. The boss battles were also a bit disappointing as they felt more like battles of attrition (the need to keep my HP and MP up at all times) than a real challenge. I still consider myself a pretty big JRPG newbie and I finished the final boss on my first try (though it did take 45 minutes).

I had a genuinely good time with Dragon Quest V, despite my complaints, and I especially liked the story and its unexpected twists. Had the random encounter rate been less frequent and the boss battles been more challenging this would have been rated a bit higher. Still, this was one heck of a good JRPG that was well worth playing.