My first impressions after beating DQ9. A game that will make you fall in love with a series.
I have to say I love the crap out of DQIX. It reminds me of some of my favorite RPGs: Paper Mario, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, and Pokemon. I love the episodic storyline, as it keeps my attention far better than one continuous story does, and a lot of the stories are pretty depressing for such a lighthearted game. I find the best tale to be the one in Bloomingdale where you have to rescue a living doll; just how it resolves itself is rather heartbreaking yet heartwarming at the same time. The level up / skill tree system is wonderful too, I always loved customizing my characters, and Dragon Quest IX really lets you do whatever you want, and making an overpowered level 1 character is just so fun. I love how fast paced the combat in this game is as well, it just made questing, and leveling so much easier to bare for me. The only real downfall I see in this game is the lack of music. Going through it, I think I heard like 4 songs total, and the battle theme is used constantly! Otherwise this RPG is just packed with loads of stuff to keep you constantly entertained. I honestly could spend 2 hrs. on this game and not realize it. Really DQ9 just made me fall end over heels for this series, and helped make my decision to play the rest of Dragon Quest as well.
Conclusion: Dragon Quest IX is packed with loads of content, and customization that you can simply waste hours on this game without realizing it! The soundtrack maybe nonexistent and the story isn't award winning, but DQIX easily crawled its way into my heart as one of the best RPGs I have ever played!