I went into this expecting an old school throwback turn-based JRPG because I've never played Dragon Quest beforehand, but what I got was a deceptively simple yet incredibly polished and wonderfully charming game that starts knocking those expectations away throughout its lengthy playtime. It’s refreshing to play a JRPG that very sincerely sticks to its guns about its own tropes and tradition in a landscape where games have started to become a bit self-aware about them and loses out on some of that magic. It’s not really reinventing the wheel so much as it’s finding new things to do with that wheel and perfecting them. Like, the game design is pretty straightforward and simple by today’s standards but it manages to still feel really engaging and plays to its strength for that. The combat never feels too broken and finds a good general balance that makes boss fights and random encounters feel as fair as possible to the player while still offering a challenge. Except for the third act which is almost like a post-game, with bosses that really push you to strategize and experiment with your party members, but also feeling way more important to the overall story than you thought. It’s not quite as good as the first two acts, mostly because it felt lacking in narrative momentum due to its gameplay structure, but it redeems itself by revealing a bunch of story stuff that makes this feel that much essential to the entire experience.

You can also feel how much more fun Toriyama had with designing characters for this franchise than everything since Beerus and Whis in Dragon Ball rn