Easily one of the greatest games of all time, there is no other game, to this day, that manages to craft such a moving and deeply personal story by integrating the game's mechanics into the story. The mission of Dragon Quest I, to use game mechanics to truly involve the player in the plot and make him feel like he is there, is achieved to its fullest in this installment. The typical DQ strengths are present here: Good battle system, fun towns to explore, good level-scaling, good dungeons - but added in to that is the monster recruiting system which later inspired Pokémon and the game reaches new heights.

This game justifies the "video games" as a medium, as it achieves what it did only through its medium, and the story it achieves is meainingful and can hit its player in their core and move them like any high quality movie or book can. A game for the ages.