DQ Builders sucks for the first 2.5 hours. It sucked so much early on that I put it aside for a year. After having it sit for a year and really craving a Dragon Quest game I finally decided, a week ago, to give it another shot. Luckily I didn't have too much to play to get to where the game gets interesting. Once you get to your second island and you can mine coal and copper the game gets more interesting. Other things unlock too and I've actually seen a pretty neat setting.
The game feels like an early Final Fantasy game with the text character communication, only in this world you can destroy and build the environment in various ways. Building ones own town is fun once you get past the initial boring part. New weapons and armor also unlock once you get to the second island.
I am happy I gave the game another shot. If you need a game you can put massive hours into and don't mind slugging out the initial 2 hour (estimated) start then this is a game to consider. I would give the game an 8 but the start of the game is too terrible and boring.
I have played the game now for around 10 hours so I don't know what kind-of surprises still await me.
My advice is to buy it if it is under $50. It is a good game to get if you are bored of your other games and time flies and play hours accumulate playing Dragon Quest Builders.