I feel rather conflicted on this game as a whole.
I love the atmosphere this game has. It's super cozy. While the game has world-ending stakes, it never really feels like it. It's like this fun fantasy romp coming across a colorful cast of characters, solving problems and getting ever so close to the desired goal. It's just really warm and cozy. I love the skill points and upgrading skills to gain new abilities, and I like how it personalizes your journey. There's a whole lot here I think is really damn good.
But then it gets brought down by some really bad pet peeves I have with this genre of games. For one, the grind is abysmal. I love level grinding, but when grinding against regular enemies take like an hour just to gain a single level, it goes from fun repetitive action to long tedium. And even though you don't have to level grind often in this game, I did have to a couple times, and they took FOREVER. Sure, I did eventually switch to grinding on Metal Slimes, but then that gets into the luck of encountering them, hitting them, and then hoping they dont run away on the first turn, before you can even act. It becomes far more annoying than it really should be. I also hate when you can fail running away from a fight, it's one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to JRPGs. And especially with how common it seemed to run into battles with 5-7 enemies, I had to watch 5-7 enemies attack me before I can attempt to run away again. It just became more frustrating than anything else, especially in late game where it feels like you have to try 2-3 times before a flee attempt is successful. Maybe I just had poor luck? I don't really know.
Though even through all of that, I don't hate this game at all, and I still really liked it. I just think this game would be even better if those issues I had just, weren't there. The combat is great, the story is fun, and I really like the main 4 playable characters especially. I just think maybe this should not have been my first Dragon Quest.
I love the atmosphere this game has. It's super cozy. While the game has world-ending stakes, it never really feels like it. It's like this fun fantasy romp coming across a colorful cast of characters, solving problems and getting ever so close to the desired goal. It's just really warm and cozy. I love the skill points and upgrading skills to gain new abilities, and I like how it personalizes your journey. There's a whole lot here I think is really damn good.
But then it gets brought down by some really bad pet peeves I have with this genre of games. For one, the grind is abysmal. I love level grinding, but when grinding against regular enemies take like an hour just to gain a single level, it goes from fun repetitive action to long tedium. And even though you don't have to level grind often in this game, I did have to a couple times, and they took FOREVER. Sure, I did eventually switch to grinding on Metal Slimes, but then that gets into the luck of encountering them, hitting them, and then hoping they dont run away on the first turn, before you can even act. It becomes far more annoying than it really should be. I also hate when you can fail running away from a fight, it's one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to JRPGs. And especially with how common it seemed to run into battles with 5-7 enemies, I had to watch 5-7 enemies attack me before I can attempt to run away again. It just became more frustrating than anything else, especially in late game where it feels like you have to try 2-3 times before a flee attempt is successful. Maybe I just had poor luck? I don't really know.
Though even through all of that, I don't hate this game at all, and I still really liked it. I just think this game would be even better if those issues I had just, weren't there. The combat is great, the story is fun, and I really like the main 4 playable characters especially. I just think maybe this should not have been my first Dragon Quest.