This is the earliest JRPG I really like. (Well, I'd probably like Mother 1 a lot more now if I replayed it.) Other than when you switch chapters, the grinding here is fairly minimal in comparison to the previous Dragon Quest games. The storytelling is pretty ambitious for an NES game, with lots of characters and a villain with an actual motivation. The chapter structure is innovative and brilliant, of course. And the game has that playful charm trademark to Dragon Quest, with cute jokes like an enemy trying to use a teleport spell and bumping his head on the ceiling, just like you would. Most of the dungeon designs were pretty fun too, I was getting into the groove of things after awhile.

There are some sore spots. The merchant chapter was a bit drawn out, the grind periods at the beginning of each chapter were pretty repetitive, and the AI for spellcasters is generally pretty terrible. The tactics system really should've been more detailed, but they probably couldn't push the system much further on the NES. But in general, this game pushes itself pretty far given the technological constraints. I had a great time with Dragon Quest IV.