While lack of actual party members and basic combat hinders the experience, strong narrative more than makes up for it. Plot itself is basic, but the themes of the story, and memorable moments of it are so good, it doesn't matter in the slighest. A lot of people criticizes Dragon Quest for being "basic" and "generic" but not only it uses it's simplicity on it's favor on the gameplay side by providing a very polished, well paced experience for the entire runtime, it also gives a story with simple, easy to follow plot, but deepens it with complex themes. You can summarize the themes of a lot of complex JRPG plots with a single word. This isn't the case for Dragon Quest 5. Family bonds, growing and maturing through life, learning to move on from your past, and so much more. It's fascinating to analyze a seemingly simple plot, but this is the strenght and essence of Dragon Quest. It's charming and lovely with it's visuals, character designs and music, but doesn't afraid to be bleak and melancholic at times, without feeling jarring or edgy. To me, this is a way bigger accomplishment than being dark and mature for the sake of it

Every time I start the next game in the Dragon Quest series, I always wonder if it's gonna be like the last game or will it take a turn and be something different? I already wasn't familiar with the Dragon Quest series as a whole, but I would sometimes hear or see things about one of the games...this one is the one game I had listened (but not watched) a review from SomecallmeJohnny some time ago and I did so because I didn't think I'd ever really want to play the Dragon Quest series due to how archaic it seemed on the surface.

All that above is important to mention, because while the past games were great in their own right. DQ5 seems to be the turning point when the series goes to telling a much more compelling story while still focusing the importance of the adventure.

Being that I played the DS version, I found the graphics do look slightly better than DQ4. the world is much more vast, with all of it connecting quite well. This game seems to focus much more on dungeon set pieces over elaborate towns and castles. I really like how the continued moving the enemies seem to get more animated with each battle, and the character drawings seems to have found it's sheen here.

Speaking of sheen, so far I believe this game has the best collection of musical pieces I've heard in the series. As I played the past games, I felt the music was good, but I often felt I heard either the same song or tune in spots, while this one has a vast fitting soundtrack for each area and moment.

Something that hasn't changed too much is the game play. everything seems pretty much in order that the games have been doing...except this time it takes a "monster trainer" approach and let's you recruit monsters as your party members giving you plenty of choices of party building. Other than that, a lot of it is just normal Dragon Quest affair.

Where this game shines it's best is the story. I won't give anything away from it, other than to say that it tells an amazing story that as goofy as the series is, it tends to mix those moments and the story with no tonal whiplash. Serious parts are treated with a grounded tone and silly weird moments are used to not bog down the emotions too deeply. So far this is the best story in the series (from DQ1 to DQ4) and the best cast of character bar none. For the story alone it must be played and nothing I could say could even touch the magic being told in this game.

Now while I've given the game praise, can I think of any flaws? Yes. A small few.

- I don't know if it's just me, but I felt grinding was required for this game, due to recruiting monsters and party members coming and going, money and gear grind is at the forefront.

- The monsters have level caps to them, so rarely do they stay useful for too long at points.

- While the story was written well, the only way you'll learn about your party members once they join is the party talk command, if you don't frequent that you'll lose out on a lot of lore and the character most effected is your main character.

As you can see, I really couldn't find too much issue with this amazing game, and even the few I wrote felt like kinda personal nitpicks, but I really loved this game and it brought my opinion of the series much higher than before.

This game is a game of almosts.

The opening to this game and the impression you get of it before you play it are entirely separated from your thoughts on it when you finish it. You effectively go into this game expecting a large island murder mystery game where you encounter strange folks and solve puzzles. Each of those things is correct, but they are individual. There is a large island you traverse. There is a murder. There are mysteries. There are strange folk. And there are puzzles.

This game at times feels like one of those bull riding machines you see at the fair. The kind where the the entire goal is to stay on as long as you can. Whenever you get into the groove with this game, you get tossed right off.

You beat this game and 'almost' say it was fun. You witness the story and 'almost' get it. You wake up and this time you 'almost' get to the hotel lobby.

I've seen people explain this game not being fun as 'intended' as some sort of parody of classic adventure games. I've not read every single Suda interview, but as far as I could parse this wasn't the case. But I also understand why some people would say this. At times, it feels like this game is trying to suck on purpose. For some sort of ulterior reason like story or thematically. But then other times, it just feels like a bad game.

My favorite part of this game was running along the beach listening to 'Rhapsody In Blue'. Not the puzzles, not the jokes, not the story. Just running.

Edit: I like this game now. No idea why.

I have a complicated opinion of FFXVI. On one hand, this game is one of the greatest spectacles in gaming. The battles are truly awesome and there were many times I found myself on the edge of my seat. At its best, 16 is a one-of-a-kind spectacle that I doubt will be topped for years to come.

However, the game isn't flawless. The game was developed by Creative Business Unit 3. While I give them immense credit for creating FF14, another game I hold in high regard, they approach FF16's design very similarly, and I don't think it completely works. I'm okay with the relatively straightforward "mmo" type quests where you "go to A, talk to B, go to C, talk to D, go to E, talk to F". There are many sidequests like this in 16 that are perfectly enjoyable with compelling plotlines. Unfortunately, a non-negligible amount of sidequests do not feel like this during their starting (or in some cases even their intermediate) stages. I believe at least 20% of the game's sidequests could have been cut and the game would've been better for it.

Additionally the pacing of side content is very bizarre. While I love the hunts, and very much enjoyed the quests involving Cid's associates, they unlock at very strange times that caused me to stop playing for the day. Most notably, when the characters are preparing to embark on the final journey, an incredibly emotional cutscene plays. It makes you sad. It makes you nervous. But above all else, it gets you hyped to confront the final boss of the game. But then you open your map. Several new, long sidequests and an entirely new set of hunts are unlocked. The momentum the game had been building up to this point is completely deflated. And while I wish I could say they were skippable, they aren't. These side quests are some of the best story content in the game- but they are unlocked at potentially the worst possible time in the game.

However despite my complaints, FF16 is a totally unique experience. You will see things in this game that you've never seen in a game before. The combat is incredibly visceral and the controls are clean. It's worth playing even with the pacing issues.